In the 21st Century, most countries used grams and kilograms as units of measurement.
But the concept of a "gram" had only been proposed in 1795. At the time, the French defined it as "the absolute weight of a volume of water equal to a cube one-hundredth of a meter on each side, at the temperature at which ice melts."
So in the seventeenth century, Britain still commonly used the avoirdupois system: drams, ounces, pounds, and so on.
The avoirdupois system differed from the troy system. An ounce in the former was about 28.3495 grams, while an ounce in the latter was 31.1034768 grams.
Using the former conversion, the ten ounces Xu Yun had mentioned came to just over 280 grams, or about half a catty.
As mentioned earlier,
the main cost of making tomato sauce by hand came from the sugar. A pound of tomato sauce required about 30 grams of sugar. Converted to ounces, that worked out to roughly 18 ounces of sauce for 30 grams of sugar.
The current market price of sugar was about eight pence per 100 grams. But the parish got it at a much lower cost, probably around two pence. Tobacco or liquor could serve as a reference for internal prices; sugar was an even more extreme case, since it was plundered goods.
After all the calculations, ten ounces of tomato sauce cost about 0.6 pence to make.
Including transportation, labor, and other miscellaneous expenses, the cost came to a little over 0.8 pence.
With a cost of 0.8 pence and a sale price of two pence, the sauce was actually quite cheap. By conventional thinking, when others could quickly copy a product and enter the market, the higher the price, the better.
But the Grantham parish was hardly a professional merchant guild. Its religious image meant it couldn't fleece people too badly, or the damage to its reputation would outweigh the gains.
After some discussion, Yarlin finally set the price of the tomato sauce at two pence for ten ounces.
Once the market settled down, people wouldn't complain too much about this markup. If all else failed, they could always use a consecration—cough, cough, a blessing as a buff.
"Two pence for ten ounces, huh?"
Hearing Xu Yun's price, Tiffany Boli did some quick calculations in her head.
At present, the average income in Britain was 0.65 guineas, or 150 pence. On average, that meant people earned about one penny every two days.
Tiffany Boli's family earned a little more than an ordinary household. Since they could afford to settle in Grantham, their annual household income was probably around 1.2 guineas.
Thinking of this, Tiffany Boli glanced at the jar beside her.
"May I ask if this jar is ten ounces?"
Xu Yun nodded.
"That's right. It's the standard ten-ounce weight."
Tiffany Boli nodded slightly.
Ten ounces (280 grams) of tomato sauce looked like a lot. Even if her family used it every day on bread and potatoes, it would probably take ten days or half a month to finish.
It was quite a bit more expensive than butter, but much cheaper than sugar. Even an ordinary family could afford it.
After only a moment's hesitation, Tiffany Boli made up her mind.
"Sir, sorry for the trouble. I'll take ten ounces."
"Sure thing!"
Xu Yun quickly fetched a jar and lowered his voice.
"Ma'am, this jar was freshly made. I took it from the back, so it's a little fresher than the others. Don't tell anyone, all right?"
Tiffany Boli had been wondering whether she could haggle. His words made her heart leap with joy. She'd clearly seen Xu Yun take the jar from the area in the back.
So she immediately gave up on haggling and cheerfully pulled out two pennies.
"Thank you so much. Please take these two pennies."
Xu Yun politely accepted the money and handed it to the parish staff beside him, watching as they recorded the transaction.
Then he glanced around. While no one was approaching, he slipped a jar of tomato sauce from the front into an empty spot in the back.
Just as Xu Yun finished this stealthy maneuver, someone suddenly tapped his left arm.
Xu Yun turned around and saw that a tiny little girl had appeared beside him at some point.
Naturally, the only person who could wander around here was William's youngest daughter, Lilani.
But this time, Lilani wasn't holding cow dung. She had a cup of steaming hot water in her hands.
Xu Yun blinked, seeming to understand. He pointed at himself.
"For me?"
Lilani nodded.
Xu Yun couldn't help feeling a little surprised.
Had this little rascal become much more subdued and well-behaved since they'd last met?
That was a good thing. It wasn't that girls had to be quiet and conform to the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, but they shouldn't be little terrors, either.
He took the cup. As he blew on the water, he glanced inside and saw that nothing strange had been added. Then he took a small sip.
"Thank you, Lilani."
Lilani was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly blurted out a word.
"Last time... I'm sorry."
After saying that, the former little rascal turned and trotted away.
Xu Yun couldn't help scratching his head.
"That kid..."
Tiffany Boli's purchase was just one example of how things went at the stall that day. With the parish's guarantee, William's family hardly had to say much to sell jar after jar of tomato sauce.
Taste-testing, explaining, taking payment.
The whole process was that simple.
Three hours later, the day's market was winding down. That was only the end of the day's trading; as usual, the market would open for another day tomorrow.
St. Titus Didymus Church would temporarily clear out part of its interior to provide the merchants with a place to stay overnight.
In a sense, it was like the lodging-included trade fairs of later generations, an official-led means of stimulating the economy.
Just as Xu Yun was about to help clean up the area, Little Ox suddenly pulled him aside with a mysterious air.
"Fat Fish, we're going to be rich!"
Seeing the honored ancestor with stars in his eyes, Xu Yun couldn't help getting curious.
"Oh? Mr. Newton, how much tomato sauce did we sell today?"
Little Ox warily glanced around, then quietly gave him a number.
"Nine hundred pounds!"
Even Xu Yun couldn't help clicking his tongue at the figure.
"Good grief, nine hundred pounds?"
Nine hundred pounds came to more than fourteen thousand ounces.
At the ten-ounce-per-jar size William and the others were selling, that meant more than fourteen hundred jars of tomato sauce.
It was worth remembering that
Grantham's main town had a permanent population of only three to four thousand. Even during the market, the total population barely exceeded twenty thousand.
More importantly, each jar of tomato sauce was bought not for one person, but for an entire family!
Even after accounting for wealthy people buying more than one jar, the purchase rate for the sauce couldn't have been below fifteen percent!
This gave a sense of just how huge the tomato sauce market could be throughout Europe. Of course, one qualifier still couldn't be ignored: it was a market they wouldn't be able to monopolize.
"The cost of a jar of tomato sauce is 0.8 pence, and the net profit is 1.2 pence..."
At that moment, Little Ox's brilliant mind, one of the greatest in history, was calculating the basic numbers with the shrewdness of a businessman.
"1,400 times 1.2 is 1,680. Divide that by 252 and it's 6.67 guineas. Our thirty-percent share is 2.2 guineas.
"God, it's only been three hours, and this is only one Grantham! How long does one jar of tomato sauce even last a family?"
As he spoke, Little Ox gave Xu Yun a heavy slap on the shoulder.
"Fat Fish, I hereby declare that we're friends now!"
The slap was rather forceful. Caught off guard, Xu Yun nearly staggered.
"Could you go a little easier?"
Xu Yun grumbled as he rubbed his shoulder. He was about to look up and say something when everything around him seemed to pause. A long-missed notification panel abruptly appeared before his eyes.
[Newton now regards "Wall-facer" as a close drinking buddy. Novice Mission complete. Instance time has stopped. Returning to reality!]
Xu Yun:
"????"
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