"Ten portions of ice jelly are free, first come, first served!"
Ten bowls of ice jelly were arranged on the table. Under the sunlight, the pale pink of the ceramic bowls and the light yellow of the ice jelly shimmered translucently.
A burly man, unable to bear the heat, had already grabbed a bowl and gulped it down, instantly astonished.
"What the hell is this? It's like eating a block of ice, but sweeter than ice." The man wiped his mouth. "Give me another bowl."
Cheng Loanloan chuckled and said, "This is ice jelly, three *wen* per bowl."
Hearing "three *wen*", the man hesitated for a moment, but then he considered that a bowl of hot water at the inn already cost one *wen*. This stuff had brown sugar added, was cold, and incredibly refreshing to eat. Three *wen* wasn't too expensive.
From his pouch, the man took out three sweat-soaked *wen* and placed them on the table. "Quick, give me a bowl! This damn weather is killing me with heat!"
Cheng Loanloan unceremoniously took the money, stood up, and shouted, "Zhao San Niu, bring a bowl of ice jelly!"
Zhao San Niu quickly washed a bowl, then scooped a bowl of cold ice jelly and handed it to the man.
The man didn't even bother with a spoon, directly drinking from the bowl. He said with satisfaction, "Eating this is even better for cooling down than eating a block of ice. If it were a bit cheaper, I'd want to buy more bowls."
The man's unsatisfied expression attracted the attention of other burly men. In a short while, the small stall was surrounded by a dense crowd.
Cheng Loanloan collected the money and instructed Zhao San Niu to get more ice jelly. Then she said to her eldest and second sons, "Do you two remember the order I just told you?"
Zhao Da Shan nodded. "Mother, I understand."
Zhao Er Gou carried a bucket of ice jelly and quickly said, "Mother, we're going ahead."
The two brothers quickly ran towards the west side of the dock, afraid that going slowly would delay their sales.
Zhao Si Dan obediently sat to one side, helping to add brown sugar and hawthorn, a little flustered.
Zhao San Niu continuously scooped ice jelly, feeling as if his arm was no longer his own, until a boat docked on the river.
The drought had been long, and the riverbed was getting lower and lower, reducing the number of boats reaching the river mouth. As soon as a boat docked, all the men rushed towards it.
At this point, there was only a thin layer of ice jelly left in the bucket. In just half an hour, over a hundred bowls had been sold, totaling about three hundred *wen*.
"Clean everything up, then we'll go find Da Shan and Er Gou."
Cheng Loanloan dismantled the temporary table, planning to take it to the entrance of the Nanfu Academy later to use again.
Zhao San Niu asked, puzzled, "Just now, many people came here wanting to buy ice jelly. We just need to wait for them to finish unloading their goods and then come back here, right? Why leave so early?"
Cheng Loanloan, while tidying up, said, "This is called 'hunger marketing'. Once something is always available, people don't feel anything, but if it could be gone at any time, then the next time we come, these people will quickly rush here, and we can sell out in the shortest possible time."
Zhao San Niu half-understood, half-didn't, and silently went to tidy up the items.
Zhao Si Dan widened his eyes and said, "Mother, just now someone bought seven bowls of ice jelly at once. How could you calculate twenty-one *wen* so quickly?"
He was still counting on his fingers, and when his fingers weren't enough, he quietly started using his toes. But without a sound, his mother had already collected twenty-one copper coins.
Cheng Luanluan noticed that this little boy was very observant. Even in such a flustered state, he could still pay attention to this detail. She smiled and said, "This is arithmetic. My mother's grandmother used to be a small merchant. When she married, she learned how to do quick calculations. I also learned a little bit. Do you want to learn?"
Zhao Sidan nodded vigorously, "I want to learn!"
Cheng Luanluan looked at Zhao Sanniu, who was quietly getting to work, "You should learn too."
Zhao Sanniu: "..."
He didn't want to learn arithmetic. Just hearing about it made his head ache.