When Zhou Shi heard that Li Yao wanted her to help with the boiled meat business, she was excited and readily agreed.
"Sister-in-law, don't worry, I will definitely do a good job."
"You won't be able to handle it alone," said Li Yao. "Later, ask your second son-in-law to come back and help you."
"Okay, I'll tell my mother when I get home."
Zhou Shi's husband was Wang Yuan Ding. He was the second son in his family.
Because of the drought, there was no farm work at home. So he went to the port of Yizhou to work as a laborer.
In Li Yao's memory, Wang Yuan Ding was honest and simple like Wang Yuanshan. So she considered their family first for this business.
Li Yao would be responsible for making the boiled meat, rice and steamed buns.
Every morning, Zhou Shi and Wang Yuan Ding would take them to the Yongding market to sell. Then they would come back in the afternoon to settle accounts.
Li Yao calculated that the wholesale price per serving was 13 wen. This way, Zhou Shi could earn 2 wen per serving. If they sold 100 servings a day, they could make 200 wen in profit.
And Li Yao could earn 500 wen.
When Zhou Shi heard they could earn so much every day, she felt dizzy.
Her husband earned only 700-800 wen a month doing hard labor at the dock.
Now just by selling boiled meat, they could easily earn thousands of wen. This was beyond her wildest dreams!
"You'll need to prepare the carts, tables, chairs, stoves and other things yourself. It's best to find a place there to store them instead of hauling them back and forth every day."
Zhou Shi said, "My maternal home is right there, not far from the market. We can store everything there."
Li Yao nodded. Zhou Shi was quite quick-witted.
After discussing some more details, Zhou Shi excitedly went back to the old house and immediately spoke to her mother-in-law about it.
"You're just a simple honest man. That's why your sister-in-law is giving you this business opportunity," said the old lady after listening. "I'll provide the money to get the things you need."
"Thank you, Mother!"
"Follow her and learn first tomorrow," said Wang Xue Shi. "I'll send your fourth brother to fetch your second brother back right away. You two work hard from now on."
Zhou Shi felt completely reassured.
Just thinking about the 200 wen profit each day made her too excited to sleep that night. She went to Li Yao's before dawn to help out, then followed Da Zhuang to the market to learn how to set up the stall.
Zhou Shi was quite agile. Other than some minor issues with bookkeeping, she adapted well.
On the third day, Wang Yuan Ding returned home. All the necessary items were also prepared. Li Yao then gave them 100 servings of boiled meat for them to sell on their own.
That day, Wang Xue Shi didn't go anywhere. She just sat by the front gate drying vegetables, occasionally glancing towards the village entrance.
Shortly after noon, Wang Yuan Ding and Zhou Shi came back.
"You're back so early?"
"Mother," Zhou Shi's face was blooming with joy. She handed over all the money they had earned that day. "Sister-in-law's boiled meat sold too quickly. In less than an hour, all 100 servings were sold out!"
"Good, very good!"
Holding the heavy money bag, Wang Xue Shi also felt reassured.
Wang Yuan Ding ingratiatingly took out a piece of pork. "Mother, I bought meat. Let's stir-fry it for dinner tonight."
"You wasteful fool, what did you buy so much for? You're just like your sister-in-law, barely earned some money and can't tell directions anymore!"
"Mother, we're going to help at sister-in-law's place. Qiao Er, Yan Zi, come with us!"
Unable to bear his old mother's nagging, Wang Yuan Ding hurriedly took the two pig trotters he bought from Yongding market, and left with Zhou Shi and his two daughters.
"Wait!"
Wang Xue Shi took a basket and pulled up half a basket of radishes from the vegetable garden.
"Bring these to your sister-in-law, so she doesn't have to buy from others every day."
"Oh!"
...
After Wang Yuan Ding left, Shen Shi could no longer restrain herself.
Her sister-in-law was clearly playing favorites!
The second branch only had two daughters, but she had given birth to a son!
By all reasoning, her sister-in-law should have given this business opportunity to the second branch first.
