Chapter 120: Business Opportunity

  Zhen'er and Bai Ji each carried a worn-out lunch box into the steamed bun shop.

  Zhen'er had delivered mushrooms to the baozi shop a few times, so the boss was quite familiar with her. He smiled at Zhen'er and let them in, quickly picking up a plate of baozi and two bowls of pork rib soup, and sending them over to the side table.

  Then he wiped his hands, ladled two bowls of spare ribs soup for Zhen'er and the others, and asked: "Little girl, why didn't you bring mushrooms today?" Their store was almost out of mushrooms again, after going through the busy farming season and a festival, nobody had time to pick mushrooms.

  Zhen'er didn't carry the basket today, and the boss noticed it immediately. Zhen'er smiled and said, "Boss, it hasn't rained for many days, and there are few mushrooms in the mountains. I want to sell them, but I don't have any." This was true, and the boss knew it too. However, his anxiety didn't decrease, as without mushroom buns to sell, their shop would lose one type of bun, which meant they would earn less money.

  "Goodness gracious, this weather is terrible! It's been so many days and still no rain. How are people supposed to live?" the baozi shop owner complained.

  Zhen'er and Ye Baiji also furrowed their brows, they are now all landowners, without rain, the crops in the field can't grow, recently the villagers have been worried too.

  Collecting her thoughts, Zhen'er perked up and said: "Boss, I came to see you today. Although I'm not selling you mushrooms, I do want to sell you something else."

  The boss asked with a lack of interest: "What thing? My shop is so small, apart from buns and soup, we can't sell anything else."

  This thing you must want to sell, Zhen'er was very confident, opened the food box, took out a plate of Wontons and a plate of Baozi, pushed it over, letting the Baozi shop owner taste.

  The boss didn't know what kind of medicine Zhen and the others were selling in their gourd, so he took a package. He took a bite and thought it was delicious, but had no idea what it was made of. Curious, he took another bite, and got some clues, but still wasn't sure.

  "What's this?" The boss asked with a frown, looking puzzled.

  Zhen'er covered the food box and smiled: "I won't say what this is first, boss tell me how's the flavor of this bun?"

  The owner of the baozi shop nodded, "It tastes very good. And it's very familiar, but I couldn't think of what filling you are right away."

  Zhen Er exchanged a glance with Ye Baiji and said: "It's Elm Money. This is made by wrapping elm money and egg as fillings."

  "Are there still elm seeds?" The boss was surprised. After getting a positive answer from Zhen'er, he also found that this business could be done, and then discussed with Zhen'er the matter of buying elm seeds.

  "We have a lot of elm money here, it's up to you how much you want." Zhen'er squared her face and began negotiating with the boss.

  "Yulan's buns should come with eggs. This way, the cost will be higher and I don't know how they'll sell. I see you still have some buns here, why not let me estimate a price to sell them in my store? If they sell well, I can discuss with you about ordering more at this quantity." The store owner quickly thought of what would be most beneficial for him.

  Zhen'er thought of doing this business and had already figured out how to deal with the old boss, and now things are developing just as she thought.

  Twenty buns were left. Zhen'er and Ye Baiji carried the food box out, walking to the door, Zhen'er looked at a board in front of the shop door. Suddenly had an idea, turned around and said to the owner of the bun shop: "Boss, put up a sign in front of the door, write down what fillings are available today, so people passing by can see it, also saves you from introducing one by one."

  The boss also thought it was a good idea. Usually, when customers come to buy buns, they will ask what kind of buns there are, and sometimes the crowd is too much for him to handle, so he has no time to take care of them, which has driven away many people.

  They went to Jingchuntang, and the young shop assistants found Ye Luyuan. He asked for leave from Yang Zhanggui, and with Zhen'er they found a nearby teahouse where they could have a cup of tea while chatting.

  Yelu Faraway ate six buns in one breath, stopping only when he was done. Zhen'er and Yebaiji stared at him with wide eyes, "You didn't eat enough at the restaurant?"

  Ye Luoyan shook his head and said, "The food in the store is very good. For lunch and dinner, we usually have two vegetarian dishes and one meat dish. The cooking level is average, far inferior to this baozi. Hehe, I knew it was Zhen'er's craftsmanship as soon as I took a bite."

  Zhen'er smiled and said: "Brother, don't praise me. If I become proud, then there won't be such delicious buns anymore."

  Ye Baiji and Ye Luyuan both smiled and said: "Even if Zhen'er's cooking isn't delicious, it's still better than others'."

  "Is everything all right at home? How's Father's hand?" asked Ye Luyuan.

  "Everything is fine at home, Seventh Uncle and Seventh Aunt asked me to tell you that they are busy with work now, but when they have time, they will come visit you. Yesterday, I went with Zhen'er to send some money to Yuqian, Seventh Uncle was sitting under the tree by the door, enjoying the cool breeze, and chatted with us for a while. He said his hand is healing well, just itchy. My grandfather said that itchiness means new skin is growing, and after this period of time, he will be fine. But there's one thing that's quite strange, since you left, Seventh Uncle's recovery has slowed down, we all think that Seventh Uncle misses you so much that even his injury doesn't want to heal."

  Ye Lu looked at Zhen Er and found that she was just smiling with her mouth closed, feeling very grateful to Zhen Er in her heart.

