Seeing Song Jinzhao smiling confidently about her food, the porter asked with interest, "How much?"
"Five coppers for a cup of Black Plum and Rock Sugar Tea. Six coppers for a bowl of cold noodles or Liangpi. Eight coppers for a bowl with chicken."
The porter was dumbfounded, as if struck by lightning. "Five coppers for a cup of tea? That's far too expensive."
Song Jinzhao choked for a moment and quickly explained, "This tea is brewed with several heat-clearing and summer-relieving herbs like black plum, hawthorn, and licorice. I've also added rock sugar and ice cubes. Feel it—it's very cold."
The porter touched the bamboo cup wall with his finger.
It was cool to the touch, the color looked appealing, and it had a faint, sweet-and-sour aroma.
"Forget it, forget it. Give me a bowl of cold noodles without meat first. Let me taste it."
Song Jinzhao put down the bamboo tube. "Alright, just a moment."
"How much chili do you want?"
"Do you eat scallions?"
As the chopsticks quickly mixed in the earthenware bowl, a bowl of well-separated, refreshingly colored cold noodles soon appeared in Song Jinzhao's hands.
The porter couldn't help but swallow his saliva. There was no meat, yet it looked so appetizing.
He tried a few noodles first. The sour, spicy, and refreshing taste wasn't greasy at all; instead, it made him hungrier the more he ate.
After finishing, he stared at the Liangpi in the bamboo basket, something he'd never seen before, and gritted his teeth.
"Give me another bowl of Liangpi with chicken, extra chili."
"Coming right up!"
Song Jinzhao used a kitchen knife to slice three sheets of Liangpi into strips and quickly began mixing, ensuring every shred of chicken and strip of Liangpi was coated in chili oil.
After downing the bowl of Liangpi, the porter left, clutching his empty money pouch with a pained expression.
Several more customers came one after another. Upon hearing the Black Plum and Rock Sugar Tea was five coppers a cup, they all shook their heads and only bought the cold noodles or Liangpi.
No matter how Song Jinzhao promoted it, they preferred to buy a two-copper cup of herbal tea from the neighboring stall rather than her Black Plum and Rock Sugar Tea.
Song Jinzhao's stall actually boosted the business of the auntie selling herbal tea next door.
When there were no customers, the auntie guarding her tea bucket, seeing that Song Jinzhao hadn't sold a single cup, couldn't help but say, "Young lady, they only earn seventy coppers a day. Spending over ten coppers on just a cup of tea and a bowl of noodles with no refills—no one can bear that expense. You need to lower your price."
A shallow furrow appeared between Song Jinzhao's brows. "But the ingredients for my tea are expensive and the cost is high. I can't run a business at a loss."
Before setting up the stall, she had calculated: the material cost for brewing one bucket of Black Plum and Rock Sugar Tea was one hundred and twenty coppers. One bucket only held sixty cups, making the cost per cup two coppers, not even counting labor, firewood, or the cost of the ice.
Five coppers a cup was already cheap enough; a pound of ice alone cost five coppers.
The auntie selling herbal tea shook her head helplessly. "If you don't lower the price, you'll just have to drag this whole bucket of tea back home and drink it yourself."
On her first day, not knowing how business would be, Song Jinzhao hadn't made much.
After she sold all the Liangpi and cold noodles, the bucket of Black Plum and Rock Sugar Tea sat untouched in the bamboo basket. She had only drunk one cup herself when she felt hot.
Just as she was about to pack up and leave, a maid wearing a light green narrow-sleeved ruqun dress, her hair tied in two small buns, appeared before Song Jinzhao.
Pointing at the bamboo cup of Black Plum and Rock Sugar Tea with her handkerchief, she asked, "Is there ice added inside?"
Song Jinzhao looked up.
A few steps away, several servants surrounded a woman in a red gown woven with golden peonies. She was wiping the sweat from her neck with a handkerchief, her gaze occasionally drifting over, clearly thirsty.
"Yes, ice is added. This is Black Plum and Rock Sugar Tea; it can clear heat and relieve summer heat."
Upon hearing the price, the maid didn't hesitate at all. She directly bought a cup and took it over to the woman standing not far away.
Not long after, she ran back and bought another cup.
Watching the group leave, Song Jinzhao decisively packed up her stall and drove the cart home.
The target customer group was wrong. No matter how long she waited, no one would buy it.
Returning home, Song Xueshi stared at the full bucket of Black Plum and Rock Sugar Tea for a long while.
She asked with difficulty, "Big sister, did you not sell a single cup?"
Song Jinzhao was speechless. "I drank one cup myself."
