Chapter 40: Selling Chestnuts for Cash
Jian Xingxia hurriedly ran to the front to open the door.
“It’s ready, it’s ready. Help me load this onto the tricycle.”
Together, the two of them lifted the massive stainless-steel basin—which was large enough to take a bath in—and an equally large stainless-steel bucket onto the back bed of the tricycle.
Jian Xingxia double-checked everything, packing her electronic counter scale, plastic bags, scoops, the small iron trays for samples, and various other odds and ends.
After locking the courtyard gate, Jian Xingxia sat on the back bed of the tricycle, holding the items steady as they headed out of the mountains.
Little Hu the Sixth got off when they reached the village. Jian Xingxia said, “I might be back a bit late tonight. Can you let Grandma Hu Ming know for me?”
Little Hu the Sixth grinned. “Don’t worry, Sister Xiaxia. Knowing you needed to borrow the vehicle, Grandma Hu Ming kept it charging all last night and wouldn’t let anyone touch it this morning.”
The elderly folks in the village always took exceptional care of Jian Xingxia. It seemed that because they had lived through difficult times, the help they had received from her maternal grandmother back then remained deeply etched in their hearts.
Jian Xingxia smiled, slowly getting the hang of driving the electric tricycle as she headed down the mountain.
Driving an electric tricycle was pretty much the same as riding an electric scooter. During university, Jian Xingxia had owned a secondhand electric scooter that she bought for 600 yuan. It had helped her earn several times that amount working part-time delivering packages. If her grandmother’s house hadn’t been so far from her university—requiring a train ride and a bus transfer—Jian Xingxia really would have been loath to part with it.
Jian Xingxia rode down the mountain along the familiar route, arriving at the wet market right around 10:30 AM.
By this time, the market was past its peak morning rush, but there was still a steady stream of foot traffic.
Jian Xingxia lifted the lid off the stainless-steel food bucket, used her small scoop to arrange the frozen chestnuts into the shape of a miniature mountain, and began shouting.
“Frozen chestnuts! Frozen chestnuts! Eight yuan a bag, fifteen for two!”
“One catty per bag, full weight guaranteed! Healthy and delicious!”
A few people cast glances her way.
Jian Xingxia smiled warmly. “Auntie, come have a taste! Boiled chestnuts, delicious and won’t cause internal heat.”
She had a sweet tongue and a bright smile. A grocery-shopping auntie in her fifties took two steps closer. “I just heard you say these are frozen chestnuts?”
Who eats chestnuts frozen?
Jian Xingxia smiled. “Yes, they’re boiled and then frozen. Since the weather is so hot now, eating them this way keeps you cool and won’t cause internal heat. It’s much better than eating popsicles or ice cream—no additives!”
Better than popsicles or ice cream?
The auntie’s eyes lit up. “Let me try one.”
Jian Xingxia immediately handed over the small sample dish, which held a dozen chestnuts.
The auntie picked one up. It was indeed ice-cold to the touch. The shell peeled easily, and the inner skin came right off with it, leaving only the golden flesh.
She took a bite.
It was perfectly powdery and soft, with a mouthfeel very much like eating ice cream.
The auntie was instantly delighted. Summer break had started, and the grandkids were all back home. Big kids and small kids alike were demolishing a dozen popsicles a day. It made her teeth ache just watching them, and she worried that eating too much sugar, cream, and additives would be bad for their health. Chestnuts were great; chestnuts were so healthy.
“Give me two bags.”
Fifteen yuan was nothing to an auntie buying snacks for the kids at home. A single popsicle cost three or four yuan anyway, and they ate those without a second thought, didn’t they?
Jian Xingxia immediately opened the iron basin, pulled out two pre-packaged bags, and placed them on the counter scale. “These were all packed fresh this morning. There are ice packs inside, so by the time you get them home, they’ll have softened just a tiny bit, giving them the exact same texture as the samples.”
The counter scale precisely displayed a weight of 1,030g for the two bags.
The auntie was very satisfied and pulled out her phone.
Jian Xingxia decisively pulled out hers as well. “Auntie, you can just scan my code.”
While the auntie scanned the payment, Jian Xingxia placed the two bags of frozen chestnuts into a plastic bag. The moment the notification chimed, she handed the bag right into the auntie’s hands.
Once the first sale was made, business flowed smoothly. Her price was cheap, too. You couldn’t even buy a single catty of chestnuts at a roasted goods shop for fifteen yuan, and sugar-roasted chestnuts in the winter cost over twenty yuan a catty. She was charging only eight yuan a catty, and they were already processed. It was practically a clearance sale.
