Chapter 56
56 Beg Her
“Is it available for sale in town?” a cook asked.
“No,” said the chef.
“What about the prefectural city?” Manager Sun asked.
Master Fu shook his head. “There’s no such thing in the prefectural city either. These salted eggs are all for the high officials and nobles in the capital. Ordinary small provinces and counties can’t sell them.”
“That’s not right.” Manager Sun wondered, “If this thing is only sold in the capital, could that girl have bought it from the capital?”
—
It was late today, and the regular customers were anxious.
“Are you getting arrogant? Jin Ji has already sold two pots!”
Shen Chuan said gloomily.
Su Xiaoxiao asked, “Eh? Why are you here today?”
“I was passing by,” Shen Chuan said.
“Oh.” Su Xiaoxiao wrapped five salted egg yolk pastries and handed them to the auntie in front of her. “Your snacks are 100 copper coins.”
The yolk pastry cost ten copper coins more than the wife cake and chestnut cake.
“Here, the list.” Shen Chuan casually handed her the list.
Su Xiaoxiao was surprised. “You specially came to give me the list? Actually, there’s no need. After we finish our business here, we’ll go to the academy to get it ourselves.”
Shen Chuan said angrily, “I said I was passing by and brought it to you!”
Su Xiaoxiao asked, “You’re a little angry today. Did you get into a fight with the dean again?”
Shen Chuan sighed. “He insisted that I go to the city to study after spring. I don’t want to go!”
This was a family matter, and it was not convenient for Su Xiaoxiao to interfere.
“For you.” Su Xiaoxiao wrapped a set of snacks for him. “It’s for you. No charge.”
“What?” Shen Chuan asked.
“To comfort you,” Su Xiaoxiao said seriously.
Shen Chuan was speechless.
Shen Chuan coughed lightly. “I’m a man. Do I need a little girl like you to comfort me? Here!”
He threw a small silver to Su Xiaoxiao. “There’s no need to look. I’m happy today!”
He was going to squander his father’s wealth!
He would squander the money ruthlessly!
After squandering his wealth, Eldest Young Master Shen swaggered away.
Su Xiaoxiao handed the silver to Su Ergou and put it away. “Do you understand?”
Su Ergou shook his head in a daze.
He didn’t understand. Why did Young Master Shen give his sister more money when she didn’t want it?
Su Xiaoxiao patted his shoulder. “Learn slowly.”
There was clearly much less traffic on the streets than before. In addition, they had arrived too late. Many customers waited for a long time and thought that they would not be setting up their stall today.
“Sister, it’s a little slow today,” Su Ergou said.
“It’s fine. It’s normal to have ups and downs in business.” Su Xiaoxiao’s mentality was very good. She was probably really generous and not anxious at all.
The money she had on hand was not earned from the snack and braised food business. She had earned 45 taels of silver from selling the formula and 30 taels of silver from Young Master Xiang. She did not have to worry about being hungry in the short term.
However, her business had to be expanded slowly. If she wanted to expand the production scale, she had to invest more capital.
Besides, the house was old. This house was built when Madam Chen and Father Su got married. More than ten years had passed, and the walls had cracked, the roof was piling, and there were leaks.
She planned to put the construction of the house on the agenda after spring.
With this calculation, she would have to spend the money she earned before she could save it.
As she was thinking, Manager Sun walked over leisurely with his hands behind his back.
“Yo, Miss Su, you’re here to set up a stall again.”
He came in front of the two of them and glanced at the snacks on Su Xiaoxiao’s tray. He smiled and said, “Business isn’t very good today.”
Su Ergou was not happy with Manager Sun, who had forcefully bought their formula. “Why are you here again? I’m warning you, there’s no recipe to sell to you! I won’t sell it again!”
“I’m not here to buy a recipe. I’m here to ask for a refund!”
“What refund? You’ve already taken the formulae. Are you trying to extort us?!”
Su Ergou knew too much about extortion.
Manager Sun took out a sheet of paper with the formulae from his wide sleeve and flicked it in front of Su Xiaoxiao. “You sold me a fake formula! Even if you go to the government office, it’s your fault!”
Su Xiaoxiao said, “You wrote it yourself as I dictated. Unless you wrote the wrong instructions, there won’t be a problem with the formula.”
Manager Sun said, “But the snacks I made according to your recipe taste different from the ones you sell!”
Su Xiaoxiao looked puzzled. “Really?”
Manager Sun waved behind him and a staff ran over with a plate of egg yolk pastry.
“Taste it yourself!”
Manager Sun said.
Su Xiaoxiao opened the egg yolk pastry. “There’s no need to taste it. It’s indeed different from what I made.”
Manager Sun said coldly, “You admit it!”
Su Xiaoxiao said, “But the issue is not with the formula. You bought the wrong ingredients. Don’t blame me!”
Manager Sun gritted his teeth. This girl was really not easy to scare...
Ordinary people would have been flustered by his questioning, but this girl was unbelievably calm.
Was she really a teenage village girl?
Su Xiaoxiao said seriously, “Manager Sun, we’ve opened our doors to do business. If you’re really asking for advice humbly, I can do you a favor and tell you. If you want to extort me and trick me, I advise you to give up! I sold you the formulae not because I’m afraid of you. I set up a stall at the entrance of Jin Ji and indeed snatched some of your business. We see each other often and should not go overboard. I’ll just treat it as forming a good relationship. But try bullying us again and you’ll have it coming!”
In business negotiations, one had to be thick-skinned and have a strong aura. It didn’t matter if there was real substance. It was enough to make people believe that you had it.
This was an experience that Manager Sun had practiced for decades. Who knew that he would be easily controlled by a little girl?
Manager Sun really looked at Su Xiaoxiao in a different light. Of course, he did so with a hint of gritted teeth.
Manager Sun said with a fake smile, “Alright, as long as you’re willing to tell me where you bought your ingredients, I’ll believe you.”
Su Xiaoxiao raised her eyebrows. “Is this your attitude when begging?”
Su Ergou wondered, “Why does it sound like my brother-in-law?”
Manager Sun was dumbfounded.
He smiled exaggeratedly. “Miss Su, where did you buy your salted egg yolk?”
She had better not tell him that it was the capital. If this girl had the capital’s supply, would she be worried that he would cut off her supply of flour in this town?
Su Xiaoxiao said calmly, “Oh, you’re talking about that. I made it myself.”
Manager Sun was stunned. “You made it yourself?”
Su Xiaoxiao spread her hands. “That’s right. Don’t you know how to do it? It’s not very difficult.”
Manager Sun almost vomited blood.
What did she mean when she said it was not very difficult? If the chefs in town heard her words, they would run over to beat her to death!
Su Xiaoxiao said generously, “Seeing that we’ve worked together in the past, I can sell the recipe for the salted egg to you at a low price.”
Jin Ji sold snacks, not ingredients. Who the hell would want a recipe for salted eggs?
In that case, would they have to grind their own flour, fry their own fragrant oil, plant their own produce, and dry their own pepper? Later on, he might even have to buy the formula for white sugar and official salt. That way, he wouldn’t be far from death!
In short, Jin Ji would not make the ingredients themselves.
Manager Sun said reluctantly, “I don’t want the formula, but if you have more salted eggs on hand, you can sell them to me.”
Su Xiaoxiao sighed. “Sigh, although it’s not difficult to cook salted eggs, it’s very troublesome. I only made those. If I don’t even have enough for myself, how can I sell more to you?”
Manager Sun gritted his teeth. “The price is negotiable!”