Chapter 60 : Be prepared for danger in times of peace

Right now, there really is no better way, so everyone just listens to Boss He and takes turns lowering the price as he says.

People tend to like to get a bargain, so whoever lowers the price will have better business. During the days when the price is lowered, one can still make some money, which is better than having few customers all day long.

But they didn’t know that Boss He was keeping it a secret and didn’t tell them.

Jiang Sui didn’t know yet that these small bosses were planning to target her family, but in her opinion, she had enough confidence to stabilize her business.

There are not as many people in the afternoon as in the morning. After all, among the three meals a day, the evening meal must be eaten well, and noodles are usually only eaten in the morning and at noon.

At dusk, the sunset glow filled the sky and a red sun set in the west.

After putting the chairs and benches in place and storing the pots, pans, and utensils in the compartment, the family drove the ox cart back home.

At home, Zhou and Xiao Lanlan were already preparing dinner, and they would start eating when Mother Xiao and others came home.

At the end of the day, the two of them had dried a lot of sweet potato vermicelli at home. They would dry some more tomorrow morning and make sweet potato skins in the afternoon.

The fact that it wasn’t raining made it convenient for them to dry things. The sun in June was very scorching, and the vermicelli could be dried in two days.

When they got home, Mother Xiao, Jiang Sui, Xiao Hechuan, and Xiao Yi had been busy all day and only had a bowl of noodles each for lunch. When they saw the steamed buns and corn bread after arriving home, they realized that their stomachs were growling with hunger.

It had been a long time since they were this busy. Mother Xiao rubbed her waist and felt that cooking noodles for a whole day was more tiring than digging in the vegetable garden for a whole day. Her back and waist ached.

After dinner, she took out her coin basket and poured all the copper coins inside onto the table. The crackling sound made people feel happy both physically and mentally.

The whole family sat around the table, looking at the copper coins on the table. They felt so satisfied, and everyone had a bright smile on their face.

After counting, they found that they had earned a total of 630 coins for the whole day, and sold more than 120 bowls of noodles in total.

But this was also within Jiang Sui’s expectations. She knew what was going on.

Her original goal was to sell a minimum of 30 bowls a day, but it seems that the minimum can be raised in the future.

“Oh my god, you can sell so much in one day? That would be more than ten taels of silver in a month.”

Zhou counted on her fingers. She couldn’t even imagine earning so much in a month.

Seeing Zhou’s expression, Mother Xiao couldn’t help but laugh at her: “You’re dreaming. How can we make so much money every day? The reason we made so much money today is because Suisui came up with an idea. During the first three days of opening, all meat noodles were sold at five cents a bowl. That’s why we attracted so many customers.

Three days later, the price will return to the original one, and business will not be so good. But your fourth sister-in-law is smart and has come up with the idea of offering free green bean soup. I guess business won’t be too bad by then.”

Mother Xiao looked at Jiang Sui with eyes full of approval and affirmation.

The best thing she had ever done in her life was to make up her mind to welcome Jiang Sui into her home. In just over two months, she had brought a lot of good luck to their family.

Zhou heard what Mother Xiao said and nodded dumbly: “Is that so? Oh, it’s my fault for not having seen much of the world. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to make a fortune on my own. I really can’t compare to my fourth brother’s wife.”

She scratched her head embarrassedly, but her mind became more determined. She had to get along well with her fourth brother’s wife.

“Fourth sister-in-law, you are so awesome. Our family is blessed to have you.” Xiao Lanlan also joined the team praising Jiang Sui and gave her a thumbs up.

The more she got along with Jiang Sui, the more she felt that Jiang Sui was not an ordinary person and that she could really learn something from being with her.

Jiang Sui felt uncomfortable when she was praised by them. If she were a little more narcissistic, she would probably get carried away.

“How can I be as good as you say? Let’s not get too happy too soon. We’ve taken over all the business on the street today, but I don’t think Boss He is someone who will just sit back and wait to lose. He might come up with some ideas to push back against us. We have to wait and see what they’ll do. The marketplace is like a battlefield, everyone’s fighting for their own interests. To protect their stable income, they’re bound to take some kind of action. We need to be prepared before anything happens.”

Jiang Sui was someone who always anticipated danger even in peaceful times, and she remained cautious whenever profits were involved.

“Suisui is right. Boss He clearly didn’t have good intentions toward us this morning. He looked unfriendly and like he was up to no good. Third son, you should help us keep an eye on things during the day and make sure he doesn’t try anything sneaky.”

Mother Xiao had thought about this too. But during the day, both she and Jiang Sui were busy running the stall and wouldn’t have the time or energy to watch out for trouble. Since Xiao Yi was responsible for helping out, they decided to leave this task to him.

Xiao Yi took the assignment seriously and responded with confidence: “Don’t worry, Mother. As long as I’m here, nothing will go wrong.” He patted his chest and spoke with conviction.

Seeing this, Xiao Hechuan also wanted to express his support. As a man of the Xiao family, he too wanted to protect his mother and wife.

“And I’m here too, Mother and Wife. I’ll protect you both.”

His clear, innocent peach blossom eyes looked so sincere, but his serious expression made it seem like he was about to go off to battle.

Everyone burst out laughing at the sight of him, and Mother Xiao affectionately patted his head, smiling as she said: “Our Hechuan is the most thoughtful one.”

The next day, they set up the stall as usual. Just as they arrived in town and began setting up, customers were already arriving.

Fortunately, the bone broth had been cooked the night before at home and brought along that morning. Otherwise, cooking the broth from scratch now would take too long and delay business.

The early customers were all locals from near the snack street. Several middle-aged women came carrying two bowls each, planning to pack up noodles and take them home.

While waiting for the water to boil, they chatted with Mother Xiao: “Your hot and sour noodles are really something! My little grandson doesn’t usually eat properly. Every meal we have to chase him around and coax him, it’s such a headache. But yesterday he tried just two bites of your hot and sour noodles and instantly liked it. Last night he even asked for more! So I came early this morning to buy some more to take home.”

“Oh, what a coincidence! My future grandchild wants to eat it too. My daughter-in-law is pregnant and has terrible morning sickness. She only wants sour food and hasn’t been eating well for a while. But yesterday, after having your hot and sour noodles, her appetite suddenly came back! She even finished all the soup. This morning she told me she wanted to eat it again, so here I am, waiting early.”

The two old ladies were grinning from ear to ear. Grandmothers always dote on their grandchildren like they’re the most precious treasures in the world.