It was quite rare. When Mo Qianshang came to the shops on this street that day, because she was wearing such a drab old outfit, many shop assistants or shopkeepers would look at her when she entered. Some were more subtle, while others were blunt and unabashed.
After such a large-scale event, there may even be obvious differential treatment.
Mo Qianshang is very sensitive to her surroundings and the gazes of others, but she doesn't dwell on these things, after all, she is different from ordinary people.
But this person at the pastry shop, from the moment she entered, his gaze fell on her face, looked directly into her eyes, and his expression was very natural, making a good first impression.
Mo Qianshang smiled slightly: "Not for now. I just have some candy here and I'm planning to ask around to see if any shopkeepers want to buy it."
The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment, a hint of embarrassment on his face: "Oh, well, I'm afraid it's not convenient for me here. It's not that I'm not interested in what you're saying, it's just that my shop is currently facing some difficulties, and I don't have... a lot of money."
Normally, it would be difficult to talk about such things. Many business owners, even if they know what's going on in their shops, wouldn't easily talk about these things with outsiders. But this shopkeeper seems to care... yet not really care.
Mo Qianshang felt that, given the store's street-facing location, it would be quite easy for it to do poorly.
She glanced around and noticed that there weren't many kinds of pastries on display. It was probably because they didn't sell well; they would harden and become inedible if left out for too long, and eventually they would all go to waste.
Mo Qianshang looked around and pointed to several kinds of pastries: "Then help me calculate the prices of these kinds. If it's convenient, just give me one of each kind first."
The shopkeeper was surprised that she would buy it. He paused for a moment before walking out from behind the counter and starting to pack the pastries that Mo Qianshang had ordered.
Looking at it, Mo Qianshang casually asked, "I see the sign here says 'Meng's Dim Sum.' Is the owner's surname Meng?"
The shopkeeper chuckled twice: "Yes, that's me. This is a pastry shop that was passed down from my grandfather."
Mo Qianshang nodded: "So it's Boss Meng."
Meng Zhuo quickly waved his hand: "I dare not accept such praise."
Mo Qianshang found Meng Zhuo quite interesting. He was the owner of the shop, so what was there to be afraid of? Logically speaking, business people should be a little clever or cunning to avoid being cheated. This Boss Meng was far too modest.
Meng Ji's pastries weren't expensive. After paying, Mo Qianchang casually picked up a piece and tasted it on the spot.
The pastry has a smooth texture, but it's clearly not sweet enough. Instead, it has a faint tea aroma, but without enough sugar, it tastes more like a pastry.
However, she knows more about modern industries and has very limited knowledge about ancient ones.
"Mr. Meng, logically speaking, shouldn't most of the pastries on the market these days be sweet?"
Meng Zhuo nodded: "As for tea and snacks, that's true, but these days sugar is scarce, so the taste is..."
Mo Qianchang could also tell that this was indeed a very good pastry, the only problem was the sugar content, it seemed that they didn't have enough money.
She asked thoughtfully, "Are there still many tea and snack shops in the city these days?"
When asked this question, Meng Zhuo became even more embarrassed: "Actually, there are still some. Although our county town is not as big as the prefectural city, it is well-connected. Many people traveling on official roads pass through here, so there are still some people here."
There's no problem with foot traffic, the store location is fine, and the pastries themselves aren't a big issue either, so...
Mo Qianshang glanced at Meng Zhuo, who had poured out his heart to her on their first meeting, and roughly knew where the problem might lie.
She didn't know what to say, so she walked to the door and said, "Boss Meng, how about this? I won't sell you these candies. I'll just leave them here. If they sell, great. If not, we'll talk about it later."
Seeing that Meng Zhuo was still hesitating, she continued, "If you are not at ease, we can draw up a contract. These candies can be sold for 300 coins per pound, or 100 coins for ten pieces."
Meng Zhuo was startled: This candy is not cheap, how can we sell it?
Ignoring Meng Zhuo's current expression, Mo Qianshang pulled herself out of the building and immediately caught Meng Zhuo's attention: Why are they all colorful?
To reduce costs, Mo Qianshang chose paper packaging, but even the simplest paper in the system has color, and printing patterns on it is not acceptable. That's something that doesn't exist in this era, and it can be exchanged for an astronomical price.
So what Meng Zhuo saw at this moment was colored packaging, cyan, red, and various other colors.
It's actually just candy that corresponds to color. The two green ones are for cantaloupe and apple, the red one is for strawberry, the pink one is for peach, and so on.
But Meng Zhuo couldn't understand any of this. Looking at the colorful packaging, he felt that even if it was candy, it was far too extravagant!
Mo Qianshang also grabbed a few candies for Meng Zhuo: "These candies come in all sorts of fruit flavors, Mr. Meng, please have a taste."
Although Meng Zhuo was not good at business because he was too straightforward, he was not so bad at distinguishing between good and bad things. He carefully peeled a piece and put it in his mouth, and was completely stunned.
The candy wasn't sticky at all, and its sweet and sour taste was initially hard for him to get used to, but after a while, he found it quite appetizing, making him want to swallow his saliva.
This sweetness wasn't the cloying sweetness of ordinary sugar; it was the first time he'd ever heard that sugar cubes could have such a refreshing taste.
"How about the apple flavor?"
apple?
At Mo Qianshang's prompting, Meng Zhuo tasted it carefully again and was surprised to find that it actually tasted a bit like apple.
Fruit is precious, yet it's made into such a tiny candy—it's far too exquisite! Who could possibly afford to enjoy this?!
Even the candy in his mouth felt awkward; he felt he couldn't eat it or spit it out.
"Miss, this...this is too precious..."
Mo Qianshang talked to Meng Zhuo and roughly knew that this candy was a rare item here, but there was nothing she could do: "Boss Meng, don't be too alarmed. As I said, it doesn't matter if it doesn't sell. If it does sell, we'll take one-tenth of the profits."
Meng Zhuo was stunned for a moment. One in ten, which means that he can get thirty coins for selling one jin!
The temptation was too great, but he was not one to resist temptation. Even his wife said that he was too conservative and not suited for business.
Although it was the first time Mo Qianshang had met Meng Zhuo, she could still sense his character. However, she was just an ordinary farmer now, and compared to the merchants who had already made a name for themselves in the area, this kind of person made her feel more at ease.
In any case, she wasn't in a hurry to use the money.
Seeing that he was still hesitant, Mo Qianshang asked to borrow a pen and ink and wrote a contract on the spot.
When Meng Zhuo saw that she could read, he took a closer look and realized that she was using regular script, which was clearly recognizable. Each character was neat and precise, making it perfect for use as a contract.
After Mo Qianshang finished writing and added her name, she handed it to Meng Zhuo. He looked at it carefully again and couldn't help but widen his eyes: "This..."
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