Chapter 16 First Small Goal: Sell Like Hotcakes
For more than half a month, Wang Xiao took advantage of the popularity of being a transmigrator and sold vegetables like hotcakes.
It's true, almost every top-rated restaurant and braised food shop in Jinning City is her customer.
She once again deeply felt the importance of connections and the simplicity of people in 1990; not a single store tried to take advantage of her knowledge. The only point of contention between the two sides was whether they could lower the price by another hundred yuan.
Of course not.
Those are all hard-earned banknotes.
In any case, in just twenty days, Wang Xiao's personal assets had increased from 369.4 yuan when she first returned from Zhouzhen to 14,433.4 yuan, including her 64 yuan salary that she had just received in November.
Tsk, Wang Xiao felt that his small goals had become too modest as times changed. Being a millionaire was nothing; one had to be at least a millionaire to be considered to have achieved a small goal.
Of course, she didn't dare say this to her parents, for fear of getting a beating.
After all, Wang Tiejun and Dr. Chen Yanqiu's income was roughly equivalent to three years' worth of earnings, and the "Versailles of the Human World" was easily subject to criticism.
No matter how dumbfounded the parents were, everyone who bought the secret recipe was all smiles.
Uncle Pang treated Wang Xiao like royalty, bringing him braised dishes every few days to drink with him, using all sorts of subtle hints and sweet talk, until finally revealing his true intentions.
Let's get straight to the point, niece. How much is that cookbook you have? Your uncle is asking on behalf of a food company. They'd buy it for 20,000 yuan.
Chen Yanqiu gasped. She hadn't accompanied her daughter to restaurants and braised food shops with her husband, so she lacked firsthand experience and couldn't fully understand why someone could make so much money just by serving a few bowls of food.
Uncle Pang didn't think the price was high at all. After all, a braised roast duck, plus a Sichuan pepper chicken and braised chicken feet, kept their Dongzhimen braised food shop's turnover even after the start of winter, which was still half again as high as the busiest time in summer.
Not only do nearby residents bring their own bowls to the restaurant to order braised dishes as an extra meal, but employees working nearby also bring their own lunchboxes to take home for their families after get off work.
What does this mean? It means money.
In just one week, the braised food shop has already earned back 1,200 yuan of the 1,800 yuan it spent on the secret recipe, making a quick return on its investment.
The situation is similar for the other braised food shops under the food company.
Here's the key point: each braised food shop paid for their own recipe separately. Although they all share the same parent company—the food company—they're still competitors. There's no reason for me to share a secret recipe with you for free.
Even if Uncle Pang had this awareness, Wang Xiao would absolutely not agree.
In the end, everyone got the recipes for the same price: 800 yuan for roast duck, 500 yuan for Sichuan pepper chicken, and 500 yuan for braised chicken feet.
Wang Xiao sold six stores in one go, basically taking over the entire city. From this single transaction, she earned 10,800 yuan.
So, would she conjure up a recipe worth 20,000 yuan out of thin air? Of course not.
Even if she didn't take math in her postgraduate entrance exam, she shouldn't have forgotten the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division she learned in nine years of compulsory education. Why would she engage in a massive clearance sale with drastically reduced prices when the retail price is high and sales are guaranteed?
She shook her head firmly, with particular regret: "Uncle, that book is gone."
She explained, "It used to be located at the far east end of our library's reading room. Last year, the school held many assemblies, and the library was occupied, so I couldn't go in for a long time. After it was cleaned and reorganized, many books were missing, including that one. I was originally planning to take it home for my mom to read."
Hearing this, Chen Yanqiu wanted to roll her eyes. "You brat, bringing her home to show your mother? You're clearly asking me to burn you up and serve you."
Hmph! You did it so skillfully, you must have burned a lot of firewood.
But she and Lao Wang didn't get a single bite. Who was that food for? It was for that family of con artists surnamed Ruan.
It's infuriating just thinking about it.
Uncle Pang was heartbroken upon hearing this, and he stomped his foot angrily: "Those bastards, they must have stolen it and taken it abroad. Every single one of them is a traitor!"
Wang Xiao paused for a moment before realizing that he was referring to the college students and teachers who had gone abroad in the past two years taking advantage of the controversy. He gave a nonchalant "Oh" without offering any comment.
Uncle Pang then eagerly followed Wang Xiao and asked, "Do you still remember what dishes were written in the book? Write them down from memory, so that your uncle can at least broaden his horizons."
Wang Xiao flashed a standard eight-tooth smile, but his tone was regretful: "Uncle, I really don't remember very clearly. This is just casual reading for my major; I only flipped through it casually, and I didn't want it to interfere with my studies."
Seeing the look of despair and frustration on Uncle Pang's face, she tried to spare his life again, "But I will try my best to recall it later, and I will let you know as soon as I think of it. What do you think?"
She wasn't worried at all about not being able to come up with new best-selling dishes, because she didn't need to come up with any at all.
The next thirty years can be considered the most prosperous era for the Chinese nation, and the food culture naturally flourished as a result.
When we were poor, a bowl of rice without any vegetables was still delicious and easy to eat. If we added a plate of boiled pork slices with salt, it would be even more delicious.
Only when people are full can they have the energy to pursue better taste and continuously innovate and improve dishes to satisfy diners' higher demands for food.
This is just the beginning; she still has a bunch of trendy food items she can sell retail. At the very least, she can still show off down-to-earth dishes like pickled fish and braised chicken.
Uncle Pang had no choice but to emphasize again and again: "Then you must think it over carefully, this is all the wisdom of our ancestors."
Wang Xiao thought to himself, "Why always rely on our ancestors? You have to believe in the future. People's tastes change with the times. If you had an ancient imperial chef cook for you now, you might not be able to stomach it."
