Chapter 34

Yu Ying entered the Penglai Inn and found that there were no guests in the lobby.

Perhaps because of the hurricane two days ago, no business travelers came to Yun County, and the guests who were originally staying there also left after the hurricane, so the inn became deserted.

Seeing someone entering the inn, the waiter hurried forward to greet him: "Sir, are you here for a meal or to stay the night..."

The conversation changed: "It's Madam Yu."

Yu Ying smiled faintly and asked in surprise, "How come Second Brother still recognizes me?"

The waiter smiled and replied, "Mrs. Yu has come twice, how could I not remember? If I didn't remember, the shopkeeper probably wouldn't want me to work there anymore."

How could the waiter not remember?

He rarely saw women discussing business, and Madam Yu was one of them.

She must have made a lot of money by delivering so many herbs that day. What's more, he also heard from the worker that Madam Yu seemed to have signed a contract with a client who was a drug dealer, and he would purchase herbs from Madam Yu next time.

Although Madam Yu was dressed in a straw hat and a cloth skirt, the waiter did not dare to neglect her.

The waiter asked politely, "Is Madam Yu staying overnight or just for a meal?"

Yu Ying wanted to ask about the drug dealer, but if she didn't order anything, she was afraid the shopkeeper wouldn't be happy. After thinking for a moment, she said, "A bowl of plain noodles will be fine, and..."

He paused, glanced at the shopkeeper fiddling with an abacus at the counter, and said in a low voice, "I came here mainly to ask the waiter some questions."

As he said this, he secretly stuffed five copper coins into the waiter's pocket.

When the waiter received the copper coin, he felt it in his palm, and then his smile became even brighter. He hurriedly said, "Madam Yu, please sit down first. I'll bring it to you in a moment."

The waiter took Yu Ying to a table near the stairs and sat her down. He said, "Madam Yu, please wait a moment. I'll be right there."

A bowl of vegetarian noodles came up quickly.

After putting the noodles down, the waiter asked in a low voice, "What does Madam Yu want to know?"

Yu Ying asked directly, "Apart from the drug dealer surnamed Zhao, are there any other drug dealers staying at the Penglai Inn?"

The waiter was stunned for a moment, then he understood that Madam Yu had a new idea.

He hesitated for a moment and said with embarrassment: "After all, this is the guest's information. I'm afraid it's not easy to disclose it..."

Yu Ying knew that one cannot catch a wolf without sacrificing a child, so she placed five more copper coins on the table and whispered, "If I can negotiate a business deal with my second brother one day, I will definitely not treat him unfairly."

The waiter glanced at the copper coins on the table, looked around, and then reached out to pick up the copper coins and put them into his belt.

He lowered his voice and said, "There are indeed some drug dealers who deal with us, but they are not as wealthy as the drug dealer surnamed Zhao. Most of them are small drug dealers who can't buy many medicinal materials, and I guess the prices they offer are not as high as the drug dealer surnamed Zhao."

Yu Ying felt that no matter how small a fly was, it was still meat, and it was better than sending it to the clinic.

After thinking for a moment, Yu Ying said, "Little Second Brother, think about it, since Mr. Zhao is willing to do business with me and has even ordered hundreds of kilograms of medicinal herbs from me, does that mean that my herbs are of excellent quality?"

The waiter thought about it and remembered that the worker brought by the drug dealer had mentioned to him about Madam Yu's medicinal herbs, saying that they were better than most of the herbs he had collected before.

Thinking of this, he nodded in agreement.

"In that case, why don't you cooperate with me, little brother?"

The waiter was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "Mrs. Yu, please don't joke with me. I don't know anything about medicinal herbs, so how can I cooperate with you?"

Yu Ying said gently, "What I mean is, if you can recommend one or two of my herbs to the herbalists who come to stay here, I'll give you 10% of the profits from any deal you help me close. What do you think?"

When the waiter heard the word "yichengli", he was stunned for a moment, but vaguely didn't believe what she said, so he declined: "I'm just an ordinary waiter, I don't have any special skills, Madam Yu thinks too highly of me."

