Yun Ruoxia felt ashamed after being told this, and a rare blush appeared on her face. She thought she had learned a business skill, but found that she was not as insightful as eight-year-old Yun Ling. She secretly resolved to broaden her horizons and stop being so fixated on these petty gains.

"Ling-jie, please continue."

"Shiitake mushrooms have shiitake sauce, and mushrooms have mushroom oil. But this termite mushroom cannot be artificially cultivated. This characteristic alone is a good gimmick and a good selling point. Although the wealthy merchants in the city are not as rich as those near the capital, they are not as unsophisticated as we imagine. The difference between the two can be seen with just one taste."

"Moreover, this termite mushroom oil is just another storefront for Manager Zhou. The more high-ranking officials and nobles visit, the more likely it will leave an impression on the lower and middle classes. They can't afford termite mushroom oil, but they can buy the relatively cheaper black-skinned termite mushrooms."

"When the sales channels open up, and we have all the mushrooms... or, to put it another way, if Manager Zhou doesn't promote the black-skinned chicken mushroom but instead focuses on the shiitake mushroom sauce, then he'll have to buy a lot of shiitake mushrooms, and our mushrooms will naturally..."

Yun Ruoxia suddenly realized, and began to think about what to say when she encountered Manager Zhou.

Sitting to the side, Yun Chu looked at Yun Ling several times. She had always thought that her aunt, Yun Ruoxia, was the most shrewd in the family, always having a good plan. But now she felt that Yun Ling was the shrewdest one.

She calculated everything that others hadn't thought of or anticipated, without suffering any loss herself. But her parents weren't like that at all. Does doing business make one shrewd?

Yunling had no idea what Yun Chu thought of her. She was only thinking about her black-skinned chicken mushrooms. The next morning, she picked the mushrooms with mud on them, along with other mushrooms, and went into the city with Yun Shenghua and Yun Ruoxia.

Upon arriving at Shengfu Restaurant, Manager Zhou, as if sensing their presence, immediately rushed towards the black-skinned chicken mushrooms behind them. However, he quickly raised a question.

"Young lady, what is this? How strange, I've never seen this kind before?"

Yun Ruoxia said happily, "Of course the shopkeeper has never seen this before. This is unique to our family and is called black-skinned chicken mushroom. Although the taste is not as good as the wild one, it will definitely not disappoint you."

Manager Zhou picked up a mushroom and examined it closely. It was indeed similar to the unopened matsutake mushrooms he had seen before. Just as he was thinking about how to make it into a signature dish, Yun Ruoxia presented him with a small jar of something.

"Shopkeeper, these are purely wild."

"oh?"

Manager Zhou quickly put down the black-skinned chicken mushrooms he was holding, took the small jar from his hands. It was heavy. He weighed it slightly and then opened the lid. The aroma of chicken mushroom oil wafted into his nostrils. He had only smelled this aroma once before, in a restaurant in the capital. This was a treasure!

Manager Zhou was incredibly excited and immediately called someone forward: "Quickly send invitations to all the VIPs in the restaurant, tell them that there will be a banquet tomorrow night with rare dishes, and also a new product that is unique in the world. Hurry up and make sure you don't miss it."

Once the others had run far away, Manager Zhou realized that Yun Ruoxia and the others were still there. He said happily, "Young lady, I wonder how many of these treasures you have left? I want them all. Name your price."

Hearing the last sentence, "Name your price," Yun Ruoxia was incredibly smug. Unfortunately, even after picking all the termite mushrooms on the mountain, she and Yun Ling only had two baskets left. Making oil from them would yield even less. Now, with so many jars left, they only had one left at home, leaving them feeling powerless to continue.

“These wild ones are extremely rare. There’s only a tiny bit left at home. Since the shopkeeper is going to hold a banquet, I’ll ask my brother to bring them out tomorrow to help us out. We don’t have any more.”

Shopkeeper Zhou was overjoyed. He appreciated Yun Ruoxia's kindness, so he steered the conversation back to the black-skinned chicken mushrooms and asked:

"What price do you want to sell this black-skinned chicken mushroom for? Tell us and we can discuss it."

Yun Ruoxia wasn't sure either, but she figured the black-skinned chicken mushroom would be more expensive than the shiitake mushroom and black fungus, so she called out a price: "Thirty-eight coins per tael, this stuff is worth the price."

Shopkeeper Zhou gently rubbed his chin. He had his own calculations. Although this black-skinned chicken mushroom was unique, he had no idea how well its preparation would be accepted by the city's residents.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; at thirty-eight coins per tael, he could still afford it if things didn't go well, and he could always try to negotiate a lower price later.

After negotiating the price with Manager Zhou and counting out the copper coins, Yun Ruoxia and Yun Ling went to the Lu Family Trading Company. However, even Uncle Cao was not there today, so they had to leave the chicken mushroom oil behind. Yun Ruoxia felt quite regretful.

Within three days,

Mushroom oil noodles and shiitake mushroom sauce noodles have become incredibly popular throughout the county. People are now greeting each other with "Have you eaten?" instead of "Have you had noodles?"

Yunling and the others learned about this from Yun Shenghua.

It turned out that after the banquet at Shengfu Restaurant, the chicken mushroom oil won the hearts of those distinguished guests. Word spread quickly, and of course, this was also due to Manager Zhou spending money to have the children who often strolled on the street spread the word. Thus, the reputation was established, and people came one after another to inquire about it.

However, after glancing at the price, my attention quickly shifted to the new black-skinned chicken mushroom noodles. Because Manager Zhou intended to promote it again, he stipulated that the first fifty customers to arrive each day would enjoy a 50% discount, and if they gave a good review and promoted the store, they could get five coins free.

With that said, wouldn't it be a sin to not take advantage of such a good deal? So everyone started queuing at the door as soon as it was light. The person who was fifty-first in line was the most annoyed. He didn't know whether to leave or stay. Fortunately, Manager Zhou gave fresh mushroom soup to the people behind him, which relieved his frustration.

Because of the immense popularity of Shengfu Restaurant, other restaurants in the city started making mushroom sauce when they didn't have mushrooms, and small restaurants and stalls followed suit. As a result, two trends in mixed noodles swept through the city: one was mushroom oil noodles, and the other was mushroom sauce noodles.

Even when Liu took her grandsons up the mountain to pick mushrooms and sell them, she earned about ten coins.

"Brother, does Manager Zhou make noodles with mushroom sauce?"

"No."

Manager Zhou had tried mushroom sauce noodles before, but very few people actually came to the restaurant to eat noodles with this sauce, so he hadn't considered it then, and he certainly wouldn't now. Good things are often the worst when they become a fad, easily becoming tiresome to look at and eat.

He focused all his energy on publicity, successfully getting local newspaper companies to promote him extensively. For example, what is the city's newly crowned number one food? — Mushroom oil noodles. Where is the must-visit food spot in the city? — Shengfu Restaurant.