CH 12

Chapter 12 – Selling sweets

Wu Lang and Liu Lang were older and a bit embarrassed to approach strangers in the market.

Da Tou, however, was bold. When he saw a child whom he thinks would buy their sweets, he approached the child, and asked, “Do you want to buy sweets?”

Man Bao immediately held up the sweets, peeled off a wrapper, and proudly said, “Our sweets are super delicious, do you want to buy them?”

The child swallowed his saliva and looked at his parents.

His parents weren’t stupid, and asked, “This looks different from the ones we usually buy. Are these sweets?”

“Of course, I have eaten it.” Man Bao asserted. “It’s delicious, it’s better than the ones sold in the market.”

The boy’s parents were pleased, and said, “You’ve tasted the sweets, but we haven’t. How would we know if you’re telling the truth?”

Man Bao was taken aback, thought about it, took out a sweet and generously offered it to the potential buyers, “Try it!”

The child stretched out his hand to take the sweet, but his parents immediately stopped him and asked, “You wouldn’t be taking this opportunity to make us buy this sweet, would you?”

“Of course not,” Man Bao replied righteously. “I wouldn’t do such a bad thing. You can eat it. If this sweet isn’t tasty, you don’t have to pay anything.”

Wu Lang felt his sister was very stupid. He couldn’t help but ran up to her, took the sweet and crushed it. Then, he chose the smallest piece and said, “Here, have a taste.”

He felt he couldn’t just allow the adults to do the taste test, so he also picked up a small piece for the child.

Everyone didn’t mind that Wu Lang crushed the sweet with his hands. After tasting, they were impressed.

This sweet was much sweeter than the ones available in the market.

The child’s mother immediately asked, “How much are these sweets?”

Man Bao had discussed the price with the system earlier, so she quoted a price, “Five sweets for one wen.”

The lady tried to bargain, “It’s too expensive, we can’t afford it, can you lower the price?”

Man Bao was a tad disappointed. She thought they were rich as they were well dressed.

She shook her head and said, “Forget it, we’ll look for other buyers.”

After saying that, she took hold of Da Tou and began to look for the next customer.

They left the stunned parents behind. They were bargaining. They didn’t say they wouldn’t buy. This kind of buyer-seller charade, of the buyer walking away and waiting for the seller to retain them, wasn’t this what they should be doing?

Wu Lang and Liu Lang saw Man Bao in action and lauded their sister for not compromising. They had eaten these sweets and felt they were worth more than the price Man Bao quoted.

They were also aware that the sweets in the market were sold at the same price.

Man Bao just simply walked away. The customer was not reconciled, chased after her and asked, “Can the sweets be cheaper?”

The price was set after Keke helped Man Bao to analyse the situation. In fact, the price set at the beginning was three sweets for one wen because Keke believed the sugar content in their sweets was much higher than the ones in Man Bao’s world.

The value of the sweets was high, and naturally, the price should also be high.

But Keke told Man Bao the sweets in the market were sold for five to one wen. She felt if her candies were more expensive, she wouldn’t be able to sell them.

Anyway, she had points and many sweets. So, she was magnanimous and set the same price as the market.

So, Man Bao was well prepared. She knew she was offering the lowest price. She was a child with a strong sense of principle, and it was impossible to lower the price.

Furthermore, she wouldn’t think the boy’s parents were bargaining, but simply felt they couldn’t afford it, so she glanced at the little boy regretfully and shook her head to refuse.

When the boy saw how Man Bao looked at him, he felt sad. He was so sad that he bawled. He hugged his mother’s leg and cried out loud, “I want to buy sweets, I want to buy sweets.”

The parents felt Man Bao was unable to differentiate between good and bad. What couldn’t she just reduce the price?

Wu Lang and Liu Lang noticed the adults didn’t look too pleased. They took a step forward and stood behind Man Bao.

The parents were sullen, and then, forced a smile, “Forget it, we’ll take all the sweets you have.”

Man Bao stared at them, Wow! So rich!

She immediately unwrap her greased paper and happily said, “A total of 20 sweets for four wen.”

The couple frowned slightly, “Didn’t you crush one just now?”

Wu Lang immediately stretched out his hand and showed them the crushed sweet, “We didn’t eat any.”

The couple, “Then, we don’t want this one. Take one wen less since we are buying so many sweets.”

Wu Lang was very angry but Man Bao took another sweet from goodness knows where, and placed it on the greased paper.

She looked at the couple happily and said, “Hey, all’s good this way, right? Please count the sweets.”

The couple,…

They counted, and then asked, “Can we barter?”

Man Bao finally felt their unfriendliness, so she covered the greased paper and refused, “No.”

Wu Lang thought bartering was fine, so he poked Man Bao in the back. She wriggled, turned around and glared at him, “It takes money to buy medicine at the medicine shop. You can’t use eggs, and you can’t use grains.”

Once the couple knew the children were going to buy medicine, they stopped bargaining and counted four wen for them.

Man Bao had a lot of money in her hand. During Chinese New Year (CNY), her parents and brothers gave her angpows (red packets filled with money). While her nephews and nieces had to hand in their CNY collection to their parents, she had the sole privilege of keeping all the money in her red packets.

But this was the first time she made money! So, she looked at the four wen carefully and found that this money was exactly the same as others. She carefully kept them in her handkerchief and held them tightly.

Wu Lang waited for the family of three to leave before saying to Man Bao, “That’s too cheap. Our sweets are good.”

“That’s how it is sold in the market,” Man Bao insisted.

“Rice is divided into low, medium and superior grades. The prices of the grades differ. Our sweets are considered superior grade, so, they should be more expensive.”

He added, “If people don’t believe our sweets are good, we can just crush them like what we just did and let them taste it.”

Man Bao thought about it carefully and thought her brother’s idea was pretty good. She asked Keke who agreed.

So, she nodded and said, “Okay, we’ll do it this way in the future.”

Since they have earned money, everyone turned their eyes to the crushed sweets in Wu Lang’s hands. Everyone salivated.

After selling the sweets, Man Bao finally felt the wonders of the sweets and felt they were delicious.

She gave everyone one point (so cute, just like the “encouragement” point from the Encyclopaedia). With this one point, everyone received a tiny piece of the crushed sweet. She popped the last bit into her mouth.

It was just a tiny piece. As soon as it touched the tip of her tongue, she tasted a tinge of sweetness. As the sweet melted, she swallowed and that was it.

Man Bao blinked, and thought this tiny piece of sweet tasted the best!

She felt very strange, and asked Keke, “I never thought this sweet was delicious before. Keke, did you change the variety?”

The system replied, “No, it’s the same type and the same manufacturer. The difference is probably because the host finally realises the uniqueness and benefits of the sweets?”

Man Bao didn’t understand this very well, but she had her own understanding, “Do sweets taste better once they’re sold? That’s great, I’ll sell them in the future, and leave one to eat. It’ll then be delicious.”

The system kept quiet.

Sell them. If you want to sell, you’ll have to buy. If you spent all your points, you should earn points, right?