This street-side scramble for profit often begins with price-cutting…
The sun had just risen above the eaves, and bright light was spilling into Donglizi Lane when the creaking sound of a wooden cart echoed outside the courtyard wall. Wu Chunlan, who was sitting on a small stool picking through vegetables, felt a jolt in her heart. She subconsciously counted on her fingers: Yu Niang and the others had been out for less than two hours; why were they back already?
Before she could think further, she saw Shitou pushing the wooden cart into the courtyard, with He Mingyu and Yingzi following behind. All three had their heads hung low, walking with heavy steps, looking completely dejected.
Wu Chunlan’s heart sank sharply. Ignoring the freshly picked greens, she hurriedly stood up, limped over to meet them, and spoke in a trembling voice to console them: “It… it doesn’t matter if you didn’t sell them. We can just eat them ourselves, don’t take it to heart. Your father once said that the first time is always the hardest, and besides, there are so many vendors in Bianjing, how could it be that easy…” She was trying to comfort them, but her own eyes grew sore, and she quickly turned her face away, afraid they would see.
Unexpectedly, just as she finished speaking, Yingzi, who had been drooping, let out a “pfft” and started laughing: “I can’t take it anymore! I can’t keep up the act!”
The little one then lunged forward, hugged her waist, and looked up with a small face, her eyes shining brilliantly: “Mother! We were tricking you! The buns sister steamed were so delicious that they naturally all sold out! Not a single one left!”
He Mingyu couldn’t hold back her laughter either; her brows relaxed as if ice breaking in spring. Even Shitou, who usually showed little expression, couldn’t help but curve the corners of his mouth upward.
“All… all sold out?” Wu Chunlan looked from one to the other, unable to react for a moment, “Are you really not tricking me?”
He Mingyu gave Yingzi a look. The little one immediately understood, running into the main room like a cheerful little bird. She perched before the old wooden table and pulled a heavy cloth money bag from her bosom, turning her wrist to let out a crisp, pleasant jingle.
The bright yellow copper coins flowed out like a sudden spring of gold, instantly piling up into a small hill. Reflected in the sunlight streaming through the doorway, it was a dizzying sight.
Wu Chunlan’s eyes widened instantly. She almost stumbled to the table, her outstretched hand trembling slightly. She wanted to touch them but feared scattering this dreamlike scene. Her lips quivered as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, tears surged up without warning.
This… this is truly the Kitchen God’s blessing! Erlang’s spirit must be looking down on us! Yu Niang… she really has held up this home! A mix of immense surprise and sorrow intertwined, nearly causing her to collapse to the floor.
“Mother, look.” He Mingyu fiddled with the copper coins on the table, her voice light and cheerful, “We sold twenty bamboo baskets of vegetarian buns at ten wen each, and ten baskets of meat buns at fourteen wen each. Yingzi, tell mother, how much did we earn?”
“Exactly three hundred and forty wen!” Yingzi nodded vigorously, her small face full of seriousness and joy, “I definitely calculated it right.”
The buns prepared today were pork-and-scallion filling and wild vegetable-and-egg filling. He Mingyu had personally picked out the three pounds of pork: two pounds of fatty pork belly for sixty wen and one pound of lean meat for twenty-four wen. She had haggled with the butcher for a long time, promising to buy from him in the future, and even got him to throw in two marrow bones, bringing the cost down to eighty-two wen.
The wild vegetables cost nothing; they were dried and stored by the original family. Wu Chunlan hadn’t been able to bear throwing them away when they moved, and now they had come in very handy. However, the eggs made her heart ache; they were two wen each, and she had to buy fifty of them to get the price down to three wen for two.
After subtracting the miscellaneous seasonings, soy sauce, and vinegar, the three hundred and forty wen earned today barely covered the costs, with little profit left.
The only thing worth celebrating was that they had earned this much after only two hours of work early in the morning, and there was still plenty of meat filling and eggs left at home. If they went out again in the evening, it would be pure profit.
Wu Chunlan didn’t know the specifics of her mental ledger; she just focused on wiping away tears with her sleeves, finally revealing a genuine smile through the tears as she muttered, “Good… truly good…”
However, the smile on He Mingyu’s face gradually faded. She looked at the copper coins on the table and her tone became serious: “Mother, Yingzi, Shitou, our start has been smooth, and earning money looks easy. But precisely because it looks easy, others will inevitably be envious.”
She paused briefly, recalling the various things she had seen in her past life, and decided to prepare them early: “I estimate that within a few days, people selling the same buns or similar foods will appear next to our stall… This street-side scramble for profit often begins with price-cutting.”
