Chapter 59: Make Five Hundred

The fresh pork mooncakes brought by Tong Chuxue were completely sold out, leaving not even half a one behind. Xu Jinniang and Lin Chunyan, who had been somewhat worried just moments before, turned their worries into joy, their faces blooming with smiles.

They had brought a total of one hundred fresh pork mooncakes today. Calculated at ten cash per piece, they earned a full tael of silver in just a single evening.

On the carriage ride back, Xu Jinniang asked Tong Chuxue, "Chuxue, how many should we make for tomorrow?"

Tong Chuxue estimated today's sales and figured that, driven by the free promotion from this initial wave of customers, even more people would come to buy tomorrow. Furthermore, by using the slogan of it being popular in the capital, she was bound to catch the attention of many.

"Let's set it at five hundred," Tong Chuxue concluded.

"Five hundred!" Xu Jinniang was extremely surprised. Although one hundred had sold out today, five hundred was far too many. "What will we do if they don't sell?"

Xu Jinniang's worry was shared by the others as well. After all, the cost of these items was not low; if they prepared too much stock and it all ended up on their hands, the loss would be disastrous.

"What is there to fear? At worst, we'll lose five taels of silver," said Luo Changhua, who was driving the carriage. Perhaps because they had separated from the main Luo family household, many of his perspectives had changed. In the past, he certainly would have been unwilling to take such a risky venture, but for him now, there was nothing left to lose, so he might as well take a gamble.

Luo Hui'an looked at his father, feeling somewhat surprised, and then chimed in, "Doing business inherently involves risks. If you want to make big money, there are always risks. Besides, since Miss Tong believes we can make five hundred, she must have a plan in mind."

The confidence of the father and son gave the women a boost of reassurance.

"Mother, fresh pork mooncakes carry the name of mooncakes, which means they sell best only in the few days leading up to the Mid-Autumn Festival. We are just seizing the opportunity to earn money during these few days," Tong Chuxue explained.

The next day, everyone rose before dawn and began to get busy. Today's task was five hundred fresh pork mooncakes, and relying on just their few pairs of hands, they were kept frantically occupied.

To speed up the progress, even Luo Hui'an and Luo Changhua, who had never touched kitchen chores, were roped in to handle manageable tasks like mincing the meat filling.

Everyone performed their respective duties, working tirelessly for almost the better part of the day, until five hundred fresh pork mooncakes were finally completed.

Tong Chuxue looked up at the sky. "We need to reach the town before dark."

Fortunately, the fresh pork mooncakes were ready now, but they still needed to borrow an ox cart to get to town. Not having a cart of their own was truly inconvenient; in case any villagers needed to use the ox cart tomorrow, their business would be delayed.

"It seems we still need to buy an ox cart," Tong Chuxue said.

Xu Jinniang had always yearned to buy an ox cart. In farming households, buying an ox could be considered a symbol of family wealth. They now had enough money on hand, so if they really wanted to buy an ox, they could certainly afford it.

"We only have one mu of land and not much farm work, is it really necessary to buy an ox?" Xu Jinniang yearned for it, but still felt some hesitation in her heart.

"That's true," Tong Chuxue nodded. The primary function of an ox was still plowing fields. Considering that they would need to transport things like medicinal herbs later on, it wasn't suitable to use an ox cart that lacked even a protective canopy.

"Perhaps we should buy a carriage instead," Tong Chuxue contemplated.

This casual remark left the elders present feeling unsettled.

A carriage?

Weren't those things ridden only by official lords and wealthy families? They had never heard of any farming family buying a carriage.

"Chuxue, when it comes to farming and farm work, an ox is far more useful, and moreover, a carriage cannot haul as many goods," Xu Jinniang objected somewhat.

Yet the more Tong Chuxue thought about it, the more feasible she found it. "Mother, listen to me. We will be delivering goods to the medical clinic later on, and using an ox cart is truly inconvenient. Besides, the back of an ox cart doesn't even have a shelter from the rain. If the medicinal herbs get soaked, just imagine how huge our loss would be."

"Or we could simply buy both—an ox is needed, and a carriage is needed as well," Tong Chuxue felt this seemed even more viable.

By this time, she had already begun to daydream about how to decorate the interior of the carriage they would buy and where to build the stable.

Just as she was immersed in her own thoughts, they arrived at the town.

Tong Chuxue set up her stall in front of Renren Medical Clinic today as well. She first exchanged a few polite pleasantries with Proprietor Cheng before officially starting her sales.

Just as she had anticipated yesterday, as soon as the fresh pork mooncakes were displayed today, a crowd gathered around, actively demanding to buy them. It seemed the fresh pork mooncakes sold yesterday had achieved an excellent promotional effect.

Right as a large crowd was flocking over, a small figure stood not far away—it was none other than Tong Yu'er, who had come to the academy to find Yao Tianyuan.

