Chapter 90: Good Business

  The sky was still dark, and the Zhong family had all gotten up. They hadn't lit any lamps yet, and were starting to make breakfast in the dim light.

  Two dogs and Xiao Fu came over early in the morning, with several live fish jumping in their hands. They smiled and said: "Tuniu, we caught these yesterday afternoon, knowing you like to eat them, so we've been raising them until now. We wanted to send them over last night, but it was too late, hehe, do you like them?"

  Shen Sisi looked at them and indeed had a feeling of wagging her tail, she smiled and said: "Thank you, I won't be polite..."

  Anyway, she's lacking nutrition now, eating some fish is just right. Besides, it's their food, Shen Sisi doesn't have any psychological burden at all, and it's not like she hasn't eaten their food before. In the past, she often snatched food from them, and now they're even more dependent on her, what is she afraid of?!

  Let's let Dabao go and cook it now so she can wait for the soup.

  Two dogs and Xiao Fu caught a few fish, but they didn't dare to eat any of them. They sent all the fish over, and now looking at it is making me drool, but I swallowed hard and restrained myself. Although it's been a long time since we've had fish, last time we divided up more than ten kilograms of wild boar meat, which satisfied our cravings. Our family finally has some meat to eat, although my mother always cuts off just a small piece of meat for each meal, but with the oil from frying fatty meat, the flavor of the dishes is different. So they are very grateful to Shen Sisi, thinking that if it weren't for her, they wouldn't be able to eat wild boar meat. If it weren't for the Zhong family, even if we had brought back the wild boar, it would have been divided up by the villagers...

  Fish are common, and villagers occasionally go to the river to catch a few fish to eat. What's precious is pork! Wild boars are ferocious and difficult to hunt, so let's not mention that. As for domestic pigs, they're raised with great effort, and whoever raises one is reluctant to slaughter it, instead selling it to Zheng Butcher. Moreover, raising pigs is really not easy - it takes time and labor, and they don't even grow fat quickly. Just feeding them pig feed is a half-day's work every day, so pork is truly hard to come by.

  At this time, they looked at the Zhong family cooking fish soup and serving braised meat. Both of them were drooling, and it was extremely difficult to move their eyes away. Their noses, however, were not so controllable, constantly sniffing nonstop.

  One catty costs one cent, the more you buy, the more you earn. Er Gouzi and Xiao Fuzi are both greedy and excited at the same time, so they came to wait before dawn.

  Shen Sisi looked at their expressions and couldn't help but laugh, she had cooked fish soup and also gave them some to eat, smiling: "Eat a bit more, you have to walk a lot on the way to the city, and you still have to do business, if you don't have energy it won't work..."

  The two dogs didn't stand on ceremony, and they wolfed down a bowl of fish soup, half a piece of black bread, and a bit of pork offal. They ate with their mouths watering, their eyes shining brightly. "Tuni, what is this meat?! Is it pig intestines?! It's braised with the meat together?! So delicious and fragrant..."

  Shen Sisi just smiled and said: "With so many spices added, how can it not be fragrant?!"

  The whole family wolfed down their food, and after dinner, Shen Sisi prepared to set off. However, she didn't bring Er Bao and San Bao with her this time. She whispered to them: "You two are almost ten years old now, it's already late for you to start learning, so from now on, apart from helping out with household chores, don't worry about anything else. At home, practice the characters I taught you well, and recite your books. When I get back, I'll check on you, and once you've learned them all, I'll send you to a private school..."

  The second treasure was a bit worried and said: "There are so many things to do at home, can you and the eldest treasure handle it?!"

  "Don't worry, there are still two younger brothers after you. You just focus on studying..." Shen Sisi reminded them, now she had increased the amount of characters they had to recognize every day by more than double, from twenty or so characters a day, much more than Dabao's ten characters. Different expectations, naturally different tasks.

  Both of them were used to being poor and couldn't bear to disappoint this expectation, so they nodded silently and said: "We must study hard..."

  "Alright, we'll bring back some delicious food for you when we return..." Shen Sisi patted their heads and said: "In the future, the foundation of our family will depend on you. If you pass the imperial examination and become a xiucai, your status in the family will be different. At least, if there's something good at home, no one will dare to come and take it by force..."

  They also knew about Zheng Niangzi's affair and nodded solemnly upon hearing it.

  Shen Sisi finally set off with Da Bao, Er Gouzi, Xiao Fuzi, and Zhong Gensheng. Although they had 50 kilograms today, Shen Sisi originally planned to set up two stalls, but since it was the first time for Er Gouzi and Xiao Fuzi to set up a stall, she thought that yesterday's 20 kilograms sold well, so she only set up one stall. She thought that even if it took a bit more time, it would be fine, and besides, selling 20 kilograms yesterday only took an hour...

  Shen Sisi let Er Gouzi and Xiao Fuzi arrange the tables, then they started calling out for customers. Er Gouzi and Xiao Fuzi were also very quick-witted, as soon as they heard the sound of the door, they called out even more loudly.

  Shen Sisi's face is a familiar one here, yesterday she had braised meat, and the slightly better-off families would run over to buy a catty or two as soon as they saw her coming, even joking that they were addicted to eating it, upon hearing this Shen Sisi just smiled secretly.

