TTTQF Chapter 4

Long-Term Trade

After a quarter of an hour passes, Jiang Miao starts to doubt his life choices. So much for the planned “joint venture”; the tofu pudding is selling solo, while his buns are being completely ignored.

Among the passing customers, everyone only buys tofu pudding. They prefer to go a bit farther to buy sesame seed cakes and steamed buns to eat with it, rather than buying the buns from his stall.

Jiang Miao can’t figure it out. He looks around and concludes that it’s probably because he hasn’t opened the steamer, so people can’t smell the aroma. Thus, he lifts the steamer lid slightly, allowing the savory scent of the buns to waft into the street.

This strategy works. People on the street, attracted by the mouthwatering aroma, start looking for its source. However, those who find his stall and take a few more glances at him quickly walk away.

Jiang Miao touches his face thoughtfully, looking very serious. Uh-oh, it’s likely that people recognize the original owner. The original owner’s buns aren’t tasty, and after being disappointed before, people now automatically avoid the risk. Even though these buns smell delicious, they still don’t dare to buy them.

He ponders for a moment, then asks the old man next to him to watch his stall. He goes into the alley, and when he returns, half of his face is covered with a cloth.

He goes back to his stall as if nothing has happened, and sure enough, within a short while, a customer arrives. He’s a chubby man, well known to everyone as the manager of the grain shop up ahead, with the surname Wang. Besides enjoying good food, he has no other hobbies, and all the vendors on the street have done business with him.

“Hey, these buns smell pretty good,” Manager Wang says as he approaches the stall, sniffing vigorously. Yes, this is the smell he has just caught. He glances at Jiang Miao, guessing he’s dressed like that to avoid catching a cold. It’s winter, after all, and it isn’t uncommon to see people bundled up this way.

“Not only do they smell good, but they taste even better. How about trying a couple?” Jiang Miao asks enthusiastically. If his first sale doesn’t go well, the entire day will be off to a bad start.

“How much for one?” Manager Wang is cautious when dealing with unfamiliar vendors, and he would never buy without knowing the price first.

Jiang Miao has already figured out the pricing. The buns sold in the market are smaller, with vegetable or meat fillings. Vegetable buns cost three wen for two, and meat buns five wen for two, though the meat filling is never pure meat.

His steamed buns are larger than others and include dried shrimp, so he thinks they should sell for at least two wen each. He confidently states, “Two wen per bun.”

Manager Wang laughs in surprise, “These aren’t even meat-filled buns. Is it appropriate to sell them so expensively? Others sell theirs for three wen for two.”

Jiang Miao adopts an expression that says, You just don’t know. He lifts the steamer lid and points to the large, white buns inside. “Take a look, sir. Do other people’s buns match the size of mine? Do they smell as good as mine? Just buying the ingredients for these buns costs me quite a bit. To be honest, selling them for two wen each is still a bit of a loss!”

The aroma of the buns wafts over, much more enticing now that the steamer is fully open. Manager Wang sees that the buns are indeed large and decides not to worry about saving a few coins. He says directly, “Alright, give me two to start. If they aren’t good, there won’t be a next time.”

Jiang Miao takes out the prepared oil paper, wraps up two buns, and hands them over. While collecting the money, he smiles and says, “I guarantee you’ll come back for more after tasting them.”

Manager Wang picks up a bun, blows on it, and takes a bite. With just one bite, he tastes the rich broth. Another bite reveals the sweet, fresh taste of the radish, without any rawness, mixed with a savory flavor. The fine granules inside give the bun an even better texture.

Not minding the heat, he quickly devours the bun in just a few bites. After finishing, he exclaims, “Delicious!”

After devouring two buns and satisfying his appetite, Manager Wang relaxes. He sits down at the nearby stall, asks Old Man Ding to serve him a bowl of hot tofu pudding, and then orders two more buns, enjoying them contentedly.

Jiang Miao, who has already received eight cents, suddenly becomes confident and straightens up a little.

Others who recognize Manager Wang, seeing him enjoy his food, follow suit. They order several buns and a bowl of tofu pudding.

People tend to follow the crowd, and soon Jiang Miao’s bun stall is bustling. Before long, the over thirty buns in the first steamer layer are sold out.

Manager Wang, now satiated, wipes his mouth and approaches Jiang Miao. “Will you be here tomorrow?” he asks.

