It was expected that Yuan Xin would bargain, and Xia Qingqing had already discussed the price with him.

Song Ze casually quoted a wholesale price: "1.8 yuan for 50 bottles or more, 1.7 yuan for 100 bottles or more."

"I bet you'd planned this all along, hadn't you?" Yuan Xin said with a laugh, playfully punching Song Ze.

He had barely finished speaking when Song Ze started making an offer; wasn't that exactly what he was waiting for?

Yuan Xin didn't hesitate and readily said, "Then give me 50 bottles to start, and I'll add more if they sell well."

Song Ze earnestly advised, "Making this sauce takes a lot of time. It might take more than a week to get the goods. Why don't you just order 100 bottles? I'll ship them to you in two batches, one week apart. Trust me, I'll definitely be able to sell them."

Xia Qing had prepared 100 bottles. Although the ingredients needed to make this chili sauce were not difficult to obtain, making too many would attract attention. She just wanted her family to make a fortune quietly and did not want to be targeted by people with ulterior motives because of this.

Yuan Xin thought about it and felt that Song Ze's words made sense, so he gritted his teeth and said, "Then give me 100 bottles."

If you do the math, buying 100 bottles directly will save you 10 yuan. Don't underestimate that 10 yuan; it's enough for him to buy a lot of things.

“Okay, pay me first,” Song Ze said, reaching out to Yuan Xin for money.

Yuan Xin also knew to pull out five ten-yuan bills from his pocket: "This is the deposit. You can pay the balance after you receive the goods."

He didn't ask Song Ze to write him a receipt or anything. They were brothers, so he trusted Song Ze. There was no reason for Song Ze to cheat him out of a few dozen yuan.

After finalizing the deal, Song Ze happily reported the good news to Xia Qingqing.

"Aze is great~", Xia Qingqing patted his head as a reward.

Song Ze rubbed her palm and said shyly, "Qingqing, could you say a good word for me with Uncle Xia and the others?"

He was going to marry Qingqing eventually, so it was essential for him to make a good impression on his future in-laws.

Xia Qingqing readily agreed: "No problem, I'll definitely praise you to my parents."

The goods were needed urgently this time, so Xia Qingqing simply sent a telegram home.

Because she couldn't reveal information about her business dealings, her telegrams were sent with extreme secrecy:

[One hundred servings of sauce, twice a week]

Such vague language is generally difficult for the average person to understand.

Zhang Hongyan was also stunned for a long time after receiving the telegram. Fortunately, she had the experience from last time and figured out the meaning of the telegram by guessing.

Xia Heping didn't understand, so he honestly asked Zhang Hongyan for help: "Wife, what does our daughter mean by this?"

Zhang Hongyan explained to him, "The sauce means small fish chili sauce, and 'one hundred' should mean one hundred bottles. 'Two times' means it will be sent in two batches, with a week in between. So we can make 50 bottles at a time."

After hearing this, Xia Heping suddenly realized and scratched the back of his head: "Wife, you are so smart. Marrying you is truly my blessing."

Xia Heping's lips trembled: "100 bottles, that's 200 yuan! We can't earn that much even if we dig in the fields for a year. Qingqing just easily earned it for us at school."

“That’s right, our daughter is a college student, she’ll be working in an office in the future, she’s very capable,” Zhang Hongyan said with pride.

The two were still a little worried that they might not be able to sell all the sauce they made, but they trusted Xia Qingqing and decided to do as she said.

Making so many bottles of chili sauce would definitely not be enough, so Xia Heping secretly went to a food factory and bought more than a hundred glass bottles. Each bottle cost 10 cents, which would amount to more than 10 yuan.

The 30 bottles of chili sauce from last time had almost used up all the oil, salt, and seasonings at home. The supply and marketing cooperative didn't have enough coupons to buy more, so Xia Heping could only go to find Xiao Hui at the address Xia Qingqing had given him.

Xiao Hui was taken aback when he saw Xia Heping, and asked in an unfriendly tone, "Who are you looking for?"

Xia Heping looked at Xiao Hui somewhat awkwardly: "Um, you must be the Brother Hui that Qingqing mentioned. I'm Xia Qingqing's father. I'd like to buy something from you."

Upon hearing that the person opposite him was Xia Qingqing's father, Xiao Hui's expressionless face immediately brightened up: "Oh, it's Uncle Xia! Please come in, please come in. What do you want to buy this time?"

"I'd like to buy 10 jin of oil and 20 jin of salt. Is that convenient for you?" Xia Heping followed Xiao Hui into the yard.

Xiao Hui readily agreed: "No problem. Do you want anything else? I have everything here."

Xia Heping thought that it was not easy for him to come all this way, so he bought some other useful things. These things were not easy to find in the supply and marketing cooperative, so he picked out a few more because it was a rare opportunity.

"It'll be 38 yuan and 3 mao in total. You can just give me 38 yuan," Xiao Hui readily gave him the change.

Xia Heping, who was initially feeling a bit reluctant to spend the money, immediately paid happily when he heard that he had been given zero. 30 cents was a lot; it could buy another pound of salt.

You should know that when you buy things at a supply and marketing cooperative, they will never give you a discount; they won't give you a single penny less.

Xiao Hui wasn't stupid. He guessed that Xia Heping must have other uses for buying so many things at once. Thinking of Xia Qingqing's generous spending habits, he immediately had an idea.

"Uncle Xia, Comrade Xia Qingqing and I are old friends, so I won't stand on ceremony with you."

"What kind of business are you looking for? I have some connections, do you need my help?"

Although Xia Heping had an advantage in age, he ultimately suffered from his lack of worldly experience. Moreover, the other party was a friend that Xia Qingqing herself acknowledged, so it wasn't long before Xiao Hui managed to get the information out of him.

A glint of light flashed in Xiao Hui's eyes, and he said with a smile, "This chili sauce sounds pretty good. Uncle Xia, would it be convenient for me to buy two bottles? I'd like to try it too."

He planned to try it himself and, if the taste was really good, he would also buy a batch from the Xia family to sell.

Xia Heping had no reason to refuse and readily agreed.

During the day, Xia Heping and his wife both had to work, and they couldn't stay in the river fishing all the time. So Zhang Hongyan came up with a solution: she asked Gou Dan to gather a group of children to help catch fish, and then exchanged them for candy.

The village children who didn't go to school used to like catching small fish and shrimp in the river to play with when they had nothing to do. Now that they heard that the useless fish and shrimp could be exchanged for candy, they became even more excited.

After work each day, Xia Heping would also take time to catch small fish in the river, and soon he had enough fish and shrimp for 50 bottles of chili sauce.

The amount of chili peppers needed was too large, so Zhang Hongyan asked her relatives and friends to exchange money for them. She would exchange a few kilograms with one family and a few kilograms with another. Because those families made money, no one would deliberately publicize it.