First Customer

Liu Xiaolan and her little fool continued to sit at their stall and wait for potential customers, while Mu Yuchen would stand up and shout some advertisements from time to time.

Liu Xiaolan looked around and was now a little worried. They've been here for over 30 minutes and yet not a single person even came by to ask about their chestnuts.

Not far from them, a middle-aged woman was standing, while holding some of her own things. Liu Xiaolan noticed that that woman glanced at their stall quite a few times, so she thought that she might as well try her own luck by now.

Liu Xiaolan walked towards the woman and asked, "Sister, do you want some of our chestnuts?"

Although the woman wasn't used to talking with strangers, she was still happy that Liu Xiaolan called her a sister. "Little girl, what sister? Look at me, I'm already too old to be called as your sister, you better call me an aunt."

"How could I call sister as an auntie? Isn't sister too beautiful to be an aunt yet?" Liu Xiaolan said with a sweet smile.

While Liu Xiaolan was already in marriage age in the ancient times, her body wasn't developed properly over the years and she looked younger than most people of her age.

Now with her sweet smile and a quiet cute voice, the middle aged woman was already very happy being called as a beatiful sister by her. After all, most children would just say what they really think and wouldn't bother to lie, wouldn't they?

The middle aged woman just smiled and let it be. "Alright, if you want to call me a sister then let it be. Little girl, is your family selling chestnuts?"

Liu Xiaolan was ecstatic in her mind and quickly nodded. "Yes, we've just started selling today."

"Little girl, maybe you guys should look for another place?" The woman said with a little worry in her voice, "There are a few other people selling their snacks here, and they've been doing it for years. Unless someone can bring out something really tasty in good price, it would be hard to take away their clients…"

The woman was afraid that Liu Xiaolan would misunderstand her and added, "It's not that I've got something against you, but most people don't really like to eat too much chestnuts…"

Liu Xiaolan didn't openly disagree with her, but she just said, "Sister, our chestnuts have a really good taste. We fried them and added some of our spices, so they aren't bitter like most raw chestnuts. Instead, they are delicious and savoury."

"Also, our family sells them in smaller portions." Liu Xiaolan took the woman's hand and went towards her stall. "Look, we had these little buckets specially made for us in Liujia's Wood Workshop. In this way, you can either eat them while walking or take them home for later…"

The woman saw the little buckets under the stall, full of fresh chestnuts, and was a little tempted to buy some. After all, let's not say that Liu Xiaolan's mouth was to sweet, but she was a little curious about the fact that they sold in such small buckets.

It was the first time she saw someone selling in this way, so she asked curiously, "Why don't you sell in sacks like most people?"

"Sacks are too big, who would want to buy 20 or more pounds of chestnuts at once?" Liu Xiaolan said with a smile.

"This way, when you buy them in small buckets, you can easily carry them around with you. Either treat it as a snack on the road or take it back home and eat later, it's very convenient to take it with you thanks to the handle on the buckets." If Liu Xiaolan could, she would probably even sell her own soul right now just to make this sale a success.

The woman was already hooked on Liu Xiaolan's shenanigans. She smiled towards and said, "Little girl, what's the price of a single bucket?"

Liu Xiaolan happily answered, "100 copper coins per bucket, a really good price!"

During the time she was waiting for her tools to be done by the blacksmith, Liu Xiaolan spent quite a lot of time thinking of the pricing.

To be honest, the chestnuts are basically free, all it takes is to pick them from the mountains. Each bucket cost her 45 copper coins, so she only needs to add the cost of salt.

While salt is not the cheapest thing on the market, the price is still pretty low. Thanks to the fact that the city is under the control of the Qin Army, local officials don't dare to make the price of salt higher in order to get some profits in their own pocket.

Thanks to this, even if Liu Xiaolan had to account for the price of salt in her chestnuts, the total price wouldn't go over 50 copper coins.

By selling each bucket at a price of 100 copper coins, she can earn back the whole cost and get another 50 coins as a bonus!

The woman looked at the bucket with chestnuts and hesitated a little. After all, a price of 100 copper coins for such a small thing was still a little high, even in Shenyang.

Liu Xiaolan smiled and said, "Sister, try some? You should like them!"

"Alright then, let me try how they taste first." The middle aged woman took a few chestnuts from the bucket and slowly chewed on them.

Soon, a slight smile could be seen on her face as she looked towards Liu Xiaolan. While the price might be a little high, but they are totally worth it for this price when one takes their taste into consideration. "They taste really good, little girl."

The woman took 200 copper coins from her sleeve and gave them to Liu Xiaolan. "Little girl, give me 2 buckets. I'll take some home to let my husband try how they taste…"