After finishing her noodles, Wan Chu’er paid 1.5 yuan, which, compared to the prices in fifteen years, was unbelievably cheap.
She didn’t go ho either, but instead went straight to the market where Bai Zhixi had her stall. If she didn’t, Bai Zhixi would surely skip lunch and just make do with a few sips of water. Now that she was back, she would never allow Bai Zhixi to go hungry again.
As expected, when she arrived at the market, Bai Zhixi was bent over nding a pair of worn-out shoes and had not eaten at all.
Wan Chu’er forcefully pushed the food she bought on the way into Bai Zhixi’s hands and watched her eat it bite by bite before letting it go.
As Bai Zhixi ate, the smile on her face couldn’t fade away. Her daughter’s care ward her heart.
Seeing that Bai Zhixi had finished her al, Wan Chu’er didn’t delay and went straight ho.
The mont she arrived, she dived into the kitchen and busied herself.
There was still a lot of pickled cucumbers at ho. She found three jars of different sizes, cleaned them thoroughly, dried them, and then packed the pickled cucumbers in them before screwing the lids on.
After a mont’s thought, she ran to her room and cut several strips of paper. On them, she wrote, "Bai’s Pickles."
That’s right, she was planning to capitalize on the pickles Bai Zhixi made.
Wutong County is a northern city, where in winterti, apart from cabbages and potatoes, there are hardly any fresh vegetables. Greenhouse vegetables are too expensive, and ordinary folk simply can’t afford to buy them, making pickled vegetables a vital dish on Wutong people’s dining tables. Thus, the demand for pickled and salted vegetables in Wutong County is vast.
Bai Zhixi made excellent pickles, and Wan Chu’er planned to introduce them to so of the restaurants in Wutong County. If one or two restaurants were willing to cooperate, it would be a security for Bai Zhixi and her own livelihood.
After preparing the pickled cucumbers, she went back to her room to change into everyday clothes and set off.
Wan Chu’er first went to the noodle house where she had lunch: Wu Family Noodle House.
It was past the busy lunchti, and there was a man and a woman sitting inside chatting. The man wore an apron, clearly soone from the restaurant.
Wan Chu’er squeezed out a radiant smile. She couldn’t rember where she heard it, but soone said: those who smile are never far from good luck.
Since she was the one asking for a favor, she couldn’t afford to look unhappy.
"Excuse , is Boss Wu here?" she inquired tentatively.
Hearing Wan Chu’er’s voice, the chatting man and woman looked up. They saw a neat and tidy young girl standing at the door with a festive smile, which naturally endeared her to them, holding a small bag in her hand.
The woman laughed and said, "Boss Wu is my man, and I’m the boss’s wife. What can I do for you, young lady?"
Seeing the other party smile made Wan Chu’er relax, thinking that smiles indeed do wonders. It seed that this man and woman were the owners of the restaurant—a husband and wife team.
She laughed and said, "Hello, Boss, Boss’s wife. I had a bowl of noodles here at noon today and found them very delicious."
See, she too could dish out flattery.
Sure enough, Boss Wu smiled, "Does the young lady want another bowl of noodles? Sorry, our noodles are all sold out. Co back in the afternoon if you still want so."
Chuchu continued to smile radiantly, feeling like she was turning into an idiot from all the smiling.
"I’m not here for the noodles. When I had noodles here at noon, I tasted your pickles, and to be frank, their flavor really isn’t much to speak of, definitely not worthy of pairing with your noodles."
The lady boss replied sowhat bashfully, "Our pickles indeed don’t taste that great. Next ti you eat noodles, you can skip the pickles."
Chuchu maintained her smile, "As a Wutong local, I can go a day without noodles, but skip pickles? That’s a life-threatening situation!"
"Ha ha, the young lady sure has a way with words," Boss Wu said.
The lady boss, however, sensed that sothing was off. This young lady ca all this way just to talk about pickles—there must be sothing going on. She watched Chuchu discreetly.
With the soul of a 36-year-old, Chuchu’s keenness goes without saying. She knew the following words would be crucial, so she beca inwardly cautious, though her smile grew even brighter.
Chuchu lifted the small bag she had brought with her, took out a mason jar from inside, and placed it on Boss Wu and his wife’s table. Then, she presud to grab a small plate from the table, opened the jar, and used chopsticks to place a piece of pickled cucumber onto the plate.
Then she slid the plate towards the couple, smiling as she said, "Boss, madam, please try this pickled cucumber and see how it tastes."
Boss Wu and his wife looked curiously at Chuchu as she went through these steps; the lady boss even keenly noticed the words "Bai’s Pickles" on the jar label. By now, the couple had a pretty good guess about Chuchu’s intentions.
Initially, the Wu couple wanted to refuse, but faced with Chuchu’s joyful and hopeful smile, they found it a bit hard to be heartless.
Boss Wu was the first to pick up his chopsticks, chuckling, "The young lady wants us to try the pickled cucumber? Well then, I’ll give it a go."
Chuchu watched nervously as Boss Wu took a bite of the pickled cucumber, her heart almost in her throat. This was her first ti doing sothing like this in her 36 years of life.
After chewing a couple of tis, Boss Wu’s eyes shone, and he nodded, "Hmm, the pickled cucumber is delicious."
The lady boss also smiled as she tried a piece, agreeing, "Delicious."
Seeing they did not continue to make conversation, Chuchu had to encourage herself, taking a deep breath and saying earnestly, word by word, "Hello, Boss, madam. I would like to propose a business deal. I can supply pickled cucumbers, and in the future, other tasty pickled and salted vegetables for your noodle house. With these pickles, I believe your noodle house’s business will beco even more prosperous."
The Wu couple just smiled without saying a word.
It seed they weren’t really keen on the pickled cucumbers, but hadn’t outright refused. No refusal was a good sign. Undeterred, Chuchu kept her spirits up, continuing to encourage herself.
"I know that both of you might feel you don’t need these pickled cucumbers because your business is already doing well enough. But who would complain about having too much money?
Today during lunch, I overheard at least two custors saying that if your pickles were better, they would co to eat more often. More visits an you, the bosses, could earn more money.
With more money, you could enjoy a better life, like taking your children on plane trips to Beijing or Shanghai during the sumr and winter holidays, or even traveling abroad to broaden your children’s horizons. You could hire better teachers for them, buy the best clothes, live in the finest villas and houses."
"Besides, our collaboration would be mutually beneficial, all gain and no loss to you. You can charge for the pickles per dish, and if the custors want free ones, just serve them the old pickles as usual. If they want to try the tasty pickled cucumbers, then they pay for a small dish.
This way, the pickled cucumbers can also generate a profit for you. And I can make a promise—if the pickles don’t sell within five days, I will take them back unconditionally. Even better, we could agree that I’ll provide the pickled cucumbers for free at first, and you can pay after they are sold."
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