Chapter 40 From ridicule to envy and jealousy
Wang Luosheng was also heading towards Qingyun County, but he could not catch up with Shen Lin’s pace and was left far behind.
In the morning, some people who saw Shen Lin selling candied haws wanted to tell everyone that Shen Lin was selling candied haws.
So, that day, people in the fields and on the threshing grounds were talking about Shen Lin selling candied haws.
”Shen Lin has been spending money lavishly these days, treating the Yang family to a meal, hiring an oxcart, and eating fine food. Now he has spent all his money and is actually selling candied haws.”
”Shen Lao Er used to live a prosperous life, but now his son has fallen into poverty and has to sell candied haws.”
The villagers, including scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, looked down on those who ran small businesses, and small businesses like selling candied haws were looked down upon even more.
The villagers were also talking about it. It was not cheap to buy the candied haws from the workshop, and they would not make much money if they sold them. But it was not so easy to sell the candied haws. If they were not careful, they would even lose money.
Everyone said, that’s right, how could so many people be willing to spend three cents to buy candied haws, Shen Lin would most likely have to lose money.
In fact, they didn’t know how much they could earn or lose from selling candied haws. In short, knowing that Shen Lin would lose money would make them feel comfortable.
Everyone lamented Shen Lin’s incompetence.
In one morning, Shen Lin once again fell to the bottom of the village’s contempt chain.
Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen sighed even more, saying that Shen Lin had brought shame to the Shen family and that the Shen family would not have unfilial descendants like Shen Lin in the future.
Shen Lin went to Qingyun County and walked around the street market, selling candied haws for three cents each. The candied haws made using Su Wan’s method tasted no worse than those made with hawthorns, so selling them for three cents was not an exaggeration.
Sure enough, Shen Lin’s business was just like other candied haws sellers. He sold his goods for a whole morning, but only a few people came to buy. In the time, he only sold five strings, and two baskets were still full of candied haws.
In fact, Zhang Ergou followed Shen Lin to the county town in the morning, just to see Shen Lin’s miserable appearance while selling candied haws on the street. Seeing that Shen Lin had only sold a few bunches after selling for a long time, Zhang Ergou felt very relieved and went to stroll somewhere else in Qingyun County. At noon, Zhang Ergou ate a bowl of hot noodles in Qingyun County, and then went back home to the grain field of Qingshi Village.
It was noon, and the villagers of Qingshi Village were eating and chatting in the threshing ground. The fact that Shen Lin, whose news was brought back by Zhang Ergou, couldn’t sell the candied haws was naturally a hot topic.
The nosy villagers started to laugh at Shen Lin. It was already very embarrassing that Shen Lin was selling candied haws.
He couldn’t sell the two big bunches of candied haws even if he tried to sell them. If he couldn’t sell them the next day, he wouldn’t be able to sell them either. He would have to lose at least a hundred coins.
This year’s harvest hasn’t even come in yet, but Shen Lin has already lost all his money. He is truly a spendthrift and incompetent.
Old Man Shen and Old woman Shen were thinking that Shen Lin would definitely bring back some unsold candied haws. When the time came, they would take the leftovers from Shen Lin and the two of them would put them down and eat them slowly. Candied haws were also a very good snack. Although they would not be good if left for too long, they were better than nothing.
When everyone was discussing excitedly, they saw Shen Lin also coming to the grain field.
The talkative villagers teased Shen Lin one after another.
”Shen Lin, have you sold your candied haws?”
”Shen Lin, if you can’t sell your candied haws, just share them with everyone else. Then everyone will remember you well.”
”Shen Lin, you are not planning to make a fortune by making candied haws, right? I think you are a person who is down-to-earth. You should just focus on farming.”
The sound of villagers pointing and talking came over, and Shen Lin knew that this was the news brought back by Zhang Ergou. Shen Lin had already discovered Zhang Ergou following him in the morning, and he also knew that Zhang Ergou observed for a while and then went somewhere else after seeing that he could not sell anything. Zhang Ergou was also in the threshing ground, in the middle of the crowd. There was no doubt that Zhang Ergou told the villagers about the situation at that time.
There were a few families who did not participate in the topic. They just ate their meals obediently without saying much. Naturally, the Yang brothers did not participate either.
Yang Wu also came over and asked Shen Lin with concern, saying that it was normal that the candied haws business was not doing well, and he could take Shen Lin to do other money-making jobs in the future.
However, Shen Lin assured Yang Wu not to worry and he would tell him in detail when he had time.
Shen Lin called over the children from those families who had picked wild fruits for Su Wan yesterday and helped them to rub all of Shen Lin’s corn in one afternoon. Originally, Shen Lin would have to spend three or four days rubbing all of the corn by himself, but these seven or eight children rubbed it quickly and finished it in one afternoon.
The children were naturally happy, so Shen Lin gave them two copper coins first. When he came back in the evening, if they had finished the work, he would give them three copper coins. If they had not finished, they could only get two.
These children and their parents are very happy. Who wouldn’t want to have a job that makes money like this?
