Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 798 - 796

Chapter 798: Chapter 796

Shangguan Xuanyi and Xiao’er leisurely strolled around the town. He treated Xiao’er to the most famous flower cake in town. It tasted excellent, leaving their mouths filled with the aroma of flowers.

There were many spice shops in the town, and Xiao’er decided to take a good look at them.

About halfway down the road, Xiao’er gained a good understanding.

Most of the goods sold in the shops here are flowers, including mint, fennel, etc. In essence, these shops sell raw materials for spices.

Although some shops sell synthetic spices, the quality is poor, far inferior to that of Nangong Country and overseas.

"The variety of raw materials is too limited, and the quality of the spices is not good. In this case, they can only sell to ordinary people with low purchasing power. The profit margin is not large and the customer base is not large." Xiao’er spoke severely about the poor quality, in fact, it’s more than just poor—it’s terrible!

Xiao’er knew that in history, spices were luxury items favored by the noble class. The nobles, for their obsession with spices, even went as far as to seek them from all over the world, promoting the development of overseas navigation technology, contributing to the discovery of the New World, and making significant contributions to the history of human transportation.

Simply put, spices are not necessities but luxuries. Their real market is among the nobles. Poor quality spices are scorned by the nobles and wouldn’t be used, lest it degrade their status.

The poor quality of the spices in the town is one problem. The lack of variety and completeness of raw materials is another! How can they create their own specialty without unique features? Products without unique features can’t last long.

There are many plants suitable for making spices in the world, not just flowers. For instance, mint, cinnamon, cassia leaves, star anise, parsley seeds, lemongrass, etc. As long as it has a pleasant smell, whether it is a root, stem, leaf, flower, or fruit, it can be made into a spice.

You can’t possibly find all of these spices in a small town and expecting it to be so is unrealistic! If they can’t offer all varieties, then it’s better to perfect one. Hone in on one product, pursue perfection in it! How could business not flourish then?

"So it can’t develop, and it’s good enough to just maintain a decent standard of living," Shangguan Xuanyi nodded.

The two of them arrived outside the biggest spice shop.

At this time, a merchant walked out from inside and was chased out by the shopkeeper:

"Boss Du, the price you give is really too low. This year, the rainfall has increased, and the flowers are not as good as previous years, but they are not too bad. If you lower the price by half, I’ll be losing everything!"

"The flowers you have here have almost no scent left. I have already given a high price! I’m worried that it will leave me penniless! That’s the price, can’t be any higher. Will you sell it or not?"

"But the price I originally sold to you was already very low, and you are still marking it down. I can’t justify this to the flower farmers if I only make losses and no profits."

"That’s your problem if you don’t want to sell. I can find a second shop. Our cooperation ends here!" The man referred to as Boss Du shook off the spice shopkeeper’s hand and made a motion to leave.

However, his pace was slow, obviously waiting for the spice shopkeeper to change his mind.

The spice shopkeeper watched Boss Du walking away, his eyes were full of struggle. Was he really going to sell this season’s roses at a loss? His biggest business was with Boss Du. If he lost this major customer, the financial loss would be irrelevant. But what about the nearly a hundred acres of flower fields farmed by many flower farmers?

These people were relying on these flowers to earn silver to buy food for the whole year.

The climate and environment of Xiang Town are very suitable for cultivating flowers. Most of the people here have been flower farmers for generations, and many people don’t even know how to grow crops!

So if they lost this big customer, it would mean a lot of people would lose their jobs.

The spice shopkeeper, Boss Feng, was in a deep dilemma. This Du Guicheng must have done this on purpose. In recent years, the number of flower farmers in Nangong Country has increased, and the supply of fresh flowers is sufficient. As a result, they pressed the prices of the flowers collected in Xiang Town again and again!. The prices had been dropping for the past two years, and now they wanted to buy them at half price! This was just too outrageous!

Should he sell? He was furious deep down!

But he couldn’t afford not to sell. The flowers had already been picked, they needed to be sold quickly or they would go to waste in his hands, wouldn’t that be a total loss?

Boss Du must have figured out that Boss Feng couldn’t afford not to sell and hence, brought the price down so low. Humph! If he didn’t sell to him, where else could he find such a big client to take on all these flowers?

He walked slower and slower, waiting for Boss Feng to call him back.

Xiao’er could tell that this short and chubby man who was bullying his compatriots on purpose.

The dress of the people of Nangong Country and Minze Country was different, so Xiao’er recognized that he was not a person from Minze Country.

After much hesitation, Boss Feng gritted his teeth and decided to sell the flowers. It was better to exchange some silver than to end up with nothing, right?

Before Boss Feng could speak, Xiao’er took the lead and said, "Boss, do you have flowers for sale here? How much? I am buying fresh flowers in large quantities. If the price is reasonable, how much you have, I will take!"

Upon hearing this, Boss Feng was dumbfounded, "Young lady, are you serious?"

"What else? I’m not a child who would joke about such things." Xiao’er said and took out a ten-tael gold bar, "If the boss does not believe me, I can first pay part of the deposit."

Upon hearing this, Boss Feng almost cried. Indeed, every cloud has a silver lining!

"There are flowers, flowers. How many do you want, young lady? But this season’s rose flowers, due to the heavy rainfall during the flowering period, have suffered a little damage. I can sell them to you at a lower price! The price was five coins a pound in the past year, how about three and a half coins a pound now?"

It’s already a lot lower by cutting one and a half coins in one go, but it’s better than selling it for two coins a pound.

The production of roses is not high, and one acre of land can only yield a maximum of over three hundred pounds.

It’s just that the land and water sources of this small town are not very abundant, but the soil and climate are more suitable for growing roses, so many people have planted roses. Of course, there are also those who grow other flowers, but they are not on the scale of roses.

When grain yields were low, it was better to grow roses than grain. But now, grain yields are nearly a thousand pounds an acre, two or three acres of land can yield enough grain for a family of four or five to eat for a year, and that’s to the point of feeling sick of eating too much!

"Great, Boss, how many flowers do you have?" Xiao’er went in and took a look at the sample, sniffed the fragrance of the flowers. Basically, it was only slightly damaged, the fragrance was still strong, the loss was not big. The boss was so generous to reduce it by one and a half coins in one go.

"Boss, the flowers are not badly damaged. You are selling it one and a half coins cheaper in one go, it’s such a great deal! Even at four coins a pound, there will still be many people fighting for it! Boss, you are honest in doing business. How many flowers do you have? I’ll take them all! Let’s do it at four coins a pound! And I hope that the boss will give me priority when there are good flowers in the future."

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