Chapter 238: Five-Tael Franchise Fee

Chapter 238: Chapter 238: Five-Tael Franchise Fee

Just after breakfast that day, Aunt Wang and Sixth Sister-in-law Feng arrived together at the Hu Family’s door.

They sat down and got straight to the point without any pleasantries.

"Old Xie, are the rumors true? Are you really selling your hot and spicy soup stall?"

"Yeah, what’s going on? The rumors are so detailed."

Widow Xie knew what they were talking about. She sighed, her face full of worry, but said nothing.

Aunt Wang and Sixth Sister-in-law Feng exchanged glances. Seeing her reaction... ’Could the rumors be true?’

"Good heavens, have you lost your mind? Don’t you know how many people in the village are green with envy over your family? Their eyes are practically red from staring!"

"Business is so good, and you’re just going to throw it away? What are you thinking?!"

The two of them went on and on, one after the other, because they truly couldn’t understand.

Ever since the Hu Family started their stall, people had said all sorts of things. But in the end, wasn’t it all just jealousy because they were making money and their lives were getting better and better?

They had thought it was just some malicious gossip again, but they never imagined it was true!

It wasn’t like the two of them hadn’t gone to see for themselves in town. In all of Juyong Town, South Town was the most prosperous area, and in all of South Town, the Hu Family’s stall did the best business.

Although it wasn’t a truly massive enterprise, for a farming family, it was no different from sitting on a gold and silver mountain that you could never finish eating and drinking from.

They could wrack their brains and still not come up with a reason for the Hu Family to give it up.

Widow Xie, seemingly unable to withstand their pressing questions, slowly poured out her bellyful of grievances.

After hearing the whole story, Aunt Wang and Sixth Sister-in-law Feng both cursed the Cao Family for their insatiable greed, wishing them a terrible death. Finally, they offered some soft words to comfort Widow Xie.

Inwardly, however, they sighed endlessly.

’The Hu Family’s luck had finally turned for the better, so how did they run into such a wretched mess?’

Widow Xie waved her hand, indicating that she had already come to terms with it.

"Anyway, no matter what, our family can’t continue the business, but that doesn’t mean someone else can’t. Liangzi and I talked it over. If anyone is willing to learn, it’s just five taels of Silver, and we guarantee we’ll teach you until you’ve mastered it."

"R-Really?"

"Of course, it’s true."

Sixth Sister-in-law Feng’s husband was a foreman at a construction site. Although his income was meager, it was relatively stable.

Plus, with the precedent of the Hu Family’s stall failing, she felt that running a business was still not very reliable, so she maintained a wait-and-see attitude.

Aunt Wang, however, was tempted.

But those five taels of Silver...

Widow Xie saw right through her and said,

"You both know how booming the business at my stall is. And once you learn this, it becomes your own skill. It will benefit you for years to come, and you can pass it down to your children and grandchildren for generations. Five taels isn’t asking for much at all."

Widow Xie was repeating Ji Huan’s original words. It felt a bit awkward to say, but it was effective.

After hearing this, Aunt Wang’s hesitant heart immediately became resolute.

"I won’t hide it from you, Old Xie. You know my family’s situation. Both my boys are waiting to get married. Just relying on Wang Min running around taking odd jobs, when will we ever save up enough? It’s not like someone is always building a house."

Aunt Wang had wanted to start a small business for a long time.

She didn’t have the confidence to sell anything else, but she had seen with her own eyes how popular the hot and spicy soup and fried dough sticks were.

"If your family was still running the business, I would never dare to have this idea. But since your family is now... well, I was thinking..."

Aunt Wang stammered. Ultimately, she was still a little afraid that Widow Xie would hold a grudge.

After all, how could anyone feel good about handing over such a good business to someone else just like that?

It would be a lie to say Widow Xie wasn’t upset, but what could she do about it? This was a debt incurred by her own family; she couldn’t blame others.

