County Office.
Qiao Suiman and Lu Dongqing arrived in town early in the morning and met with Shopkeeper Hu before heading to the county office together. Since the terms had already been agreed upon beforehand, everything proceeded smoothly. After stating their purpose to the yayi at the county office, they were led to the department handling property deeds and contracts. After handing over their household registration documents to the clerk, they signed and affixed their fingerprints, and the process was complete.
Lu Dongqing took out the forty taels of silver tucked in his robe and handed them to Shopkeeper Hu. Lu Dongqing took the deed and examined it carefully once more. It bore the names of both him and Qiao Suiman, thus ensuring that the shop was now fully in their possession.
Shopkeeper Hu handed them the keys to the shop and hurried off to East Market after leaving the county office, unable to accompany them to Beide Road. However, Qiao Suiman and Lu Dongqing had no intention of going with him anyway, so they parted ways cheerfully.
The county office is some distance from Beide Road. After the New Year, people began to bustle about on the streets again, trying to make a living. Everywhere you looked, there were people selling vegetables or snacks and trinkets. It was very lively.
Qiao Suiman weaved through the crowd, wanting to ask Lu Dongqing to read the words on the deed to him one by one. But with so many people around and the deed safely stored in Lu Dongqing’s robe, he didn’t mention it.
The two of them quickened their pace. By the time they reached Beide Road, all the shops on the side were already open, except for the one they had just purchased.
Qin Xiaoyao was sweeping the floor at the door when Qiao Suiman called out to him, his voice brimming with uncontrollable excitement: “Xiaoyao, we’re going to be neighbors from now on!”
Qin Xiaoyao’s eyes instantly lit up. “Really? You bought it?”
Qiao Suiman nodded with a smile and explained, “We just finished the paperwork at the county office today. We’ll go in and clean up first. You go ahead with your work.”
“Alright, alright!” Qin Xiaoyao grinned, his eyes nearly disappearing into crescents. When Shopkeeper Hu mentioned selling the shop, he was worried about whether the new neighbors would be difficult to get along with. However, after interacting with Qiao Suiman, he felt that he was not a difficult person, and he was even opening a drink shop!
He tried their drinks a few times before, but his own shop kept him too busy to visit East Market often. Qiao Suiman didn’t remember him from those brief encounters, but their meeting at the wine house had left an impression.
Qin Xiaoyao smiled again. From now on, getting drinks will be much more convenient.
Meanwhile, Qiao Suiman unlocked the door, and Lu Dongqing pushed it open from behind. The shop was completely cleared out, leaving it empty and even more spacious than before.
Once inside, Lu Dongqing closed the door behind them, and Qiao Suiman immediately threw himself into his arms, wrapping his arms around Lu Dongqing’s waist and looking up with sparkling eyes. “We have a shop now! Dongqing, we have a shop!”
Lu Dongqing was also very excited. He hugged Qiao Suiman back, leaned in close and pressed his face against his, saying, “Mn! This is our shop.”
“Read the deed to me,” Qiao Suiman urged.
“Alright.” Lu Dongqing smiled broadly, taking out the deed and slowly reading it word by word. Whenever Qiao Suiman didn’t understand a phrase, he rephrased it in simpler terms. Finally, he pointed at the signatures and said, “These are our names. Look here, ‘Qiao Suiman‘, these three characters are your name.”
Qiao Suiman stared blankly at the characters Lu Dongqing was pointing at before finally blurting out, “They look so hard to write.”
Lu Dongqing couldn’t help but laugh out loud and agreed, “They do have a lot of strokes.”
Qiao Suiman also chuckled. The two didn’t linger long and quickly went to the back yard. The two rooms were clean but completely empty, and the kitchen was also tidied up. There were two stoves stood side by side, and next to them is a sturdy wooden shelf that Shopkeeper Hu had left behind, saying that the new shop didn’t need it and gifted it to them.
After surveying the space, Qiao Suiman and Lu Dongqing used a soft ruler to measure the shop’s width and depth, planning how they would divide the store between them.
The shopfront was three zhang[mfn]丈 : ~3.3 m[/mfn] wide. Qiao Suiman wanted to keep things the same as before, with the drinks prepared and stored in large wooden barrels, to be served when someone ordered them. That meant there has to be a table that could hold at least ten wooden barrels.
