From that day on, Wu Shi never went to Su Qingyu’s shop to get vegetables again.

Aunt Zhou was no longer assigned the task of buying groceries, but Wu Shi went out to buy them herself.

Now she no longer had to go to the dirty vegetable market. The vegetable shops were clean and hygienic, her clothes wouldn’t get dirty, and she could buy meat in smaller quantities, so Wu Shi took the job herself.

She went to that store today, Second Aunt Su’s tomorrow, and another store the day after tomorrow. She went to whichever store sold the cheapest and had promotions.

Su Qingyu didn’t care at all about her actions.

When Lü Bocheng was not around, she felt like an outsider in that family. After the incident, she became even more out of tune with that family. When Lü Yuzhu and others saw her, they not only didn’t even greet her but treated her like a stranger.

Su Qingyu was not well received by the Wu family, so she preferred to stay in the shop with her sister Yaya and her brothers and sisters. She ate all three meals in the shop, except when she went home to sleep.

After several similar vegetable shops opened in the town, Su Qingyu’s shop had a significant impact.

The most immediate impact was that Su Dahu told her in a hesitant voice that his parents would no longer sell vegetables to her.

Second Aunt Su bought vegetables in Qiaotou Village and nearby villages at high prices. Many families in the village changed their ways, and even her own family sold vegetables to her second Gu.

Her grandfather also listened to her second Gu and planted vegetables on several acres of land at home, and cleared a large piece of wasteland to raise chickens and ducks, just to supply her second aunt, selling meat and eggs.

Her step-grandmother Wang Shi also found a job for her fourth uncle, who, like Su Dahu, specialized in helping Second Su Gu go to the countryside to collect vegetables, fruits, chickens, ducks, and other poultry.

After hearing this, Su Qingmei remained silent for a long time.

Then she asked, “Is it because the vegetables can’t be collected?”

Su Dahu paused for a moment and replied, “With your grandparents helping out in Qiaotou Village, there’s no way to collect [the vegetables], but overall it hasn’t had too much of an impact on us. We signed agreements with families outside of Qiaotou Village earlier, so they don’t dare not sell to us. However, seeing the higher vegetable prices in the surrounding areas, they’ve had some complaints and asked if we could raise the price. The amount of vegetables they’re supplying to us has decreased, and they say the crops can’t be harvested from the fields. I can’t find any fault in that. As for those we used to collect from without agreements, we can’t get anything from them anymore either.”

It is human instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm.

Although Su Qingyu felt uncomfortable, she had nothing to say.

It was not easy for farmers to earn a penny, so who wouldn’t want to make more money? She can understand.

But she just felt very suffocated.

Now several vegetable shops were obviously going against her, buying vegetables at high prices and selling them at low prices, hoping to seize the market and divide her customers. But she cannot follow suit, and cannot also buy vegetables at high prices and sell them at low prices, vicious competition will lead to adverse effects and the market will be messed up.

Now that there were fewer customers, the dishes were not selling as much as before.

But she had to harvest the vegetables from the villagers who had signed the contract. The vegetables were ripe, and if she didn’t harvest them, they would rot in the fields. Some families might wish she would harvest less so they could sell them to others who could pay a higher price.

But since she signed the contract, she had to fulfill it.

Sales were down, but she didn’t plan to lower the price. But now that the vegetables were on the shelves, she couldn’t just sit there and wait for them to rot…

That night, she transported the remaining vegetables from the store, saying that she wanted to give them away and didn’t need anyone’s help. She pushed the cart herself, found a deserted place, and put the vegetables into the system.

In the following days, she made some changes to the store.

The leftover chicken and duck eggs were all pickled into salted eggs; the leftover meat was all made into braised meat and sold; the leftover vegetables were going to be made into pickles, dried vegetables, and dehydrated vegetables; the same went for fruits, which were made into candied fruits and dried fruits.

Anyway, anything left over from the day, except eggs, would not be sold the next day.

