Reborn in the 80s: Everyone Falls For Me-Chapter 246 - 245: Rival (2nd Update)

It was all crooked and skewed, but at least every stroke was clear enough for her to make out what he was writing.

Xu Niannian flipped through a few pages, the daily income of the shop had now basically stabilized at around two hundred yuan.

That was a rather considerable income, even a bit horrifying, one might say.

Considering she was running a small business, such sales could only be explained by an excessively large purchase quantity.

The situation of making around 200 yuan a day had already been going on for ten days.

As time went on, the reputation of Butter Noodle in Nancheng County was also quite good.

However, the scale of the shop was not that big, and it had already reached its peak.

In the eyes of others, Xu Niannian was almost rich enough to oil the wheels.

Only Xu Niannian herself was still not satisfied.

Of course, her dissatisfaction merely meant she hoped to do even better.

At this moment, a woman, looking to be in her twenties, entered the shop.

During the rush hour for meals, customers were coming and going in droves; Xu Niannian noticed her immediately because of the woman’s outstanding appearance.

At the age of twenty-five or twenty-six, her face was beautiful, not blatantly glamorous but a subtle and vibrant kind of beauty.

Xu Niannian only glanced at her for a moment, then looked away.

But the woman’s gaze toward her was a bit strange.

Just like Xu Niannian could notice her at first glance, she also saw Xu Niannian at first sight.

The woman caught a glimpse of Xu Niannian’s stunning beauty and a flash of amazement sparkled in her eyes, which vanished immediately afterward.

Just as she sat down, Xu Sisi came over to ask her if she wanted noodles or vermicelli.

Zhao Pang, with a bowl of vermicelli in hand, placed it before customer number 23, spied the woman, and immediately scurried over to Xu Niannian, looking thief-like.

"Boss, boss, the person who wanted to steal our recipe is here."

Xu Niannian’s eyebrows twitched, but she didn’t turn around. Leaning on the counter, she casually asked, "Is it the beautiful woman at table number 17?"

Zhao Pang blurted out something completely off-topic, "Compared to you, boss, she’s far from your league, not on the same level at all."

Xu Niannian: "..."

It was bewildering to be flattered like that; that wasn’t what she asked.

Fortunately, Zhao Pang’s train of thought was still on track, and after delivering his vibrant flattery, he got serious immediately, "Yes, that woman. She always asks me some questions, all weird and unsettling, always feels like she’s probing for our shop’s secret recipe."

"You’re that sharp? You can actually tell someone’s probing for our secret?" Xu Niannian asked Zhao Pang with a laugh.

Zhao Pang immediately felt like his intelligence was being insulted.

"Boss, that’s a bit too much, why wouldn’t I be able to tell? Plus, she comes every day, even twice a day. We have many regulars, but none of them come report in punctually every day. She’s been eating here for almost a week now; even if the food is delicious, wouldn’t she be tired of it by now?"

"Zhao Pang, stop slacking off and come help," Xu Sisi called out, overwhelmed with work, holding a little notebook to jot down the table numbers and whether the customers ordered noodles or vermicelli. She was the only one keeping track, and other customers were calling out, leaving her frantic with busyness.

Xu Niannian quickly said to Zhao Pang, "You’re being called, go help out quickly, and don’t worry about the rest."

Watching the thriving business in the shop, Xu Zhiqiang’s smile never left his face.

He said to Xu Niannian with a smile, "Sister, our business is getting better and better."

Xu Niannian nodded, "Yes, that’s why you need to hurry up and learn, to recognize all the characters you need to, being uneducated can be very disadvantageous."

Xu Zhiqiang didn’t understand the deeper meaning in Xu Niannian’s words, thinking that Xu Niannian just wanted him to learn more characters to help with bookkeeping.

For Xu Zhiqiang, being clothed and fed was already equivalent to happiness.

Now that he could have delicious rice every meal, and his sister occasionally made him a new set of clothes, Xu Zhiqiang was particularly content.

Xu Niannian was paying wages to the other workers but hadn’t paid him, and he didn’t mind, not even thinking about getting a wage at all.

In his eyes, they were all family; he didn’t care about such things.

And since Xu Niannian was increasingly kind to him, and his two younger brothers were able to go to school in town.

Because Xu Niannian was good to them, even if their parents still favored Xu Niannian the most, the brothers didn’t mind at all.

