Little Miss Fortune: I Will Bring Prosperity to My Tang Family!-Chapter 78: The Tycoon’s Marketing Plans

Chapter 72

The Tycoon’s Marketing Plans

Xiaolin, doting on her little brother, stayed home to watch over him, leaving Tianchen and Liu Hao to sell their goods by themselves. Both had become adept at the task and were happy to let the little girl stay home and play as befits her age.

The baby in the cloth bundle wiggled around, yawning softly. Tianyi had just finished drinking his fill of his mother’s milk and didn’t cry unless he was hungry or needed a change.

Now, Xiaolin had been "exiled" to sleep with Tianchen, while Tianrong had to sleep in the vacant room. Zhang Rua moved to sleep in her granddaughter’s room to take care of the little one since it was close to her daughter’s confinement room.

Initially, the chubby girl wanted to sleep with her brother, but Zhang Rua didn’t want her to be disturbed by the frequent night feedings. Xiaolin understood and agreed to sleep with her young uncle without any fuss.

"Xiao Yi, why aren’t you sleeping? You’ve been full with your belly popping out for quite a while now," Xiaolin asked her little brother, who continued to wave his tiny hands.

"Eh,"

"Do you want to talk to your big sister? Hmm, Xiao Yi, you little chubby cheeks," Xiaolin lightly poked his soft cheeks. The baby seemed to smile at her touch.

"Hehe, you little rascal. Go to sleep now, don’t stay up playing," she said, gently patting the cloth bundle to lull her brother to sleep.

Being a good baby, Xiao Yi yawned widely before slowly drifting off to sleep. Chubby Xiaolin smiled as she watched her little brother sleep peacefully.

"Xiaolin, I’m thinking of making some sweets. Do you want anything in particular?" Zhang Rua asked, coming in from the backyard.

"Hmm," Xiaolin tilted her head, pondering.

"I’d like some bua loi1,"

"Bua loi?" Zhang Rua repeated. Xiaolin nodded enthusiastically.

"But we need to grind the rice flour and let it dry first. We can probably eat it by the evening,"

"What kind of flour do we need?"

"Sticky rice flour, Grandma."

Once Zhang Rua knew what was needed, she prepared the flour for her granddaughter. She spread the flour on a tray lined with cloth and set it out to dry in the backyard. She checked on her daughter in the room before coming out to sit and sew next to her two grandchildren.

"Can’t get enough of your little brother, can you? Normally, you’d want to go out and sell things,"

"Hehe, Xiaolin’s little brother is still so tiny. Isn’t it good to have someone help watch him?"

"Yes, yes, you chubby-cheeked child," Zhang Rua said, squeezing her granddaughter’s cheeks affectionately.

"Rua!" a voice called from the front of the house, making the grandmother and granddaughter look at each other. Xiaolin recognized the voice as her great-grandmother’s and ran out to see.

"Great-grandmother, Great-grandfather," the chubby girl ran out, her belly jiggling, to open the gate. The two elders looked at their great-grandchild fondly.

"Little Xiaolin, you’re a big sister now, hmm?" Zhang Ren said, patting her great-granddaughter’s head with her wrinkled hand.

"Did you come to see Xiao Yi? Please come inside," the round little host invited them in before quickly running off to the backyard.

The two elders from the Shu family sat around, happily looking at the little one bundled in cloth. The old couple felt joy seeing the little ones, though they regretted that their son had not married and was nearing fifty.

"Great-grandmother, Great-grandfather, please wash your hands thoroughly. When you hold Xiao Yi, you won’t make him uncomfortable," the chubby girl said, bringing in a small wooden basin.

The elders exchanged amused smiles. They washed their hands as instructed and accepted the cloth Xiaolin brought from the room to dry their hands. Once their hands were clean, the round-cheeked older sister allowed them to hold her little brother.

"He’s adorable. If only Luo would marry, I might have a grandchild to hold by now," Zhang Ren sighed. She didn’t want to pressure her son but feared he would struggle in his old age.

"Well, if you have time, come help raise the great-grandchild. Luo and I can manage the work," Shu An, her husband, understood her well. She often expressed her worries to him about their son’s future.

"Is there really no one suitable?"

"There are some, but what young girl wants to marry a man old enough to be her father? There might only be widows,"

"As long as she’s not of bad character, there’s no need to worry, right? Or do you have concerns about that?"

