Chapter 23 Purchase
The morning sun shines on the bustling streets, making them look full of vitality.
Xie Shuangbai looked at the crowd and sighed, "This town is indeed much more lively than the village."
Zhao Dunzi came here often, so he was not surprised. He asked:
"what are you looking for?"
"Rice, flour, oil, groceries, etc. But don't worry, I want to find a street that sells vegetables and breakfast."
Zhao Dunzi thought for a moment and thought he was going to buy groceries: "Yes, it's not far from here, how about I take you there to have a look."
There were too many people at the city gate, and the mule cart could not move fast.
Xie Shuangbai looked at the stuck mule cart and said, "Brother Zhao, why don't we find a place to park the mule cart first? It will be faster if we walk."
Zhao Dunzi looked helplessly at the dense crowd and said, "I know the owner of the Mi Family Grain Shop up ahead. Let's keep it with him first."
Although the distance looked very short, it took them a cup of tea to reach the Mi family grain store.
Outside the Mi family grain store, a middle-aged man in a dark robe was checking the goods.
"Brother Mi!"
Zhao Dunzi called him familiarly.
The middle-aged man turned around and saw that it was Zhao Dunzi. He smiled and said, "It's been a long time since we last met, Brother Zhao!"
Zhao Dunzi smiled and asked, "Is the roof repair done well last time? If there are any problems, please tell me and I'll take a look."
Shopkeeper Mi praised him, "Your craftsmanship is truly impeccable. Are you here in town to do some work today?"
Zhao Dunzi smiled and said:
"It would be nice if I could work every day. I'm taking my brothers and sisters shopping today, and I'd like to leave my mule cart with you for a while. Is that convenient?"
"What's the inconvenience? There's plenty of space at my door."
"Thank you, Brother Mi. We'll come back later to buy more food."
Shopkeeper Mi said, "You can go shopping without worry. The mule cart can be parked here."
After settling the mule cart, they followed Zhao Dunzi to a street intersection in the south.
Before I got close, I could hear shouts of all sizes.
On both sides of the dirt road were villagers carrying their own vegetables and selling them.
"Young Master, look at these vegetables we have here. They're all home-grown and picked this morning. They're very fresh. Two bunches for one penny!"
"Young Master, take a look at the mountain products in my house. They are all good!"
"Sir, look at me..."
Xie Shuangbai walked and looked around. Most of the shops here sold vegetables. There was no one selling breakfast. There was only one shop selling buns.
It was so different from what he thought.
"Brother Zhao, why are there so few people selling breakfast here?"
"Well, everyone is eating at home, who's going to buy food?"
"What do you usually eat in the morning?"
Zhao Dunzi was stunned by the question and looked puzzled: "It's just the same, coarse flour porridge, steamed potatoes, coarse flour cakes, and steamed buns."
"Where's the breakfast sold outside?"
Zhao Dunzi thought for a moment and said, "It seems there are only steamed buns, hu bing, and flour paste."
"Soy milk, tofu pudding, oil tea, fried dough sticks, fried cakes, none of them?"
"It sounds like it's all made with oil. How expensive is that? Who can afford it?"
"No tofu pudding either?"
"I've never heard of anything you said."
Xie Shuangbai touched his chin.
"You've never heard of bean sprout tofu, have you?"
Zhao Dunzi nodded and asked doubtfully, "Can beans be eaten after they sprout? Aren't beans boiled or fried? They don't taste good either way."
It seems so. Although the main crops in the Dayin Dynasty were soybeans, corns, rice, and wheat, people rarely ate soybeans.
Because of poor cooking skills.
So whenever I have time to eat, I rarely eat soybeans.
The key is that eating too much soybeans is uncivilized and causes flatulence.
It seems that this business can be done!
"Brother Zhao, soybeans and mung beans are not expensive to buy in the village."
"There are too many soybeans in the village, but they can't be sold at a high price. If you want to buy some, I still have quite a few at home. There are also mung beans in the village, but not as many as soybeans. I have both at home, so I'll go back and bring you a few bags."
