Wholesaler

"You, you, this... put it away quickly, put it away now!" he urged repeatedly.

Even though Madam Xie saw the silver notes given to her by Old Xu and Madam Xiao, the thought of those notes piled on the table, totaling a thousand taels, Madam Xie heart pound like a drum, and she felt extremely flustered.

"Hide it quickly, or it'll cause trouble." She glared at Xu Xi. "Don't let anyone see it again. Keep it well hidden. And don't let anyone at the Marquis's residence know about it either."

Seeing the shock and panic in the couple's eyes, but not a trace of greed, and Xu Xi Xu Xue felt extremely pleased.

She picked up eight bills, folded them, and put them in her bosom. She handed the remaining two to Xu Yongyi, saying, "Uncle, this is a token of my filial piety to you and Aunt. Please take it. Go ahead and do business with confidence. Don't be afraid. Our cold dishes are so delicious, business will definitely be booming."

Xu Yongyi, however, reacted as if the two banknotes were burning his hands, taking two steps back before turning to Xu Xi and saying seriously, "Miss Xi, I can't take your money anymore. You've given us such a great idea; if I can't make the business work, I'd be truly useless. If I still take your money, my conscience won't allow it."

Xu Xi felt a warm feeling in her heart.

She said, "Uncle, we didn't have any capital before, so I planned to take my time and build up my business from scratch with cold dishes. But now that we have money, we can't do business that way anymore. Once those cold dishes appear, others will quickly follow suit. Even if they don't taste as good as ours, as long as they sell them cheaply and are outside our sphere of influence, they'll definitely sell well. That way, it will be very difficult for us to expand our business in the future."

Xu Yongyi nodded.

He had thought of that too. But even if he did, there was nothing he could do; he simply lacked the ability. You can only eat one bite at a time; you can't become fat overnight.

Xu Xi continued, "I was thinking, why don't we become wholesalers and sell directly to the small vendors in the city? We can divide up the market for them and set uniform prices. Uncle and Aunt can just focus on mixing the vegetables at home. They don't need to wash and chop the vegetables themselves; they can hire someone to do it. You just need to mix the seasonings. Only in this way can we maximize our profits. It won't be tiring, and we can make a lot of money."

She stepped forward and handed the banknotes to Xu Yongyi again. "Consider this money a loan from me, or an investment on my part. You can pay me back or give me a share of the profits when I make money."

Xu Yongyi was thrilled by the blueprint drawn up by Xu Xi.

He was a man with ambitions to make big money and build a great career. Xu Xi had painted such a wonderful picture for him, and he was unwilling to go back to starting from scratch with a small stall.

He gritted his teeth and said, "Alright, Uncle Qian."

He thought for a moment and said, "Originally you only provided the recipe and took 20% of the profits. Now that you've put up the capital, the profit sharing can't be like that. You have to take 50% of the profits. Otherwise, I can't accept this money."

Xu Xi invested all the capital, and if they lost money, they wouldn't have the funds to repay Xu Xi in the short term. Who knows when they would be able to repay her? In this way, Xu Xi bore all the risks of the business, but she didn't get a share of the profits—that's unfair.

But if this money is treated as an investment by Xu Xi, it's different. The risks are still borne, and the profits are shared. That's fair to Xu Xi.

Of course, Xu Yongyi did this because he felt the business couldn't possibly lose money. He would control costs from the start and would never use all of Xu Xi's two hundred taels of silver. He could start with fewer varieties and increase the selection once the business gained a good reputation. This way, he could control costs and also squeeze out competitors by introducing new products when they followed suit.

But the recipe was given by Xu Xi, the business model was proposed by Xu Xi, and it was with the two hundred taels of silver that he dared to expand the business so much. The capital for this large-scale business was also provided by Xu Xi. Therefore, he felt it was reasonable to give Xu Xi 50% of the profits.

Xu Xi didn't refuse and nodded, saying, "Alright, we'll do it your way."

Xu Yongyi then asked, "Could you come and check on me every day?"

He now realized that Xu Xi had a better business sense than him and was more thoughtful. Compared to Xu Xi, he, who had been running a small business for over ten years, was far inferior. Suddenly expanding his business so much made him feel uncertain. If Xu Xi could come out every day to check on things and offer suggestions, he would feel much more at ease.

Xu Xi thought for a moment, "I'm afraid that won't work. School hours are fixed, and the Marquis's residence provides direct carriage service. The academy also stipulates that students are not allowed to leave the house without family members to pick them up, so even if we have a little free time, we can't go out."

She didn't want the Marquis's mansion to know about supporting the Xu Family's business, lest they misunderstand and think she had given the hundred taels of silver to the Xu Family. To explain, she would have to bring up her selling design drafts. Although she didn't care about the Marquis's mansion, it was always better to avoid trouble.

Madam Xie glared at Xu Yongyi: "The child's education is a big deal; don't hold him back."

Xu Yongyi quickly nodded. "It was my oversight. You all focus on your studies and don't worry about the family. I'll take good care of the family business."

"Actually, if there's anything, you can just have Xiaoxue tell me. I'll come over if necessary, and if it's inconvenient, I'll communicate with you through Xiaoxue," Xu Xi said with a smile.

When Xu Xi heard that Xu Xi would come to visit from time to time, Madam Xie very Gao Xing.

After they finished talking, she asked, "Are you hungry? I ground some rice flour this morning. Xiaoxi, you like taro cake, I'll go steam some for you."

It was still early before Qingfeng and the others came to pick her up, so Xu Xi wasn't in a hurry to go back to the academy gate to wait. She honestly and bluntly said to Madam Xie, "Okay, Auntie, you'd better make more, otherwise there won't be enough for me to eat."

"With your little kitten's appetite, how much can it eat?" Madam Xie scolded, waving her hand and getting up. "Alright, you two go and rest."

Before leaving, she turned back and said, "Xiaoxi, your old room has been cleaned up and is still available for you. You can come back whenever you have time, even if you don't stay, it'll be nice to rest. Xiaoxue's room is next to yours."

After Xu Yongzeng and his wife passed away, the house was rented out, and the original owner's room was naturally not preserved; all the belongings were moved back to Little Banyan Village. Now that she intends to take over the house herself, Madam Xie moved Xu Xi's things from Little Banyan Village and restored her original room to its former state.

Madam Xie also knew that the Marquis's residence would not allow Xu Xi to the Xu Family family. After all, Xu Yongyi and Xu Chongwen were now considered outsiders to Xu Xi, and they had no blood relation with him. Xu Xi continued to live in the Xu Family, and someone spread rumors, it would ruin Xu Xi's reputation.

By tidying up Xu Xi's house, she was expressing an attitude—no matter what Xu Xi's status was, this would always be Xu Xi's home.