  Two dogs, Er Gouzi and Xiao Fuzi, were quick-witted and clever. They could speak to people in their own language and to ghosts in theirs. When they saw someone who was well-dressed and in good condition, they would enthusiastically promote their goods, selling them by the catty or two. If the person's condition was average, they would promote half a catty or one catty. With smiles on their faces, they did a great business.

  Shen Sisi watched from the side and let out a sigh of relief. At least they were still able to put on a good face.

  Less than fifty catties were sold out in less than two hours, today's business is better than yesterday. Their braised meat has also spread to this market, and those who come to sell things will also buy half a catty back to taste the flavor. Before noon, they have all been sold out. The faces of the two children are filled with smiles, smiling so wide that their eyes are narrowed, "Tuniu, you're really amazing, this braised meat is selling so well! I was worried it wouldn't sell when I came..."

  "Raven's mouth..." Shen Sisi glared at him and said, "Leave, hurry up and pack up!"

  "Yes, yes, yes……" The two of them made a lot of money, and that was a great motivator. They quickly packed up their stall and followed Shen Sisi, even refusing to let Zhong Gensheng come over to carry the empty frame for the gongs. Their faces were all smiles as they walked away. Shen Sisi couldn't be bothered with them and just took two sugar calabazas back home.

  They arrived home just in time for lunch, and He Qiaoxiu had already cooked the meal. Seeing them return, she let out a sigh of relief and asked, "Have you sold everything?"

  "Auntie, they're all sold out..." Er Gouzi excitedly said: "A whole 50 catties, and they were all sold out in just a moment..."

  He Ahxiu smiled and said, "As long as business is good, it's all good."

  The other little ones had been waiting at the village entrance for their return, and as soon as they saw them coming back, they rushed over immediately. Upon hearing that everything was sold out, their eyes lit up, saying: "Take us with you tomorrow, Tuni?!"

  Shen Sisi nodded and said, "Tomorrow, Er Gouzzi will set up a stall, Xiao Fuzi will set up another one, each selling 50 kilograms. Whoever sells more will get more money. And you two must also bring these little ones out tomorrow... In the future, I'll arrange for you to go to the town and other markets in the city."

  Everyone's eyes lit up, seeing how well the braised meat was selling, and Tuni arranged it so perfectly, each one was full of energy.

  "Alright, let's just consider today as a trial run. Originally, I wasn't planning to pay you guys any wages, but since you're all working so hard, it wouldn't be right not to give you anything. However, since we were selling together today, I don't know who sold more or less. So for today, let's just say that Er Gouzi and Xiao Fuzi will each get 10 cents. From now on, everyone can set up their own stalls and sell separately, and then it'll be easy to calculate the money..."

  Several young men nodded heavily, looking at Er Gouzi and his group who went out for a trip and got ten cents, they were so envious that this was ten cents, in a month there would be three hundred cents, even if the minimum daily wage was only ten or twenty cents, in three months it would be almost one or two silver coins, the landlord's family didn't have such high wages either, let alone Tuniang who planned to expand her business, they would sell more every day in the future, this wage... was unimaginable.

  Let's calculate, maybe we'll earn even more than the adults, this is too exciting! At that time, several kids were so excited that they wanted to jump up and exclaimed: "Tuniu, Tuniu, we must work hard..."

  Shen Sisi heard the words and smiled lightly, they all sold meat together, like eating a big pot of rice, it's possible to produce laziness, but each one sells their own, every single one of them will show off their skills, these kids, none of them are simple.

  After sending them back home, the yard finally quieted down. I gave the sugar gourd to the two brothers, and they both looked a bit embarrassed, saying: "Tuniu, you eat it, every time you buy for us, we are brothers and sisters, none of us will eat, how can we eat?!"

  Shen Sisi was slightly moved and said: "I don't like eating this, you guys eat it..."

  San Bao said with a pout: "Sugar is sweet and delicious, why don't you like eating it?!"

  She thought to herself in dismay, after all, a grown-up's soul was living inside her small body, and sweets, which kids loved to eat, no longer had any effect on her.

  "Tutu, what do you like to eat? I'll give it to you..." Er Bao asked her, holding out a sugar gourd.

  Shen Sisi's heart was even more moved, and she smiled: "I love to eat meat, but you don't have to let me have it, from now on everyone in the family will have meat to eat, okay..."

  The two of them are still young, and they don't think there's anything wrong with it. After thinking about it, they didn't dwell on it anymore and went to eat sugar gourds instead. Da Bao and Si Bao are almost twelve after all, so even if they crave sweets, they would be too embarrassed to ask for them. Therefore, Shen Sisi simply didn't bring any, not because she was stingy, but because a big kid eating candy is just...because here, being twelve already makes you an adult.

  But Dabao didn't mind either, and besides, his youngest sister didn't like sweets, so he couldn't eat them anyway.

  The two treasures and three treasures have finished eating the sugar gourd, all with a look of satisfaction on their faces, their eyes full of admiration for Tuniang. To them, Tuniang is really great, she can do everything, no matter what happens at home, she can arrange it well.