Chapter 114 Chapter 114 Because of curiosity about the cloud candy,...
Because she was curious about the cloud candy, the third daughter of the Tang family took a carriage and went there specially, wanting to visit the newly opened candy shop as soon as possible.
Before the carriage arrived at the door, she saw from afar that the door of a shop on the street seemed to be crowded with onlookers. As soon as I saw the flow of people at the door, I knew that this shop must be the legendary Xuan Ji Cloud Candy!
When they arrived at the door of Xuan Ji Yun Duo Tang, the third girl discovered that this candy shop was different from ordinary snack and candy shops. The facade was very exquisitely renovated. At first glance, it doesn't look like a shop selling food, but rather a shop selling rouge and powder.
Looking through the crowd and into the doorway, there are rows of display racks inside. The display racks are all in original wood color, with a layer of varnish, which looks different from the red paint in other shops!
However, on the plain wooden display stand, there are very beautiful pastel porcelain plates.
Famille rose porcelain is expensive, with one piece costing dozens of taels of silver on the market, making it unaffordable for ordinary people.
But a candy shop actually uses such expensive enamel porcelain to hold candies, and uses dozens of them at a time!
Such a large amount of money is unheard of. I wonder what the price of this cloud candy is?
The third girl got off the car and walked into the shop, only to see a long queue in front of the counter at the door of the shop, and the shopkeeper was so busy counting money that he couldn't keep up.
Many people, who looked like servants from wealthy families, came specially to buy the cloud candies to take back.
The fluffy and soft cloud candies in various colors were wrapped in transparent rice paper and placed on a pastel porcelain plate.
Whether it is the color, shape or sweet smell, it is so refreshing that people can't wait to pick up a piece and put it in their mouth to taste it.
The shop assistants were all dressed in uniform, wearing neat and tidy moon-white shorts, and their hair was combed meticulously, even the gaps between their fingers were clean.
With such a guy to entertain the guests, the cloud candy looks more upscale and people can eat it with extra confidence.
Some people who are particular about food don't eat snacks from outside because they think they are not clean enough. But when he saw this kind of shop, he thought it was a clean candy shop, so he made an exception and sent someone to buy from it. Therefore, this cloud candy became very popular in Pengzhou!
A waiter who was idle saw the third girl's luxurious clothes and knew that she must be a rich or noble lady, so he immediately went forward to entertain her.
The third girl pointed at a cloud candy and asked, "How is this candy made? How do you sell it?"
The waiter said quickly, "The cloud candy you pointed at is filled with banana puree. It is sold by weight, one tael of silver per pound."
"One tael of silver per pound?" The third girl was surprised when she heard this and asked, "Why is it so expensive?"
You should know that most of the candies on the market cost one or two hundred coins per pound. Even the most exquisite peanut candy or dragon beard candy only cost four or five hundred coins. This cloud candy is much more expensive than them!
The waiter smiled and said, "Don't worry, my dear guest. This cloud candy is different from ordinary snacks and candies. It is very light. One or two pieces of cloud candy will fill a whole bag, which is enough for you to eat for a long time."
"Besides, everything in this world is expensive for a reason. Cloud candy is complicated to make and uses exquisite ingredients, so the cost is naturally higher. If it were like an ordinary street snack that everyone could eat, I'm afraid even distinguished guests would not be interested in it."
This guy really hit the nail on the head for the third girl. These noble clans were very particular about their food, clothing, housing and transportation on a daily basis, and tried their best to distance themselves from the ordinary poor people, just to show off their identity and status.
The rarer and more expensive this cloud candy is, the more sought after it is by the wealthy. That is why it suddenly became popular among the upper class in Pengzhou City and even became a gift given to the third girl.
The mentality of the noble clans in the Jin Dynasty was no different from that of the wealthy people in the modern world who pursue luxury goods.
Unlike the modern world, the gap between the rich and the poor in Dajin is even greater, and ordinary poor people rarely consume snacks such as candy. Since Shen Xuan wants to open a candy shop, he will not start with them, but directly target the high-end market!
Besides, the price of one tael of silver per pound was also set by Shen Xuan after comparing many candies.