Busy wrapping buns and collecting money, Jiang Miao still manages to reply, “Yes, I’ll be here every day from now on.”

“That’s good, another place to get good food. Speaking of buns, yours are much better than that young man’s from before. His buns were terrible! But I haven’t seen him around these days; he probably changed jobs,” Manager Wang remarks, still displaying a hint of distaste.

Jiang Miao can’t help but laugh and sigh at the same time. He almost wants to tear off the cloth covering his face right then and there to show Manager Wang who he really is.

This large steamer has a total of three layers. When half of the buns are sold from the third layer, neighbors from the courtyard come over. They had planned to come early to support Jiang Miao, but they hadn’t expected his business to be so good. Despite making so many buns yesterday, they are almost sold out.

When Jiang Miao sees them coming, he smiles and invites them to eat, but Aunt Liu pushes his hand away.

“It was fine to eat for free yesterday, but now that you’ve opened for business, there’s no reason for us to be treated,” she says.

No one else wants it either. After exchanging a few words, they each pay and leave with their buns. Once they leave, only two buns remain in the steamer. Old man Ding, who sells tofu pudding has been smelling them all morning, can’t resist anymore and says he wants to buy one to try.

Jiang Miao generously wraps one and offers it to him for free. Old Man Ding feels a bit embarrassed and hands over a bowl of tofu pudding in return.

Jiang Miao believes that mutual interaction sustains relationships. If there is interaction without reciprocation, it may happen two or three times at most, and then there will be no more interactions. He finishes the remaining bun, washes the bowl, and returns it. After exchanging greetings with Old Man Ding, he carries his pole and goes back.

At this time, it is only just starting to get bright outside.

Back at his residence, he pulls out the small drawer in his money chest, which is filled with copper coins, old and new, all of which feel particularly friendly to Jiang Miao’s eyes.

He pours them all onto the table, counts the coins he brought back in the morning, and then stacks them up in piles of ten.

A total of one hundred and eighty-four copper coins sold! Jiang Miao is overjoyed, but when he finishes calculating, his expression falls again.

These buns use about six catties of flour. Based on the market price he inquired about a few days ago, better quality flour costs seven wen per catty, while the lower quality costs five wen. The original owner bought the lower quality, which costs thirty wen.

As for the fillings, radishes aren’t expensive. A basket only costs seven wen, which is enough for more than a catty. Shrimp skins are a bit more expensive, costing him twenty wen, but he doesn’t use them all, so it’s about ten wen in total.

The thirteen spices probably cost about ten wen’s worth, and the other ingredients like oil, salt, scallions, and ginger combined would cost about four wen per batch. This adds up to sixty-one wen. In other words, the cost takes up about one-third of the earnings, and he hasn’t even factored in labor costs, making his profit even less.

However, today is just a trial run. If he sells more tomorrow, he could earn more. After thinking it through, Jiang Miao takes out one hundred wen and saves it, while the rest he puts aside for spending.

After steaming the buns yesterday, there isn’t much flour left, so he needs to go buy some more. There are only a few pieces of firewood left, so he needs to have someone bring two loads. And as for the bun fillings, he only made radish and shrimp skin fillings yesterday, so today he needs to see if he can buy other fillings to diversify the flavors.

Jiang Miao makes a plan in his mind. After summing up all the things he wants to buy, he carries the basket and goes out. When he locks the door, Jiang Miao suddenly feels something is off, but he can’t quite put his finger on it. It isn’t until he reaches the side door that he realizes: where is his fish? His large fish!

He hurries back under the eaves and sees that only a fish head is left hanging from the rope in mid-air.

Has it been stolen? But why didn’t they take the rope with them? Why tear it down forcibly?

Suddenly, Jiang Miao thinks of the fat cat in the yard. Maybe that guy is a thief. Sure enough, he walks under the jujube tree and sees a fish skeleton and torn pieces of meat underneath.

Jiang Miao looks around dumbfounded and finally finds the thief cat on the roof of the east wall. It lies there lazily, licking its paws from time to time. When it notices Jiang Miao’s gaze, it softly meows as if greeting him, showing no awareness of being caught red-handed as a thief.

Sister Bai sits under the eaves of the main house picking vegetables and asks him, “Jiang Xiaoge, what’s wrong with this cat?”

