Jinyi champion

Chapter 4 Home Alone
three days later.

The backyard of Mipu has almost been dug, and the bottom of the big and small ponds is currently being paved with compound soil. Zhu Hao has not revealed how to extract the salt.

Zhu Hao understood that he couldn't tell Uncle Zhong, Yu San and the others the details of the beach-sun salt-making method.

At noon, he finished supervising the work in the backyard, and waited for a few workers to go to eat. When he came to the main hall, he saw Zhu Niang talking to a mysterious sloppy man, and then the man left cautiously, looking guilty.

Sun's accountant was taken away by the yamen, Zhu's family was sure that the store was exhausted, and no one was sent to take care of the account. Zhu Niang has been taking care of the counter in person for the past three days.

"Mom, is there any business in the morning?" Zhu Hao asked.

Zhu Niang nodded: "Aunt Wang next door came over this morning and bought three catties of red beans to go back..."

Zhu Hao asked again: "What did that person do just now?"

"he……"

Zhu Niang hesitated for a moment, and seemed to feel that her son had grown up a lot recently, so she said bluntly, "The private salt sellers said that they could supply salt to the shop at a low price, and they didn't need to buy too much at one time, and they could even settle the settlement with them after selling the salt. "

Compared with official salt, even if the quality of private salt is not good, it is still accepted by the general public because it is cheap.

Can't eat salt, weak body, less gray hair...

Zhu Hao said: "Mother, don't buy illegal salt. We are being watched by people now. If we sell illegal salt, we will be reported easily, and we will not be able to tell when the time comes."

Zhu Niang smiled and patted her son's head with a look of relief: "Xiao Hao has grown up, mother understands the truth, no matter how desperate we are, we can't do anything that will damage your father's reputation and the Zhu family's reputation...... I will find a way to let you study, so that you can have more knowledge and have a bright future..."

this afternoon.

The shop is still deserted.

In the evening, after Lifu left in the backyard and the shop door was closed, Zhu Hao called Zhu Niang and Aunt Li over.

"Xiao Hao, what are you going to do?"

Zhu Niang looked puzzled, and saw her son lighting the tung oil lamp and taking out a bundle from the side.

When the bag was opened, Zhu Niang and Aunt Li were surprised to find that there was salt inside!
"Where... did you get this?"

Zhu Niang asked curiously.

Zhu Hao said: "This is a small sample I dried myself... I took the brine out of the pond, and used the salt drying method that we will implement on a large scale in the backyard, and tested it on a small scale in the pond in the abandoned West Wing courtyard... ...Mom, how about the quality of this salt?"

Zhu Niang gently picked up the salt grains, rubbing her thumb and forefinger, the salt grains were white and fine, even under the dim light of the tung oil lamp, she could tell that it was the best refined salt.

Aunt Li was pleasantly surprised: "Ma'am, is this the legendary Snowflake Salt?"

Zhu Niang didn't answer, she let go of her slender hands, and the salt grains fell back into the burden. She turned her head and asked in a low voice, "Xiaohao, this...is this really dried salt?"

"Yes mother, if we can produce this kind of salt, I wonder if there will be a market for it?" Even though Zhu Hao knows the beach drying method, he still doesn't know much about the market of salt.

Aunt Li almost cried with joy, "Ma'am, isn't it said that snowflake salt is a tribute, and even dignitaries can't easily see it? How is this possible?"

Zhu Niang looked serious: "If we can really produce salt of this quality, the market will be good, but Xiaohao...is this really the salt we made?"

Zhu Niang still couldn't believe it.

It was like a dream.

Before today, the future is still gloomy, and I don't want to see the light in the blink of an eye.

"Ah."

Zhu Hao nodded firmly again: "Mother, if our salt is easy to sell, where will we buy the salt after this batch is dried?"

"you……"

Zhu Niang did not expect that the immediate crisis had not yet been resolved, and her son was already planning for the future.

Aunt Li smiled and said, "If the salt sells well, there is no problem in buying salt. There is a lot of salt transported from Dajiang to Anlu, and the buyers are all well-known salt merchants."

"Ah."

Zhu Niang nodded in agreement with Aunt Li's statement.

Zhu Hao suggested: "If we want to buy official salt in the future, we don't necessarily have to look for the best quality salt, but to buy the kind that is relatively rough but cheapest, and the owner has a strong background. Changshou County and even the Anlu Prefecture government can't buy it." Shake it, and it will not be a salt merchant selected by the Zhu family, only in this way can the supply of salt brine be guaranteed."

