Old Sun smiled smugly, then said to Gan Li:
"Manager Gan, the two thousand taels of silver you left with me, the saltpeter you bought, I'll give you the original price, twenty coins per catty."
He had bought large quantities of saltpeter when it was cheap, and because he bought a lot, the price was even lower. It wasn't until the Zhao family entered the market that the price of saltpeter was driven up.
But he immediately went to buy some more from afar, getting it for 25 coins a pound, plus transportation costs, making it 30 coins a pound.
Even so, he will still make a profit.
All of this was thanks to the information provided by Gan Li, which enabled him to make a fortune. Therefore, he paid Gan Li twenty coins per catty, partly out of gratitude and partly to ensure a good sale.
Ganli naturally understood his intention, and upon hearing this, she did not refuse, but generously thanked him.
Seeing her attitude, Old Sun was even happier and said even more:
“You have a total of one thousand shi of saltpeter, which is not much. I think you don’t need to worry about it. I will help you deal with it later.”
Ganli silently calculated in her mind that one shi equals one hundred jin, and one thousand shi equals one hundred thousand jin... One hundred thousand jin is not much, it seems that Old Sun has stockpiled quite a lot this time.
Once the ice-making method becomes more widespread, he can sell it for fifty coins a pound and make a fortune.
No wonder he was beaming with joy.
Having figured that out, she didn't stand on ceremony and nodded with a smile, saying, "Okay! I trust you to handle things—thank you very much!"
"Are we still talking about this?" Old Sun rubbed his hands together, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping himself.
Ganli noticed this and quickly asked what was going on.
Old Sun then said, "It's still about the ice-making method... I wonder when it will be widely adopted?"
With the hottest time of day approaching, and the Zhao family having bought so much saltpeter, they're probably about to get restless.
Although he knew the inside story and that the method of making ice had been handed over to the imperial court, its promotion was only a matter of time.
However, he had a deep-seated grudge against the Zhao family, and he felt uncomfortable even seeing them earn a single copper coin!
So once everything was in place, he couldn't wait for the imperial court to issue an order to promote this method.
Actually, it wasn't just him; Gan Li was also having doubts.
Last time she presented the prescription, Magistrate Lu Yuan wrote a memorial in front of her and ordered someone to send it to the capital by fast horse.
But now, more than ten days have passed since she returned from the county town, and there is still no news of her.
However, she wasn't unaware that transportation was underdeveloped in ancient times, and even at top speed, such a long round trip was normal. She mentally estimated it, and then realized:
"We expect to hear back in the next couple of days, so let's wait and see. I'll let you know as soon as I have any news."
Old Sun came for this very reason, and upon hearing this, he felt relieved.
Having finished discussing serious matters, he finally had the leisure to chat. His eyes swept around the restaurant, and he brought up the old topic again:
"Manager Gan, you really are capable. This restaurant has only been open for a day, but its reputation has already spread far and wide."
On my way here, I heard many people say that your restaurant is cheap and the food is delicious... I'd like to try it today.
"That's easy! You treated me to dinner before, so today I have the chance to treat you back."
Gan Li smiled and got up to go to the kitchen, asking Old Man Gan to prepare a table full of their signature dishes.
The braised pork was started as soon as I got up, and all the other ingredients were prepared in advance, so it was quick to cook, and soon a table of dishes and drinks was served.
Looking at the table full of delicious food and aromas, Old Sun knew immediately why Shiweitian, which had only been open for one day, was so popular.
The aroma was far superior to anything in their kitchen.
After taking another bite, he was completely won over, praising how delicious it was while saying with a wry smile:
"No wonder that Zhao guy always misses your recipes. It's no wonder he misses the taste."
"Manager Gan, with your 'Food for All' business taking off, we restaurants are probably all going to be starving!"
Gan Li smiled and said, "You are too modest. Baifulai has been a well-established brand in this town for decades. How could my little eatery possibly shake it?"
Besides, as you can tell from my pricing, our customers are different, so we don't interfere with each other's business.
Upon hearing this, Old Sun smiled and nodded, but he knew in his heart that it was because Gan Li did not want to run a restaurant yet. If she wanted to, with the taste of the dishes, it would only be a matter of time before she attracted the business of the local gentry.
Fortunately, because of his previous dispute with Wanshunlou, he learned that he shouldn't put all his eggs in one basket, so he had already started developing other businesses, and now he was able to take it easy.
As more and more customers arrived, the restaurant became much livelier, and in this atmosphere, my appetite seemed to improve.
Old Sun drank a few glasses of wine with his food, his face flushed slightly, and then he remembered something:
"By the way, I heard that Chen Danian married that widow from the Zhao family the other day... Did you know?"
Did Chen Danian and Zhao Juan get married?
Gan Li raised her eyebrows slightly, recalling that when she picked up Gan Tian from school last time, she seemed to have mentioned that Chen Danian and Zhao Juan were engaged and would be getting married soon.
However, she didn't care about this at all, so why would she pay attention to it?
She shook her head: "The restaurant just opened, I'm too busy to handle anything else, who would bother with this?"
"Too."
Old Sun chuckled, his face showing a hint of disdain:
"Luckily, Manager Gan, you were smart and ran away early. I don't think Chen Danian is a good person. Although he's only a scholar, he's still someone with some official rank."
A grown man, actually marrying into a wealthy family for money? What a disgrace to scholars!
Ganli smiled but remained silent.
As the old saying goes: "The most righteous are often the lowly butchers, while the most ungrateful are often the scholars."
Reading can only impart knowledge, but whether or not one reads cannot be used as a standard to judge a person's character.
Throughout history, there have been many well-read but wicked individuals, and Chen Danian's actions merely reaffirm this point, which did not surprise her at all.
Seeing that she didn't want to talk about it anymore, Old Sun tactfully didn't delve any deeper, only offering a reminder:
"Manager Gan, you'd better be careful! You bought this shop from Zhao Juan, right? They've been eyeing your recipes for a while now that they know your business is booming, they're probably going to come looking for trouble!"
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