The cart they used before could just fit it all, but who knows if the business will grow in the future. Like the other beverage shops, he might end up offering more than twenty different types of drinks, so the wooden table needed to be larger and more sturdy, and the height had to match his height.
“The wooden table should be twice the size of the cart. We’ll also need a counter for handling money. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just functional,” Qiao Suiman said.
Lu Dongqing stood by the wall near the noodle shop and spread his arms wide. “Mn, we’ll put the counter on the inner side, close to the back rooms. The wooden table can be placed sideways, leaving a three chi[mfn]尺 : ~33 cm (about 1 foot)[/mfn] aisle between it and the counter so you can move around easily. We can add a chair there for you to sit while serving drinks, so even if there’s a crowd, you won’t be surrounded.”
“Good. That’ll leave plenty of space in the middle for a few tables and chairs so customers can rest. We can also set up a straw awning outside so there’s seating inside and outside.”
Qiao Suiman gestured to the center of the shop as he spoke.
Then he moved to the other side, pointing at the wall. “We can hang plenty of bamboo wares here, such as baskets and winnowing trays. We can also add two cabinets for your more expensive carvings, and maybe even a bamboo bed in the back. Basically, we’ll display everything we’ve got.”
Lu Dongqing chuckled and walked over to stand beside him. “Of course. I’ll make the tables and chairs for customers to rest on so there’s no need to spend extra money on those. But we’ll have to hire a carpenter for the wooden table and counter. My woodworking skills aren’t refined enough to match a carpenter.”
Qiao Suiman grabbed his sleeve and comforted him, “But they can’t make bamboo wares like you can.”
Lu Dongqing laughed. He didn’t mean anything by his comment, but Qiao Suiman’s soft-spoken comfort still pleased him.
With a rough plan in mind, they decided to visit Carpenter Li in Shanghe Village to commission the table, cabinets, and a bed. They already have bedding at home, so they could just bring a set later. Since Shanghe Village was on their way back, there was no need to rush there immediately.
After locking up, Qiao Suiman and Lu Dongqing headed to East Market. They needed to buy dried flowers and fresh fruit first, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to make any drinks.
The East Market stalls were so numerous that it was dizzying. After walking for a while, Qiao Suiman finally spotted a stall with several jars of dried tea leaves. He stopped and asked, “How much for these?”
The young vendor perked up at the inquiry and promptly answered, “There are four types. Stir-fried green tea and camellias are cheaper, at fifty wen per jin[mfn]斤 : ~600g[/mfn]. Tieguanyin[mfn]鐵觀音 (or Iron Guanyin) – a variety of Oolong tea that originates from Anxi, Fujian, where its natural environment is incredibly rich.[/mfn] is a bit pricier at eighty wen per jin, and Biluochun[mfn]碧螺春 (lit. green snail spring) – a famous green tea originally grown in the Dongting mountain region near Lake Tai in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.[/mfn] is one hundred fifty wen per jin.”
Qiao Suiman used stir-fried green tea and camellia tea before. He heard people mention Tieguanyin, saying that its flavor was stronger than other teas and that you didn’t need to put in much to brew a strong flavor. As for Biluochun… occasionally, there were storytellers performing operas in the East Market, but this is a drink for wealthy people.
He once asked Steward Fang about the price of Zhengshan Xiaozhong. After making drinks for so long, he could tell at a sniff that the tea brewed from those leaves was far superior to others. But at two taels per jin, Qiao Suiman immediately dismissed the idea. For the opening, it was better to stick with cheaper ingredients and save on costs.
The shop was set to open in the second month, but the peach and plum trees at home wouldn’t bear fruit until at least the end of the fourth month. That leaves three months to search for ingredients. After some thought, Qiao Suiman said, “I’ll take seven jin each of the stir-fried green tea and camellia tea, and three jin of Tieguanyin. Give me a discount, and I’ll keep buying from you in the future.”
“Customer, this…” The vendor looked troubled. “The prices are already very low. Any cheaper, and I’ll be losing money.”
