Song Anxin suggested supplying the restaurant with the goods at a price of ten coins each. Finally, Song Anxin pressed her advantage, saying:
"Manager Meng, we are currently only supplying two restaurants, and even the largest one, Tianxuan Restaurant, is not available yet. Would you like to take this spot or not?"
Merchants all know the importance of seizing market opportunities, so it's puzzling why Sister-in-law Lin didn't supply Tianxuan Restaurant first. Tianxuan Restaurant has always been superior to their Junyue Restaurant, and Manager Meng has always wanted to curb its arrogance. This "Rich and Oily Egg" is the perfect opportunity.
The thought of finally being able to suppress his long-time rival filled Manager Meng with excitement. His face flushed red with embarrassment, and fearing he might miss this opportunity, he quickly said:
"Sure, sure, sure! But, Sister-in-law Lin, could you please only serve our Junyue Restaurant? We can discuss the price, we can discuss it."
Song Anxin said, "Manager Meng, it's not that I don't want to, it would save me trouble if I only supplied your family, but our family has far more duck eggs than this, and there will definitely be more and more in the future. I'm afraid you can't handle them all here, I'm sorry."
Manager Meng didn't want to force anyone to do something difficult. His restaurant only had about 60 or 70 tables of customers a day, and even on good days, it would only reach 100 tables. He couldn't interfere with other people's business, so it was good that he could keep Tianxuan Restaurant occupied for a while.
The two immediately signed a contract, with Song Anxin supplying the restaurant every three days. Manager Meng ordered 360 pieces, with deliveries starting tomorrow.
Manager Meng paid a deposit of 720 copper coins as per the contract, and the coins clattered into Song Anxin's pocket. The rest would be paid upon delivery.
Manager Meng respectfully saw Song Anxin and her entourage out of the restaurant. Before leaving, she left ten salted duck eggs in the restaurant, asking the manager to let the guests try them first, so that tomorrow's new dishes would be a hit.
Shopkeeper Meng was surprised to find that Sister Lin's business acumen was not like that of a rough countrywoman. She refused to pay for the duck eggs, and she was also generous and open-minded.
From the moment Lin Fengnian and Lin Fengshou entered the restaurant and their mothers began talking to the manager, they were in a daze. They only dared to speak after they had walked a distance from the restaurant.
"Mother, we didn't do anything and we got more than 700 coins! How long would I have to do hard labor for a rich family to earn that much money!"
Lin Fengshou found it hard to believe.
Seeing their naive and unsophisticated appearance, Song Anxin said, "We haven't done anything, and we still owe them about three hundred duck eggs."
Lin Fengnian also said, "Mother, isn't it too expensive for us to sell our duck eggs, which cost two coins each, for ten coins each?"
Lin Fengshou: "Brother, how is this expensive? Didn't you see the prices of the dishes in that restaurant? Just ordering a few dishes costs several hundred coins."
Our price is nothing to others; you could see the restaurant owner agreed without even blinking.
“That’s not how it works,” Song Anxin explained to them. “If you sell cheap goods to the poor and high prices to the rich, you can’t do business for long, and you’ll lose your credibility in business.”
Although the duck eggs only cost two coins each, we still had to use a lot of precious salt, and our family, your aunt's family, and Grandma Han and Xiaohe spent so much time and effort.
These are all labor costs, and we also need to handle delivery. Plus, this is Mother's secret recipe; you can't find it anywhere else in town. Therefore, Mother's price of ten coins per piece is very fair.
Lin Feng listened and nodded thoughtfully. Lin Fengnian also understood; the family had indeed put in a lot of effort.
With that initial success, another deal was quickly struck. "Kelai Restaurant" didn't have a large customer base, so they only ordered 200 eggs. Song Anxin received a deposit of 400 coins and also left 10 salted duck eggs at Kelai Restaurant for tasting.
Song Anxin immediately recouped more than one tael of silver and went to the butcher shop to buy two catties of meat, along with a large pork bone.
We were almost out of salt for pickling salted duck eggs, so we bought another 20 jin of salt, which cost us another 636 wen.
"I'm spending faster than I'm earning," Song Anxin sighed.
