Xiao Changyi listened to An Jing’s even breathing, knowing she had fallen asleep. He lowered his head and gave her forehead a kiss, tightened his grip around her hand, and then he, too, closed his eyes to sleep.
The next day, as An Jing and Xiao Changyi returned from weeding, they saw a carriage parked in front of their thatched cottage from afar. As they got closer, they recognized it was Wang Youbao who had come again.
Wang Youbao had been waiting for a while for An Jing and Xiao Changyi. As soon as he saw them returning, he clasped his hands in greeting and smiled, "I have been waiting for the two of you for quite some time."
"Are you here to buy more fermented bean curd?" asked An Jing.
"Indeed," Wang Youbao nodded with an even broader smile on his round face, "The dishes flavored with fermented bean curd are selling very well."
An Jing nodded, then said, "Let’s go inside to talk."
Once the three of them were inside, Wang Youbao said, "I won’t lie to you both, Hundred Taste Restaurant now uses at least ten jin of fermented bean curd a day. Almost everyone who comes to dine orders a dish flavored with it, all thanks to Mrs. An’s brilliant idea. The problem is, I only purchased forty jin from you, and now we’re seriously short on stock. That’s why I’ve come personally to buy some more."
An Jing smiled, "We still have a hundred jin of fermented bean curd in stock."
"Then I’ll buy all one hundred jin from you!" Wang Youbao immediately replied.
An Jing was about to agree, but Xiao Changyi spoke up ahead of her, "Ninety jin. I can sell you at most ninety jin."
An Jing found it strange that Xiao Changyi wanted to keep ten jin at home; they hadn’t even finished the batch they had reserved before. However, she said nothing. He was her husband, and she wasn’t going to undermine him.
Wang Youbao, caught off guard that Xiao Changyi had spoken to him, was initially taken aback before asking, "Does Xiao Bio Gong wish to keep ten jin at home for eating...?" He really wanted to buy as much as he could, even ten jin more would do.
Xiao Changyi remained silent.
Wang Youbao: "..." Who was it that just spoke to him?
An Jing smiled and said, "Young Master Wang, my husband has said that we can sell you at most ninety jin, so I can only sell you ninety jin."
Only then did Wang Youbao say, "Alright then, ninety jin it is." He could tell that man, Xiao Changyi, meant his words.
"Should my husband and I deliver the ninety jin of fermented bean curd to Hundred Dishes Restaurant, or will you take it back yourself?"
"I will take it back myself."
"Have you brought containers for it?"
"...Could you also sell me nine containers?"
"Of course," An Jing replied readily, "But each container will cost one more coin, six coins each." She never conducted business at a loss. If she sold him the containers, she would have to have her husband go to town to buy more.
"Agreed," Wang Youbao was equally straightforward. Being the son of a landlord, if he had anything in abundance, it was silver.
Ninety jin of fermented bean curd for nine hundred coins, plus nine containers for fifty-four coins, totaled nine hundred and fifty-four coins. Wang Youbao handed An Jing one tael of silver, equivalent to one thousand coins, and An Jing gave Wang Youbao forty-six coins in change.
"Then my husband and I will help you move the fermented bean curd to the carriage," she offered.
"No rush," Wang Youbao stopped her. "I have something more I’d like to discuss with Xiao Bio Gong and Mrs. An."
An Jing inquired, "What is it?"
Wang Youbao didn’t beat around the bush, "Here’s the thing: the dishes flavored with fermented bean curd are selling very well at Hundred Dishes Restaurant, and I suspect other restaurants in town have already caught on. Before, without fermented bean curd, no one thought to add it to their dishes. Now that they have it, and it can be used as a seasoning, their cooks only need to put a little thought into it to reproduce the same dishes we’re selling at Hundred Dishes Restaurant."