Traveling through the mountains and farming

Lin Wan had finished shopping on this high-end commercial street. She was going to go to the West Market to find a blacksmith shop to buy kitchen utensils and farm tools, and also to see how her second aunt's ice jelly was selling.

She turned around, walked out of the flower shop, and headed straight for West Market.

At the entrance to the West Market, she saw some stall owners who had arrived late. They first paid a penny to the clerk at the door, then received a small wooden sign and carried their goods in. As a buyer, she naturally did not have to pay the market tax and could pass directly.

Entering the West Market, what comes into view is a bustling street market with noisy and bustling people. All kinds of stalls fill the streets, pedestrians come and go in an endless stream, and the shouts of vendors can be heard one after another.

She didn't plan to go shopping, so she just walked along the street following the flow of people. Her main goal was to find her second aunt and her family. After a while, she saw two people setting up a stall in the center of the street.

My second aunt Wang Yu Niang is in charge of washing dishes and packing ice jelly for the guests who need to take it away. My cousin Li Chongshan is mainly responsible for attracting customers and scooping ice jelly for those who eat on the spot.

When she got closer, she could hear Li Chongshan shouting, "Ice jelly for sale, fresh food." It was the same sentence he kept saying over and over again.

She walked over and greeted the two with a smile, "How are the sales?"

The two were very happy to see her. Li Chongshan asked, "Almost half of them have been sold. How about you?"

"I just have a small bucket and it's done." Lin Wan replied with a smile.

After she finished speaking, she turned sideways, came to the back of the stall, stood there and started shouting:

"Come and have a look, this is the crystal ice powder that is cool and refreshing and can clear away heat and relieve summer heat~"

“It’s delicious and inexpensive, made with real ingredients, suitable for men, women, young and old~”

"A bowl costs only three cents, the price of an egg, and you can enjoy a bowl of new food."

“Free tasting, no charge if it doesn’t taste good, no need to buy if it doesn’t taste good.”

At this time, several people passing by the stall were attracted by Lin Wan's shouting, stopped and asked how to try the food.

She quickly took a small bamboo tube containing food samples from the small table and handed it over. Only then did Wang Yu Niang realize that they had food samples. Why didn't she think of shouting it out like Lin Wan did?

At this time Li Chongshan also reacted. What he had shouted before was not attractive. He needed to grasp the psychology of customers like Lin Wan and shout content that could attract them.

He corrected himself immediately and followed Lin Wan in shouting in different ways.

Soon their stall was surrounded by people buying ice jelly, and many people came over and lined up to try it and buy it directly.

Amidst this booming business and lively atmosphere, Wang Yu Niang was also influenced and joined the shouting.

In less than half an hour, the remaining ice jelly was sold out. Of course, there were also people who came later and did not buy any. They would complain about not buying any and ask the stall owner if he would come to set up the stall tomorrow.

At this time, Lin Wan was standing beside the stall, and couldn't help but sigh in her heart. Sure enough, the consumption base of the county market was much larger. According to this situation, from summer to early autumn, three buckets of ice jelly in a county market should be sold out quickly every day.

After closing his stall, Li Chongshan carefully counted the money he had earned from selling ice jelly, which totaled five hundred and ninety-four cents.

After deducting the 324 wen for the goods from Lin Wan, there were still 270 wen left. He and his second aunt Wang Yu Niang could each get 135 wen. After deducting the 2 wen for the cost of entering the city and the 1 wen city tax, the net profit was 132 wen.

Oh my God! He simply couldn't believe that he could earn so much money in just half a morning. You know, he used to do odd jobs during the slack season and could only earn forty cents a day, and they were all hard labor such as carrying things or pulling carts.

He held the pile of copper coins and asked Lin Wan and his second aunt Wang Yu Niang if they wanted to divide the money now.

Lin Wan thought that the combined weight of those copper coins must be several kilograms, so she suggested that she keep them with him temporarily. Wang Yu Niang had never touched so much money before, so she agreed with a smile.

"So should we go to East Market to find Brother Chonghai and the others now?" After happily collecting the money, Li Chongshan asked the two with a smile.

"I want to go to the blacksmith shop to buy some things first." Lin Wan answered, pointing in the direction of the blacksmith shop.

Li Chongshan smiled and said, "There is also a blacksmith shop in the East Market. We can go there first to meet up with Brother Chonghai and the others, and then go to the blacksmith shop to buy things. When the time comes, we can push the things home directly. This will save time and effort."

He had been to the East and West Markets before, so he knew there were blacksmith shops on both sides.

