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1. This is an unofficial translation and no permission has been obtained from the author/ official publisher. It may be taken down if the author/official publisher requests.
2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author.
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Everyone had also seen that and started to act as though they were out for a simple shopping trip. They smoothly entered the first store which turned out to be a rouge shop. The instant the shop assistant saw them enter, he immediately greeted Liu Xu’er warmly and brought out an elaborately designed mahogany salver, with their store’s most exquisite powders on them. Then he persistently tried to recommend products to her.
“Miss, look at this rouge. It’s our newest product made from roses. Its smell is divine!”
“Have a look at these powders, these are also ground from rose petals. Miss, do you like roses? If you don’t, that’s alright, we also have jasmine, plum and japanese roses here!”
The group barely escaped from his grasp. Liu Lin rubbed his nose and said, “I was choking in there. The smell was so strong!”
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The group of them slowly browsed the different shops. Occasionally, Liu Xu’er would open her pouch to buy a few of the things that her store had, but were of a different and new style. When they went into a silk flower shop, there were a huge variety of silk flowers – all of them unique and fresh. Liu Xu’er browsed and shopped – she bought over 10 new types.
Liu Lin and Shi Cheng helped her to carry them. When they came out, Shi Cheng asked, “Did you notice anything?”
Liu Xu’er nodded, “The stores here are basically only selling one or two types of items. There are very few that sell as many different things as our store… Our store can really only be called a miscellaneous goods store.”
Liu Sen laughed when he heard her description of the store.
Liu Xu’er smiled and rubbed his little head.
Liu Lin also laughed before saying in agreement, “I also noticed that. When you look at their shop name, they all sound really nice, and you can tell from a glance what they are selling. Look, there’s Liniang1Literally means glittering jewels , Piaoxu2Literally means floating cotton wadding , Huahai3 Literally an ocean of flowers . Our store doesn’t even have a name!”
Shi Cheng smiled, “It looks like you’ve all learnt something! We can continue to slowly explore. We have quite a few days here; we can learn a lot from others.”
The store in front of them was selling hand-warmers so Liu Xu’er quickly went in for a look. There was a dazzling array of hand-warmers made from all kinds of material, from coarse cloth, to silk. Their prices ranged anywhere from a few taels to a few dozens of taels. There were even those that cost several 100 taels of silver.
There were those stuffed with cotton, those stuffed with rabbit fur. There was even those made with mink and squirrel leather. Liu Xu’er saw that a rabbit furred hand-warmers sold here were double what she charged. She sold them for five taels of silver, here, they were going for 10 taels.
Shi Cheng softly spoke into her ear, “Thankfully they don’t have your new style of hand-warmers. If you were to open a store here, that new style should work…. People in Feng Town don’t know how to appreciate new styles because it’s a small place, and their awareness is limited. But here, the people have broader insight and are better able to accept new styles. They might really like your new hand-warmers.”
Liu Xu’er nodded. She didn’t buy the hand-warmers, because there wasn’t anything special about them. They were just relying on the different materials to sell.
After they emerged from the hand-warmer store, Liu Xu’er took Liu Sen by the hand. She was about to continue on her way, when she looked ahead and let out an involuntary sigh. They had been walking the entire morning, but they were only about halfway down the street. There still looked to be many more shops ahead of them.
Shi Cheng smiled and said, “If you’re hungry, let’s have a meal first. We can rest our feet as we eat, before we continue our shopping.”
Liu Lin pursed his lips, “I didn’t see any shops available for rent. I don’t know how much shop rental on a street like this would cost.”
“It definitely won’t be cheap.”
“That’s for sure.”
As they talked, they turned a corner and came to a restaurant. Shi Cheng twisted his head around to tell Liu Xu’er, “This restaurant specializes in Hanzhong city’s snacks. But everything they use, from the ingredients to the serving plates are all very tasteful. They just opened last year.”
When the waiter saw them, his face was wreathed in smiles. He immediately came up to greet them before saying, “Customers, this humble restaurant serves Hanzhong city’s most authentic local cuisine. You won’t find any place that serves as complete a menu as our little restaurant. We serve authentic local snacks, would you like to come in and try some?”
The few of them entered, but didn’t want a private room. There was no need after all. They chose a table on the second floor that was close to the handrailing. That way, they could see the people on the streets as they moved along.
Liu Xu’er lowered her head to look at the street below. “It really is very lively.”
