In truth, Luo Ge spoke no lies. After picking three lychee trees, they had harvested a total of over three hundred pounds of fresh lychees, but the lychee preserves they made came out to only thirty-odd pounds.
(Note: This is a fictional story, with the setting that the units of measurement are the same as we use today, 10 taels to a pound.)
"If that's the case, then would 270 wen per pound of dried fruit do?" After pondering for a moment, Li Shopkeeper spoke.
He had already factored in the costs of dehydrating the fruits, labor, and ingredients into this price.
Fruit preserves used a lot of sugar, and sugar was expensive. Normally, they would sell the preserves by the tael, and selling at this price per pound was about the highest they could go.
This was a small town, not a major county seat. If the prices were too high, no one would be willing to buy.
The flavor of these dried fruits was quite good, so the price could be raised a little.
This was the highest price he could offer now, a very fair price. If it didn't work out, there was nothing he could do.
After all, they needed to make a profit too.
Upon hearing this, Gu Jinchen was momentarily taken aback. 270 wen per pound... they had made around thirty-seven pounds, so that would be earning 10 taels of silver?
Disregarding the costs of sugar, salt, and jars, that was a net profit of 9 taels?
Thinking this, he turned to look at his wife, suddenly feeling that she was quite capable of making money!
"Alright." This price was within Luo Ge's budget, so she readily agreed.
Seeing Luo Ge's swift agreement, Li Shopkeeper also smiled.
He had someone weigh the dried fruits they brought and directly settled the account with Luo Ge.
At 270 wen per pound for 37 pounds, it should have been 9,990 wen, but to make a good deal, Li Shopkeeper rounded it down to an even 10 taels of silver.
Upon seeing this, Luo Ge also gifted him the small jar they had used for tasting.
This transaction netted them 10 taels of silver in one go.
When they had set out, Gu Jinchen had said to just bring a small amount to test the waters first, before deciding further. But unexpectedly, they had sold everything in one trip, thanks to Luo Ge insisting on bringing it all.
And what he didn't know was that Luo Ge hadn't spent any money on the sugar and salt - this was pure profit!
"If Lady Gu wants to make dried fruits again in the future, you can bring them to me as well," Li Shopkeeper said.
It was very comfortable doing business with such an amiable person, and Luo Ge's craftsmanship was excellent. Needless to say, Li Shopkeeper would be more than happy to deal with her again.
Moreover, he had a feeling that establishing a connection with Luo Ge would bring even more benefits in the future.
"Sure," Luo Ge smiled in agreement.
This was exactly her intention. As far as she knew, this confectionery shop called Fuxin was quite renowned nationwide.
Although their selection of dried fruits wasn't extensive since they mainly focused on pastries, they had branches almost everywhere in the country.
The fruit tree forest in her space wouldn't take too long to bear fruit. Making dried fruits to sell to them would be a good sales channel.
"Mm, take care," Li Shopkeeper also smiled and nodded at them in farewell.
This trip had yielded a considerable profit, and Luo Ge was all smiles on the way back.
Seeing her like this, Gu Jinchen also secretly felt happy.
"Husband, do you know where else there are lychee trees? Let's make some more," she truly loved this feeling of earning money.
This was the lychee growing season, so they should earn as much as they could.
Upon hearing this, Gu Jinchen searched his memory: "There's still one tree on the back of the mountain, and a few on Mount Dayao. I'll go pick them tomorrow."
"Alright, I'll go with you."
Seeing his wife's bright and shining eyes, Gu Jinchen nodded.
"Okay."
Afterwards, the family strolled around town for a bit. As promised earlier, they bought some cloth for Gu Jinchen to make new clothes.
Then they went to buy some meat, with Luo Ge returning to the same stall as before.
Perhaps Wang Sister-in-law's unintentional sharing had an effect, as the stall that had previously cheated them was evidently struggling with dismal business and hardly any customers.
Luo Ge bought a piece of meat and took two bones. Seeing some water spinach that had been tossed aside and unwanted, she spent a few copper wen to buy that as well.
"Wife, that... doesn't taste good," Gu Jinchen hesitated for a while but still couldn't help but say.
"Don't you trust my cooking skills anymore? Do you want it braised or stewed?" she asked.
For a stew, she would need to buy some spices, but braising didn't require that.
She had a bit of a dilemma choosing, as she felt both would be delicious, so she asked them.
"Hmm... let's try both? Yeah, let's make a bit of each since we bought plenty," she answered herself before they could respond.
Only children had to choose, she wanted both.
Gu Jinchen: "..."
The two little ones: "..."