They even thought it was only natural for their parents to treat the only daughter in the family a bit better.

If this had been before, Xu Zhiqiang wouldn’t have dared to think he could harbor such decadent thoughts.

What Xu Zhiqiang was thinking, Xu Niannian of course didn’t know; her attention was now on the woman Zhao Pang had mentioned.

Compared to the other customers, she ate much more slowly.

Not as if she was eating to satisfy hunger, but as if she was tasting.

Xu Niannian knew without thinking what was being savored.

The flavor...

She was tasting her Butter Sauce to determine which ingredients she had used.

Zhao Pang had mentioned that this person had made contact with the proprietress of the restaurant across the street, the one that used to do the best business.

Originally, the most successful restaurant on Daxing Street was the one across the street, but since Xu Niannian’s shop opened, its business had declined.

Most of the customers had flocked to Xu Niannian’s place.

After tasting the Butter Noodles for nearly a week, Du Wenwen finally guessed the recipe and planned to try it out when she returned.

Du Wenwen was very confident in her cooking skills and had no doubts, certain that she could identify the seasonings in a dish after tasting it just once.

For those who frequently cooked, knowing the seasonings used, pondering over the cooking method was not difficult.

The Butter Noodles from this shop were the first dish that required her to spend such a long time to discern.

These days, she had not only sought out the secret recipe but also managed to gather some information from the staff.

The secret to their Butter Noodles was not only the Butter Sauce but also a specially prepared broth.

But whether it was the special broth or the Butter Sauce, they were both personally mixed and made by the owner, and the staff had little opportunity to handle them.

Otherwise, Du Wenwen would have already directly bribed one of the employees inside.

That would have spared her all this trouble.

It must be said that the owner was very clever indeed.

This was the first time Du Wenwen had seen Xu Niannian, and at just a glance, Du Wenwen knew she was the proprietor who, according to the customers, was more beautiful than Xi Shi.

As a woman, she was stunned by Niannian’s beauty from the very first look.

However, that was not her main objective.

Her main goal now was to replicate the Butter Sauce and the secret broth to boost her own business.

When it was time to pay the bill, it was Xu Niannian who took the money.

Xu Niannian could clearly see the challenge in Du Wenwen’s eyes, but she didn’t mind.

She still greeted her with a smile.

"Your change," Xu Niannian handed Du Wenwen the change.

After taking it, Du Wenwen said to Xu Niannian, "Your food is quite delicious."

"Thank you, I think so too," Xu Niannian’s smile became even more radiant and bright.

Du Wenwen was momentarily choked up, not expecting someone to be so immodest.

"You should have heard from your staff that I came to your shop to spy on the secret of your Butter Sauce," she said bluntly.

Du Wenwen had seen the secret whispers between Zhao Pang and Xu Niannian.

It was no surprise.

Xu Niannian, on the other hand, hadn’t expected her to be so forthright and simply replied, "So, have you figured it out?"

"I haven’t figured it out," Du Wenwen’s eyes shone with confidence, "but I’ve tasted all the seasonings. Your shop’s business won’t keep up forever."

Having said that, Du Wenwen left without giving Xu Niannian a chance to reply, taking the money with her.

The next day, Xu Niannian once again came to the shop.

At lunchtime, the restaurant across the street suddenly began setting off firecrackers.

At that time, there was no prohibition against firecrackers in the county.

The sudden explosion startled Xu Niannian, but she didn’t pay it much attention, assuming it was a grand opening for someone.

About ten minutes past the lunchtime peak, only a few scattered customers came in.

Xu Niannian felt surprised and had an idea of what was happening.

Indeed, Zhao Pang had inquired with the few customers in the shop.

The customers directly told Xu Niannian that the restaurant across the street had changed its name to Butter Noodle House.

They were also selling Butter Noodles and were supposedly reopening today, selling them for just thirty cents a bowl.

All the workers from the nearby factories had rushed over there.

Before Xu Niannian opened her shop, the business of the opposite restaurant had always been the best.

This indicated that their food was definitely delicious, and now, suddenly opening a Butter Noodle House with prices two dimes cheaper than Niannian’s shop, it was inevitable that everyone would scramble over there.

The few customers in the shop even said that if it wasn’t for the fact that the place was too crowded to find a seat, they would have gone over to join in the excitement too.

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