Chapter 73 Let's cooperate
The female shopkeeper grabbed Sang Luo, and before she stood still, she glanced at Sang Luo's two baskets.
"My dear, you asked me to wait for you. Are you coming to the county to sell crystal jerky today?"
Sang Luo's eyebrows moved and she smiled, "Yes, I just came to the county and was going to ask at two other pastry shops. The shopkeeper is looking for me?"
I’m going to ask at two other dim sum shops!
After hearing these words, the female shopkeeper tightened her grip on Sang Luo's sleeves with caution.
She took a breath and said with a smile, "Come on, come sit in my shop first and we'll talk slowly."
Tsk, Sang Luo felt that she didn’t need to sell her products everywhere today, as she had found a buyer.
She agreed with a smile, carrying her load and following the female shopkeeper back. Only then did she realize that she had been thinking about something and had passed by the door of Yongfengzhai. No wonder the female shopkeeper chased her out.
After entering Yongfengzhai, the female shopkeeper invited Sang Luo to the backyard of the shop and served her tea and snacks.
Seeing her behavior, Sang Luo felt that this was not as simple as buying crystal jerky or helping someone buy crystal jerky.
Sure enough, the first thing the female shopkeeper asked was: "Young lady, are you really not selling the recipe for crystal jerky? The price is negotiable."
Sang Luo was moved when she heard this, but she had traveled to ancient times, had no one to rely on and had two children to take care of. To be honest, she would rather have a steady income.
When it comes to selling a house, once one recipe is given out, then two recipes are given out, and you get the money quickly at the moment, but what happens next?
There are a lot of things in the mountains, but if you don’t dare to go deep, there are not many things that can be converted into cash stably, and they are all subject to seasonal restrictions.
Maybe there were, such as medicinal herbs, but she didn't recognize them. The only Chinese medicinal herb she tried to sell was the jujube fruit, but the drugstore didn't buy much of it. After only a few times, they said that enough was enough and they didn't buy any more. Sang Luo saved some for herself, and had to throw the rest back into the mountains. She was afraid that the method of making jujube cakes would be exposed, so she didn't even dare to make a bead curtain or something to hang up.
Therefore, Sang Luo tried her best to master the things she knew.
Therefore, the price was easy to negotiate. Although Sang Luo was tempted for a moment, she still shook her head and said, "Please forgive me, my family relies on this craft to make a living."
Before the female shopkeeper opened her mouth, she had guessed that it was unlikely to succeed. Nowadays, most of the valuable prescriptions are kept in one's hands and passed down from generation to generation. They are also the ability for future generations to make a living. If they were not in financial difficulty, they would not be willing to sell them easily.
She sighed in her heart, but showed only a slight regret on her face, and said, "I bought your crystal dried meat a few days ago, and sent it to our boss's house after packaging it. The ladies and young masters of the boss's house really like it, and even the old lady kept two jars. So our boss also had an idea and wanted to buy the recipe, make it carefully, and sell it in the shop."
Sang Luo smiled and waited for her to continue.
Seeing that she was so stable, the female shopkeeper could only give another plan given by the boss: "If you really don't want to sell this recipe, let's talk about cooperation."
Sang Luo asked with a smile: "How do we cooperate?"
The female shopkeeper explained the conditions, which were basically to make it according to their required standards using the molds they provided, and to have a stable supply only to them.
The two mulberries in the front and back can respond to these three points, but the one in the middle cannot.
Because the sour jujube grows naturally and is not cultivated by her, how can it be stable? Most importantly, according to the time and climate here, it will be gone in one and a half months at most.
Of course, we can't say it directly. If we really tell the reason, the prescription will be easy to crack.
Therefore, Sang Luo just shook her head and said, "Using your molds and supplying you only, both of these are fine. But a stable supply is not an option. In addition to making these crystal preserved fruits, our family also has several other businesses. We are too busy to handle them all. If we ask outsiders to make them, the recipe will be easily leaked. So we only make some and sell them when we have time."
The female shopkeeper: “…”
You have money but no time to make it?
She looked suspicious.
Sang Luo simply said, "The fairy tofu and tofu sold in the county recently are also my family's business. We also have some cooperation with Dongfulou. I am really too busy to handle it. I hope the shopkeeper will understand. Of course, I will try my best to send some over every once in a while."
When the female shopkeeper heard about the terms "divine tofu" and "tofu", there was some surprise in her eyes.
Only then did he believe what Sang Luo said.
"Okay." At this point, the female shopkeeper was at a loss. The pastry chef in the shop had been pondering over the half jar of crystal jerky given by the boss for several days. He tried more than ten times but still couldn't figure out what to make.
She turned her eyes to the basket that Sang Luo had placed aside: "How many crystal dried fruits did you bring today?"
"Eight hundred and thirty-six dollars."
Sang Luo's report gave a very accurate number.
It was not for any other reason, but because there were thirty-nine extra yuan when the jar was being packed. Sang Luo originally planned to keep nine yuan as a snack for the little brother and sister and bring eight hundred and thirty yuan to the county. However, the two younger ones were thinking about the family debt and were unwilling to keep more. They only kept three yuan and stuffed the rest into the jar.
