Manager Cheng pondered for a moment: "Then what is Madam Gu's preferred price?"
Cai Xiaolian held up her hand and made a "one" sign.
"One hundred coins?" Manager Cheng was taken aback, then nodded and said, "This price is reasonable. Although we don't make much profit here, the freshness makes it profitable."
Cai Xiaolian smiled and shook her head, waving her index finger from side to side: "Manager Cheng, what I mean is ten times, ten times the price you just mentioned."
Both Manager Cheng and Lu Zheng were surprised.
The other three members of the Gu family, however, were not surprised and remained quite calm.
"Madam Gu, you...you must be joking! Ten times? Five hundred coins? Five hundred coins can buy so many chilies and rice!" Manager Cheng was astonished that Cai Xiaolian would make such a bold claim. How could she possibly say that?
"Manager Cheng, I just did some calculations on our end, and now I'll help you with yours," Cai Xiaolian said calmly with a smile. "A plate of twice-cooked pork sells for 300 coins in your shop. Twice-cooked pork with pickled chili peppers can sell for 400 coins or even more. And a plate of twice-cooked pork with pickled chili peppers only needs a maximum of two ounces of pickled chili peppers. At 500 coins a pound, that's 50 coins per ounce. But if you just stir-fry pickled chili peppers, a plate will only need a maximum of three ounces, costing 150 coins, and you can sell it for 200 to 300 coins. In other words, you can make half the profit."
“If we sell you the scrambled chili peppers, then you’ll be the only one who gets to have them. People in Qingzhou and Yuzhou all love spicy food. You saw it yourself just now, with the customers in the restaurant asking about these scrambled chili peppers. When the time comes, the number of customers coming to eat just for this dish will definitely be much higher than usual! The profits that will come will be considerable.”
"Dad, did I make a mistake?"
After Cai Xiaolian finished speaking, she turned to look at Gu Shouxin.
“Her mother, you didn’t miscalculate, that’s how it’s calculated.” Gu Shouxin nodded.
"Two hundred coins!" Manager Cheng still felt that five hundred coins was too much, exceeding his expectations. Anyway, in business, haggling is a common occurrence.
“Five hundred coins!” Cai Xiaolian said firmly.
"Two hundred and fifty coins!"
Five hundred coins!
"Three hundred coins!"
Five hundred coins!
Manager Cheng was getting anxious, and sweat was beading on his forehead.
"Four hundred coins!" Manager Cheng added another hundred coins this time. After saying that, he wiped his forehead and didn't give Cai Xiaolian a chance to speak. "Second Master Gu, Madam Gu, please don't make things difficult for me. Four hundred coins is my last limit. I can't go any higher! Any higher and I really can't do it!"
"What are you doing, Manager Cheng? It's like we're forcing you." Cai Xiaolian hesitated, then said, "How about four hundred coins? Sigh, everyone's struggling!"
"Yes, yes, yes, Madam Gu is absolutely right!" Manager Cheng breathed a sigh of relief.
He wanted to curse inwardly. "Which village woman is this? How can she be so eloquent?"
Finally, the two parties reached an agreement that the goods would be delivered once every three days, with each delivery weighing 100 catties. Manager Cheng was worried that they would not be able to supply the goods, so he also stipulated in the agreement that if one party failed to deliver the goods on time, they would have to compensate ten times the purchase price in silver.
The Gu family wasn't worried about this. After they grew the chili peppers, they made several more jars, and after three days, they were able to produce 100 jin (50 kg) of them.
One hundred kilograms is their limit; they can't rely on just one to make money!
"Dad, Mom, Sister, we can give the cake to Uncle Cheng! Uncle Cheng bought our family's pickled chili peppers, what if he likes cake too? Our cake tastes just as good as the pastries we had earlier." Gu Xin said crisply as Manager Cheng saw them to the door.
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