A bowl of tortoise jelly cost nine cents, and they could make four cents. On the first day, they only took sixty bowls and made two hundred and forty cents.
On the second day, Yuntian ordered 100 bowls and earned 400 coins. On the third day, he ordered 150 bowls and earned 600 coins. From the fourth day on, they settled on 200 bowls per day, which meant they could earn 800 coins a day.
In ten days, the two of them earned six taels and eight hundred and forty coins from their tortoise jelly stall.
Except for the money spent on renting the yard, all the money has been recovered.
Yuntian also said: "The stall should be able to sell another hundred bowls a day, but it's too much for the two of us alone.
The cart can only hold 200 bowls at a time, and we don’t have time to restock after we open the stall.”
After hearing this, Xiaokang looked ahead, tapping his fingers on the table intermittently. After a long moment of contemplation, he looked at Yuntian and asked, "Do you know anyone else?"
"Other people? Master Kang, do you mean other beggars?" Yuntian asked tentatively.
Xiaokang nodded and said, "I want to open a few more stalls. You go find someone, someone reliable and trustworthy. Then you don't have to set up the stall yourself in the future.
Just help me take care of them, and give me extra turtle jelly. I'll give you one penny for every twenty pieces sold by any stall.
Each stall that sells 200 servings will receive an additional ten coins per day, while those that sell less will only receive food."
Yuntian quickly calculated in his mind: if he sold twenty copies, he would be paid one penny. If each stall sold two hundred copies a day, he would get ten pennies. If there were ten stalls, wouldn't he get a hundred pennies a day? That would make three taels of silver a month.
He might not even be able to get a hundred coins even if he begged for a month. It was like a dream!
Suppressing his excitement, Yuntian looked at Xiaokang and asked, "Master Kang, are you planning to open a few more stalls?"
Xiaokang said without hesitation: "Use the funds you have now and open up new stalls one by one. Once you are sure that the stalls can make stable profits, then open the next one."
Yuntian was a little disappointed. He thought he could open ten stores at once!
But after thinking about it, I felt that Xiaokang's decision was right. They had just started out and really couldn't be impatient.
Little did he know that Xiaokang was like this because he had no money.
This time, not only did he not give Yuntian any more silver, but he also took away two taels from the six taels and eight hundred and forty coins, leaving Yuntian with only four taels of silver as start-up capital for the next stall.
But more than four taels is enough. Anyway, the stall can still make money tomorrow. I have basically everything else. I just need to buy some more tables, stools, wooden barrels, bowls, spoons and the like, and at most two more beds.
Yuntian was very efficient. After seeing Xiaokang, Xiaoqi and the other three off, he took Yunxu to the bridge under the outer city, a dilapidated and collapsed earthen-walled house, and the entrance of an alley in a snack street after dinner.
When they came back, they brought back four little beggars of the same age as them.
The four little beggars looked at their clean clothes with envy, "Did you two brothers meet a noble person?"
Yuntian sat down on the stool like a big brother, raised his chin, and said arrogantly: "How about it? Do you want it?"
The four of them nodded immediately, "Yes, yes, of course."
"If you all listen to me from now on, I'll take you each to buy one tomorrow, how about that?"
"Really? Gousheng, you didn't lie to us, did you?" a beggar named Wa Pian said excitedly.
Hearing him call himself Gousheng, Yuntian's face darkened, "Go away, go away, I'm Yuntian now, call me Brother Tian from now on."
The four of them immediately said in unison: "Brother Tian."
Another little beggar named Shitou asked curiously, "Brother Tian, why did you suddenly change your name? And this house, have you been living here all this time?"
Yuntian nodded and looked at him critically, "Do you want to live in a house like this?"
Shitou nodded quickly, "Yes, I do. I dream about it."
Seeing this, the other three little beggars were not to be outdone, "Brother Tian, there are us too, we want it too."
Yuntian waved his hand and said, "No problem. From today on, you will live here with me."
Before the little beggars could be happy, he said, "But from now on, you have to listen to me. You have to do whatever I tell you to do. Do you agree?"
The four of them nodded hurriedly, and the little beggar named Heiwa said exaggeratedly: "Yes, yes, yes, from now on you can be my brother or my father, whatever you ask me to do, I will do it."
Yuntian kicked him on the butt and said, "Go away. Who wants to be your father?"
Heiwa immediately covered his butt and screamed, and the other kids burst into laughter.
Only the youngest, Xiaoyu, holding his broken bowl, timidly walked to Yuntian's side and said timidly, "Brother Tian, what do you want us to do? Go begging together?"
Hearing this, the other three people also looked at Yuntian, their eyes full of anticipation.
Fortunately, Yuntian did not let them down. He took the broken bowl from Xiaoyu's hand and threw it into the yard. "We don't have to be beggars anymore. Brother Tian will help you set up a stall to make money and have enough food and clothes."
Xiaoyu looked at the bowl that was thrown out by Yuntian and was broken into pieces. He wanted to pick it up, but when he heard that he could eat his fill, he stopped. Looking at the other three beggars who were older than him jumping and dancing for joy, he also jumped like them.
Yuntian raised his hand and gestured to them to be quiet. They immediately shut up, stood still and listened to him.
"Have you eaten anything today?"
The four of them immediately covered their stomachs and shook their heads in unison, "No, no, no, we're starving."
How could Yuntian not know their virtues? He asked Waipian and Shitou to follow Yunxu to the kitchen to bring the porridge over. Each of them took a clean bowl and served them the porridge.
The porridge was cooked by the Yuntian brothers for dinner. They added vegetables and some minced meat to the white rice. Although it was cold, it was hot now, so it was okay to eat it cold. Besides, they were beggars, so it was good enough to have something to eat. They would eat it even if they had to forage for food. They didn't care whether it was cold or not.
The four of them hadn't eaten such delicious food for a long time, and they ate it up in big mouthfuls, even taking two bowls of the smallest fish.
The big pot of porridge was quickly finished, and the pot was scraped clean, as if it had been licked.
After collecting the dishes, Yuntian briefly told them about Xiaokang and Xiaoqi, and how they brothers had been helping Xiaokang and Xiaoqi by setting up a stall to sell tortoise jelly.
First, he told them the benefits of being obedient, and then used Xiaokang and Xiaoqi as an excuse to scare them with both kindness and force, so as to prevent them from having second thoughts in the future.
Seeing that it was getting late, he said, "Each of you take a stool and sleep there for the night. We'll sort out the beds after we close the stall tomorrow."
The four of them naturally agreed. Even if there was no bed, it was still better than where they had slept before.
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