Seeing the man's guilty expression, Liang's heart softened immediately.
She sighed deeply, "Fugui, don't worry. Qing'er is kind-hearted. Why don't we go and beg her? I believe she won't stand by and watch someone die."
"Will this... will this work?" Liang Fugui frowned deeply.
Seeing that he was still hesitant, Liang couldn't help but say, "How do you know it won't work if you don't try? If we don't even try, we'll really have no way out."
Liang Fugui hung his head and remained silent for a long time before nodding, "Okay, I'll listen to you."
"That's right. Let's go find Qingya."
"Go now?"
"Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up!" Madam Liang grabbed Liang Fugui and headed towards the sugar shop.
At this moment, Chen Qingqing was discussing with Da Bao the matter of selling white sugar to other prefectures and counties.
“Da Bao, our sugar shop is becoming more and more famous. Have you ever thought about selling sugar to more distant places, such as Ningjing or Kyoto?” Chen Qingqing asked with a smile.
Da Bao paused for a moment, then nodded. "Sister Qingqing, I've thought about what you said too, but we're far from those two places and we don't know the area well. Plus, feeding the people and horses will increase the costs a lot. If we can't sell them, then all our work will have been for nothing."
"You're overthinking it. As the saying goes, everything is difficult at the beginning. How will you know if you don't try? Once you can open up the market, that's when you'll truly be making a fortune. Besides, our white sugar is unique in the Great Ning Dynasty. Scarcity makes it valuable, so it's guaranteed to sell like hotcakes. If that day comes, our sugar mill won't be what it is now. It could expand dozens or even hundreds of times."
"Sister Qingqing, how do you know so much? I had some concerns at first, but after hearing what you said, I feel that it makes a lot of sense." Chen Dabao's eyes were full of admiration and respect. "I will start to handle this matter in a few days."
"Everything must be done step by step; never be impatient."
As soon as Chen Qingqing finished speaking, Liang Fugui and his wife walked in from outside.
"Qing'er, it's all my fault. I was blinded by greed and my mind was clouded. I was thinking about pig liver after eating pig's heart, and I was thinking about gold after holding silver. Please don't hold a grudge against me." As soon as Liang entered the room, she started to cry with a pitiful expression.
Chen Qingqing was surprised by Liang's arrival. She frowned slightly and said in a flat tone, "Auntie, what are you doing?"
"Young girl, please, please help my family!"
Ms. Liang didn't want to beat around the bush and stated her purpose directly.
“We can’t sell any of the brown sugar we’ve made. We also have several thousand kilograms of beetroot at home. If we don’t deal with it in time, it will definitely rot. Could you sell us all of those beets?”
Before Chen Qingqing could speak, Chen Dabao said with a stern face, "Auntie, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. We have someone who supplies us, so we don't need your beets."
"Dabao, your aunt knows you're still angry with us, but we're out of options now. You can't just stand by and watch us die!" Liang was so anxious that tears streamed down her face.
Chen Dabao felt a surge of anger and frustration when he recalled Liang Fugui's theft.
"People often say that a small favor fosters gratitude, while a large favor breeds hatred. But you leave no way out when you do things, and you'll stop at nothing to achieve your goals. Now that you can't sell your sugar, you've come to us again. Do you think there's such a good thing in the world? If you don't want me to say anything even worse, quickly give up this unreasonable idea and think about how to sell your sugar!"
After hearing these words, Madam Liang was filled with shame. "Da Bao, your Uncle Fu Gui and I know we were wrong."
Liang Fugui was so ashamed he wanted to disappear into the ground.
But he knew the predicament his family was facing; if they didn't get rid of the beets soon, they would go hungry.
Now that things had come to this, he disregarded his pride and knelt down with a thud, kowtowing to Chen Qingqing while weeping and pleading.
“Qingya, Dabao, it’s all my fault. I was just jealous and hot-blooded, which led me to do those foolish things. I know I was wrong now. Please help me out of respect for my two young children. If those beets really rot, my whole family will starve to death.”
“Yes, Qing’er, your aunt also kowtowed to you.” Madam Liang’s knees buckled and she knelt on the ground.
Chen Qingqing was startled by the two's sudden actions. She quickly got up and came to them, reaching out to help them up. "Auntie, please get up quickly, don't do this."
"Qing'er, we know we were wrong, please help our family!" Madam Liang quickly grabbed Chen Qingqing's hand, sobbing as she cried.
Chen Qingqing shook her head and sighed softly, "It's not that I don't want to help you, but the beets in your family are all leftovers and are of inferior quality. They are small, troublesome to process, and have a low sugar yield, so they are not suitable for making sugar at all."
"What?! Inferior goods!" Upon hearing this, Madam Liang's eyes widened in shock.
Da Bao chimed in, "You can't even pick out the right raw materials, yet you dream of making a fortune? It's laughable!"
"Impossible! Those beets can be boiled into brown sugar!" Liang Fugui was also shocked and quickly said.
Chen Qingqing scoffed, "It can be used to make sugar, but don't you think it's time-consuming and laborious to process?"
You have to use your brain in everything you do; some things aren't as simple as you think.
To extract more sugar, the beets selected must have smooth, firm skin without cracks, a bright and even color, and a firm, heavy feel. These are the qualities of top-quality sugar-making raw materials.
But the beets from Zhengxi were small and shriveled, either cracked or underdeveloped, or their skin was wrinkled and had almost no moisture. We wouldn't buy such beets even for a penny a pound.
"I...I don't know any of this either!" Hearing this, Liang Fugui was dumbfounded and slumped to the ground, muttering, "What am I going to do? How am I going to live from now on?"
Madam Liang was also startled, and glared resentfully at Liang Fugui. "I told you long ago that the beets we bought didn't look good and weren't worth three copper coins a pound at all, but you wouldn't listen. Now look what's happened, Qing'er can't even help us..."
Da Bao couldn't stand it anymore and quickly stopped Liang Shi, "Auntie, stop! My sister Qingqing never said she would help you. Don't flatter yourselves."
"Da Bao, we really know we were wrong. I will never think of going against you again. Please, please help me and your Uncle Fugui." Madam Liang looked remorseful.
Liang Fugui panicked, pounded his head a few times, and hurriedly crawled to Chen Qingqing, pleading.
"Young girl, those beets are our family's lifeline. If they rot, we'll all be doomed. Please help me, we're from the same village!"
......
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