Ever since her marriage to Yao Tianyuan, Tong Yu'er had believed she could live in loving harmony with him. Who would have guessed that on the second day after returning to her maiden home, he would return to the town's academy without a shred of reluctance, never to return home again.

Tong Yu'er simply could not endure the days of living apart, and took the initiative to run from the village to the town to find Yao Tianyuan.

Yao Tianyuan attended classes at the academy during the day and only had time to accompany Tong Yu'er for a little while in the evenings. However, Tong Yu'er could tell from his indifferent expression that Yao Tianyuan actually did not want to accompany her very much at all.

Standing in the distance, Tong Yu'er watched Tong Chuxue enthusiastically introducing the fresh pork mooncakes to others, and gave a disdainful snort. They were just mooncakes stuffed with a bit of meat; she thought it was some remarkable invention, yet it didn't look like anything difficult to make.

However, Tong Chuxue was completely unaware of Tong Yu'er's envious and resentful gaze. She was currently devoting all her energy to serving the customers before her, and as the money in her pouch steadily increased, her heart felt increasingly satisfied.

Fresh food, coupled with the trendy gimmick of the capital, meant Tong Chuxue's fresh pork mooncakes sold exceptionally well.

The five hundred fresh pork mooncakes prepared today were snapped up just as quickly. Tong Chuxue achieved this result with almost minimal effort.

"I truly didn't expect so many people to come and buy today," Lin Chunyan said. Just thinking about how today's mooncakes brought in five taels of silver filled her with irrepressible excitement.

"Today's harvest is indeed good, but everyone will have to work hard for the next two days as well. We'll make another five hundred tomorrow," Tong Chuxue said.

"It's not hard work at all, not hard work," Liu Fen said with a beaming smile.

Wasn't working in the fields hard labor? Throughout an entire year, they couldn't even save a few coins. Although making mooncakes was tiring, they could sell five taels of silver in a single day. How could making money ever be without hard work? Right now, as long as one was willing to put in effort, money could be earned. Liu Fen did not find it hard at all; she wished they could make even more and earn even more.

"Alright, tomorrow we'll arrive at the same time as today."

Everyone packed up their stalls and hurried back to the village. They had to rise early the next day to prepare the stock, so they needed to return and rest early.

When they came, they had borrowed the village head's ox cart, while Tong Yu'er had come riding in another villager's donkey cart, so the two groups had never crossed paths. As for Tong Yu'er returning to the village and heading straight for the Tong family home, Tong Chuxue and the others knew even less about it.

Just like the previous day, Tong Chuxue's family began bustling about before dawn. With yesterday's experience, everyone's work efficiency was even higher today, and when the five hundred mooncakes were completed, it was even earlier than the day before.

Tong Chuxue set up her stall at the entrance of the medical clinic just as before, and many people who saw that Tong Chuxue had arrived quickly gathered around.

Over these past two days, Tong Chuxue's fresh pork mooncakes had truly made a sensational debut. Almost everyone in town knew about these fresh pork mooncakes, and combined with Tong Chuxue's added packaging of capital trends, if any family hadn't even tasted a fresh pork mooncake, they would be considered entirely out of date.

Those living in town possessed at least some financial means. These fresh pork mooncakes at ten cash each, though not cheap, were not so expensive that they couldn't afford them. Now, even just for the sake of saving face, people felt compelled to buy a few to take home, making Tong Chuxue's business even better.

However, when today's customers gathered around, they brought along another piece of news—there was another shop on the street selling fresh pork mooncakes.

Tong Chuxue was very surprised. This item had a high cost; she had anticipated that copycats would emerge, but she hadn't expected them to appear so quickly.

Luo Huiqing volunteered to go and investigate the situation.

Before long, the young girl returned from the other side of the street.

"It's Big Sister Chuxue's family," Luo Huiqing said.

Tong Chuxue understood immediately. It must be Old Lady Tong and her cohorts. The reaction of this group was unexpectedly fast, and they specifically came to steal business from their own biological granddaughter. Tong Chuxue almost had to wonder whether her father was truly Old Lady Tong's biological son.

However, since the other party had come to brazenly poach her business, Tong Chuxue felt she ought to pay them polite attention. Thus, she found a clerk from the medical clinic and asked him to go buy a couple of mooncakes from the Tong family's stall.

The clerk quickly bought the items back and handed them over to Tong Chuxue.

Xu Jinniang took one piece from her hand. On the surface, the Tong family's mooncakes looked just like ordinary mooncakes—they both had brown crusts and were stamped with auspicious patterns, but the filling inside wasn't entirely jujube paste; there was also a small bit of meat filling.

However, the meat filling was truly pitifully sparse, about the size of an egg yolk, which simply could not compare to the generously packed meat filling in their own mooncakes.