Shi Cheng was just ordering dishes. He asked the waiter what they had, and the waiter smilingly replied, “This humble store’s speciality is snacks. Naturally, we have all the local snacks you can find here – there is liangfenmianpi, mala chicken, vegetable tofu, Shimen’s mala bean paste fish, Hanzhong salted duck. As for wheat based food, we have Hanzhong’s bangbangmian, jiangshuimian…Those!”
Above is a type of 凉粉/liangfen. Liangfen literally translates as “cold powder”. It is a chinese legume dish consisting of starch jelly usually served cold. Source
Above is an example of 梆梆面/ bangbangmian. Source
Above is an example of 浆水面/Jiangshuimian. Source
Shi Cheng nodded and said, “We will have everything you’ve mentioned.”
The waiter immediately raised his voice, “Great! Liangfenmianpi, one, mala chicken, vegetable tofu….” He called the order as he walked back toward the kitchen.
Liu Sen was just asking Liu Lin – what is bangbangmian? Although Liu Lin hadn’t had it before, he had heard others mention it. He gave an explanation. “It’s a type of noodles that’s very chewy….”
Shi Cheng saw that Liu Xu’er was looking at the street below. He smiled and asked, “What are you thinking about?”
Liu Xu’er raised her head and smiled at him, “Hmm, I’ve just decided on our next few steps. We should rent a store here. It’s true that it’s best to just directly sell our products. It’s not as though we’ve never managed a store before. Since we’ve got the experience, there’s nothing we can’t handle…. Of course, we won’t do it now.”
Shi Cheng smiled, “That’s the right way of thinking. Of course you can’t do it now – my own family hasn’t even started… It’s not that easy, Hanzhong is not at all the same as Feng town.”
As the few of them spoke, the dishes slowly started to fill their tables. They had ordered quite a lot of food, but Shi Cheng, Liu Lin and Liu Sen were all at the stage where they could really eat. They finished the entire table of food.
Liu Xu’er looked at the food – their methods of making it weren’t any different from how it was done in the village. Jiangshuimian, liangfenmianpi, could be found on the streets. A bowl of liangfen would be sold for about two wen. But here, a bowl of the same would cost 20 wen, a tenfold increase!
But there were still many people here eating. When Liu Xu’er heard accents from all around the region from customers in the main hall, she understood why.
Whenever people come to a new place, they had the same thoughts. They wanted to eat local specialties. But a lot of people didn’t understand that. For example, if a relative came visiting from Sichuan, they would bring them over to a restaurant serving Sichuan cuisine, to try and accommodate their tastes. But actually, they would much prefer to try the local flavours.
And this restaurant had seized that opportunity. Hanzhong city was a major intersection, and there were many people from all over that would pass by here. The instant they asked where they could find local cuisine, they would be directed to this restaurant. Naturally, business would be good.
The decor in the restaurant was also well done, and their dishes were made of fine Song porcelain. Shi Cheng said that these were privately fired porcelain ware, and were much cheaper than the government controlled kilns. They were commonly found on the market. Still, with the beautiful decor, the emphasis on local cuisine and the clean store front, it was able to attract many customers that were travelling. And when visitors came here to eat, they would not feel shortchanged by them. On the contrary, they would feel rather satisfied and contented.
Some of these things were observations Liu Xu’er made by herself, others were explained to her by Shi Cheng. Liu Xu’er smiled and said, “You have really been exploring the restaurant business. It seems that you’ve learnt quite a lot.”
Shi Cheng smiled, “Aren’t these rather easy to understand? After all, haven’t we been to so many of these types of places…. Tomorrow, we will go to another restaurant and slowly continue to explore.”
Everyone laughed. The afternoon was another busy time of exploring the street. They found and bought some strange looking items. When it was nearly dark, they quickly went back home. The host family were impressed that they were so sensible. They didn’t have to worry at all about them.
The next day, they continued their exploration of the streets, looking at stores, and eating at restaurants. They spent three days doing that. Everything they needed to see, they saw, and everything they needed to find out about prices were all discovered. It was only then that they started to pack up to head back.
Shi Cheng was quite meticulous. He had found out how many family members there were in the host family. On the last day, he had specially bought quite a few items, including a few boxes of rouge for the family’s women. This was to thank them for their hospitality. That night, he also personally thanked the eldest son of the family and explained that they would be leaving the next morning, at dawn. They would not say their goodbyes then, to avoid disturbing the family so early.
When they go back, I hope He Shi won’t just start separating them as her priority 🤣🤣🤣
Thanks for the chapter!!
🤣🤣