Yu Ying was not in a hurry and just said slowly, "To be honest, little brother, I earned seven or eight hundred coins at Zhao Dong's place before. One tenth of that is seventy or eighty coins. Even if they are small medicine dealers, they can get dozens of kilograms of medicinal materials. A little bit adds up to a lot. If two medicine dealers want my medicinal materials, then I can get this amount. Little brother, you can act as a go-between and get another seventy or eighty coins. Isn't that the best of both worlds?"

When Xiao Wai heard Madam Yu say that she had earned seven or eight hundred coins, he was really shocked. This was his monthly salary for almost half a year.

"I know that Xiaoerge doesn't trust me, so he said that. But from now on, I will deliver the herbs to the inn. I am doing business under Xiaoerge's nose. How can I deceive Xiaoerge?"

The waiter's heart was slightly moved by what he said.

Seeing this, Yu Ying continued, "I see that the second brother is only about seventeen or eighteen years old. If he hasn't married yet, then if he saves more money, he can marry a beautiful wife. If he has already married, then he can earn more money and live a happier life, right?"

"Afu, Afu, where have you been? Come and entertain the guests!"

Suddenly, the shopkeeper's impatient shout was heard, interrupting their conversation.

Yu Ying said, "I'll be at Wu's Restaurant until 3 p.m. today. If you've figured it out, you can come and tell me. If I'm not here, you can leave a message with the owner there, and I'll come back to discuss it in detail."

The waiter nodded thoughtfully, and then Gao Ying, the shopkeeper, said, "I'm coming."

Yu Ying watched the waiter leave and breathed a sigh of relief.

The inn's waiter is good at talking and is most suitable for sales.

Not only does he have a wide source of information, but also since the drug dealers have settled in the inn, they have a stable source of customers, so the waiter is the most suitable person to help.

If the waiter could agree to help, this matter would be much more efficient. Even if he asked for a 15% bonus, she felt that she would agree.

But if Xiao Er's method doesn't work, we can only think of other ways.

However, other methods are far less effective than this one. After all, the waiter can still maintain the customer base.

While eating vegetarian noodles, Yu Ying was already thinking of another solution.

After finishing her vegetarian noodles, Yu Ying returned to the restaurant. She helped out during the busiest time, but it was getting late and the waiter still hadn't come.

Yu Ying's heart sank, and she felt that it was impossible.

Even if it doesn't work out, you still have to buy what you need.

She put her thoughts aside and went to the market with her basket on her back to buy things.

She had probably calculated what she needed to buy, so when she went out today, she brought 150 coins with her.

There are many things missing at home. What we must buy now are nothing more than food and daily necessities.

The oil at home is used up, and we have to invite the He family to dinner in the evening, so we must buy pork.

Yu Ying bought two pounds of lean and fat pork and a leg bone, spending twenty-six cents.

A fish weighing about two pounds cost another eight cents.

She then bought twenty eggs from the woman with the egg basket. Because they were of different sizes, she only charged fifteen cents.

After buying five catties of rice, I bought half a catty of salt and, at the grocery store, bought an oil lamp and some oil, a Haikou clay pot for cooking, and a kitchen knife.

All this cost almost ninety cents.

One hundred and fifty coins, and only seven coins were left.

Yu Ying couldn't help but sigh that it is easy to spend money but difficult to make money.

In order to earn the 150 coins, she didn't know how much jelly she had to make, but now she had spent most of it in just half an hour.

Put everything into the backpack, put the cut fish into the ceramic pot, sprinkle some salt on it and marinate it, then you can stew it directly when you get home.

She put all the things into the backpack and covered it with some herbs that she could pick on the road.

When he returned to the outside of the restaurant and was about to go in, he bumped into the waiter coming out of the restaurant, who was Ah Fu from Penglai Inn.

When she saw Ah Fu, Yu Ying's face immediately showed joy.

Ah Fu rubbed the back of his head and said, "When the inn was free just now, I spoke to the innkeeper about this for a while. I wonder if what Madam Yu said in the inn still counts."

