At six in the evening, Xia Yongen packed up her stall.
She had still underestimated the impact of that one-yuan difference. She had thought the bookstore next door wouldn’t have much effect on her business, but after doing the accounts, she realized that today’s income had dropped by a full two-thirds.
Originally, she had thought that as long as her food tasted good, people would naturally come and buy it. After all, she had the system. Wasn’t it supposed to be just like those feel-good novels, where leaving passersby stunned was practically an everyday occurrence?
But today’s situation had dealt her a heavy blow.
She shouldn’t have been so confident.
Even with the system, being able to make delicious pastries didn’t mean she knew how to run a successful business.
At the end of the day, she had simply made running a business seem far too easy. The same applied to running a stall, and it would apply to opening a teahouse as well.
If she were selling at the food plaza, a one-yuan difference wouldn’t mean much. But for students who didn’t have much spending money, it was a crucial factor when deciding what to buy.
Aside from students from relatively well-off families, everyone else had been drawn to the bookstore next door. If things continued like this, she was afraid her little stall wouldn’t be able to stay in business.
Although she knew perfectly well that the food next door couldn’t possibly compare with hers, most students probably wouldn’t be willing to pay an extra yuan just for that little bit of extra deliciousness.
After all, they weren’t food connoisseurs. They mainly just wanted to satisfy their cravings and fill their stomachs.
After returning to Rongxing House, she sat in a chair and thought for a long time.
She couldn’t lower her prices. She had no capital to spare right now. If she got into a price war with the stall opposite, she might end up making not a single cent.
Besides, even if she actually won, what would happen afterward? If she raised her prices again, the students would definitely refuse to accept it.
But she couldn’t just sit around and do nothing either. The owner next door was clearly deliberately provoking her. If she didn’t take down that bookstore, she probably wouldn’t even be able to sleep peacefully at night.
After thinking it over again and again, she came up with three strategies.
First, she could launch the crystal cakes.
With the system, she didn’t have to worry about running out of new products. As long as she introduced more and more new items, no matter how much the bookstore copied her, it could only follow behind her.
Second, she could introduce smaller portions.
Put chai ko was delicious and filling, but students with smaller appetites would have no room for anything else after eating an entire portion. Since that was the case, she might as well buy another batch of smaller bowls and introduce smaller portions of put chai ko, all priced at just two yuan.
She would also introduce smaller portions of Malay cake and white sugar cake, packaged the same way as the coconut milk layer cake, at one yuan each.
At the same time, she would keep the original-sized products. That way, the students would have more choices.
Third, she would simply continue setting up her stall as usual, steadily maintaining the quality of her food.
Xia Yongen refused to believe that after throwing all these punches, she still couldn’t teach that bookstore owner a proper lesson.
The next day, Xia Yongen arrived at the stationery shop. The bookstore owner next door was also getting ready to set up his stall.
Their eyes met.
The bookstore owner smiled and greeted Xia Yongen warmly, but anyone could see the malicious intent and schadenfreude in his eyes.
After what happened yesterday, Auntie Feng’s hatred for the bookstore owner had grown even stronger. She didn’t even feel like playing with her cat today. Instead, she helped Xia Yongen set up her little stall.
When the bell rang to signal the end of class, the students came out as usual.
Auntie Feng and Xia Yongen were already ready for battle. But who could have expected several loud cries suddenly to ring out beside them?
“Freshly made Malay cakes and white sugar cakes! All one yuan! All one yuan!”
“Don’t miss out as you walk by! Handmade, freshly made put chai ko! No artificial coloring or additives! More delicious and healthier than anyone else’s!”
It turned out that the bookstore next door had hung a large loudspeaker outside its entrance. The hawking continued to play on a constant loop outside the shop, and everyone who passed by couldn’t help stopping to take a look.
Auntie Feng stomped her foot angrily.
“How are we supposed to do business like this?!”
Xia Yongen comforted her for a few words before calming herself down.
Everything had two sides. The loudspeaker could attract students who had never bought pastries from them before. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
As for which shop those new customers would choose, they would simply have to rely on their own abilities.
Among the densely packed crowd of students were Yao Xiaotong and Jiajia, who had just come out of school.
When they reached the entrance to the alley, Jiajia asked, “What should we eat today? The same thing as yesterday?”
