The woman seemed to have never met anyone as good at talking nonsense as her, but she also knew that she probably couldn't persuade this person with words.
She didn't argue with the other party anymore, but turned to the stall owner and said, "I'll offer you ten times the original price for this piece of cold water stone. Sell it to me."
Upon hearing this, the boss's eyes lit up. Completely disregarding the fact that Zheng Quchi had picked it up first, he slapped his thigh excitedly and was ready to finalize the deal.
"Wait!" Zheng Quchi quickly stopped herself. She leaned over to the woman and said, "You're letting him get it for free, but I might as well get it for free. I won't argue with you anymore. Just give me the tenfold difference."
The woman looked at her with an incredulous expression.
"What did you say?"
The boss's lips twitched, and he looked at her speechlessly.
"Hey, I haven't sold it to you yet."
In other words, this thing still belongs to him. Why shouldn't he keep all the money, instead of her, the "middleman," taking advantage of him?
“Oh, really? Then if you keep raising prices here, I’ll report you to the authorities,” Zheng Quchi threatened.
There's a sign in the workshop that clearly states that merchants must buy and sell at market prices and are not allowed to maliciously inflate prices. Otherwise, if someone reports it to the authorities, and it is confirmed, the merchant will be arrested and imprisoned.
The boss was on the verge of tears: "...I didn't agree to her request!"
Zheng Quchi added, “Everything is about first come, first served. If you sell to her first because she offered a higher price than me, I will report you to the authorities and say that you are monopolizing the sale with others in private.”
The boss's face turned green instantly, and he trembled uncontrollably with rage, as if he had an epileptic seizure.
Seeing this, the woman didn't want to cause any more trouble, and finally lost to Zheng Quchi, who compensated her for the price difference as she wished, and she was able to successfully obtain the piece of cold water stone.
After the cold water stone was placed in the container, the woman realized that Zheng Quchi had been standing beside her the whole time and had not left.
She asked, puzzled, "Why aren't you leaving yet?"
Zheng Quchi asked her with a grin, "Are you done with your work?"
The woman didn't know what she meant by asking that question, and hesitantly nodded.
“Alright then.” Zheng Quchi clapped his hands together, turned around and waved to the stall owner with a generous gesture: “Boss, there can’t be only one piece left in the first mine of cold water stone, there should be some in stock, right? Bring it out and I’ll buy it all.”
The boss's eyes widened in astonishment upon hearing this.
"How...how did you know?"
“I asked around the whole street, and you’re the only one who has cold water stone. Needless to say, you’re the distributor of cold water stone in this area. Just the fact that you’re the only one selling it and there are so few buyers means you must have plenty of stock.”
"So what? Can't I refuse to sell to you? Go ahead and report it to the authorities," the shopkeeper retorted indignantly.
Zheng Quchi smiled kindly and said, "No, because the buyers of your cold water stone are usually pharmacies. Its function is to clear heat and reduce fire, open the orifices, and reduce swelling. But who wants to get a fever in the middle of winter? I estimate that you won't be able to sell cold water stone for a long time. It's annoying to have this stock piling up for too long. Would the boss really give up a deal that's already in his hands because of some arguments?"
He was truly convinced!
He even wanted to step down and hand over the stall to her to sell.
In the end, Zheng Quchi successfully obtained a sack of cold water stones without spending a penny, thanks to the price difference earned by the "middleman".
The woman didn't leave. She watched as Zheng Quchi managed to coax her dissatisfied boss into submission with just a few words, and for a moment she didn't know what to say.
Before leaving, Zheng Quchi turned his head and sincerely said to the woman, "Thank you."
The woman was taken aback.
She couldn't help but be angry. Although the amount of money was nothing to her, she always thought highly of herself. Now that she had been tricked by such a rogue, she maintained a noble smile on her face, but her eyes had begun to darken and become gloomy.
"No need to thank me, but... we'll meet again someday."
Zheng Quchi knew she had offended someone, but there was nothing she could do. When the other party bullied people with their money, they had no intention of leaving her any leeway.
Actually, everything she said to the shopkeeper was complete nonsense. If she hadn't noticed the pile of cold water stones in the corner of the shop, she would be in a real mess right now.
With a nonchalant smile, she nodded to the other person, then turned and disappeared into the crowd like a clever fish.
——
Back at the blacksmith's shop, she borrowed tools and a crucible from the blacksmith, took out the cold water stone from the bag, and placed it in the smokeless furnace to forge until it was red-hot.
"It has to be over 100 degrees Celsius to turn into plaster..."
When she saw that it was almost ready, she took them out to cool, then proceeded to crush and grind them into powder before frying them in a wok.
She estimated that the hemihydrate gypsum was almost ready to be used after it had been dried and turned yellowish-gray.
She poured them out and let them cool.
Then take out the previously accumulated slag ash and quicklime.
The slag ash was something she had previously collected. It originally contained many other impurities, which she first sorted out to remove organic impurities and sand. After that, she cleaned it, dried it, and ground it a second time before obtaining slag ash that could be used directly.
She had done this before, so this step can be omitted today.
There was also quicklime. She specifically chose freshly made quicklime from the kiln, sprayed it with water to make it pulverize on its own, and then sifted it using a basket she wove herself from bamboo strips.
In short, the finer these materials are ground, the better.
She has done her best to back up the raw materials. Fortunately, she is strong enough and she only made a small batch for testing, so the results are satisfactory.
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