The scholar was dissatisfied and said, "Grapefruits are cheap, how come your grapefruit candies are so expensive?"
Ke Chuying said, "Grapefruit is cheap and white sugar is expensive. Can you see the frosting on my grapefruit candy?"
The two scholars looked at each other and bought a pound together.
Brother Mu counted the fifteen cents he received over and over again, his almond-shaped eyes bent into a crescent shape when he smiled.
Soon the stall welcomed a second customer. This customer came out of the teahouse and was also a scholar.
He asked straight to the point: "Are you selling grapefruit candies?"
While he was listening to a book in the teahouse, he saw the scholars at the next table drinking tea and eating a strange candy. Seeing how they ate it with gusto made him swallow hard.
He shamelessly asked them, and when he learned that the grapefruit candy was sold at the entrance of the teahouse, he immediately went out and bought it.
Ke Chu responded and sold another pound of grapefruit candies.
The remaining three kilograms of grapefruit candies were divided up by passers-by in twos and threes. When they were about to close the stall and leave, three or four people poured out of the teahouse and stopped them to ask for grapefruit candies.
They were all guests of the teahouse. When they saw others eating grapefruit candies, they were curious and itchy.
When the story in the teahouse reached a critical moment, they were reluctant to leave. After the storyteller finished reading, they rushed out impatiently.
Unexpectedly, they were sold out as soon as they arrived.
Ke Chu took out the grapefruit candies for trial use and said, "You guys can try it first. If you think it tastes good, order how much you want. Come back to me tomorrow to get it."
The grapefruit candy tastes good and is a novel food. After trying it, the guests all ordered one to two kilograms of grapefruit candy, so Ke Chu accepted a deposit of thirty yuan.
After the guests dispersed, Brother Mu smiled and approached Ke Chu, "Husband, we collected a total of one hundred and five cents today. I still have ten cents left to buy a pot. Do you want to eat steamed buns?" "
Husband works too hard and needs to eat something delicious.
Ke Chu asked him, "Are you hungry?"
Brother Mu shook his head.
When there were no guests just now, the husband stuffed grapefruit candies into his mouth.
Most of the grapefruit candies he tried ended up in his stomach.
Ke Chu pulled him forward, "If you're not hungry, let's go buy sugar."
After deducting the capital today and not counting the deposit, they actually earned only fifteen cash.
If you want to make money selling grapefruit candies, you have to do it in quantity.
It's still too slow for them to make money now that they're working in such a small way.
Brother Mu shook Ke Chu's hand, "After buying the sugar, we will go up the mountain to pick grapefruit to make grapefruit candy."
"Yes." Ke Chu lowered his eyes and looked at him with a gentle expression.
In the next few days, Ke Chu and Mu Geer traveled back and forth between the villages in the county, making more and more money day by day, and the popularity of grapefruit candy in the county was also getting higher and higher.
On this day, the owner of the teahouse came to Ke Chu and wanted to buy a recipe for grapefruit candy. Ke Chu thought for a long time and said, "Whether I sell it depends on how sincere Boss Chen is?"
Chenle stretched out a hand and said, "Fifty taels."
Brother Mu held Ke Chu's hand tightly, and Ke Chu gently stroked the back of Brother Mu's hand, "If I sell this recipe to you, can I still sell grapefruit candies?"
"Of course you can." Chenle looked down on Ke Chu's petty fuss. If he wanted to sell grapefruit candies, he would have to do it in quantity.
Ke Chu nodded, "Okay."
After leaving the teahouse with fifty taels, Brother Mu struggled, "Husband, if they sell grapefruit candies, will anyone buy our grapefruit candies?"
Although fifty taels is indeed a lot, if they sell grapefruit candies, it will take them a long time to earn it.
Ke Chu asked: "Is it easy to make grapefruit candy?"
Brother Mu nodded, "It's very simple. I can do it after just a few glances."
Ke Chu squeezed Brother Mu's little hand, "Then do you think others can make grapefruit candies?"
Brother Mu suddenly realized, "Even if we don't sell our money, there will still be people trying to steal business from us."
Because the method of making grapefruit candy is so simple that a knowledgeable person can make it after several attempts.
He said sadly, "But we bought all the pots, and you also tidied up the house on the mountain."
Ke Chu smiled and tapped the tip of Brother Mu's nose, "Do you think I just want to make grapefruit candies when I clean up that house?"
He knew from the beginning that the grapefruit candy business would not last long.
He deliberately set up a stall outside the teahouse to attract the attention of the teahouse owner Chen Le.
If Chenle didn't plan to buy a son, he would just go as far as possible and try to earn more money before the grapefruit candy practice became popular, so that he could have the capital to do other businesses.
Brother Mu's mind flashed, "Honey grapefruit sauce?"
He said, "But we don't have enough honey."
"There is not enough honey to use sugar." It was a hot day, so Ke Chu did not plan to sell sauce, but planned to sell iced white sugar grapefruit tea.
Thinking of this, his eyes flashed, "Brother Mu, let's go buy saltpeter."
In his previous life, he made a fortune because he accidentally learned how to make ice.
Now that it’s hot summer, an ice-cold drink is sure to be a hit.
Brother Mu tilted his head, "Why are you buying saltpeter?"
Ke Chu whispered in his ear, "Make ice."
Brother Mu's eyes widened in shock, and Ke Chu pulled him into the pharmacy with a smile.
They bought the saltpeter and got on the ox cart. Jia, who was in the same cart, looked curiously at the sack covered with linen, "What did you buy here? It looks quite heavy."