"Xiaohao, where did you learn the method? Why doesn't mother know?"

Zhu Niang asked.

"Mother, don't ask, I will explain to mother in detail in the future, now we have to hide the news, especially not let outsiders know how we purify the salt, even Uncle Zhong and the others can't... I will put the sun-dried salt Some of the key steps in the song should be kept, and we will know it by ourselves when the time comes.”

Harmfulness is not allowed, and defensiveness is indispensable.

Aunt Li wiped the tears shed from the corners of her eyes because of the surprise, and she looked relieved: "Ma'am, it's lucky to have Master Hao this time, why don't I go out and buy some pork to improve my life, speaking of it...the family hasn't had any meat for a long time. "

Zhu Niang nodded and said, "Then I will trouble you, sister."

As he spoke, he took out a small string of copper coins from the purse in his arms and asked Aunt Li to prepare the dinner.

……

……

Dumplings stuffed with cabbage and pork.

The pork weighs about one catty. After it is chopped into stuffing, add about three or four catties of cabbage, that is, Chinese cabbage, and an egg, then add salt, pepper powder, thirteen spices and other seasonings, and mix well. Wrap it with dough and cook it in a large pot. Each person puts thirty or forty dumplings in their bowls and dips them in a sauce mixed with soy sauce and vinegar. This is the most delicious thing Zhu Hao has eaten since he came to this world. Every glutton in the stomach was hooked out.

Aunt Li and Zhu Ting made the dumplings. Zhu Ting is only five years old and is already a good cook.

In the evening, the family and He Meimei had a meal of dumplings, and then discussed the big plan under the tung oil lamp.

"Mom, we will start selling salt tomorrow." Zhu Hao made the opening remarks.

"We can't sell it to the neighbors now. Even if we sell snowflake salt, no one will come to patronize it due to the previous notoriety. For the time being, we can only sell it to inns and restaurants in the city."

"Based on what I have found out in the past two days, the trading of official salt in the city is basically monopolized by several commercial firms. Those inns and restaurants will not buy hundreds of stone salt at a time like us, but can only buy high-priced salt here and there. We can Provide low-price and high-quality official salt, even if the government investigates, we can still produce salt quotations without any trouble."

"It's called a win-win situation, mother."

Zhu Hao has done market research before.

This round of shop accidents has something to do with several big official salt households in the city joining hands to monopolize the market and raising the wholesale price threshold, otherwise Zhu Niang would not have spent two or three hundred taels of silver to buy goods at a time, and then followed the Zhu family's way.

In the past, no matter whether it was a shop or a restaurant in the city, it was possible to wholesale Huiguan salt in units of one big lead, that is, four hundred catties.

It was difficult for Zhu Niang to make a decision.

Aunt Li reminded: "Madam, why don't you listen to Master Hao and give it a try."

Zhu Niang said nothing, just nodded.

……

……

The next day.

The shop is open as usual, but still deserted, under the care of Aunt Li.

Zhu Hao and Zhu Niang went to teahouses, restaurants, inns and other shops in the city to sell official salt.

But when the shopkeepers of these shops knew Zhu Niang's identity and the purpose of coming, they didn't show a good face, and some of them rushed out of the door directly.

By noon, let alone a business deal, not even one family was willing to sit down and talk.

Back at the shop, Zhu Niang was a little dejected.

Zhu Hao encouraged with a smile: "Mother, don't be discouraged. Let's go to the north of the city to have a look in the afternoon. Over there is Wangfu Street. There are many rich people. Maybe the shops over there will buy our refined salt?"

Aunt Li suddenly thought of something, and looked at Zhu Niang: "Ma'am, the shopkeeper Song of the Yuelai Pavilion restaurant in the west of the city, isn't he an old friend of our master? He has such a big business, why don't we... let's ask?"

Zhu Niang was a bit apprehensive: "This person is unscrupulous in business, shoddy as good, his reputation is not very good, and he will have no contact with the official after his death."

"Mother, no matter whether this person is kind or not, the most important thing is that we sell the salt. At worst, we won't cooperate with him in the future, as long as we can talk to him now."

At the critical moment of life and death, who cares how people do business?

……

……

Sure enough, the late father's old friend is still very face-saving, at least this is the first person who is willing to sit down and say a few words after Zhu Niang's mother and son have been running for a long time.

