Chapter 41 Qingzhou Prefecture
Many villagers in Qingshi Village initially laughed at Shen Lin for being worthless in selling candied haws. When they heard Zhang Ergou say that Shen Lin couldn’t sell any, they laughed at him even more. Later, when they learned that Shen Lin could sell a lot of candied haws every day, they began to envy Shen Lin’s wealth.
The people in the village tried to sell candied haws and to make wild fruits, but they all failed. Then they began to ask Shen Lin about the method of making candied haws in various ways. After they all failed, they started to criticize Shen Lin.
What? You have a way to make money but you don’t even want to share it with everyone? Selling candied haws is a lowly job after all and you can’t make much money.
There are also villagers who advise Shen Lin every day not to do these irrelevant jobs, and that the right thing to do is to farm well.
Shen Lin used to believe that studying and farming were the only right ways to live, but these days Shen Lin went out to sell candied haws, selling three or four hundred a day and earning three or four hundred cents, which has completely changed his mind.
After working hard for a year, in the end, one could only earn two thousand cents, or two taels of silver, at most. However, Shen Lin had only been selling the candied haws for seven or eight days, and after deducting the cost, he had already made two taels of silver.
But those villagers still regarded themselves as experienced people and said that Shen Lin’s selling candied haws was just not doing his job properly. Shen Lin and Su Wan knew that selling candied haws made from wild fruits was profitable, so they naturally ignored those people’s “well-intentioned” suggestions.
Shen Lin tried different methods and places to sell these candied haws. Not only in Qingyun County, Shen Lin also went to several nearby counties to sell these candied haws, so that these candied haws were sold out in the shortest time possible with small profits and quick turnover.
In just twenty days, Shen Lin made all the forty baskets of wild fruits picked by Su Wan into candied haws and sold them all. After calculating, these candied haws, minus the Production cost, they made a total of twelve thousand cents, or twelve taels of silver.
After selling the candied haws, Shen Lin finally had some time, and he spent the middle of the night selling all the corn he had harvested in the fall, earning a total of two taels of silver. In previous years, Shen Lin’s corn could not sell for more than two taels, but this year he went to other counties to sell corn, and knew that the price of corn in nearby Zhou County was the highest. Shen Lin had told Yang Wu the news long ago, and the corn of several Yang brothers was also sold in Zhou County, and they also got a good price, which was higher than in previous years. The brothers of the Yang family were very grateful to Shen Lin, and told him to contact them if he needed help in the future.
Old Man Shen was watching every day to see if Shen Lin went out to sell corn, but he never saw him, because Shen Lin hired a car in the middle of the night to take the corn to Zhou County to sell.
Su Wan naturally knew that Shen Lin had sold the corn, so she teased Shen Lin: “Brother Shen, you sold the corn too, why don’t you go and honor Grandpa Shen and Grandma Shen?”
Shen Lin knew that Su Wan was joking with him, but he still answered seriously: “I have inquired about it. After my uncle’s family sold the corn, not only did they not give money to my grandparents, but they also took a few chickens from my grandparents to celebrate the harvest. I said that I would show my filial piety in the same way as my uncle’s family did.”
Su Wan nodded. Shen Lin had learned his lesson and would not be taken advantage of anymore.
Su Wan took out the twelve taels of silver that Shen Lin earned from making and selling candied haws, and insisted on giving eight taels to Shen Lin. After all, it was Shen Lin who put in the effort and gave the ideas, and Su Wan didn’t have to worry about anything from beginning to end. He just sat there and made the money.
But Shen Lin refused to accept it, saying that he had sold his corn and did not need Su Wan’s money. Su Wan insisted on giving it, saying that if Shen Lin did not want it, she would be embarrassed to ask Shen Lin for help in the future. Only then did Shen Lin reluctantly accept the eight taels.
Shen Lin said that in the past he would have to work for half a year to earn a little over one or two taels of silver, but now he can earn eight taels of silver in just twenty days, which is already a huge sum of money.
However, Shen Lin had another worry. Who knows, by next year, someone might figure out a way to remove the astringency of wild fruits. By then, it would not be so easy to make money from candied haws.
Su Wan said that she knew from the beginning that selling wild fruit candied haws was a quick way to make money, but it would not last long. Not to mention that between now and next year when the wild fruit is ripe, someone would work out a way to remove the astringency of the wild fruit. By next year, there would be no such free wild fruit. Everyone would know that wild fruit could be used to make candied haws, so everyone would rush to grab the wild fruit.
Everyone rushed to grab the wild fruits, but no one could grab much. Those who grabbed the wild fruits didn’t know how to use them, so they had to sell them. In this way, wild fruits were no longer available for free.
This means that no one can hoard too many wild fruits, and the wild fruit candied haws are originally based on the strategy of small profits but quick turnover. In this way, there is no way to make small profits or to sell in large quantities, so it is just an ordinary business, and like other small vendors, it does not make much money.
Shen Lin nodded and said, “It seems that we need to find a new way to make money. This year’s work has been completed. I will take the money I earned from collecting corn and the two taels earned from selling candied haws for me. I will have four taels of silver. I want to use this four taels of silver to take my mother to Qingzhou Prefecture to find a famous doctor to see her.”
