No One Loves Me (GL) - Chapter 14

Lin Huilan grabbed Xin Geling’s arm, wanting to say something but stopping herself. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, but…”

She swallowed her words, and in the end, she compromised.

Continuing to collect cardboard wouldn’t bring about any significant changes to their lives. She had to keep up with her daughter’s pace.

The next day, Xin Geling got up at five or six in the morning, intending to go to the farmers market to ask where people got their fresh meat.

Lin Huilan didn’t go out to collect cardboard. Seeing her daughter up so early, she wanted to go with her.

So, the mother and daughter went to the farmers market together. After asking a few pork vendors, they found that they had business licenses and sold freshly butchered meat. The market price for pork belly was 20 yuan per kilogram.

Xin Geling noted down the prices after asking a few more vendors. She also asked about the price of chuck steak and lamb. Beef was 70 yuan per kilogram, and lamb was 64 yuan per kilogram.

These prices were indeed more expensive than online, but for the sake of fresh ingredients, Xin Geling decided to buy them.

The meat for barbecue was mostly pork, lamb, and beef, so she bought 5 kilograms of chuck steak, 5 kilograms of lamb, and 5 kilograms of pork belly.

Lin Huilan had never bought so much meat in her life. Seeing her buy so much at once, her heart pounded, and she quickly stopped her. “Daughter, why are you buying so much meat at once? What if you can’t sell it all?”

“Mom, you have to be prepared with ingredients for a business. This isn’t a lot,” Xin Geling said.

This was her first time trying this amount.

Lin Huilan was still worried. “What if you can’t sell it all?”

Xin Geling prepared her for the worst-case scenario. “Mom, don’t worry. If we can’t sell a single skewer, we’ll just eat it ourselves. If it’s because the price is too high, we can lower it. We can sell it at a loss. Even if we end up losing money, I’ve calculated the cost of this trial, and we won’t lose too much.”

“If we can’t even accept this small cost and are afraid to try, then we’re not suited for business.”

Lin Huilan looked at her daughter’s serious expression and listened to her detailed analysis. After a while, she slowly let go of her hand. “Okay… you buy it. I won’t interfere.”

Xin Geling took the meat from the vendor. She also bought some vegetables like corn, leeks, potatoes, and onions, as well as seasonings like ginger, garlic, soy sauce, bean paste, salt, chili powder, and pepper. She also bought chicken wings, a box of sausages, 1 kilogram of chicken knee, and bamboo skewers. The total cost was around 900 yuan. Seasonings accounted for about 200 yuan, and the ingredients cost about 700 yuan.

Xin Geling and Lin Huilan carried the things back home.

Lin Huilan looked at the pile of things in their home and asked worriedly, “What do we do now?”

Xin Geling took out her notebook and calculated. “Mom, the ingredients cost about 700 yuan, and the seasonings and skewers cost about 200 yuan. Even if we don’t sell anything, these seasonings won’t expire anytime soon. As for the 700 yuan worth of ingredients, even if I sell them at a discount, we’ll only lose about 350 yuan in the end. This is the worst-case scenario I’ve planned for. Besides, we might not lose money. We still have a chance to make a profit.”

She closed her notebook and looked at Lin Huilan. “We have to try. The worst that can happen is we stay in the same situation we’re in now.”

“Okay, I’ll listen to you,” Lin Huilan sighed.

Xin Geling hugged her mother and rubbed her thin shoulders. “Mom, listen to me. Even if I only make 50 yuan for a night’s work, it’s worth it.”

She didn’t want to see her mother run around all day collecting cardboard for less than 50 yuan and hurting her body in the process.

With Lin Huilan’s worries eased, the mother and daughter started to work together.

“Mom, you go and prepare the ginger, garlic, and scallions for me.”

“Okay.”

Xin Geling had her help with the prep work while she cut all 15 kilograms of meat into small pieces.

She put the three different types of meat into separate bowls, poured in the marinade, mixed it, and put it in the refrigerator to marinate for two hours.

The chicken wings and chicken knees were put in a separate bowl with a different marinade and also put in the refrigerator.

Next, the mother and daughter worked together to prepare the vegetables, washing them and putting them on skewers.

After lunch, they continued to work.

Xin Geling took out the marinated meat and put all the pieces on skewers. 1 kilogram of meat could make about 25 skewers. They would get 375 skewers from 15 kilograms of meat.

After calculating the cost of the seasonings, Xin Geling started to calculate the price and gross profit of each item.

