CHAPTER 142: CHAPTER 142: BUY 2 JIN, GET 0.5 JIN FREE

Aunt Ge sells rolled pancakes, which don’t conflict with vegetable-stuffed flatbreads.

Plus, after talking to Aunt Ge, she said that because she’s getting older, she can’t drag the food cart too far, so she only sells pancakes nearby during market days, spending most of the month at home resting.

But aside from the Lin Family, Li Hua Team’s only left with widows and orphans; other families are quite thriving, with at least one man in each household who can handle things. As long as they can make money, taking a few extra steps isn’t an issue.

After Lin Xiang’s analysis, many people felt as if their governor and conception vessels had been opened, thinking they too could earn big money by doing a small business.

Even after it got dark, these people showed no intention of leaving.

Mrs. Lin heard Lin Xiang’s voice becoming hoarse and got up to usher people out.

"If you really want to make money, hurry back and get ready. It takes a lot of preparation to start a business. If your equipment isn’t ready, you still expect to earn money? What are you thinking? It’s good enough that my girl can give you advice; we can’t have her do all the prep work for everyone, right?"

"Xiuli, look at how you’re talking; we just wanted to get some insights from the girl."

"Getting insights is fine, but we also need to find time for it. We’ve been busy all day, and neither of us has eaten yet; the girl has been talking to you for so long and didn’t even have time to drink water!"

Everyone then thanked and apologized to Lin Xiang, finally leaving.

Fifth Uncle and Chunya also prepared to leave, so Lin Xiang gave them their wages.

After everyone left, Lin Xiang stretched lazily, "Mom, I’ll go make dinner then. It’s a bit late today; shall we just make do with something simple?"

"Enough, you should rest early; I’ll cook today. Let’s just have some noodles to make do."

The next day, the Lin family returned from the market, having just unloaded the stuff from the cart and ready to sit down for a rest when someone knocked on the door again.

Mrs. Lin muttered, "When will this end?"

But she still went to open the door.

The knocker was Uncle Wang, holding half a basin of fried dough twists, "Girl, I fried these twists today, try them and see how they taste. Can they be sold?"

Lin Xiang casually picked one up, chewed it, and with her cheeks puffed out, gave Uncle Wang a thumbs up, "Not bad, they’re tasty, could be sold."

Uncle Wang happily placed the whole basin of twists on the table, rubbed his hands, and nervously asked Lin Xiang, "Then what price do you think is suitable for selling them by the pound?"

Lin Xiang carefully calculated in her mind.

Fried dough twists mainly use flour, and to taste good you need to add quite a few things. Uncle Wang’s twists taste good mainly because the recipe includes honey, giving them a sweet taste.

Also, frying twists consumes a lot of oil, so the cost isn’t low; selling them cheap wouldn’t work.

"Set the price at ten cents a pound."

"Ten cents? Isn’t that a bit high?"

"I roughly estimated, the cost per pound is at least five cents, right?"

Uncle Wang smiled awkwardly, "Actually, it’s not that high; the honey is from the beehive I collected from the tree, so it’s free."

Lin Xiang had a lump in her throat—free things tend to be more expensive!

Never mind the danger of climbing trees; just collecting a beehive has its life-threatening risks.

If stung by a swarm and mishandled, it could be life-threatening!

"Uncle Wang, you can’t calculate the costs that way. Even if your honey is free, we should still include it in the costs. The price of ten cents isn’t expensive, and ten cents isn’t the final pricing; we have promotions."

"Promotions? What promotions?"

"Buy two pounds, get half a pound free."

Uncle Wang thought it over carefully, "A pound of twists is ten cents, buy two pounds get half a pound free, which means you spend twenty cents to get two and a half pounds, the price per pound being eight cents, not too high, I can accept that."

Lin Xiang couldn’t help but twitch her mouth.

People of this era are really simple, without the common bad habits of cunning merchants.

Unlike later generations, where those in business fear they won’t profit, Uncle Wang is worried about earning too much.

"Yes, that’s correct."

"But what if they can’t buy two pounds? Are you going to do like selling spicy powder, where you can combine orders for five parts?"

Lin Xiang quickly replied, "We cannot combine orders. Although the unit price of twists isn’t cheap, a pound of twists is quite a lot. For families with slightly better conditions, spending twenty cents to buy two and a half pounds of twists isn’t hard; it’s New Year’s after all, having a plate of twists on the table adds a lot of class!"

Lin Xiang knows that people of this time pay attention to appearances; even poor households want to show that they’ve lived well over the past year during New Year’s in front of relatives and friends.

Besides, twists can be stored for a few months without any trouble.

"Buy two pounds, get half a pound free; buy a pound, get two ounces free."

What about less than a pound?

Then there’s no free offer, or else profits would be frighteningly low.

"Alright, we’ll follow the girl’s advice! Then I’ll fry more twists tonight and join you at the market tomorrow."

Lin Xiang nodded, "Tomorrow’s market is a bit far, so we need to set off early; the latest we can meet at the village entrance is at five-thirty."

"Okay, I’ll go fry the twists now."

"Uncle Wang, you didn’t take your twists!"

"Those are your twists; Uncle brought them for you!" Uncle Wang had already dashed out of the Lin family’s courtyard, his voice trailing from afar.

Lin Xiang is generous, willing to share business insights and offer ideas; as an elder, Uncle Wang can’t be inconsiderate.

As soon as Uncle Wang left, Aunt Chen arrived.

"Girl, this is the flatbread I just cooked, with some vegetables inside, try it and see how it tastes."

Aunt Chen wasn’t stingy and brought two hand-sized flatbreads for Lin Xiang and Mrs. Lin.

The vegetables inside the flatbread were Aunt Chen’s idea from Lin Xiang yesterday, stir-fried shredded potatoes.

No choice, since there are no off-season vegetables nowadays; besides the potatoes and Chinese cabbages every household stocks up, there are no other vegetables to put inside.

Lin Xiang suggested Aunt Chen use pickled vegetables to stir-fry potatoes and cabbages, letting guests choose what to eat.

To make it convenient, she only used shredded potatoes today.

Lin Xiang took a big bite, "There’s no problem with the flatbread, it’s crunchy and chewy, but there’s too little oil and water used in the stir-fry; the shredded potatoes don’t taste good, affecting the overall taste of the flatbread."

Aunt Chen replied awkwardly, "Using more oil increases the cost, doesn’t it?"

Lin Xiang placed the bitten flatbread on the table and said earnestly, "Aunt Chen, costs are included in the selling price. This stuffed flatbread should sell for at least eight cents each, right?"