So Sang Luo remembered this number very clearly.
It can be said that dozens of nearby hilltops have been searched by her and Chen Ning or Chen An in the past few days. Of course, they only picked up the ones on the ground. The jujube trees were too tall and the branches were brittle. No one had the ability to climb up to pick them. Moreover, these things would not be easily damaged by falling or bumping on the ground. They could still survive for a few days after falling to the ground, leaving enough time for people to pick them up. Therefore, most of them picked the ripe ones that fell naturally from the trees.
Although more than 800 coins sounds like a lot, it was earned with great effort. I spent the day in the mountains, running in several times a day. After picking up the fruits nearby, I had to go to the distant places. Most of the time was spent on the mountain roads.
At night, I make date cakes at home. If there are a lot of harvests during the day, I have to make them late at night, which is very tiring.
Now even Chen An and Chen Ning have become very skilled at peeling and kneading the dates into paste.
The female shopkeeper smiled and said, "I'll take them all. Madam, please remember that from now on, this crystal dried meat will only be sold in Yongfengzhai."
Sang Luo was extremely willing and immediately asked the female shopkeeper to ask someone to come and count the items.
The female shopkeeper was also straightforward. She asked someone to count the money and then took out eight strings and thirty-six coins and handed them to Sang Luo, giving Sang Luo some time to count the money.
Sang Luo was really rude this time, because she had a use for the more than 800 coins today, so she specially asked the female shopkeeper to borrow some ropes to string the money.
There were eighty-eight coins in a string, and there were nine strings in total. When the nine strings were finished, there were only forty-four coins left, so it was strung into a small string.
Before leaving, the female shopkeeper asked Sang Luo to wait for a moment and went back to the house to bring out a small box of things for her.
After looking at them, Sang Luo realized that they were all molds for making snacks. If the sour jujube cakes were put into these molds to dry, when they were taken out of the molds, they would not only be neat and square, but also have the words "Yongfengzhai" on them.
"For the goods at the back, please use these molds to make them. Can you see if they can be made?"
The patterns of the bamboo dustpan printed on the dim sum will always make it look much worse.
Sang Luo looked at the size of the mold and found it was about the same size as the one she was making now. She nodded and said, "Okay, I'll use this for the next batch."
She carefully pointed at the mold on the mold. It was a rectangular one with two rows of molds side by side. It could produce twenty pieces. The shopkeeper brought out ten molds, which meant she could dry two hundred crystal dried meats at a time. Sang Luo frowned and said, "If there are extra molds, please give me as many as possible. This thing can be stored for a long time as long as it is properly preserved. We don't make it often, so we usually make more at a time."
The main reason is that the season for harvesting hawthorn is limited, so Sang Luo has to make a plan and save some slowly. In this way, she can send it here for a while after the season is over, and it is relatively unlikely for people to associate this crystal jerky with the wild hawthorn in the mountains.
The female shopkeeper frowned. As a shop owner, they naturally wanted the things to be as fresh as possible, but when she thought about the 600 yuan sent by the employer's family, it would be divided up in a short time once it arrived at home. Although it had something to do with the employer's concubines and children, she thought that most of the customers who came to their Yongfengzhai were from such wealthy families.
I suddenly felt that I was being stupid. Why limit the number of molds?
Now this young lady is really taking care of the tofu and Dongfulou business, and she only makes one batch every few days. What can two hundred yuan do for her?
Isn't this a disguised way of blocking yourself?
The female shopkeeper smiled and replied, "Yes, please wait a moment, I will get some more."
Finally, he brought out ten more plates, making a total of four hundred pieces of snacks.
After finishing the work, the female shopkeeper took Sang Luo to sit down and drink tea and eat snacks. She smiled and said to Sang Luo: "My last name is Yan. You can call me Shopkeeper Yan from now on. I wonder what your name is? Where do you live?"
Ask about Sang Luo's situation.
Since they have cooperated, it is inevitable to inquire about this. Sang Luo has nothing to hide, so she said, "My last name is Sang, and my given name is Luo. Manager Yan can call me Madam Sang, or A-Luo. I live in Shili Village, Qingpu Township."
Shopkeeper Yan took note and asked, "When will Madam Sang deliver the first batch of goods?"
Sang Luo thought for a moment and said, "The first batch of goods will be delivered in about four days."
This actually depends on the weather. When the sun is good, a batch can be dried in two days. If it rains, it can only be dried indoors, and it will take longer.
After agreeing on the approximate delivery date, Sang Luo packed up her jars and the snack molds given by Manager Yan, and then said goodbye to Manager Yan.
Shopkeeper Yan was very enthusiastic and accompanied her all the way to the door of the shop.
After leaving Yongfengzhai, Sang Luo did not go anywhere else, but went straight to the grain shop where Chen Youtian and the others were queuing.