When Yang Wu saw that Shen Lin had enough money to hire children to rub corn, he knew that the truth was not as Zhang Ergou said. Shen Lin must have made money, and he must want to earn more money, so he was in a hurry to hire these children to finish the work.
If there is no money to be made, who would be willing to hire someone?
Shen Lin made money by selling candied haws.
Shen Lin sold candied haws for three cents per piece in morning, but he was just laying a price foundation. He shouted for a while and everyone heard it, but no one took it to heart. After all, candied haws only cost three cents, nothing special.
After Zhang Ergou left, Shen Lin started shouting that candied haws were two cents each and three cents for two. Compared with the previous price of three cents each for candied haws, these two cents each were already much cheaper, and three cents for two were even cheaper. People who usually didn’t want to buy their children a candied haws at three cents each now paid three cents to buy two for their children.
Everyone swarmed over, and soon the 150 candied haws that Shen Lin brought were sold out.
Shen Lin came back following Zhang Ergou, but Zhang Ergou did not notice Shen Lin.
After Shen Lin came back, he went straight home and gave the money from selling candied haws to Su Wan.
Of the 150 candied haws, eight were sold at three cents each, totaling 24 cents. The remaining 142 were sold at three cents each for two, totaling 213 cents. All together, the total was 237 cents.
The cost of each candied haws is the bamboo stick and syrup. The wild fruits are free, but it cost more than a hundred coins to hire the children and the ox cart. This hundred coins is the total cost of the forty baskets of wild fruits.
Shen Lin used only half a basket to make the 150 candied haws today. On average, the cost of each candied haws was half a cent, and the cost of 150 pieces was 75 cents in total, which means he made 162 cents.
Shen Lin gave all the 237 coins he earned to Su Wan, but Su Wan counted out 130 coins and gave them to Shen Lin. This method of selling candied haws was thought up by Shen Lin. Shen Lin analyzed how to sell them faster and make people want to buy more candied haws. The method Shen Lin came up with turned out to be useful, so they were sold out in one morning.
Su Wan told Shen Lin that the work of making and selling candied haws was too hard and she couldn’t do it alone, so she decided to let Shen Lin do it all from now on. Shen Lin would also buy all the bamboo sticks and sugar. She would remove the astringency of the fruit and Shen Lin would pay for the cost and work to sell the candied haws. In this way, they would each get half of the profit, and she would be taking advantage of Shen Lin.
Shen Lin accepted the 130 coins given by Su Wan, but he thought that he would only accept it this time. In the future, he planned to give all the money from the sales to Su Wan.
He would use the money he earned to hire the children to finish rubbing the corn. While everyone was curious about the three-cent-per-two candied haws, he would make more of them early and sell them, otherwise they would not sell as well as now in three or four days.
Shen Lin took the money back to the grain field to hire people, and heard everyone talking about how he couldn’t sell his products. Shen Lin didn’t take it to heart. There was no need to explain. There was no benefit in explaining, and it would only arouse jealousy. It was better to mind some trouble than to worry about it.
When the villagers saw that Shen Lin actually hired the children to work again, they lamented that Shen Lin was becoming more and more spendthrift and lazy, and it was as if he didn’t want to work anymore.
Shen Lin only spoke briefly to Yang Wu and turned a deaf ear to what others said. In the afternoon, Shen Lin did not go out, but made two more straw baskets for making candied haws. He spent the whole afternoon processing wild fruits, soaking and boiling them, and making syrup. When the sun set, he went to the grain field and saw that the children had already rubbed the corn. Shen Lin put the corn into a bag and carried it back, and then continued to make candied haws.
In the meantime, Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen came over. Shen Lin kept the dog barking, saying that the dog was going crazy and he couldn’t control it. Now the grandparents couldn’t be allowed in, lest they be bitten by the dog. As Shen Lin spoke, he cried out in pain, pretending that he was bitten by the dog.
Shen Lin didn’t want Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen to know that he was making candied haws, so he tried to keep them out.
As expected, Old Woman Shen and Old Man Shen left in embarrassment for fear of being bitten by the dog. Before leaving, they asked Shen Lin to remember to give them the remaining candied haws.
They worked until midnight and made another 300 candied haws.
Early the next morning, Shen Lin went out again carrying 300 candied haws. A villager passing by saw him and thought that Shen Lin had not sold all the candied haws from yesterday and bought two large bundles from the sell again.
They were laughing at Shen Lin again in the grain field with others. It seemed that Shen Lin was planning to tear down his brick house as well.
Shen Lin spent the whole morning in Qingyun County and sold all 300 candied haws.
Three cents for two sticks, these candied haws are really cheap. Many people buy more than ten or twenty sticks at a time, so that they can take some back for the whole family to taste. Normally, they would not be willing to buy such snacks, but now that they are so cheap, they naturally cannot miss the opportunity.
However, even if you buy a lot, it’s still three cents for two. Others who originally planned to buy individually thought that three cents for two was already the lowest price, so they bought a few more on top of the original price.
