Chapter 46 Thirty Jin

Wan Baocai puffed out his chest and said proudly, “My family has such a big restaurant, with people coming and going every day. If you sell your fermented tofu at my family’s restaurant, are you afraid it won’t sell?”

The Shen family looked at Wan Baocai.

Shen Dong said, “Young Master Baocai, you’re young and don’t manage family affairs. You don’t know much about your family’s restaurant. It’s not a good idea to sell this fermented tofu to you casually. After all, we’re not selling just a little bit of fermented tofu, we’re selling a lot. If you buy a lot and your father doesn’t like it, and you can’t finish it, wouldn’t that be a waste?”

Wan Baocai frowned: “I really like this fermented tofu myself, and my father is as greedy as I am. He will definitely like it too. So you don’t have to worry, just sell me as much fermented tofu as you can.”

Shen Nian looked at him and said, “That won’t do, Brother Baocai. We appreciate your kindness! This fermented tofu business needs to be taken seriously. Let’s do this, I’ll give you some fermented tofu. Take it back and let your father try it. If your father has no objections and is willing to order our fermented tofu, then we’ll talk about this business properly. If he doesn’t want it, then forget it. If you want to eat it, just ask me, I’ll give you some, no charge.”

Wan Baocai pouted: “That’s so troublesome!”

At the same time, he felt a little unhappy. As the young master of the Wan family, he wanted to buy something, but he couldn’t make his own decisions. He had to get his father’s permission. It was so frustrating!

Shen Nian took a small jar and put ten small pieces of fermented tofu in it. She sealed it and handed it to Wan Baocai.

The four guards secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It was a good thing that the Shen family was kind and didn’t let the young master act recklessly, otherwise, it would be difficult to explain to the master.

Although they had the Wan family as a lead, the Shen family didn’t want to miss out on the business with Master Wang. They planned to take some fermented tofu to town tomorrow and recommend it to the servants of the Wang family while selling pancakes.

Shen Duo looked at the fermented tofu in the jar and said, “The name ‘fermented tofu’ doesn’t sound good. If we want to make this business successful, we need to come up with a better-sounding name.”

Shen Nian suggested: “How about ‘fermented bean curd’ or ‘bean curd cake’? The appearance of fermented tofu is very similar to a cake.”

Grandma Shen clapped her hands: “I like the name ‘bean curd cake’ better than ‘fermented tofu’. ‘Fermented tofu’, ‘fermented tofu’, it sounds like tofu right away. But ‘bean curd cake’ is different. It sounds like a cake, but it tastes like a complex tofu flavor, it has a mysterious feeling.”

Grandpa Shen nodded vigorously: “Yes, yes, yes, my wife is right. The name ‘bean curd cake’ is the best. My clever granddaughter is the best, she can come up with a good name just like that.”

Wei Shi said: “I think the name ‘bean curd cake’ is good too.”

The others nodded in agreement.

Shen Dong slammed the table: “That’s settled then. Fermented tofu will be called ‘bean curd cake’. We’ll go to town tomorrow and try it out.”

Grandpa Shen said: “After dinner, my wife and I will go to Zhang’s family to buy some tofu. Bean curd cake can be kept for a long time as long as it’s stored properly. We’ll make some in advance, and if we don’t sell it all, we can keep it for ourselves to eat slowly.”

Shen Nian gave Grandpa Shen a thumbs up: “Grandpa is right, Grandpa is the wisest, he’s very insightful.”

She proudly raised her chin: “Tomorrow I’ll teach you all how to make bean curd cake.”

Wei Shi smiled: “You little girl, you’re going to be busy!”

Shen Duo asked: “The name is settled, then what price should we sell this bean curd cake for?”

Shen Dong said: “I’ve calculated it carefully. Tofu is two copper coins per pound, it’s not very expensive. The expensive part is the seasoning, especially salt and wine. In total, the cost of one pound of bean curd cake is almost four copper coins. We need to sell it for at least ten copper coins per pound to make a profit.”

Shen Duo’s eyes shone with intelligence: “I think we can raise the price a bit. Bean curd cake is not like scallion pancakes, you can’t finish it in one go. One pound can last for a long time, ten copper coins is too cheap.”

Shen Nian raised her hand and said: “Selling it for twenty copper coins per pound is more appropriate. We’re doing a unique business, as long as the product is clean and delicious, it won’t be difficult to sell. And bean curd cake needs to be packaged. We can’t use my big earthenware pot, we need to use small earthenware pots. The small earthenware pots sold by Third Aunt Liu’s family seem to be two copper coins each. Including the jar, the cost of one pound of bean curd cake is six copper coins.”

Third Aunt Liu was Liu Shi’s maternal aunt.

