All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

“A two-bedroom apartment here would cost at least two or three thousand a month. And when Mom comes over, the expenses for the whole family would be five or six thousand a month. Can you afford it if you're the only one working? Besides, we still need to save some money. After the baby is born, there will be a lot of expenses for formula, clothes, and other things. Maybe we should wait a bit longer. I still have more than three months until I give birth.”

Zhang Peng felt uneasy, shook his head, and said helplessly.

"I'll figure out the money later. Once Mom comes, you'll be taken care of, and I'll feel at ease. I'll try to earn some extra money tonight to ease the burden. No matter how much money you have, it's not as important as you and the baby in your belly!"

Hearing Zhang Peng's simple and unpretentious words, Chen Ling also showed a happy smile. She looked up at Zhang Peng, and finally nodded, agreeing to Zhang Peng's suggestion.

Chen Ling took the rice bowl from Zhang Peng, picked up her chopsticks, placed a piece of fish in Zhang Peng's bowl, and the two smiled at each other.

The man in front of me is not handsome, has no money, doesn't even know how to dress up, and doesn't know how to sweet talk. But everything he does is for the sake of this family, as if he wants to take on all the burdens of the family. Perhaps this is fate. The first time I saw him, it was as if I saw my future life. This kind of life is pretty good!

Zhang Peng acted immediately. The next day, after finishing his work at the restaurant, he took a walk around the neighborhood and finally chose a two-bedroom apartment with an elevator. The room wasn't big, but it was well-lit and had a small balcony. It was right next to a park. Of course, the price wasn't cheap either, at 3,400 yuan a month, with two months' rent as deposit and one month's rent as rent.

For the sake of his child, Zhang Peng gritted his teeth, paid the money, and started moving during his spare time. It took him three days to get everything settled.

After moving into her new home, Chen Ling felt much better, both in terms of the air and her mood. She decided to call her mother over to take care of her, since she was her own mother and knew her better.

Zhang Peng had no objections. No matter which mother it was, no one would not love their child. That's how ordinary people live. There's not much fuss in a family. Life is nothing more than oil, salt, firewood, and rice. They don't need much material stuff. They'll be happy if their quality of life is improved even a little bit!

After settling his family affairs, Zhang Peng began to think about how to earn money to support his family. He could work at the fast food restaurant during the day, so finding a job at night was imperative.

But what kind of work could he do to earn money at night? After thinking for a long time, Zhang Peng finally decided on a job: pushing a tricycle to sell fried noodles, fried rice, and fried rice.

This was the result of his three-day investigation. If he were to work at night, regular jobs wouldn't be suitable for him. Starting his own restaurant right now was also unrealistic, as he didn't have the capital and his current life couldn't afford any more disruptions.

Now that his mother-in-law has come, he no longer needs to worry about Chen Ling and can have a few hours to work on things in the evening.

He wandered around the nearby streets at night for a few days and found that there were quite a few street vendors selling fruit, ice jelly, mung bean soup, and of course, there were also stalls selling late-night snacks.

The costs of making these dishes are not high. It's all about small profits and quick turnover. A regular fried noodle dish costs five yuan, one with an egg costs six yuan, and one with meat costs seven yuan. If you calculate the profit, you can basically split it in half, which is quite profitable.

Zhang Peng watched over a very ordinary stall at an intersection for three nights. The owner was a young man who was quite hardworking. This young man could fry between fifty and one hundred pieces a night. How much he fried depended entirely on luck and the weather.

Take a serving of fried noodles as an example. The profit is three yuan per serving. You can earn up to three hundred yuan a night, and at least one or two hundred yuan. You can work from seven o'clock in the evening to midnight, which is four hours. This small business is worth doing.

As for the taste, stir-fried noodles are really just like that. Most stir-fried noodle stalls have a home-style flavor. There are also a few stalls that stir-fry noodles until they are soggy, but they still have new customers every day.

The foot traffic near these urban villages is enough to support a late-night food industry chain.

Zhang Peng thought it was a promising business opportunity. If he were to cook it himself, the color and taste of the fried noodles would definitely surpass those of the street vendors. There are many reasons why some fried noodles are delicious, but the biggest reason is the ingredients and the cooking time.

