Chapter 20 Tea and Autumn Whispers If she answered with "Yes"...
Qiu Yu replied, "Yes," but in her heart she thought she would go and buy some more tea in the afternoon to set up a tea-related business.
The man on horseback asked, "How much is a bowl?"
Qiu Yuruo quoted the prices at the small stall: "One copper coin for a bowl of plain water, two copper coins for tea."
The man dismounted and said, "We'd like to drink tea. Tea quenches our thirst. Could you please boil more hot water for our group?"
Qiu Yuruo was secretly glad that when she ordered the pot, she had also ordered an extra cylindrical pot, which was perfect for boiling water.
She responded and used both cylindrical pots, adding only a little water to each, and lit the fire to start heating.
He boiled water, asked Su Yunche to watch the fire, and then pushed the cart, carrying two empty buckets, home to fetch water and tea.
Before Su Yunche came from home, he had already filled the other four covered wooden buckets with water, and the water tank was also full of water.
When Qiu Yu came over again, she filled all six custom-made wooden buckets with lids with water and placed them on a cart. Her second sister then helped push and pull the cart over.
By this time, the shed was already full of people, and several mule-drawn carts were parked in front.
It turns out that the person just now was a scout for a caravan.
Qiu Yuruo and her second sister carried down a bucket of water together, letting her go home first. She then greeted everyone, saying, "There are basins here, everyone take a wash and cool off."
The caravan set off before dawn and traveled for two or three hours, already covered in dust. They were naturally happy to be able to wash their faces and relax.
Feeling happy, I saw Qiu Yuruo and Su Yunche struggling to unload the wooden barrels from the cart, so I helped them down.
Qiu Yuruo smiled and thanked them. Seeing that the water in the round pot had already boiled, she took it off the stove and took out the tea leaves that she had just brought from home the day before yesterday to help her, and put them directly into the pot.
The boiling water was used to brew the tea, and it was colored almost instantly. Boiling water was carefully poured into another round pot, and Yun Che was asked to add more water to continue boiling. He then took a large bowl and carefully served the tea to the caravan members.
The caravan consisted of twelve people, and each of them drank about three bowls of tea, which cost more than seventy coins. This was more than the money they had spent on noodles that morning. However, the noodles that morning, just two jin of flour, cost twenty coins. The bone broth was cheap, but the meat sauce cost ten coins.
The noodles cost over sixty coins, but the ingredients cost thirty coins. The tea and tea leaves cost less than twenty coins, and the water was drawn from our own well. It only took a little firewood, so the total cost was no more than twenty-five coins!
At this moment, Qiu Yuruo felt that selling tea was really making a lot of money!
When the caravan manager came to settle the bill, Qiu Yuruo couldn't really afford more than seventy coins, so she only charged him sixty coins, saying, "It's mainly because we used good tea. If it were just ordinary tea, I would have charged you fifty coins. If you come again next time, you can use your own tea. Even if it's just plain water, I'll give you a discount."
After listening, the manager felt that Qiu Yuruo was too honest, and he couldn't help but prepare to offer some advice.
After Qiu Yu finished stating the price, the manager smiled and shook his head, saying, "I know the proprietress is kind-hearted, but this price cannot be calculated like this."
His tone was full of goodwill, yet he said the price was inappropriate. Qiu Yuru asked in confusion, "Then how do you think it should be calculated?"
Manager: "The proprietress must have only been setting up her stall for a short time, right?"
Qiu Yuruo laughed and said, "You're absolutely right. Today is the first day we set up our stall."
The person in charge laughed and said, "It's not something you can tell from the things you have, but from how you handle things."
The vendors at the village entrance are mostly from the village or nearby. If they encounter people from several miles away who want to drink more tea, they don't mind paying a little less.
However, for outsiders, especially merchants like us, the prices can't be cheap. To put it bluntly, the tea and food vendors on the official roads make their money from outsiders.
Now that you're another stall owner, they're using good tea for us, and then they're giving us a discount of over ten coins, and even saying we can use our own tea leaves next time.
"Boss lady, think about it yourself. If we don't go very far, or if we happen to be in the area again and go to another stall, and we pay them the same way you said, won't they hold a grudge?"
Qiu Yuruo: "..."
She genuinely hadn't considered this. None of the people she knew had ever traveled far from home or set up a stall, so no one really understood these unspoken rules of street vending.
Hearing what the caravan manager said, Qiu Yuru immediately understood.
These words of theirs may not be worth a fortune, but they can definitely help you avoid a big problem.
Qiu Yuruo: "I understand what you said. They say good words are worth a thousand pieces of gold. I don't have a thousand pieces of gold to thank you, so consider today's tea as a token of my gratitude."
The person in charge is the merchant in charge of arranging goods. All expenses incurred on the way are reimbursed by the merchant. He originally gave Qiu Yuruo some advice because he thought she was honest, and now he is even less likely to drink her tea for nothing.
He took out sixty coins and placed them on the table, saying, "My dear girl, since you understand what I'm saying, keep the money properly."
Qiu Yuruo: I've really met a good person.
She looked around her stall and said to the manager, "Uncle, I really appreciate your kindness. Well then, since you are the first customer I have tea with, I'm giving you a discount today."
Do you have any clean empty jars? The meat sauce I have here tastes pretty good; it's delicious whether mixed with noodles or dipped in steamed buns or pancakes. I'll give you some to try.
If you like it, please buy more next time you pass by.
The manager laughed this time and called out to the convoy, "Zhu Zi, bring over the jars you didn't want to throw away yesterday. The boss lady's meat sauce is pretty good, let's try it, and buy more next time we come."
A young man responded, rummaged through his bag and pulled out a clean jar, which he then ran over with.
When Qiu Yuruo saw the jar he brought, she realized it was smaller than the half-pound jar she had prepared.
She took the jar from the pillar first, and then said, "Your jar doesn't seal well, so you should use mine instead."
Before they could speak, he shoved the jar he was holding into the storage compartment under the stacked table, then took out a jar of meat sauce he had prepared himself and gave it to them.
Where could they find a suitable pillar? They could only look to the person in charge.
Having seen more of the world, the person in charge realized that Qiu Yuruo was not only kind-hearted but also grateful and very generous.
He said to the pillar, "Take it."
Zhu Zi accepted the meat sauce, and Qiu Yu Ruo finally felt relieved.
After seeing the caravan off, more people joined the group, and Qiu Yuruo started rolling out noodles ahead of time.
The rich aroma of the bone broth made passersby's stomachs rumble, and those who were well-off couldn't resist stopping to ask for a bowl of noodles.
During the busy period of Wei Shi (1-3 PM), not only did they sell more than 20 bowls of noodles, but they also sold two jars of meat sauce.
The two of them were so hungry that their stomachs were growling. Qiu Yuruo didn't even bother counting the money anymore. She ladled several large spoonfuls of bone broth into the small pot, added some greens, and broke the flatbread she had brought in the morning into pieces and put it in.
Each of them had a large bowl, and after finishing, they each had a bowl of bone broth before they were finally full.
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