210 Chapter 210 Drought Worsening
After the meal, Doctor Luo asked, “Zhou, do you sell these cold noodles? We might order them for lunch as it will save us the trouble of cooking.”
“I haven’t decided yet, but I’ll try to sell it in the next few days.”
“That’s lovely. We will order them as long as you sell them. The weather is so hot that people don��t have any appetite, so the number of people having stomach problems is rapidly increasing.”
“Stomach problems? Food poisoning?”
“Some had stomachaches after eating spoiled food; some had gastric problems; and some even had heat stroke. In short, this heat is killing them.”
“Indeed, we must avoid the summer heat; it’s so stuffy and hot.” When Zhou Ying said this, she thought of green bean soup. It seemed that she had to prepare some every day.
When the cold noodles and chilled jelly were launched at night, it was immediately a hit, especially with passersby. Eating it with a few lamb skewers and the like was comfortable.
Starting the next day, Zhou Ying asked Zhao Cheng to prepare a large pot of green bean soup daily, offering it for free.
At the same time, they also introduced ice desserts.
The business in the afternoon was getting much better, but most of their business came from the surrounding shops, mainly selling cold noodles and desserts; only those in a better financial state would order a stir-fried dish or two.
As for the ice desserts, the customers were mainly women and children. It wasn’t selling like hotcakes, but the profit was decent.
Another half a month passed, and the waterwheel could no longer deliver water. The crops in the fields died, and the price of food rose; the morale of the people died along with the crops.
Especially the families in town who did not have any food in stock—some of them could not even afford to eat.
That night, Zhou Ying saw Gu Chengrui come to pick her up. Just as she was about to leave, she was stopped by Qiu Yu, the oldest child beggar in their group. “Manager Zhou, can I talk to you about something?”
“Oh, what’s the matter?” Zhou Ying asked curiously.
Although these little child beggars helped out in the restaurant, they often looked for Fang Qing or Sun Hongliang. They had never looked for her, so it must be a big problem this time.
“Um, can we eat in the restaurant instead of getting paid?”
“Because of the grain price?”
“That’s half the reason. The other reason is that recently, people have been stealing or snatching our food. We can’t protect ourselves, so we thought of eating in the restaurant before going home.”
“Stealing and snatching?”
“Yes, the slums in the west are chaotic. Although we have a lot of people, I’m the oldest and am only 12…”
Zhou Ying hesitated for a moment before replying, “Why don’t you all just move into our restaurant? It’s hot now, so why not sleep here?”
“Really? We can move in here?”
“Of course, but you must pay attention to hygiene. You must bathe every day.” Zhou Ying stated firmly.
Of course, she could speak confidently because there was a deep well in the restaurant’s courtyard. The water level had remained relatively high even after such a long time.
“Don’t worry, Manager Zhou. I’ll keep an eye on them.”
“Alright, I’ll leave this matter to you.” After that, Zhou Ying got on the carriage and went back.
At night, after the two entered her interspace, Zhou Ying asked, “Rui, what do you say we take in those child beggars?”
“You want to take them all under our wing?” Gu Chengrui was stunned for a moment.
“Yes, no matter what we do in the future, we must have someone under us, right?
“Now that they’re in trouble, it’s a good time to win them over.”
“That’s true. I’ll ask them later. If they agree, we’ll teach them.”