"Ten coins?!" The uncle gasped in shock. Then, with good intentions, he said, "Girl, not one vegetable in this market can sell for ten coins a jin. I see you’re new here, just starting to do business today, that’s why you don’t understand the market price. You should lower your price to avoid not being able to sell."
"Uncle, this food is something my husband and I worked on for a long time to figure out. Ten coins is already the lowest price we can offer; any lower and we would be losing money," An Jing lied without changing her expression.
"This..." Upon hearing about a loss, the uncle stopped persuading. Just then, someone came to buy his vegetables, pulling his attention away, and An Jing was happy to get off easy.
Selling stinky tofu among a group of sellers’ vegetables, and with the stinky tofu looking quite attractive, everyone couldn’t help but cast a curious glance, but that was all—they merely took a glance, without asking An Jing what it was or how much it cost.
Seeing that the people coming to buy vegetables were so passive, An Jing took the initiative to shout, "Fermented tofu for sale, get your fermented tofu! Delicious fermented tofu. You can try it first; if it’s not good, you don’t have to buy..."
Anyway, she didn’t expect her aloof husband Xiao Changyi to do the selling; it was better for her to handle it herself.
Xiao Changyi didn’t expect An Jing to start hawking their goods, and was first surprised, then the corners of his mouth curved up almost imperceptibly.
Others might not have noticed Xiao Changyi smiling, but An Jing did. Even though his smile was extremely subtle, she always watched her aloof husband with the corner of her eye and caught it, so she shouted even more vigorously.
"Fermented tofu for sale, delicious fermented tofu..."
Even if she couldn’t sell any fermented tofu, the fact that she could make her aloof husband smile meant she was still winning!
Xiao Changyi watched the lively An Jing, feeling that his wife really was a glowing presence, attracting his gaze, making him want to just keep looking at her and never look away.
An Jing’s loud shouting, coupled with the offer of free samples, which was unheard of in the town’s market, were completely new. So, it didn’t take long for a crowd to gather around their stall.
"Is this the fermented tofu you talked about?" a middle-aged woman with a basket asked, pointing to the four pieces of moldy tofu on the plate.
"What is this made of?" Not waiting for An Jing to answer, the middle-aged woman stared at the moldy tofu on the plate and said to herself, "It looks a bit like tofu, but I feel it’s not."
"It’s made of tofu. My husband and I worked on this for a long time before we came up with this dish. It tastes completely different from tofu; it’s specially delicious."
"Can I really try it first?" asked the middle-aged woman again.
The other women who had stopped by also looked at An Jing, clearly wanting to ask the same question.
"Of course." An Jing smiled as she took some chopsticks from her basket, "Ladies, would you like to taste it? If it’s not good, you don’t have to buy."
With the principle of ’try before you buy,’ several women took the chopsticks from An Jing’s hand and reached towards the fermented tofu on the plate.
Due to the abundant chili powder on top, everyone thought it was spicy and dared not take too much; everyone just took a small amount to taste.
"This flavor..." A woman’s eyes brightened as she tasted more, "So unique."
"Feels like it would go well with porridge," another woman said.
"Yes," An Jing interjected at the right moment, "it really goes well in porridge, it’s very tasty. And it’s great with rice. Now that you’ve tried it, you should be able to taste the difference."