Zhang Peng checked the process of these vendors frying rice noodles. In order to save time, these vendors basically used high heat to fry the noodles from beginning to end. That's not all. Many vendors didn't even have basic cooking skills. The eggs basically had a burnt taste. Even if they weren't burnt, most of the eggs were overcooked and dry.

And that oil, it's like it's free. After taking two bites, my mouth was full of oil. Zhang Peng checked the oil and said the quality was so bad, it was just the kind of catering oil that costs three or four yuan a pound in the market. But these working men and women eat a plate of fried noodles every night, they don't ask for anything else, it's really just to fill their stomachs.

After three days of investigation, Zhang Peng finally decided to go with this project. He stood in front of a stall for three days, and the owner was no fool. He saw through Zhang Peng's intentions at a glance. Seeing that the other party already knew his purpose, Zhang Peng didn't stand on ceremony and offered him a few cigarettes to build rapport.

However, the young man took the cigarette but wasn't very enthusiastic, nor did he refuse to accept it. He just seemed quite pessimistic. He answered some of Zhang Peng's questions out of consideration for the few cigarettes.

There are long-term and short-term stalls on this street. Long-term stalls pay a fee of 1,000 yuan per month to the local security bureau, while short-term stalls pay 50 yuan per day, which is called a sanitation fee. Everyone knows what that means.

However, those who pay long-term have fixed locations, which Zhang Peng also knows. Many vendors have been setting up stalls here for several years, all in the same place, and they have many regular customers.

Of course, these long-term vendors have basically occupied all the good spots. Besides street corners, there are also some other corners where the good spots have been taken.

Including the fried noodle vendors on this street, there are already six. No wonder this young boss is not optimistic about Zhang Peng's business. After all, no matter how bad business is, having another competitor will inevitably affect one's own business. That's why the young man sarcastically joked with Zhang Peng, "I'll smoke this cigarette. As a fellow competitor, I'm not happy about it. You know what I mean!"

Zhang Peng naturally understood, so he wasn't surprised. After getting the information he wanted, he started getting busy with things: a tricycle, a stove, a gas stove, an electric battery, an advertising board, and finally, various ingredients. Don't underestimate these things; after all that fuss, it cost Zhang Peng almost five thousand yuan.

Finally, I went to the neighborhood committee to pay two months' rent. After searching around for a long time, I finally found a spot near the corner parking lot. Strictly speaking, this was almost the least popular spot in the area, and it was almost 200 meters away from the busiest central street.

There are only two small restaurants around, and they are practically deserted at night. The roller shutters are closed, and it's dark. There's also a parking lot next door, so it's not a place where ordinary workers would usually come to.

Zhang Peng chose this location for only one reason: no one was competing with him for it. All the other good spots had been taken by other people, and doing business face-to-face felt like dealing with an enemy.

In the middle of the street, dozens of late-night snack vendors are crammed together, like they're fighting a war. Every month, vendors even fight over territory.

Of course, Zhang Peng is not afraid of fighting. He chose this place for another reason: he is confident in his fried noodles. Although it would be easy to steal business from those people and attract the hatred of dozens of small vendors, it is not worth it.

He decided to offer a more upscale fried rice noodle stall, starting at ten yuan, directly avoiding competition with the small vendors. With this price, he rejected almost 80% of the customers in this urban village, because his signboard was simply "Ten Yuan Fried Rice Noodles Stall".

Almost every migrant worker passing by would instinctively avoid this sign. Don't underestimate the difference between five and ten yuan. For those migrant workers, spending five yuan on a late-night snack is simply about filling their stomachs; they don't think about anything else.

Zhang Peng didn't choose to compete with them because he was very confident in his fried noodles. However, his confidence was misplaced. After everything was prepared, once he opened the shop sign, the area within ten meters seemed to be an invisible barrier, separating Zhang Peng from the other workers.

Many people passing by, seeing that sign, would instinctively quicken their pace and head towards the central street to buy late-night snacks.

Zhang Peng seemed to see a few words on their faces.

"We don't deserve to eat such expensive fried noodles!"

Zhang Peng was somewhat speechless, but he wasn't in a hurry. Although the days of "good wine needs no bush" were long gone, the foot traffic in this urban village was enough to make him believe that his fried noodle stall would be discovered.

