Chapter 241: Chapter 238: I’ll Call You That When No One Is Around

In no time, Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang each held a marriage certificate. Stamped with a serial number and a bright red seal, they looked a bit like award certificates.

Li Xiangyang, his eyes full of affection, gazed at the sweetly smiling Lin Lan. He took the certificate from her hand, placed it in his bag with his own, and said, “Wife, let’s go home.”

Lin Lan shot him a playful glare. “Don’t call me that in front of other people. They’ll laugh at us.”

In the countryside during the seventies and eighties, a marriage certificate held less weight than a wedding banquet. As long as you held a banquet, everyone considered you a proper husband and wife.

Li Xiangyang whispered, “As you command! I’ll only call you that when we’re alone.”

Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang returned to Lexing. They agreed to go to the provincial capital once Lin Yuezhen got back.

Li Xiangyang said to Lin Lan, “I’m going to go show the marriage certificates to my old man. Then I’ll find someone to frame our wedding photo so it doesn’t get creased.”

Lin Lan smiled. “After you get it framed, go see about the price of glass. To sell clothes, we’ll need hangers and display racks. To sell appliances, we’ll need counters and display cases.”

Li Xiangyang looked at her. “Should we model the counters and display cases after the ones in the department store?”

Lin Lan shook her head. “No. I once saw a type of display case and rack in one of my master’s magazines. The items inside looked incredibly bright. They also had wooden hangers that made the clothes hang straighter than the ones at the department store, so you could see the style at a glance.”

“Okay. Draw up a design, and I’ll come get it this afternoon.” With that, Li Xiangyang got on his bike and left.

Lin Lan had just finished rolling the bean-paste rolls and was starting on the pumpkin cakes when Yang Meihua arrived, carrying an enamel mug. “Lin Lan, here, try this. How do my fried potatoes taste?”

Lin Lan nodded, asking Qiaohui to watch the oven temperature. She handed a bean-paste roll to Yang Meihua. “Have one. They’re best when they’re fresh!”

“Alright!” Yang Meihua took the kidney bean roll and handed the enamel mug to Lin Lan.

Lin Lan took the enamel mug. Inside were several golden-brown fried potatoes, each slightly larger than a big tangyuan. They were sprinkled with some barbecue powder and smelled quite good.

She picked up a bamboo skewer from the mug, speared a potato, and took a bite. It was fried a little too soft for her liking; she preferred them just barely cooked through.

Lin Lan ate two and passed the mug to Qiaohui. “Qiaohui, have one. Give Meihua some feedback.”

Qiaohui smiled and shook her head. “I’m good at eating, not critiquing.”

Yang Meihua looked at Lin Lan. “So, what did you think?”

Seeing her nervous expression, Lin Lan smiled. “The flavor is good. Everyone has different tastes, so you can fry them according to the customer’s preference.”

Yang Meihua nodded. “Little Kai, Little Yun, and Xiang Hua all said they were delicious. I want to give it a try, but the hardest part right now is where to source the potatoes.”

“First, get your stove, iron wok, and rapeseed oil ready,” Lin Lan said after a moment’s thought. “You’ll also need to prepare Sichuan pepper salt, soybean powder, and five-spice powder.”

Yang Meihua looked at her, confused. “Is Sichuan pepper salt just made from chili peppers and salt?”

Lin Lan smiled and shook her head. “No, it’s made by toasting Sichuan peppercorns and salt. You put the peppercorns and salt in a wok at a three-to-one ratio and toast them over low heat for a few minutes. Then, you grind the fragrant peppercorns into a powder.”

“Then mix the ground pepper powder into the toasted salt, and that’s Sichuan pepper salt. It’s the soul of fried food. Without it, the flavor is really lacking.”

Yang Meihua sighed repeatedly. “Sigh… Watching you make pastries seemed so simple. Now that I’m trying to make fried potatoes myself, I realize how hard it is to make food. Even something like salt has so many details.”

Lin Lan laughed. “For those of us in the food business, if you want to keep customers, you have to be willing to use good, high-quality ingredients. Why else do they say you have to spend money to make money? It’s the same principle in business. A business that cuts corners won’t last long.”

“I’ll listen to you,” Yang Meihua said with a smile. “Xiang Hua and I went to check out the area by the vehicle factory and the silk mill today. We found a spot. Once I get everything ready, I’ll go set up a stall and give it a try.”

Lin Lan smiled and nodded. “Great. I wish you immediate success.”

Yang Meihua got some paper and a pen from Lin Lan, jotted down the spice ratios, and left in high spirits.

Lin Lan finished frying the orchid beans while Qiaohui bagged them. She then took out the prepared pea paste and red bean paste and began making pea cakes and red bean cakes.

Just as she finished making the two types of bean cakes and drawing the designs, the Wang Zhixue brothers arrived.

Wang Zhixue pulled a stack of money from his pocket and handed it to Lin Lan. “Auntie, my mom asked me to bring you the money for the soybeans.”

“Okay.” Lin Lan took the money and had the brothers load the pastries and orchid beans into their baskets. She said to them, “I heard from Xiangyang that the black market is going to be shut down at the end of the month. You should start planning where you’re going to set up your stall.”

Wang Zhixue thought for a moment, then looked at Lin Lan. “Auntie, we’ve already checked out the wet market. We plan to rent two stalls there.”

Lin Lan nodded. “Good. If you’re not sure about it, ask Zhigang or Shuiqing to help you make some inquiries.”

“Got it. We’ll get going then,” Wang Zhixue said.

After Li Xiangyang arrived, Lin Lan gave him the designs for the counters and display cases. “The dashed lines are glass, and the solid lines are wood.”

After looking at them, Li Xiangyang noticed the length, width, and height of the counters Lin Lan had drawn were different from the ones at the department store. He smiled. “Little Lan, the counter you drew is wider and longer than the department store’s, but it’s only one meter high. Won’t that be too short?”

Lin Lan casually made something up. “No. I asked my master about it back then. He said that with a counter built to these dimensions, it’s more intuitive for customers to look at the goods inside.”

’These were the dimensions of the counter at the watch shop next to her old store. At the time, she had also thought it was too short, but the decorator told her it would work, and it did look great after the renovation was done.’

’In the future, all sorts of shops would have specialized renovation companies. A shop designed by a professional firm would have a more rational use of space and look even more magnificent.’

Li Xiangyang nodded. “Alright, I’ll take this and ask the carpenter.”

The two of them went to the Eucalyptus Forest. Lin Lan told Zhou Xiaohong that in a couple of days, after Lin Yuezhen returned, they would all go to the provincial capital together.

Zhou Xiaohong looked at her and smiled. “Great. After we check it out, if it’s really as good as Old Xu says, let’s go all out this time.”

Lin Lan smiled and nodded. “Okay. Let’s go see for ourselves first.”

「The next day, Lin Yuezhen and Brother Yong returned to Lexing.」

After Brother Yong left, Lin Yuezhen told Lin Lan, “Brother Yong’s brothers are no different from my brother and his wife. The moment we got back, they asked Brother Yong for money. When he said he didn’t have any, they just ignored him. We stayed at his paternal uncle’s house for the past two days. After paying respects to his parents, we got the necessary paperwork and came back.”

Lin Lan smiled. “Whether it’s his brothers or his uncles, if you get along well, then see them more often. If you don’t, then see them less in the future.”

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