Soon, another crowd gathered. After tasting the samples, people bought two bags at a time without much hesitation.
“Are the rock-sugar ones the same price?”
“Yes, but the rock-sugar bags are six taels each,” Jian Xingxia replied to the next customer while packaging for the previous one with a smile. “If you take the rock-sugar ones home and freeze them, they taste just like sugar-coated haws. They have a thin, crispy shell on the outside, and kids absolutely love them.”
Jian Xingxia emphasized, “The crispy coating is simmered from pure rock sugar. No saccharin, artificial flavors, or sugar substitutes are used. It’s very clean.”
People who could still come to the market to buy groceries in such hot weather were mostly the primary cooks of their households. People who liked cooking for themselves usually felt that food made outside was either unpalatable or unclean, and they cared deeply about this point.
Having done plenty of promotional work, Jian Xingxia knew her product’s selling points inside out.
Sure enough, the tricycle was soon surrounded by grocery-shopping uncles and aunties.
“This isn’t expensive at all, only eight yuan a catty.”
“Exactly. The little one in my house just loves sweet things. I don’t dare let him eat any more of those ice creams and cookies. Chestnuts are good; chestnuts are healthy.”
“Ha! My daughter took me on a trip last week, and we actually ran into someone selling ice chestnuts at the tourist spot. Twenty yuan, and there were only about ten in a bag!” The auntie speaking looked very proud. “I said not to buy them, but my daughter insisted. She spent thousands taking me out on that trip, just throwing money around! But she insisted that we don’t have this stuff at home, and you can only eat it when you travel.”
The auntie bought four catties at once, two of each kind. “This time I’m carrying them back just to show her that we have ice chestnuts for sale at our own market too!”
The people next to her were filled with a mix of envy and mild jealousy. “Oh my, oh my, we know your daughter is filial. Alright, alright, give me two bags as well. Ah, I want the original flavor.”
Jian Xingxia couldn’t stop smiling. “Alright, coming right up! Auntie, let me pack those for you!”
She kept selling until twelve o’clock, emptying a little under half of the large basin. There were also people who didn’t like Jian Xingxia’s pre-packaged bags and preferred to pick their own. At eight yuan a catty, she sold quite a lot by weight as well.
Jian Xingxia welcomed all takers.
The chestnuts cost her zero upfront; at most, it was just a bit of sugar and salt. For this many chestnuts, she had only used about eight yuan worth of sugar and salt in total. Selling a single bag meant she had already recouped her costs.
Jian Xingxia did a quick calculation. She had sold over thirty catties scattered throughout the morning, mostly via the fifteen-yuan-for-two-bags deal. Combining the phone transfers and cash revenue, she had made a total of 275 yuan.
This was exactly why people said small businesses might look inconspicuous, but they could pull in a serious profit.
Most importantly, the system counted this toward her “estate management revenue.”
The upgrade progress, which hadn’t budged in ages, jumped twice today.
Temporary worker +1, management revenue +275, and she could continue selling to make money in the afternoon.
Jian Xingxia happily tucked the money away and had a bowl of beef noodles at a small eatery next to the wet market. She ordered extra meat and extra cilantro for eighteen yuan, plus a bottle of cola and a bottle of mineral water for five yuan.
Jian Xingxia didn’t treat herself poorly. When you earned money, you ought to eat and drink well. Otherwise, if you had to live like an ascetic monk even after making money, where would the motivation to keep earning come from?
After finishing her meal, Jian Xingxia rode the tricycle to the courier station to pick up the packages from her second purchase. This time, it was mainly the toilet paper Grandma Hu wanted to buy—two boxes of roll paper and one box of sheet paper, which took up quite a bit of space.
From 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, business was at its quietest. Jian Xingxia rode the tricycle around various areas, but after shouting for ages, she only managed to make a single sale. She decided to save her energy, parking the tricycle in an alley to take a break.
Around 4:00 PM, the residential areas gradually grew lively. Jian Xingxia rode her tricycle to the entrance of a neighborhood, joining the other vendors who did business in the late afternoon and evening.
Business in the residential area was decent. People were coming out after taking their afternoon naps, feeling a bit of a bland taste in their mouths. Lunch had already digested, and there was still some time before dinner, making it the perfect moment to snack on some chestnuts.
Moreover, fewer people bargained over prices here. Once Jian Xingxia opened for business, the people behind smoothly scanned the QR codes.
“Give me two bags.”
“I want one bag of original and one bag of rock-sugar.”
“One bag, payment sent.”
Jian Xingxia was practically running off her feet trying to keep up by herself.
Before 5:30 PM, the remaining chestnuts were almost completely sold out, with only seven or eight catties left.