Su Wan also needed to go to Qingzhou Prefecture. While Shen Lin was out selling candied haws these days, Su Wan studied the recipes of pearl milk tea, cakes, etc. in later generations. Su Wan had always been able to make these two foods, but Su Wan wanted to go to Qingzhou Prefecture and find a big restaurant to sell the recipe and make some quick money.
The reason why Su Wan did not sell milk tea in Qingyun County was that according to Su Wan’s actual situation, she could only set up a small stall to sell milk tea. If she sold it at a small stall, she was destined not to be able to sell it at a high price. If she wanted to take the path of small profits but quick turnover, it would not work. The method of making milk tea is simple after all, and it won’t take long for someone to figure it out. By then, with competitors, she would not be able to achieve quick turnover.
If you go to Qingzhou Prefecture and ask the big restaurants, there is a high probability that they will compete with each other in order to prevent the other from seizing the initiative and also to compete for the title of being the first to launch the product.
The same is true for cakes.
If this business of selling a recipe is done well, it will be much easier and more profitable than Su Wan’s hawking on the streets.
Therefore, Shen Lin and Su Wan decided to hire a carriage tonight and take Mrs Shen and Shen Yaya to Qingzhou Prefecture overnight.
A few days ago, Shen Lin bought another dog from the neighboring village. The two dogs were raised in the yard. Su Wan prepared more than ten days of dog food for the two dogs. Four large wooden basins were placed in the middle of the yard for the dogs to drink water. The water and food were enough for the two dogs for half a month.
Shen Lin went to Yang Wu’s house and left the key with Yang Wu. If Shen Lin hadn’t come back after half a month, Yang Wu would open the door and go in to help Shen Lin feed the dog.
The Wang family has not been able to see Su Wan these days. Although she is right in front of them, they feel that Su Wan is far away.
Wang Luosheng didn’t know what was wrong with him these days. He kept thinking about Su Wan in his mind. In fact, because he was always thinking about Su Wan, he didn’t see Yang Yunyan as frequently as before, and he wasn’t as enthusiastic as before.
On this day, Wang finally couldn’t hold on any longer. The maid had been gone for several days and the Wang family had become a mess again. Mrs Wang made up her mind and asked Wang Luosheng to say a few good words to Su Wan and tell her that she was still be the future daughter-in-law of the Wang family.
A future daughter-in-law is a future daughter-in-law, but it is hard to say whether she is a wife or a concubine.
Wang Luosheng took a day off specifically to meet Su Wan.
Wang Luosheng waited in his backyard for a whole morning, waiting for Su Wan to appear in the backyard of the Shen family. In that whole morning, not only did he not see Su Wan, he didn’t even see Shen Yaya.
So Wang Luosheng planned to knock on Shen Lin’s door. When he arrived at the gate, he saw that the door was wrapped with several large iron chains and was locked tightly.
Wang Luosheng knocked on the door, but there was no sound from inside. Wang Luosheng guessed that Su Wan had gone out for something. So it seemed that Su Wan had gone out through the front door while he was waiting in the backyard.
I should have waited at the front door.
Wang Luosheng was very annoyed and slammed the door of the Shen family again. Immediately, the sound of a fierce dog barking came from inside the door.
Wang Luosheng had no choice but to wait near his own door. Since Su Wan had gone out, she would definitely come back. If she came back, she would definitely come in through the front door. Waiting near the door would definitely be a good idea.
However, Wang Luosheng waited until the sun set and the moon came out, but he did not see Su Wan come back, nor did he see Shen Lin and Shen Yaya. The door of Shen Lin’s house was locked tightly. There was no smoke coming out of the chimney of the Shen family, nor a trace of light, which at least showed that Shen Lin, Shen Yaya and Su Wan were not there.
Wang Luosheng was puzzled and went in to have a meal. When he went in to eat, Wang Luosheng asked Mrs Wang to come out and watch over him so that he would not miss Su Wan.
When Wang Luosheng was eating, Mrs Wang was hungry and didn’t see Su Wan come back. Then Wang Luosheng came out again and waited until late at night. Wang Luosheng realized that something was wrong. Wang Luosheng wanted to go forward and knock on the door again, but Shen Lin’s family dog was so powerful that Wang Luosheng didn’t dare to knock on the door again just by the sound.
It was very cold at night. Wang Luosheng sneezed and had to go back.
Shen Lin, Su Wan took Mrs Shen and Shen Yaya and set off in a rented carriage in the middle of the night. They only stopped for a while to eat, and then drove non-stop towards Qingzhou Prefecture.
Shen Yaya originally felt that Qingzhou Prefecture was very far away, but after arriving there, she found that it was not far at all, just a matter of one day’s work.
Moreover, the official road from Qingyun County to Qingzhou Prefecture is very wide and smooth, much easier to travel than the Qingshi Village Road to Qingyun County. Shen Yaya felt that this trip to Qingzhou Prefecture was too easy.
Hello guys, I have made a schedule. I will be posting updates on Mon, Wed and Thrus each week. Thank You for supporting me. Lots of love <3
If you want to read advance chapters, then please visit my Ko-fi page.https://ko-fi.com/cupcaketsl
