Chapter 170: The Idea of Opening a Chain

The person running the stall was a young man, and the spot he had chosen was precisely where Xia Yan had set up her stall yesterday. It seemed she had been targeted by this fellow since yesterday.

While busy with his work, this person did not forget to cast a couple of glances at Xia Yan, seemingly recognizing her, his eyes full of provocation.

"Young man, your tea eggs smell a bit different from yesterday's. Are you with the young woman who was selling them here yesterday?" A middle-aged woman bought three tea eggs. She had bought them from Xia Yan yesterday to give to her children at home, and as soon as the two kids ate them, they clamored for more.

So, early this morning, she had come straight over to buy some tea eggs.

Only, after taking the tea eggs in her hand today and giving them a sniff, the scent was somewhat different from what she had bought yesterday.

"Of course, Auntie, I guarantee we're from the same family. The one who set up the stall yesterday was my younger sister; she's resting today so I came in her place."

The young man spoke without turning red or skipping a beat.

The woman didn't harbor any suspicion either, after all, there was no one else selling tea eggs in this vegetable market, so she figured they must be a family.

"You're lying! My mom is not your sister!"

Just as Xia Yan was thinking this, her eldest son dashed over from somewhere, pointed at the young man selling tea eggs, and shouted loudly.

Startled, the young man hurried to shoo Lin Hongzhe away: "Where did this wild brat come from, talking nonsense here? Don't block my way and interfere with my business! Scram, scram."

"You're the wild brat! Grandma, this person is a fake!" Lin Hongzhe turned around and said to the woman who had just bought the tea eggs.

The woman who had just bought the tea eggs was holding four jiao in her hand, getting ready to give it to the young man. Now, hearing what young Lin Hongzhe had said, she immediately put the money back into her pocket: "I was wondering why the smell didn't seem right, turns out it's a fake. You young people are completely dishonest in business, these tea eggs must be made with unscrupulous tea leaves too!"

With that, she directly dumped the three tea eggs back into the pot. Most of the onlookers around had come specifically for Xia Yan, while a portion were newcomers who, hearing everyone praise how good the tea eggs tasted, had joined the queue as well.

At this moment, a few more people walked over: "Boss, these tea eggs of yours are just plain boiled eggs with zero flavor at all! They're completely different from yesterday's!"

As soon as these words were spoken, they further verified what Lin Hongzhe had just said.

Now it was abundantly clear who had been lying.

Only then did the young man selling eggs fall into a complete panic. He was the son of Li Biao, the spice vendor. Yesterday, seeing how lucrative Xia Yan's tea egg business was, Li Biao had been tempted.

He clearly remembered the spices Xia Yan had bought from him, figuring that using the exact same ingredients wouldn't result in a subpar taste.

He had simply wanted his son, Li Hu, to get in on this profitable business as well.

Never did he expect to run into such a situation on their very first day setting up the stall.

What he didn't know was that his son Li Hu had been lazy, failing to boil the tea eggs for long enough, so that only the surface had taken on some color while the flavor hadn't penetrated at all.

While the appearance was similar, the taste was worlds apart.

Realizing the situation was turning south, Li Hu hurriedly started packing up his stall: "We're not doing business today!"

"Refund us for the tea eggs we bought here!"

"Give us our money back!"

Li Hu was instantly surrounded by a group of market-going women, unable to break through.

By this time, Lin Hongzhe had already returned to Xia Yan's side with a beaming smile. That guy had the nerve to copy the tea egg business, and on top of that, he even used his mother's name—completely unforgivable!

At this point, quite a few people had come over to watch the commotion, and in the crowd, Xia Yan spotted Sister Zhang, the egg vendor.

Her expression was shifty and unfocused, and it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

Today's little episode actually had its benefits; it served as an indirect warning to anyone attempting to copy her tea egg business: every chef has their own touch, and the flavor of her tea eggs wasn't something just anyone could imitate.

When she brought the children back home, it was already approaching noon.

Xia Yan shook her arms. When buying eggs, she had not only taken the thirty jin brought by Sister Zhang, but had also bought out all the remaining twenty-odd jin of eggs at her stall.

At that moment, Chen Qiumei came over, holding a bowl of steeped brown sugar water: "Yanyan, hurry up and drink some sugar water to warm up."

"Thanks, Mom. Xiaozhe, take a sip first."

"Mom, I'm not thirsty, you drink it."

Xia Yan smiled, picked up the bowl, and took a sip. In the past, she only ever drank brown sugar water during her period and usually avoided it, but tasting it now, she found it was actually quite sweet.

Chen Qiumei said, "You go rest, leave the afternoon's tea egg preparation to Mom."

Xia Yan nodded: "Mom, you've worked hard. I'll take a midday nap and then get up to help you."

Chen Qiumei looked at her with motherly affection: "You get a good rest, Mom will take care of these little things! Mom feels sorry for you."

In just a few days, Chen Qiumei noticed that Xia Yan seemed to have lost even more weight than before, which tugged heavily at her heartstrings.

"Mom, I'm fine, it's too tiring for you to handle so many eggs all by yourself."

With fifty jin of eggs this time, and the emergence of competitors today, Xia Yan decided to expand her coverage area and increase her output as well.

Her mother-in-law was already busy cooking and doing household chores every day, and now she had to help boil the tea eggs too—it was exhausting.

"Mom's body is in great shape, I can handle it!" Chen Qiumei replied with a smile, then turned and went to the kitchen to prepare lunch.

After lunch, Xia Yan went off to sleep.

Having woken up early, she really was quite drowsy. She slept all the way until three o'clock, waking up feeling completely energized.

After simply washing her face, she ran to the kitchen and saw Chen Qiumei sitting there tending the fire. She thought to herself that once she returned to the mountain, leaving her mother-in-law all by herself might genuinely be too much for one person to handle.

"Mom, why don't we hire someone to help?"

"Why would we hire someone? It's not like your mom can't manage." Chen Qiumei was stunned, not quite catching Xia Yan's drift, and besides, hiring people cost money; she could just work a little harder herself.

"I'm just worried about your health." Xia Yan lifted the pot lid and tasted the broth; the flavor was nearly identical to her own. Her mother-in-law learned culinary tasks remarkably fast.

"My health is just fine, plus we aren't familiar with anyone around here, where would we even hire someone from?" Chen Qiumei shook her head.

Hearing this, Xia Yan didn't press the matter further. Indeed, the elderly couple had just arrived, they didn't know many people here, and finding someone to help required absolute trust—if someone with ulterior motives managed to steal the recipe, she would simply be creating another competitor for herself.

At this thought, Xia Yan suddenly hit upon a brilliant idea: once her tea eggs had built a solid reputation, she could open a chain operation. Anyone wanting to sell her family's tea eggs could become a franchisee, and she could handle daily deliveries of the tea eggs. That way, she wouldn't have to sell them herself, and the business could grow even larger.

Of course, all of that was for the future; right now, she still needed to develop some new breakfast items, such as sandwiches, meat buns...

What should she name the brand, though?

She would discuss this matter with her husband tonight.

As evening approached, Xia Yan took her younger son and set out promptly to the vegetable market, determined to reclaim the reputation she had worked so hard to build.