16 stalls
◎Pour a lot of money◎
Although Ruiyang County is a small county, it is particularly respectful of literature and morality, and almost every household sends their children to school.
There have been many schools in the county throughout the dynasties. Tian Nongxi's second uncle, Tian Nong Le, used to teach in a school.
The number of schools in the county has been decreasing in recent years, not because the love of learning has disappeared, but because Ruoshui Academy is the only one that dominates the market.
Ruoshui Academy was originally built by a poor candidate in the previous dynasty who could not afford the travel expenses to go to Beijing for the imperial examination. Over the decades, it has trained many loyal officials of the court. Over time, it became a famous school in the Jiangnan area.
It was the afternoon when students at Ruoshui Academy were dismissed from school.
Tian Nongxi had inquired in advance and found out that there were a total of 400 students in Ruoshui Academy. Except for more than 100 students who were too old, the rest had to participate in the examination every three months.
The assessment content is divided into civil, military and appearance, and body shape accounts for an absolute proportion in appearance.
Therefore, motivated students will not allow themselves to consume a drop of oil more throughout the year.
Now that there is less than a month left until the first exam of the new semester, students who are cramming for the exam are getting anxious.
Tian Nongxi had prepared sixty meals early, put them in bamboo tubes, stuffed them into a sturdy wooden box, and added a thick layer of hay to keep them warm.
This is the scene that students of Ruoshui Academy see when they leave school.
There is a small stall in front of the entrance of the academy, which was deserted in the past. The stall owner is a smiling little girl who looks young. She is wearing a plain cloth dress with her cuffs rolled up to her forearms, looking very capable.
The stall is not big, and there is a tightly closed wooden box on the right.
An irregular wooden sign was filled with carvings, stroke by stroke, and a vivid chicken leg was carved in the lower right corner.
There was nothing else, but there was an inexplicable fragrance that made people swallow involuntarily.
It was probably some small vendor who didn't know the situation and set up his stall in front of the academy gate.
They need to diet during this period, and most of them just lingered in front of the stall for a moment without stopping.
"Still eating, do you want to be scolded by the teacher?"
"Don't look at it, we agreed not to have an IV drip today."
More and more students came out, but no one stayed here.
Seeing that the flow of people was increasing and there were so many students coming out that the gate of the academy was about to collapse, Tian Nongxi seized the opportunity and started shouting.
"Come and take a look. These are healthy meals that are delicious and won't make you fat. They're specially made for Ruoshui students!"
"Free trial! Free trial! If it doesn't taste good, no charge! And if you get fat, no charge!"
Perhaps because she looked approachable, soon groups of students approached her hesitantly.
Tian Nongxi opened the wooden box effortlessly and took out a portion of food from the top layer.
He also prepared wooden chopsticks and handed them to those around who were eager to try.
The student who was closest to the dish took the chopsticks, tasted it tentatively, and said under the expectant gaze of those around him: "Not bad." It was the original taste of the ingredients, sweet and tasty without losing its flavor.
"But—there's a rumor that delicious food makes people fat." He frowned and asked distrustfully, "How can you guarantee that we won't get fat after eating your food?"
The secret to not gaining weight is less oil, less salt and less sugar, and the secret to delicious food is the secret seasoning.
This is what Ruiyang County people lack most in cooking.
But why would Tian Nongxi say this?
She just curled her eyes and said confidently, "If I get fat, you can go to the government office and sue me."
"Brother Wang, why don't we—" The student next to him saw the words carved on the wooden board clearly, pointed, and asked in a low voice.
The prices were marked on the wooden board:
One meat dish and three vegetable dishes, one for ten cents, two for eighteen cents
Two meat dishes and three vegetables (with chicken legs) one portion is 16 wen and two portions are 25 wen
It wasn’t too expensive, and the two of them looked at each other and hit it off immediately.
"It saves me time to review my studies."
"It's three cents cheaper to bring your own lunch box. Just give it to me one day in advance." Tian Nongxi took out the two meat dishes and three vegetable dishes ordered by the two of them from the wooden box, smiling.
With this good start, her business is booming. The girl she met at Linqing Pavilion yesterday also came to support her and bought two servings of one meat and three vegetables to take home.
Tian Nongxi was surrounded by the crowd, and half an incense stick of time had passed when he saw the sunlight shining on the wooden sign again.
Occasionally, some students would come to ask, but all sixty meals had been sold out, so they had no choice but to leave with a sigh.
Tian Nongxi sorted out the empty wooden box and put all the money he earned into his pocket, while still absentmindedly calculating the total amount of money he had earned that day.
Soon, the cold, mechanical female voice overlapped with the numbers in her mind: "Six hundred and eighty-five coins in the account."
Tian Nongxi let out a long sigh, looked at the golden sunlight, and could hardly hide his smile.
Although the money earned today is a drop in the bucket compared to 20 million taels of gold, it is still much more than simply growing and selling vegetables.
Take advantage of this period of time to save more money, buy a few acres of good farmland, and supply food to major restaurants. Wouldn’t life be wonderful?
Today is just a test, so not much food is prepared.
She was calculating in her mind how much time she would have to prepare for tomorrow, when she suddenly saw a familiar figure at the entrance of the academy.
