Chapter 26 Chapter 26 After hearing the news that Xue Fenglin was leaving...
After hearing the news that Xue Fenglin was leaving, Shen Xuan felt a little empty.
Only three days after he returned to Dajin, he met the other person. During this period, the two of them had been together and were closer than ordinary friends. It was like having someone to keep him company.
However, Lin Ye's family must be either rich or noble, so it would be better for him to go back than to stay here with a poor guy like himself. Shen Xuan thought in his heart.
After that, the two fell into silence. They suddenly didn't know what to say. They didn't even say a few words during dinner.
The next day, when Chen Xuan set up his stall, he took Xue Fenglin with him and went all the way to the vicinity of Lezhou government office.
There is a post office that delivers letters next to the government office. The price of delivery varies according to the distance.
The post office hired a scholar to help write letters. He could write a long letter for one tael of silver. Xue Fenglin can write it himself, so this money can be saved.
He borrowed some money for postage and paper from Shen Xuan and walked in.
Chen Xuan then went to set up a stall on Jinli Street and said that he would come to the post office to pick him up at noon.
He drove the mule cart towards the home of Widow Ge at the entrance of Huacao Lane. However, before the cart reached the door, he saw two yamen officials walking out of Widow Ge's house from afar.
Chen Xuan frowned, thinking that the two yamen were not good people, so he drove the car into the alley nearby. After the two yamen officials stood there for a while and then left, he went back to the back door of Widow Ge's house.
After knocking a few times, Widow Ge came over with a haggard face and opened the door. She was surprised when she saw Shen Xuan.
Then he quickly looked around, took Shen Xuan to a nearby alley and said, "Brother Shen, just now Dai Tongpan sent someone to look for you again. Those yamen have been collecting protection fees on the streets, and there are many kinds of taxes and silver. You'd better stay away and don't run into them."
"Did they ask you for money?" Shen Xuan asked upon hearing this.
"They asked me to pay them two strings of silver coins, saying that my water had polluted the road in front of my house and they wanted me to pay for cleaning it." Widow Ge said angrily, "They bullied my orphan and widow, and they are not men. They came here once yesterday."
The rent money that Widow Ge earned from Chen Xuan was only two strings of cash a month. She and her son and daughter worked hard every day to boil water, but all the water was taken away by these people.
Shen Xuan had not expected these petty officials to be so overbearing. When they could not find their own people, they came to bully the widow Ge who rented water to him.
They made this fuss just to prevent him from renting water. Although Widow Ge did not blame Shen Xuan for anything, Shen Xuan felt very uncomfortable.
He immediately took out two taels of silver and handed them to Widow Ge, saying, "These people came here for me. Consider this two taels of silver as compensation to you."
These two taels of silver were more than the two strings of cash that Widow Ge handed over, and could be considered as compensation for the inconvenience caused to her.
Widow Ge refused at first, but seeing that Shen Xuan insisted, she accepted it. Then he said to Shen Xuan with difficulty: "There is something I didn't dare to tell you just now, but now that I have received your money, I must tell you."
"Today, those yamen came over and wanted me to help them put drugs in the water so that the customers who came to buy tea would have diarrhea."
"Although I refused today, if they come to our house every day, it will be unbearable. Besides, if something goes wrong with your tea, they can arrest you openly. If you go to court, won't you be at the mercy of the magistrate?"
Shen Xuan didn't expect that there would be such vicious behavior behind the scenes. He sold this tea to many people, including many dignitaries. If they got sick after eating here, how could they let him off easily?
For a moment, Shen Xuan felt somewhat fortunate that he had given the Widow Ge some silver, and Widow Ge felt bad and told him about it.
"Thank you, Sister Ge, for reminding me." Shen Xuan said, "I won't set up a stall here again in the future, and you don't have to worry about those yamen coming to my door again."
"You should be careful." Widow Ge watched Shen Xuan leave with some regret. She felt it was a pity to lose such a stable income as Shen Xuan.
Shen Xuan drove the mule cart slowly in the alley, thinking carefully about how he could continue the business of honey custard tea.
He was now just a commoner and could not fight against the officials, but seeing the appearance of Butler Liu that day, Judge Dai was not without scruples.
After all, his official position is not high, and there are other people above him!
For example, that day when I borrowed the power of Magistrate Wu, Steward Liu didn't dare to do anything to me.
But Magistrate Wu was still far away from him, and he, a street vendor, couldn't reach him at all. This momentum can only be borrowed temporarily, unless he can borrow the momentum from others!
But he doesn't know anyone in the entire Lezhou city, so who can he turn to for support?
Shen Xuan carefully pondered the various forces on Koi Street.
I thought that since we knew that Daiyue Tower was the property of Dai Tongpan’s family, its biggest competitor must be Guiyun Tower diagonally across the street.
The elegant gatherings at Guiyun Tower were very successful, with guests coming in an endless stream every day. The business was definitely better than that at Daiyue Tower.
With Judge Dai Tong's narrow mind, could he accommodate it? Unless there is someone backing Guiyun Tower, and that force is more powerful than that of Dai Tongpan!
Shen Xuan's eyes lit up, and he immediately headed towards Guiyun Tower.
He had been here once before to sell fish, and he knew Chen Caimai inside. This time, the waiter at the door recognized him at a glance.
Isn’t this the stall owner who was selling honey custard tea near Caohua Lane recently?
