Soon, two full carts of bitter buckwheat arrived.
Zhao Laoshi, along with his carter friend, Old Lu, helped Su Xiaoqi and her group unload the goods.
During this, Old Lu looked at Zhao Laoshi with great envy, saying how lucky he was to have such a great customer in Su Xiaoqi, who could afford such a large house.
Su Xiaoqi didn't find this particularly special but feared attracting envy.
She deliberately explained, "Look at what Uncle Old Lu is saying, where would I get the money to buy all these things? I'm merely following a good employer."
Hearing this, both Zhao Laoshi and Old Lu nodded in agreement. They also praised her good fortune in finding such a capable employer.
After unloading the bitter buckwheat, Old Lu received his fifty wen from Zhao Laoshi, overjoyed. "Look how generous they are, giving so much for just one trip."
After all, previously, a trip to Zhao Family Village, even with a mule cart full of people, could only carry six passengers. At two wen per person, that was a maximum of twelve wen, or twenty-four wen for a round trip. In reality, the cart was often not full. Zhao Family Village was close to Mianzhou City, and villagers preferred to walk rather than pay for the cart. Today's earnings were equivalent to a whole day's work for a cart. He could finally go to Sishui Alley to buy some wine, get some peanuts, and relax.
Zhao Laoshi was asked to rest and have tea in the outer courtyard and wait. After they finished, Su Xiaoqi needed to return to the village.
In the courtyard, Su Xiaoqi personally trained them on the methods and steps for making bitter buckwheat tea. It was divided into nine steps.
The first step was selecting the material, choosing bitter buckwheat with its husks.
The second step was cleaning, rinsing it thoroughly with clean water.
The third was low-temperature soaking: for about one to two hours.
The fourth was surface drying: after soaking, sun-drying to remove the moisture from the bitter buckwheat, relying on natural wind to dry the surface moisture.
The fifth was steaming.
The sixth was stir-frying until dry: controlling the heat and stirring continuously to evenly fry and dry the buckwheat, allowing the moisture to evaporate quickly, then rapidly increasing the temperature.
The sixth step was spraying with cold water: evenly and moderately spraying clean water onto the stir-fried bitter buckwheat. This would cause the husks of the bitter buckwheat to rapidly expand, thus causing the outer hard husks and the kernels to separate due to different expansion coefficients.
The seventh was drying: low-temperature drying of the surface of the expanded bitter buckwheat with separated husks and kernels.
The eighth was de-husking: using a tool for threshing rice to break open the bitter buckwheat grains, completely separating the husks from the kernels, removing the husks, and retaining the kernels with the bitter buckwheat bran on the surface.
The ninth step was completion, packaging, and waiting for sale. (The above content is from Baidu.)
The eighteen people listened intently, their eyes wide and necks stretched. Especially Xiao Xique and Xiao Yi, who stood at the very front. Su Xiaoqi was very satisfied with their performance and couldn't help but encourage them, "If you learn it, you'll be rewarded one wen for every two jin you process."
"There are two thousand jin here, how much will we earn if we finish all this?" Xiao Yi, who hadn't been educated, couldn't calculate this.
"Two strings of coins. If you finish all of this, these two strings of coins will be yours." To sweeten the deal, Su Xiaoqi also promised an additional one hundred wen reward if they completed it within the ten-day limit. As she spoke, Su Xiaoqi directly took out two strings and one hundred coins from her embrace. This scene greatly excited everyone. They looked at each other, their eyes filled with excitement. They could finally support themselves through their own efforts.
After motivating them, Su Xiaoqi went alone to the front courtyard to check the new door installed by Zhao Dayou. As per her request, there were locks on both sides, so before taking any goods, Zhao Dayou had to inform Wen Pozi. Once she opened the door from inside, he could enter.
Su Xiaoqi was in a hurry to handle other matters and didn't disturb them in the front to conduct their business. Taking Zhao Xiaozhu, she got into the mule cart and went to a tea stall outside the nearby county school.
As she alighted and greeted the tea stall owner, Madam Ping, she saw her eagerly running over. Holding her hand with excitement, she said, "Ah, Madam Shen, it's so good to see you again. By the way, do you still have the bitter buckwheat tea you sold me last time? I went to the shop you mentioned, but I didn't see any for sale."
