Chapter 170 - Selling Watermelons (2/2)
Liu Han laughed and said, “Although your second maternal aunt has a sharp tongue, she’s a very good worker!”
Besides them, Madam Hu picked up her ears and listened attentively, for fear that she would miss something. She nodded vigorously upon hearing his words.
Yu Xiaocao looked down and thought about it, and then said, “Alright. I’ll go with Second Maternal Aunt in the afternoon. However, to work at the vermicelli factory, you’ll need to sign a confidentiality agreement. If you leak the vermicelli formula, you will have to pay a compensation and also be sent to jail!”
Madam Hu quickly vowed, “Xiaocao, you can rest assured! I will never say a word about the factory to outsiders! …Earlier, you said that you were looking for your maternal uncles. What’s the matter?”
Madam Hu turned her gaze towards the pile of watermelons. At that side, Madam Liu was busy weighing watermelons for Wang Ergou.
Speaking of Wang Ergou, since Xiaocao agreed to let him sell watermelons on credit, he was especially concerned about the Yu Family’s watermelon fields. When he encountered Xiaocao and Yu Hai watering the fields, he would rush over to help carry a few loads of water. In the evening, he would also take the initiative to help watch the watermelons, substituting for Yu Hai so that he could go home and rest for a few days.
These days, he had been visiting the melon fields nearly every day. Knowing that the Yu Family were harvesting watermelons today, he woke up before dawn to come help them. Although he didn’t know how to tell if the watermelons had ripened yet, he helped transport them to the edge of the field. Early in the morning, he was drenched in sweat and working even harder than when he worked on his own household chores!
He had already repaired his family’s handcart and prepared to push a cart of watermelons to the docks today to test the waters. He had planned to sell the melons in town, but when he found out that the Yu Family was going to open a watermelon store in town, he gave up on that idea. When it came to selling things, eight of him would still be incomparable to one Yu Xiaocao. There was a good flow of merchants and passenger ships at the wharf every day, so there should be quite a lot of wealthy people. Thus, he followed Xiaocao’s advice to open up a market at the docks.
“Xiaocao, I don’t really know how to read a scale. What if I lose money?” Wang Ergou used to be an ignorant and incompetent man, and had only gotten slightly better after he got married. His wife, on the other hand, was very capable and there was hardly anything that she couldn’t do. But his wife was pregnant right now. So how could he let her rush back and forth to the docks?
Yu Xiaocao smiled at him and said, “That’s easy! The bigger watermelons should be around twenty catties. Since you’re getting your melons from us, I’ll give you the wholesale price of a hundred fifty copper coins per catty, so it cost three taels. Sell them for five taels in town! Sell the smaller ones for four taels, and the even smaller ones that looks around ten catties for three taels! That should do it!”
Wang Ergou hadn’t even reacted when Madam Hu shouted in surprise, “What? A watermelon cost five taels? Five taels is enough for a whole family to eat for half a year. Can you really sell them?”
Liu Han quickly pulled on his wife and glared at her, “If you don’t have anything good to say, then don’t speak! No one will think that you’re a mute!!”
Wang Ergou smiled unconcernedly and said, “Liu Family’s daughter-in-law, people like us will definitely be unwilling to spend several taels to buy a watermelon. However, there are many rich noblemen at the docks. Our watermelons are juicy and sweet. Moreover, we’re the only ones selling them. They won’t be able to find them anywhere else! Even if it’s more expensive, I still wouldn’t be worried that it won’t sell, let alone five taels!! Xiaocao, your idea is really good. I’ll just do that!”
Madam Liu was almost done weighing the watermelons. Wang Ergou’s handcart wasn’t very big, and could hold twenty watermelons at most.
“A total of three hundred sixty-eight catties. We’ll round it for you and make it three hundred sixty catties. Xiaocao, calculate the price for your Uncle Ergou!” Madam Liu’s math skills was a lot worse than her children’s. She didn’t have the confidence to figure out such a big number.
Yu Xiaocao silently calculated in her heart and quickly answered, “Uncle Ergou, it’s a total of fifty-four taels! I’ll write a you a promissory note. You can take the watermelons after you leave your fingerprint!”
The provisionary note had already been written and she just needed to fill in the total weight and money owed for the watermelons. Yu Xiaocao filled in the numbers with a quill pen, and then she carefully read it to the illiterate Wang Ergou.
Wang Ergou didn’t hesitate and quickly dipped his index finger into the ink, and then printed his fingerprint onto the note. He said, “You don’t have to read it. Even if I don’t trust others, how can I not trust you? Later, if my wife comes over, just tell her that I went to the docks.”
According to the size of the watermelons, Wang Ergou loaded the watermelons onto his handcart and pushed it away enthusiastically.
Yu Xiaocao’s shop in town would open for business tomorrow, so they needed to transport the watermelons to the shop for storage today. She pulled up her sleeves, laboriously picked up a watermelon, and struggled to put it onto the donkey cart. When Liu Han saw her, he quickly said, “Just leave it. I’ll load them onto the cart!”
Madam Hu also tactfully picked up a watermelon and said, “Xiaocao, can you carry them with your slender arms and legs? Don’t you just need to load them onto the cart? Just leave it to your uncle and aunt!”
Xiaocao also didn’t continue to be courteous with them. As she helped, she said to Liu Han, “Second Maternal Uncle, there’s not much in the fields right now, so why don’t you also take a cart of watermelons to sell in town?! As long as the watermelons don’t fall or get smashed, you can keep them for five to six days. If you can’t sell them all in a day, you can continue to sell them the next day…”
Liu Han quietly moved several watermelons, and then bluntly replied, “The prime cost for a watermelon is two to three taels. I’m afraid of messing it up… Moreover, we don’t have a cart to transport them.”