These words were like a ladle of cold water, instantly extinguishing the excitement of Wu Chunlan and the two children. Her face turned pale: “How can that be? Just buying meat and eggs already cost so much; are we going to have to sell at a loss?”
Seeing their disappointment, He Mingyu shifted her tone, speaking with unquestionable certainty: “I only said this to give you a warning. Even if people imitate us, they still have to learn the patterns of the bun skins, which won’t happen overnight. Besides, my mind is full of food ideas they can’t learn. We must seize the time to make our foundation more secure!” This calmed them down, and their anxious hearts settled back into place.
After a midday nap, the carrots she had asked to be bought were already washed and placed in the kitchen.
There wasn’t much dried wild vegetable left, and they would need to dry more if they wanted it. Wu Chunlan looked at the empty cloth bag and spoke with some worry: “In these next few days, I’ll take Yingzi and Shitou outside the city to dig for wild vegetables. They don’t cost money, and we can earn more.”
“No need,” He Mingyu smiled, “If we run out of wild vegetables, we can substitute them with carrots. Besides, it’s the end of March now, the time when all kinds of vegetables are fresh and tender. We should frequently change the fillings; it’s both for novelty and to keep it elegant so the customers don’t get bored.”
Wu Chunlan didn’t know how her daughter had so many whimsical ideas—could the Kitchen God have taught her this too? She let out a soft sigh, heart aching at the thought of the copper coins spent on vegetables: “Back in the village, radishes, leeks, and amaranth were never this expensive…”
Speaking of this, her eyes suddenly brightened. Feeling it was perhaps absurd, she hesitated before speaking: “Yu Niang, do you think…”
He Mingyu was concentrating on shredding carrots, the “swish-swish-swish” sound of the knife blocking out her voice: “Mother, what did you say just now?”
Could it work?
Since moving here, the chore of washing vegetables was taken by Yingzi, and Shitou covered the firewood and water-carrying. Wu Chunlan, aside from cleaning the courtyard, spent her time resting. But having been used to working in the fields, she couldn’t sit idle even with her limp. She had accompanied He Mingyu to buy vegetables twice recently, and today, a bold thought had formed in her mind for the first time.
It was bold enough to make her feel guilty; her confidence vanished before the words reached her lips.
“Mother, what is it?” Seeing her hesitant expression, He Mingyu asked, looking up while deftly organizing the filling.
Wu Chunlan moved guiltily to the kitchen door, leaning against the frame, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s: “Yu Niang, you say… if I go to the villages outside the city to buy vegetables in the future… would it work?”
Before He Mingyu could answer, she hurriedly denied it: “Come to think of it, it shouldn’t work, with my foot…” Her tone revealed a trace of undisguisable loneliness.
“Why wouldn’t it work?”
Wu Chunlan was stunned and looked up at her. He Mingyu’s fingers flew, and one by one, thin-skinned, finely pleated buns shaped like peonies took form at her fingertips, landing steadily into the small steamer.
“Mother, I think your idea is very good.” Her eyes were clear, and her tone was full of encouragement, “The vegetable prices in the city are indeed artificially high. If you go to the villages to buy them, I imagine the prices will be much more cost-effective than in the city. You don’t have to go far; have Shitou accompany you to the villages near Naxun Gate to take a look. If you can buy them cheaply, that’s great; if not, it doesn’t matter—just treat it as an outing.”
Her words were like a stimulant. Wu Chunlan instantly perked up: “That’s exactly what I was thinking. We could save a lot of money just on eggs, and that would reduce our costs, right?”
“Exactly!” Seeing her happy, He Mingyu smiled as well. Her movements never stopped, and the steamer was soon filled.
The sunset plated the vermilion gates of the Imperial Academy in warm gold. The bell for the end of classes rang melodiously, and students poured out like a tide. He Mingyu’s small stall greeted a peak wave of customers.
She was delighted: Sure enough, whether ancient or modern, students are a massive consumer group.
“Young Master, are you exhausted today?” The little servant took a refined gilt wine pot from his waist and immediately handed it over. “Seeing that you look much more haggard than when you arrived, this is the newly released sweet fruit brew from Fanlou. Please soothe your throat.”
The fruit brew was sweet and clear, with a very faint alcoholic taste. The student in blue only took one sip before looking slightly dissatisfied and shoving the pot into the servant’s arms: “Do not buy these sweet-water-like things for your young master again.”
