Chapter 41 Chapter 41 Who wins and who loses
Osmanthus coconut jelly is served in a bowl made of ground coconut shell, while matcha coconut milk is still served in a bamboo tube, and a few washed fresh bamboo leaves are placed as decoration.
The noodle soup at the Zhen family food stall was delicious, but no matter how delicious it was, it was just a street snack in the eyes of the people in Bian Jing. It was not worthy of being served on a big table, and few wealthy families would buy it to take home. At most, the wealthy businessmen at the dock only cared about the taste and did not care about these empty prestiges, so they would ask people to buy it to try.
But nowadays, even the ladies and girls from wealthy families have asked their maids to buy these two drinks.
These two drinks were priced high. Golden Wind and Jade Dew was priced at eighty wen per cup, a few cents more expensive than the meat itself. The Cangqing in the Mist, with its tea, was ten wen more expensive. In the eyes of the wealthy, these drinks were nothing. They weren't afraid of your price being too high, but rather that you weren't selling at a high enough price, lowering their standards.
Therefore, although this drink is expensive, once you have tasted it, you will never forget it. Some scholars with some knowledge will even compose a poem to praise it after drinking Jin Feng Yu Lu or Wu Li Cang Qing.
Seeing that coconut drinks were in short supply, Baozhu told Xu Niangzi that if they met merchants from Guangnan again, she would ask them to bring some coconuts or even some coconut powder when they came next year if they had extra warehouse space.
She herself knows that although her family has the upper hand this year, they will not be the only one dominating the business next year.
Aunt Cui took care of the food at the stall. The free gifts for diners were cucumber drink and green plum tea. The coconut drink at the stall was very popular, and the soup noodles were also in short supply. With Aunt Cui taking care of the soup noodles, Baozhu only focused on making these two drinks.
Baozhu originally only thought that this novel drink could gain some fame so that she could make some money, but she didn't expect that even Zhen's father often heard diners talking about these two drinks at Fanlou.
The coconut powder was more than enough for the stall alone, and business was incredibly brisk. Many owners of beverage shops and vendors bought some to try, hoping to find out what was in the drinks. Even if they did figure it out, the season would be over, and anyone looking for coconuts would have to wait until next year.
The total investment was 150 strings of cash, and Baozhu had spent almost all of it on her own money. Now, after selling these two drinks for just over a month, she has already recovered most of the investment.
Originally, they were worried about poor sales, but now they realize that once their reputation is established, they will have no worries about sales. Now, people who want to buy noodle soup form one line at the stall, and those who want to buy coconut drinks form another line. Baozhu saw that many people were helping people queue up or reselling coconut drinks.
The hotter the weather, the more popular this drink becomes. Many drink shops with good business simply come directly to Baozhu, each wanting to get a piece of the pie, but Baozhu refuses to respond.
Even the owner of the Zheng family's largest beverage shop in Bianjing came to discuss the beverage matter with Baozhu. The manager of the beverage shop was about thirty years old, fat and plain-looking, and his smile was very mercenary.
"We've hired someone in our shop to research your drink. It's easy to make, but coconuts are hard to come by right now. You just got a head start. Why don't you just sell the recipe and ingredients to the Zheng family? I'll give you some money, so you don't have to work so hard every day."
Baozhu naturally didn't want to agree, but before she could say anything, the owner of the beverage shop interrupted her.
"Young lady, there's no need to rush to refuse. Why don't you go and find out who owns our Zheng Family's Fragrant Drink Shop? Now my shop is willing to offer 500 strings of cash. Once this excitement wears off, it will be difficult for me to get another 500 strings of cash."
The manager fanned himself and glanced at the Zhen family food stall with a bit of disdain. If the drinks hadn't been selling so well, he would never have come to ask.
Baozhu was furious. This was no different from robbery. Seeing her eat the broth, not only did he want to take the meat away, he also wanted to smash her bowl. The food stall had done good business before, but it was just not up to par. But now that this drinker had come into the public eye, he immediately started to bully people.
Aunt Cui had worked for officials and was familiar with the well-known officials in Bianjing. When she heard about the Zheng Family Drink Shop, she immediately shook her head. "The owner of the Zheng Family Drink Shop has some connections to Concubine Zheng's maternal family in the palace. In short, few people in Bianjing dare to offend him."
Baozhu has always hated this kind of bullying, but she dared not offend anyone. Even if it wasn't the Zheng family today, there would be the Wang family, the Li family, and the Zhen family. Selling these two drinks for a day would be like a child holding gold.
When the manager of the Zheng family's drink shop came again, Baozhu simply agreed and was willing to give the two drink recipes and the raw material coconut powder to the Zheng family.
Seeing her obedient, the Zheng family's steward knew she had gotten all the answers, so he took the opportunity to say, "Since the Zheng family is willing to give you the money, from now on you are forbidden to sell anything related to coconut drinks at this stall."
Baozhu agreed with a smile, and took another look at the deed handed over by the steward, "Of course, of course, I am grateful that Steward Zheng thinks highly of my small stall."
She sent the manager away in a friendly manner. As soon as the manager left, Baozhu's face darkened. Not only was she offended by the insult, but she had originally wanted to make more money. She still had more than 800 kilograms of coconut powder left over from the past month. Even if she sold it separately, it would be a very generous sum of money.