Qiao Suiman raised an eyebrow and smiled. “The camellia tea and green tea are homemade, right? Leaves don’t grow in the mountains during winter, so these must be leftovers from last autumn. They weren’t worth fifty wen per jin to begin with. I’m not haggling too hard because you’ve stored them well and the quality is still in good condition.”
He continued, “I’m not trying to trick you when I say I’ll buy from you in the future. I used to sell drinks here, and soon I’ll be opening a drink shop on Beide Road. I’ll always need tea leaves, so if you can guarantee the same quality as these, I’ll buy from you in the future.”
The vendor hesitated slightly and asked hesitantly, “Are you serious?”
Qiao Suiman nodded firmly. “Of course!”
The vendor paused for a moment before saying, “Alright. If you buy at least fifteen jin each time, I’ll give you a discount of five wen per jin. That’s the lowest price I can offer.”
Qiao Suiman agreed immediately. He quickly calculated the total in his head. Having been in business for so long, he had become quite fast at counting, sometimes even faster than Lu Dongqing. Soon, he took out eight mace of broken silver from his purse and had Lu Dongqing count out an additional fifty-five copper coins for the vendor.
The vendor worked efficiently, weighing each type of tea and packing them into thin wooden boxes. The boxes were small, and the seven jin portions nearly overflowed, almost unable to close.
The vendor explained to them, “I didn’t expect such a big order. Usually, I only sell one or two jin at a time, so the boxes are small.”
“It’s fine, they fit anyway.”
After purchasing the tea leaves, Qiao Suiman thought for a moment and asked, “Do you know anyone selling dried flowers?”
“Dried flowers?” The vendor looked puzzled. “What are you going to do with them? Can they be used in drinks? My family actually has some. Last year, while picking tea, we gathered a lot of camellia flowers and dried them. We also have roselle, but they’re so sour and tangy when steeped in water. My family would rather drink plain water than steep them.”
Qiao Suiman’s eyes sparkled. “How much do you have?”
The vendor suddenly became enthusiastic: “You really want them? The camellia flowers aren’t bad. We’ve used some, but there’s still about five jin left. As for roselle… probably seven or eight jin.”
“If you give me a discount, I’ll take them all!” Qiao Suiman said decisively.
This is a big sale!
The vendor immediately broke into a big smile. Those dried flowers were just taking up space at home, and now someone actually wanted to buy them. He eagerly agreed, “Alright! If you’re in a hurry, come back here tomorrow and I’ll bring everything. The camellia flowers will be twenty wen per jin, and the roselle fifteen wen!”
After some consideration, Qiao Suiman found the price reasonable and agreed. He turned to Lu Dongqing and said, “You come tomorrow. I’ll stay home and think about what drinks to make.”
Lu Dongqing naturally had no objection.
They spent nearly one or two taels of silver at once, but they still hadn’t found any fresh fruits which they needed most. Qiao Suiman and Lu Dongqing continued deeper into East Market, focusing on smaller vendors. While there were plenty of fruit shops, their prices were too high. Using expensive fruit would force them to price their drinks higher, and for the opening, Qiao Suiman wanted to keep things affordable.
After walking for a while, they spotted an old man carrying a basket of crisp pears and calling out for buyers. Qiao Suiman stopped him and inspected the pears. It was eighteen wen per jin. The pears were large, and one was almost a jin. It was really expensive, so Qiao Suiman didn’t buy any.
After they walked a few more steps, a ge’r suddenly stopped them and asked, “Do you want to buy some fruit?”
Qiao Suiman paused for a moment and replied, “Yes.”
The ge’r pursed his lips, looking a little embarrassed. “My family has a few crabapple trees, but the fruit is small and hard to sell. If you’re interested, I’ll sell them to you for six wen per jin.”
After saying that, he took out an crabapple from the basket he was carrying that was smaller than his fist. “Try this one. The taste is good, but it’s the first harvest this year, so they’re not very big.”
Qiao Suiman looked at Lu Dongqing, who was frowning slightly, and asked, “How did you know I wanted to buy fruit?”
He gave him one so readily. Qiao Suiman was afraid that there was something wrong with the fruit, so he took it but didn’t eat it.
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