Chapter 1903

Of course, Chongjin County town was not big, just like the previous Shangjun County town. There was only one main road, and there were a few cross streets next to it. Su Xinghui estimated that he could turn around Chongjin County town in less than half an hour.

Su Xinghui walked for a while and saw heat rising from a cross street, so he turned in. It was a snack shop, so Su Xinghui went in and found a clean table to sit down.

The shop owner was a kind-looking old lady, about sixty years old. She asked, "Young man, what would you like to eat?"

She spoke in the local dialect of Chongjin. Su Xinghui could barely understand it. After all, the opposite side was Hudong Province, and the dialect was similar to the dialect of Hudong Province. Su Xinghui asked in Mandarin, "Auntie, what delicious food do you have here?"

Hearing that Su Xinghui spoke Mandarin, she also said in not very standard Mandarin, "Young man, are you from out of town?"

Su Xinghui nodded and said, "Yes, Auntie, I am from Hudong."

The old lady nodded and said, "Oh, that's not far. If you want to talk about delicious food here, there are silver fish noodles, rice dumplings, egg paste, lotus root balls. If you want to eat rice, there is also. I will stir-fry two small dishes for you. The fish here is delicious."

Su Xinghui thought for a moment and said, "Auntie, then you give me a bowl of silver fish noodles and a plate of rice dumplings."

The old lady said, "Young man, can you finish so much? The portion here is quite large."

Su Xinghui smiled and said, "Auntie, don't worry, I can finish it."

Su Xinghui had a good body and a large appetite. He believed he could finish these things.

The old lady nodded and got busy. Su Xinghui walked curiously to the old lady's side to see how she made these two snacks.

Silver fish noodles were made on the spot. The old lady ground the silver fish into powder, mixed it with flour, and then rolled it into very thin noodles, put it into boiling water, and fished it out in less than two minutes, put it into a large bowl, poured a ladle of bone soup, and poured a spoonful of meat sauce.

Although the old lady was not young, her movements were very nimble. She spent about five minutes making this bowl of noodles. She brought this bowl of noodles to the table where Su Xinghui had sat. Su Xinghui said, "The portion here is really large."

This large bowl of noodles was indeed enough. An ordinary strong man would have enough with this bowl.

The old lady smiled and said, "Then do you still want rice dumplings?"

Su Xinghui nodded and said, "Yes."

The old lady shook her head. Clearly, she felt that Su Xinghui couldn't finish so much. But since Su Xinghui insisted, she could only take a cage of rice dumplings from a steamer, put it on Su Xinghui's table and said, "Young man, eat as much as you can. Auntie won't count the money for what you can't finish."

Su Xinghui nodded and ate the bowl of silver fish noodles. This silver fish noodle was added with silver fish meat powder, bone soup, and daylily stir-fried meat sauce. The taste was delicious, and Su Xinghui nodded repeatedly while eating.

Seeing Su Xinghui eating deliciously, the old lady smiled.

Su Xinghui picked up a rice dumpling and put it into his mouth. This rice dumpling looked similar to ordinary dumplings, but the dumpling skin was made of rice flour, the taste was more delicate, and it was whiter than dumplings wrapped in flour. After eating, Su Xinghui nodded and praised repeatedly.

After a while, Su Xinghui swept away the bowl of noodles and the cage of dumplings cleanly. The old lady couldn't help but click her tongue and said, "Young man, you can really eat. Are you full?"

Su Xinghui stroked his belly and smiled, "Auntie, I'm full. The things here are really delicious. How much money?"

The old lady said, "A bowl of noodles is five yuan, a cage of dumplings is three yuan, a total of eight yuan."

Su Xinghui took out ten yuan and handed it to the old lady, saying, "Auntie, this is ten yuan, don't look for it."

The old lady said, "How can that be?"

Su Xinghui said, "The price here is already low, and it's not much money, so don't look for it."

Seeing Su Xinghui insist, the old lady said, "Then you come to Auntie's place to eat next time, and I will record these two yuan for you."

Su Xinghui nodded noncommittally. He asked, "Auntie, why don't many people come to your shop? Your snacks are so delicious."

It was not yet one o'clock now. If it were in places like Shangjun County and Changshan County, all restaurants, wine houses, and snack shops would definitely be doing great business at this time. But the things in this shop were so delicious, yet there were no people, which made Su Xinghui a bit strange.

The old lady sighed and said, "Sigh, business is not easy to do. There are not many people in Chongjin County who are willing to eat outside. I only have a little business around twelve o'clock. Now there is no business, I can only wait for the afternoon business."

Su Xinghui could understand. The overall economy of Chongjin County was not very good, so their business would definitely not be very good. He asked, "Auntie, then how many years have you opened this snack shop?"

The old lady said, "It's only been half a year. If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn't have opened it."

Su Xinghui said, "You are so old, why did you come out to open a shop?"

The old lady said, "Sigh, my son, daughter-in-law, daughter, and son-in-law have all been laid off, and now they can't find any decent work. My old man drank and had a stroke last year. Now he can barely take care of himself. What can I do if I don't come out to earn some money? My craftsmanship in making these snacks is quite good, so I opened this shop."

Su Xinghui said, "Auntie, don't you and Uncle have retirement wages?"

The old lady shook her head and said, "The original units are not prosperous now. The old man's factory closed down. I was originally from a state-run store. Now even the wages of formal employees cannot be paid. Our retirement wages are also one day without another."

Su Xinghui nodded thoughtfully. Now such a situation is indeed too common.

The old lady said, "Young man, are you here to play? Every autumn, some people come to the lake here to watch birds. I don't understand, what is good about those birds? But in a few days, there will be more people coming here, and my business might be better."

Yanglan Lake is a large lake. Every autumn, more and more birds fly over from the north to spend the winter, such as white swans, wild geese, white cranes, storks, wild ducks, etc. This is a very beautiful landscape. Therefore, it attracts many bird-watching enthusiasts every year.

Of course, this landscape is commonplace in the eyes of the old lady who is used to it. Moreover, she is worried about how to survive all day long. How can she understand the leisure of those bird watchers? She must think in her heart that these bird watchers have nothing to do.

Of course, the arrival of these bird watchers will bring some business to the old lady, which makes her unable to speak ill of them.

Su Xinghui smiled and said, "Auntie, I am here to work."

The old lady looked at Su Xinghui up and down and asked, "Then you must be a university graduate assigned here, right? Where do you work?"

Su Xinghui said, "I work in the county government."