Republic of China, 1928: Starting from a Wonton Shop

"Village Chief Jia, I will have someone deliver the pigs tomorrow, and the feed will also be delivered regularly. Please keep an eye on them." Li Chunsheng instructed before leaving.

"Manager Li, please rest assured!" Old Man Jia patted his chest, his face beaming with joy. "Anyone who dares to mistreat this pig ancestor will be the first to face the wrath of me!"

On the way back to town, Da Hu, driving the donkey cart, asked, "Master, shall we go buy some piglets?"

"No need, don't worry about it. Just bring the accommodation over tomorrow morning."

"Alright."

Xiao Wu thought for a moment and then said, "Boss, this is a case of 'distant water cannot quench immediate thirst.' Even if these piglets grow very fast, it will still take a month or so, right? The meat in our shop can only last for two days."

Li Chunsheng sat on the carriage shaft, gazing at the distant, hazy walls of Beiping. "Da Hu, do you trust me?"

"Of course I believe it! You're a very capable person, boss."

"Just believe me. Stop by that abandoned City God Temple up ahead. I have a batch of goods stored there. I had a friend in Tianjin transport them for me. I originally planned to keep them for later, but now it seems I have to use them sooner."

Upon hearing this, Da Hu's eyes lit up: "Boss, you had a trick up your sleeve?"

Upon arriving at the City God Temple, Li Chunsheng instructed Da Hu to stand guard outside while he went in alone to retrieve the goods.

With no one around, Li Chunsheng opened the system shop.

[Ingredient Redemption Area]

[Selected Grain-Fed Black Pork (Random Cut): 15 Reputation Points/kg]

[Top-grade pork belly: 20 reputation points/kg]

Tender pork tenderloin: 25 reputation points/kg

Looking at the price, Li Chunsheng felt a pang of pain. This was only for emergency use. If he were to exchange for it regularly, his reputation points would not be enough to cover it. But these were extraordinary times, and he had to use extraordinary measures.

As soon as Li Chunsheng had a thought, his reputation points were instantly deducted. In their place, a pile of fresh meat wrapped tightly in oil paper appeared out of nowhere in the previously empty corner of the dilapidated temple.

Even through the oil paper, the unique aroma of fresh pork wafted into my nose. The quality of this meat was exceptional, not only in the resource-scarce Republic of China era, but even in a modern supermarket, it would be considered the finest of the finest.

"Big Tiger! Come in and move the goods!"

Li's Restaurant.

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 20 ...

It wasn't open for business yet, but the store wasn't deserted.

Yunniang was wiping the table with a rag, her face showing unconcealed worry.

"Mr. Wu, do you think Chunsheng can get meat from this city?" Yunniang sighed.

Old Wu stopped what he was doing, pushed up his glasses, and said in a deep voice, "Sister, the boss has always been sensible in his actions. Since we opened this shop, we were bound to encounter this kind of thing sooner or later. Dongxinglou is in a hurry. The more anxious they are, the greater the threat our Li Ji poses to them."

Just then, the sound of a donkey cart bell and Da Hu's excited shouts came from outside the door.

"You're back! You're back! Come lend a hand!"

Yunniang and Lao Wu hurriedly went out to greet them.

Li Chunsheng and Da Hu were seen unloading bags from the car.

"This is..." Yunniang hesitated.

"Meat!" Da Hu chuckled, taking a bag to the back kitchen, placing it on the cutting board, and untying the drawstring. "Sister-in-law, Uncle Wu, look at the quality!"

As the bag was untied, pieces of white and pinkish-white pork belly with clear marbling were revealed.

Yunniang had gotten used to working in the kitchen lately, so she could tell at a glance whether the meat was good or not. She reached out and pressed the skin of the meat; it bounced back easily when her fingers touched it, firm and elastic. Looking at the fat, it wasn't yellow or loose like ordinary pork.

"Chunsheng, where did you get this? This meat is even better than the best from Butcher Zheng!"

Li Chunsheng wiped his sweat and drank a large bowl of water: "The meat came from a rather complicated source. It came from a foreign trading company in Tianjin. Although it was a bit expensive, the quality was excellent."

"Boss," Old Wu said to Li Chunsheng, taking out a draft contract. "Old Wang next door is almost done too. His son is urging him to sell the shop back home. He's in a hurry to get rid of it. I negotiated with him for a few more days and lowered the price a bit. He bought the shop, but I negotiated with him to rent it for 4 silver dollars a month."

For four silver dollars, they bought the shop next door, which was over sixty square meters, along with a room in the backyard. It was definitely a great bargain.

"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Wu," Li Chunsheng nodded. "Let's get this over with quickly, lest things get complicated."

The grocery store next door.

Old Wang, the shopkeeper, was frowning as he tidied up the unsold items on the shelves. Since Li's Restaurant became popular, his business had been boosted to some extent, but it had also brought a lot of trouble.

"Manager Wang, busy?" Old Wu walked in with a smile.

Upon seeing Old Wu, Old Wang sighed with a complex expression, "Mr. Wu, you're here again. I'm truly impressed by your sharp tongue."

"Manager Wang, we agreed in advance," Old Wu said, placing the red cloth bundle on the counter with a dull thud. "This is forty silver dollars, not a penny less."

"But...what about Sun Dehai's side..." Old Wang hesitated. "I heard that Dongxinglou has said they're going to drive Li's shop out of business. If I sell the shop to you now, will it...?"

"Manager Wang, you're going back to your hometown anyway, why bother with Sun Dehai?" Old Wu sneered. "Besides, does our Li's shop look like it's going to go out of business?"

Old Wang gritted his teeth and said, "Fine! That's settled!" He then signed the papers.

Half an hour later, Old Wu returned to Li's Restaurant with a beaming smile.

"Boss, it's all done!" Old Wu slammed the contract on the table. "Old Wang will move out first thing tomorrow morning, and we can knock down the wall anytime!"

With this shop, the lobby area can be doubled, allowing for at least ten more tables to be placed, so customers no longer have to wait in the cold wind.

The next day, at Dongxinglou.

Sun Dehai was sitting in a private room on the second floor, twirling a teacup in his hand, listening to his waiter's report.

"Manager, Li's shop is open as usual today," the waiter said cautiously.

"Open the door?" Sun Dehai sneered. "Where did he get the meat? He must have used offal or dead pig meat to make up the numbers, right? I don't believe that without Butcher Zheng's good meat, he could still make that braised pork."

"No...no..." the waiter stammered, "I...I went to see it, and...I ate it too..."

"Have you eaten?" Sun Dehai frowned. "How was it? Does it smell fishy?"

The waiter swallowed hard, seemingly savoring the taste, a mixture of ecstasy and fear on his face: "Boss... that meat... that meat is even better than before! The fat is translucent and melts in your mouth, not greasy at all, the lean meat is tender and juicy, the more you chew, the more fragrant it becomes... that... that's top-quality meat!"

"What?!" Sun Dehai jumped to his feet. "Top-grade meat? That's impossible! I have people watching Zheng the Butcher's place! Where else in the entire Qianmen area can supply such a large volume of meat?"

Yan Desheng, standing to the side, was also ashen-faced: "Could this kid really have some other way of getting here? Was he transported from Tianjin? But how much would that cost in shipping? Has he gone mad?"

"And..." the shop assistant shrank back, continuing to report bad news, "I heard... I heard that Li's shop has taken over Old Wang's grocery store next door. This morning I saw Carpenter Wang take people in to take measurements, saying they're going to expand!"

Sun Dehai couldn't help but laugh. "He still has the mind to expand?"