"Sister, look at the apples from this stand! They’re big and red, they must be sweet! They’d be perfect for Chinese New Year!" Xiao Bei dragged Ji Xinhe into the shop, cheering with excitement.
Fruit in this era was considered a luxury, only affordable to the rich. Ji Xinhe didn’t dare imagine it in the past, but now that she had some money in her hands, she decided to buy some, especially during this festive season.
Ji Xinhe, with a flicker of resentment in her heart, glanced at the apples and thought they were not bad. She asked the owner to bag up three jin for her.
"These apples are three mace of silver per jin. So for three jin, just pay us nine mace of silver. If in the future you want to buy more fruit, just come to our little shop." The shopkeeper, being a shrewd businessman, generously waived the remainder.
Ji Xinhe nodded: "Thank you shopkeeper."
After buying the fruit, she was planning to leave immediately as there were many things waiting to be done.
Just as she was stepping out of the shop, a young boy rushed in looking worried. He said, "Shopkeeper, it’s bad news! Our shipment of goods, it’s all ruined!" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
The shopkeeper’s face turned white immediately: "All of it is ruined? That was a whole cart of oranges!"
The boy’s face also turned sour: "Although not all of it is ruined, a lot of the oranges are now damaged. The fruit is in such a state, it’s going to be hard to sell."
Those who could afford fruit didn’t care much about the cost, but were picky about the quality. Now that the oranges were mostly ruined, even if the price was lowered, it would still be tough to sell.
The shopkeeper sighed, "Ah, this heavy snow has really ruined me!"
Listening to the shopkeeper, Ji Xinhe halted her steps, unable to help but ask, "How did your oranges get ruined?"
"Well, the fruit in my shop is all transported from the Huai region. It takes at most half a month to get here. Unfortunately, due to the heavy snow sealing off the roads, we were delayed for half a month. I only heard they arrived today, but we didn’t expect them to be ruined!"
The shopkeeper looked miserable, this batch of goods had cost him a not insignificant amount of money, and now everything was ruined.
The boy sighed, "We thought the pine needles we put in the shipment crate would delay the oranges from rotting. Even though we were hopeful, the delay of over a month was just too long. The oranges got damaged and this entire cart might be wasted."
Listening to this, Ji Xinhe suddenly had an idea. "Where are these goods? Can I take a look?"
The shopkeeper was puzzled: "Why are you interested in spoiled oranges?"
Ji Xinhe smiled, "I want to see how badly it’s spoiled. If it’s not too severe, and you sell them to me at a low price, I would be willing to buy."
Xiao Bei widened her eyes in surprise, "Why does sister want these spoiled oranges? There’s enough to last my meals for three months."
Ji Xinhe gently stroked Xiao Bei’s head and said to the shopkeeper, "What do you think?"
The shopkeeper quickly stood up, "Deal! Please, let me show you the goods."
Even if she is selling at a low price, it’s better than absorbing the loss entirely.
Ji Xinhe followed the shopkeeper outside, while Xiao Bei stood there, unable to comprehend why her sister wanted a cart-load of rotten oranges.
Marquis Mu chuckled, "Your sister is likely to make a fortune again. Aren’t you going to follow her and see the show?"
Xiao Bei puzzled, "Brother Mu Chu, how did you figure it out? I can’t see how rotten oranges could earn money."
Marquis Mu watched Ji Xinhe’s visibly excited footsteps and lively figure, a faint smile graced his lips, "From her glowing eyes."
Aside from money, there seemed nothing else capable of making her eyes shine.
Ah no, when he undressed the other day, her eyes had also lit up.
After such a thought, Marquis Mu felt cheerful. In her heart, he was likely on par with money. That was very good.
His smile deepened, and he promptly followed her out.
Xiao Bei was even more confused seeing Marquis Mu suddenly so happy, what exactly made Brother Mu Chu so cheerful?
Sigh, the world of adults is really complicated.
The cartload of spoiled oranges was at the back of the shop. Not yet moved inside, it seemed like the shopkeeper had no intention of doing it.
If the rotten fruit was displayed in the shop, it might upset the regular customers. This loss had to be borne by himself, otherwise, he might damage his reputation.
"Look miss, these oranges are all more or less damaged. You know, it’s tough doing business selling fruit. The moment fruit is bad, it’s hard to sell. Those who can afford fruit are the wealthy. They don’t care about price, only quality. Bad fruit, even if marked down, neither the poor can afford nor the rich would desire. These things can only be a burden on me."
Ji Xinhe picked up an orange from the crate to inspect. It was indeed slightly damaged; about half of it was obviously soft, and juice came out when squeezed. But after peeling it, you can see that while a small portion was indeed soft and damaged, the rest was still intact.
In Ji Xinhe’s opinion, even the damaged portion wasn’t too severe. Throw away the damaged part, and the rest could still be eaten.
Ji Xinhe broke off the damaged part and tasted the remaining good portion, the taste was rather nice.
"These oranges are really sweet. Were they premium stock?" Ji Xinhe asked.
"Indeed they were! Originally, I had planned to sell them for three mace of silver per jin but now... it’s really a heartache!"
"The damage is not too bad, each orange only has slight bruising. You could just throw away the bruised parts and the rest is still edible. You wouldn’t have to discard the whole thing, right?" Ji Xinhe replied.
"The rich cannot tolerate even such small flaws. Not to speak of those with a bit of damage, even those with a slight blemish would not be accepted." Replied the shopkeeper, clearly in pain.
Ji Xinhe popped the remainder of the orange into her mouth and smiled, "I’ll take the whole cart. If you’re willing, sell to me at the lowest price. That way, you can manage your losses, right?"
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