Chapter 63: Door-to-Door Sales

Unlike the gloomy clouds and landslides in Shili Village, there wasn’t much visible impact of the pre-collection of next year’s taxes in Qiyang County, except for those outsiders setting up stalls on the streets.

Perhaps there was, but it was limited to a certain extent, at least not visible on the main street of the county at the moment.

Sang Luo was short of money, so today she brought all the goods she could carry, including a few pieces of two types of tofu.

Naturally, what she brought the most of was sour jujube cake, well, also known as crystal dried fruit.

So Madam Sang Luo’s first target was the pastry shop.

She walked back and forth on the main street twice. There were three pastry shops in total, one of them appeared to be of a higher class judging by its decoration, while the other two seemed to be relatively affordable.

After a moment of consideration, Madam Sang Luo gathered her courage and entered the most expensive-looking one. Although she felt that the probability of such a shop selling externally made goods was extremely low, she still had to give it a try. If she could succeed, she might be able to sell her products at a slightly higher price. If not, there wouldn’t be much loss.

Today, she brought a lot of diverse items with her, carrying a pair of woven baskets and dressed in old coarse cloth clothes. Her appearance didn’t quite match the ambiance of the shop.

The shopkeeper was a round-faced woman. Upon seeing Madam Sang Luo’s appearance, there was no unusual expression on her face. Her smile and enthusiasm seemed just right, neither too much nor too little.

“Madam, what would you like to buy?”

Madam Sang Luo placed the baskets in a corner of the shop and glanced over the various exquisite pastries displayed on the counter.

There was a wide variety, some of which she could tell what they were made of and roughly guess their methods, while others had extremely delicate patterns, looking like flowers from afar. With Madam Sang Luo’s level of skill, she couldn’t figure out how they were made.

She only glanced at them once before shifting her gaze back to the female shopkeeper. Following the memories of her original body and the etiquette of the women in the Great Qin Dynasty, she calmly and gracefully greeted the shopkeeper, “Excuse me, may I trouble the shopkeeper? I have made a kind of snack from my own recipe. Would you be willing to sell it here?”

The female shopkeeper raised an eyebrow and asked, “Sell on consignment?”

She smiled and shook her head, “We, Yongfeng Zhai, are an old brand. We don’t sell external food on consignment.”

Madam Sang Luo had anticipated this, so she wasn’t disappointed. She uncovered a jar from the basket and took out a piece of sour jujube cake, offering it with a smile, “Not selling on consignment is fine. It’s fate that I entered your esteemed establishment. Madam, you can taste my crystal preserve pastry.”

The female shopkeeper’s gaze fell on the piece of pastry named Crystal Preserve Pastry that Madam Sang Luo handed over. It was translucent in color, quite attractive, and the name suited it well.

After examining the pastry, her gaze naturally shifted to the hand offering it. Unlike most peasants, this young lady’s fingers were slender and evenly proportioned, not like someone who had done rough work since childhood. Her nails seemed to be well trimmed, round and neat, clean and unblemished.

The female shopkeeper smiled gently, “Then I thank Madam for her kindness.”

She reached out to take the piece of crystal preserve pastry offered by Madam Sang Luo. It was soft to the touch, and upon inspection, although the outer appearance was not particularly appealing, tearing it open revealed a better color inside, making it quite appetizing. It was difficult to discern what material it was made of, but it looked very appetizing.

After tasting a small piece, the refreshing sweet and sour taste made the female shopkeeper’s saliva instantly secrete.

“This is appetizing, isn’t it?”

Sang Luo smiled and nodded, “Indeed, not only does it have the effect of appetizing and invigorating the spleen, but it also has the effect of nourishing the heart and calming the mind. Of course, this is just a snack, deliciousness comes first, and any additional effects are just icing on the cake.”

The female shopkeeper raised her eyebrows, showing her literacy.

As far as she knew, some prestigious families would pass down recipes to their descendants. Looking at Sang Luo, could she be the descendant of a fallen noble family?

Of course, this was just a passing thought. She carefully tasted the pastry for a while but couldn’t figure out what it was made of. Nevertheless, it was indeed good, suitable for all ages. Since it had come her way, it would be a pity to miss it.

“Madam, our shop indeed does not sell external food. I wonder if you would be willing to sell this recipe?”

Sang Luo’s eyebrows twitched. Although she was curious about what price the other party could offer for a recipe, she had no intention of making a deal that would block her future path.

So she shook her head, “The recipe is a treasure of my family and cannot be sold. However, if Guibao Shop is willing to cooperate, I can make the crystal preserve pastry smooth and uniform to ensure its appearance.”

The female shopkeeper hesitated for a moment but still shook her head.

Sang Luo smiled and didn’t force it. After thanking her, she bid farewell and turned to pick up her basket.

Her departure seemed so decisive that the female shopkeeper felt somewhat unsettled.

She glanced at the items in Sang Luo’s basket. There were three jars similar to the one containing the crystal preserve pastry. They were all crystal preserve pastries.

Seeing that Sang Luo clearly brought these items to the county to seek consignment, the shopkeeper’s mind started working.

Yongfeng Zhai had been in business in Qiyang County for so many years, always ranking first. The key was that they could crush the other two pastry shops in terms of variety, craftsmanship, taste, packaging, and service.

She had tasted the crystal preserve pastry, and it would definitely be popular. If this crystal preserve pastry left their shop now and entered either of the other two shops, Yongfeng Zhai wouldn’t be able to produce anything of the same category to surpass it.

