Siheyuan: Walking the Path of Qin Huairu

Cai Quanwu lifted the quilt covering the basket and showed the vegetables inside to the two. The fat shopkeeper's eyes lit up when he saw the vegetables on the cart. The green leeks and cucumbers looked so green and juicy, and the red tomatoes were evenly sized and ruddy in color, which made the shopkeeper swallow his saliva.

He calmed down and said, "I'll take all the money you have."

Cai Quanwu said: "There are 15 kilograms of vegetables, and some seafood. Our boss said that if you buy vegetables, you must also buy some seafood. This is called joint sales."

Cai Quanwu learned and sold it on the spot, reading from the book. After he finished speaking, he lifted the sack covering the top. The fat shopkeeper was also very happy to see the octopus and razor clams. As for the restaurant owners, are they afraid of having too many ingredients? As for the Spanish mackerel and hairtail, it’s okay to collect them by the way. Now that it’s cold, the whole outdoor area is a natural big refrigerator, which can be stored for a long time without going bad.

The fat shopkeeper picked up a razor clam and thought to himself, "This will make a delicious soup."

Then Cai Quanwu said very appropriately: "Our boss made a soup with it. It was so delicious that I almost swallowed my tongue." The fat shopkeeper turned around and looked at Cai Quanwu with an unfriendly look.

The waiter next to him was unhappy when he heard this. He stiffened his neck and said, "Brother, this is a restaurant. What do you mean by praising your boss for his delicious dishes? Are you looking down on the chef of Hongxinglou? I'm telling you, you're just showing off your skills in front of Guan Gong!"

Cai Quanwu said expressionlessly: "Forget it, just pretend I didn't say anything."

The fat shopkeeper didn't want to argue about it at this time. He glared at the talkative clerk and said, "Tell me the price."

Cai Quanwu said, "Big Spanish mackerel is 45 cents per pound, hairtail is 36 cents per pound, and sea bass is 30 cents per pound. Octopus is 25 cents per pound, and razor clams and mantis shrimps are 10 cents per pound. As for vegetables, boss, please give me a price. If it's not suitable, I will go to other restaurants to have a look."

The fat shopkeeper glared at Cai Quanwu and said, "Hey, you are quite experienced, and you know how to provoke others?"

Cai Quanwu remained silent. The fat shopkeeper had no choice but to continue, "How about I give you 60 cents a pound for vegetables? For other seafood, I'll take them at the price you said. But we have to make it clear that when you have this kind of vegetables in the future, you must give it to our Hongxinglou first."

Cai Quanwu was also satisfied with the price and said happily, "That's it. Unload the goods and settle the bill. I don't need to go to a second store."

The three of them worked together to move the goods down and weigh them one by one. The razor clams and mantis shrimps weighed 80 kilograms each, the octopus weighed 114 kilograms, and the three kinds of fish weighed 3 kilograms each. They were all weighed at home. The shopkeeper's abacus clattered and he muttered to himself. The final total was yuan.

Although Cai Quanwu is a busybody now, he has attended junior high school and has no problem settling accounts.

He took the money handed over by the shopkeeper, counted it carefully, and put it in his pocket solemnly. He couldn't afford to lose so much money. At this time, the shopkeeper asked tentatively: "Do you have any seafood at home?"

Cai Quanwu: "Yes, I brought this much because I was afraid your family wouldn't be able to eat it all."

The shopkeeper said, "Tell me how much you have left, and I'll see if I can eat it all."

Cai Quanwu: "There are only about 150 kilograms of razor clams and mantis shrimps left, 500 kilograms of octopus, and more than kilograms of various fish. Oh, and I didn't bring any fresh prawns, which are this long." He gestured with his hands as he spoke. "In addition, there are dried kelp, shrimp skins, and dried shrimps. I don't know how much."

The shopkeeper was most concerned about the vegetables. He asked, "How many vegetables are left?"

Cai Quanwu said with a wooden face: "There should be more vegetables, but I don't know how many there are. I'm just an errand boy, and the boss didn't tell me."

The fat shopkeeper glared angrily: "Hey, you don't know what you should know, but you know everything you shouldn't know." Cai Quanwu stood there without saying a word.

The shopkeeper thought for a moment and said, "Give me all the octopus, mantis shrimp, and razor clams. Give me 100 catties of the prawns you mentioned. Bring 10 catties of dried shrimp and dried shrimp each so I can check the quality. The most important thing is that I want as many fresh vegetables as you can get. catties of vegetables are not enough for our restaurant to fill its stomach. The price is negotiable."

After the shopkeeper finished speaking, he took out two boxes of Daqianmen from his pocket, handed them to Cai Quanwu and said, "This is your errand fee." Cai Quanwu declined, "No need, the boss has already paid me."

The shopkeeper stuffed the cigarette into his pocket and said, "He gave it to me, but this is from my Hongxinglou. Don't hold it against me." Cai Quanwu did not refuse and turned to leave the restaurant. He got on the tricycle and was secretly happy. He did not expect to sell so many seafood products so smoothly.

He touched the Daqianmen cigarette in his pocket. The one with the filter tip cost 8 cents a pack. He could only buy the Dashengchan cigarette for cents a pack. He was reluctant to smoke it often, just to satisfy his craving occasionally. This fat shopkeeper was very generous and capable!

Thinking that he was also shaking now and someone gave him a cigarette, Cai Quanwu felt so happy.

Xu Huizhen was taking care of the tavern, and some customers had already come. Today, there were more dried shrimps and dried shrimps on the counter. Dried shrimps were 10 cents per plate, and dried shrimps were cents per plate. The profit margin here is more than three times. Think about it, dried shrimps are bought at cents per pound, but dried shrimps are not weighed, so one pound can be filled with plates. Dried shrimps are bought at cents per pound, and one pound can be filled with more than plates, which can be sold at almost five times the purchase price.

Xu Huizhen didn't feel guilty at all. Her pub also had to make money, right?

She was selling dried shrimps with a smile on her face, saying, "Mr. Pian, would you like a plate of dried shrimps? Dried shrimps are rich in calcium. Eating them can prevent osteoporosis for adults and promote bone development for children. In layman's terms, it can help children grow taller."

Pian Ye readily agreed: "Since the shopkeeper said so, I'll have one plate."

Xu Huizhen smiled and said, "Come on, a plate of dried shrimps!" Then she took out a plate from the counter and handed it to Pian Ye: "Pian Ye, try it, it tastes really fresh."

Pian Ye took a bite and nodded, saying, "Not bad, a good dish to go with wine." Others also asked for a plate of dried shrimps, mainly because they were cheap. Fewer people asked for dried shrimps, because dried shrimps were expensive, six cents a plate. In this era, landlords had no surplus food, no, the landlords were all overthrown. In short, six cents had to be spent carefully.

But no matter what, everyone likes new things and likes to try something new. The sales of the tavern are good today.

Xu Huizhen was greeting customers with a smile on her face when Cai Quanwu came in with snowflakes on his head.