She had originally thought that since ice cost five coppers a pound, offering it for free with the tea would surely attract many buyers.
Unexpectedly, she had misjudged the spending habits of the dock porters.
They were willing to spend five coppers, but not on a cup of tea.
For them, a delicious Black Plum and Rock Sugar Tea wasn't as cost-effective as cheap herbal tea; both could quench thirst anyway.
Song Xueshi found it hard to accept. "How could no one buy such delicious Black Plum and Rock Sugar Tea?"
She herself liked it very much.
Song Jinzhao poured the copper coins from the wooden box onto the bamboo mat. "The customers thought it was too expensive."
Song Xueshi blurted out, "Then why not sell it cheaper?"
Song Jinzhao explained, "If I sell it cheaper, when I go to set up my stall tomorrow, they'll think it's not worth it and assume I've cut corners."
Song Xueshi's shoulders slumped. Puzzled, she asked, "If you couldn't sell a single cup today, will anyone be willing to buy it tomorrow?"
Song Jinzhao said, "So I plan to improve the recipe. I'll directly sell Black Plum Soup with ice, lowering the cost. Then someone should be willing to buy it."
Or find a different place to set up stall where there are more wealthy people.
There were nine hundred and two coppers in total in the wooden box. After deducting costs, the net profit was six hundred coppers. Subtracting the one hundred and twenty coppers lost on the Black Plum and Rock Sugar Tea, she only made four hundred and eighty coppers.
Song Xueshi silently breathed a sigh of relief. At least they didn't lose money.
"Big sister, what about the tea in the bucket? We can't finish it, and it'll spoil overnight."
"Give it to Grandfather and the others to drink."
Song Jinzhao carried the wooden bucket to the ridge of the field.
"Grandfather, I brought some tea. Come and have a drink."
Old Man Song didn't know Song Jinzhao had been setting up a stall and thought she had specially brewed it for them.
"Jinzhao is so filial. Next time, don't put in so many things. Just boil some tea leaves and it'll be fine."
The corner of Song Jinzhao's mouth twitched. That porter probably thought the same way.
The six people from the main and secondary branches of the family drank the entire bucket of tea, their bellies round and full.
In the evening, when Song Qiming returned and found out, he said, "Setting up a stall at the dock isn't dangerous. Earning six hundred coppers a day, even without selling tea, you could make eighteen taels of silver a month. That's already very good."
Song Jinzhao said, "At the beginning, everyone's buying out of novelty. Once they get tired of it, business will slow down. I'll think of other methods."
The next day, Song Jinzhao prepared twice as much Liangpi and cold noodles. The earliest customer was still that porter.
"Big brother, Black Plum Soup is three coppers a bowl. Would you like a cup?"
The porter raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Lowered the price?"
Song Jinzhao smiled. "Yesterday's didn't sell well, so I changed the recipe."
Seeing the amount of ice hadn't decreased, and knowing that a cup of iced tea in a tavern in summer cost dozens of coppers, here he could get a cup for just five coppers.
He gritted his teeth and said, "Give me a bowl of cold noodles with shredded chicken and a cup of Black Plum Soup."
Suddenly, a man rushed to the stall with seven others and shouted, "This is the place! The cold noodles she sells are much better than soup noodles!"
"Miss, give me a bowl of cold noodles, extra peanuts."
Song Jinzhao glanced at the man; he was also a returning customer from yesterday.
"Thank you for your patronage, big brother. I'll give you an extra couple of scoops."
The man eagerly took the bamboo container and stepped aside to eat.
Of the seven people he brought along, five bought the cold noodles, while the other two opted for the cold skin noodles.
After the first bite, they all gave Song Jinzhao a thumbs-up.
Although the dark plum drink didn't sell as well as the cold noodles or cold skin, Song Jinzhao hadn't prepared much of it.
By the time the cold skin and cold noodles were sold out, the bucket of dark plum drink was also empty.
With the new offerings and excellent flavor, everything was sold out in just an hour and a half.
The aunt selling herbal tea at a nearby stall let out a heavy sigh of relief when she finally saw Song Jinzhao pack up and leave.
Just yesterday, she had worried the young girl would suffer losses if she couldn't sell her goods, but today her business was booming.
Thankfully, her own tea was one copper coin cheaper, otherwise she'd have to find a new spot tomorrow.
Unaware of the herbal tea aunt's concerns, Song Jinzhao didn't head home. Instead, she went to the busiest and most prosperous street in Xining City.
There were stalls lining both sides of the road here as well, but these were paid spots, not just anyone could set up shop.
