HLnovel Chapter 226: Rushing is not a business
Chapter 226: Rushing is not a business
As soon as Shen Youyou arrived in the kitchen, she saw the grandmothers all working together to knead dough.
This is too fast! I just bought needles and thread, and she’s already asking a question and she’s back to the previous one.
"Grandma, where's my dad?"
Old Lady Hua's hands were covered with flour. She used her rolled-up sleeves to push her scattered white hair aside and said, "I'm feeding the cows in the backyard."
Shen Youyou saw her grandmother's actions and walked forward to help her tuck her scattered hair behind her ears. Looking at her grandmother's hands covered with white flour, which were as dry as old tree bark, her heart ached: I have to make money.
As soon as she walked to the backyard, she saw her father brushing the old cow's hair with a horse comb, and he was very serious about it.
"Dad, stop brushing. I have something to talk to you about."
"Ah? What's the matter?"
"I was thinking that we should not come to the city in vain and stay at a business inn. Why don't we sell our Eucommia bark and Pueraria powder?"
"How do we sell it? Should we go knock on people's doors one by one?"
"There's a curfew in the lobby up front and someone is telling a story. I guess some merchants will come out by then."
When Shen Zhiqiu heard this, he said, "There is such a thing, what a great relationship!"
He immediately turned around and hung the horse brush on the wooden beam of the barn. He had just taken it from this place. He put it back to its original place when he was not using it, so as not to wait for the inn's staff to find it when they needed it.
"Girl, please think of a way to promote it. We don't have any processed Eucommia bark anymore. I don't know if we can find a drug dealer who knows the product."
Shen Youyou quickly scooped some water from the water tank beside her and used it to wash his father's hands.
With the sound of running water, he said, "We don't sell Chinese medicine. We sell Eucommia bark tea. I fried some before. I'll boil a few pots of tea and give it to the people in front for free."
Shen Zhiqiu washed his hands and shook off the water droplets: "Okay, let's try it, but do you sell kudzu root powder? Are you tired of it?"
"How could that be? But I did the math. When we bought flour from the shopkeeper, he gave us one tael of silver for a little over one stone, which is about 140 jin, equivalent to seven coins per jin.
We still have more than 1,300 catties of kudzu root powder. If we sell it at 200 wen per catty, that's 268 taels, which can be sold for 36,400 catties.
Assuming that each person eats one and a half kilograms of food every day, all of us can eat for three months. But the remaining kudzu root powder we have is not enough for us to drink for three months even if we only drink it as a paste. "
Shen Zhiqiu was surprised: "Is anyone willing to buy it at 200 wen per jin?"
"Scarcity makes things valuable. Let's ask the shopkeeper if he has any dates. Chop them up and add them to the kudzu root paste. When they listen to the storytelling, we'll send a bowl to the big merchants to try. They don't lack money."
The main thing is that this thing was a tribute in ancient times? Is a tribute of 200 wen per catty expensive?
Well, Shen Zhiqiu was convinced by his daughter. The key point was that he thought about how since he entered the northern border and came into contact with people, he kept hearing the words "rising prices" from others, especially food, which was skyrocketing.
The white flour they bought from the shopkeeper was not of particularly good quality. In their hometown it was only five cents per pound, but here it has risen to seven cents.
They already have a large population, so they have to hurry and store more food. If an attack comes from the south, the price of food will probably skyrocket.
A quarter of an hour later, in the kitchen of the inn.
Shen Zhiqiu invited the innkeeper over. He borrowed the innkeeper's stove to cook Eucommia bark tea. As the water in the pot boiled, a special woody fragrance gradually filled the air.
The innkeeper's expression changed: "This taste is a bit special!"
Shen Zhiqiu and his daughter also talked to the shopkeeper, who agreed that they could try it, but they had to taste it first.
After boiling the Eucommia tea for a little longer, Shen Youyou first made a bowl of Pueraria root paste for the shopkeeper, sprinkled some chopped red dates on it, and added a little icing sugar.
Shen Zhiqiu personally brought it to the shopkeeper: "Try it. I guess you have heard about the rarity of Pueraria root. It is eaten by nobles and has many benefits such as promoting body fluid and quenching thirst, strengthening the spleen and appetite, and beautifying the skin."
As expected, the shopkeeper was won over by the kudzu root powder after the first bite: "It tastes sweet and refreshing, fine and melts in the throat. How many pounds do you have? Don't sell it to others, I want all of it."
Shen Youyou said before her father: "There is only one thousand pounds left."
Moreover, she temporarily raised the price to 300 wen per catty. It must be said that when this price was announced, Shen Zhiqiu couldn't help but look at Shen Youyou a few more times.
Mainly because Shen Youyou thought that if this thing was sold to the wives of officials, it would help beautify the skin, and for this reason, it could be sold for one tael of silver per pound, and it could even be higher.
Of course, she dared to raise the price temporarily because she had never told anyone except his father that she would sell it for 200 wen.
However, although the people from Shenjia Village who were present, whether they were in the kitchen or standing outside the kitchen, were all stunned, they felt it was unbelievable. They ate such expensive stuff for a whole winter?
How much silver did that cost?
Oh my! What a sin! They are just peasants, how can they deserve to eat such expensive food.
Shen Youyou and Shen Zhiqiu had said before that Pueraria root powder was eaten by the emperor, but they still didn't believe it.
But now? Why is it only sold for 300 coins?
The price is still per pound. You should know that they only spend 200 wen to stay in a dormitory for one night.
When the shopkeeper heard the price, he thought it was worth it, but he wanted to buy it to sell it in his own inn. It could be considered a kind of dessert after the meal.
But a thousand pounds? He felt like he couldn't eat that.
"I saw you made a big bowl of kudzu root powder paste with only two spoonfuls. I'm afraid I can't finish a thousand kilograms by myself."
Shen Youyou observed the shopkeeper's expression. It didn't seem like he thought the food was too expensive, but he felt that if he couldn't sell all the 1,000 kilograms, it would be a waste of money.
"Shopkeeper, that depends on how you sell it! Where are you from? Huguan County. As long as you pair the kudzu root powder with exquisite porcelain, I believe that one ounce per pound or two ounces per pound will not be a problem."
In fact, what she wanted to say was that as long as you have connections and can have a say with the concubines of some high-ranking officials, even if it's only five taels or one catty, it probably won't be a big deal.
But she didn't say this because doing business is not something that can be done in a rush, and she only needs to stop at the right time.
The tacit understanding that Shen Zhiqiu and his daughter have developed over the years is definitely not an exaggeration.
Seeing her daughter glance at the pot of Eucommia bark tea, she immediately said, "Boss, think about it first. How about we try the Eucommia tea first?"
Shen Youyou also asked the aunts who were making the fire to stop: everything is overdosed, and the same goes for making tea.
After tasting the Eucommia tea, the innkeeper nodded repeatedly and said:
"The tea is good, too. It tastes bitter at first, but has a sweet aftertaste. And if you boil it for a little longer, the aroma will be even stronger."
I called the waiter, "Let's give a cup to the person listening to the book in front first. Just tell him that this is a free gift from the store. Eucommia tea strengthens the body, nourishes the liver and kidneys, strengthens the stomach and spleen, and calms the nerves and helps with sleep.
The shopkeeper had never heard of Pueraria powder being good for beauty and skin care, but he knew that Eucommia ulmoides was a medicinal herb, so he had already thought of the advertising slogan.
Shen Zhiqiu nodded. This shopkeeper also knew about hunger marketing. He didn't give him a pot directly.