The servant realized he had made a mistake and apologized repeatedly. Seeing his master wasn’t truly angry, he followed closely to curry favor: “Regarding filial piety, you are the only one in all of Bianjing, Young Master. The cicada-wing buns you sent home this morning were praised by the old madam; she couldn’t stop saying how good they were.”
The old madam mentioned was no ordinary figure; she was the youngest daughter of the Marquis of Zhongyi. Before she was married, she had gone to the Northwest with her eldest brother and even killed several enemy soldiers, making her quite heroic. Perhaps due to the fierce family tradition, she had developed a fiery temperament—drinking, eating meat, and wielding swords and spears. Even now, at sixty years old, she still practiced a set of martial arts every morning.
“Since these cicada-wing buns suited Grandmother’s palate today, buy more to take back.” The blue-clad student searched among the many stalls and finally settled on one, “Buy plenty. I imagine Father and Second Uncle must not have eaten when they returned from the morning court session. If I return empty-handed, they will inevitably grumble about me being partial to Grandmother.”
The servant, quite perceptive, stepped forward and asked in a loud voice: “Young lady, are there any meat buns left?”
He Mingyu looked up in the middle of her busyness and, seeing it was the straightforward young master from that morning, her smile immediately became more sincere: “Young Master, you came at the right time. There are a few baskets of sauced meat ones left, as well as newly added carrot-and-egg and spring bamboo shoot-and-mushroom ones. Would you like to try them?”
Yingzi timely and vigorously recommended: “Especially these spring bamboo shoot-and-mushroom ones. Sister originally prepared them for sale tomorrow, but we just brought a few baskets now for old customers to have a taste…”
Ordinary people couldn’t bear to hear “only a few baskets,” let alone a young master from the house of the Minister of the Imperial Stud.
The blue-clad student was indeed piqued, waving his hand grandly, revealing the mischievous and carefree nature of a youth, and kept ordering the servant: “Quick! Quick! Take them all!”
The servant, knowing his master’s temperament perfectly, had already taken out the heavy money bag. While paying, he caught a glimpse of the wooden board that had been empty that morning, now covered with fresh, ink-stained doggerel poetry, all praising the deliciousness of the buns.
“It seems the young lady’s business is quite good.” The blue-clad student smacked his lips, seemingly still recalling the salty fragrance of the morning buns, and said with interest, “I never thought the fillings would be changed twice a day; that is truly a brilliant method.”
No matter how delicious the food from an ordinary vendor is, people will get tired of it after three or five visits and want to go elsewhere for a change of taste. This one, however, was clever, changing seasonal vegetables. It was fresh and kept people coming back every day—it was truly a smart approach.
“In the way of ingredients, nothing is more important than freshness,” He Mingyu placed the buns from the steamer onto clean ruo leaves, carefully wrapping them before handing them over, “Only by following the seasons does the flavor become the most tender and pure.”
After sending off the last customer, He Mingyu secretly weighed the money bag; the weight was truly gratifying. Every time she blew on her teeth on the way back, she even made Yingzi giggle along with her.
Approaching the entrance of the lane, Shitou, who had been silently pushing the cart, suddenly stopped, very alert: “Sister, there is someone ahead.”
He Mingyu looked up and saw a figure standing in the twilight. Only when they drew closer did she see it was Zhang Dashan. The young lad’s face was flushed red, and he didn’t seem to know where to put his hands and feet, looking like a bashful little bride.
“Brother Dashan, why are you standing here? Waiting for Uncle Zhang?” She suddenly remembered something and said with a hint of apology, “Did my mother forget to send your meal? My fault, my fault, I forgot to remind her when I left…”
“No, it’s not that.” Zhang Dashan hurriedly interrupted her, scratching his head awkwardly. His eyes wandered as he muttered, “I… I just wanted to ask… Yu Niang, when you close the stall, why don’t you let me know… There’s a lot of stuff on the wooden cart, you should… should have let Shitou come back to find me to help.”
So that was it.
He Mingyu realized, a smile appearing on her face. But before she could speak, Shitou, who was always taciturn, said first: “Brother Dashan, although I am younger, I am used to working in the fields. It is not difficult to push the cart back.”
Zhang Dashan was choked by these words and stood there, stunned for a moment.
He Mingyu encouragingly patted Shitou’s head, her tone proud and intimate: “Well said, our Shitou is very capable.”
Yingzi followed suit: “Well said, my brother is very capable~”
The two immediately burst into laughter and ran toward home while chasing each other. Shitou’s ears turned slightly red, his hands gripping the cart handles firmly as he pushed it into their courtyard, leaving Zhang Dashan standing in the deepening twilight, unable to hide his loneliness.