Chapter 47 : Lease a stall

Now that the family had a strong ox, Xiao Yi was very busy. He went up the mountain early in the morning to cut down a large tree and dragged it back.

In ancient times, there were abundant green plant resources and no shortage of wood, so ordinary people could cut them down freely.

Xiao Yi put in a lot of effort to cut down the tree, but it was all for one purpose: to build a cattle pen to tie up the ox.

Mother Xiao wasn’t idle either. She went out early to cut several bundles of grass to feed the ox.

It was dark last night, so she couldn’t see clearly, but when she saw the ox in the daylight, she realized that it was truly a good one, its quality was evident just from its frame.

Although they already had a ox, Mother Xiao still needed to go to the town to inquire about renting a stall.

In addition to building the cattle pen, Xiao Yi also needed to make a cart for the ox to help pull the goods.

After discussing it, Mother Xiao decided to keep Xiao Yi at home instead of sending him to work with Father Xiao and the others. The family business needed a man’s help.

First of all, some jobs are better done by men, like herding cattle. Xiao Yi loved the ox so much, he would naturally take good care of it, and women weren’t really suited to herd cattle.

Moreover, having a man present when doing business would prevent others from bullying or ostracizing them just because they were women.

This is how things worked these days, the strong bully the weak. The reason the Xiao family was able to hold their ground in the village was because they had many strong men in the family. Otherwise, as outsiders, they might have been bullied.

The Xiao family had been in decline in recent years, and people in the village would only talk about them behind their backs. No one dared to challenge the Xiao family openly, though, because they had several strong men.

Xiao Yi would help drive the ox cart in the future, and his mother would pay him wages every month so that he wouldn’t be working for nothing.

Liu had been back at her parents’ home for a month without any plans to return, leaving the two families in a stalemate.

However, the Liu family was starting to realize they couldn’t hold out much longer. The marriage had to happen soon. If things were delayed too long, it might fail again. They were anxious and naturally had to find another way.

Mother Xiao took Jiang Sui to the town. She had heard that to rent a stall in the snack street, one had to go directly to the town’s headman’s mansion to handle the process.

The street management in this dynasty was very good. Every town had two streets dedicated to snacks, where ordinary people could do small business and earn a living.

The difference between these snack streets and regular storefront streets is that the snack streets are generally frequented by ordinary people, while storefront streets are typically filled with formal restaurants, inns, and other establishments for people with more money.

Baima Town was a small town, surrounded by more than a dozen villages of varying sizes. Apart from the people already living in the town, most visitors came from these surrounding villages. These were ordinary people without much spending power.

There were restaurants and inns in the town, but only two. The rest were stalls selling snacks.

Because there were so many villages around, the town had a large flow of people. The snack street wasn’t very long, and there were bun stalls, wonton stalls, noodle stalls, and some selling sugar cakes.

The rest of the businesses were various other things, such as shoe insoles, flower hairbands, mountain products, and more.

However, there were three steamed bun stalls, three noodle stalls, and two wonton stalls, all competing for business.

In fact, the taste of the food at these stalls was very ordinary, and the prices were not expensive. Some people traveled long distances to buy food, and most of them were willing to spend five cents for a bowl of vegetarian noodles or something similar.

Jiang Sui saw that by then, she would be the only one selling hot and sour noodles. With just a small stall, she would definitely not have to worry about having no business.

The food at these stalls wasn’t great, but there were still a lot of customers. Not to mention that the revenue from a day’s sales, after deducting costs, would likely be at least a hundred coins. Even if the business wasn’t stable, there would still be an income of two taels of silver per month.

Jiang Sui went to the Tingzhang Mansion to inquire and found out there was an empty stall at the end of the snack street. The rental fee for one month was only 800 wen, which was 200 wen cheaper than the other stalls.

There was no other reason for this. Although the stall occupied a slightly larger space, it wasn’t popular because it was located at the innermost part of the street.

Many diners came to the street in a hurry, just to find something to eat and fill their stomachs. They usually didn’t care much about the taste, so they would choose whichever restaurant was visible first. Moreover, the tastes were similar and the prices were the same, so there wasn’t much difference in choice.

Look, the two snack stalls at the corner of the street were doing the best business, there was a noodle stall, a steamed bun stall, and a wonton stall.

As time passed, the stall couldn’t be rented out, so the price was reduced to 800 wen per month.

Snack stalls were generally like this because they took up a lot of space, they were expensive. If you ran a small business that didn’t require much space, the stall fee would naturally be cheaper.

Some people specialized in setting up stalls to sell shoe insoles and hairbands. They only took up a small space and earned only three hundred coins a month.

They had come at an unfortunate time, as this was the last remaining snack stall, and Jiang Sui and Mother Xiao had no choice but to rent it.

Seeing this, Mother Xiao pulled Jiang Sui aside to discuss.

“Suisui, what should we do? Although this stall occupies a large area, the location is really not good. If people can’t see our stall, how can anyone come to eat?”

The issues Mother Xiao was worried about were actually not within the scope of Jiang Sui’s concerns.

Whether the snack business does well or not, the taste is always the most important. It doesn’t matter if the location isn’t as good as others, as long as the taste is good, that’s what counts.

The key is publicity. You have to let everyone know that there is such a place and such food.

If you set up a stall to do business but don’t shout out, how will customers find you?

Jiang Sui smiled calmly, everything was under control.

“Mom, don’t worry. We have no choice anyway. Let’s just rent this place. It’s cheap, and the space is big. We can even put in two more tables. How great!

As for whether there will be any customers, don’t worry about it. I have my own solution. In short, don’t worry, I will definitely make you money.”

Since Jiang Sui said so, there was nothing else to do, so they decided to go ahead.

“Okay, I’ll listen to you. I believe you!”

After the mother and daughter discussed it, they told the people at Tingzhang Mansion that they had decided to rent the stall. After the customized iron colander and molds were made and a batch of sweet potato flour was dried, they would buy a large oilcloth to set up the stall and then could start the business.

The seasonings were ready-made, and the chili oil and meat sauce made by Jiang Sui were easy to prepare, so they could be made anytime they ran out.

Mother Xiao rented the stall for two months at once and completed all the formalities. In fact, it was just a receipt, and from then on, the stall belonged to their family.

It just so happened that she had to go to the blacksmith shop to pick up the colander when she came to town today, and the agreed time had already arrived.