As expected, Mu Houchu brought in another basin of hot water. After placing it in the room and urging her to finish soaking her feet and sleep, he departed.
Ji Xinhe shook her dazed head, comfortably soaked her feet, and finally had a good sleep.
As soon as she woke up the next morning, she heard Xiao Bei cheering in the courtyard: "Wow! It’s snowing!"
Ji Xinhe rubbed her sleepy eyes, propped herself up to sit up, put on a wadded jacket, and went to the window. As she opened the window, a gust of cold wind came in, sending shivers down her spine.
Upon further inspection, it indeed had snowed heavily. The ground, which had been muddy just last night, was now covered in frost and snow. The sight took her breath away.
It seemed that the snow had started halfway through last night. How beautiful it was.
Ji Xinhe suddenly felt a sense of relief. After taking a deep breath, she closed the window, swiftly got dressed, and went out to clean up.
Seeing her coming out, Xiao Bei excitedly ran over: "Sis, it’s snowing! It’s snowing!"
Ji Xinhe smiled and patted Xiao Bei’s head: "Then let’s sell off our pickles early today. Xiao Bei and Gou Dan can have a snowball fight later."
"Great!" Xiao Bei was extremely excited.
Snow days were always the most exciting times for the children in the village. They could have snowball fights and build snowmen.
Mu Houchu had already brought the bullock cart.
Ji Xinhe quickly prepared everything. Holding a freshly baked bun, she hit the road.
Because of the heavy snow blanketing the ground, the journey was slow. Luckily, they were in a bullock cart. Bullocks naturally move slowly, which was fine. If they were on a horse carriage, it would easily slip and overturn if the horse sped up even a little bit.
There were four jars in the bullock cart, which Ji Xinhe planned to sell at the morning market. The portion for Gui Lin Ju would be delivered in the afternoon, with Mu Houchu making another trip with the bullock cart.
With so much to carry, the bullock cart was almost full. Thankfully, Ji Xinhe and Xiao Bei were small-sized.
Ji Xinhe quickly finished her remaining bun and said, "It seems we may need to buy another bullock cart in the future. This one is almost not enough. Right now, we have four kinds of pickles filling up a cart. What will we do if we increase the variety later?"
Xiao Bei exclaimed in surprise, "Will there be more? Sister, where do you get all these pickles from?"
Ji Xinhe pinched Xiao Bei’s cheek and smiled: "There are many more. We should slowly introduce new products for our customers, right?"
However, Mu Houchu didn’t seem surprised by Ji Xinhe’s idea of developing more types of pickles. He simply said, while driving the cart, "Instead of that, why not rent a storefront directly? The rent in the town is not too high. A small storefront just costs two or three silver a month. Having a storefront, you don’t have to get up early to sell goods at the morning market."
So she wouldn’t have to work so hard.
Ji Xinhe nodded, "That makes sense. I’ve been thinking about opening a shop too."
Xiao Bei was still somewhat confused: "Are we going to open a shop?"
Just one or two months ago, their family was still so poor that pennies were scarce. Now they not only have savings but can also afford to open a storefront. This is something he never dared to dream about. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
Ji Xinhe leisurely leaned back against the bullock cart, her face showing a satisfied smile as the cart swayed along the road. How nice it was to have something to look forward to.
The entire landscape was white where the sky met the earth. On the less-traveled path to the town, the vast snow scenery was endless. Only their slow-moving bullock cart passed through this scene, exuding tranquility and peace.
Because of the snow, they traveled even slower today and opened shop a little later. But the customers all understood that it wasn’t easy to come from a small mountain village in such heavy snow.
"Girl, you finally made it. I thought you wouldn’t run your stall today because of the heavy snow! The spicy cabbage I bought last time was not bad, give me another three ounces of that today." A woman said.
Ji Xinhe greeted her with a warm smile, "As I told you before, our stall operates regardless of weather conditions. You can rest assured that although our stall is small, we do business with integrity!"
"Wow! This little girl sure knows how to do business. Then alright, give me two ounces of fermented tofu as well." The woman laughed.
Xiao Bei quickly and happily helped pack and weigh the goods. A few days ago, Ji Xinhe had just taught him how to use the beam scale. She let him be responsible for weighing goods to hone his skills.
"Thank you for your support. Come again next time!" Ji Xinhe cheerfully replied.
One after another, transactions were made as usual. However, there were fewer people on the street due to the heavy snow today, leaving a good amount unsold. But Ji Xinhe didn’t mind. Business wouldn’t be booming every day, it also relied on timing, location, and people.
Just as she was about to pack up, she saw a familiar face approaching.
Ji Xinhe was taken aback: "Shopkeeper Wu? Why are you free to come over?"
Wu Zhanggui smiled: "My Gui Lin Ju isn’t busy right now, so I dropped by to see you."
Yeah, right.
"What is it, Shopkeeper Wu?" Ji Xinhe asked while packing up, ready to leave if he didn’t speak up.
Wu Zhanggui became anxious and hurriedly stopped her: "Wait, wait, don’t go. I have something to talk to you about."
Only then did Ji Xinhe make a sound of indifference: "What is it, Shopkeeper Wu? Just say it."
Wu Zhanggui grinned, "I heard that you have introduced two new types of pickles. Why didn’t you tell me? Our restaurant wants to buy them!"
Ji Xinhe held back a laugh and said, "Even if I didn’t mention them, you still found them, right?"
In their current agreement, only fermented tofu and sour bamboo shoots were involved. Regarding new products, Gui Lin Ju had no possession or supply responsibilities.
She had purposely avoided mentioning it to him. By doing so, she had taken the upper hand, waiting until the spicy cabbage and radish were selling well. They couldn’t keep the news from reaching Wu Zhanggui. Now that he had shown up, she knew his purpose.
Shopkeeper Wu sighed, "We are old acquaintances. This is something we could just chat about. How about I buy these at the price of the fermented tofu and sour bamboo shoots, at about two to three copper coins per pound?"
Ji Xinhe smiled thinly, with a cunning light flashing in her eyes: "I’m afraid that won’t work."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
