Shen had indeed shown up, but like everyone else, she was completely bewildered. The terms “bidding” and “tendering” might as well have been written in a foreign language.
“Everyone, settle down,” the village chief said, standing on a bench to address the crowd now that most had arrived. “You all know why we’re here, but I need to explain exactly how this will work.”
Li Yao’s plan was simple: she would handle the production at home and move into wholesale. Anyone who wanted to set up a stall to sell her braised food would have to purchase their stock from her, with the highest bidder winning the right to the territory. In the event of a tie, the final decision would rest with Li Yao.
The winning bidders would be required to purchase a minimum of 50 bowls daily and must operate under the “He-wan Village Li’s” brand name. They were required to sell at a uniform, fixed price, with no unauthorized price hikes or discounts. Furthermore, they were strictly forbidden from engaging in any behavior that would tarnish the brand, such as tampering with portions or compromising on quality.
Any violation would result in immediate contract termination and a lifelong ban from future partnerships.
The village chief broke down the rules one by one, and in the end, everyone understood. However, they stood there exchanging uneasy glances, hesitant to step forward.
Finally, Shen was the first to act, submitting a bid of 13 wen. She had pried this price out of Zhou and felt certain it was the magic number. Seeing Shen take the lead gave the others the courage they needed; after whispering with their families, they began to step forward to submit their own bids.
By the end, nine families had placed bids.
“The results are in,” the village chief announced. “The highest bidders are Wang Yuancai and Fang Mingchuan.”
Li Yao wasn’t surprised in the slightest. Wang Yuancai was the eldest son of the village chief’s own brother. With the chief presiding over the bidding, how could he let all the benefits fall into the hands of others? As for the Fang family, they were the second-largest clan in He-wan Village. The clan leader, Fang Shi’an, was a respected elder with a wealth of experience, and Fang Mingchuan was his second son.
Both families had bid 14 wen for the rice set and 11 wen for the steamed bun set—which meant that for every portion sold, they would only net a profit of 1 wen.
“Bidding that high?” someone whispered in the crowd. “Aren’t they worried they’ll lose money if they can’t sell it all?”
Faced with such skepticism, both families just smiled enigmatically. How could it not sell?
Anyone who visited the market could see that Li Yao’s braised food was in such high demand that supply couldn’t possibly keep up. As for the meager profit of only 1 wen per portion? What did that matter? Selling 100 portions a day guaranteed a steady profit of 100 wen with minimal capital investment—where else on earth could you find such a lucrative opportunity? They even suspected that Li Yao had intentionally set up this bidding process to deflect jealousy, allowing them to take a slice of the profit while she stepped back from the front lines.
With the village chief as witness, Li Yao signed contracts with both families, and the partnership officially began. Starting the next day, “He-wan Village Li’s” braised food stalls would appear at Changhe Market in Changhe County and Linyuan Market in Linyuan County.
Both families were ambitious, each committing to 100 portions on the very first day. With the two existing stalls, that made a total of 400 portions.
The next day, before noon, the villagers were already craning their necks, waiting for Wang Yuancai and Fang Mingchuan to return. The results, naturally, were a complete success. Both families easily sold out their 100 portions, netting 100 wen each.
Learning of this, those who had bid lower the day before were filled with regret. But none were more bitter or resentful than Shen. She blamed her sister-in-law, Zhou, for tricking her with a false price, and she took another earful from Wang Xue-shi.
“With a brain as dim as yours, you want to run a business?” the old woman snapped. “Your sister-in-law gave your brother’s family that low price as a gesture of kindness! If you dare to go around spreading rumors and ruining their business, see if I don’t rip your mouth open!”
The aggrieved Shen realized that her mother-in-law wasn’t just biased toward the eldest sister-in-law; she was increasingly favoring the second sister-in-law, too. She couldn’t understand why, especially since Zhou hadn’t even produced a single son.
…
“Mother,” Wang Er said after dinner, having finished the accounts. “We sold a total of 400 portions today and earned 2,095 wen.”
Li Yao nodded, then remarked, “That’s far too little.”
The children froze, not even daring to breathe.
Earning two taels of silver in a single day, and their mother still thought it was too little?
“Mother, it’s not little.”
“It’s truly not little!”
At this rate, they could buy a house in the town in just two months!
But Li Yao felt it wasn’t enough. Feeding the family and keeping them warm was only the first step in her plan. Next, she needed to build a proper house. Based on her vision, the construction alone would cost over three hundred taels. At their current rate of income, it would take half a year to save that much. Winter was approaching fast, and she had no intention of relying on her own inner fortitude to survive the cold.
“We need to make more money.”
The children looked at each other, bewildered.
“Mother,” Dazhuang asked, “how do we do that?”
“We’ll start making high-end braised delicacies.”
Li Yao’s next plan was to produce high-quality, premium braised meats to target the wealthier clientele. The biggest hurdle, however, was sourcing the materials.
She had spent half a day roaming the market, finding only a few chickens and ducks—all of them years old, the kind of tough meat that would be impossible to chew if braised. She was about to give up when she suddenly spotted an old man sitting by the roadside with a large white goose, and her eyes lit up.
Goose meat was generally considered too tough, and because the birds were so large, they were expensive. Most importantly, they lacked the fat content people in this era preferred, so common folk rarely ate them. Those who raised geese did so primarily to sell their eggs. But Li Yao knew that if prepared correctly, braised goose could be a delicacy.
“Old man, how much for the goose?”
This was the old man’s third day trying to sell his goose. A few people had asked, but they were either put off by its size or offered prices that were far too low. Seeing a potential buyer finally show interest, he tentatively offered, “Twenty-five wen per catty. How does that sound? Or… I could do twenty-four.”
Before she could even haggle, he began dropping the price on his own. It seemed the goose was truly hard to sell.
Li Yao weighed it in her hands. It was at least ten catties; at that weight, it would cost over two hundred wen, a price most families couldn’t stomach.
“I’ll take it.”
“Wonderful! I’ll weigh it for you right now.”
It came out to eleven catties. As the old man took the two hundred and sixty-four wen from Dazhuang, he let out a long, relieved sigh. “Finally, I’ve sold one.”
Li Yao asked, “From the sound of it, do you have more at home?”
“Another dozen or so,” the old man sighed heavily. “It’s been driving me mad with worry!”
As it turned out, the old man was from Baiyun Village. Nestled right against the mountain, the area had once been rich with wild grasses, leading all the villagers to raise geese and sell the eggs to traders heading to Yizhou Prefecture. But the relentless drought had killed the grass, and without grain to feed them, the geese stopped laying eggs. They were no longer profitable—they had become a burden.
“If we can’t sell them, we have to slaughter them to eat ourselves. But there are over three hundred geese in the whole village. We’ve invested so much capital into them.” The old man’s eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“Tell you what, old man. Go home and bring me three more,” Li Yao said. “And tell the others in your village: don’t slaughter them yet. I might just buy them all.”
“Really?”
“My mother’s word is as good as gold,” Dazhuang added. “If you don’t trust us, our stall is right there in the market selling braised food. You can find us anytime.”
“So you are the Li lady who sells the braised food!” the old man exclaimed. “No wonder, no wonder! I’ve encountered a noble benefactor today!”
Li Yao chuckled inwardly; she hadn’t realized she had become so famous.
“I’m going back to fetch the geese right now!”
The old man went home in high spirits. When he returned, he brought three more large white geese—a total of thirty-five catties, costing eight hundred and forty wen.
“Come back to the market the day after tomorrow,” Li Yao told him. “By then, I’ll know if I can take the rest.”
“Yes, yes! I’ll be there, I promise!”