Yao Xiaotong rejected the idea without even thinking.
“No. I don’t want that. That place doesn’t taste good.”
Yesterday, she had bought a portion of white sugar cake from the bookstore. Just by looking at it, it seemed almost identical to the ones Xia Yongen sold. At the time, she thought she’d gotten an incredible bargain, especially since the bookstore only charged fifty cents.
But the moment she tasted it, she understood why some things cost more.
The white sugar cake sold by the bookstore owner was softer and lacked that slightly chewy texture. There was also a lot of sugar inside, and after eating half a piece, she had already started to find it cloying.
So she had already decided today that she would just go buy from Xia Yongen again.
Jiajia added, “I thought it was okay. It was actually pretty tasty…”
Because Jiajia had done terribly on her last exam, her parents had confiscated her allowance. Now she could only use the money in her piggy bank to buy snacks.
Yao Xiaotong naturally knew about her situation and felt a little guilty. She quickly went along with what Jiajia had said.
“I just think it was too sweet. It’s not really to my taste.”
She didn’t want to put Jiajia in a difficult position.
“How about you go buy from the bookstore? I’ll go take a look at the stationery shop. If there’s nothing I want to eat, I’ll come back and find you.”
The two girls went their separate ways.
When Yao Xiaotong arrived in front of the stationery shop, there were already five or six students waiting in line.
Seeing her arrive, Xia Yongen quickly greeted her with a smile.
“We have a new pastry today. Would you like to try it?”
Yao Xiaotong’s eyes lit up, and she hurriedly nodded. She took the crystal cake and immediately started eating.
She only took a small bite, and the generous amount of red bean paste inside nearly spilled out. The delicate red bean paste was wrapped in a translucent crystal-like skin. It was so sweet and fragrant, so smooth!
The crystal cake skin was also soft, chewy, and pleasantly springy, with just the right firmness. It wasn’t overly chewy, nor was it limp and mushy.
This is way too delicious!
As expected, there wasn’t a single thing this owner made that wasn’t delicious.
She wanted to buy a few other pastries too, so she took another look around. Only then did she realize that everything at the stall was cheaper than before.
Looking more carefully, she discovered that there were now large and small portions.
She had always thought the larger portions were a little too much, which was why she had shared them with Jiajia every time. Now she could spend less money and try more kinds of pastries.
This was wonderful!
With her five yuan of pocket money, she bought one crystal cake, one Malay cake, one put chai ko, and one portion of coconut milk layer cake.
After buying her food, she hurried to the bookstore to find Jiajia and told her about the newly introduced smaller portions and their discounted prices.
There had originally only been two or three students ahead of Jiajia in line, but as soon as she heard what Yao Xiaotong said, she immediately headed for the stationery shop next door.
She wasn’t stupid. If the prices were the same, why wouldn’t she patronize the shop with better-tasting food?
The students waiting in line both in front of and behind Jiajia also heard what Yao Xiaotong said, and they all turned around and left.
Before long, only three or four students remained in front of the bookstore.
The smug look in the bookstore owner’s eyes gradually turned into anger and confusion.
Many students who had been attracted by the loudspeaker had made their way to the bookstore, but when they saw that even more people were gathered around Xia Yongen’s stall, they all turned around and headed to the stationery shop instead.
A trace of ruthlessness flashed through the bookstore owner’s eyes.
He made up his mind.
I’m going to fight that stall next door to the bitter end!
So he lowered the prices of everything by another fifty cents.
As he began hawking his goods, more and more students gradually came over to his stall.
The bookstore owner secretly gloated.
That little girl thinks she can steal my business? No way!
However, the few students standing in front of him were quietly discussing among themselves.
“Ugh, I’m so hungry. Next time, I’m definitely getting to the shop next door earlier so I can line up and buy those crystal cakes.”
“I remember there weren’t many people next door yesterday. How come there are so many today?”
“Forget it, forget it. I’ll just buy something here today to tide me over. This place is a little cheaper, anyway.”
…
Hearing these words, the bookstore owner’s heart completely shattered.
So all these people had only come to his shop because they didn’t want to stand in line at the shop next door!
The stationery shop had been deserted for only one day, and today it was packed with students again. As more and more students came out of school, the line showed every sign of getting longer and longer.
