Lin Xiaoman found a plasterer and his son by asking around, then led them back to the shop.
From a distance, she could already see a crowd gathered in front of their shop. Lin Erhu’s voice rang out loudly from within, hawking, “Clam oil! Clam oil! Keeps hands from chapping, feet from cracking. Use it, and even old aunties will feel like young brides! Don’t miss out if you’re passing by! Great clam oil, only five wen a jar! You won’t regret it—no loss, no scam!”
The plasterer chuckled at the scene. “Whose boy is that? Sounds young, but he sure knows how to do business. Got a whole spiel going.”
Lin Xiaoman beamed with pride. “That’s my little brother! He’s been sharp since he was little!”
The plasterer looked envious and gave a thumbs-up. “Your brother’s impressive. Way better than my son.”
“Thank you! Thank you! I think so too.” Lin Xiaoman smiled so wide her eyes nearly disappeared.
The plasterer was taken aback by her lack of modesty. Usually, when someone praised another like that, the expected response was a humble “Oh, not at all.” But this girl just went along with it. No wonder her little brother could belt out sales pitches like that—thick-skinnedness clearly ran in the family.
He glanced back at his own son, who couldn’t squeeze out a decent sentence to save his life, and felt a pang of jealousy.
They agreed on a price of two hundred wen for a day’s work, with materials included. Lin Xiaoman then went outside to help Lin Erhu sell the clam oil.
…
The townsfolk had never seen clam oil before. Drawn in by Lin Erhu’s shouting, they gathered around. Lin Erhu opened a jar for them to try.
Though they were city folk, most were common civilians. Those with a little more money would smear pork fat on their hands; those worse off couldn’t afford even that. After years of hard labor, their hands were covered in countless cracks and cuts.
One woman who made a living washing clothes for others tried some and immediately felt her hands become softer. There was also a faint, pleasant fragrance.
She could earn several dozen wen a day from laundry work. Seeing that a jar of clam oil cost only five wen and could last several days, she happily bought two jars—but lingered by the stall.
Soon, others followed: one bought three, another bought two. Business was clearly picking up.
“Kid, if this clam oil of yours works well, I’ll bring people to buy it. What’s in it for me?”
Lin Erhu quickly thanked her. “Thank you, Auntie! If you bring someone and they buy, for every five jars bought, I’ll give you one free.”
The woman paused, deep in thought. Lin Xiaoman quickly added, “Since it’s our opening day, if you buy five jars now, I’ll throw in one free.”
The woman didn’t hesitate this time. “I already bought two jars. If I buy three more, will you give me one free?”
“Sure! You haven’t even left the stall. Why wouldn’t it count?”
With that, the woman handed over fifteen wen and received four jars in return.
When others nearby heard about the “buy five, get one free” deal and saw how well the product worked, they eagerly pulled out their money to take advantage of it.
…
The plasterer, who had his son working inside while he periodically stepped out to check, was astonished by the business they were doing. He squeezed into the crowd, scooped up a generous glob of the clam oil sample, and rubbed it onto his hands. “It’s quite fragrant. Better than the rouge my wife bought,” he remarked.
Lin Xiaoman just smiled at him. While others had only taken a tiny amount to try, he had scraped off nearly half the jar. His hands looked greasier than a butcher’s.
He then turned to Lin Xiaoman and proposed, “Boss, since my son and I are working for you today, you don’t need to provide us lunch. Instead, just give me six jars to take home for my wife.”
“Alright,” Lin Xiaoman agreed. “I’m a bit overwhelmed anyway.”
Even though providing a meal at noon would have cost less than twenty-five wen, she handed over six jars. After all, wholesale, each jar cost less than fifty cents on the other side.
The plasterer happily accepted the clam oil and worked much faster afterward.
Lin Xiaoman and Lin Erhu busied themselves—one collecting money, the other counting jars. Aside from the six given to the plasterer, the remaining 194 jars sold out before noon, bringing in over eight hundred wen.
By midday, the plasterer and his son had smoothed the walls with straw and chaff. The slaked lime still needed another hour before it could be applied, so the father and son brought out an iron bucket and set up a stove outside to cook a batch of glutinous rice.
They explained that adding the water from the cooked glutinous rice to the lime would make the wall finish smoother. The leftover rice from cooking would serve as their lunch.
Watching the plasterer pull two salted radish sticks from his pocket, Lin Xiaoman guessed that he usually asked for food in lieu of payment when working for others, which was why he had offered to skip the meal they would have provided.
She had Lin Erhu stay and watch the shop while she jogged back home. On the other side, she bought another five hundred jars of clam oil wholesale and asked the shop owner to remove all the labels for her.
This time, she cleared out the remaining stock from the stall she had bought from before and picked up some more from another vendor.
By the time she returned to the county town, it was already afternoon. The plasterer and his son had finished half the wall.
Lin Erhu sat slumped in front of the shop. From time to time, someone would come by asking if there was any clam oil left. Leading the way was the laundry woman who had been the first to take advantage of the “buy five, get one free” deal that morning.
When she saw Lin Xiaoman return, the woman called out, “Here she comes! Here she comes!”
Those who hadn’t wandered far gathered around. As soon as Lin Xiaoman set the large basket of clam oil on the table, people started handing over their money.
The laundry woman smiled. “I went to work at Squire Chen’s place this morning, and one of the maids noticed the clam oil I was using. They asked me to buy a few jars for them. Girl, I need thirty jars this time. You’d better throw in some extras.”
Lin Xiaoman counted out thirty jars and placed them in the woman’s basket. Then she added six more as the bonus. Finally, she grabbed another handful and added them as well. “Auntie, please come back again!”
Delighted with the extras, the woman beamed. “Of course, of course. I’ll ask around to see if anyone else I work with wants to buy some.”
By evening, fewer than half of the five hundred jars of clam oil remained unsold. The plasterer and his son had long finished their work and left with their wages.
Lin Xiaoman and Lin Erhu had to leave the county town before the city gates closed for the night. They packed up the remaining clam oil into their baskets and hurried off, making it out just in time.
Back home, they counted their earnings. After paying the plasterer, they still had nearly two thousand wen left. That meant they were only two hundred-odd jars of clam oil away from the three taels of silver needed for the iron pots.
…
Early the next morning, the siblings returned to the other side to buy more clam oil wholesale, but both stalls they had bought from the day before were out of stock. After asking around, they found that several others were also sold out.
Panic set in. Had their new business already dried up? How were they going to earn enough for the three taels of silver?
Lin Xiaoman pulled out her phone and searched online. Eventually, she found a shop selling clam oil. To her surprise, clam oil came in different sizes—small, medium, and large. The ones they had been selling were the smallest.
She placed an order for a thousand jars of each size, with the delivery address set to a parcel pickup station near the park.
At a breakfast shop by the roadside, the siblings ate while discussing their next move. With the clam oil likely to sell out quickly, perhaps they should start another venture.
After some discussion, they decided to bring their pots, bowls, and stoves to the county town and see if they could get their hotpot business up and running.