Xi Chun's stall was doing well, which naturally attracted the attention of people in the town and village, and some people began to have ulterior motives.
"So, did you get it? Let's try it too. What does it taste like? Why is the business so good? Why is Chen Xichun such a snob?" Chen Cuihua asked her son to run to town and buy some of Xichun's food to try.
"Mom, you know what, this tastes really good. It smelled so good all the way back that I had some soup with me." Chen Cuihua's eldest son, Wang Danian, took out the remaining half bowl of food. They had brought the bowl with them.
"I knew there was so little! Turns out you ate it all yourself. You're such a big boy, how can you still be so greedy?" Chen Cuihua couldn't help but scold her eldest son when she saw him like this.
"Alright, alright, didn't you say you wanted to try this taste? Stop lecturing Da Nian, just try it first." Chen Cuihua's husband, Wang Fuzi, interrupted the conversation between the mother and son.
"Okay, I'll go heat it up right away, it's all cold." Chen Cuihua also remembered the important matter and quickly took the remaining half bowl to the stove to heat it up.
"It's alright. I thought it would taste really amazing. If I added more oil and salt, it would taste the same," Chen Cuihua said confidently after taking a bite.
“Mom, this is really delicious. As for what you made, forget about it.” Wang Danian couldn’t help but say this when he heard his mother praising herself.
"You only ate a small portion of what she sold. Besides, you paid for it, which was several coins. Tell me, if I were to sell this kind of hot pot, it would definitely taste better than hers. Wouldn't our family be rich then?"
"Order it as Mala Tang (spicy hot pot)."
"Honey, are you really planning to set up a stall in town too?" Wang Fuzi, having been married to her for so many years, immediately guessed what she was planning to do.
“That’s right. If a little girl like Chen Xichun can do it, why can’t I? I’m not like those people in the village who have to fawn over Chen Xichun to sell their eggs. Since she won’t buy our eggs, that’s fine, we’ll sell them ourselves.”
Chen Cuihua spoke with great confidence, as if she could crush all other businesses as long as she went into business. Especially when she thought about how Chen Xichun would come to her begging for mercy, Chen Cuihua laughed out loud.
"Alright, alright, this business isn't that easy to do. Do we even have that much money?" Wang Fuzi interrupted her fantasy.
"If Chen Xichun, a person whose father died and whose mother remarried, can make her business successful, there's no reason why we can't. Humph, I want to see if she regrets not buying my eggs when she sees that my business is better than hers."
Xichun had no idea that she had this idea. Right now, she and Aunt Zhang were both very busy. After all, the egg dumplings and tea eggs were doing well and seemed to be a source of income. The two of them were busy making egg dumplings.
"Aunt Zhang, this is your wages for this month. It's the end of the month now, and from now on we'll settle accounts monthly. You've worked hard with me for so many days, and I appreciate it." Xi Chun handed over the settled wages to Aunt Zhang.
"Wow, I didn't expect so much, Xichun. This is the first time I've ever earned so much money on my own. To be honest, your Uncle Zhang didn't earn as much as I did this month. When we get home, they'll definitely be very envious."
Aunt Zhang was naturally very happy to receive the money.
"There are still a few of these golden dumplings and tea eggs left. Take them back for Uncle Zhang and the others to try." These were left at home by Xichun in advance.
"This is too expensive, I don't want it. We can make a lot of money by selling it tomorrow." Aunt Zhang wanted to refuse, but Xichun insisted on giving it to her, so she had no choice but to accept it.
After Aunt Zhang returned home, Xi Chun locked all the doors and began counting the money.
After deducting her initial investment, she earned a total of 3,082 coins this month, which was quite good. It was more profitable than when she was digging for medicinal herbs. After counting the money again, she finally felt more motivated.
Xi Chun carefully hid all the money before going to sleep.
The next day, as soon as Xichun arrived in town, he noticed something unusual. Several other stalls selling mala tang (a spicy hot pot dish) had opened, and their business model was similar to Xichun's, serving vegetables and meat in hot pot.
However, they haven't figured out how to make tea eggs and golden dumplings yet, so their dishes look a bit more monotonous than Xichun's.
“Miss Chen, you’re facing a lot of competition. Several hot pot stalls have opened up in our town overnight. But I still prefer the taste of your soup. It’s really flavorful.”
An older man chuckled as he looked at the stalls that had sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and jokingly remarked...
"Uncle, you're joking. We're just small businesses, each doing our own thing. If you like, please come and patronize my stall often."
"Okay, by the way, pack two of these tea eggs for me later. I ate one yesterday, and it was really delicious. I was still thinking about the taste when I got home. I also brought a bowl today, so please put them in it for me to take home for my mother to try."
"Okay, I'll pack it for you right away." After seeing the customer off, Xichun and Aunt Zhang both realized that these mala tang stalls had indeed taken away some of their customers, as many people were curious and wanted to try the flavors from other places.
"Xichun, I think these people are really dishonest. They set up stalls right around here, clearly trying to lure our customers away. Now there are fewer people around." Aunt Zhang was a little anxious when she saw this situation.
"It's alright. As long as we keep the taste and hygiene good, those customers will always come back. Besides, they are competing fairly, and it's not appropriate for us to ruin other people's business. That's a big no-no in business."
Xi Chun remained calm. She had expected this day to come, but these people were still no match for modern business people.
They flock to any stall that's doing good business, but customers are picky eaters, and only a few stalls survive on their taste alone.
Chen Cuihua has been buying things these past few days. After hearing that there are several mala tang stalls, she proudly said to Wang Fuzi, "See, I told you those mala tang stalls would make money. Otherwise, why would so many people open them? I should have thought of that sooner, otherwise I wouldn't have let those people make money."
"Forget it, I don't think this business is going to be easy. You shouldn't expand too much. Let's just buy a few small dishes first." Wang Fuzi was more knowledgeable than her and wanted to discourage her.
However, Chen Cuihua was the absolute ruler at home. Anyone who dared to disobey her would be nagged until they begged for mercy, so to this day no one dared to deflate her arrogance.
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