Because cloud candy is light in weight, a dozen pieces of candy only weigh about one or two taels. If the common people with a little bit of wealth were craving for it, they could spend one or two hundred coins to buy a bag, which was enough for a meal.
Such pricing not only satisfies the vanity of the upper class, but also takes into account the consumption level of ordinary people. This also made the newly opened Xuanji Candy Shop's business booming. However, after just a few days of opening, there was always a long queue at the door.
There are very few workers in the sugar factory now, and the production scale of Yunduo Sugar has not yet been expanded. However, this cloud candy is sold at a high price, so the profit is extremely high. After deducting all costs, you can still earn half a tael of silver per pound!
Chen Xuan's shop in Pengzhou has only been open for a few days, but now he can sell more than 20 kilograms of sugar every day. This amount may not sound like much, but you can earn more than three hundred taels a month! That’s nearly four thousand taels of silver a year!
In a city like Pengzhou, even the restaurant with the best business can't earn more than 4,000 taels of silver a year!
The profits of Xuan Ji Yun Duo Candy Shop are already astonishing. If the famous families in the city knew about this, they would probably be shocked!
"Give me one pound of each of all the cloud candies in this shop." The third girl walked around the shop and listened to the clerk's introduction. She finally spoke and bought one of the eight different flavors and shapes of cloud candies on the counter.
This cloud candy is delicious and fresh. She tried a piece yesterday, but she was not satisfied. I'll buy some more today so I can take them home for my mother to try. You can also send some to your father and grandmother as a way of showing filial piety.
Another thing is that the mansion will be hosting a banquet in a few days. Many of Lord Tang’s officials and their families will come to the house for the banquet, so we need to prepare some snacks and candies.
Her mother had been worrying about what snacks and candies to prepare these days, and this cloud candy was just right.
With such exquisite candies, while taking into account the taste, the display looks very presentable, and it also provides an option for Mrs. Tang's banquet.
When the clerk heard that this was indeed a big customer, he immediately smiled happily and helped the third girl pack a pound of various kinds of cloud candies.
Xuan Ji's employees are very particular about packaging candies. They cannot just grab the candies with their hands, but use bamboo clips to carefully weigh them bit by bit, then wrap them in colored paper.
The packaging of the cloud candy is very beautiful. After wrapping, it is put in a bamboo food box.
This food box is the same as the one that the third girl’s best friend sent her yesterday. There is a word “Xuan” printed on it. This is because the third girl bought a lot and one food box could not hold all of them. The store specially packaged it separately and filled four food boxes!
After the food was packed, Cui'er, who was beside the third lady, took out her purse to pay the bill, and then instructed the maid who was going out with her to carry the food boxes and follow the third lady out of the store.
When they got home, the third girl took the food boxes and went straight to Madam Tang's room and said to her, "Mother, there is a new kind of candy in the city, which is very good. I took the initiative to buy some more. You can try it and see if it can be used in the banquet in a few days."
The third young lady has reached marriageable age. Madam Tang has been keeping her by her side these days, teaching her carefully and teaching her how to manage the household. As for the matter of preparing banquets, Mrs. Tang naturally asked the third young lady to learn it well so that she would not be shy when she gets married.
Seeing that the third girl took the initiative to worry about the banquet snacks, Mrs. Tang was very happy.
She looked at the four food boxes that the third girl had placed on the eight-immortal table and said with a smile, "So many? I wonder what kind of good things they are? Let me see?"
After that, he opened one of them, unwrapped the colored paper on the outside, and saw the soft candy wrapped inside.
"Is this a snack or a candy? It's quite unique." Mrs. Tang asked in surprise as she picked up a piece.
"It's cloud candy. The shop just opened a few days ago and it's selling very well." The third girl said, and she also picked up a piece and said, "This seems to be filled with sesame, soft and sweet."
After she finished speaking, she tore open the piece of cloud candy in her hand, and sure enough, black sesame filling flowed out.
Put the candy in your mouth, the cloud sugar melts in your mouth, and the aroma of sesame filling fills your mouth.
So delicious! The third girl couldn’t help but think in her heart!
After she finished the one in her hand, she opened the other package and took out a cloud candy of another flavor to eat.