Moreover, people tend to have a fixed mindset. Once they've chosen a particular shop, they'll stick to that shop for the rest of their lives. This is especially true for night market stalls. Zhang Peng remembers that when he first came here, he ate at dozens of night market stalls in the vicinity. But in the following years, he gradually settled on eating at only two or three stalls. This is a matter of taste and habit.

Once he takes the first step, Zhang Peng believes his business will take off.

But how to take the first step was a bit of a worry for him. Just as he was thinking about it, business came in. A girl held her best friend's hand and walked to Zhang Peng's stall. She looked at the ingredients on the tricycle cart and finally chose a fried rice noodle and a fried rice.

Zhang Peng nodded and got busy. He looked up at the two girls, who were not very old, probably around sixteen or seventeen years old. They were fair-skinned and slender, each holding a cup of milk tea and chattering away.

These little girls are clearly the kind of girls who don't have much money but don't care about it. They eat and drink without considering the price, as long as it's within their means. They never think about what tomorrow will bring. Their monthly salary is gone after eating, drinking, shopping, and having fun.

Zhang Peng lit the oil and asked the two if they ate spicy food. They said no, so Zhang Peng nodded and got to work. He cracked two eggs and quickly stirred them, while simultaneously pouring the prepared ingredients into the pan and stir-frying them. His movements were skilled and steady.

His rice noodles, which sell for ten yuan a serving, have an extra egg compared to others, and most of the other ingredients are homemade. First of all, his rice noodles are soaked much better than those of other vendors, not too soft and not too hard, just right for stir-frying.

In addition, he doesn't use the kind of cooking oil that costs three or four yuan per kilogram. He prefers to go to large supermarkets and choose more expensive brand-name oil, not because brand-name oil is so much better, but because he feels more at ease.

Besides these, his biggest secret is that the sauce is his own unique recipe. Most street vendors just buy a big bottle of light soy sauce, which is only used for coloring and flavoring. As a chef, you know what that synthetic soy sauce tastes like.

His sauce was homemade, and besides adding color, its main function was to enhance the flavor. When he poured a small spoonful of sauce into the pot, a unique and fresh aroma wafted out, attracting the attention of the two girls chatting nearby, who couldn't help but look at the rice noodles in the pot.

A little girl swallowed hard, looked at Zhang Peng curiously, and then asked a question.

"Boss, is this poisonous?"

Zhang Peng was speechless for a moment, then thought for a moment and said...

"This is a family secret recipe, a sauce I made myself. It's absolutely safe and harmless, you can rest assured. I use it in my own stir-fries every day!"

The little girl nodded and didn't say anything more, but continued to watch Zhang Peng's performance of stir-frying with curiosity.

Seeing that it was almost done, Zhang Peng sprinkled on some chopped green onions, and the fried rice noodles were ready. Zhang Peng chose a lunchbox similar to those in restaurants, which looked much more impressive. Of course, the cost was also almost one yuan more expensive, but it was definitely worth the extra yuan.

When the two girls saw the large lunchbox, their eyes lit up. The rice noodles were ready, so they started frying them. Fried rice with eggs may seem simple, but even a chef can't usually make a good one.

A few minutes later, a plate of plump, golden fried rice was ready. Its unique aroma, mixed with a hint of scrambled eggs, made this fried rice stand out from the soggy fried rice sold on the street.

It looks like a long time, but in reality, two servings of fried noodles and fried rice take less than ten minutes in total. However, it has already been two hours since he set up his stall. Judging from the situation tonight, business is destined to be dismal. But since he has already made a sale, Zhang Peng is still quite satisfied.

Zhang Peng smiled and handed the two packed late-night snacks to the two girls.

The two girls took the bag. One of them smiled and scanned the QR code to pay, while the other took out her phone and snapped several photos of Zhang Peng's night market stall. The two then turned and left with smiles on their faces.

Watching the two young girls' backs as they walked away, Zhang Peng shook his head helplessly. It's good to be young; you can eat and drink without a care in the world, without worrying about the future or tomorrow. Even if you feel lost at times, a meal and a drink will pass, and it will be a new day.

Who hasn't been that age before?