As Zhu Niang described, Song Yu, the owner of Yuelai Pavilion, does not look like a good person at first glance. He has a short figure, triangular eyes, hooked nose, thin lips, and speaks with an indifference that rejects others thousands of miles away. He is less than three years old. Shi but looked like an old man on the verge of death.

"...I said the third wife, it's not that someone is out of sight. Brother Zhong Yan passed away in [-], so I don't want you, a widow, to come out to show your face, right? You actually brought your children to come to discuss business, this... counts what?"

Zhu Niang didn't want to entangle Song Yu too much.

Hearing this, he wanted to get up and leave.

Zhu Hao tugged at Zhu Niang's sleeve, and said with a smile, "Uncle Song, I heard that you have a close relationship with your late father. Actually, our visit this time is to give you a big bargain."

"Eldest nephew, this doesn't seem like a place for you to talk, does it?" He actually scolded Zhu Hao with a straight face. Boss Song really regarded himself as an elder.

Zhu Hao took out a small bundle from his arms, opened it, and revealed the refined salt inside: "We are not here to borrow money, let alone cause trouble for Uncle Song, we have high-quality official salt in our hands, look, it is just like snowflakes Bai, it's only sixteen cash a catty, which is a bit lower than the price of official salt on the market... You said that it would be a pity not to buy a batch of such good salt for storage?"

Song Yu was very resistant at first, probably because he heard what happened to the Zhu family's orphans and widowed mother, and thought that the mother and son came to the house to borrow money.

When he saw the salt Zhu Hao provided, he immediately frowned.

"Third Madam, where does this salt come from?"

"us……"

Zhu Niang was about to explain.

Zhu Hao tugged at her sleeve again, stood up and said, "Uncle Song, this is the official salt we came in... You don't think the quality of private salt is so good? Or Uncle Song thinks that our salt came from a wrong way ? We have salt importers, and now the salt merchants in the city only wholesale and not retail, could it be that Uncle Song wants to buy official salt of poor quality from others at a high price of more than [-] Wen?"

If Zhu Hao wants to make this deal, he can only know about it for "profit".

Are you not unscrupulous in running a restaurant?

We sell you good salt at a low price, you're not too stupid to accept it, are you?
Song Yu immediately put on a smiling face: "Since it's about business, it's easy to talk and discuss. Who told me to be best friends with Brother Zhongyan? We've been together since we were young, and we talked about everything... Ha ha, but the problem is, your shop Didn’t your salt just have a problem, who would dare to buy your salt? The price of sixteen cash..."

As soon as Zhu Niang heard about it, she felt that she could discuss it, and immediately wanted to say something else.

Zhu Hao acted very forcefully, and said firstly: "Uncle Song, our good salt only sells for sixteen renminbi, and if you still haggle the price, it is really unreasonable, so we have to go to another house to ask. Come down, several companies have the intention to purchase.”

"impossible?"

Song Yu subconsciously felt that there was a fraud in it.

Zhu Hao grinned and said, "Which one of the shopkeepers of restaurants and inns in the city is not a good person? You know that our salt is good, not only cheap, but also retail, and we are responsible for delivering salt to the door. Such good salt is placed on the counter for sale." When diners see it, it can almost be used as a living sign... Isn’t it a fool not to buy such good salt?”

Song Yu was full of confidence at first, but after hearing Zhu Hao's words, his face was instantly dull.

Zhu Haola's mother got up: "The wine is not afraid of the depth of the alley. Now it is sold at this price because we have encountered a little trouble. If we want to buy it at this price in the future, we will not sell it. Mom, let's go and go to another house to see."

"Xiaohao, you..."

Zhu Niang didn't expect her son to be so determined to leave when she finally met a interested customer.

"Oh, third wife, eldest nephew, why are you so out of touch? We are old friends. If you have difficulties, I can stand by and watch? Otherwise, the price is fifteen yuan...pay at the end of the month."

"Mother, let's go. In the morning, even the shopkeeper said that the seventeen cash is still cash. Even if he buys a small amount, we will sell a few more."

"Don't, don't, sixteen coins, silver and goods, one hundred catties at a time, okay?"

The first big retail order was negotiated like this.

Zhu Niang discussed the details of the supply with Song Yu in detail, and took her son out. The sun shone on her face, adding a bit of brilliance.

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(End of this chapter)