The cost of a beef skewer was about 1.5 yuan, pork belly was 0.6 yuan, and lamb was 1.5 yuan. The chicken wings, with 30 skewers, had a cost of about 5.5 yuan each, and the sausages were 1.1 yuan each.

Since the cost of potatoes, corn, baby cabbage, leeks, and chicken knees was low and they had a lot of skewers, the cost per skewer was no more than 0.5 yuan.

Xin Geling looked at the costs and decided to price the beef and lamb skewers at 3 yuan each, pork belly at 2 yuan, chicken wings at 7 yuan, and sausages at 2.5 yuan.

The other items were all priced at 1 yuan each.

After setting the prices, Xin Geling went downstairs to a nearby printing shop to print the menu and a QR code for payment. She then taped them to the front of the food stall.

She also bought a few large foam boxes, filled them with ice, and put all the ingredients inside to keep them fresh.

As evening approached, at a little past five, people started to come out and set up their stalls on the street.

Xin Geling took over the previous vendor’s spot and pushed her stall, full of ingredients, out.

She put on her gloves and arranged all the food on the stall. The sauce was put in a separate bowl. She had also prepared 200 paper bags. After everything was ready, she turned on the gas and lit the grill, preparing to cook the meat skewers in advance so customers wouldn’t have to wait long.

People came and went. Lin Huilan stood next to Xin Geling, feeling a little lost. Although she used to be a teacher, she had been trapped in her own world for years, and poverty had made her insensitive to the prices of meat. She couldn’t even afford to buy meat once a month and ate pickled vegetables and rice porridge every day.

She didn’t think anyone would come to buy. Who would buy a skewer for 3 yuan? This price was several times more expensive than it had been seven years ago.

But seeing her daughter skillfully grilling the skewers and the aroma wafting from them, she thought of the cost of this trial and calmed herself down, swallowing her worries.

Compared to Lin Huilan’s anxiety, Xin Geling was much calmer. She even had the presence of mind to hand her a cooked beef skewer first.

“Mom, try this.”

Lin Huilan looked at her daughter and shook her head. “I don’t want any.”

It was so expensive. How could she bear to eat it?

It was enough to pay for 5 kilograms of cardboard she had to collect.

Xin Geling still insisted she eat it. “Mom, just eat it. Give me some feedback so I can improve the recipe.”

When Lin Huilan heard that, she realized her daughter wasn’t just giving it to her. She was asking for feedback to improve the recipe. With a sense of purpose, Lin Huilan took the beef skewer and carefully took a bite.

The marinated beef was savory and juicy. It wasn’t dry at all. The unique barbecue seasoning on the outside, combined with the meaty flavor and a hint of spiciness, made her mouth water.

Xin Geling saw that she had only taken one bite and stopped. “How is it?”

“It’s good…” Lin Huilan nodded with her head down, then choked up softly. “This is the first time I’ve ever had such good barbecue…”

The last time she had barbecue was seven years ago when she took her daughter out to eat. She never expected that seven years later, she would be eating barbecue her daughter had made after being released from prison.

Xin Geling looked at the frail woman in front of her. A simple barbecue had taken seven years to make. She couldn’t imagine what kind of life her mother had lived all these years. Her eyes welled up, but she tried to remain calm and said in a natural tone, “Mom, you’ll eat more delicious food in the future.”

Lin Huilan wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “…Okay.”

She continued to eat the rest of the beef skewer, and the more she ate, the more at ease she felt.

This barbecue was so good. The barbecue her daughter made wasn’t expensive at all for 3 yuan. It wasn’t expensive.

“Boss, can I have one of everything?”

Suddenly, a primary school student came to the stall and asked for one of every item.

A strange feeling washed over Xin Geling, but the arrival of her first order prevented her from thinking too much. She just said, “Okay, wait a moment.”

After she said that, she started to take out every item and put it on the grill.

Lin Huilan was so excited that someone had finally come to her daughter’s stall. She held back her emotions, took out a calculator, and carefully calculated three times before saying, “That’ll be 22.5 yuan.”

The student handed her a 50-yuan bill. “Here you go.”

Lin Huilan took it and looked at her daughter, who was seriously grilling. A wave of warmth filled her heart, and she felt even more proud. It turned out her daughter had already thought of everything. She had told her to prepare some change for large bills, and it was for people who paid with cash.

“Here’s 27.5 yuan in change,” Lin Huilan said, quickly taking out 27.5 yuan from her old fanny pack. She had plenty of 50-cent and 1-cent coins.

Since she had already started grilling some of the items when she set up the stall, Xin Geling only had to grill for another five or six minutes before everything was ready.