"Someone has to do it, and I’d rather it be you. But I have to be upfront about a few things. Even if you learn it now and set up a stall in town, you won’t have a monopoly anymore. The Cao Family is one, and what if more people want to learn later... Otherwise, we wouldn’t be charging only five taels."

Hearing this, Aunt Wang suddenly felt a sense of urgency.

She wasn’t thinking about a monopoly anymore—if that were possible, the opportunity wouldn’t have fallen to her. She was afraid that too many people would learn after her...

Widow Xie patted her hand. "Don’t worry, not everyone will agree to this. But for you, there’s definitely no problem."

Aunt Wang breathed a sigh of relief. Wanting to settle the matter quickly, she pulled Sixth Sister-in-law Feng to her feet. "I still need to go back and discuss it with Wang Min. I’ll come find you later."

Widow Xie agreed.

She had just seen the two of them off when, a short while later, someone else came to the door. Their words, both spoken and implied, were also to inquire about the hot and spicy soup stall.

Widow Xie simply repeated what she had told Aunt Wang and Sixth Sister-in-law Feng.

Throughout the morning, she saw off several waves of visitors, coming and going.

Widow Xie herself hadn’t expected that just a whisper of a rumor would cause so many people to take action.

The power of women’s gossip was not to be underestimated. In less than a day, almost everyone in the village who should know, knew.

The next day, even more people came to her door.

There were those she was on good terms with, like Aunt Gao and Second Sister-in-law Xu.

There were also those she had a more average relationship with.

The strangest thing was that even Ma Liugun and Gou Sheng’s wife shamelessly came to ask.

Seeing the situation getting bigger and bigger, Widow Xie couldn’t sit still any longer and ran to find Ji Huan for advice.

"Wuan, what do we do? There are too many people!"

"Isn’t it a good thing that there are a lot of people?" Ji Huan feigned confusion.

"B-But what if the whole village goes to town to sell hot and spicy soup? What do we do if they can’t sell it?"

"Business is all about ’goods delivered and payment cleared.’ We take the money and teach them. Whether or not they can sell it, or if their business is good, is not something we can worry about."

"But..." Widow Xie looked troubled. "We’re all from the same village. Nobody’s money just flows in like water. We can’t rip them off."

Ji Huan finally couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing.

"Just you watch, Aunt Xie. Among all these people who’ve come to our door, not even one in ten will actually be willing to cough up the money. Most of them are just here for the spectacle."

"That can’t be right." Widow Xie was skeptical. "I’d say more than half of them seemed very tempted."

"Tempted is one thing, taking action is another story. Let me ask you, don’t they all have to go back and discuss it with their families? Five taels of Silver is no small sum for an ordinary family. Even though we were quite successful, most of the villagers have never run a business. There’s no guarantee they’ll make a profit, and yet we’re asking them to pay upfront..."

Hearing her say that, Widow Xie started to worry again that in the end, not a single person would take the offer.

Ji Huan shook her head. "That won’t happen. There will always be a few who are bold and less conservative. We just have to wait."

And indeed, Ji Huan’s guess was right.

Those who had been tempted went home with excitement in their hearts to discuss it, but as soon as their families heard they had to pay five taels upfront, the idea was immediately shot down.

In the days that followed, dramas of mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law cursing each other, sisters-in-law bickering, and husbands and wives fighting played out in one household after another.

Amid the turmoil, some couldn’t help but start complaining—’We’re all fellow villagers, how can she have the nerve to ask for five taels right off the bat! One tael would be more like it.’

When these words reached Ji Huan’s ears, she simply heard them and let them go.

’Even if I set the price at one tael, someone would question why I couldn’t charge five maces.’

’If I charged five maces, they’d probably demand to know why it couldn’t be free.’

’Ah, people. The worst is trying to bring feelings into a discussion about money.’

’A clearly marked price, for willing buyers to take the bait. It’s as simple as that.’