"Mother, are you just going to watch as sister-in-law favors one over the other?"
"Don't stir up trouble with me!" Wang Xue Shi flared up again at the mention. "Your sister-in-law chose the second branch because she knows your sister-in-law Zhou Shi is steady and won't gossip idly everywhere! If you want your sister-in-law to give you business opportunities, you have to first learn how to behave!"
Shen Shi pouted sullenly.
Favoritism was favoritism, yet her mother-in-law was making up so many excuses!
"What are you still dawdling around for? Hurry up and go cut grass!"
...
"Sister-in-law, take a rest and let us do the work."
In Li Yao's courtyard, Wang Yuan Ding and Zhou Shi voluntarily helped clean up.
Qiao Er and Yan Zi also came along.
The two girls were twelve and ten years old.
They were probably too afraid of Li Yao, sitting quietly at the edge of the yard not daring to move around.
The two girls were as thin as monkeys. There were no snacks at home either. So Li Yao cut two cubes of brown sugar for them to curb their craving.
"Thank you, auntie."
Li Yao said, "Eat up then go play with Xiao Si."
"Okay."
The two girls licked up every bit of brown sugar on their fingers before finally bringing Wang Xiao Si to play elsewhere.
"Sister-in-law, you're spoiling them too much," said Zhou Shi. "Sugar isn't cheap nowadays."
Li Yao thought it was just a small piece of brown sugar, no big deal.
Wang Xiao Si sneakily ate several pieces every day.
"Since you're storing things at your maternal home, remember to give them your filial respects often."
"I know, sister-in-law," said Wang Yuan Ding. "I'll buy them some meat tomorrow."
A sister-in-law is like a mother.
Wang Yuan Ding used to only fear his sister-in-law. But now, he also felt a lot of gratitude towards her.
With two more people helping out, the cleanup was quickly completed. Wang Yuan Ding foolishly wanted to go into the kitchen to help stoke the fire. Zhou Shi grabbed him by the arm and dragged him home.
"Can't you show some sense?"
"What's wrong?" Wang Yuan Ding was very puzzled.
"Sister-in-law's boiled meat is selling so well, yet no one else can replicate it. This shows that sister-in-law has secret recipes," explained Zhou Shi. "If you recklessly rush into the kitchen, what if sister-in-law thinks you're trying to steal her recipes? You know her temper. She flares up at the slightest thing. If she stops giving us this business, even crying won't help."
Wang Yuan Ding grinned foolishly. "You're right. I'll listen to you."
Seeing her husband whom she hadn't seen in a long time, Zhou Shi's mouth curved into a smile.
...
The booth locations at Yongding Market were decided.
With two more market days coming up, Li Yao also planned to open stalls there while interest was still hot.
She already had plans on who to give the stalls to and how to allocate them.
Bidding.
She explained it to Li Zheng for a long time until he understood the concept of bidding.
"I just don't get it," said Li Zheng. "This is such a good opportunity. Why would you give it to outsiders? Isn't Wang Yuan Guo still working as a laborer in Yizhou?"
"I've already given a share to my family. That's considered preferential treatment," said Li Yao. "Also, if it's all kept within the family, it would be problematic if issues come up."
"You have a point there."
So under Li Zheng's notice, the villagers quickly learned about this.
That afternoon, hundreds of people crowded outside Li Zheng's yard. They all found this unbelievable.
"She's willing to give us such a good opportunity? This must be a scam."
"If Li Zheng scams us, we'll hold him accountable!"
"I heard Wang Yuan Ding earned money after selling at Yongding Market in just one day."
...
Amidst the clamoring voices, Shen Shi was anxious as ants on a hot wok.
She had conceded when her sister-in-law gave the first stall to the second branch. But now, she was giving the remaining two stalls to outsiders. What kind of logic was this?
Elbowing out her own family!
She immediately went to her mother-in-law, only to get yet another dressing down.
"Your sister-in-law already gave us one. How can you still be so greedy?"
"If you really want to do it, do it according to your sister-in-law's rules!"