The Supporting Female Character Refuses to be Cannon Fodder Chapter 31

Wu Shi and Zhou Yue were not foolish; all of them were willing to endure hardships. By the fourth day, Zhou Yue had mastered making sponge cakes, which made Lin Shi exclaim that she had found a treasure.

Unexpectedly, this young girl was quite skilled at making dim sum. Zhou Yue was so praised by Lin Shi and Mama Li that she became shy, not knowing where to put her hands and feet. Seeing her discomfort, Jiang Chan came to her aid.

“The sponge cakes are well made, now it’s time to learn other dim sums. Today we will make red bean cakes…”

Three days after Jiang Miao left to take his exams, Jiang Chan’s dim sum shop finally opened. Wu Shi and Zhou Yue were now able to make these dim sums independently, and Jiang Chan’s shop had the right staff.

Jiang Sen was very supportive of Jiang Chan opening her own shop, and to show his support, he even asked the head of his academy to provide a calligraphy piece. Jiang Chan named her shop simply: Jiang’s Dim Sums.

The main specialty of Jiang’s Dim Sums was sponge cakes. Wu Shi, who had a delicate mind, even created a jujube-flavored version. These sponge cakes came in two flavors: original and jujube.

The other offerings included red bean cakes, mung bean cakes, fried dough twist, steamed sponge cake, rice cakes, and jelly cakes. Altogether, Jiang’s Dim Sums offered eight types of dim sums.

Wu Shi and Zhou Yue, wearing clean work clothes, continuously carried dim sums from the back yard to the front shop. Jiang Chan sat deep inside the shop, watching Zhou Shan serve the customers.

For the first three days after opening, Jiang Chan adopted a half-price strategy, and the small dim sum shop was bustling. The aroma of the sponge cakes was so compelling it drew in many children who clamored eagerly to taste them.

Unable to resist their children, parents came in and found the half-price deal reasonable, spending a few coins to try something new. Zhou Shan was busy greeting customers and explaining the types of dim sum, hardly able to catch his breath.

Zhou Xing simply went up to help Zhou Shan greet customers. Though young, Zhou Xing spoke very cleverly. From the ingredients of the dim sums to the craftsmanship, she praised them to the skies.

Thanks to her, the business in the shop improved even further. Within an hour, all the prepared dim sum were sold out, indicating strong consumer demand.

Jiang Chan only planned to make a limited quantity of sponge cakes each day; they were time-consuming and labor-intensive to make, and just relying on Wu Shi and Zhou Yue, they couldn’t make many.

She looked at the clean dim sum counter, her expression softened. “Since everything’s sold out, Aunt Zhou and Zhou Yue should rest a bit, just tidy up the shop, and that’s all for now.”

Wu Shi rubbed her shoulders and sat down on a nearby stool: “Miss, how many dim sums shall we make from now on?”

“These first three days, people came for the half-price deal, so there were many customers. After these three days, discuss with Uncle Zhou how many dim sums to make each day.”

Jiang Chan picked up a red bean cake from a plate beside her, taking a bite. This red bean cake was different from traditional ones, filled with honeyed red beans and a crispy outer layer that was sweet inside.

“Ah, it’s a pity the shop only makes sweet dim sums. It would be nice to make some savory ones,” Jiang Chan sighed, “We’ll slowly develop new varieties later.”

“Miss, can dim sums also be savory?” Wu Shi was hearing this for the first time, and Zhou Yue also looked at Jiang Chan curiously. The young lady wasn’t very talkative, but she was patient and thoughtful about dim sum.

“Of course, there are both sweet and savory soy milks, and the same goes for dim sum. Savory dim sums are usually cakes, like pork floss pies, beef pies, jade-green shaomai, and so on.”

“It’s just that these dim sums don’t really match the products in our shop, so we can only make them for our own consumption.” Jiang Chan sighed regretfully, especially missing Aunt Mo’s beef cakes, which had thin skins and tender fillings, bursting with hot, flavorful juice.

In this era, beef was strictly controlled, but using pork was also fine. Jiang Chan pursed her lips, realizing she had become rather indulgent in this era.

Previously, she never had the appetite to ponder food. Now, after living in Jiang Sen’s house for a month, she had developed quite the taste for it.

“Let’s clean up the shop and head back, then we can make pork pies at home.” Hearing about a new recipe, both Zhou Yue and Zhou Xing’s eyes lit up; Zhou Yue was curious, while Zhou Xing was simply greedy.

This clever girl loved to eat, and she could eat a lot of the dim sums made by her sister, Zhou Yue. Despite eating so much, she remained slim.

Recently, the complexion of Zhou Shan and others had improved a lot compared to when they first arrived, looking haggard and thin. Zhou Yue had become much fairer, now quite a pretty young lady.

Just as they were about to close the shop, the old shopkeeper from the opposite Mingyue Tower came over. How he heard about Jiang Chan opening a dim sum shop was a mystery, so he had come over right after opening that morning and casually took away a plate of sponge cakes.

“Xiao Chan, closing for the day?”

Jiang Chan, familiar with him, replied, “Yes, everything’s sold out, might as well head back early to rest. This morning, Aunt Zhou and Zhou Yue are quite tired.”

“Could you supply some dim sum to our Mingyue Tower? The flavors are excellent, and it would be nice for customers to enjoy some while drinking tea.”

The old shopkeeper was moved to tears discussing this; he hadn’t even had a chance to try two pieces before the guests divided them among themselves, even the chef managed to get a piece.

Anything from Jiang Chan’s hands was good, including these dim sum. The old shopkeeper relished them, the soft sponge cakes perfectly suiting the elderly.

As they also needed to buy dim sum for the Tower daily, he thought it better to form a good relationship with Jiang Chan and buy directly from her. Now, the old shopkeeper was here to discuss this matter with Jiang Chan.

Jiang Chan gestured to Zhou Shan: “This is Zhou Shan, the shopkeeper of our shop. Old shopkeeper, why don’t you discuss with him?”

She preferred not to interfere in such matters, leaving it to Zhou Shan, as it was just a matter of delivery. The two establishments were across the street from each other, so it would be easy to send someone to pick them up.

“Old Shopkeeper, sponge cakes are tricky to make, we can’t supply many in a day. Look, the shop also has other dim sums that are good with tea…”

Seeing that Zhou Shan and the old shopkeeper would take a while to finish their discussion, Jiang Chan and Wu Shi prepared to return to the Jiang household, letting Zhou Shan come back on his own after finishing up. But before leaving, they still needed to buy ingredients for the pork pies they planned to make for lunch.