Last year, selling sorghum required Errui and his companions to travel through the rainy night, and they almost ended up in jail.
Although we made some money with the help of Xiang Dejin and the others, the hard work, exhaustion, and constant fear were truly unbearable.
This year is different; we can sit down and negotiate at our leisure.
"Dear customers, our corn is now up for auction!"
"Since everyone is gathered here today, I won't say much. Xu Family Village has green corn for sale, which should be the earliest tender corn in Ba County this year. Village Chief Jiang has already listed the price, so you can consider purchasing accordingly."
With Cao Yicheng's words, the seemingly small but actually fiercely competitive auction began.
Jiang Zhi first introduced to the five merchants who came, "These corns are all grown by our family, and the quality is absolutely guaranteed."
Based on their growth rate, we divided them into three grades: ten coins per pound, five coins per pound, and three coins per pound.
Each sample is laid out before you; feel free to choose, and the highest bidder wins!
As soon as Jiang Zhi finished speaking, the five vendors began whispering and discussing amongst themselves.
They all knew about the auction in advance and even found out that Xujia Village had sold sorghum last year.
At that time, we bought the land by leasing it out on the edge of the field, and the price was only four coins per pound.
This year, the group originally planned to use the same method to lease land, but unexpectedly, they divided it into different grades with different prices and qualities, so they couldn't take advantage of the situation.
Moreover, the tender corn is still growing in the field, so it's not feasible to pick it and then lower the price like in other places.
"I don't think this corn looks very good, and it costs ten coins a pound, which is too expensive!" A vendor shook his head, looking disappointed.
In a regular grain store, a pound of dried cornmeal costs only five coins, but this tender corn costs ten coins a pound—too expensive!
It's normal for buyers to be picky about goods.
"Mr. Sun, tender corn can't be compared to regular corn."
"Moreover, our corn is specially grown, making us the first of our kind."
“I believe in special cultivation, but isn’t this first one a bit too exaggerated?” Another vendor frowned, wanting to continue to belittle it.
“The fact that Mr. Tax is sitting here means he must have already inquired elsewhere. Is there any other place where it can be grown?” Jiang Zhi explained patiently.
“Of course there are other places, but…” someone interrupted, but stopped mid-sentence.
The only place where people can eat tender corn now is the Zhou Prince's Mansion, and even then, it's only grown in small quantities near the hot springs. It doesn't reach ordinary households and can't enter the market.
"Hmm, that sounds pretty good." The vendor nodded. "However, even so, the price is too high. Could you make it cheaper?"
“This is already the lowest price,” Jiang Zhi said firmly. “If you are serious about buying, we can give you a discount on future products from Xujia Village.”
"Discount? What kind of discount?" the vendor asked.
"We'll discuss that in more detail when you make your purchase." Jiang Zhi didn't intend to say too much; the most important thing right now was to sell the green grains.
The samples have been viewed; the bidding has begun!
No matter how much they belittle it, their actions speak louder than words. They raise their bids without hesitation, and nobody would turn down real money. These tender corns will double in value once they're taken home.
We'll sell the best quality items first, starting at ten coins!
As the tokens representing the amount of money were laid out one by one, the price of the superior product quickly rose to twenty coins, eventually settling at twenty-five coins.
"Village Chief Jiang, I'll buy it for twenty-five coins. From now on, I'll be the first to get any products from Xu Family Village!"
This was the first customer to mention the discounts, and there was something else in his words.
Jiang Zhi readily agreed. Her original price was twenty coins, but now she could pay five more, which was really good.
Beside them, Errui and Xiaoman were experiencing something like this for the first time. Although they sat silently, they were already overjoyed.
Although last year, when they were sent to the city, they sold for as much as thirty coins a stick, but in reality, we suffered a considerable loss. Later, we reduced the price, so in the end, it didn't even cost thirty coins.
And it's exhausting to work through the night. If things could always be like this, it would be so easy.
Once the premium grade is determined, the next step is to set the prices for the second and third grades.
With the 25-cash denomination already sold, the remaining two grades were bought by two other companies for 10 and 8 cash respectively.
Once the price of corn here was settled, Errui immediately said, "Three bosses, I'll go into the village right away and have someone pick the corn. I'll also trouble your men to prepare the mule cart as soon as possible. It should be ready to go in an hour at most."
There's no refrigerated transport here, and it's not easy in this sweltering heat, so we try to keep things fresh for as long as possible.
Hearing that they were preparing the mule carts right now, the shop owner who had just bought the premium product asked doubtfully, "How many people do you have? Can you really say that you can harvest and distribute the corn from more than 20 acres of land in just one hour?"
Even the largest farm only has seven or eight tenant households, so it would take at least half a day to harvest so much corn.
His words made Cao Yicheng and Jiang Zhi both laugh.
Cao Yicheng had heard about the houses being built in Xujia Village. The speed at which they were being built had already spread far and wide among the people who were performing corvée labor, making it seem as if everyone in Xujia Village had grown eight hands.
Jiang Zhi was well aware of the speed at which the people of Xujia Village were now; they really did have eight hands.
With Wang Xiaoju's "one bucket of water" whipping method, everyone worked like they were on steroids. Their hands were so fast they could barely move, and now the whole village could husk corn as easily as playing a game.
Sure enough, Xujia Village soon opened the eyes of several merchants.
It was only early June, and the sun was already blazing. The whole village, young and old, went to the fields to harvest corn.
Everyone carried their own tools: a bamboo basket, a wicker basket, and a small basket.
The woman skillfully broke the corn off the stalks, while the children and the elderly sat on the ground sorting the corn by grade and size.
The men used baskets to deliver corn of different grades to the merchants' mule carts, counting and registering them, doing it layer by layer with practiced ease.
These tasks were handled by Errui and Li Lao, while Wang Xiaoju and Xu Gensheng supervised them.
This was the first time Wang Xiaoju had supervised so many people working together, and she was running around, sweating profusely from the heat.
Seeing how responsible she was, the women, including Pi, joked, "Xiaoju, if you work this hard, Aunt Jiang will definitely double your wages!"
Wang Xiaoju was in charge of supervision at the mosquito coil workshop. Her wages were paid by the workshop and she earned thirty coins a day, which made everyone else extremely envious.
It's clear that no one has been arguing in the mosquito coil workshop these past few days, and they have to respect Wang Xiaoju. Seeing her working so hard again, they can't help but tease her a bit.
Wang Xiaoju chuckled: "I like it this way, so carefree!"
At the post station, the auction wasn't over yet; the grand finale was yet to come.
It was clearly not enough for only three people to buy the grain, so Jiang Zhi put out the mosquito coil tray.
"Do I need to introduce this mosquito coil tray to everyone?" Jiang Zhi asked deliberately.
Mr. Sun, who had just taken pictures of the grain, said, "To be honest, I had heard about the mosquito coils from Inspector Zhang a long time ago, so I came here specifically for this!"
Sun Family Trading Company is a large trading company. They heard that not only is green grain rare in Xu Family Village, but also a special kind of mosquito coil.
The others nodded in agreement: "Yes, Village Chief Jiang, the mosquito coil tray won't be auctioned off again, right?"
Jiang Zhi smiled and said, "Green grains are so difficult to grow that they are sold at auction, and mosquito coils are naturally priced accordingly."
Using tender corn as a stage, mosquito coils and mosquito repellent liquid as the main attraction, this way nothing is left out.
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