Top Scholar

Chapter 43 Sweet Water Beauty
After resting for a while, the four of them got up and had a good meal—a bowl of bean soup noodles for each of them.

Chewy alkaline noodles, a topping made of pork belly and sweet sauce, a broth made from pork bones, and a spoonful of bean paste—it's so good, even an emperor wouldn't trade it for it.

The four of them squatted under the eaves, slurping their noodles. Su Youcai sighed as he ate, "If I could eat this every meal, I'd be willing to give up ten years of my life."

"Hmph, dream on. This is only good for getting reimbursed." The uncle took a sip of soup with a satisfied smile and said, "It costs five coins a bowl, I wouldn't dare buy it myself."

"So, our sweet soup really isn't cheap," the old man exclaimed. "Five coins can buy such a big bowl of bean soup noodles with meat and sauce. No wonder nobody buys kumquat honey syrup."

"How about we order all sweet treats tomorrow?" the uncle suggested.

"There's no need," Su Lu said with a shake of his head and a smile. "Sales of the kumquat syrup should increase tomorrow. Rich people will definitely come and try it. How can buying a sweet drink from poor people make him seem rich?"

"When you buy the five-copper-a-tube kind too often, if you start buying the three-copper kind, then you're just admitting you're broke. It's the New Year, who can afford to lose money? Anyone with a bit of money will grit their teeth and upgrade to the next level."

"Where did you get so many crooked tricks from, kid?" the uncle exclaimed in amazement.

“This is not a crooked path, but the way of the sages.” Su Lu then smiled and said, “Confucius said, ‘When you see someone virtuous, think of emulating him; when you see someone not virtuous, examine yourself.’”

"Is that what Confucius meant?" The uncle looked at Su Youcai. Once it deviated from the scope of 'three hundred thousand', he was completely lost.

"Don't listen to his nonsense." Su Youcai laughed and said, "The sage said 'When you see someone virtuous, think of emulating them,' not 'When you see someone rich, think of emulating them.'"

“Father’s words are correct,” Su Lu said with a smile.

“But I think ‘think of emulating those who have money’ is the right thing to do. I’ve only ever seen people comparing what they eat and wear, but I’ve never seen anyone competing to be a good person,” my uncle said, drawing on his forty years of life experience.

"Alas, this just goes to show how morals have declined and how people's hearts have lost their traditional values," Su Youcai sighed.

"Stop lamenting, let's get to work." The uncle sighed as well; there were still thousands of bamboo tubes to be cleaned.

~~
All the bamboo tubes had to be boiled in hot water, then washed and dried. As a result, the four of them worked until the early hours of the morning before they could finish.

It's fortunate that we stayed in town; if we had gone back to Erlangtan, we wouldn't have had time to sleep at all.

But Commander Su Lu insisted that it was necessary. Bamboo tubes that had held sweet water were very prone to bacterial growth. If a customer got sick from drinking it, not only would their money-making plan be completely ruined, but the reputation of "Sweet Water Shop" would also be destroyed.

Su Lu had only slept for two hours when the proprietress arrived with four workers to reinforce him. She also brought the remaining tangerines, broken sorghum, the large fermentation vat, and the yeast.

They moved the production site directly to the inn's courtyard, infuriating the owner who demanded more money...

With the addition of four skilled and strong laborers, production output was no longer a bottleneck.

Business was indeed booming on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. After a night of buzz, many people came specifically to try it.

This time, it wasn't just children; the buying spree also included many young men and women, and even people from the Lolo and Miao ethnic groups were mixed in...

And just as Su Lu had predicted, the sales of kumquat honey dew began to increase significantly that day, indicating that wealthy people were also attracted to it.

This is a good thing, because seeing wealthy people buying it will make the public more likely to believe that it is a good product.

That evening, after tallying the accounts, a total of 1,475 tubes of sweet honey and 225 tubes of kumquat honey syrup were sold, bringing in a total of 5,550 coins! After deducting wages, food expenses, room and board fees, stall fees, and other expenses, 4,800 coins were left.

The landlady didn't go home that night either; she stayed at the inn with everyone.

As she strung the coins together with the money string, she couldn't help but shed tears.

The proprietress thought she would never be able to pay off her huge debt in this lifetime. Who would have thought that Su Erge and his son would work their magic and turn her almost worthless inventory, which was just waiting to rot, into this table full of copper coins.

"Sister-in-law, why are you crying?" Su Youcai, who was also helping her string coins, asked with concern when he saw this.

"It's alright, I'm happy. I finally see hope of paying off my debts." The proprietress wiped away her tears with her sleeve, expressing her deep gratitude: "It's all thanks to my second brother and his son."

"Haha, it's good that you don't hold a grudge against me for pressing for repayment." Su Youcai laughed loudly, his straight nose and well-defined features appearing even more prominent in the flickering candlelight.

"How could that be? It's only right to pay back debts." The proprietress was embarrassed to look at his face and lowered her head, saying, "I will pay back not only my second brother's money, but everyone's money."

"The proprietress is truly an honest person. Fortunately, business is booming right now, and paying off the debts is just around the corner," Su Youcai said confidently.

"Yes, I think so too." The proprietress smiled brightly and glanced at him again.

~~
Unfortunately, things rarely go as planned. The very next day, as soon as Sweet Water Kee's stall opened, someone came to cause trouble...

A middle-aged man wearing a long robe and a square scarf on his head pushed through the crowd with a dark expression and walked to the stall.

"You, you..." The customers were about to say, "Why are you cutting in line?" But when they saw his attire, they were all helpless, only muttering, "Even a scholar can't cut in line."

It's clear that the scholar's influence was somewhat lacking; if it were a licentiate, no one would dare to utter a word.

