allonlinenovel Chapter 69 The Little Beggar Steals Sugar Cakes
Chapter 69 The Little Beggar Steals Sugar Cakes
But his daughter was right; he was a grown man and shouldn't be bullied by two women.
Yes, we're not leaving!
"Let's listen to Tang'er and continue selling here."
“Dad, this is the first time we’re selling them today. Everyone’s just trying something new, so they’re selling quickly. In a few days, they’ll sell slower, and naturally, no one will be envious anymore. We’re running a small business, so we need to be patient. We’ll sell what we can, and we won’t plant red-fleshed sweet potatoes next season.”
Are they no longer growing red-fleshed sweet potatoes?
This business has only been running for six months.
"If we don't grow red-fleshed sweet potatoes, what will we sell in the future?"
What are we selling?
She needs to think about this carefully!
My small business only earns me a meager living. If I want to move to town with my parents and sister, I first need to buy a small house there so we have a place to live.
Buy a courtyard house with two rooms, but it must have a kitchen.
But can you find a house like that in this town?
It must cost at least a hundred taels of silver, right?
Land is cheap in Guihua Village. When building a house, you can buy the cheapest bricks and tiles and save money on everything. But buying a house that has already been built, especially in town, is definitely very expensive!
Perhaps her guess is even conservative.
Relying on selling roasted sweet potatoes and a few acres of turmeric, when will we be able to move to town?
In ten or twenty years, not to mention her parents, even she will be old!
People in ancient times matured early. In an era when there was a lack of medical care and money, people generally had short lifespans. By the time she moved to town in her twenties, it would be too late!
We've been selling for almost half a day, and we've only sold a little over twenty sweet potatoes for a little over thirty coins. It was only because everyone was there to join in the fun that we attracted a wave of customers. After that, customers came in sporadically, and it won't be this easy anymore.
No, she needs to think of something quickly and find another way to make a living.
Clothing, food, housing, transportation...
She had no background in fashion design, so her clothes were no good.
Then we can only focus on the food!
After all, she was an orphan in her previous life. In the early stages, she relied on the support of the orphanage. From the time she went to university, she worked part-time to earn tuition and living expenses. She worked as a waitress, a waiter, and even worked in the kitchen of a self-service restaurant to cut vegetables. She did all sorts of different jobs.
Moreover, she has lived alone for many years, and she cooks all her own meals, making soups and stews, she can do everything!
If all else fails, how about making braised pork?
However, after the family split up, they built a house and bought things. She and Uncle Shuisheng were injured and spent two taels of silver. They then used the remaining money to buy a mule.
Now, the whole family can't even afford a single tael of silver!
How can this be done?
Selling braised meat at a street stall, if it's not sold out in a day, it won't be fresh, and it can't be sold the next day, which is also a problem.
If all else fails, she'll go to the restaurant and ask the manager to take a look. If the manager likes it, maybe she can get a better price by leveraging the restaurant's influence!
She immediately whispered, "Dad, what am I trying to betray? You used to deliver eggs and tofu to Yunlai Restaurant every day. What was your relationship with the manager like?"
Shen Qingchuan thought for a moment and said, "Manager Yao is an upright person who handles matters strictly by the book. There's no question of how close we are, but he is quite polite to people and doesn't look down on anyone."
That’s it!
As long as you can get along with him and don't ignore him, there's still room for negotiation, and you can even ask him to help introduce you to the shopkeeper.
If she really could make delicious food, restaurant owners would be scrambling to add it to their dishes; why would they refuse?
If they refuse, it means the food isn't good enough and they're not presentable.
"Okay, once I've finished making it, we'll find Manager Yao and have him take a look."
Shen Qingchuan was puzzled. What was his daughter up to now?
How come her little head is filled with all sorts of things, with a new idea every now and then?
Before Shen Qingchuan could even ask his daughter what she wanted to do, the woman selling sugar cakes at the nearby stall suddenly started yelling.
"Damn it!!!"
"I'll beat you to death, you filthy beggar! How dare you steal my sugar cakes! I haven't had a single customer all day, and even you have to steal my sugar cakes to bully me! Give them back to me right now..."
The woman selling sugar cakes darted around the stall, grabbed the little beggar, and started beating him.
Whether the little beggar was too hungry to run or what, he didn't know how to run. He just squatted on the ground and started wolfing down the food, letting the woman hit him.
"I'll beat you to death, you little brat, to give it back to me! You swallowed it faster than a dog, how come you didn't choke to death...?"
"Kill you……"
Passersby heard the commotion and turned to look, but seemed to take it for granted. They only paused briefly, and no one stopped to stop them.
These days everyone is poor. Some families can afford to eat and have enough to eat, while others can't afford to eat at all. If their parents died early and they don't even have grandparents, they can only end up on the streets as beggars.
Unable to beg for food, and driven to extreme hunger, many resorted to stealing or robbing from food stalls.
In the end, they all inevitably get a beating!
Alas, I am still poor myself. I have to consider my family when buying things. Where would I find the extra money to have the heart to be compassionate?
Shen Qingchuan couldn't bear to watch, so he immediately ran over, reached out and blocked the woman who was beating the little beggar in her anger, and stood in front of the little beggar to protect him.
"It's just a sugar cake. He's almost finished eating it. Even if you beat him to death, he won't be able to spit it out and return it to you intact. You can just teach him a lesson. Why beat him to death?"
The woman hadn't sold many sugar cakes all morning; she was only envious of how quickly the father and daughter were selling their roasted sweet potatoes. She couldn't get rid of them, and she was already seething with anger.
Hearing that Shen Qingchuan had come out to play the good guy, he immediately erupted!
"You bastard! He stole my sugar cakes, was I wrong to hit him? It wasn't yours that he stole them. You're in such a hurry to come out and play the good guy. If he had stolen your roasted sweet potatoes, you probably would have hit him even harder than I did. Get out of here right now!"
People stopped to watch when they saw the two adults arguing, wanting to see how the argument would end, and whether the sweet potato seller would really want to help the little beggar, or just play the good guy and talk a good game, as the woman said.
Seeing the woman screaming so loudly, Shen Xiaotang glanced back at the mule tied to the tree, feeling a little uneasy, and immediately untied it and led it over.
Sigh, her father is bad with words; if he runs into a sharp-tongued person, he's bound to lose the argument.
There's no other way; when something happens, the father and daughter have to work together.
Shen Xiaotang, leading the mule and with her hands on her hips, said, "How much are these sugar cakes? I'll buy them for him. Can you shut up now?"
The woman blurted out, "Two for one coin!"
She regretted it as soon as she said it.
She should have said one penny each!
This brat makes money so easily. She bought one for that little beggar for a penny, and now she has to give him another one. What am I going to do about all this anger?
What will happen to the losses she incurred if she misses this brief opportunity to make a sale?
So she immediately changed her tune, "One penny each!"
A tiny sugar cake, one penny each?
hehe--
Are you trying to fool a fool?
Although she had never bought sugar cakes before, she had heard the old woman shouting "two for one coin" for half a day, so how could she not know the price?
They must have seen that she was going to pay for the little beggar's money, and thought she was a sucker, so they deliberately tricked her.
Since she's not being honest, then don't blame her for being impolite!