Chapter 68: Working Hard Enough?
Translator: Fan Translation Studio
Proofread by Claire.KK
The most upsetting thing to Lan was that Li Hongmei had s.n.a.t.c.hed the two customers right in front of her eyes. They were about to reach her stand but Li Hongmei talked them away.
Lan then let her fury out on Wong Zhu. “Why can’t you work harder to sell cold jelly?”
“Am I not working hard enough?” asked Wong Zhu.
“Didn’t you tell me that you could undercut their business by lowering the price?”
“I, I…if I have no option, I’ll reduce the price once again! I’d rather make no money today but I must sell the cold jelly. Let’s wait and see,” said Wong Zhu sulkily.
So Wong Zhu continued to lower his price to one coin for two bowls.
People of course would rather buy things at a lower price. When two prices are similar they may consider doing a favor for Li Hongmei, but Wong Zhu had undercut the price too much so even their return customers stopped buying Ye Xiaoxian’s cold jelly.
“This pair of b.i.t.c.hes. They’re really annoying me. They’re after us!” Li Hongmei stood akimbo intending to go to argue with them.
She was stopped by Ye Xiaoxian. “Ma, we don’t want others laugh at us.”
“What should we do then?”
“We’ll just do what we can!” said Ye Xiaoxian. “I’ll go to Lord Liu’s to cook for them and I’ll give half bucket to their staff. Ma, you keep an eye to our business here. As long as you’re here they won’t dare to go back to their original price and unless they do they won’t make any profit.”
“But…shall we just let them s.n.a.t.c.h our customers away?” asked Li Hongmei.
Ye Xiaoxian’s eyes went dim. “Surely not. Ma, just wait. Wait ‘till tomorrow and I’ll deal with them!”
Ye Xiaoxian carried half of the cold jelly to Lord Liu’s and gave it out to the staff as a token of her friends.h.i.+p. She then cooked for Liu Qianqian but she did not chat to her this time, leaving right away after Nanny Wong had served them.
Ye Xiaoxian went to the government office first. It was just past noon and Xiao Baoshan should still be taking a rest outside. As she expected, the moment she got there she saw Xiao Baoshan under the shade of a tree.
She was about to walk towards Baoshan when she saw Ya’er taking food to them. Ye Xiaoxian still remembered that last time, when Ya’er had brought food to Baoshan, she paused briefly in front of him and glanced at him tentatively, but this time she did not. She just inserted the pancake and the buns into his hands and left hurriedly.
Ye Xiaoxian then walked to Xiao Baoshan and shouted to him, “Baoshan!”
When Xiao Baoshan saw Ye Xiaoxian all of his buddies saw her too and they acted as if they had never seen a woman in their lives. They made a fuss once they saw her.
“Baoshan, this is your little bride?”
“Isn’t she the one who sells cold jelly?”
“No wonder Ya’er…”
The one who said this was nudged by the other next to him, so he shut up.
But Xiao Baoshan walked towards Ye Xiaoxian and lowered his head to her. “Have you just left Lord Liu’s?”
“Yeah.”
“Is there anything you want me to do?”
“So I can’t find you unless there’s something I want you to do?” smiled Ye Xiaoxian again.
She thought Xiao Baoshan would feel awkward but he said decisively, “Of course you can, anytime.”
It was Ye Xiaoxian who felt awkward this time. She hurriedly told Xiao Baoshan why she came. “Baoshan, do you know where they sell millstones? The type for grinding tofu.”
“Do you want to buy one?”
“Yeah, I want to buy one to make bean jelly (long-boiled soft beancurd, a kind of Chinese snack, either savory or sweet),” said Ye Xiaoxian.
She thought Xiao Baoshan would ask her the reason but he in fact did not ask anything, only saying, “I know where to get one. What size do you want? I can get it for you and carry it back.”
Ye Xiaoxian gestured the rough size and Xiao Baoshan immediately got her idea.