Chapter 41: Chapter 041 Thunderstorm
Translator: 549690339
Feng Yongkang had said that when the entrance is clean and tidy, customers perceive the restaurant as clean and would be willing to patronize. The wealth god doesn’t patronize dirty places. That was what he meant.
“Huh?” Li Fang was startled by the sudden conversation, and was terrified. His face was increasingly pinched, and fearing others might see something amiss, he repeatedly waved his hands, “No, no, I guess I didn’t cover myself properly while sleeping last night and caught a chill. My stomach… it hurts so much now…”
“Um, could you help me keep an eye on things? The pain is so intense, I need to go to the pharmacy at the corner to get some medicine.”
Upon seeing Li Fang’s grimacing face, Ma Tong hurriedly said, “Hurry up. This is exactly what you should fear in the spring. Better to take some medicine and prevent it from developing into a serious illness. I will keep an eye on things here. Go.”
“Thanks a lot, brother.” Li Fang expressed his gratitude to Ma Tong with a glance, handed him the cleaning cloth, and then quickly rushed off.
He headed towards the corner of the street, but instead of entering the pharmacy, he disappeared down a small alleyway.
Ma Tong caught a glimpse of this and smirked, the broom in his hand making swooshing sounds.
Stomachache? It was nothing but bad intentions.
These kinds of people were deserving of divine retribution.
Ma Tong cursed in his heart, glanced at Zhuang Qingning’s tofu stall and sighed.
She was indeed at fault here. A few coins could have solved everything, but instead, things were blown out of proportion. If the tofu stall can’t continue doing business, he wouldn’t know what to do.
Zhuang Qingning was oblivious to all this, happily selling her tofu.
Business was good today. By the looks of it, the extra twenty pounds of tofu she had prepared would surely sell out before noon.
As she saw the last block of tofu in her bamboo basket, weighing about three or four pounds, Chai Zhengzhen, a tall, slender man in his thirties, hurried over, “Do you still have tofu?”
Having said that, he wiped the sweat off his forehead.
He was obviously in a rush.
“This is the last piece.” Zhuang Qingning efficiently weighed the tofu, “It’s three taels over three pounds. It’s the last piece. I’ll sell it for two coins.”
“You are good at business, but this over three pounds is definitely not enough…” Chai Zhengzhen furrowed his eyebrows, finally, he released a resigned sigh: “Well, let it be, even this little is enough.”
“Tomorrow I need twenty pounds of tofu, can I pay upfront and come to get it later?”
“I’m afraid not. The tofu sold at my stall is bought directly, and unless there are special circumstances, we usually don’t take pre-orders,” Zhuang Qingning tactfully declined.
Although pre-ordering would allow her to estimate sales and indicate her good business, Zhuang Qingning had once considered turning all her sales into pre-order sales. However, the delay of Bai San’s arrival served as a wake-up call.
Everything has pros and cons. Pre-orders could potentially create hype and perceived scarcity. However, implementation would be difficult. After she has taken the money, she would need to wait regardless of how the business was going, how many customers were turned away or how many harsh words were spoken.
Furthermore, even though she could set up a no-late policy for pre-orders, dealing with reasonable customers would be easy. However, if she encountered unreasonable ones, they could give her a lot of trouble based on this point alone.
Being a self-reliant woman who has only her sister to rely on and has no backing in town, if anything went wrong, she could easily be bullied.
Therefore, Zhuang Qingning dismissed the idea, not easily agreeing to pre-ordering tofu for anyone.
“I see.” Chai Zhengzhen scratched his ear, hesitating for a moment before saying, “Well, since I’ve decided to buy tofu here, I’ll have to use it by noon. So I’ll just come earlier, it won’t be a problem.”
“As for the price…”
“To be honest with you, I’m with Ruyi Pavilion. I heard your tofu is quite tasteful, so 1 thought about trying it at our kitchen. Although our restaurant is not as successful as Fushun Tower, and we’re not known for our Stewed Tofu like Fushun Tower, we don’t need a huge amount of tofu every day. However, if your tofu is good, we will use it for the long term. You should offer us a better price.”
At the very least, it should be cheaper than what regular customers pay. Otherwise, it would be a disgrace for him as a restaurant owner, wouldn’t it?
“Sure thing,” Zhuang Qingning replied cheerfully, “As you will need a lot of tofu and you plan to buy from me for a long period, the price will naturally be lower than for normal customers.”
“Here’s the deal. Today, I will give you this block of tofu for two coins. That’s like giving you a bit more than one pound for free. We won’t worry too much about this change, but let’s talk about your regular purchase from me starting tomorrow.”
“The price of tofu at my stall is one coin per pound, two coins for two and a half pounds. Twenty pounds should be sixteen coins. If you’re purchasing it for a restaurant for a long period, we can give you a ten percent discount. If you are to purchase this amount for a month, the discount will then be twelve percent. If you can purchase for three months, we can go down to fifteen percent off. How does that sound?”
“The margin on tofu is slim, and my price is already lower than other sellers. The price quoted is absolutely reasonable. Since you sought out my tofu stall, you must have known that my tofu tastes better than other places. The price is already very fair for the quality of tofu you are getting.”
The tofu here was indeed excellent in taste. Chai Zhengzhen had tried it by chance and knew it was better than the ordinary tofu sold elsewhere. If he could use it for his restaurant, his Stewed Tofu would surely stand out from that of Fushun Tower.
With this in mind, Chai Zhengzhen was eager to buy tofu here, and he also realized that the price was indeed fair.
But in business, the less you invest, the better it is. Now that Zhuang Qingning had made concessions but on certain conditions, he laughed, “Young lady, I run a restaurant and naturally will need it frequently. Once 1 start using your tofu, I won’t switch to others. Three months, three years, five years, those all are not a problem.”
“Forget about all these discounts like 10%, 12%. I find them troublesome. Let’s just go with 15% straightaway. So it would also be easier for me to keep track of the account. As for me, 1 will certainly do you a favor by spreading the word and bringing you more customers.”
Zhuang Qingning smiled at his words.
“If I could keep supplying tofu to your restaurant, that would be great. But since there is no signed contract or deposit, it is not certain that you will use my tofu in the long term.”
“Also, this time you are buying tofu from me. In the future, if you find better quality tofu, naturally, you would opt for that. It’s only fair, and I can’t hold you accountable. But I would be giving up profits for nothing, making a loss for no reason.”
Chai Zhengzhen laughed awkwardly..
