"Five coins for a serving, a whole spoonful of vegetables," Ah Mian said hurriedly. "There are also steamed buns to eat with it, one coin for each bun."
The passerby looked at the stir-fried pork with bell peppers again, his face showing hesitation.
Yuan Hua paused, originally thinking that such a dish would definitely be a bestseller immediately, and if it were him, buying two portions would be too few.
However, he had overestimated the town's spending power. Meat buns cost three coins each, and two would be enough to fill you up. Why bother spending more money?
Meat buns also contain both meat and wheat flour!
Amian just smiles. She answers when asked, but she doesn't force herself to enthusiastically greet or recommend products if no one is buying them.
"Give me one, I really see that guy enjoying it."
"Okay, I'll make an extra serving of soup." Ah Mian quickly got to work.
After someone bought the first serving, they sold five or six servings in total.
It was almost lunchtime, so A-Mian hurriedly told Yuan-Hua to go to the dock to sell things.
Meng Chijian, who was chopping wood in the shop, came out upon hearing this and asked, "Should I go with him and keep an eye on him?"
Ah Mian didn't want to waste so much effort on her small business, so she shook her head. "Five coins, if you can get them all here today and sell all my vegetables, I'll cook you something delicious tomorrow!"
Yuan Hua gritted her teeth and nodded.
After he left, the laborers arrived in groups one after another.
They asked about the price, and basically all bought it without hesitation.
"Sigh—it's a bit spicy! It's delicious, young lady, can I have a spoonful of soup too?" Some impatient people had already started eating.
"Will you be selling food again tomorrow?"
"Give me two portions, and could you throw in a steamed bun?"
Meng Chijian stopped chopping wood and instead quietly sharpened his wood-chopping knife.
So the strong men lined up obediently, and their words were very polite.
"I don't know if he'll come tomorrow. If he does, I'll have Wuqian go to the dock to greet him."
"These steamed buns are really not enough to sell, I'll get you some more soup!"
A-Mian was busy serving food and collecting money (she didn't trust Yuan Hua to collect the money), and by noon the food was sold out completely, even the steamed buns were gone!
Some big-mouthed men would buy two or three steamed buns at a time.
They couldn't afford to eat at restaurants, and usually they could only buy meat and cook it themselves. But now they were all eating with great smiles, tearing the steamed buns in half, dipping them in the meat and vegetable broth, and nodding as they ate; some even put the vegetables and broth into their own wheat rice, stirred it with two small twigs with the bark removed, and devoured it with their faces buried in the bowl.
As for their table manners, they were certainly not refined. However, seeing that they had eaten their fill in twos and threes and kept saying that they had enjoyed the meal, Yuan Hua then lay down under the shade of the tree with their bellies full, taking advantage of the hottest part of the day to rest for a while.
They're clearly just a bunch of silly characters... no better than the main characters...
Yuan Hua stared blankly.
"What are you daydreaming about! Come and wash the dishes." A-Mian thought he was trying to slack off.
"Oh, here it comes."
Ah Mian had something more important to do: she needed to count the money.
Of course, she couldn't count them in the street, so she went into the shop and hid behind the stove to count them excitedly.
One wooden bucket can hold about 35-40 servings of food, and more than 30 steamed buns... In the end, the total came to 212 coins!
After deducting the cost of over eighty coins, I actually made a profit of one hundred and twenty-five coins!
We've struck it rich!
Ah Mian, clutching her little money bag, laughed so hard she almost fell off the wooden stool.
Money gives poor people courage. With money, A-Mian gained confidence—although, this money had to be divided.
That evening, after being washed again, A-Mian took out her small purse and handed it to Meng Chijian with great heartache.
The latter weighed it in his hand, "What did you earn today?"
“Hmm…” Ah Mian turned her face away, “After deducting the initial investment, I only made a hundred coins, which I will give to you.”
Meng Chijian, who owned a shop, laughed upon hearing the amount, but simply asked, "What are you giving this to me for?"
“I’m not doing this for free either. This business used your pots, firewood, and the food and sweet soup you made separately every month when I had stomach aches…” The more A-Mian talked, the more she felt she had taken advantage of the situation, even A-Dou did more work than her.
Meng Chijian casually wiped A Mian's face with a towel and unceremoniously accepted the coins from the small money bag.
The little creature on the bamboo mat then turned its back, lay down, yawned, and closed its eyes.
After paying household expenses, A-Mian felt more confident and had gained some status in the family.
She now has 112 coins in her savings, which is the profit from this transaction; more than 30 coins have ended up in her pocket.
Although the five coins were stolen, there were still two other hens in the house that were laying eggs... These were also her property...
Thinking about it, I had a good dream all night.
The next day, it rained after a long absence.
The weather was much cooler after the rain, and Meng Chijian went to open his shop early.
Ah Mian dared to prepare more ingredients, still buying fifty coins' worth of meat. With limited funds, she couldn't cook a large meat dish, so she picked a lot of rapeseed (cauliflower) from the backyard.
It was a very busy day, so A-Mian asked Meng-Jing for help. Meng-Jing helped boil a pot of eggs in plain water, Wu-Qian (Yuan-Hua) was in charge of washing and moving things, and A-Mian was busy making the rather laborious mixed-grain steamed buns and stir-frying vegetables...
After a flurry of activity, we finally made it into the city before noon.
Ah Mian prepared a lot this time. As usual, a dish cost five coins, a steamed bun cost one coin each, and two eggs cost three coins.
This time, the sale took longer than last time. While Ah Mian was busy, she suddenly heard a low voice: "Ah Mian...you...you shouldn't be doing this..."
She looked up and saw it was her childhood friend Zhang Yixing. This was the first time the two had met since he got married.
Zhang Yixing had grown taller, but he was still fair-skinned and slender, and his blue robe made him stand out in the crowd.
"Give me three portions, five steamed buns."
"Oh, okay." A-Mian lowered her head and didn't look at him.
Yuan Hua had stopped dreaming of a protagonist who was all over the place and was now fully aware that Ah Mian was a wicked villain, definitely not the obedient first wife that the book had arranged for her. Therefore, she whispered gloatingly, "I can smell some gossip."
This was considered a large purchase. As A-Mian was packing the steamed buns, Zhang Yixing said again, "Merchantment is a lowly profession, and a gentleman does not speak of profit. You are not that kind of money-grubbing woman."
His sighs and lamentations came from the bottom of his heart. It seemed that the carefree little Amian, who used to sit by the fishpond and try to see her own face clearly in the water, was gone.
"Don't stand here and disturb my business." Ah Mian waved her arms, shooing away non-existent flies.
"Husband! You're here—" A sharp female voice rang out from afar. It was Lu Weiwei, who was dangling a silver hairpin from her hair ornament, and she asked in feigned surprise, "A-Mian, what are you doing here? Are you selling yourself here?"
These words were so harsh and offensive that everyone immediately turned to look at them.
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