Wan Shu had already bought most of the items that needed to be purchased in the mall yesterday.
On her first day setting up her stall, she waved her hand and led all five children onto the oxcart, preparing to take them to the county town to broaden their horizons.
As the men in the family, Dazhu, Sanshun, and Wuping took on the responsibility of carrying the two buckets of ingredients with Wanshu.
Er Ya and Si Ya carried relatively lightweight benches, along with small items needed for setting up their stall, such as dried lotus leaves and scales.
The wooden barrels in ancient times were not airtight, and the braised food was so incredibly fragrant that as soon as it was loaded onto the carriage, the women sitting in the carriage smelled the enticing aroma of the braised food.
After what happened on the field ridge yesterday, everyone in the village knows that Wan Shu was carrying those two buckets of things to sell in the county town.
Although the aroma was incredibly tempting, the women hesitated to speak, knowing that this was someone else's livelihood.
Only Aunt Zhao licked her lips and spoke without any politeness.
"You rich wife, you brought so much delicious food, why didn't you share it with everyone? You're so stingy!"
Wan Shu glanced at Aunt Zhao, then smiled instead of getting angry, and looked at the eggs in her bamboo basket.
"Aunt Zhao, you brought so many eggs, why don't you give me one?"
Aunt Zhao raises several hens and can harvest a few eggs every day.
However, in order to exchange them for money in the county town, she never gave a single one to her most beloved grandson, even if he wanted to eat them.
Why should we give an egg to that little bitch Wan Shu, who has never even had a single egg in his own grandson?
Upon hearing this, Aunt Zhao became furious: "These are my eggs, I'm going to take them to exchange for money! Why should I give them to you!"
"That's my family's braised food, I sell it, why should I give it to you?" Wan Shu looked at Aunt Zhao with a half-smile: "Because you have no shame?"
"Pfft—"
Aunt Zhao often takes advantage of her age to bully the young wives in the village and take advantage of them.
Among the women sitting in the carriage, some had been taken advantage of by Aunt Zhao, and others had had their daughters-in-law taken advantage of by Aunt Zhao.
They harbored resentment, but Zhao Da Niang was shameless and unreasonable, so they couldn't do anything about her.
Seeing that Aunt Zhao had been humiliated by Wan Shu, they couldn't help but burst out laughing and agree.
"Yes, Aunt Zhao, you're shameless. This is how wealthy women earn their living; how can you expect to get something for nothing?"
"If you really want to eat it, why don't you buy it from the wealthy wife?"
One nosy auntie winked at Wan Shu, "Rich girl, tell Aunt Zhao how much you plan to sell this pig offal for per pound."
Wan Shu smiled and said in a very cooperative manner, "I originally planned to sell it for forty coins a catty, but since we are all from the same village, Aunt Zhao, if you want to buy it, I will only sell it to you for thirty-five coins a catty."
San Shun quickly followed suit, picking up the scale: "Aunt Zhao, how much are you planning to buy? I'll weigh it for you now!"
Their back-and-forth banter made Aunt Zhao's face turn green with anger.
35 coins a pound! That's more expensive than fatty pork! Where would she get the money to buy it!
He could only mutter curses: "Pah! You dare to sell your unwanted pig offal for more than pork fat? Only a fool would buy it! No! Even a fool wouldn't buy it! I guarantee you won't sell a single piece of pig offal today!"
Several women nearby, upon hearing Wan Shu's pricing, also felt that she had set it too expensive and kindly offered suggestions.
"The economy is bad these days, and forty cents a catty is too expensive. We should lower the price, otherwise we won't be able to sell them and it will all go to waste."
Wan Shu smiled and agreed, but in her heart she had no intention of adjusting the price.
One of the biggest taboos in doing business is to measure other people's spending power by your own standards.
The poverty of Qingshui Village does not mean that the entire population of Sishui County is poor; otherwise, how could there still be so many cooked food shops in the county seat?
There will only be a market if there is demand.
Aunt Zhao was rebuffed and didn't say another word for the rest of the journey.
The group strolled leisurely to the county town.
Wan Shu didn't rush to leave. After most of the other women had left, she called her five children to help carry things.
She then took out ten copper coins and negotiated with Uncle Erniu.
"If nothing unexpected happens, we'll be setting up our stall in the county town every day for the next period of time. We have a lot of goods, and we'll be going back later than everyone else, so we'll need you to make an extra trip to pick us up every day, Uncle Erniu. I'll give you ten coins for each extra trip. Is that alright, Uncle Erniu?"
Uncle Erniu could hardly believe what Wan Shu was saying.
His oxcart could carry a maximum of ten people at a time, and his peak income for a round trip was twenty coins.
However, due to the poor harvest, many people are not going to town to save money, or would rather walk for two more hours than spend money to take an oxcart. So in recent months, his peak daily income has been only ten coins.
When luck is bad, you can't even earn a single penny.
Now that Wan Shu had spoken, he had gained a stable income of ten coins a day, which made him both happy and apprehensive.
"Ten coins...isn't ten coins too much...?"
Wan Shu was both amused and exasperated.
When she was recruiting employees in modern times, she had only ever seen employees complaining about having too much money, never about having too little.
She explained to Uncle Erniu: "Now, in the county town, the price for hiring someone to work for six hours a day is about 30 coins. Uncle Erniu, if you make an extra trip, it will take two hours round trip. Although you don't have to do anything while you're on the bus, those two hours are still a real expense. 10 coins isn't much."
"Besides, we're only having a trial run today, so we only have this much. If business is good, we'll make more and more. Once we have more stuff, we'll have to trouble you, Uncle Erniu, to help us move it around."
Upon hearing this, Uncle Erniu carefully accepted the ten copper coins from Wan Shu's hand.
Even so, he still felt uneasy. He insisted on helping Wan Shu and the others move all their things into the county town and securing a good stall for them before returning to the oxcart.
It was already broad daylight by then.
Many vendors have already set up their stalls in the surrounding area.
When they saw a newcomer suddenly appear and so aggressively grab a good stall, hostility rose in their eyes, and they secretly observed what Wan Shu planned to sell.
Wan Shu pretended not to notice their stares and instructed Er Ya and Siya to hold the stools steady. She and Da Zhu then placed the wooden bucket containing the braised food on it, took out a small winnowing basket, lined it with dried lotus leaves, and then used clean long wooden chopsticks to pick up some braised food and put it on.
Wan Shu first picked up the pig offal.
The moment they saw the pig offal, the surrounding vendors' eyes flashed with disdain.
Pshaw, I thought they were selling something good, but it turns out they're just selling pig offal.
Nobody would buy that stuff with that strong, fishy smell!
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