"Yan's Pastry Shop?"
One of the men, who looked like a scholar, was reading the signboard aloud.
"Really? How did Yan's Pastry Shop end up here? I remember this shop used to sell timber, and the owner's surname isn't Yan."
"It's probably a fake, likely counterfeit."
"I knew it! The shopkeeper must have envied the business of Yan's Pastry Shop, so he copied the signboard."
"Wait, there's another line of smaller text under the sign."
"Jiangnan County branch?"
Deng Qiuzhi noticed that the people outside the shop were discussing whether it was true or false.
He carried a plate of sliced flower cakes to the door.
"Please be quiet, everyone. Listen to me. Our shop is the first branch of Yan's Pastry Shop! And it's the authentic one! On the first day of opening, we're temporarily selling three kinds of pastries: flower cakes, peach shortbread, and cookies. I'm sure many of you have tried the flower cakes before. Please look at the flower cake in my hand. Is it authentic?"
Deng Qiuzhi showed them each one, and even picked out a few guests who looked very wealthy, and gave them a piece to try.
"Yes, yes, yes, that's the taste! What's the price? I want to buy it!"
"Delicious! Oh my, my sister-in-law brought me a bag of these when she came to visit last time. I finished them in one day. I heard they cost half a tael of silver a bag. Is yours also half a tael?"
"Two bags of each of the three kinds of pastries, please! Last time I went to Shuangqiao Town, Yan's Pastry Shop didn't have biscuits yet. Could they be new products? I don't know how the shopkeeper could make such delicious things. Quick, quick, here's the money. I want to be the first customer."
"I want to buy cookies. I've tried these cookies before. They're not as greasy as peach shortbread, and they're very crispy. They crumble when you bite into them. My son loves these cookies the most. If the delivery fee weren't so expensive, I would definitely buy him a bag every month."
“.......
Almost everyone who has tried the flower cakes buys some.
Seeing Deng Qiuzhi's shop, it was indeed Yan's Pastry Shop, not a fake.
Customers who had originally intended to watch the spectacle ended up crowding into the shop.
"Excuse me, could you please wait in line?"
"The three kinds of pastries are priced at half a tael of silver per bag, while supplies last."
The words fell.
The guests lined up in long queues, afraid of being pushed to the back.
However, by the time they reached number 20, everything was sold out.
A full 150 bags.
One customer bought ten bags of each of the three types of pastries.
That's outrageous. I don't know if it's a gift or if they're trying to sell it at a high price.
Deng Qiuzhi ignored it because he had no idea that there was such a thing as limited sales.
After sitting on the sidelines for months, this was the first time he had ever seen the shop do so well.
From setting off firecrackers to closing the shop.
It took less than an hour...
There's no stock left.
Deng Qiuzhi apologized dozens of times.
That evening, Wang Yuanshan finally arrived at the shop in his horse-drawn carriage. It was his first time in Jiangnan County, and he was unfamiliar with the roads, so he had to ask several people for directions before he finally found it.
So it got dark.
"Aunt Yan said your shop's pastries definitely won't be enough to meet demand, so she asked me to send you fifty bags of flower cakes, 150 bags of peach shortbread, and 100 bags of cookies. The filling for the flower cakes is running low; we can only add more once the roses are fully ripe..."
Wang Yuanshan recounted Yan Xia's words to Deng Qiuzhi.
"Manager Yan is truly a genius! Not only did we run out of stock, but my shop was sold out in less than an hour. Luckily, you delivered a lot of goods, otherwise I would have been stuck in the shop with customers again tomorrow. Young man, come in and have a meal with us."
The three of them brought the pastries from the carriage inside.
Deng Qiuzhi also invited Wang Yuanshan to have dinner together.
He didn't refuse; if he didn't eat it, he could only use the public funds given by Aunt Yan to buy it.
Let's save some money.
After finishing his meal, Wang Yuanshan drove his carriage to a dilapidated inn, where he spent five coins to sleep on a large communal bed and paid one string of cash for parking.
Three-tenths of the money is for management fees, and the rest is for feed and fodder.
Wang Yuanshan felt a pang of heartache. Aunt Yan gave him one tael of silver as public funds, saying it was for three days' expenses.
But he couldn't bear to part with it.
The horse just needs to be well-fed and have a place to sleep.
If he were to stay in a room, it would cost at least a hundred coins a night, which he couldn't bear to spend.
The communal sleeping area was made of hard bricks and stones, covered only with a layer of straw, a tattered cloth, and a flattened pillow filled with straw. The blanket was even worse, reeking of stinky feet.
Wang Yuanshan only covered his lower body.
He slept in his coat.
At night, snoring sounds rose and fell, some like water buffalo, some like wild boars grunting, and some even as loud as thunder.
Wang Yuanshan hadn't slept well and woke up with huge dark circles under his eyes.
He can go back to Baihua Village tonight to keep his mother company.
So Wang Yuanshan set off before dawn.
Before leaving, I bought two steaming hot steamed buns from a street vendor for one coin each.
Eat one in the morning, and save the other for lunch.
The sun took a day to rise and set, and it also took Wang Yuanshan a day to go from setting off to returning home.
On the way, I ran into Qian Yi again.
The two nodded to each other and then passed each other.
When we arrived, the sun had just set.
It wasn't completely dark yet.
His mother was standing at the village entrance to greet him.
"mother--"
"What are you waiting for me here for? Get in the carriage, let's go home."
"Mother guessed you were coming back. Dinner is ready. You must be starving! How was your first day of work? Did you cause any trouble? Did you run into any bad people on the way?"
Xu Chunxia was very worried.
His son has never left Jiashu County.
Although she agreed to let him work as a stable boy to deliver goods, she barely slept last night.
She was extremely worried, wondering if her son would encounter bandits or cause trouble for his mother-in-law.
"Mom, I did a great job. The pastries have been delivered, and the journey was safe. Don't worry, let's go back and have dinner."
Wang Yuanshan helped his mother onto the carriage.
After arriving home, he put the carriage in the yard, had dinner with his mother, and then took the initiative to wash the dishes. Neither mother nor son slept well.
So I went to bed early.
They all slept soundly today, even Xu Chunxia, who is used to getting up at night to urinate, slept through the night.
When she woke up, Wang Yuanshan had already prepared breakfast.
The people and the carriage disappeared.
Seeing how filial and hardworking her son was, Xu Chunxia's eyes reddened slightly.
By this time, Wang Yuanshan had received a new batch of pastries and set off from Shuangqiao Town. Having learned from his first experience, he didn't ask anyone for help this time.
We sped along, arriving in Jiangnan County just as the sun was setting.
"Uncle Deng, how's business these past few days?"
“Great! We can’t sell enough. The people here are so rich and there’s such a large population. Tomorrow, take 50 more bags of peach shortbread and cookies. Oh, and ask your Aunt Yan when we can increase the quantity of flower cakes.”
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