By contrast, although quite a few students came to the bookstore to buy cards, squishies, and stationery, hardly any of them bought the pastries displayed outside the bookstore.
The bookstore owner stared at Xia Yongen for a while before an idea struck him. He casually picked out a student who was buying workbooks in the store and slipped him ten yuan.
“Help me go to the shop next door and buy all their pastries. Just get the small portions.”
As for the remaining four yuan, he could keep it as a delivery fee.
After waiting for quite a while, the student finally returned with the pastries, but held out his hand for more money.
“Give me another ten yuan. Money first, goods second.”
“What? Didn’t I just give you ten yuan?”
“You know how long the line next door is. Time is money, you know. Besides, I stood in line for that long, so I need to get something for myself too.”
Seeing how insistent the student was, the bookstore owner had no choice but to pay him twenty yuan.
Twenty yuan was nothing. Once he managed to make pastries exactly like these himself, he would earn that amount back several times over.
After six in the evening, once all the students had gone home, he carried a large bag of pastries to a nearby market.
The pastries he had been selling over the past two days had all been bought wholesale from a pastry shop in the market. The shop usually catered to the local neighborhood, with its main selling points being affordable prices and good taste. Business was excellent every day, and during holidays and festivals, the place was packed with people.
He took out the pastries Xia Yongen had made.
“Boss, take a look. Do you think you can make these exactly the same?”
The pastry shop owner immediately called several of the aunties from the kitchen over to have a look.
After tasting the pastries, they began discussing them among themselves.
“Wow, I haven’t had such an authentic Malay cake in years.”
“Really! This tastes so much like what I had as a child. The put chai ko is delicious too.”
“I think the white sugar cake is even better. Could it be from some high-end teahouse? It’s rare to see craftsmanship this good.”
“Exactly. How could an ordinary pastry shop possibly make something like this?”
After a lengthy discussion, the auntie in charge finally said, “We can’t make them exactly the same.”
The bookstore owner’s eyes widened angrily.
“You can’t? How is that possible?! Aren’t these pastries all the same?”
The auntie explained, “The raw ingredients may be the same, but the proportions of the ingredients affect the final product. Not to mention, what you brought us was clearly made by an expert. They may even have added some kind of secret recipe of their own.”
“Besides, we have a business to run too. We can’t afford to keep experimenting with different proportions just to figure it out for you.”
Of course, if the bookstore owner was willing to throw enough money at it, it wasn’t impossible.
It was just obvious that he had no intention of doing so.
The pastry shop owner found this man rather strange.
“You brought something from a teahouse and asked our little shop to replicate it, yet you aren’t even willing to pay us. Aren’t you deliberately making things difficult for us?”
The bookstore owner snorted.
“If you can’t make it, then just admit you can’t. And now you’re saying it’s something sold by a teahouse? I think you simply don’t have the skills.”
The auntie in charge darkened at once.
“We’ve been making pastries for decades. Who do you think you are?”
“Decades?” The bookstore owner let out a mocking laugh. “Let me tell you something. I bought these from a little street stall. They didn’t come from a teahouse at all.”
If that wasn’t just an excuse, then the only explanation was that these people were a bunch of ignorant fools. Otherwise, how could they mistake something bought from a roadside stall for a product from a teahouse?
The bookstore owner left while grumbling and cursing under his breath.
After he was gone, the aunties at the pastry shop began whispering among themselves.
“We should’ve asked him exactly where he bought them. Then we could’ve gone there and learned from them.”
“You actually believe what he said? Those pastries must have come from a major teahouse.”
“Still, I think the flavor is very similar to Rongxing House’s.”
As soon as she said this, the other aunties chimed in as well.
“Yeah, yeah, I think it tastes a little similar too.”
“No way. I went there to eat two years ago, and it tasted completely different.”
“That’s because the owner changed. When I went there more than ten years ago, it really did taste like this!”
As they continued talking, they turned to the auntie who had been leading the group just now.
“Sister Zhen, didn’t you used to work at Rongxing House?”
“Tell us, was what that man brought over just now similar to the pastries from Rongxing House?”
Lai Meizhen smiled and shook her head.
She knew very well that Rongxing House had closed down long ago. Even Fang Ping herself couldn’t make pastries with this kind of flavor anymore.
Perhaps… it was just a coincidence.
Author’s Note:
None.