Meanwhile, Chen Lao Er's wife and a few others arrived in town. They had just found a stall and started selling when a restaurant owner booked the entire place and bought all the remaining cold drinks from Chen Lao Er's wife and the others.
Chen Lao Er's wife and the others followed the restaurant owner and delivered the remaining cold drinks to the restaurant. After paying the bill, the restaurant owner warmly invited them to have dinner at the restaurant. He said he would treat them and that he had something to discuss with them after dinner.
Chen Lao Er's wife immediately agreed. It would be a fool not to take advantage of a good deal. Let's eat this meal first, and it would be even better if we could pack some more to take home.
Chen Lao Er's wife looked at the people behind her. They were all very happy to hear that someone was inviting them to dinner. She had also brought several people from Zhou's uncles' families with her this time.
In the private room of the restaurant, Chen Lao Er's wife looked at the dishes on the table and was not very happy. There were not many meat dishes, but as long as there was food, she was fine with it. She was not picky. The food was much better than what they ate at home, so she did not complain.
Chen Lao Er's wife said while eating, "You all should eat more, don't be shy."
Zhou's eldest son's wife said happily, "Xiaoxin, we're really benefiting from your family's generosity again today!"
The restaurant owner, worried that they might feel awkward, said he had something to do and told them to eat first, and he would come over later.
After taking a bite of her food, Chen Lao Er's wife said, "That boss must be trying to take over our family's cold drink business, that's why he invited us to dinner." Her younger brother-in-law calls these things "cold drinks" and even suggested giving each of the different cold drinks a name. She'll study them carefully when she gets home.
On Tuesday, the youngest son of the uncle's family said, "It would be so much better if someone could just contract it out directly. If the price is right, we wouldn't have to sell it ourselves, which would save us so much trouble."
After Chen Lao Er's wife and her family finished eating all the food on the table, Chen Lao Er's wife called out, "Waiter, could you pack another meal for us? We'll have your boss pay for it. If not, we don't need it."
The waiter said speechlessly, "Madam Chen, the price of grain has gone up recently, so we can't pack any more extra."
Chen Lao Er's wife asked in surprise, "Ah! Grain prices have gone up? By how much?"
The waiter said, "This morning, the price of grain here went up by one coin, and the price of meat went up by one coin as well. I heard that the price may go up again."
The restaurant owner waited anxiously downstairs. Logically, Chen's daughter-in-law should know what he wanted to talk about. Why wasn't she enthusiastic about making money? He was even planning to let Chen's daughter-in-law speak first so he could have more say.
The restaurant owner waited a while longer, but there was still no movement, so he went upstairs by himself.
After the restaurant owner went upstairs, Chen Lao Er's wife greeted him, but still didn't mention the business deal.
The restaurant owner could only smile and ask, "Madam Chen, would the Chen family be interested in cooperating with our restaurant? In the future, you can just bring your homemade cold drinks to our restaurant. I will buy them all at your retail price plus a penny less, and we can settle the payment on the spot. However, in the future, your cold drinks can only be sold to our restaurant."
The people next to me were very excited. Someone had booked the whole place, which saved them trouble and made them money. What a great thing!
The restaurant owner's proposed collaboration seemed good and worth considering, but with only one restaurant, they weren't very competitive, and he was being stingy with the meal. She wanted to see if any other restaurants would approach them for collaboration.
Moreover, she didn't want a single restaurant to dominate. Currently, only they knew the method of making ice with saltpeter, so they had the initiative. They could sell it for whatever price they wanted and cooperate with whomever they wanted.
After thinking for a while, Chen Lao Er's wife said, "Boss, I'm sorry, our family doesn't want to cooperate with any restaurant on our own right now. If you want cold drinks, you can order them from us in advance, and we'll deliver them."
The restaurant owner frowned and asked, "Is the price unsuitable? We can discuss the price again."
Chen Lao Er's wife said, "No, our family doesn't want to cooperate with any restaurant on its own right now."
The restaurant owner said, "Madam Chen, can you represent your family? Why don't you go home and discuss it with your family again, and think it over?"
The restaurant owner originally thought that a country bumpkin would be easy to fool, and the price he offered was not low, but he did not expect her to disagree.
Although the restaurant owner didn't know where the Chen family got their ice from, he knew that selling cold drinks was a highly profitable business at the time. If he could control the supply, he believed he could open another restaurant soon.
Chen Lao Er's wife smiled and said, "Okay, I'll go back and discuss it with my parents-in-law."
Anyway, her father-in-law had already handed over the family's cold drink business to her, so no matter how much they discussed it, the result would still be the same.
After leaving the restaurant, Zhou Dajiu's eldest daughter-in-law sighed and said, "The price of grain has risen too early. Fortunately, we made a lot of money from your family last time. We used all the money we made to buy grain and stockpile it. I don't know if that little bit of grain can last until the autumn harvest."
"I wonder if the price of grain will rise again. Should your family buy some more grain to stock up?"
Chen Lao Er's wife said, "Let's go home first! Let's discuss it with the family. If the price of grain hasn't come down by then, we should hurry up and buy some grain to stock up."
Chen Lao Er's wife was also a little puzzled. Logically, they had handed over the pest control, fertilizer, and new plow recipes for their crops, and everyone should be using them now. Today's grain yield should have increased significantly, so why had the price of grain risen so early? Had there been a disaster somewhere?
On the Chen family's side, the konjac that Chen Kai had Chen Nong prepare had settled. Chen Kai said, "Chen Nong, pour out the water on top of this wooden basin, and then dry the remaining sediment. After drying, it will be konjac flour."
"Konjac powder cannot be eaten directly, it is poisonous. I will tell you how to eat it after the konjac powder is dried."
Chen Nong nodded and said, "I understand, Uncle. I will inform the others and make sure they don't eat indiscriminately."
Seeing that it was still early, Chen Lao Er's wife and the others strolled around the street for a while. Chen Lao Er's wife even bought a few strings of candied hawthorns for the younger children in the family.
After Chen Lao Er's wife returned home, she distributed the candied hawthorns to the children, two to a skewer, eating them one by one.
Chen Lao Er's wife found Xiao Tian, took out a chicken leg wrapped in oil paper from her bosom, and said, "My good son, I bought you a chicken leg. Do you want some?"
Seeing that Xiao Tian nodded, Chen Lao Er's wife said, "Good son, let's go to the kitchen to eat. I'll tear it open and put it in your bowl for you."
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