The man looked ordinary in his blue shirt, but the sparkling jade ring on his hand revealed that he was either rich or noble.
After a little thought, Tian Nongxi left his stall, walked up to him and patted him gently on the shoulder.
"Second uncle?"
Tian Nongle withdrew his gaze from inside, and when he saw his niece, his expression cracked for a moment, "What are you doing here?"
"Selling things." Tian Nongxi pointed to his stall, his eyes showing curiosity, and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"How shameless to show your face in public!"
Tian Nongxi persisted, "Grandpa, aren't you old enough to go to Ruoshui Academy?"
"I'm here to see the scholar. The affairs of the Zhuang family are very busy, and a country girl like you is not likely to understand."
Tian Nongxi nodded as if he understood, and didn't ask any more questions.
Before she did business, she had thoroughly understood Ruoshui Academy and knew by heart which door the scholars took and which door the students took.
Tian Nongxi returned to the stall, but his eyes followed Tian Nongle until he walked in under the guidance of a servant.
/
"Boss Bu gave it to me." Lin Luan took the wooden box that was scratched beyond recognition by Tian Nongxi's nails and shook the cloth bag in front of her.
My thoughts returned, and my sight was captivated by the tightly stitched purse.
Tian Nongxi came back to his senses and looked at Lin Luan who suddenly appeared before him, and asked in surprise, "So fast?"
She and Lin Luan agreed that they would split up, one to watch the stall while the other went to buy the seeds for the ingredients needed, and by the way, bring the best mothballs from yesterday to Bu Qin - after all, if they wanted to keep doing this for a long time, relying on buying all the ingredients would greatly reduce the profit.
Lin Luan chose the easier option of buying seeds without hesitation. He had a calm expression when he left with the bamboo basket, but when he came back, he felt that the surroundings had become a little softer.
They must get along well.
Tian Nongxi jumped to conclusion.
She was very happy about the fact that she had made good friends with her only two friends in the New World, and on the way to buy chicken, she kept pestering Lin Luan with questions.
"good."
"good."
"fine."
Lin Luan, who had only exchanged names with Bu Qin, couldn't bear to interrupt Tian Nongxi, who was chirping like a bird and asking a new question every now and then, and replied as seriously as possible.
"It's boring."
After walking for half a cup of tea, the two finally arrived at the destination.
Tian Nongxi stopped talking and walked quickly to the boss who was picking his teeth.
"Boss, how much are the chickens?"
This is a place dedicated to selling livestock and poultry. The damp muddy ground is covered with feces of various livestock, which have been integrated with the soil through years of being trampled. Visible dust is suspended in the turbid air, making people's breath foggy and grayish-yellow.
The boss looked up and down at the two people who looked out of place here, spat the vegetable leaves he had just picked out onto the ground with a "Pooh" sound, and made a five with a squinting look.
"The rooster is fifty, the hen is forty, no bargaining. These are all home-raised chickens, and they eat better than you every day."
"I want four roosters, one male and three females." Tian Nongxi squatted down, picked up a chicken, looked at it carefully, clapped his hands and said, "One hundred and twenty."
The boss scratched his ears impatiently, didn't answer, and waved his hand away, his attitude of wanting to kick people out was obvious.
"I want to order chicken legs from you again, thirty per day, and have them delivered to Tianjia Village." Tian Nongxi asked.
"Four cents for a leg." The boss slowly made the number four.
"Three cents is fine, okay?" Tian Nongxi smiled. "We're all in business, so if you're good, it's good for me too. I'm doing well in business, and everyone knows you. If we get along, I'll ask the neighbors to buy from you."
"Three cents?" The boss stood up and rolled over the vegetable leaves on the ground, chewing over these words carefully. After a while, he said without comment: "Pay first, then give me the goods."
What kind of business can a little girl do?
Tian Nongxi took out two hundred coins from his purse and handed them to the boss. While the boss was counting the money, he tied up four good quality chickens and stuffed them into his backpack, then he stood up and was ready to leave.
"Hey - when is it -" the boss stopped counting the copper coins and asked hurriedly.
"Every evening, before sunset." Tian Nongxi shook Lin Luan's arm and was about to signal him to leave quickly, but the purse fell to the ground due to the large movement.
Lin Luan picked up the backpack with one hand. The moment he bent down to pick up the purse, he caught a glimpse of the dirty dust on the ground. In the moment he hesitated, Tian Nongxi had already picked up the purse.
She patted it clean as if it were clean, but she didn't know when a stain of dust appeared on her nose.
Do you want to wipe it for her? Lin Luan took out a handkerchief.
The two voices sounded at the same time.
"Don't move."
"Stay here for a while." Tian Nongxi stuffed the purse into his arms and walked out of the stall quickly, chasing something.
Lin Luan paused holding the handkerchief, and his eyes looked around the messy streets towards where Tian Nongxi was looking.
Half of a blue shirt flashed by at the corner, embroidered with gold thread patterns that clearly shouldn't appear in such a place.
One of the hands behind the back was teased by the afterglow, and the jade ring on the thumb was warm and delicate.
In his other hand, he was holding a half-grown child.
He walked hurriedly and turned into an alley.
Ignoring the boss's sudden questioning behind him, Lin Luan followed with the backpack.
【Author’s words】
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