They couldn't even say they didn't want to?
... Very clearly, no.
Having achieved her main goal for the day, Luo Ge returned home with a basketful of earnings and began cleaning the pork offal.
She took some wood ash from the stove and went to rinse it by the river, while Gu Jinchen went to water the vegetable plot and millet field, so he didn't accompany her.
The riverside was dangerous, and she didn't allow the two children to follow either, telling them to go play with Li Qiao and Tie Dan instead.
When Luo Ge arrived, there were some women washing things by the river as well. Not wanting the offal's smell to disturb others, she went further downstream to a more isolated area.
"Hmm? What's that awful stench?!"
But even so, she still drew someone's displeasure. An old woman, upon seeing Luo Ge pass by, pinched her nose in disgust and complained exaggeratedly.
"Hey, isn't that Gu Second's wife? What's in that basket that smells so bad?"
She got up to peek into the basket Luo Ge was carrying the pork offal in. Upon confirming its contents, her expression became even more dramatic.
"Ugh? Why are you eating such a disgusting thing? Doesn't your husband Gu Second usually go hunting? Didn't he get you any meat to eat? How did you end up eating this stuff?"
"This stuff stinks so bad, even dogs won't eat it."
"......" Hearing these words, Luo Ge paused in her steps and turned to look at the woman. Noticing the malicious aura emanating from her, Luo Ge lightly pursed her lips.
"From what you're saying, Auntie, it seems you don't eat it either?" Her voice was very calm, gently and softly spoken without any emotion.
Zhu Auntie had intentionally tried to pick a fight, but seeing Luo Ge remain so amiable despite her words, failing to provoke the reaction she wanted, she frowned.
Without thinking, she blurted out: "Of course I don't eat it, unlike you."
"Pfft." Upon hearing this, Luo Ge laughed directly, nodding repeatedly.
"I see, something that even dogs won't eat, Auntie doesn't eat either."
"Pfft hahaha..."
The other women initially didn't understand either, but upon hearing this line, they immediately realized the implication and burst out laughing.
Something that dogs won't eat, Zhu Auntie also doesn't eat - wasn't that comparing Zhu Auntie to a dog?
And she had even admitted to it herself.
At first, Zhu Auntie herself didn't catch Luo Ge's meaning. Something dogs won't eat, of course she wouldn't eat it either! What was wrong with that?
But seeing everyone laughing at her, her face darkened even further.
"What are you laughing at?! What's so funny?"
"Nothing, nothing, hahaha..." Hearing her words, the others only laughed harder.
Seeing this, Zhu Auntie felt something was amiss, so she pondered it for a moment. After a while, she finally realized, and her eyes widened in anger as she glared at Luo Ge.
"You little wench, how dare you make a fool of me, your elder? Have you no manners?!"
Upon hearing this, Luo Ge's smile faded: "Manners? In my limited experience, manners are only extended to those who are courteous."
"And respect begets respect - how others treat me is how I treat them in return. I've merely responded to Auntie in the same manner she addressed me. What's wrong with that?"
Her words were gently and softly spoken, as if she had no temper at all, but they made Zhu Auntie burn with humiliation nonetheless.
But she did not know how to respond to Luo Ge's gentle and soft words.
"You, you little bastard." After pointing at Luo Ge for a while, that's all she could say as an insult.
Zhu Auntie had a son about the same age as Gu Jinchen. Earlier, she saw that Gu Jinchen and Li Qiao often went to the mountains and could hunt for things to earn money.
So she had the idea of asking Gu Jinchen to take her son along, but Gu Jinchen and the others refused.
They said the mountains were dangerous, and it was not suitable to frequently bring people along on regular days. However, when the village gathered together to clear the mountains, they could bring him along.
Clearing the mountains meant maintaining the safety of the few mountains near the village by periodically gathering people to remove dangerous wild animals and such.
There was basically no prey in the nearby mountains. To have a good catch, they had to go deeper into the more distant mountains, where the danger was greater.
Gu Jinchen and Li Qiao had martial skills, so they were fine, but bringing others along would be more troublesome. Since many people asked them this, they naturally could not agree.
If they agreed to one person's request but not another's, that would not be fair. So Gu Jinchen and the others gave this explanation to everyone in the village.
But Zhu Auntie felt that Gu Jinchen looked down on people and was stingy, so she harbored resentment towards him.
She often saw Gu Jinchen returning from the mountains with his catches, which made her even more envious and resentful.
Since she disliked Gu Jinchen, she naturally would not like Luo Ge and the others either.
So now, she found an excuse to pick a fight with Luo Ge.
