The Favorite of the Sick and Weak Lady - Chapter 32

After returning, Xiao Yu continued to husk the rice. During her breaks, she would read with the young lady. Two days flew by, and all the remaining rice was hulled. The young lady’s hand had also completely healed.

Xiao Yu loaded the rice onto the ox cart and headed to the county town, expecting to make at least seven taels of silver. To her surprise, when she arrived at the grain store, she learned that ordinary people, to save money, preferred to eat cheaper brown rice and couldn’t afford polished white rice. After two days, only twenty to thirty pounds of the hundred pounds of rice had been sold.

In the end, the shopkeeper only kept two hundred pounds of her rice, and Xiao Yu had to take the rest home.

When Song Luoning saw her bring the rice back, her brow furrowed slightly. Her gaze lingered on the rice bags for a moment, and she roughly guessed the reason.

The lives of the common people were already difficult; it was a good thing just to have enough to eat. How many of them would be willing to buy such expensive rice?

Song Luoning looked at the dejected Xiao Yu and was silent for a moment. “Husband, why don’t you let Luoning tell you a story first?”

Xiao Yu sighed. A thousand pounds of unhusked rice had yielded seven hundred pounds of polished rice. She had only sold three hundred pounds, leaving four hundred. She hadn’t expected that people here wouldn’t appreciate polished rice. It was her own fault for not considering the current situation. Her grand plan to make money had died in its infancy.

Seeing that Song Luoning was about to tell her a story, she didn’t bother unloading the cart. She plopped down on a rice bag and looked up at Song Luoning.

“What story will my lady tell?”

Song Luoning pursed her lips, her gaze distant. “①Legend has it that there was once a man who heard that a famous poet was coming to the area and wanted to ask him for a poem. However, he himself was also a poet, and he was afraid the other man would refuse if he simply invited him. So, he came up with a plan. He knew the poet enjoyed visiting temples, so he wrote two lines of a poem on a temple wall. When the poet came and saw the lines, he added two more lines to them that were even more brilliant than the first. The man then used this opportunity to befriend the poet.”

Song Luoning paused, looking at her. After a moment, she continued, “Your polished rice is very good. Perhaps you could try a different approach.”

A different approach?

Xiao Yu thought for a moment, and her spirits lifted. Why hadn’t she thought of that before? She jumped off the ox cart, took Song Luoning’s hand, and said with delight, “Thank you for the reminder, my lady. I know how to sell it now!”

Since selling it directly wasn’t working, she would try a different method.

Song Luoning looked at her but said nothing more.

The next day, Xiao Yu drove her ox cart to the east side of the county town’s bridge. She found a board and wrote on it: “Listen to a story for 15 Wen, and receive a free pound of polished rice.” She propped the sign next to the cart and began telling a story. This time, she chose a story about Bao Gong solving a strange case. At first, not many people came, but gradually more and more gathered. Occasionally, there were cheers. By the end of the story, the crowd had swelled to the point where it was almost impossible to move.

After the story ended, everyone voluntarily paid and received their rice. Some people even started buying the rice outright. The four hundred pounds of rice were gone in a flash.

Normally, it cost ten Wen to listen to a story at a teahouse, with extra fees for tea, and the stories were always the same old, tired ones. Xiao Yu’s show was five Wen more expensive, but it also came with a free pound of polished rice. Brown rice cost six Wen a pound at the market, and her stories were new and exciting. It was a great deal no matter how you looked at it.

Of course, there were some people who came to listen for free, watching from a distance. But when they saw the clean, white polished rice being given away, they couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy.

Xiao Yu didn’t force anyone; after all, she was telling stories on the street, and she couldn’t demand that people not stop and listen. However, most were willing to pay.

Maybe next time, she could rent a tea stall. It would be quite pleasant to listen to a story while sipping tea.

So, Xiao Yu went to a nearby tea stall. The owner was a woman in her forties. When she heard Xiao Yu’s idea, she readily agreed. “Come whenever you want. But it looks to me like you’re losing money by giving away this polished rice.”

Xiao Yu smiled, knowing the woman was giving her a kind warning. Without revealing her full plan, she said, “It’s fine. If you want to buy some rice, I’ll give you a discount.”

The woman agreed.

With the deal settled, Xiao Yu packed up her wooden sign and put it back on the ox cart. She had only been gone for a morning, but she was already missing the young lady. She was worried about leaving her alone at home. Before she left, she had given her a thousand warnings, fearing the young lady would try to cook again. Although the young lady had promised not to, Xiao Yu couldn’t help but worry. She wouldn’t feel at ease until she saw her.

Xiao Yu quickly hurried home. She didn’t even bother driving the ox cart into the yard. She pushed open the gate and went straight inside. Song Luoning was reading. She was slightly surprised to see her return so early.

Xiao Yu took Song Luoning’s hand and gently took the book from her. “Are you reading again? Reading all the time is bad for your eyes. You should rest for a while after reading.”

Song Luoning knew there was no stopping this scoundrel when she was being stubborn. She sighed. “I just started reading. Why are you back so early, husband?”

When Xiao Yu heard her question, she knelt beside her, her face full of excitement. She pulled the silver she had earned from selling the rice out of her pocket and placed it in Song Luoning’s hand. “My lady, this is the money from selling the rice. It’s eleven taels of silver. Please keep it safe.”

Song Luoning was shocked that it had sold so quickly, and for so much money. If she remembered correctly, the scoundrel had bought the unhusked rice for two Wen a pound, so a thousand pounds would have cost two taels of silver. After subtracting the initial cost and adding the previous earnings, she now had a full ten taels of silver.

How had this scoundrel managed to sell all that rice in half a day and earn so much money?

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