Yu Ying happily said, "Of course it counts."

She looked around and saw that there were no customers in the restaurant, so she asked him to go in with her to talk in detail.

After entering the restaurant, Yu Ying said something to the shopkeeper Chen, and then asked Ah Fu to sit with her in the corner.

Ah Fu said, "Since the shopkeeper and I have only been talking for a moment, I will probably be back in half an hour."

Yu Ying said: "It's okay, I just need to say a few words."

After a pause, she asked, "How many drug dealers are staying at the inn now?"

There are many mountains in Cangwu County, but each mountain is different. There are rocky mountains that are not convenient for plant growth, and there are earthen mountains that are conducive to plant growth.

The mountains in Yu County are most suitable for growing medicinal herbs, so there are many merchants who come here to purchase medicinal herbs.

Ah Fu thought for a moment and said, "As far as I know, there's only one person right now. Because of the hurricane a few days ago, he didn't go out, so he hasn't collected many herbs yet."

Yu Ying thought for a moment, then said, "When you see him, don't rush to promote your herbs to him. Just mention that Mr. Zhao previously bought a lot of my herbs, and praise my herbs a little more."

"If he shows interest, you can go on to say that the new ice cream from Wu's Restaurant was invented by me, and also mention that you and I are somewhat of a acquaintance."

Ah Fu was a smart guy after all. He thought about it and understood. "After all, he's in the medicinal herb business, so he must want to get good herbs. If I praise Madam Yu's herbs, and he hears that Madam Yu has done business with a big drug dealer, he'll definitely be tempted."

At this point, he was a little confused: "But why do you emphasize that the ice cream was made by Madam Yu?"

Ah Fu was also surprised to hear that the ice cream was a food prepared by Madam Yu. He didn't expect that Madam Yu was not only engaged in the business of medicinal materials, but also in the business of food. She was indeed a capable person.

Yu Ying smiled and said slowly, "I'm afraid that the drug dealer will think I'm a woman and incompetent, so I let him think I'm a capable woman first, so that I can get a better share of the deal later."

Ah Fu nodded, and thought to himself that Madam Yu was indeed a good businesswoman. Fortunately, he agreed, otherwise he would have missed the opportunity to make money.

He replied, "Okay, I'll try it this way when I get back. If it doesn't work..." He looked embarrassed.

Yu Ying looked calm: "Even if it doesn't work this time, it's not just this one drug dealer, right?"

Ah Fu thought about it for a moment and nodded heavily: "That's true. If it doesn't work once, it should work the next two times."

After saying that, he looked at Madam Yu again, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Madam Yu, there is something else I want to discuss with you."

Yu Ying: "Please speak."

Ah Fu lowered his voice and said, "Don't tell anyone else about my help, especially not my boss."

If the shopkeeper knew about this, he might not only not get a share of the soup, but he wouldn't even be able to drink a sip of it.

Yu Ying naturally understood the waiter's concerns, and she responded, "I can discuss this with the waiter. I didn't consult the shopkeeper because I wanted the waiter to work alone, so I definitely won't tell anyone else."

If you cooperate with the waiter, you only need to give him 10% of the profit, but if it is the shopkeeper...

Yu Ying felt that only if she could get at least 30% profit would the shopkeeper be willing to help her. If she really did join the He family in the medicinal herb trade, the profit would be very small.

Finally, after discussing with the waiter, he had to hurry back, so Yu Ying saw him off.

Shopkeeper Chen had just vaguely heard something about medicinal herbs. When Yu Ying came back, he asked with a smile, "Are you going to make money again?"

Yu Ying laughed and said, "Money is not that easy to earn."

Manager Chen was a sensible man after all, and he didn't ask too many questions.

He said, "The lychees will be out of season in a few days, and the pears are not very popular. Madam Yu, do you have any good suggestions?"

Yu Ying pondered and said, "I'm not really good at cooking. I can only make some medicinal dishes. Any other suggestions..."

Before she could finish her words, Shopkeeper Chen suddenly interrupted her excitedly, "The medicinal food is good!"