The next morning, Gu Yi and Ye Qian rushed to the shop to prepare for the opening.
Gu Yi had it all figured out, she wanted to start small, but definitely something not available near the school yet.
She planned to sell zongzi and dumplings, along with some fried skewers.
As soon as they arrived at the shop, they started cleaning.
Although Liu Qing had cleaned the shop after renovating, it was still somewhat dirty, so the two cleaned the entire place once more.
They set up the tables and chairs, and Gu Yi took a piece of white paper to jot down what needed to be bought.
The previous owner left pots, pans, and bowls, so they decided not to buy those for now.
For selling zongzi and dumplings, they definitely needed to buy a freezer.
They also needed to buy oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, rice, glutinous rice, and flour.
For fried skewers, bamboo sticks were needed, but they might not be available, so her brothers could help make some at home if necessary.
Gu Yi lay on the table writing for a long time, and by the time she finished, the page was full.
"Qianqian, help me take a look and see if there’s anything missing."
Looking at the list, Ye Qian saw that everything possible was listed, down to firewood for cooking, written by her sister-in-law.
"Sister-in-law, this seems about right. Let’s buy these first. We still have a few days; if anything is missing, we can buy it later. How about that?"
Gu Yi thought that was reasonable.
"Let’s go to Brother Li’s place first. I brought a pair of tiger-head shoes for their little treasure and can deliver them while retrieving the key and asking Brother Li if he knows where to buy firewood."
They locked the door and headed to Li Gang’s place.
Li Gang and his wife were delighted with the tiger-head shoes Gu Yi brought, especially Li Xiu, who couldn’t put them down.
Li Gang returned the key to Gu Yi.
"When are you planning to open? Need any help?"
"Brother Li, I won’t be formal with you, I wanted to ask where we could buy firewood?"
"There’s none in town; you’d have to go to the county outskirts where some farmers sell sun-dried firewood, and the price isn’t high."
"Do they deliver it there?"
"If you buy a load, they’ll deliver. Just let me know when you need it; I go there every morning for supplies and can inform them then."
"It would be best if it could be delivered in the next couple of days. My shop is almost ready for opening."
"Okay, I’ll mention it tomorrow when I go to get vegetables."
"Thank you, Brother Li."
After getting the firewood sorted, they set out to buy other essentials.
When they finished shopping, it was already past 4 PM, and both were exhausted.
They placed the items in the shop but didn’t have time to arrange them; they just locked up and headed to the bus station to go home.
After dinner that night, Gu Yi packed two comforters, some clothes, and a few personal items.
She planned to stay at the shop from the next day; with the opening in just a few days, there was much to do, and commuting would be too troublesome.
The next morning, Gu Yi went to the Gu Family early to ask her eldest and second brother to help her out for the day.
Knowing Gu Yi was staying at the shop that day, Ye Qian quickly packed her things too.
The Gu Family Brothers rode bicycles to bring Gu Yi and Ye Qian to the town.
They loaded the items onto the vehicle and left Ye Qian to watch over them while Gu Yi took her brothers to store the bicycles at Boss Wang’s place.
The four of them, carrying bags of supplies, took a vehicle to the shop.
At the shop, they placed the quilts in the room, and each person started working.
The Gu Family Brothers placed the heavy items they’d bought the day before in spots designated by Gu Yi.
Gu Yi sent her eldest brother to buy a gas stove and a gas tank, to be used for frying skewers.
Gu the second brother stayed in the shop to help organize things.
They worked until nearly noon and finally got everything tidied up.
There was no time to cook lunch, so Gu Yi took them for noodles.
She also had Ye Qian buy more steamed buns to keep at the shop in case anyone got hungry later in the afternoon.
Just as they returned to the shop after eating, the firewood delivery arrived, and they helped carry it into the kitchen.
After Gu Yi paid and checked everything was in order, she finally relaxed.
Next, they needed to prepare the zongzi in advance. The dumplings could wait until the zongzi were done; otherwise, handling both simultaneously would be too much work.
Gu Yi planned to primarily sell meat zongzi, but also to prepare some sweet dates ones, and later make chestnut-flavored ones when chestnuts were in season.
At this time, zongzi were considered seasonal food, usually made around the Dragon Boat Festival.
Meat zongzi weren’t available nearby, so they should sell well; however, some people preferred sweet ones, so offering variety might attract a broader customer base.
The group then went to the market to buy meat and red dates.
Gu Yi also went to Li Gang’s for green onions, ginger, and garlic, as well as some vegetables, so she could cook meals in the shop.
She wrote down the ingredients and quantities needed for the fried skewers on paper and left it with Li Gang, asking him to deliver them on the shop’s opening day.
The Gu Family Brothers headed home by bus after working until after 4 PM.
Before they left, Gu Yi asked them to make ten thousand bamboo skewers and deliver them two days before school started.
Gu Yi gave them the steamed buns bought at noon to take home to their family.
After they left, it wasn’t long before Gu Yi and Ye Qian locked up the shop, given they were just two girls, and safety was a concern.
Gu Yi marinated the meat first, while Ye Qian prepared dinner.
Gu Yi cut the meat into chunks like for braised pork, seasoned and mixed them, then left them in a basin to marinate overnight.
The zongzi leaves had been harvested during the Dragon Boat Festival, so Gu Yi soaked them directly in water.
After Gu Yi finished her preparations, Ye Qian’s dinner was ready too.
There wasn’t much else to do that evening, so Ye Qian cooked porridge and two dishes.
After dinner, they set up their beds, washed up, and went to sleep.
Feeling fatigued, they slept in the next morning.
In the morning, Gu Yi started with soaking glutinous rice and washed some red dates to have on hand.
After soaking, she drained the glutinous rice, divided it into two portions, seasoning one with soy sauce and the other with sugar, and set them aside.
Thanks to the experience from making zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival, Ye Qian was quite adept at wrapping them.
Gu Yi and Ye Qian split the work, with Gu Yi wrapping the meat zongzi and Ye Qian doing the red dates ones.
They started after lunch and finished wrapping just as dinner approached.
That evening, they began cooking the zongzi.
Fortunately, there were two large pots; they boiled the zongzi until midnight before they were fully cooked.
The next day, they slept the entire morning before getting up.
They each sampled one of each type of zongzi.
Perhaps because they used more marinating seasoning this time, the zongzi tasted even better than the ones made during the Dragon Boat Festival.
"Sister-in-law, these should sell really well; they’re truly delicious."
Seeing Ye Qian’s eager expression, Gu Yi couldn’t help but laugh.
"If you say they’re good, then they must be. Your taste buds are famous for discerning flavor."
They lifted the zongzi out of the pot to drain.
Gu Yi had Ye Qian stay in the shop while she went out to buy some more meat filling, and to get chives and cabbage from Li Gang’s.
Li Gang gave her a ride back, and besides the meat filling and chives in his vehicle, there was also quite a lot of cabbage.