Su Xiaoqi explained that the tea leaves hadn't matured then, so it couldn't be made into tea, but now it was ready. "Where is it, where is it?" Madam Ping asked, chasing after her. Su Xiaoqi looked at her with a mysterious smile and pointed to the mule cart she had just gotten into. She had been prepared. She had put the bitter buckwheat tea made in the previous days into her spatial dimension, and when getting into the cart, she took it out when no one was looking. She was now about to sell it to Madam Ping. The price was as previously agreed upon, and there was nothing to discuss. Thirty wen per jin. However, this time Madam Ping didn't just want ten jin, but a hundred jin at once.
"You want this much?" Su Xiaoqi was slightly surprised. Madam Ping chuckled, pointed to the full customers at the tea stall, and leaned in conspiratorially, "It's delicious, everyone likes it."
Su Xiaoqi thought for a moment and said, "Since it sells so well, have you thought about opening another tea stall, Sister Ping?" Madam Ping was taken aback for a moment and shook her head, saying that her tea stall's business used to be stagnant, just barely getting by, so how could she think of such things? She needed to discuss it with her husband.
Su Xiaoqi nodded and told her plainly that she would soon have tens of thousands of jin of bitter buckwheat tea, and even more in the future. If her stalls couldn't handle so much, she would probably have to sell to other tea houses.
"Oh, no, no." Madam Ping, who had been hesitant and conflicted, immediately had an idea upon hearing Su Xiaoqi. She stopped mentioning discussing it with her husband and just said she would find a way to open another one in the northern part of the city. She hoped Su Xiaoqi would definitely not sell to those tea houses. Bitter buckwheat tea was so delicious; she believed that as long as Su Xiaoqi sold it, there would surely be many people clamoring for it. In that case, while her small tea stall would still have business, it would certainly be affected.
"There are hundreds of thousands of people in Mianzhou City; even if you open two more tea stalls, you won't be able to supply them all. Moreover, you won't be able to sell them at a higher price." Su Xiaoqi suggested she might as well open a tea house. But Madam Ping shook her head with a troubled expression. While they had earned some money from the bitter buckwheat tea Su Xiaoqi provided, they were still far from being able to open a tea house.
Hearing this, Su Xiaoqi said, "How about this? Your two tea stalls still wouldn't be able to digest over ten thousand jin of bitter buckwheat tea. I can promise you that I will only supply your stalls. But for tea houses, I will have to find another one." Madam Ping nodded in understanding. No matter how good the tea in her small stall was, some people of status and position would not condescend to come here to drink it. The business she could do was limited.
After much discussion, Su Xiaoqi and Madam Ping agreed that her tea would only be sold in three places. First, Madam Ping's tea stalls. Second, a certain tea house, which Su Xiaoqi hadn't approached yet, but she was confident it wouldn't be a problem. Third, the supermarket not far ahead. Madam Ping then remembered that she had heard Su Xiaoqi mention it last time, telling her to buy from the shop ahead when she ran out of bitter buckwheat tea. She had been in such a hurry that she had forgotten about it. Su Xiaoqi told her that the selling price in the shop would be the retail price, so it would be set at fifty wen per jin. This was for ordinary bitter buckwheat, while black bitter buckwheat would cost at least seventy wen per jin.
After agreeing, Su Xiaoqi left Zhao Xiaozhu at the tea stall to wait for Shen Yun, and she returned to the 'supermarket'. The conversation with Madam Ping had given her a new idea. If bitter buckwheat tea was indeed so popular, then she naturally had to sell it in various ways. She entered the shop. Zhao Dayou was not at the front counter; only Xiao Liu was sitting there, writing something. Su Xiaoqi leaned over, startling Xiao Liu, who cursed without looking up, "Which bastard is pissing me off so much that I can't stand it..."
"Sorry, I scared you." Su Xiaoqi saw that while he was cursing, his hands were still writing furiously. She narrowed her eyes and reached out to take it. Hearing her voice, Xiao Liu quickly looked up, utterly shocked, and was just as quick to put the ledger behind him. Su Xiaoqi's eyes shot out a cold glint. It was obvious that Xiao Liu was overly guilty, and he had something to hide.