"At my age, I don’t worry much about such things, Rua. It’s just that your older brother doesn’t pay attention to anyone,"

Xiaolin sat quietly, blinking as she listened. She understood that her grandpa didn’t want to marry, causing his parents much concern.

"How about having grandpa work at the dried goods store? Uncle Heng is managing it alone now,"

"Why do you want your grandpa to work there?" Zhang Ren asked, turning to her chubby great-granddaughter.

"So that Grandfather can meet many different people, he might even find someone he likes," Xiaolin explained.

The three adults exchanged glances, acknowledging the merit in her idea. The two elders quickly bid their farewells and hurried off to the beach to find their son, so hastily that they forgot about their knee pains.

"How does this little child come up with such things? Do you understand what the adults were discussing?" Zhang Rua asked, and Xiaolin nodded vigorously.

"Great-Grandmother is worried because grandpa doesn’t want to get married. So, I suggested he work at the shop. The shop is doing very well, and maybe he will meet a woman who wants to marry him. Hehe,"

"You clever little thing," Zhang Rua said, hugging and kissing her granddaughter.

The grandmother-granddaughter pair cuddled and played for a while before Xiaolin climbed onto the mattress next to her baby brother. Seeing him sleeping soundly made her yawn.

"Yawwwn~ I’m so tired."

"Tired? It’s still early," Zhang Rua said, continuing to sew a small outfit for Tianyi.

"I was too excited about having a baby brother, so I stayed up late," the chubby girl said, rubbing her eyes and yawning widely.

"Alright then, go ahead and sleep. I’ll wake you up for lunch,"

"Yes, Grandma," Xiaolin replied, snuggling into a comfortable position before falling asleep.

Meanwhile, the two elders from the Shu family suggested to their son that he work at the shop outside the city. However, Shu Luo preferred his current work, as it paid well and was close to home.

"Working here is already nice, Father. The more I work, the more I earn. If I go to the shop, I’ll only get a daily wage, but drying the mussels here pays more,"

"We will handle the mussel drying ourselves. You should go work at the shop. Heng from the end of the village is managing it alone,"

"Why do you suddenly want me to work in the city?" Shu Luo asked, squinting at his parents, who had hurried over, forgetting that they were old.

"Hey! I just want you to have an easier job. Wouldn’t it be nice? You’ve worked hard since you were young," Zhang Ren turned away, walking to the shelter, avoiding eye contact with her son. She knew that if she told him the real reason that they wanted him to meet more people and possibly find a wife, he would refuse to go.

"I’m not a ten-year-old kid anymore, you know."

"No matter what, you are still my child. I don’t care. I’m ordering you to go work in the city tomorrow. I’ve already talked to Rua," Zhang Ren declared firmly.

Seeing his mother’s stubbornness, Shu Luo said nothing more. The two elders exchanged smiles and then helped their son prepare the mussels for drying.

Xiaolin woke up around noon. The chubby girl enjoyed her meal of bamboo shoots stir-fried with eggs, savoring every bite. The bamboo shoots were growing abundantly in the forest at this time of year. Although she considered pickling them, she didn’t like pickled bamboo shoots.

"I could boil them and then dry them. Before eating, I could soak them in water and boil them again to rehydrate them," she thought, nodding to herself before taking another big bite of rice.

"Where did Grandpa go, Grandma?" Xiaolin asked while eating, noticing her grandfather’s absence since the morning.

"He went to check on the workers in the sweet potato field. It’s almost time for the second harvest. Your father sent food from the shop, so he didn’t come home for lunch," Zhang Rua explained.

Xiaolin nodded. She had never visited the sweet potato fields herself. The vegetables were now fully grown and mostly used in their two restaurants.

"And how’s the noodle factory doing?"

"It’s doing well. The shop is seeing more customers, and some people are interested in buying dried noodles to resell. I wanted to ask you about it, but I’ve been so preoccupied with your mother’s upcoming delivery that I forgot,".

"If we can sell more, that would be great. But we need more people to handle this part. It would be too much work for Grandma Yao’s group alone,"

"Alright, I’ll ask around in the village once your father returns. Maybe some of them would be interested in working,"

"Find quiet people, Grandma. I don’t want too many people coming around and disturbing us every day. Xiao Yi needs his sleep,"

Zhang Rua chuckled upon hearing this, amused by her granddaughter’s concern. She watched fondly as Xiaolin stuffed her cheeks with stir-fried bamboo shoots and eggs. This little one seemed born to ensure their family lived well and prospered.