Everyone present was startled. Wouldn’t that be too expensive? Would anyone buy it?

But thinking about the taste and uniqueness of bean curd cake, the Shen family gritted their teeth and decided on a high price of twenty copper coins per pound.

Shen Nian smiled happily.

As long as the bean curd cake business took off, their family could order a large amount of tofu from Zhang’s family, boosting Zhang’s tofu business. Zhang’s family would then buy soybeans from the village, which would boost the whole village.

Although they couldn’t make all the villagers rich immediately, it was a good start.

And soon, strawberries, chili peppers, and other things would be ready.

Shen Nian didn’t make much bean curd cake, only five pounds in total. She gave some to Wan Baocai, kept some for Master Wang, and each of the four families had some to taste. There wasn’t much left.

There was an extra dish of bean curd cake for lunch, and everyone couldn’t help but eat two extra bowls of rice.

After lunch, Shen Nian took Wan Baocai to the field to look at her strawberries. Her brothers all went to the private school, her grandparents went to Zhang’s family to buy tofu, and Shen Dong and Wei Shi went to the field to sow rice seeds.

Shen Dong carried the rice seeds and followed behind Shen Nian and the others, he couldn’t help but smile and say to Wei Shi, “Our food has been so good lately, we have white rice every day. It’s a good thing we made a lot of money selling pancakes, otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to afford to eat like this.”

They had been selling pancakes for twenty-three days, and their net profit was nearly seventeen taels of silver. After deducting various expenses, they had fifteen taels of silver left.

If they worked hard for another month, they would have enough money to build a house.

Shen Dong was overjoyed, his smile couldn’t be contained, he even started humming a tune.

“Look at you, so happy.” Seeing his happiness, Wei Shi couldn’t help but smile, but she felt a little worried in her heart.

Since that time, the two people who had been asking about her had not appeared again.

She didn’t know if they had given up or had other plans.

They better not come to disrupt her current life, otherwise, she wouldn’t let them off the hook.

The strawberries had borne fruit, but the fruits were very small and still had more than ten days to mature.

Shen Nian said: “The fruit that grows on this green grass is a bit like raspberries, I’ve given it a name called strawberry. Isn’t it nice?”

Seeing the tiny fruit, Wan Baocai was very doubtful: “Can you really eat this?”

Shen Nian didn’t give him a guarantee: “I don’t know. When the fruit grows bigger, I’ll try it first. If there’s no problem, I’ll let you taste it.”

Wan Baocai shook his head: “No, no, no, if you have to try it, I’ll try it. It can’t be you, if there’s something wrong with the fruit and you eat it, I’ll be heartbroken.”

Shen Nian smiled: “Brother Baocai, you’re so kind. You don’t want me to get sick. For being so concerned about me, when the strawberries are planted, I’ll sell them to you at a cheaper price.”

Wan Baocai said incredulously: “You actually want to take my money? Shouldn’t you give them to me?”

Shen Nian crossed her arms: “I worked hard to grow these strawberries. Giving you a little bit is okay, but I can’t give you too much. I’m very poor, I need to save money to sell!”

Wan Baocai pouted: “Fine, as long as the strawberries don’t upset my stomach, I’ll buy them.”

The two elders arrived at Zhang’s family and ran into Zhou Liushi, the village chief’s wife, at the door.

She had come to buy two pounds of tofu and was about to go home.

“Oh! Nian Nian’s grandfather, Nian Nian’s grandmother, are you also here to buy tofu?” Zhou Liushi greeted them.

Grandma Shen smiled and chatted with her: “Yes, we’re here to buy some tofu. You’re going home now.”

Zhou Liushi smiled: “Yes, I’ve bought it and I’m going home now. You go in quickly, Second Aunt Zhang still has quite a bit of tofu left today.”

Grandma Shen thought to herself, a lot left? That’s great! We’ll buy it all.

After separating from Zhou Liushi, Grandma Shen frowned when she entered Zhang’s family.

How could there be a lot left? There were only thirty pounds of tofu left!

Zhang’s family made very good tofu, but there were many people selling tofu in town, each with their own regular customers. Zhang’s tofu couldn’t be sold for much money in town, it was better to carry it on a shoulder pole and sell it in their village or in the neighboring Liu family village.

Early in the morning, Second Aunt Zhang and her husband carried tofu to Liu family village. But there were few people buying tofu today, and there was a lot left. Usually, they would only have a dozen or so pounds left to bring back to the village, but today they had thirty pounds left.

Second Aunt Zhang was worried that she wouldn’t be able to sell all the tofu today and she would have to keep it for tomorrow. Just as she was worried, Grandma Shen came in and said generously, “Thirty pounds, I’ll take it all!”

The Zhang family was shocked.

What?

Take it all!

That’s thirty pounds!