Dried vegetables and pickled vegetables were also available locally, and the methods of making them were similar, but the taste was different in each family. However, Su Qingyu mainly wanted to make dehydrated vegetables and dehydrated fruits. She wanted to figure out these two things that others couldn’t do.

Everyone was depressed for a few days, but when they saw that Su Qingyu had a solution, they immediately became motivated again.

Granny Zhou said with the tone of someone who has experienced it: “That’s right. How can there be no setbacks in business? The more you set back, the more courageous you are. I’ve been idle for a few days, and I’m a little uncomfortable. The busier I am, the more energetic I am.”

Next, while everyone was learning how to make kimchi and dried fruits and vegetables, the store also started providing various services.

Since everyone was selling the same thing, she would have what others didn’t, and she would have something new.

For regular customers, as long as they paid a deposit, delivery was always made to their door. As for the few noodle shops and small restaurants discussed earlier, none of them switched suppliers after signing the agreement.

Su Qingying was grateful to them and helped by washing, cutting, and preparing the vegetables, saving them the time of a second round of processing. Occasionally, she would also give them small suggestions for their shops. The few noodle shops and small restaurants became even more loyal to her store, refusing to switch even when others promised vegetables at prices 10-20% cheaper.

As for some of the special customers mentioned before, such as those with mobility impairments, widows and young girls, and people of unknown identity who found it inconvenient to go out, Su Qingyu also made a special visit to these special customers one by one and presented them with the pastries she made. Because of her thoughtful service, this group of people also stayed loyal to her shop.

Yang Wei Martial Arts School, Lu Bocheng’s friends, Liu Juye’s family, and others also expressed their willingness to continue to support her. Su Qingyu also personally sent cakes to express her gratitude.

Now, Granny Zhou no longer slaughtered as many chickens and ducks each day. After Su Qingying asked her, she learned that Granny Zhou was very skilled at making dough-based foods. Su Qingying immediately adapted the shop’s offerings, adding dumpling wrappers, wonton wrappers, as well as pre-made dumplings, wontons, and various types of noodles.

Customers who came to the shop were stunned. “You even have pre-rolled dumpling wrappers? And raw, pre-made dumplings and wontons, along with freshly rolled noodles?” they exclaimed in surprise.

If you do the math, it was not much more expensive than buying it and making it yourself.

Look at the shelves again. Were the melons and vegetables peeled? Were the green beans and lentils peeled? Was the garlic peeled as well? They looked fresh.

There was less garbage thrown away at home.

This action immediately attracted another wave of customers. Many people came back to see the strange things, and the daily turnover also increased significantly.

However, the bustle in the store only lasted for a few days, and the other four stores followed suit.

The guests fell back visibly.

Everyone couldn’t help but feel a little discouraged and hated those stores. Xiao Qingyang and Xiao Qingxing would drag Xie Qiyou to the store entrances every day to glare at them, stomping their feet in front of them and saying they were bad people.

Su Qingyu was amazed by the other shops’ ability to imitate.

With all that effort, why don’t they come up with their own ideas instead of just fixating on mine?

After feeling sulky for a few days, she buried herself in researching pickled vegetables and dried goods, while others quietly tried their hand at making them as well. For now, she didn’t plan to sell these items. By keeping it under wraps, she effectively prevented others from imitating her efforts.

For Su Qingyu, all this increased costs and reduced profits.

But thinking that these dried vegetables and fruits would bring her good profits in the future, she suppressed her anxiety.

But everyone didn’t see any profit, they only saw that there were fewer customers in the shop and less cash flow, so they were a little anxious.

So they worked harder and provided more meticulous service. When a customer came, they wished that the customer didn’t have to do anything and just speak, and everyone would help her get what she wanted and put it in the basket.

Su Dahu traveled even further, and he often brought back fruits and vegetables that were not commonly seen in the county or town…

This helped to stabilize the shop’s customer base.

Originally, the vegetables from the market were moved to the shop to be sold, and the purpose of the store was to provide service. Su Qingyu did not engage in price wars but emphasized service, and she also had a group of loyal customers.

But the shop became visibly quieter.

(End of this chapter)