It was still early, and there was still a long queue outside the grain shop. Chen Youtian and several others were in the middle of the queue. Sang Luo went over and took out strings of money from her purse. Zhou Cunzheng didn't count, as he could buy enough by himself. Sang Luo handed three strings of money to each of Chen Youtian, Shi Erlang, and Lu Dalang, and gave each of them a grain bag: "Thank you for your hard work. Please help me buy three dou of grain. Each string of money is exactly 88 wen."
Help Sang Luo buy food. This had been agreed upon before they came. Chen Youtian and his friends could only buy one and a half dou of food each time they queued up. There was some left over, and Sang Luo had to go out to sell something and couldn't make it in time to queue up, so Sang Luo would ask them to help buy food for her today.
A few people nodded, took the money and put it in their arms, and Sang Luo went to the side to wait.
Zhou Cunzheng saw Sang Luo's bulging purse on his way here in the morning, so he didn't know that the money was earned from selling things in the county today. He just thought it was saved up over the past few days. However, most of the snack molds that Sang Luo put in the basket were put into jars. There were six or seven that couldn't fit into the jars, so they were left outside. Zhou Cunzheng stared at them in confusion for several times.
…
After buying grain in the morning, everyone wanted to buy some salt. Salt was 24 cents per liter. Zhou Cunzheng directly asked for five liters, which made Sang Luo look at him several times. Wow, this will last for more than a year, right?
Sang Luo remembered that Zhou Cunzheng's family seemed to have quite a lot of people, but if they used it sparingly, it would be enough for more than a year.
Sang Luo also wanted to stock up more. Salt is very durable and could be stored for two or three years without any problem. However, she pinched the purse in her hand and honestly asked the shopkeeper for a liter.
She could only afford one liter, and after buying that liter, she only had twenty cents in her hand.
The Chen family, the Shi family, and the Lu family were similar to Sang Luo. They gritted their teeth and bought every liter.
After buying everything, everyone wanted to rush back to Fengdi, so they didn't wait for Qin Fangniang and the others, and went back first carrying the bags.
As for Chen Youtian and his friends' own rice, there was no need to carry it on their shoulders. They could just carry it in their hands. Only Sangluo had more rice, so they bought nine dou and divided it into three bags. It was fine, so Chen Youtian and his friends helped to carry it.
A group of five people returned to the village. Except for Sang Luo who was carrying a load and a basket, the others were carrying grain and bags, which was really eye-catching.
"You're really buying grain at a high price. What's the point? It's just that taxes are being levied this year. Otherwise, I would like to sell some to grain merchants."
"Tsk, he really went to the county to set up a stall and make money."
"Chen Youtian, what does your wife sell in the county? She must be making a lot of money, right?"
Chen Youtian: "We sell wild vegetables, mushrooms, and vegetables grown in our fields. If you are diligent, you can also carry them to the county to sell."
The man curled his lips and shouted at Chen Youtian, but his eyes were fixed on the load and basket that Sang Luo was carrying, especially the jars with lids.
The pastry mold could not be seen at the moment because Sang Luo's bag of salt was placed on top of it, covering most of it.
Sang Luo noticed the reactions of these people and showed a worried look on her face. She forced a smile and continued, "Uncle Youtian and his men helped me carry the grain. This year, our family has to pay 4.4 koku of rent and tax. This is still far from enough."
Chen Youtian and the other two had helped Sang Luo carry grain that day, so they naturally knew that she had already stockpiled the grain for paying rent and taxes. Not only that, but it was enough to last until next autumn. The nine dou of grain today was just because she was cautious and wanted to stockpile more grain.
However, when he returned to the village, he did not take the mountain road, but went through the village on purpose to show off in front of the villagers. Otherwise, after paying the tax, how could he conjure up four stone of grain out of thin air?
Shi Erlang was the smartest one. When he saw Sang Luo's reaction, he immediately said, "Don't worry. If you don't have enough food by September 14th, we can help you get it together."
Chen Youtian and Lu Dalang were both stunned for a moment, then they reacted and nodded in unison: "Yes, yes, let's all chip in a little bit, and you can pay it back when you make money and buy food."
Four people are playing a drama here. Zhou Cunzheng, who is not aware of the situation, takes it seriously. Although making tofu can make money, it also requires capital, right? If three families make money, the profit will not be that big. In addition, building a house requires food, and buying household items costs money. It is possible that Sang Luo cannot buy food.
Thinking that Shen Lie is gone, and the Sang family still has to pay him the two-stone tax, and the Chen family, Shi family and Lu family are in a similar situation, Zhou Cunzheng feels heavy in his heart. He couldn't get involved in the division of the Shen family at the beginning, and Shen San would not give him face. Now that the rent and taxes need to be paid, if the Sang family can't pay, he can lend a hand.
Zhoucun was thinking about this, and said, "If the shortage is much greater, my family can help to collect a portion, and you can just pay back the food later."
Sang Luo was acting, and was stunned for a moment when she heard this, then her eyes curved: "Thank you, Uncle Zhou."
Although she didn't actually need this help, Zhou Cunzheng said this, whether he really wanted to help or because he knew she was good at making tofu and wanted to invest in her, she accepted the favor.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