After finishing their meal, the grandmother and granddaughter made bua loi together, enjoying the delicious dessert. Hui Song, lured by the enticing aroma, came running to share with his granddaughter. Xiaolin’s loud complaints could be heard for a while until the commotion finally settled, leaving Zhang Rua with a throbbing headache.

The noodle factory was expanded to be larger than before. Zhang Rua brought five friends to help specifically with making dried noodles. Tianrong, who was aware of this, informed interested buyers and planned to sell more products in the dry goods store if production increased.

Xiaolin noticed that her father was becoming a full-fledged merchant and nodded in satisfaction. Meanwhile, she spent her time watching over Xiao Yi, leaving the noodle shop operations to her two uncles, who had begun hiring workers. These new workers were friends of Liu Hao, who had to drop out of school due to poverty.

Dried goods were selling well since winter was just a month away. Xiaolin anticipated higher demand for these products during the cold season.

After her grandfather finished supervising the sweet potato weeding, she asked him to hire locals for drying squid and shellfish, as more foreign merchants were placing orders.

Additionally, she began drying small sea fish and auctioning large prawns when caught in abundance. Crabs, being plentiful, were sold daily at a steady price. She insisted that crab eggs must be returned to the sea and never sold in their store.

Moreover, she introduced dried scallop tendons and dried abalone, high-priced items due to their rarity, only collectible during low tide by the village children, mainly the sons of her uncles who worked on the beach.

With no more ideas for drying meats, she considered drying small shrimp but acknowledged her five uncles were already stretched thin.

In the future, she planned to build a boat and buy servants to catch sea animals and buy from her uncles to meet demand. Currently, she bought fresh bamboo shoots left in the forest from locals at two brass coins per jin, setting a reasonable price due to their abundance in the bamboo forest.

“Be careful with your hands,” Xiaolin, the little tycoon, instructed the village women hired by her grandmother to prepare boiled and dried bamboo shoots for winter sales. The shoots had to be sliced thinly for quick drying.

There was also work for drying radish leaves, as almost every household in the village grew radishes. Xiaolin would select the best leaves to dry and keep for consumption; any surplus would be sold.

Preparing these dried leaves was also simple: soak them in water overnight, clean them, and then add them to soup.

There was also a small factory for making Korean pickled vegetables. Since finding food in winter was challenging, having a variety of food options was beneficial. Thus, she decided to make and sell beautiful red pickled vegetables. The family agreed, recalling how they survived the previous winter by eating pickled vegetable soup.

The vegetables were purchased from villagers. This was a way to help the villagers as well. They were happy that they managed to sell all of the vegetables as some years the plants did not sell well, causing a lot of them to rot and needed to be thrown away.

Zhang Rua managed the small pickling factory and solely handled ingredients for the pickle juice as she didn’t want her granddaughter’s veggie pickle recipe to be leaked.

As for the vegetable preparation and pickle juice mixing process, the villagers they hired were responsible for. There were just too many vegetables for Zhang Rua to handle alone.

After overseeing the bamboo shoot factory, Xiaolin walked to a small courtyard in front of the house, where several children were playing. These were the children of the villagers hired to work. Xiaolin had a task for them.

"I have a job for you. Are you interested?" Xiaolin asked. The playing children turned to her with interest.

"What job? Does it pay?" asked the eldest child, who looked no older than ten.

"Yes, it pays. I want you to gather wild scallions, but they must be in good condition, not bruised or damaged. If you can bring small bulbs along with the scallions, that would be even better. I will buy them at one brass coin per jin."

"One brass coin per jin?" The children began discussing it excitedly.

"Yes, if you collect ten jin, you will earn ten brass coins, enough to buy three sticks of tanghulu in the city," Xiaolin said, using the popular snack to entice them. Whether they could enjoy the treat depended on their parents.

"I’ll do it. Will you buy them every day?" one boy asked eagerly.

"During this time, I’ll continue to buy them, but come ask me each morning if I’m still buying. Sometimes I might stop, and you won’t waste time collecting."

"Okay, okay. How about we go collect them now?"

"Sure, but I need to go home and get a basket first."

"I’ll come with you."

The children’s excited chatter gradually faded as they ran off. Xiaolin watched them for a moment before heading inside to wash up in the bathroom. Afterward, she played with her little brother, who was now a little over two months old.

"Xiao Yi, your sister is here."

‘bua loi’ is a Thai dessert, consisting of rice flour being rolled into small pieces of balls in coconut milk and sugar.

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