It wasn't that the bread tasted so astonishingly good. That would have been an exaggeration.
After all, it was only ordinary bread, made with fairly ordinary rye flour. Even with some milk and honey added, it was nothing special. As someone who had always lived in the West End of London, he could find bread like this at three or four shops, if not ten.
Yet despite all the bread he had eaten, the bread in his mouth had a distinctly different flavor.
Just looking at their clothes and the sorry state of their trouser cuffs, he could tell that the ingredients in this bread were nothing rare, probably just the most ordinary flour and the like.
Besides, Mo Fei had already cautioned the elderly woman earlier, so he had some idea of what to expect.
Had he not been busy working ever since getting up early that morning, leaving him somewhat hungry, he would never have eaten anything in a place like this.
He had originally been planning to find a little shop and buy something to eat.
Something had suddenly touched him, prompting him to buy this bread instead.
But the surprise caught him unprepared. Unless it was freshly baked, the bread he had bought before would quickly turn hard and dry, often needing to be softened in hot soup before he could eat it.
This bread was much better by comparison.
Although the crust had grown somewhat hard as it cooled, when he bit into it, the inside had a rare softness and chewiness.
As he chewed, the aroma of the grain gradually emerged. The bread also had a complex blend of flavors that helped get his saliva flowing.
That taste was difficult to describe, and it was also what had astonished him.
Most interestingly, as he kept chewing, the bread actually began to reveal different flavors. Sometimes it tasted more sour, sometimes sweeter, and occasionally a hint of milk would emerge...
As he ate the bread, he began to think that ten pence wasn't much to charge for it. It could even be called excellent value.
In that case-
The man, who hadn't gone far anyway, walked back toward Mo Fei.
"How many days will this bread keep?"
He asked directly.
Mo Fei understood at once. Questions were part of making a sale, and since the man had asked this, it meant he thought quite highly of the bread.
He kept his happiness off his face, maintaining the same polite smile.
"Sir, our bread is freshly made by hand, so it won't keep for very long. It should last about a week without any trouble, so even if you'd like to buy some, I'd recommend getting no more than a week's worth..."
His explanation also stirred the interest of some of the people nearby.
Seeing someone return to buy more right after eating the bread told them it really was good. With the reasonable price as well, they began to feel tempted.
The man weighed it up, then decided to buy another three, intending to take them home for his wife to try. He thought she would like the flavor.
With their first repeat customer, the others became considerably more eager to buy.
Soon, all the bread in the basket had sold out.
"Huh? There's none left? When will you be back to sell more?"
Someone who hadn't managed to buy any asked Mo Fei.
"We'll probably come by about once a week. Please keep supporting our business, and next time, remember to look for our young fellow here..." He pulled over Aiwen, who had been very reserved ever since they began selling.
Once Aiwen was pulled into the crowd and faced all the people around him, his whole body went stiff.
But the adults around him saw at a glance how uncomfortable the child was and smiled understandingly.
"Then we'll be sure to look for this little boss next time!"
A burst of laughter followed, without a trace of malice.
That only made Aiwen more nervous.
"O... okay..."
Aiwen's reply made the laughter grow even louder.
Even Mo Fei's smile became much more pronounced.
With no bread left to sell, the people around them gradually began to disperse.
To Mo Fei, this sale was nothing special, but it had been quite an eye-opener for Aiwen and Lina.
Being surrounded by a crowd in public for the first time, and constantly talking to different people, had left them both very reserved and very excited.
The two children were still a little dazed.
When all those people had slowly gathered around them earlier, the children had been so flustered that their hands and feet trembled. If Mo Fei hadn't instructed them beforehand that one should collect the money while the other helped hand out bread, they might have stood rooted to the spot like wooden posts.
The wooden skewers were also there to make the bread easier to pick up, keeping things both clean and convenient.
Once the selling actually began, Lina and Aiwen had worked mechanically. Fortunately, they still remembered to keep track of who had paid.
Now, the little pouch beneath the bread basket was full of loose coins.
Seeing that everything was over and the customers had responded quite well, Mo Fei took the two children away.
However, rather than hurrying back to the orphanage, he strolled around the area and found a bakery with a street-facing storefront.
Standing outside, he kept assessing the foot traffic and the sales inside.
It wasn't a time when people were heading to or from work, and this wasn't a major thoroughfare either, so foot traffic was average.
Business at the bakery was ordinary too.
Watching more closely, he found that many of the customers were women living nearby. They were responsible for buying bread and then preparing lunch and dinner.
They often carried baskets of vegetables and meat, which meant they didn't actually have much choice when buying bread.
Usually, they simply bought a long loaf, enough to last the whole family a week, and came back out.
Mo Fei glanced at the price. A loaf that large actually sold for three pounds in the shop, putting it on par with the ordinary bread they sold.
Still, he did know the reason.
The international situation hadn't been very good lately, not just in the so-called wizarding world, but among ordinary people as well.
Signs of war kept cropping up.
This had also forced prices up somewhat.
So there was really nothing wrong with the price he had chosen.
Having learned all this, he had no intention of lingering and returned to the orphanage with the two little ones.
On the way back, he also ordered a large batch of flour and a small amount of sugar.
When they returned to the orphanage this time, the children gathered around them again, eager for better news.
In front of the other children, Aiwen and Lina were no longer too shy to speak. They naturally became the big brother and big sister here and began recounting their experience selling things.
This earned them a great many admiring looks.
Mo Fei merely watched with a smile, then went into his study and began refining his plan.
In the suburbs, with some neighbors helping and spreading the word, they would surely achieve good results on the day they officially began selling.
But bread, especially long loaves, wasn't something people needed to buy often. One person couldn't finish a whole loaf in a week, so that kind of bread generally needed to be aimed at families. For individuals, smaller breads like these were more suitable instead.
He could also make some medium-sized breads to meet different needs.
For a time, his sales plan continued to take shape.