Xie Shuangbai thought about it and decided that it would be better to buy from the villagers than from others, so that everyone could make some money. "Okay, you have to take my money, otherwise I don't want it."
Zhao Dunzi helplessly spread his hands: "Okay, okay, I can't take it."
He plans to open a small shop selling various pickles, soy products and bean sprouts.
He just looked around and found that there was no store selling pickles on the entire street, let alone soy products. The cost was low, and the four of them could also make bean sprouts, soy milk, tofu, and pickles.
It requires little investment and has quick returns, and every family needs it.
"Brother Dunzi, I want to buy more salt. Where can I buy it?"
"How much do you want?"
"Half a bag first."
"Why did you buy so much salt?"
"I'm going to sell pickles."
"You sell pickles!" Zhao Dunzi was shocked. He never thought that Xie Xiaoxiucai would sell pickles. He was such a good cook. Why not open a restaurant?
"Have you forgotten that the imperial court limits salt consumption? Each person can only get half a catty per month, and the price is also high, 49 coins per catty!"
Xie Shuangbai was confused. After thinking about the business for a long time, salt became a problem.
It was his negligence. This is not the modern world. There are plenty of cheap and good salt in the supermarkets. In ancient times, salt was small in quantity and expensive due to technical reasons.
By this calculation, making pickles is not cost-effective.
He said dejectedly, "Forget it, I won't make pickles anymore."
"Daya, do you have anything to buy?"
Xie Qiushi looked at the fresh vegetables next to him and said, "I think the vegetables are good. We don't have many vegetables at home."
Zhao Dunzi slapped his head and said, "Look at my brain. I only ate at your place. From now on, you can pick as much as you want from my garden. Why do you need to buy vegetables? I'm embarrassed to ask you to buy vegetables when I'm here."
Xie Shuangbai smiled: "Brother Zhao, you still have to buy some. Your vegetable garden may not have some of them."
Zhao Dunzi thought so too, and they went for a walk and bought a big basket full of fresh vegetables.
Xie Shuangbai also bought out several old ladies' mountain product stalls.
Zhao Dunzi advised him that if he bought too much, it would not be able to be stored, but Xie Shuangbai said that he could finish it.
What he didn't say was that he had space to keep it fresh.
He tried putting living things and vegetables in it a couple of days ago and found that the vegetables would not rot and the small insects could survive.
This makes it much more convenient to stock up on vegetables in winter.
After buying the vegetables, they went to Mi’s shop again.
When they were almost at the Mi family shop, Zhao Dunzi and Xie Shuangbai whispered, "Just tell the Mi shopkeeper what kind of grain you want to buy. He won't cheat you."
"Okay, the person Brother Zhao introduced must be reliable."
Shopkeeper Mi saw that they came back so quickly and asked, "Have you finished shopping?"
Zhao Dunzi smiled and said, "Yes, he came to buy some food from you. This is my younger brother. When he comes to buy food in the future, please take good care of him, Brother Mi."
"Okay, what kind of food would you like to buy?"
"Mr. Mi, nice to meet you! I'd like to buy 50 jin of brown rice, 50 jin of polished rice, 50 jin of white flour, 50 jin of buckwheat noodles, 5 jin of red beans, 10 jin of millet, 5 jin of glutinous rice flour, 5 jin of glutinous rice, and 5 jin of wheat kernels. Take these for now, and come back later if you're not satisfied."
Shopkeeper Mi saw that he bought a lot of fine grains, and that he didn't look stingy. He moved the beads on the abacus and said:
"You are Brother Zhao's younger brother and also my friend. I will give you the lowest price directly. White flour is 17 wen, refined rice is 18 wen, glutinous rice is 20 wen, and glutinous rice flour is 25 wen. Subtract 2 wen from the original price, and subtract 1 wen from each of the others. The profit margin of grain is low, and Brother Zhao knows it. It's just hard-earned money."
Xie Shuangbai knew that the price of grain in ancient times would not be too high. This was already a friendly price, and the shopkeeper had to be allowed to eat.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