Ke Chu ignored her, she was asking for trouble and kept her mouth shut.
The oxcart stopped at the entrance of the village. Jia walked in front angrily. When she got home, she looked back and saw that there were Ke Chu and Mu Ge'er behind her.
She rolled her eyes and thought of the last time she met Brother Mu at the door of Tiejiang Li's house. She whispered, "Could it be that Ke Chu wants to separate the family?"
Otherwise, why don't you take the things you bought home?
Mrs. Min walked to the door of Ke's house exhausted. She had come back early to prepare dinner.
As soon as she opened the door, she heard Mrs. Jia calling her, "Hey, Mrs. Min, your eldest son went to the county seat again today."
Mrs. Min still remembered the last time Mr. Jia had disgraced her in public, and said angrily, "Where does my son go? What does it have to do with you?"
Jia's face darkened, "Min, are you a dog today? You bite people when you catch them. I'm here to remind you out of kindness!"
Min didn't believe that Jia had any good intentions, "Remind me of something?"
Jia said loudly, "Your eldest son is thinking of separating from you!"
Min's heart skipped a beat, "What did you say?"
"Ke Chu bought two full baskets of things in the county. I don't know what he bought. The things were covered with linen. I came back in the same car with him, but when I got home, he and Brother Mu were nowhere to be seen. , where do you think he sent those things?" Mrs. Jia snorted coldly, "A few days ago, I saw Brother Mu coming out of Tiejiang Li's house."
Min's face changed again and again. Jia opened the door and walked in. She gloated and said, "Ke Chu is the most capable person in your Ke family. If he is separated, you will have to work." Until old age."
…
Ke Chu was walking towards the grapefruit grove. He was carrying a basket of saltpeter on his back and a basket of saltpeter in his hand.
Seeing that Ke Chu was sweating profusely, Brother Mu said again, "I'll carry it."
The road on the mountain was not easy to walk, and the husband did not want him to carry saltpeter on the mountain road, so he insisted on carrying his basket on his back.
"Good boy, we're almost there." Ke Chu panted slightly.
Brother Mu wiped the sweat from Ke Chu's forehead with his sleeve. The distressed little face was tense.
After arriving at the grapefruit grove, Ke Chu put the saltpeter into the house.
Brother Mu looked at the saltpeter and asked, "Husband, do you want to sell white sugar grapefruit tea?"
Ke Chu pinched Brother Mu's earlobe with his clean hands, "Brother Mu, how come you can always guess what I'm thinking?"
Brother Mu smiled shyly.
"It's getting dark, let's go back." Ke Chu took Brother Mu's little hand and protected him as he walked down the mountain.
They pushed open the door of the Ke family, and the Ke family was eerily quiet.
Ke Da's voice came from inside the room, "Come in."
Ke Chu's eyes darkened slightly, and he pulled Brother Mu in.
As soon as he entered the house, the door behind him was slammed shut by Ke Tuo.
Ke Da held a stick in his hand and hit it on the ground in a threatening manner, making a muffled sound, "Kneel down."
Brother Mu's face turned pale, Ke Chu protected Brother Mu behind him, his back straight, "Dad, why?"
"Why?" Ke Da's face looked very ugly, "For the sake of your illness, I still go to work in the fields to support you and your husband at such an old age. It's better for you, but you actually want to separate the family?"
He shouted, "Tell me! Where did you get the money to buy things in the county today? Where did you hide the things you bought?"
Min sat next to Ke Da, with pleasure in his eyes.
Ke Da wants to save face, and he will not allow the scandal of his son secretly separating from him to happen.
When Ke Chu heard this, he guessed everything, "Dad, I won't hide it from you anymore." He looked downcast, "Actually, I went to the county to sell grapefruit these days, but the grapefruit didn't exist. I felt shameless after selling it, so I took the grapefruit back. I didn’t know that you would misunderstand it.”
Everyone looked stunned.
Ke Da's anger subsided a little, and he asked dubiously: "Where is Yuzi?"
"I put it on the mountain." Ke Chu looked lonely, "I can't let my husband and I support me all the time. I thought there were so many grapefruits on the mountain, it would be nice to sell them and earn a few cents. Anyway, I sell it in the county, so even if I suddenly get sick, I won't embarrass you."
Mrs. Min retorted sharply, "Impossible! Mrs. Jia swore to me that you wanted to separate the family!"
Ke Chu asked, "Mom, would you rather believe her, an outsider, than me?"
Min choked and asked unwillingly: "Then how do you explain Brother Mu's going to see Li Tiejiang?"
People in the village come to Blacksmith Li to either mend ironware or make things for the kitchen, such as iron pots.
The Ke family does not lack those things, and only if Ke Chu wants to separate the family can Brother Mu have a reason to appear at Li Tiejiang's place.
Ke Chu's thoughts changed and he said, "Tiejiang Li has a donkey cart at home. I wanted to rent a donkey cart with him to sell grapefruits in the county, but Blacksmith Li felt that I couldn't make money selling grapefruits, so he advised me not to go, and he wouldn't rent the donkey cart to me either. .”
Min was speechless.
Ke Da put the stick aside and complained, "What are you doing with these?"
Ke Chu lowered his head and sounded sad, "I'm afraid you will dislike me because of my illness and want to separate from me."
Min and Ke Da looked a little unnatural when they heard this.
They do have this idea.
They don't separate now because they think Ke Chu's illness can be cured.