Jiang Miao replies, “This cat stole my fish, but it’s partly my fault. I hung the fish outside at night. How could I not attract the cat?”

Sister Bai laughs and points at the cat. “This little rascal isn’t usually so greedy. It’s probably pregnant recently and always feels hungry, so it comes up with the idea of stealing fish. It belongs to the Li family next door, named Dahua. Because it’s good at catching mice, several families nearby don’t drive it away, so it often comes around.”

Jiang Miao suddenly realizes. No wonder! If he didn’t often fail to see it, he wouldn’t have ignored the cat and hung the fish outside directly.

“I’ll go tell Sister Li later and have her compensate you with another fish,” Sister Bai decided to seek justice for him.

Jiang Miao quickly waves his hand. “No need, no need. It’s my own fault. How can I blame others?”

After saying that, he calls out to the cat on the wall, “Dahua, you ate the fish from my house. Could you also catch the mice in my house for me?” He hasn’t slept well at night ever since he saw the mice.

Sister Bai finds his childish behavior amusing, but Jiang Miao doesn’t mind. After saying hello, he leaves.

He first walks towards the west gate of the city. There are many people selling firewood here, bundles of thatch and loads of firewood.

Jiang Miao chooses a man with a dark, reddish-black face who seems like the most honest one to talk to. “Brother, how much are you selling this firewood for?”

The man looks a bit uneasy, rubbing his hands together. “This firewood has been dried more than others and burns better. It’s twenty-two wen per load.”

Jiang Miao bends down and pulls out two pieces to inspect. As the man claims, they are indeed thoroughly dried. Plus, his load is a bit larger than others’, so paying two extra wen wouldn’t hurt.

“I’ll take this load. Could you please help me carry it to the corner of Tianshui Alley on Yifeng Street. There’s a small path that leads inside. I’ll be there in a moment, alright?” Jiang Miao isn’t familiar with him, so he can’t pay in advance. But if they have more dealings in the future, that could change.

The man, seeing Jiang Miao doesn’t negotiate the price, feels relieved and readily agrees before hoisting the load onto his shoulders and heading in that direction.

Jiang Miao quickens his pace to buy other things. First, he goes to the morning market, buys some radishes, then goes to Manager Wang’s shop to buy ten catties of flour.

By the time he returns home, the man has already been waiting outside the side door for a while.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting, Brother. I’ll settle up with you now.” Jiang Miao opens the door, and once the man brings the firewood into the courtyard and unloads it, Jiang Miao counts out twenty-two copper coins and hands them over.

“It doesn’t matter.” The man takes the coins, counts them, carefully tucks them into his pocket, and lifts the empty load, ready to leave.

Jiang Miao quickly calls out to him, “Excuse me, Brother, please wait a moment.”

The man stops and turns back, looking somewhat puzzled.

“I run a small business and usually use a lot of firewood. This load probably won’t last more than a few days.” Jiang Miao explains. He doesn’t want to keep running to the west gate every few days to buy firewood. “Could you, every… six days, deliver a load for me?”

Jiang Miao quickly calculates the number of days this firewood will last and proposes a long-term deal.

The man’s face shows a hint of joy and he readily agrees. He is usually not very good with words and often has to spend half a day selling a load of firewood. Sometimes people would haggle and try to lower the price. He hadn’t expected to land such a lucrative long-term deal today.

After finalizing the deal with him, Jiang Miao happily watches him leave before starting to move the firewood piled up in the courtyard inside. He realizes he should have just let that Brother Hu help him carry it in earlier.

“Little Jiang, did you buy firewood?” At this moment, Aunt Liu happens to bring out a stool to sit outside and mend clothes. Seeing Jiang Miao busy moving the firewood into the house, she asks.

“Yeah, steaming buns take a lot of firewood, so I had to buy some more to keep.”

“The sun is shining today. Aren’t you going to dry it?”

“No need. I’ve checked this firewood; it’s really dry.”

“Good that you checked. You never know. The other day, the Wang family’s daughter-in-law fell for someone’s trick and bought half a load of firewood from somewhere, but when she burned it, it smoked heavily. Turns out it was all damp. Now, every time she starts a fire, her mother-in-law sits at the door cursing, and the neighbors all laugh at her.”

Aunt Liu shares the latest gossip with Jiang Miao, who listens with keen interest, occasionally chiming in, making Aunt Liu spill out more and more news.

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