Hearing that there was also a blacksmith shop in the East Market, Lin Wan strongly agreed with Li Chongshan's arrangement, so the three of them pushed the cart and walked towards the East Market, talking and laughing.

The way to enter the East Market is the same as that of the West Market. Their ice jelly has already been sold, so there is naturally no need to pay any money to enter as a buyer.

The three of them walked through the bustling crowd and soon found Li Chonghai and Luo Fang who were selling ice jelly.

As you get closer, you can hear Luo Fang's hearty voice shouting, "Selling crystal ice jelly, cool and refreshing ice jelly."

Occasionally, passers-by would come up to ask questions, some would buy to eat directly, and some would just take a look and leave.

Lin Wan spotted the problem at first sight. Although the promotion was effective, it failed to retain all customers because they did not fully utilize the purpose of the food tasting.

As they approached, Luo Fang noticed them, glanced at the barrels on their cart, and found that they were all empty. She asked in surprise, "Have you sold all of them?"

"Well, they're sold out. How much do you have left?" Li Chongshan responded with a smile.

"We're almost there too. We still have one bucket left."

Because of Lin Wan's demonstration in the West Market, Li Chongshan and Wang Yu Niang walked to the left and right sides of the stall and began to help shout:

“Free tasting, freshly made crystal ice jelly, no charge if it doesn’t taste good.”

"Refreshing and sweet ice jelly, free trial."

……

This operation indeed attracted many people to come and try the ice jelly. As the ice jelly is fresh, delicious and inexpensive, no one who tried it left empty-handed.

In less than half an hour, the last barrel was sold out.

Then, everyone helped to close the stall, while Li Chonghai and Luo Fang hid on one side to count the money.

Today everyone experienced the joy of counting money. Their group of three barrels sold a total of 588 coins. After deducting the purchase money given to Lin Wan, the city entry fee and the city tax, each person could get 129 coins.

Luo Fang was so happy that she covered her mouth with her hands while holding the money. She also went close to her second aunt Wang Yu Niang and quietly asked how much money their group had earned. When she heard that there was only a difference of a few cents, she thought it was normal and it might be due to the difference in the number of takeouts sold.

Lin Wan, who was standing by, watched Luo Fang holding her second aunt's hand and stamping her feet happily. Her second aunt also had a rare smile on her face. She was also infected by the happy mood as her two cousins ​​were happily loading the truck.

Afterwards, Luo Fang and her second aunt Wang Yu Niang stayed there to sell the linen they brought, while the two cousins ​​offered to accompany Lin Wan to the blacksmith shop to help carry the things she had purchased.

When Lin Wan arrived at the blacksmith shop, she did a lot of shopping. She bought a kitchen knife, a machete, a hoe, a shovel, two sickles, a saw, and scissors. She bought everything that was necessary for the household and spent a total of four hundred and forty-five coins.

When the two cousins ​​saw that she bought so many things, even though it was not their money, they felt sad watching her. However, when they thought about how she only got a thatched hut after the family was divided, they could understand it.

These commonly used kitchen utensils and farm tools were left to them by their elders, but she had none of them and had to buy them herself.

Finally, Lin Wan used the money for the goods that was kept with her two cousins ​​to make the payment. After the payment, there was still two hundred and three cents left, which continued to be kept by her cousin Li Chonghai.

The three of them loaded the things they bought from the blacksmith shop onto a cart and pushed the cart back to the previous stall to meet up with Luo Fang and the others.

On the way back, she also bought a small stone mortar, a chopping board and twenty pounds of quicklime, spending another seventy-six coins.

When they returned to the stall, Luo Fang and her friends only had one piece of linen left to sell. Lin Wan happened to want to sew new clothes for Li Chongle and his sister, so she bought all the remaining cloth from Luo Fang.

Every time she saw them wearing clothes with patches on top of patches, she would think about buying them new ones. Now that she had a little money, she bought a piece of cloth first, and used half of it to make a set of clothes for each of the two siblings, and kept the remaining half for backup.

Luo Fang smiled and offered her a preferential price of one hundred wen per piece, which was the price that cloth merchants paid for one hundred wen per piece. They could have sold it for twenty more wen per piece at the county market, but there were too many people setting up stalls to sell linen, so it was not selling well.

Lin Wan could not refuse Luo Fang's enthusiasm, and finally paid her according to her price. She was only left with fifty-five cents from the money for the six buckets of ice jelly. She did not ask her cousin to keep it for her anymore, but put it together with the five silver ingots for safekeeping.

All the things were sold out and everything they wanted to buy was bought. The five of them pushed the cart and happily and contentedly set out on the journey back to the village.