Chapter 26: Earning Money
Before the ten chestnut pancakes could see the bustling market, the scholar put them into his pocket.
Su Xiaoxiao kept her word and gave him one.
The question was, which flavor should he choose?
The dried plum dish was not bad. It was oily but not greasy. It was crispy but not dry. There was a hint of sweetness in the salt and it was especially satisfying.
But the red bean filling and green bean filling were not bad either.
After some hesitation, the scholar took out another 20 copper coins and gathered three flavors.
Su Xiaoxiao handed him the wrapped pancakes. "I thought you didn't want to eat my biscuit yesterday?"
The scholar hummed. "I, I, I, I decided I want them today, okay?"
Su Xiaoxiao smiled. "Sure."
The little fat girl was quite cute when she smiled.
The scholar cleared his throat and said, "Then, are you still coming tomorrow? Will you be late? Will you change places?"
Su Xiaoxiao, who was asked three times in a row, was speechless.
Due to many uncontrollable factors, Su Xiaoxiao couldn't give him a definite answer.
The scholar suggested, "Hey, why don't you sell them at the entrance of our academy? Many people in our academy have come from afar to buy snacks."
His words seemed ordinary, but they actually gave Su Xiaoxiao an extremely high evaluation. He was just short of saying that her pancakes were high-end substitutes for Jin Ji snacks.
In ancient times, there were indeed poor students who could enter the academy, but there was no lack of children from rich families.
This provided Su Xiaoxiao with an idea.
Su Xiaoxiao thought for a moment and asked, "But does the academy allow us to set up a stall at its entrance?"
The scholar hurriedly said, "Of course!"
Su Ergou looked at him strangely. "How would you know? Does your family own the academy?"
The scholar replied affirmatively, "Yes!"
Su Ergou was speechless.
The scholar's name was Shen Chuan, and his name was Qinghe. He was really the son of the dean of the Wutong Academy.
Xinghua Town was not big. It was the only academy in town. It was not in the center of the town, but it was not too far. It was about three or four miles away on foot.
Shen Chuan sighed and said, "I asked Jin Ji to set up a stall. Unfortunately, they don't like it."
It was normal for Jin Ji to look down on them. After all, they did not lack customers.
Su Xiaoxiao said, "I'll think about it."
It was not far from Jin Ji to the academy, but if one counted the distance from the village to the town, it was a full ten miles.
On one hand, the distance was long. On the other hand, the main customers there were students. If they couldn't sell all the wife cakes before class in the morning, there was a high chance that they would need to wait for the students until school ended at noon.
In that case, the time cost would be high.
Shen Chuan wanted to persuade her further, but another guest came over.
She was a generous and fat aunt.
The auntie carried the basket and pushed Shen Chuan aside. She smiled at Su Xiaoxiao and said, "Girl, you're here! I've passed by several times. I thought you weren't coming to sell pancakes today!"
Su Xiaoxiao said politely, "I was a little delayed today. What flavor do you want? Or do you want two dried plums and a red bean like yesterday?"
The aunt looked at her in surprise and said, "Girl, you have such a good memory!"
Su Xiaoxiao smiled. "You give off a friendly feeling. It's hard not to remember you."
Everyone who came out to do business knew how to say something pleasant. However, she was the first to praise the aunt like this.
The aunt was overjoyed. "I want dried plum vegetables and red bean stuffing. Also, do you have any other fillings?"
"There are green beans," Su Xiaoxiao said.
"Four!" the aunt said.
In the blink of an eye, she sold eight more.
Although they missed the peak period in the morning, the pancakes were still sold out very quickly. Moreover, with the support of repeat customers, there were less than half of the wife pancakes than yesterday.
In addition, she corrected the way she packed the pancakes yesterday in time. None of them were crushed today.
"Sister! We earned 900 coins today!"
Su Ergou said excitedly.
There were still a hundred pancakes, six for tasting, one for free, and three for Su Ergou.
"This equivalent to a small tael!"
How many times did he and his father have to extort to gather so much?
"To the market," Su Xiaoxiao said.
"Okay!" Su Ergou put away the money bag and took Su Xiaoxiao's bamboo sieve tray and basket. "Sister, let me take it!"
"I'm trying to lose weight!"
"Oh, okay."
Su Ergou responded by giving her his basket.
Su Xiaoxiao was speechless.
The two of them went to the market.
The butcher was chopping pig bones when he saw Su Xiaoxiao walking toward him. His hand trembled nervously and he almost chopped off his thumb!
"That'll be fifty coins."
He said to the old man who bought the pig bones.
The old man looked at him as if he was a fool. After paying, he left with the pig bone.
The butcher smiled awkwardly. "Y-You really came?"
Su Xiaoxiao took out a bowl of braised intestines from her basket. "Here."
The butcher hurried to get the coppers.
Su Xiaoxiao said, "No need. This bowl is for you."
Butcher was shocked. "What? For me?"
Su Xiaoxiao smiled. "If you think it's delicious, why don't I consign it to you in the future?"
"Huh?"
The butcher was shocked again.
Su Xiaoxiao said seriously, "I've been here for a few days. There's no braised food in the market. We'll split the profits and I'll rent your stall. I'll give you 10% of my daily income. Or I'll supply you at the lowest price. You can sell it for as much as you want."
The butcher's smile gradually stiffened.
The little fat village girl didn't like him… She liked his stall…
—-
On the other side, Shen Chuan returned to the academy with a large bag of newly bought Wife Cakes.
"Dad! I'm back!"
He went to his father's courtyard to greet him first.
However, his father was not in the house.
He was about to leave when an angry young man's voice came from a room in the back.
"How did your Rongen Hall treat people? It's been two days! Not only did my cousin not get better, but he became worse! He used to be able to wake up two or three times a day, but from yesterday noon until now, my cousin hasn't woken up once! Is this the best doctor your Rongen Hall has mentioned?! My cousin is about to die from your treatment!"
"Young Master, please calm down. Doctor Dong will take your brother's pulse again."
"What pulse! He's simply a quack!"
Clang!
The young man seemed to have broken a vase.
Shen Chuan exclaimed softly.
Suddenly, someone behind him asked in a deep voice, "What are you doing?"
Shen Chuan trembled and turned to look at his father. "Dad! You scared me to death!"
Dean Shen looked at his son sternly. "Who asked you to eavesdrop here?"
Shen Chuan defended himself. "I didn't eavesdrop. I came to deliver snacks to you. Didn't you say that the Wife Cake yesterday was delicious? I went to buy more."
Dean Shen remained silent with a serious expression.
Shen Chuan asked curiously, "Dad, who are the two guests who suddenly moved into our house? The older one seems to be dying. The younger one looks like he wants to kill someone."
Dean Shen said coldly, "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask."
Shen Chuan curled his lips and muttered softly, "Actually, I know a physician. Her medical skills are quite good."
Dean Shen glanced at his son and warned, "Don't mess around. Not everyone is qualified to treat the person inside. If anything goes wrong, you'll be beheaded!"
Shen Chuan froze.