  Ye Luoyu nodded and smiled, thanking Zhen'er and Ye Baiju: "Thank you, Baiju sister and Zhen'er sister. I'm not at home, so please visit my parents more often."

  Ye Baiji was very unaccustomed to Ye Luyuan's calm and serious demeanor, so she punched him and said: "What are you thanking me for? They're my uncle and aunt, I think they deserve it." She waved her hand and continued: "Luyuan ge, I really don't like this side of you. I prefer the older brother who used to joke around with me."

  Ye Lu Yuan opened his mouth, just about to explain, but Ye Bai Zhi lowered her head and continued: "I know I'm talking nonsense, Auntie often warns me that I should learn from Zhen Er more. Although I've grown a few years older, it's all in vain, I've never experienced hardship and don't understand the struggles of life. She says you and Zhen Er are people who have gone through life and death, your mindset is different, and you see things differently. Whatever Zhen Er does, even if I don't understand why, I should listen to her, listening to her can keep me from going astray. Even if in the future I never use my brain again, with someone like you by my side, who's also become a deep and profound person, then who will still be with me, not using their brain, living a carefree life?"

  Ye Luoyan and Zhen'er exchanged a glance, both with eyes full of helplessness. They had grown up in pain for the sake of living, so why did they become demons in Ye Baiju's eyes?

  However, some of Ye Baiji's words still got into Ye Luyuan's heart. At first, he wanted to come and be an apprentice, but his mother was not very happy about it. His father could no longer work as a bricklayer, but he could inherit his father's business, and besides, they were all from the same clan, so they would definitely take care of him more as a younger generation. For the past two years, he had been following them to learn, and once he got familiar with it, he could also get the same wages. Being an apprentice wasn't that easy, was it?

  Jingchuntang is a big store, but it's precisely in such a big store that the relationships inside are complicated. And what if he's bullied by others as an apprentice?

  In the end, it was his father who comforted his mother, saying that being an apprentice meant having a trade, which was much better than being a bricklayer. Besides, he was going to learn accounting in the largest shop, and later become an accountant, which would be a respectable profession. Even if nothing else, it would be a good career path to pass on to future generations.

  He didn't know that rich people lived like this until he came here. They can afford to buy tea leaves worth over 100 yuan per kilogram, and the water for drinking tea must be from a specific place, with certain teas paired with certain waters.

  Although they are called merchants, Yang Zhanggui goes wherever he is respected by people. Even the county magistrate treats him with courtesy as if he were of the same rank.

  All of this doesn't count, what's more, he still remembers the night before he left, his father wrapped a bandage around his hand, entered his room, sat on the edge of the bed and asked: "When you changed my dressing, what medicine did you sprinkle on the wound?"

  His hand trembled as he listened, and he had always thought he was being very discreet, but unexpectedly his father still found out. Thinking of Zhen'er's reminder, he originally wanted to hide it, but in front of his father, where could he hide the truth? In the end, he confessed honestly. After listening to his words, his father pondered for a long time before saying: "This is Zhen'er's great kindness to us, she doesn't hold grudges, but we can't just ignore it either. From now on, listen more to Zhen'er's words, she's a wise person."

  To say that they have experienced life and death, truly experienced life and death, only Zhen'er has transformed, she is the one with great wisdom. He appears calm on the surface, but his thoughts are not as meticulous as Zhen'er's, nor are his ideas as mature as hers. Mo Zuofang once said that he will have difficulty becoming a great talent in the future, but it will be enough to live a life, as long as he is content with his circumstances, he can spend his whole life in peace and happiness. In fact, sometimes he thinks that he should follow Zhen'er's lead, just like Bai Ju said, listening to Zhen'er, even if he doesn't understand what she means, he will still listen to her.

  Carrying his lunchbox, Ye Luyuan walked back to Jingchun Hall with a smile. Yang Zhanggui happened to be returning from delivering goods and ran into him, smiling and greeting him, "What's up, Luyuan? You're smiling so happily?"

  Ye Luyuan scratched his head, foolishly saying: "Nothing much, just my sister came to visit me." The busy young men beside him teased him with envy, "Luyuan, you lucky guy, your two sisters often come to see you and bring you delicious food. We all saw them, they brought two big food boxes!"

  Yelu Yuan listened and saw the food box in his hand, remembering Zhen'er's reminder, he hurriedly said: "Hehe, this was brought by my sister, made at home, let everyone try some, don't be polite." As he spoke, he opened the food box.

  It was almost noon, and everyone was hungry. Especially since only congee and small dishes were served in the morning here, they could only drool at the sight of the buns. Yang Zhuang saw their greedy appearance and smiled: "Alright, take a break, eat some buns before going back to work." The young accountants heard this and rushed over to grab the buns.

  Yang Zhanggou held the key and was about to head towards the back house, when Ye Luyuan carried a food box and smiled foolishly: "Yang Zhanggou, this is for you. It's some buns made by my family with village-grown elm seeds and eggs. Try one."

  Yang Zhuanggui smiled and accepted it, patted Ye Luyuan's shoulder and said: "Do a good job, young man." After finishing, he entered the back room.

  The young men in the shop were wolfing down their buns and kept saying: "Delicious, delicious."