The Family Had Split, Why Should I Care if They Go Broke? - Chapter 31

Manager Tang of the Lotus Restaurant greeted Xu Zhichun with an even warmer smile. He couldn’t help but share with her, “Miss Xu, we renamed that cold-tossed fish skin to ‘Cold Tossed Crispy Tripe.’ It went on the menu yesterday, and every customer who tried it praised it. Turning waste into treasure—it’s truly a masterpiece!”

Xu Zhichun was delighted as well. “Congratulations, Manager Tang! Hearing that, I feel much more at ease about taking those fifty taels of silver!”

Manager Tang laughed heartily.

The Lotus Restaurant was one of the finest establishments in the county. Even a simple plate of stir-fried lettuce with garlic costs ten copper coins. Since no other restaurant offered the dish, the cold tossed fish skin sold for twenty-five coins a plate, while costing nearly nothing to make. The investment would pay itself back in less than half a year.

After hearing Manager Tang’s words, Xu Zhichun couldn’t help but feel tempted herself. She planned to buy a fish to take home that evening: peel off the skin for a cold dish, cut the flesh into pieces for braised fish, and use the head for a tofu soup.

After leaving the Lotus Restaurant, Xu Zhichun said she wanted to wander around for a bit and told Liang Mingliang to go keep Zeng Xiaoyan and the others company.

Liang Mingliang was a little uneasy, but Xu Zhichun laughed. “Don’t worry, I know my way. What’s there to be afraid of in broad daylight? I’ll just walk around a bit and head back.”

Still a little preoccupied with thoughts of his own wife, Liang Mingliang finally nodded. “Alright then, Sister-in-law Zhichun, don’t be out too long.”

“Okay.”

Xu Zhichun’s claim about wandering was just an excuse—the real reason was to bring out potatoes and sweet potatoes from the harbor warehouse.

She had bought thirty mu of land: fifteen were already set aside for planting konjac, but the other fifteen—plus the two her family already owned—were still empty.

Two days ago, while shopping, she had conveniently purchased a dozen large hemp sacks—now they would come in handy.

To avoid any mishaps, Xu Zhichun deliberately chose a quiet alley near the county yamen. If anyone tried anything shady, a single loud cry would surely alert the government officers nearby. No one would be foolish enough to commit robbery here—it would be tantamount to openly challenging the authorities.

With a mere thought, twelve sacks were filled with sweet potatoes and potatoes—three bags of sweet potatoes and nine bags of potatoes, each weighing about 120 to 130 jin.

When she spotted a middle-aged woman walking by, holding her grandson’s hand and carrying a basket, Xu Zhichun ignored any curious glances and smiled brightly. “Good auntie, could you help me call a cart from the carriage yard? I’ll give you five coins now, and when you come back with the ox-cart, I’ll give you another five.”

The woman’s eyes lit up, and she nodded with a wide grin. “Alright, alright, just wait here—I walk really fast!”

Earning ten coins just for running an errand was like a pie falling from the sky.

“Mm, looks like I asked the right person,” Xu Zhichun said.

She immediately handed over five coins. The woman, pulling along her little grandson, jogged off.

The carriage yard must not have been far; in less than half an hour, the woman returned with the ox-cart. True to her word, Xu Zhichun gave her another five coins.

Seeing that Xu Zhichun kept her word, the woman grew even happier. She had thought that even if she hadn’t received the extra five coins, it would still have been a fair deal. Now, she actually felt a little guilty. Instead of leaving right away, she asked curiously, “Miss, those big hemp sacks look heavy. Do you need me to help lift them?”

Xu Zhichun couldn’t have wished for anything better. “Thank you so much, Auntie!”

She then began bargaining with the cart driver.

At first, the driver wanted to take advantage of a young girl like her, opening with an outrageously high price. But Xu Zhichun simply said, “Surely, Master, your carriage yard has fixed rates, doesn’t it?”

That one sentence made the driver drop his tricks. After a bit of haggling, they settled on sixteen coins to deliver her goods back to the village.

The carriage yard, being a proper business, naturally had set rules. A driver might pocket one or two extra coins on the side, but he couldn’t arbitrarily overcharge customers. Otherwise, the yard’s reputation—and his job—wouldn’t last long.

If the driver dared to demand an unfair price, Xu Zhichun could simply ask at the carriage yard and expose him.

For the sake of a few coins, it wasn’t worth losing his livelihood.

With the woman’s help, along with the driver and Xu Zhichun lending a hand, the twelve sacks were quickly and neatly loaded onto the ox-cart.

Xu Zhichun climbed aboard and sat down. “Master, to the East Market.”

“Alright!” the driver replied.

The driver skillfully steered the cart and, gossiping along the way, asked, “Miss Xu, those sacks are awfully heavy. If it’s not grain or beans, what’s inside?”

Xu Zhichun just smiled. “Just some odds and ends.”

Seeing she didn’t want to say, the driver chuckled awkwardly and focused on driving.

When they reached the entrance of the East Market, Xu Zhichun didn’t feel comfortable leaving her goods alone. She spent another two coins to ask a passerby to fetch Liang Mingliang. In an age without cell phones, communication could only rely on shouting—or on human messengers.

When Liang Mingliang saw that she had gone off for a short stroll only to return with an entire cartload of mysterious goods, his eyes went wide in shock. “Sister-in-law Zhichun, what… what on earth did you buy?”

“I’ll explain later,” Xu Zhichun replied with a smile. “For now, please watch over these for me while I go have a word with Xiaoyan and Aunt Zhu’er.”

“Alright,” he agreed.

Liang Mingliang swallowed down his overflowing curiosity.

The konjac tofu and konjac knots had already sold more than half, but it looked like it would still take some time for the rest to sell out.

Since the carriage yard’s ox-cart couldn’t wait around forever, Xu Zhichun gave a brief explanation. Aunt Zhu’er went back with her, while Liang Mingliang and Zeng Xiaoyan stayed behind to continue selling.

Before heading home, Xu Zhichun bought a large grass carp weighing over three jin. That night, she planned to cook it three different ways.

Seeing her buy a fish, Aunt Zhu’er also bought one. She said, “Zhichun, tell me how to cook this fish. I’ll make it for Brother Qi to try when I get home.”

“Of course!” Xu Zhichun smiled. Aunt Zhu’er’s household never lacked oil or salt. As long as the fish was cleaned thoroughly and well-seasoned, the flavor would turn out just fine.

By the time Xu Zhichun and Aunt Zhu’er returned to the village, it was still before noon. Under the big locust tree, only two or three elderly women sat chatting while watching over the children. Before they could even ask anything, the ox-cart had already rumbled past as the two women stopped to greet them.

That was close—finally, some peace and quiet.

After unloading, Xu Zhichun and Aunt Zhu’er carried sack after sack of sweet potatoes and potatoes into the house.

“These are really heavy, Zhichun. What exactly did you buy? They don’t feel like grain to me.”

In her heart, Xu Zhichun thought: Not grain, but better than grain. But at this moment, she couldn’t explain too much. She had to play the part of a clueless beginner who would only learn through practice and exploration before openly showing her knowledge about potatoes and sweet potatoes.

After all, these were new things she herself had never seen before.

“I don’t know what they are either—I’ve never seen them before. It just so happened today that while I was strolling, I came across two merchants from out of town selling these things they called ‘potatoes’ and ‘sweet potatoes.’ They claimed they were edible, but since no one here had ever seen them, nobody wanted to buy. When I heard they could be eaten, I got curious and asked a few more questions. This sweet potato can even be eaten raw—I tried a few bites, and it tasted quite good. So I went ahead and bought them all.”