Shortly after the start of spring, A-Mian received her second dividend.
Master Song promoted the product extensively throughout Zhoucheng, gathering many of his employees to promote it door-to-door. He even hired an artist to paint a small portrait of A-Mian on it, with the words "Lu A-Mian's Fermented Bean Curd Sauce" clearly written below.
By applying paste to the jar, it instantly looks much more upscale. In Song Dongjia's words, "This is how you get a good price!"
Two hundred bottles of fermented bean curd sauce can be sold in a month, and a considerable amount ends up in A-Mian's hands.
She has saved more than 130 taels of silver.
Ah Mian had always wanted to open a shop, and now there was finally a glimmer of hope. This was the first time she had owned her own business, so she went out early and returned late, spending all her time on the food street.
Shops in the food street are always in high demand. Every year, some people make their fortunes here, while others lose money and leave in despair. Without real skills, it's easy to lose several hundred taels of silver a year.
It's faster than throwing silver directly into the water.
Ah Mian's capital seems substantial at first glance, but in reality, it's insufficient for opening a shop.
According to her observation, the shops at the entrance of the food street were the busiest; these shops didn't sell anything, they were all long-established eateries. Then came the shops on both sides of the middle, the kind of two-story buildings with backyards, where the price was around two hundred taels.
Such a shop needs to employ at least four or five workers: waiters, general laborers, chefs, accountants, etc., and their monthly wages would amount to three or four taels of silver.
Therefore, many restaurants here cannot survive. If they can't hold on for two years, they have no choice but to sell their shops with tears in their eyes to make up for the losses.
“Master Lu, please come this way,” the broker said, also trying to facilitate the sale of the shop. “This side might be more suitable for you. The shop is on the ground floor and comes with a small backyard.”
Ah Mian looked around and realized they were almost at the end of the street; there were clearly half as many pedestrians. "How much are the shops here?"
"Around one hundred and twenty taels."
She looked around and found that business here wasn't very good; most stalls sold snacks and drinks. However, one place was doing very well—a roast duck stall. Upon closer inspection, Ah Mian noticed that many of the customers were clearly residents of the city, making a detour to buy a serving. There were also waiters from the street eateries running errands, carrying half a portion of roast duck back for customers to enjoy with their drinks.
The roast duck restaurant has no seating; you just grab yours and go. It's run by a short, stout male owner who doesn't employ any staff.
"This place has been open for almost thirty years! It's a famous restaurant in our city."
Amian nodded, thinking that she would take half of it home to eat later.
After wandering around for a while, she noticed a very dilapidated shop, located near the center. Upon closer inspection, she saw black burn marks on the walls and overgrown weeds in the backyard.
"To be honest, this shop was flooded. Alas, that family suffered terribly. All five of them were burned alive in their sleep. This shop is considered unlucky; it hasn't sold for years, and nobody even wants to rent it. If you want to buy it, it'll be even cheaper, fifty or sixty taels of silver! We can still negotiate."
Ah Mian was also worried. She wondered if anyone would take over such a dangerous shop.
She had a general understanding of the broker's introductions. Except for that haunted shop, the others were praised to the skies, each one a perfect opportunity for Ah Mian to get rich. What the broker didn't know was that Ah Mian had spent more than half a month squatting in front of these shops counting heads, and she knew exactly what was going on.
Which shop has more people passing by?
Which route do the cooks and helpers usually take home after finishing their work?
How many households are there nearby, and which road do they usually take?
What is the approximate daily revenue of our competitors in the surrounding area?
She wrote everything down on a piece of paper, and when she got home, she wrapped up half a roast duck while it was still warm. As soon as she entered the door, A-Mian called out, "Xiao Jing, A-Yue, come out and eat roast duck! Is Third Brother back yet?"
Xiao Jing carried A Yue out and whispered, "They're back. Oh no."
"Hmm? What's wrong?" A-Mian opened the lotus leaf package and eagerly tore off a duck leg with her hands. The aroma of fruitwood and the crispy skin were simply amazing. She ate it while asking, "What's wrong?"
“Our chicken farming business is probably doomed. Third Brother is going to kill those chickens.” Meng Jing was very worried about losing this small livelihood. “Little Yue climbed to the chicken coop this morning, and a bad chicken scared her and tried to peck her. Yue almost got into a fight with that chicken.”
Didn't you peck it?
“She almost cried a lot. Later, Third Brother asked A-Yue to identify which chicken had bullied her, but A-Yue couldn’t remember. Third Brother waved his hand and said he would raze the chicken coop to the ground.”
The big devil A-Yue stopped crying and stared at the duck leg in A-Mian's hand, drool dripping from her mouth.
Amian said, "Just kill the rooster, leave the hens to lay eggs, and I'll go and try to persuade them."
She went to the backyard and saw Meng Chijian sharpening a knife, looking menacing. A rooster, already cold, was hanging upside down in a basin to bleed.
"Third Brother, spare the chickens!" A-Mian knelt on one knee, clasping her hands in a fist salute. "These hens have done something, even if they haven't done anything wrong. Please reconsider!"
"This time we were lucky. What if we catch the baby's face or eyes next time?" The hen protects her eggs, always spreading her wings and jumping up to peck at them, quite fiercely.
Amian thought it made sense, after all, the baby's pretty little face didn't have a single scar, but she was reluctant to part with the eggs: "But this is our livelihood, Xiaojing's and my livelihood, so let's tie them up first, keep only the two laying hens, and let Xiaojing take the rest to the city to sell tomorrow. I'll raise the fence a bit so the hens can't escape."
“I’ll work on the fence. You’ve been running around all day, have you found a shop you like?” Meng Chijian finally calmed down and asked.
"Hmm, I've looked at a few places, but I'm still undecided. Let's have some roast duck first."
The two washed their hands and went to the front yard. Little Yue had inherited the duck leg that A-Mian hadn't finished eating. The duck leg was bigger than her little hands, so she held it with both hands and started biting into it with gusto.
She only ate a tiny bit, and the duck leg only caused a minor cut. Instead, she ended up with her own little face all dirty and oily.
“You can’t eat this,” A-Mian took back the duck leg and tore off a small piece of meat for her. “Eat this.”
Little A-Yue ate with great satisfaction, shaking her head and swaying her body.
Meng Chijian went to the kitchen to get bowls, chopsticks, and spoons, and then cut the roast duck into pieces before eating.
"How much money do you need to buy the shop? I'll give it to you."
Amian was taken aback when she heard this. She looked at Xiao Ayue and said vaguely, "No need, I have enough money."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