Thinking of this, she hurriedly stopped Sang Luo, “Madam, although we don’t consign external food in our shop, could you sell these to me? When the master returns, I’ll let them taste it, and then we’ll discuss further. How about that?”

Sang Luo: These???

Was there an opportunity here?

She smiled and turned around, “Of course, Madam. I won’t hide it from you. I’ve sold these in the county once before, three cents and five pieces. But I wasn’t quite satisfied with that price, so I wanted to consign them in a shop to sell at a higher price. Therefore, Madam, are you interested in all of these?”

Upon hearing that she could sell goods, the shopkeeper instantly became “Madam”.

The female shopkeeper laughed, “Yes, tell me what price you think is suitable.”

Sang Luo thought for a moment and said, “For three jars, it’s just over six hundred cents. If Madam wants them all, I’ll sell them for six hundred cents. I’ll stick to the wholesale price, one cent per piece. As for whether Madam wants to eat them yourself or sell them, it’s up to you to decide the price.”

After increasing the price by nearly half, Sang Luo was satisfied with it herself.

The shopkeeper smiled and said, “Alright, leave all three jars.”

She then went to the back of the counter, took out six bundles of cents, and placed them on the counter, pushing them towards Sang Luo.

One hundred cents per bundle. Sang Luo counted the money more carefully this time, and she could roughly tell. A shop as big as this one wouldn’t cheat her, so she took out a money bag generously and filled it up. Now it was packed full.

Sang Luo’s eyebrows, eyes, and lips were all curved up. Although this was the sour jujube cake she had saved for quite some time, earning six hundred cents at once, plus the over four hundred cents she earned from selling tofu at home, was a big step towards the total of three thousand three hundred and eighty-eight cents.

She was overjoyed, and the female shopkeeper was also quite pleased. After sending it to the master for a taste test, they decided whether they wanted to negotiate with this young lady to buy the recipe or have the pastry chef figure out how it was made, both were good ideas.

Could Sang Luo not guess that the female shopkeeper had come up with such ideas?

After the female shopkeeper took the money, she didn’t ask when Sang Luo would come again or how to contact her. Sang Luo realized this after the transaction, but she didn’t mind.

Let her ponder. If she could figure it out, it would be the skill of this old brand pastry shop. Sang Luo didn’t have such big ambitions and didn’t think that others couldn’t make what she made just because she had the recipe. If others could earn a living with their skills, it was fate.

Let it be, there was nothing uncomfortable about the recipe leaking from her. Sang Luo felt very at ease. With the heavy money bag containing six hundred cents, she felt very content.

Taking out the three jars, she smiled and said, “Sister, could you find something to pack these? This coarse pottery jar of mine is very rough, making this crystal preserve pastry look cheap.”

The fact was, buying three coarse pottery jars also cost her nearly one hundred cents, and she had to take them back.

Seeing many customers, the female shopkeeper naturally understood. She could only smile wryly. That’s right, she bought crystal preserve pastry, but the price didn’t include the three jars.

Considering that it would be sent to the master’s house, where there were a bunch of ladies, she simply had someone fetch twelve delicate porcelain jars. She instructed the maid in the shop to pack the contents of the jars one by one. Each jar would hold fifty pieces, and after twelve porcelain jars were filled, there were still six pieces left.

The female shopkeeper laughed and said she was taking advantage of Sang Luo. Sang Luo smiled and responded, “Sister, please take care of me in the future.”

After packing her empty jars, Sang Luo bid farewell to the female shopkeeper and left Yongfeng Zhai.

…

At the second stop, Sang Luo entered the largest restaurant in Qiyang County.

However, this time it wasn’t as smooth as it was at the pastry shop. When she found the back door and only asked one question, she was immediately kicked out by the chef who overheard.

“Sending in rare delicacies is one thing, but bringing in cooked food to sell here? What do I need to do as a chef?”

Sang Luo: …

This chef had quite an attitude.

Alright, she didn’t insist. She went directly to the back door of another restaurant across the street.

Here, if one door doesn’t welcome you, there’s always another. Well, if it wasn’t for not seeing any other cooked food besides the pastries at Yongfeng Zhai just now, suggesting a vegetarian tripe dish would seem odd. Otherwise, wouldn’t this be considered a snack in the modern world?

Haven’t you seen how popular konjac jelly is?

Although times may differ, the essence of foodies should be the same.

Sang Luo felt that with a little effort in packaging, this item could also be sold at the pastry shop.

Well, she just thought about it like that. It would be best if she could sell it to the restaurant.

Lost in thought, she had already arrived at the restaurant’s kitchen. A teenager who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old was sitting at the back washing a large basin of dishes. When he saw Sang Luo approaching, he stood up and looked at her. Their eyes met, and he smiled at her. The teenager looked a bit puzzled, “Who are you?”

Sang Luo became smarter. She put down her burden, lifted the lotus leaf covering the pottery basin containing the konjac jelly, picked up a pair of chopsticks, and placed two pieces of konjac jelly on the leaf. Then she handed it directly to the teenager, “Young man, try this. I have something to ask you.”

At first, the teenager was cautious, but when he heard it was about something to ask, he thought, oh, this is normal when asking for a favor. He looked at the thing he received in his hand, which looked very tempting. “What is this?”

After taking a bite, his eyes lit up. He held up his thumb and said, “This thing you made is delicious! People are shortsighted, but if you have something to ask, just ask. I know it for sure.”

Sang Luo smiled, “I want to ask if you think this fresh delicacy I made can be sold in your restaurant?”

The teenager: …