“Do you want it a little spicy?” she asked.

The student quickly glanced into the distance. “A little… a little spicy, please.”

Xin Geling noticed her action and was a little suspicious. “Okay.”

She calmly put a little more spicy seasoning on the barbecue, put it in a paper bag, and handed it over. “Thank you for coming.”

The student took the bag and walked directly into the crowd. Xin Geling followed her with her eyes until she saw the student stop in front of a car. A slender hand reached out and took the bag. She didn’t know what the person said to the student, but a moment later, the student skipped away.

The car window rolled up.

Xin Geling’s eyes caught the license plate through the gaps in the crowd.

She was stunned. She was all too familiar with that license plate.

“Daughter, I can’t believe we actually sold something,” Lin Huilan said. The anxiety on her face was replaced with joy. Her brows were relaxed, and her face was beaming. It was as if her morale had been boosted, and her whole demeanor had changed.

“How much did we make from this one order?” she asked like a child.

Xin Geling’s attention returned to her mother. She took out more ingredients and put them on the grill. While she was grilling, she said, “The cost of this order was about 14 yuan. Without counting labor, the profit is at least 8.5 yuan.”

Lin Huilan was so happy she couldn’t stop smiling. “8.5 yuan is much better than me collecting cardboard.”

Xin Geling smiled at her. The price was cheap compared to her competitors, but since she was using fresh ingredients and not the semi-finished products sold online, and she was putting in more time, her profit was not as high as theirs.

But for them, it was already a good profit.

Xin Geling had set a very low goal. As long as she made more money than her mother did from collecting cardboard, it was worth it, no matter how much labor she had to put in herself.

“Mom, you’re being a little loud.”

Lin Huilan immediately closed her mouth. “Okay, okay. I won’t yell.”

Xin Geling bent down to get more ingredients. When she stood up, she looked in the direction of the car again.

She saw that the car had already driven away.

“Boss, I’ll take five beef skewers.”

“Okay, that’ll be 15 yuan.”

“I’ve transferred it.”

“Okay, I’ve received it.”

Another customer came to order. He was a plump man. Xin Geling calmly flipped the beef skewers, took out five, brushed them with oil, and added seasonings.

Lin Huilan helped her, grabbing a paper bag and putting the five beef skewers inside.

The plump man took the bag and immediately started eating. He had only intended to try this new barbecue stand, but he didn’t expect the flavor to be so good.

“Boss, your beef skewers are great. They’re spicy and savory, and the meat is juicy. It’s not dry, and it tastes very fresh.”

Before Xin Geling could say anything, Lin Huilan jumped in, proudly. “Of course! My daughter and I bought this meat from the farmers market this morning. Of course it’s fresh!”

While Lin Huilan was talking to the man, a few more people gathered in front of the stall, ready to order.

“What would you like?” Xin Geling asked.

“I’ll have three pork belly skewers,” one person said.

Another said, “I’ll have two lamb skewers, three beef skewers, and a skewer of leeks.”

“Okay, one moment,” Xin Geling said, writing down the orders and getting busy grilling.

The plump man was still standing in front of the stall, bending over to look at the ingredients. He saw that the meat was firm. “It’s not semi-finished? Is all your meat freshly bought?”

“Yes,” Xin Geling said. “We bought it from the farmers market and marinated and skewered it ourselves.”

The man ate while watching her grill. The delicious aroma of the meat made the other two customers’ mouths water.

The grill sizzled, and when the seasonings were added, the aroma was even more intense. Other stalls nearby could smell her barbecue.

The five beef skewers were quickly finished. The plump man crumpled the paper bag and looked at the barbecue in Xin Geling’s hand, his appetite making him want to order another round.

“Boss, boss, I’ll have five more beef skewers, five lamb skewers, five pork belly skewers, and two leek skewers!”

“Okay,” Xin Geling said. She didn’t expect him to order a second time. He was her first repeat customer. “One moment.”

More and more customers gathered in front of the stall. Xin Geling didn’t have time to worry about Lin Huilan. She just kept taking out ingredients and putting them on the grill.

Lin Huilan helped her by keeping track of who ordered what, who had paid, and who hadn’t. She also constantly packed the orders in paper bags.

“Thank you for your business. Please come again,” Lin Huilan said every time she handed over an order.

Compared to the busy Xin Geling, Lin Huilan’s job seemed much easier. During the lulls, she saw her daughter sweating from all the hard work and quickly took out a towel to wipe her forehead.

She didn’t want her daughter to be overworked.