Shopkeeper Hao came out again, and Zhang Hulan asked with a smile: "Shopkeeper Hao, how was your business last night? Is there any braised meat left?"
Shopkeeper Hao smiled and replied, "Not bad. There is some leftover, but not much. Just enough to give extra food to the cooks and waiters in the store."
"It's fine as long as there's not much left. I'll just deliver this amount this afternoon."
“Sure, sure!”
Zhang Hulan pointed to the four pottery jars on the donkey cart and said, "These are four pig brains. I'll bring four more this afternoon."
"good!"
Shopkeeper Hao asked the waiter to carry all the things in. After weighing them, Shopkeeper Hao paid the money immediately.
Zhang Hulan felt that it was a pleasure to work with Manager Hao. The payment for the goods was settled on the spot without any delay. This kind of business is interesting.
After leaving Manfulou, they went to buy pig heads and pig offal, and then hurried back.
As soon as they walked out of the city gate, a carriage caught up with them.
"Please stay..." Ding Mingao leaned his head out of the carriage and shouted loudly.
Zhang Hujun and Zhang Hulan both looked at Ding Mingao warily.
Ding Mingao did not get off the carriage. He smiled and said, "Don't be nervous, the two of you. My last name is Ding, and I am the shopkeeper of Zui Xiang Lou. I came to you to discuss business with you."
Talking about business? The owner of Zui Xiang Lou? Zhang Hulan immediately understood what kind of business this owner Ding wanted to discuss with them.
Zhang Hulan did not get off the donkey cart. She sat on the cart and asked, "Shopkeeper Ding, do you want to buy braised meat?"
Ding Mingao nodded, "Yes."
"I'm really sorry, we have signed a contract with Manager Hao of Manfulou, so we can only sell the braised meat to him."
"You can only sell it to him?" Ding Mingao frowned and asked, "Are you serious or do you not want to sell the braised meat to me?"
Zhang Hulan said, "Look at what Manager Ding said. If one more restaurant asks me to sell braised meat, I can earn more money. Shouldn't I make money?"
"Then why did you sign such a contract with Manfulou?"
Zhang Hulan smiled and said, "Manager Ding, this is a business secret between me and Manfulou. It's hard to tell."
Ding Mingao nodded, then asked, "Would it be convenient for you to tell me the price you sold the braised meat to Manfulou?"
"It's hard for me to tell you. If you want to know, you can ask Shopkeeper Hao. If he's willing to tell you, then that's fine."
Seeing that Zhang Hulan refused to say anything, Ding Mingao frowned again, and then said, "How about this, I'll give you an extra 30% of the price Manfulou gives you, and you sell the braised meat to me?"
Zhang Hulan refused without hesitation, "Manager Ding, we have to be honest in doing business. I can't tear up the contract with Manager Hao and cooperate with you just because you offer a high price, right? If so, will you feel comfortable cooperating with me? If someone else offers a higher price than you, can I find someone else to cooperate with?"
Ding Mingao smiled and said, "You are right. We should be honest in doing business. In that case, I won't bother you anymore. I hope we can have a chance to cooperate again in the future."
After Ding Mingao finished speaking, he asked the driver to turn around and go back.
Zhang Hulan also asked Zhang Hujun to drive the donkey cart back.
…
In the next few days, Zhang Hulan delivered the goods on time every day, and the rest of the Zhang family was also busy every day.
These days, more and more customers come to Manfulou to dine, and manager Hao has a big smile on his face.
Ding Mingao, who lives opposite, keeps an eye on the business of Manfulou every day. He also went to Manfulou for a meal and tried the braised pork and pig brains, which can only be eaten by reservation every day.
To be honest, the braised meat is not particularly delicious and cannot be compared with those delicacies from land and sea. After all, the ingredients are too common, so the taste is a little unique. But the pig brain is indeed delicious, fresh and tender, without any fishy smell.
One day, when Ding Mingao saw Zhang Hulan delivering braised meat to Manfulou again, he waved to a waiter and said, "Qiangzi, come here."
The waiter immediately ran forward and asked, "What do you want, boss?"
Ding Mingao whispered a few words in the waiter's ear, and the waiter nodded and immediately left Zui Xiang Lou.
As usual, Zhang Hulan went to the market to buy a pig's head after coming out of Manfulou, and then went to the pharmacy to buy some ingredients for the stew.
She was more careful and bought some ingredients for the marinade from several herbal medicine shops, and also bought a few more herbs.
Even if someone found out what she bought, it would not be easy to prepare the recipe for the marinade.
I bought the ingredients for the marinade and drove the donkey cart home.
After leaving the city gate, behind Zhang Hulan, someone followed her all the way to Daping Village.
The man did not enter the village, but turned around and left.
The next morning, after Zhang Hulan went out, a peddler entered the village.
"Just to make some soy sauce..."
"Selling sugar, salt, and soy sauce..."
The peddler walked into the village, hawking his wares, looking around as he walked.
Hearing the hawking, the children in the village all ran over and surrounded the peddler, looking at him curiously.
Ma happened to pass by and asked, "Is your salt salty?"
The peddler replied: "Of course it is salty, this is the finest salt rock."
Ma picked up a tiny grain of salt stone and put it in her mouth to taste it. It was quite salty.
Ma asked, "How do you sell this salt?"
"Twelve cents a pound."
Ma's eyes turned and she said, "Make it cheaper, ten cents a pound, I'll buy some."
The peddler said, "Sister-in-law, the salt in the salt shop in the city costs fifteen cents per pound. I have saved three cents per pound."
Ma said, "Who said that? I bought it for twelve coins some time ago."
The peddler then said, "If you can help me get more business, I can give you a lower price."
"Introducing business to you? How can I introduce business to you?"
The peddler said, "Just help me get more people to buy salt. Or, sister-in-law, tell me if there are any families in the village that need a lot of salt, and I can go and sell it myself."
"A family that uses more salt?" Ma immediately thought of Zhang Hulan's family. Her family makes braised meat every day, so they must use a lot of salt.
Ma said, "I know one. How much would you give me for a pound of salt?"
The peddler said, "Let's do as the sister-in-law said, ten cents a pound."
Ma shook her head, "No, eight cents a pound."
The peddler agreed immediately, "Eight cents is eight cents."
"But my sister-in-law has to introduce some business to me first."
Ma smiled and said, "No problem. The shop next to my house makes braised meat, and they use a lot of salt every day. If you go to her house and sell it, you will definitely be able to sell it."
The peddler immediately said, "Really? Then sister-in-law, take me to have a look first."
"Sure." Ma immediately took the peddler to her home.
Ma felt that she was helping Zhang Hulan save money, and could consider it as repaying the favor Zhang Hulan had given her for the meat last time.
Ma led the peddler to the door of Zhang Hulan's house, pointed inside and said, "This is the one."
Ma decided to be a good person to the end. She had to let Zhang Hulan know that it was she who brought the peddler here, so that Zhang Hulan would know that she had saved money for her.
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