"Why are you here? You didn't set up your stall yesterday, but many people came to see you. Many gentlemen who came to have tea made a wasted trip." The waiter said to him.
"I want to find Chen Caimai." Shen Xuan said hurriedly.
The waiter's attitude was quite good this time and he went in to find someone immediately.
It happened that Chen Caimai had not gone out today. When he heard that the young man selling tea at the stall had arrived, he came out and invited him in.
He also went to Shen Xuan's stall a few days ago and bought a cup of tea.
When I saw that he didn't come yesterday, and today I saw Shen Xuan driving a mule cart directly to find me, I knew in my heart that Shen Xuan must have encountered something.
"Brother Chen, just say what you want to say." Chen Caimai invited Shen Xuan to a tea room in the backyard before speaking.
Seeing Chen Caimai being so straightforward, Shen Xuan didn't beat around the bush and said directly: "Chen Caimai, I want to sell the base of this honey custard tea directly to Guiyunlou. I wonder if you are interested?"
It was a good idea for Dai Tongpan to directly snatch Shen Xuan's prescription. Shen Xuan was unwilling to sell his family, but that didn't mean he was unwilling to sell the finished tea syrup to Guiyunlou.
Guiyun Tower is the biggest competitor of Daiyue Tower. The more Dai Tongpan wants to snatch the recipe of honey custard tea from him, the more he refuses to give it to him.
It would be better to cooperate with Guiyun Tower and borrow their power so that Dai Tongpan won't be able to do anything to him.
In fact, Gui Yunlou has been coveting this honey custard tea for a long time. It's just that the recipe for this kind of tea base is a unique secret recipe. They knew that Shen Xuan would not sell it, so they didn't go to him to waste their time. Instead, they bought the tea directly and asked the chef in the store to study it.
The people from Guiyun Tower tried several times, and although they did make some citrus-flavored tea, it was always far inferior to Shen Xuan's honey custard tea.
Now Chen Xuan came to the door and said that he wanted to provide the base of honey custard tea to Guiyun Tower. Chen Caimai was naturally very happy.
"Wait here, I'll call the manager." Chen Caimai said to Shen Xuan.
Guiyun Tower has branches in many places throughout Dajin, and the chief shopkeeper is the one who manages the branch in Lezhou City.
On weekdays, all matters, big or small, are decided by the boss. Shen Xuan had to call the chief shopkeeper to discuss such an important matter in detail.
After a while, a middle-aged man with a goatee walked in. It was Manager Mei, the head manager of the Lezhou branch of Guiyunlou.
He had a kind face and smiled when he saw Shen Xuan. After a few simple greetings with him, he asked, "I heard from Chen Caimai that you want to sell the base of honey custard tea to us? Can I know the reason?"
After hearing this, Shen Xuan knew that the other party was also testing his bottom line. After thinking for a while, he said, "To be honest. If I hadn't encountered any trouble, I would not be willing to sell this tea to anyone."
"It's just that the owner of Daiyuelou across the street took a fancy to my formula and wanted to steal it. I would rather stop doing business than just swallow my anger."
"I don't like Daiyue Tower, so I want to sell the tea to the competitor Guiyun Tower."
Since Dai Tongpan couldn't hide the fact about him, Shen Xuan simply told everything to Shopkeeper Mei.
But at the same time, he also vaguely revealed his bottom line, which is that he would rather stop doing business than hand over the formula. This dispelled the idea of Shopkeeper Mei to take advantage of the situation and buy the formula.
After listening to this, Shopkeeper Mei really thought about it before saying, "I heard about you from Chen Caimai. You are a man who came out to do business on your own, and you thought of coming to my Guiyun Tower to borrow power. You are quite capable."
"How are you going to sell the base of your honey custard tea?"
When Shen Xuan heard this, he knew that the matter was basically settled, and it was just a matter of negotiating the price.
He quickly went to his stall cart, took out a jar of freshly made tea and placed it on the table, and said to Shopkeeper Mei, "I can sell 200 cups of this jar of tea a day, which is enough for a month. Including my rest time, I can earn at least 40 taels of silver a month."
"But now I will sell them all to Guiyunlou. I will not be responsible for the subsequent brewing and selling. I want to sell each jar for ten taels of silver, regardless of the flavor."
Selling to Guiyunlou is wholesale, so it is reasonable that the selling price is cheaper than retail.
After hearing this, Shopkeeper Mei had no objection to the amount and nodded. But he added: "Since you are going to provide me with tea base for Guiyun Tower, you can't just drink 200 cups a day."
"I can sell at least a thousand cups of tea every day at Guiyun Tower. Even if we only sell half of that amount of your honey custard tea, one jar of tea base per month is not enough. You must provide us with three jars of tea base for each flavor every month."
Chen Xuan no longer had to go out to set up a stall, and making tea base at home was actually a lot easier. Nine jars of tea syrup every month was considered simple, so he nodded in agreement immediately.
Shopkeeper Mei then took a piece of paper and wrote a document, which listed the contract matters between him and Shen Xuan one by one, and then read it to Shen Xuan and asked him to put his handprint on it.
Shen Xuan hurriedly said, "No need to read it, I can read it myself." Then he took the contract and read it carefully.
Shopkeeper Mei was surprised and looked up to Shen Xuan even more. I didn’t expect that a young man selling things on the street could actually read and write. No wonder he could invent tea like honey custard tea.
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