Mrs. Tang followed her and tasted one too. Then, like the third girl, she couldn't help but open all the candies of all flavors and ate several of them.
Halfway through the meal, Mrs. Tang suddenly thought, "Your brother hasn't eaten this cloud candy yet. Let's pack some for him first!"
Then she called her personal maid to pack some different kinds of cloud candies and sent them to her legitimate son.
I also packed a portion for Lord Tang and the old lady at home. After dividing them up, there were not many cloud candies left!
Mrs. Tang and the third girl ate a lot and were so full from just the candies.
This cloud candy is also magical. Other candies are greasy to eat, but this one is not. Especially those with fruit filling in the middle, the taste is sour and sweet, making people want to eat it again. You can eat too much without realizing it.
Looking at the few remaining cloud candies, Mrs. Tang simply asked someone to take them away to make snacks after dinner and distribute them to her family.
As the mistress of the house, she always behaves in a fair and just manner. Since the cloud candy was given to Lord Tang and Old Madam Tang separately, there is no reason for them to eat it alone.
After she finished doing all this, she said to the third girl, "This cloud candy is really good. We will have a banquet in a few days and we will need some candy and snacks. I think this cloud candy is suitable. You can go to the public to get some money and buy three or four pounds of it."
"Yes, mother." The third girl was very happy to see that the candy she chose was approved by her mother.
So a few days later, she went to Xuan Ji Yun Duo Tang again the day before the banquet and bought a lot of candies.
On the day of the banquet, Mrs. Tang served the cloud candy on a fine pastel porcelain plate, along with other snacks and fruits, to entertain the guests at home.
Today, Lord Tang invited all the subordinates and their families from the lower level to attend the banquet. As a banquet hosted by the upper level, it cannot lose its grandeur.
Mrs. Tang and the third girl greeted the guests at the door one by one. The male relatives who came were brought to the front yard by the eldest young master and Lord Tang, while the female relatives were led to the back yard by them.
After many people arrived, a carriage suddenly stopped at the door, and then the curtain was lifted. The Sarawak governor Xue Fenglin and her husband Chen Xuan, who had not been seen for several months, walked out of the carriage hand in hand, one after the other.
Apart from the one visit they made previously, the Xue couple had not had any further contact with Madam Tang and the third young lady.
But Mrs. Tang vaguely heard that Xue Fenglin later went to the yamen and talked with Lord Tang about something, but they parted on bad terms in the end.
Afterwards, Lord Tang repeatedly said at home that Xue Fenglin was inflexible, his mind was full of romantic love, and he was rigid and would never achieve anything great.
This time, Lord Tang hosted a banquet and, as per custom, invited all the lower-level officials. However, he still sent a letter to Magistrate Xue and invited him.
But Mrs. Tang felt a little embarrassed because of Lord Tang’s attitude. I don’t know how to receive the Xue couple!
If you are too enthusiastic, it will seem like you are deliberately going against Lord Tang, and someone will definitely spread gossip to Lord Tang. But after all, the other party is a prince from a marquis's mansion in the capital, so he cannot be neglected.
She hesitated for only a moment, and out of the corner of her eye she saw the Second and Third Aunts behind her, bringing their two brothers with them, eager to come forward. Perhaps they still wanted their Fourth and Fifth Brothers to become Xue Zhizhou's concubines!
Mrs. Tang straightened her back immediately and gave her eldest son a look, asking him to take Xue Fenglin away and not let the fourth and fifth brothers have any chance to have any contact with Xue Fenglin.
The third girl was not stupid. When she saw her mother's expression, she knew what she meant. She took the initiative to greet him with a smile, took Shen Xuan's hand and said, "Mr. Xue is finally here! It's been a long time since we parted that day, and I missed you so much!"
Since she occupied the seat beside Shen Xuan, it was difficult for the fourth and fifth brothers, two illegitimate sons, to move forward.
Seeing her so enthusiastic, Shen Xuan, combined with the news he had heard from Wuxin before, vaguely guessed something in his heart. At this time, he smiled and said, "It's been a long time since we last met. It's been almost half a year. Miss Tang San looks even smarter."
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