Sure enough, after those two girls left, his business was once again embarrassingly empty. It was almost time for late-night snacks, but his business was still nearly deserted. There used to be an old lady selling stinky tofu nearby, but seeing how badly Zhang Peng's business was doing, she pushed her cart and ran away.

Looking at the central area 200 meters away, where other late-night snack vendors were doing booming business, Zhang Peng felt a little envious. However, he decided to stick to his principles. He picked up a rag and wiped the kitchen utensils. He checked the time; it was already 10:30.

Just then, a dirty young man pushed a tricycle and stopped at Zhang Peng's stall. The young man was selling grilled gluten, and there were dozens of skewers of gluten that were almost cold on a small grill.

Zhang Peng felt a bit nauseous at the sight of the ingredients, but he was still quite happy that a fellow traveler had come. He smiled, took out a cigarette, and offered one to the traveler.

The young man yawned, smiled, took the lighter, and quickly lit it for Zhang Peng.

Looking at the young man, Zhang Peng noticed he seemed quite sensible and couldn't help but ask him a question out of curiosity.

"Hey bro, why are you setting up your stall so late?"

The young man took a satisfying drag on his cigarette and forced a smile as he spoke.

"Dude, what can I do? I'm working two jobs a day now, and this grilled gluten is my third. I only sell it for two hours a day, but I can still make a little money!"

"We're in the same boat," Zhang Peng asked with a smile.

"Dude, your wife's pregnant too?"

The young man rolled his eyes at Zhang Peng and said awkwardly.

"Dude, what are you thinking? Look at me dressed like this, do I look like someone with a girlfriend? I'm paying over 10,000 yuan a month in online loans and credit card bills combined. I'm living beyond my means, but I have no choice, I'm forced into this situation!"

"What are you doing? You owe so much money."

The young man scratched his head sheepishly, flicked the dirt off his fingernails, and said with a smile.

"Gambling debts, buddy. Let me tell you, when I was at my peak last year, I won over 100,000 in one night. During that time, I stayed at a spa for a month. My buddy's services started at 588, and he got full service every day."

But luck is fickle. Last year, I lost over 300,000 yuan in just a few days, and now I owe over 100,000 yuan in online loans and credit card debt. It's all because of this. I have no choice. Dude, have another one. I can't even afford a 6.5 yuan coconut now. Damn it, coconuts used to only cost 4.5 yuan. Everything's gone up in price, damn it!

The young man grumbled as he accepted the cigarette Zhang Peng offered, then quickly thanked him with a smile.

Zhang Peng shook his head helplessly. This young man is a typical example of some young migrant workers today. When he has money, he goes to clubs every day. When he has no money, he can't even afford to smoke cigarettes when the price of cigarettes increases by one yuan. That's life!

The young man was bragging when he saw two men and two women walking towards him from a distance. He immediately stopped chatting and waited with a smile for business to come to him.

A few young people passed by the young man's gluten stall, glanced at it, and quickened their pace to Zhang Peng's stall with some disdain. After looking at the signboard, they nodded and said to Zhang Peng.

"Boss, five servings of fried noodles and three servings of fried rice, all to go. Two servings of fried noodles, and three servings without chili. One serving of fried rice, and two servings without chili!"

Zhang Peng nodded, smiling as he fired the gun and replied.

"okay!"

Chapter 189: A False Alarm

After Zhang Peng had been busy packing and tidying up for a while, he finally got it done. He collected 0 yuan from everyone, and they scanned the code and left, leaving the scene in an awkward empty state once again.

However, Zhang Peng was quite satisfied with the fact that they had already sold ten portions today. After all, the beginning is always the hardest!

The young man selling grilled gluten across the street kept staring at Zhang Peng's rice noodles, looking like he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Seeing that no one was around, Zhang Peng offered him a cigarette. The young man smiled and took it, lit it, took a puff, then looked at Zhang Peng and asked somewhat embarrassedly.

"Dude, did you used to work in a hotel? Your stir-fried noodles look pretty high-end!"

Zhang Peng shook his head and said helplessly.

"I'm just a cook who makes a living by cooking in large batches, but I have some family-inherited skills, just enough to make a living!"

The young man nodded and gave Zhang Peng a thumbs-up.

"Dude, to be honest, the smell of this makes my mouth water. I wonder what it tastes like. It's a pity the price is a bit high, otherwise business would definitely be booming!"