Of course, all she could say was, "Definitely, definitely."
This is the honest truth, I swear. With so many recipes, why would she just let them gather dust in her head if she didn't sell them?
As for the issue of not being able to be the first after selling it, well, basically none of the brands that sell well in the market are first launched.
She wasn't afraid at all.
After seeing Uncle Pang off, Wang Xiao turned to look at Dr. Chen's expressive face. She could guess what he was implying without even blinking. She immediately pounced on him, playfully touching him with her lips, her words dripping with sweetness: "Oh, Mom, look, I've made money again! I'll buy you Miqi's beauty cream, you don't need to use face cream anymore. My college classmates all said Miqi is great, their mothers use it."
Chen Yanqiu was the quintessential parent of this era—the kind who loved her deeply but couldn't express it verbally. She was too lazy to even say a few kind words to her daughter, let alone offer such affectionate hugs and cuddles. Wang Xiao's clinging to her like a sloth made her instantly uncomfortable, and she instinctively pushed him away: "Alright, go back to work. I see you're putting all your energy into crooked ways right now; don't get your priorities mixed up."
Wang Xiao thought to himself, making money is my fundamental goal.
She pretended to be very well-behaved: "I'm doing very well in my class, and even our leaders have praised me."
She wasn't bragging; she has obsessive-compulsive disorder related to cleaning. Even though she had absolutely no interest in the job of a warehouse keeper at the research institute, she still cleaned the entire warehouse spotlessly and organized it meticulously. Even when the director happened to personally lead a team to check attendance and unexpectedly came across the warehouse, he praised her, saying that this revolutionary cog in the machine could shine wherever it was placed.
Chen Yanqiu didn't think that being a warehouse keeper could be anything special. Was she kidding? She was a top university graduate, yet she was doing a warehouse keeper job that anyone with a junior high school education could do. Wasn't that a waste of the talent the country had cultivated?
She spoke seriously with her daughter: "You need to talk to the leaders. Professionals should do professional things. The research institute doesn't pay you a salary so you can clean the warehouse. You need to work in the lab and on projects. You absolutely cannot abandon your profession."
She felt she was wasting her time being the factory doctor; she should have gone to a hospital long ago, at least she could have become a surgeon.
It's one thing for her to only attend a nursing school, but Xiaoxiao is a college student!
Wang Xiao was so frightened that her whole body trembled.
Are you kidding me? She's sitting in the logistics warehouse every day, afraid of being caught in the crossfire. You want her to go to the city gate? She'd rather die than do that.
She quickly dodged the question: "Oh, Mom, job adjustments aren't that simple. Look, it's almost December already. There's no reason to adjust the job before the New Year; it'll be difficult to write the year-end summary. Let's wait until next year."
Hey! She's such a clever girl, she's dragged it all the way back to 1991, she'll find another excuse then.
Chen Yanqiu opened her mouth several times, but in the end she only slapped her daughter's arm hard, rolled her eyes and scolded, "Stop playing around, go back to your room and go to sleep!"
Wang Xiao readily agreed, went into the bathroom to brush her teeth, wash her face, and take a shower before happily rushing into her room and crawling into bed.
Honestly, it was her luck to be able to enter the Wang family in 1990. Only a place like a steel factory, which could use waste heat to heat water for the family quarters, could guarantee that she could take a nice hot shower every day, even in the dead of winter.
She wasn't so comfortable at her uncle's house in Zhouzhen.
She lay contentedly on the perfectly firm and soft rope bed, yawning as she planned her next business move.
She's not in a hurry to blindly supply more new dishes to her partners in the provincial capital. After all, any dish needs time to become popular. At least before the end of the year, she doesn't plan to "reminisce" about new dishes.
During this period, her task is to expand sales.
She's sold most of the decent shops in the city center, but what about the various counties below? The provincial capital's jurisdiction includes five counties, each with a strong economy.
Selling the recipe under the guise of being exclusive to large stores in the provincial capital, well, making 30,000 to 50,000 yuan this time shouldn't be a problem.
With this initial capital, she can now consider moving on to the next channel.
Wang Xiao had a wonderful plan, but little did she know that danger was lurking behind her.
Separated by a wall, Chen Yanqiu, who was lying on the bed with face cream on, couldn't fall asleep for a long time. She kicked her husband and solemnly announced, "No, I have to go to the Chemical Research Institute tomorrow to talk to Xiaoxiao's leader."
The unfortunate level-eight fitter was utterly speechless: "If you're going to talk, then talk. Why did you kick me?"
"You're snoring even when I don't kick you."
"I'm not asleep yet." Wang Tiejun vehemently denied it, but worried about one thing: "Why are you talking to Xiaoxiao's boss? The child is already working, not in school. If she wants to do something, she can just talk to her boss herself. She's not stupid."
"Grow my ass!" Chen Yanqiu said irritably. "Don't you know your daughter? She's just a gourd without a mouth."
Wang Tiejun instinctively wanted to refute her. He thought the girl was quite capable now, her little mouth was so sweet, she was even better than a salesperson who could talk to anyone.
However, he still wanted to sleep, so he wisely said, "Then what do you suggest?"
“No, I still have to go to the research institute and talk to their leaders.” Chen Yanqiu made up her mind. “She’s just bored with doing odd jobs now that she’s not doing anything professional, so she spends all her time on crooked ways.”
If she were still working on the project like she did back in the summer, she wouldn't have time to worry about selling formulas. She wished she could split 24 hours into 48 to stay in the lab without moving an inch, and even her clean clothes were delivered to her by her own mother.
This is what a top-notch chemistry student should do!
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