Chapter 480 Quick Thinking
"But if it’s sold at a high price," Old Huo calculated in his heart and shook his head, "this piece of tea cake must be sold for at least three yuan to make a profit. And after subtracting the cost of packaging and such, wouldn’t it have to be sold for four yuan? Who would be willing to pay four yuan for such a small cake?"
Hearing his reasoning, Aunt Ah Yu, who originally had a twinkle in her eye, completely lost her enthusiasm.
Even she wouldn’t be willing to spend four yuan just for such a small piece of tea cake.
Xiao Chiang felt that businessmen of the time really hadn’t broadened their horizons yet. After all, it was just the beginning of an era where people could fill their bellies, and there was no pursuit of novelty or rarity yet. They couldn’t foresee how intense people’s demand for food would be in a few years. Moreover, in a few years’ time, what would a cake costing four yuan count for?
Suddenly, she felt that this was a business opportunity presented right in front of her. Now might not be the time to rely on painting to earn money. Besides, she had never thought of becoming a commercial artist who lived solely off selling paintings. In this life, she wanted to reclaim the fame she owned in her previous life and make up for the foolish mistakes she had made then.
Therefore, it was essential to find other ways to make money.
"Aunt Ah Yu, would you like to go into this business? How about we partner up? You just need to be responsible for making the tea cakes, and I’ll handle the rest. How does that sound?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with eagerness.
Not taking advantage of a favorable wind to take a big step forward and become one of the first people to get rich—wouldn’t that be wasting the incredible good fortune of her rebirth?
"Huh?" Aunt Ah Yu was stunned, "Miss Xiao Chiang, does your family do business?"
"Not really, but I think this business has great potential! Aunt Ah Yu, I’ve really thought this through carefully. It depends on whether you’re willing to give it a try. As long as you can make the tea cakes, I’ll take care of everything else. We’ll split the profits. As for the split, we can decide after you carefully calculate the cost of making the tea cakes. What do you think?"
Such a young lady, speaking in such a well-formed and impressive manner, with an air of authority, left Old Huo and Aunt Ah Yu completely amazed.
Unfortunately, Aunt Ah Yu was really just a housewife who loved making tea cakes and had no determination to earn money, let alone a lot of money. Moreover, the Huo Family had always been in the tea business. If she suddenly started making pastries, it would feel like deviating from their main business with Huo Family, like digging a hole without thinking.
Old Huo thought the same and didn’t support his daughter-in-law entering this business.
Xiao Chiang thought it was a pity and turned her thoughts around, coming up with another idea.
"Aunt Ah Yu, how about this instead—we let my grandparents, who don’t have much to do at home, come over and pay tuition to learn how to make tea cakes from you. After they’ve learned, we can buy tea powder from the Huo Family, and, um, your family’s honey too. We collaborate in this way, and then we sell the tea cakes ourselves. What do you think?"
Old Huo and Aunt Ah Yu didn’t expect Xiao Chiang to be so quick-witted, coming up with this idea, and they both looked puzzled.
At this moment, Uncle Huo came back with the others. Hearing Xiao Chiang’s words, they all looked at her in surprise.
"My, the young lady is quite something. She sounds like she has a knack for business," Old Jia exclaimed.
Hu Xibing hesitated, as if wanting to speak, thinking that doing business wasn’t that easy. But Xiao Chiang always had ideas, so he didn’t want to discourage her without good reason. He just thought to report it to Captain Meng when he had the chance. The Chiang Family’s resources were thin, nearly nonexistent; if they wasted everything they had, Captain Meng would have to step in.