Chapter 12: Negotiation
Li Taohua hesitated between the second and third options.
Qin Huiyin helped her make a choice directly: "Boss, ten kilograms of un-yellowed broken rice."
After that, she said to Li Taohua, "Mom, this rice is good. It's just a couple cents cheaper because it doesn't look good. Everything you put into your mouth will be chewed up anyway. It doesn't matter whether it looks good or not, as long as it's healthy."
"You're right." Li Taohua said, "Boss, ten kilograms of flour, ten kilograms of broken rice, and thirty kilograms of peas. Give me a cheaper price."
"Oh, young lady, we are a small business..."
"Don't tell me all that nonsense. There are more than one rice and grain store in this town. You can't do without one here. Let's go to another one."
"Okay, okay, I'll give you two kilograms of peas, okay?"
"Five pounds."
"Auntie, I don't make much money. I will lose money if you do this."
While Li Taohua was bargaining with the grain store owner, Qin Huiyin touched Tang Luwu's arm and said, "Did you learn anything?"
"Ah?" Tang Luwu looked at her blankly.
Qin Huiyin said unhappily, "You must have gained something from your trip to the city today! My mother demonstrated it so many times, but you didn't learn anything? Look, if you talk a little, you can save a lot of money, right? When you go out, you need to be thick-skinned, so that you can have a good life."
Tang Luwu blushed and stammered, "I...I can't do it. I can't speak."
"Then learn! Do you see that over there? After we buy rice and flour, we have to buy meat. Go and negotiate the price of the meat." Qin Huiyin took out fifty coins from her purse and stuffed them into Tang Luwu's hand. "I only need two pounds of meat, two pig's trotters, a pig's head, and pig's heart, pig's lungs, and pig's offal. As long as you buy all these things, whatever is left is your private money."
"I can't do it." Tang Luwu waved her hands in panic.
"I'll go with you." Qin Huiyin said to Li Taohua, "Mom, let's go to the butcher shop and wait for the boss to load it and then we can come back to carry it."
As she spoke, she pulled Tang Luwu towards the butcher shop.
Tang Luwu was so nervous that she didn't shake off Qin Huiyin.
"Boss..." Qin Huiyin smiled sweetly, "Last time I bought meat from you, I bought one pound, but when I got home I found it was one ounce more. We have never seen someone as generous as you."
The butcher was a big fat man with a face full of flesh and looked a bit fierce. He waved the knife to cut the meat, and the people who bought the meat didn't dare to get close to him.
After hearing what Qin Huiyin said, the fat boss was stunned for a moment, obviously confused by the sudden "good guy card".
"Sister, this is the butcher shop owner you mentioned who is generous and honest in business, right?" Qin Huiyin asked, shaking Tang Luwu's arm.
Tang Luwu's cheeks were red. She was honest and simple, and she received Qin Huiyin's hint and nodded reluctantly.
"Luckily, I thought I had found the wrong one." Qin Huiyin patted his chest, "There's another butcher shop over there. If it's not this one, then it must be another one."
The butcher was not happy when he heard this, and quickly said, "You're right, it's me. I never cheat on the weight when doing business. Little girl, since you're a regular customer, I'll give you a discount on whatever you buy this time."
"I want two pounds of meat, two pig's trotters, a pig's head, and pig's liver, lungs, and offal." Qin Huiyin said, "Boss, please calculate how much it costs."
After that, without waiting for the boss to answer, Qin Huiyin said to Tang Luwu: "I just asked the boss of Yangji Meat Shop, he said that pig's trotters are all bones, not much oil, and only charged us five cents. Pig's head, liver, lungs and offal together only charged us ten cents. One pound of meat sells for thirteen cents, and all the things add up to forty-one cents, and the boss said he would only charge us forty cents. If the price here is higher than this, let's go to another store to buy it! There are going to be a few weddings in the village, and I will introduce them to the boss of Yangji."
"But this boss always weighs the meat sufficiently, and we just praised him. Now if we buy meat from other places, people will think his meat is not good!"
Tang Luwu glanced at the anxious butcher and pretended to be embarrassed. In fact, she didn't need to pretend, she was indeed embarrassed, after all, this was her first time to lie.
"We are all poor people. One penny can buy half a pound of cornmeal. We should save as much as possible! If we can save some money on weddings in the village, we will be happier."
"Ladies, I haven't quoted you yet, how do you know whose is cheaper?" The fat boss patted his chest and said proudly, "I do honest business. Not only is the meat fresh, but the price is also fair. How about this, two pounds of meat will cost you 25 cents, and the other things will cost you 13 cents, a total of 38 cents."
"Brother, is that true?" Qin Huiyin looked at the fat boss in surprise. "Brother, you are such a nice person. We will only come to your house to buy meat from now on. When the villagers have weddings, we will also let them come to you. Sister, you are right. Brother is really a nice person."
Tang Luwu was stunned and responded: "Hmm..."
The fat boss was flattered by the praise. The tall man who was originally a bit fierce now looked a bit honest. Everyone was quite afraid of him before, but now seeing the two little girls praising him like this and him acting so easy-going, more customers came over.
Tang Luwu put dozens of kilograms of meat into the backpack and covered it with weeds.
Qin Huiyin took out twelve coins and gave six coins to Tang Luwu: "I originally planned to use fifty coins to buy meat, but now I have saved twelve coins, so we can each take half."
"No, no, no, I don't need it." Tang Luwu quickly refused. "I didn't do anything. Besides, my family is short of money now, how can I take money from them?"
"It's just a few cents. Keep it with you so that you can use it in case of emergency. Keep it. If you don't want to use it, save it and use it later."
When Qin Huiyin turned around, she saw a familiar figure coming out of the butcher shop. The man moved very quickly, and there were many people buying meat at the moment, so she didn't look carefully to see if it was that person.
The fat boss's father came out carrying a wild boar and said to the onlookers, "You are in for a treat. Someone sent a wild boar today and we are selling it at a low price."
Wild boar meat is not that delicious, but it is meat after all. For people who haven't eaten meat for a long time, it is more cost-effective than buying pigs raised by buyers.
When Qin Huiyin saw the wild boar, she was sure that the person she had just seen was Song Ruize. She left directly yesterday, and Song Ruize was injured and bitten by a poisonous snake. She didn't know what method was used to transport the heavy wild boar down the mountain.
Qin Huiyin and Tang Luwu returned to the rice store. Qin Huiyin showed Li Taohua what she had bought and said proudly, "Is your apprentice ready to start his career?"
"Can these things be eaten? There is not much meat and oil. It would be better to buy a pound more meat!" Li Taohua said with disgust, but still carried the heaviest backpack.
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