Just sent off a group of villagers who came to buy tofu. The villagers who went to sell tofu in the morning have unexpectedly returned.
The village they went to is relatively close, so they came back quicker.
Upon returning, each of them had a joyous expression, evidently, sales were great.
As soon as they arrived at Zhao Dong's door, they immediately asked for another 20 pounds of tofu and 20 bowls of tofu pudding, saying they would go sell again in the afternoon.
"Mr. Dong, make more in the afternoon, you don't know, I was pushing the cart, just arrived at Sun Family Village, hadn't even begun to shout, and sold everything. I need 20 pounds this afternoon!"
Several other villagers eagerly chimed in: "Exactly, I went to Zhen Village, and hadn't begun to shout when the villagers smelled the special sauce and gathered around."
"Seeing something they've never seen before, they all wanted to try it. In less than half an hour, it was all sold out. I also want 20 pounds in the afternoon, and 20 bowls of tofu pudding. Tofu pudding is the easiest to sell."
Shitou laughed and exaggerated: "No kidding, tofu pudding really sells well. It was the first thing I sold out."
To me, the credit goes to the sauce sister-in-law mixed. When you open the jar, the aroma spreads for miles. No need to shout, people come attracted by the smell. Mr. Dong, I also want 20 pounds of tofu and 20 bowls of tofu pudding in the afternoon."
Zhao Dong listened with a happy smile, thinking his wife used spices from the space. Now, ginger is expensive beyond belief, and pepper is priced like gold, surely, the aroma is irresistible.
But wanting more, they still can't, so he waved and said: "You all want 20 pounds, that's not possible. I didn't prepare that much for the afternoon, at most I can give each of you 15 pounds of tofu. Tofu pudding I can give you each 20 bowls."
Zhao Dong couldn't just give them all this much, even though selling more means earning more.
However, if they sell 10 pounds in the morning and can't sell the 20 pounds in the afternoon, it might affect their enthusiasm.
Additionally, this is hunger marketing. Even if 20 pounds can sell out, the memory of something scarce is far more memorable than surplus.
Besides, I've calculated, if we keep selling like this, in a day I can earn around eight to nine hundred copper coins. Now with increased quantity, likely more.
"Alright, alright, 15 pounds is fine! Hahaha."
The speaker was Zhang Qiang who lived at the end of the village, a family that fled here ten years ago, thus being outsiders, faced some exclusion.
Zhao Dong's former self had helped him before, thus he has a good relationship with Zhao Dong, and is one of Zhao Dong's closest friends outside of Shitou.
Like Shitou, he's an honest person, says whatever he thinks, and his happy look from making money was written all over his face.
"Mr. Dong, this is really wonderful. You don't know, with just ten pounds of tofu and ten bowls of tofu pudding, I just needed to come home a little earlier from the field, walk around with the cart, and earned seven copper coins. The key was it wasn't tiring, and this is far better than working short-term jobs at the landlord's house."
The other villagers who made money all mentally agreed.
By this time, those villagers who heard the news in the morning had already calculated the profits and were somewhat tempted.
However, they hesitated, afraid they wouldn't sell and be left holding the bag, thinking they'd first see how others were selling before deciding. Upon hearing the results, they realized the business could indeed be good.
Immediately, they expressed to Zhao Dong that they wanted to join in selling tofu.
Zhao Dong wanted to refuse; previously, only five people wanted to sell tofu last night.
But this morning, a few smart villagers heard the news, approached him at dawn, saying they also wanted to sell tofu.
Zhao Dong requested at that time, if they wanted in, then a village could only have one person selling.
Those few had discussed and reported a few villages which hadn't been visited yet, which were slightly farther away.
However, since they reported these villages, they must be familiar with the routes, speeding up the pace wasn't too bad.
Now, there are already ten people involved, and neighboring villages around almost have no more available ones.
About to refuse, Zhao Dong thought of societal relations, couldn't say too firmly, and said: "It's not impossible to join, but to prevent vicious competition and protect our village partners, a village can only have one vendor, so if you have another village to go to, it's fine."
Upon hearing this, everyone nodded, feeling there was no problem working with Zhao Dong as he wouldn't prioritize his own interests over his partners'.
Hence, those villagers were more eager to join, starting to name villages one by one, but for each named, someone was already going.
In the end, they found only very distant villages hadn't been visited.
At this point, they were regretful and frustrated, pondering why they hesitated and missed the opportunity, now they could only watch others earn money.
At this moment, Zhao Dong thought of something, turned to Shitou and Zhang Qiang, and said: "By the way, when you sell tofu, help me gather some soybeans. The market price now is 98 copper coins per stone, I will give you a hundred coins."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Qiang immediately pounded his chest in assurance: "Mr. Dong, don't worry, no problem at all, it's on me."
The others also expressed there was no issue.
Zhao Dong then repeatedly expressed gratitude.
Seeing those villagers who didn't get a chance weren't very happy, Zhao Dong had a thought, turned around and took out the leftover tofu dregs from the house, asked if they wanted to take it home and stir-fry it.
He even explained how to stir-fry them.
"This, my wife fried before, it's very delicious, why don't you all take some home and try it?"
The villagers instantly grinned, thanking and praising Zhao Dong for being business-savvy.
Once the last group of villagers had left, Zhao Dong rubbed his stiff smiling face and turned to close the door.
Recently, making a lot of tofu meant leftover tofu dregs were plenty. Just sent some away, and still a lot left, hard to finish eating.
Coincidentally, the pigpen at home was still empty, so he thought, why not feed some pigs with them.
When Sun Mei returned from the academy and heard Zhao Dong say they still had to make over a hundred and fifty pounds of tofu and two hundred bowls of tofu pudding in the afternoon, her face instantly fell.
Rarely throwing a tantrum, she flung the bamboo basket onto the ground, angrily sat on the bench under the tree.
"Every day making these three hundred pounds of tofu, even a cow can't take it! I'm not doing it anymore, whoever wants to do it can!"
Zhao Dong couldn't help but laugh, knowing she was speaking out of anger, quickly went over to comfort her: "Come on, honey, think of it as the clink of copper coins."
Sun Mei kept a stern face, saying nothing.
Zhao Dong added: "Why don't you quit the academy job? Now we have a tofu business at home, if you resign, no one would suspect anything."
Sun Mei hesitated a bit, actually the private school job doesn't earn much, but she enjoyed cooking for the children, always wanted to be a kindergarten teacher in a past life.
Although it still isn't the same now.
"Sigh!"
Sun Mei sighed, saying everything was for copper coins, everything was for livelihood: "Never mind, tomorrow I will talk to Landlord Wei about it, did you bring back the soy milk?"