As the sun sets, the inn's warehouse receives a steady stream of tied-up crabs.
Li Xiaoxiao started the large pot, cleaned and processed the crabs, and piled them up belly-up in the steamer to steam them, adding ginger slices and scallions every few layers.
It comes with bags and bags of chili oil dressing.
Finally, they were all put into large oil paper bags, and Qi Yu, Gou Erwa, Dong Niangzi, and Cuihua worked overtime to finish making them.
Fortunately, the kitchen had plenty of steamers for making buns and pastries, more than a dozen at a time, with several large stoves steaming them together. The crabs were also steamed quickly; each steamer could be steamed in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
With the addition of the dozen or so waiters and servants that Gu Lan had brought back, hundreds of crabs were steamed in just three or four hours.
Once the crabs were almost steamed, Li Xiaoxiao instructed Madam Dong and the servants to set up temporary stalls in front of various restaurants, brothels, and even gambling dens to start selling them. Each stall was labeled "Heroic Madam's Private Kitchen," with each twenty crabs costing two taels of silver and each bag also including a small bottle of brewed wine.
A typical late-night snack, priced at two taels of silver, is an exorbitant price. However, there are also set meals without alcohol, where twenty crabs cost only eight hundred coins.
Gu Lan was very skeptical of this price. There weren't many wealthy villagers in the county, so how could she bet that these people could afford it?
Almost all the crabs from that part of the town were caught and brought here; several warehouses hold more than 10,000 of them.
If this stuff is ever sold, it will be a huge loss; it will rot in the warehouse and won't keep fresh.
Gu Lan shook his head; after all, they were too young.
However, to everyone's surprise, there were an unusually large number of people buying crabs that night. In less than half an hour, all the makeshift carts that had been pushed out returned, requesting more crabs.
Gu Lan kept a record of income and expenditure as truckloads of crabs were carried out.
The owner of Min Pharmacy bought ten bags, and some restaurants also started selling them back. Last time, Li Xiaoxiao's fish balls were a bestseller in the store, so this time, they also need to buy some to study.
More than a dozen taverns in Yunli County have purchased the property, along with nearby brothels and young male prostitutes, and recently, many people have flocked to Yunli County.
That night, more than 500 bags were sold, totaling 1,000 taels of silver, but only half of the crabs remained in the warehouse.
It wasn't until midnight that Gu Lan finally had time to rest. She was so busy that she felt dizzy and disoriented, which was quite unbelievable.
"Madam Li, you are indeed remarkable."
Gu Lan was full of admiration, but Li Xiaoxiao just smiled and said, "Find some more people to steam these crabs overnight, divide them into portions, and then sell them in restaurants and other places in Lincheng. Keep only about twenty bags here."
Gu Lan dared not slack off and quickly instructed his subordinates to continue working overtime on the customization, keeping them busy for more than ten hours.
They also hired some outsiders to help with the moving and delivery. Fortunately, Lincheng is not far from here, and it only takes two hours to get there.
The villagers who had previously helped with the repairs at the Li family's residence also worked overtime to deliver the items. Everyone knew what kind of person Madam Li would become, and befriending her now would bring even more benefits in the future.
This new way of selling food completely breaks the previous problems of cooked food and ingredients being difficult to carry, using oil paper packaging. However, all of this oil paper was made in advance by the Li family.
The next day, Gu Lan was still waiting at the inn for the servants to return the money. It has to be said that the fierce woman's reputation was awe-inspiring, and most of the people who did the work would obediently take back the money they had earned.
Several people who tried to run away with the money after selling their goods were caught by Gu Lan, beaten severely, forced to hand over all their silver, and even made to write IOUs.
On this day, Gu Lan calculated the remittances and found that he had received a total of one thousand taels of silver. He was still short of four or five people, each of whom embezzled six taels of silver and ran away.
These people were added to Gu Lan's list, and by noon the next day, the villagers went on a frenzy to catch crabs. What they had previously seen as strange things had become extremely precious, as they were valuable items.
The so-called strange insect plague disappeared without treatment.
After Gu Lan finished calculating the accounts, he prepared to personally deliver the two thousand taels of silver to Li Xiaoxiao.
At this moment, Li Xiaoxiao was fast asleep in bed. Qi Yu heard someone knocking on the door, went out, closed the door, and said softly, "Just give me the money. My wife is tired and needs to sleep for a while. Please don't disturb her too much."
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