Chapter 170: No Rules, No Order

Chapter 170: Chapter 170: No Rules, No Order

"Oh... well, in that case, could we bring over the meat and flour and ask you to help us? Would that be alright?" Xiao Hong blinked, remembering what her mother had specifically told her. She fought the urge to run away and pushed herself to continue asking.

"If that’s the case, why don’t you just place an order with us directly? Just tell us how many meat buns you need for that day, and we’ll have them cooked, steamed, and ready for you to pick up." Gu Nuan Nuan had initially planned to refuse, but when she saw how mortified her classmate was, a spark of inspiration hit her. ’We’re making meat buns every day now anyway, so making a few more won’t be a problem. We can just think of it as a soft opening.’

"An order?" Xiao Hong froze, then looked up at Gu Nuan Nuan shyly and asked in a small voice, "So... are your meat buns expensive?"

"Thirty cents apiece, same as the buns from He Ji in town. But ours have more filling and thinner wrappers, and they taste every bit as good. So all in all, it’s a much better deal." The thirty-cent price point was something they had discussed and agreed on earlier. Their buns were packed with filling, which meant their costs were also high. Compared to He Ji, theirs was a genuine low-profit, high-volume model. Noticing the hesitation on Xiao Hong’s face, Gu Nuan Nuan added, "Seeing as we’re classmates and you’re our first customer, for every five meat buns you order, we’ll throw one in for free."

Xiao Hong’s eyes lit up at the offer, but she quickly bowed her head again. After a long moment of hesitation, she stammered, "I can’t be the one to decide... I have to go ask my mom. Can I come back and tell you in a little while?" She looked up at Gu Nuan Nuan, her eyes full of hope.

"Of course," Gu Nuan Nuan agreed with a gracious nod. Xiao Hong immediately got up to leave. At that moment, Zhang Minzhen happened to walk in with a plate of two meat buns. Surprised, she asked, "Why are you leaving already? You just got here."

Blushing, Xiao Hong stood there and softly called out, "Auntie," but was too shy to say anything more. Gu Nuan Nuan stepped in to explain. "Xiao Hong’s family has important guests coming tomorrow. Her mom wanted to bring her own ingredients and have Mom help them make some meat buns. I told her we can’t do that, but they’re welcome to buy the buns from us. Since she’s my classmate, I even offered a ’buy five, get one free’ deal. Xiao Hong can’t decide on her own, so she has to go back and ask her mom."

Zhang Minzhen: "..."

She shot Gu Nuan Nuan a look. ’This kid is even doing business with her own classmates.’ Gu Nuan Nuan stuck out her tongue playfully, but her resolute expression didn’t change. ’There can be no order without rules,’ she thought. ’If I make an exception just once, then everyone in Lihua Village will come trying to get favors. The moment they need something, they’ll show up with ingredients and expect us to make buns for them. How are we supposed to run our business then?’

’Besides, our buns use a lot of filling, and the pork is expensive. If we agree to make buns for people with their ingredients, we’d have to prepare the filling behind closed doors. Someone would inevitably get suspicious and think we’re skimming off their pork. How could we ever clear our name then? We’d just be making enemies.’

Naturally, Zhang Minzhen wasn’t about to undermine her daughter. In fact, a moment’s thought was all it took for her to grasp Nuannuan’s reasoning. She pushed the whole plate into Xiao Hong’s hands. "Well then, take these two meat buns home for your mother to try. If she thinks they taste alright, you can just do what Nuannuan said."

"No, Auntie, really, you don’t have to. Our whole family has actually tried your buns before. My dad’s been helping with the work on your new house, and he brought some home for us," Xiao Hong quickly protested. ’One meat bun is thirty cents, so two is sixty! How could I just take something so valuable? And what if Mom decides they’re too expensive and doesn’t want to buy them after all?’

"These buns were for you to begin with, so just take them home and don’t worry about it. It doesn’t matter if your mother decides not to buy any from us," Zhang Minzhen said with a smile, pushing the plate back into her hands. "Our Nuannuan is going to be living in Lihua Village permanently now, so you should come visit her more often."

"I will, Auntie, but I really can’t take the buns." Blushing, Xiao Hong still refused to accept the plate. Watching them go back and forth, Gu Nuan Nuan grew impatient. She grabbed a piece of paper, took the buns from her mother, wrapped them, and pressed the package into Xiao Hong’s hands. "You shouldn’t refuse a gift from an elder. Now stop resisting."

Holding the still-warm paper package, Xiao Hong finally gave in. "Thank you, Auntie. Thank you, Nuannuan. I’ll... I’ll go ask my mom now." With that, she fled like a flash of smoke. Xiao Hong ran all the way home without stopping, and she could still feel her heart POUND-POUND-POUNDING in her chest. The hand clutching the two meat buns had even started to sweat.

"Well? What did your classmate’s mother say?" Xiao Hong’s mother, He Fuli, asked as she saw her daughter run back home.

"Nuannuan said their meat buns are made with a secret family recipe and they plan to open a shop, so they can’t just make them for people. But she said we can place an order to buy some." In front of her mother, Xiao Hong was a completely different person than she had been at the Zhang family’s home. She spoke clearly and confidently as she handed over the buns. "Nuannuan’s mother also gave me these two. She told me to bring them for you to try and said it’s fine even if we don’t buy any."

"So we can only buy them? They won’t help us make them?" He Fuli frowned as she took a bun and unwrapped it. "Leave one for your brother. You and Xiao Li can split the other one. A secret family recipe... no wonder their buns are so good. Hah. I was planning to have them make a big batch so we could send some to your paternal and maternal grandparents. Guess that’s out of the question now. And that classmate’s mother..." He Fuli looked from the bun in her hand to the one her daughter was holding and swallowed the complaint on the tip of her tongue. They’d been given two free buns; it felt wrong to say anything bad about them. She asked with a sigh of resignation, "Did you ask how much they cost?"

"I asked. Thirty cents apiece."

Seeing the pained expression on her mother’s face, Xiao Hong quickly added, "But my classmate said if we buy five, we get an extra one for free."

’Thirty cents... so ten would be three yuan. And I was planning on making at least a hundred of them...’

He Fuli’s heart ached at the cost. After running the numbers, she gritted her teeth. "Alright, we’ll get twenty—no, fifteen should be enough. Fifteen will get us a total of eighteen. We’ll just make some plain steamed buns to serve alongside them. The meat buns are for the guests. If there are any left, you three can share them."

"Okay." Xiao Hong nodded. She carefully broke her share of the meat bun in half, took a tiny bite from one piece, then held the larger piece up to her mother’s lips. "Here, Mom. You eat the rest."