Chapter 167
That day, when Fourth Uncle He came to deliver ducks, he was accompanied by three other men.
The ducks were carried in two cages. Seeing that Zhao Ger was still occupied with customers, and knowing that ducks had a strong smell and produced considerable waste—a major concern for food businesses—the three men stopped and waited across the street.
Watching the long queue, the men felt envious. Guaizai, who looked like a little god of wealth with his three-heads-tall body and the small topknot that Fang Zichen had tied for him stood straight up like a single chopstick pointing at the sky, was busy collecting money while holding a clay pot.
"Zhao Ger's business is truly booming!"
"Absolutely. When I first heard he had opened a shop in town, I thought the young man was being impulsive and would likely have to close down and return home within a few days. I never imagined his business would become so successful."
"Fourth Brother, have you tasted the pumpkin cakes he sells?? How do they taste?"
Fourth Uncle He smacked his lips and said, "Quite good. He probably puts sugar in them, they're sweet and fried in oil."
"Selling for three copper coins each, can he make a profit? Using both sugar and oil?"
Sugar and oil aren't cheap, one jin can cost several times more than pork.
One man said, "Are you stupid? If he wasn't making a profit, he would have closed up and gone back long ago. Although he adds sugar, pumpkins get sweet if stored long enough, so he probably doesn't use much sugar. The main cost is the oil."
Fourth Uncle He sighed. When he came to deliver ducks last time, Zhao Ger wrapped up a few for him. The pumpkin cakes were soft, sticky, and sweet; he still remembered the flavor to this day. "I never knew pumpkins could be prepared like this. Why didn't we know how to do this before?"
The man beside him said, "It must be a food from overseas. We've never seen anyone in town sell them like this."
One man had hardly spoken from start to finish. He stared fixedly at Guaizai and, after a long while, said, "Hey, that little kid is amazing! I've watched him collecting money for so long, and he hasn't made a single mistake."
"You're not often at home, so you don't know," Fourth Uncle He said. "That's Guaizai. Don't let his young age and short stature fool you, that child is something else! He knows how to read characters, and he's excellent at arithmetic. My little grandson plays with him and has already learned to calculate numbers within fifty."
They chatted until Zhao Ger finished his work, then they got up and went over.
"Zhao Ger," Fourth Uncle He called out.
Zhao Ger ushered them into the backyard. Zhou Ger poured water for them.
"Fourth Uncle," Zhao Ger said, "You've worked hard."
"Not hard work at all," Fourth Uncle He replied, his smile deepening the wrinkles on his forehead.
In the past, he had often carried ducks to town to sell. On lucky days, he managed to sell two or three. When luck was against him, he wouldn't sell a single one all morning.
Ducks were large. During the summer, a family couldn't finish one in a single meal, and any leftovers would begin to spoil by evening. In the winter, when ducks were molting and growing new feathers, they were harder to pluck and clean, so even fewer people bought them.
Back when he wasn't earning silver, he never complained of tiredness carrying them. Now that he was finally making a profit, he felt even less tired.
Zhao Ger smiled and said, "Uncle He, are you all here for the market today too?"
The three men shook their heads and looked at Fourth Uncle He in unison. They weren't familiar with Zhao Ger and felt too embarrassed to speak.
It wasn't actually a big deal.
Zhao Ger's roast duck business was doing very well. With the accompanying sauce, if he had enough capacity, he could sell thirty or forty ducks a day.
Currently, with only himself and Zhou Ger, they managed ten ducks a day. Between plucking the feathers, cleaning them thoroughly, preparing the spices, air-drying the ducks, and organizing everything, they were kept busy until midnight, barely finishing their work.
With ten ducks every day, Fourth Uncle He's family's ducks were almost wiped out. He recently bought some more ducklings. Because he could earn money now, the whole family took even more care in raising the ducks, treating them like ancestors. Even so, it would take about three months for this batch of ducks to grow up. Seeing that the duck supply was about to run out, and knowing that He Lao'er's family and the Liu family also raised some, he brought them along.
Besides, buying from one place or another didn't make much difference. It was just that back when Zhao Ger was still with the Ma family, Fourth Uncle He's wife had helped Zhao Ger a few times.
Zhao Ger was someone who remembered kindness. When he wanted to buy ducks, he went directly to Fourth Uncle He.
Seeing that Zhao Ger had no objections and offered a fair price, Fourth Uncle He smiled and asked, "Should we discuss this with Young Fang?"
"No need," Zhao Ger said. "I can decide this matter."
Fourth Uncle He left cheerfully with the men. By the time Fang Zichen arrived, Zhao Ger was just about to slaughter the ducks.
He had prepared a basin with water and salt to collect the blood later. Without the water, the duck blood would coagulate, becoming hard and tasteless, which made it unpleasant to eat once cooked.
Just then, Fang Zichen called out to him, suggesting they go together to see the slave broker.
Zhao Ger, still holding a gleaming large knife, asked, "What for? Do you want to buy people?"
In modern times, purchasing a person would have been an offense punishable by handcuffs and imprisonment. This concept was deeply ingrained in Fang Zichen, so no matter how busy the household became, the idea of buying servants had never crossed his mind. However, being separated from Zhao Ger and only managing to see him briefly each day left Fang Zichen feeling discontent. While working on the account books, he would often sigh heavily, behaving as though business was failing and the Zuixiao Restaurant was on the verge of bankruptcy.
Shopkeeper Yang asked him about it. Fang Zichen said he was upset! He couldn't hold his fulang at night, left guarding an empty room. He tossed and turned, unable to sleep, had no appetite for food, and had become gaunt and haggard, having lost a great deal of weight.
Shopkeeper Yang looked him up and down but couldn't see where he had lost any weight.
As for having no appetite, that was even more exaggerated; he had just devoured three bowls of rice.
If that counted as having no appetite, then before he must have eaten three buckets.
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