She agreed to the Zheng family's request, but in her heart she couldn't swallow this anger. She sneered. The contract only stated that her stall could no longer sell coconut drinks, but it didn't say that other stalls could not sell them. It was none of her business if they figured it out on their own.
The drink shop next door had people buying drinks to taste long before Baozhu's stall became a little famous. They also asked the chef to study the ingredients and what was added. Although they were not sure about the quantity, it was the result of years of craftsmanship after all, so they could taste what was added.
When someone came to ask where the raw materials for the coconut drink came from and whether they could sell some, Baozhu just said that the raw materials had all been bought by the Zheng family. Although the visitor sighed, Baozhu showed a sad face at the right time.
"I previously told the coconut merchant that I would only trade with coconut powder next year. Now that the Zheng family has given me a lot of money, I won't be selling coconut drinks at my stall anymore. Now I can't trade anymore. I don't know how I'm going to explain to the coconut powder merchant when he comes back next year."
“Coconut flour?”
"I heard that when coconuts ripen in the south, people can't eat or drink all of them, so the locals grind them into powder. However, the merchants are only willing to do business with high profits. Seeing that the profit margin of coconut powder is small, they are naturally unwilling to buy it."
The visitor's eyes lit up, as if he knew how to find the raw materials. It would only take a trip south. If he could get the coconut powder back first, the profit would be hundreds of thousands. He thought he had found a way, his heart beating in his throat. He thought Baozhu had let it slip, and he hurried away without further discussion.
Baozhu said almost the same thing to everyone who came to ask. These merchants in the beverage shops thought they had discovered the secret, so they all kept their mouths shut and asked people to go to the south to collect coconut powder.
The Zheng family's coconut drink had only been on sale for two months, and his unscrupulous shop charged an even higher price. Since their coconut drink was already well-known and their shop was luxurious, Baozhu's stall wouldn't sell it, so people had to go to his shop to buy it.
They only exchanged for a good cup to serve it. The so-called Golden Wind and Jade Dew was sold for eight hundred coins, and the Mist and Hidden Green was worth six hundred coins. As a result, ordinary people could no longer afford it. Only high-ranking officials, wealthy families and prominent families could afford to eat it.
Although Zheng's drink shop raised its prices, its business did not decrease. Compared with his, the profits made by Zhen's food stall before were nothing.
As August approached, many shops selling coconut drinks suddenly appeared in Bian Jing. No one dared to imitate Zheng Jiaxiang Drink Shop, but many new flavors appeared, including coconut milk with fermented rice wine, mint, cucumber and watermelon.
The Zheng family had only been selling for two months, so naturally they felt they hadn't made enough money.
Manager Zheng came to the Zhen family food stall to question Baozhu, and Baozhu acted pitifully.
"I didn't dare hide it from the manager. I sold the raw materials to the Zheng family a long time ago. Besides, why would I give away such a profitable idea for free? Besides, if someone else really came to buy the raw materials for the house, there wouldn't be so many coconut drinks in the city today."
"Back when I was setting up my stall, I'd bought from every drink shop and stall. I guess after all this time, I've tasted what's been added to it. I heard that coconuts are everywhere in the south. Bianjing is such a big city, with so many people traveling back and forth, so there must be vendors from the south. After tasting this coconut drink, I thought of it."
The manager of the Zheng family thought it made sense. The most important thing was that he knew Baozhu would not dare to deceive him. Anyway, in the past two months, he not only recovered his investment but also made some profit. This business would also be profitable in the future. He could not find any fault with Baozhu, so he had no way to pester her anymore.
What Baozhu didn't expect was that at this time of year, many more merchants came to sell coconut powder from the south. For a time, coconut drink became a drink that even the poorest families in the streets and alleys could afford. Just a few taels of coconut milk could make fragrant and sweet coconut milk. Why bother to spend a lot of money to buy those expensive drinks in the drink shop?
Baozhu was very happy to know this. Nowadays, all the drink shops sell coconut drinks, and no one cares where the news came out.
The autumn breeze brought a refreshing coolness, and the drink turmoil at the food stall came to an end for the time being. Although the profit was not as much as before, the family did not lose money in reselling the precious pearls. The six hundred strings of cash were exchanged for silver ingots, and now the rent for the shop was saved enough. They just had to wait for the right time to open the restaurant.
As the examination approached, my second brother stayed at Dong's house for the past few days. The scholar assigned the homework and explained it to the two of them personally every day.
The rent in Bianjing has increased a lot this year. As the examination approaches, the houses near the Imperial Academy are out of stock. After the coconut drink became unsaleable, Baozhu quickly gave up on it and turned to researching the top scholar's meal.
After preparing the meals for these students, she specially invited those eloquent young men to go to the Gongyuan area to promote her top scholar meal.
This time the food box only has three layers, and the dishes include meat, eggs, vegetables, rice, two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, a soup and some side dishes. A refreshing mint cucumber drink is also given. The food looks fresh and healthy.
The eldest brother stayed at home to prepare the top scholar meal. The business at the stall at the dock was a little slow at this time of year, so Liu Si'er could take care of it alone for the time being.
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