Seeing that it was getting late, Uncle Lin's car would probably be heading back to Linjia Village soon. Song Anxin always visited Grandma Song whenever she came to the county, but this time it seemed she wouldn't have time.
Song Anxin then took her two sons to the city gate, where Uncle Lin was getting ready to depart. There was no one in the car, so the mother and her two sons got in.
Lin Fengshou placed the straw on the spot where his mother was sitting and asked:
"Mother, why don't we talk to other restaurants in the county? They'll definitely want it too."
Song Anxin said, "Firstly, it's too much trouble and effort to buy from these two companies. Once they've established the reputation of our salted duck eggs, those people will naturally come to us for supplies."
Secondly, if something is available everywhere, people will lose interest in it.
Of course, the most important point is that our family currently doesn't have that much stock available.
After thinking for a moment, he took the opportunity to say, "With a good harvest, one should not be impatient for quick success. Making a lot of money is a good thing, but taking too big a step can easily hurt your back."
Lin Fengshou nodded to indicate that he had made a note of it. Villagers began to board the oxcart, and there were always two or three more people on the way back than on the way there.
The woman who had come with them asked, "Did you sell any of the food, Sister-in-law Lin? How much did you get for it?"
The other passengers on the bus also listened intently, eager to know how much money Aunt Lin's family could make by collecting large quantities of duck eggs for food.
Some people were even glancing at the basket she was carrying, but it was covered tightly by a black cloth, so they couldn't see anything.
Having learned from her previous experience, Song Anxin covered the meat in the basket very tightly, so that even if people came close to look, they couldn't see anything.
She smiled and said, "It went fairly well; the people in the county thought my food was pretty good."
Song Anxin skipped over the money and turned to her: "Does Dog Egg's mother have any more duck eggs? Feel free to send them to our house."
Dog Egg's mother immediately became happy and said incessantly, "Yes, yes, I was thinking of taking it to your house later."
Sister-in-law Lin, you've really helped us a lot by collecting duck eggs in the village. We can exchange the duck eggs for money without having to go to the county or even leave the village.
I used to always try to save up a lot to take to the county hospital so it would be easier, but as I saved them up, a few would always spoil. I was afraid of getting an upset stomach and having to spend money on medical treatment if I ate them, so I had to throw them away, which broke my heart!
The other women on the bus joined in, all expressing their gratitude to Song Anxin.
Song Anxin successfully changed the subject and smiled apologetically, saying that the villagers had been poor for generations, with only one or two occasionally going out to do business, and once they made money, they moved away.
She still lives in Linjia Village, and besides, she doesn't want to move away. The village has beautiful mountains and rivers. When she makes money in the future, she can build a big brick house, grow flowers and plants, and get a big rocking chair to lie in the yard. She can live a very comfortable life.
Now that she's made money, she needs to keep these people busy so they don't keep targeting her family.
When Song Anxin and her two children returned home, the younger family members came out to greet them. Lin Fengyao couldn't wait to ask:
"Mother, eldest brother, second brother! Have our 'Prosperous Oily Eggs' been sold yet?"
Lin Fengshou said with a happy face, "Of course, we sold a total of 560, and we'll deliver them tomorrow."
Zhang Mei exclaimed in surprise, "So many! I thought we'd be selling these for a long time."
Song Anxin added, "We have to deliver the goods every three days. These won't last long. More and more people will be ordering them later, so we need to quickly pickle more duck eggs."
We have already pickled nearly 3,000 duck eggs at home, and the pickling time is about 20 days. Even if we only supply these two households, we will not be able to keep up with the demand, so we must increase production.
Zhang Mei had already prepared the meal. After the family finished lunch, they started washing the goods to be delivered tomorrow. Lin's family, upon hearing this, also said they would come to help later.
Recently, some people from nearby villages have heard that her family collects duck eggs and have also brought them over to sell, but not many. So Song Anxin plans to ask Lin Fengshou to borrow Uncle Lin's oxcart in the afternoon to collect duck eggs from several nearby villages, as the amount of goods from just Linjia Village is too small.
Before Lin Fengshou could even set off, an acquaintance arrived at Song Anxin's house.
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