But the scholar paid no heed to the gossip; his eyes blazed with fury as he glared at the stall owner. "Which one would you like, sir?" the stall owner greeted him with a habitual smile, but upon recognizing him, her face paled as she replied, "Father."

It was Cheng Xiucai who arrived. He had heard yesterday that his daughter was selling sweet soup at the temple fair and had gotten involved with the Su family. He was so angry that he couldn't sleep all night and rushed to town before dawn, only to find out for sure that it was true!
Moreover, his daughter became the focus of the temple fair!
Cheng Xiucai was so embarrassed he had nowhere to hide. After thinking for a while, he decided to take matters into his own hands. With a dark face, he said, "You've made me lose all face!"

"..." Madam He quickly calmed down from her panic and said in a low voice, "Father, let's talk over there, so as not to affect the business."

"What business are you talking about?!" Cheng Xiucai said angrily, but still followed his daughter behind the bamboo pole.

Having escaped the gazes of the crowd, the proprietress became even more composed and asked first, "Father, what brings you here?"

"Isn't this all your doing? It's all been reported back to Erlangtan!" Cheng Xiucai said angrily. "Don't say anything more, come home with me!"

"..." The proprietress was silent for a moment, then smiled sadly and said, "If my father had said this to me before the New Year, I would have taken Tiantian home with you without saying a word."

"But I waited until after New Year's Eve and still didn't hear those words..." she sighed softly. "At that time, I thought I no longer had a family to rely on."

“Sigh…” Cheng Xiucai’s face turned red from being teased, and he sighed, “Daughter, didn’t I ask your brother to pass on a message to you? Those creditors have been hanging around the He family, not only urging you to pay back the money, but also waiting for me to show up so they can transfer the He family’s debts to our family.”

“Yes.” Madam He nodded. “So I don’t resent Father for neglecting me. It’s just that on New Year’s Eve, all the debt collectors left. They asked me to go back home for the New Year, but I didn’t refuse to leave.”

“But this is against etiquette—you know that married daughters cannot spend New Year’s Eve at their parents’ home,” Cheng Xiucai said with a bitter face.

"Yes, if I see the Thirty Lanterns, I'll squander all my family's wealth." The young widow nodded, forcing a smile. "Since that's the case, whatever I do is none of my family's business. Father shouldn't interfere, right?"

She was originally quite gentle, but after being chased by a group of creditors for a month or two, even her softest nature hardened.

He Chengshi's words left Cheng Xiucai speechless. After a long while, he said in a muffled voice, "Now I'm going to tell you—go back to your parents' home, my daughter."

“But I don’t really want to hear it now.” Madam He brushed a strand of hair from her temple and said, “Right now I just want to pay off my debts as soon as possible and be free of debts.”

“Sigh…” Cheng Xiucai suddenly realized that his daughter had become so unfamiliar.

But as Madam Cheng said, a married daughter is like water spilled from a cup; if she doesn't listen to him, there's nothing he can do.

At least we can't use force...

But Cheng Xiucai didn't leave. For some reason, he spent the whole day lingering around the stall, keeping a close eye on his daughter.

The proprietress wasn't mentally strong enough to greet customers with a smile under her father's watchful eye. So she handed over the front desk work to her mother and took on the backstage task—peeling oranges.

I don't know if it was affected by this, but when I checked the inventory in the evening, the sales actually dropped a bit, with only nine hundred tubes of sweet honey sold.

The good news is that the sales of kumquat honey dew reached 310.

"After deducting all expenses, today's income is 3,700 coins," Su Lu reported skillfully.

"It's much less than yesterday." Everyone was a little unhappy when they heard that. Human greed is truly insatiable...

"Did Master Cheng cause such a big impact?" the uncle asked, glancing at Madam He. "Or is it that only the proprietress could achieve yesterday's sales figures?"

“It’s not that bad…” Madam He’s pretty face flushed red. Her charming beauty seemed to confirm her uncle’s guess.

“That’s normal.” Su Lu pondered for a moment and said, “Today is the third day. Practice makes perfect. After three days, people will probably get used to it. Those who wanted to try something new have already tried it, so sales will naturally decline.”

"And didn't you all notice? There are noticeably fewer people at the temple fair today." Su Youcai also analyzed, "In the three days before the Lunar New Year, everyone is usually busy visiting relatives. On the fourth day, they have time to visit the temple fair. In three days, they've seen most of what they wanted to see, and then it's time to visit another group of distant relatives."

"That's exactly how it is." The uncle clapped his hands and said, "So, business will be even worse tomorrow."

"Why don't we go back and rest tomorrow, and come back on the fifteenth?" Su Youcai suggested.

“That won’t do!” Su Lu shook his head and said, “There are no technical barriers in the sweet drink industry. Even the style of bamboo tube straws will be imitated in a few days.”

“Perhaps someone is already making a copy behind the scenes,” Su Youcai said, deeply agreeing.

"So if we stop now, it's like handing the market over to others, and it will be very difficult to recover the lost ground!" Su Lu said decisively.

"What should we do then?" The crowd had unconsciously begun to follow his lead.

“I have two solutions.” Su Lu was already confident and said calmly, “First, if there is no scarcity, then create scarcity—starting tomorrow, there will be a limited supply of 500 servings of Sweet Honey and 300 servings of Kumquat Honey Dew every day, while supplies last.”

"At the same time, we will launch low-priced products to eliminate the opportunity for potential competitors to enter the market!" Su Lu continued, "My second brother and I tried it last night, and hawthorn boiled in water with sweet wine is quite delicious."

Hawthorn can be stored for a long time and is currently the only fruit with an ample supply on the market... if it can be considered a fruit.

(End of this chapter)