Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 256

Chapter 256: Chapter 256

This butcher shop was located at the deep end of North Street, and a blank white lantern hung at the entrance.

Just as she was contemplating whether to knock, she saw a woman, her head swathed in a headscarf, remove the door panel.

Seeing a young girl standing outside, the woman looked somewhat surprised and after a moment’s pause, finally asked, "Are you here to buy meat?"

Nanzhi nodded, and the woman looked her up and down again before inviting her inside.

"Come in."

Following the woman into the butcher shop, Nanzhi was finally able to take in the sight of the interior.

The dawn had yet to break, so Nanzhi could only make out the surroundings by the dim light emanating from the woman’s oil lamp.

Besides the large wooden table and rack, the only other items were a pair of cleavers and a pile of iron hooks.

The woman was dressed in coarse clothing, a brown leather apron tied around her waist, leading the way.

After following the woman into the courtyard, a gust of wind wafted a faint smell of blood and beast over to Nanzhi.

"Do you want beef or mutton? Mutton costs forty-two wen per pound, and beef costs fifty wen per pound. They’re all freshly slaughtered."

The woman placed the oil lamp on a desk and motioned for Nanzhi to choose her meat.

Intrigued by the price of the meat, Nanzhi asked, "Are you the proprietor of this butcher shop?"

The woman looked up. "Don’t I look like one?"

"You do. I also run a business and we need beef and mutton every day. I was wondering if you would be able to provide enough?"

The woman was taken aback. It seemed she hadn’t expected this young girl to be here for business negotiations, she then asked, "Are you in a position to negotiate this deal?"

"Yes."

"Then how much meat do you need in your shop every day?"

Nanzhi hesitated a bit before finally saying, "In the first month, we will need at least ten pounds of both beef and mutton daily."

The woman nodded in understanding. She estimated that this young girl likely wouldn’t need too much meat.

Mutton was easy to handle since even after removing the internal organs, a single sheep could yield at least forty pounds of meat. Her shop slaughtered two sheep daily, so sparing ten pounds for Nanzhi was not a problem.

However, handling beef was a bit challenging.

Recently, it had been tough to source beef. If she went out of her way to bring a whole cow back for just ten pounds of meat and ended up not being able to sell it, wouldn’t that be a loss?

"Young girl, let me be frank with you. Many cows have recently fallen ill and a lot of people are afraid to keep them. That’s making it difficult for us to source cows, too. Everyone is scrambling even for sheep, so getting beef might be tough."

Nanzhi was a bit dismayed, but she quickly regained her spirits and asked, "Then would it be possible to get ten pounds of mutton every day?"

"Sure. Our shop only slaughters and sells beef and mutton. We have to slaughter at least one sheep every day, so getting ten pounds of mutton is manageable."

The woman said with a smile.

Although ten pounds wasn’t a large amount, it still meant steady business.

Knowing she could secure the mutton, Nanzhi felt relieved. Her attention then shifted to the sheep intestines and stomach in the wooden barrel next to her, and she asked, "By any chance, could I get the sheep offal, too?"

"You want the sheep offal?" The woman was taken aback. Realizing that Nanzhi was not joking, she hesitated for a while before saying, "If you want it, I won’t charge you. Just take it."

Sheep meat had a pungent odor, and the offal was even more so. Usually, they had trouble selling it for five wen per set, and quite often they would end up giving it away to the poor out of pity.

"I won’t take advantage of you, sister. From now on, if there are sheep offal, I will take them all. I’ll pay ten wen per set."

"Alright then, just curious, how much are you willing to pay per pound for the mutton you ordered?"

The woman cautiously began, her family has been in the sheep-raising business for generations. Although her husband had left home to study after they got married, her maiden family gave much assistance over these years, enabling her to care for her mother and two children.

The sheep that she receives are primarily from her maiden village, thus her profit margins are naturally higher. However, she wondered how much silver per pound the young woman was willing to pay.

"As for the price, I’ll give you thirty-five wen per pound for the mutton. If you have beef, I will give you forty-five wen. Moreover, offal from sheep is ten wen per set and beef offal is twenty wen per set. What do you think, sister?"

Nanzhi was also a little uneasy when saying this, not because she was afraid to bargain, but because it’s not like back at her place. Fewer cows are raised here, and work oxen couldn’t be slaughtered at will, even if there are not too much constraints in raising sheep, it’s not as common as back home. Generally speaking, mutton costing forty wen per pound is already considered cheap. She has heard from her mother that the price of mutton could even go up to seventy wen per pound during the New Year. Given these circumstances, she dared not quote too low.

"The price is a bit low, how about adding two wen more per pound? What do you think?"

The woman did some calculations in her mind before opening her mouth to negotiate.

"Well, that works."

Hearing Nanzhi’s agreement, the woman let out a sigh of relief. She then continued with a smile, "May I ask when you would start needing the meat?"

"On the fifteenth, I might need about fifteen pounds of mutton, if I need more later, I’ll let you know in advance."

"Alright, shall we sign a contract first then?"

After they signed the contract, Nanzhi gave a tael of silver as a deposit. They agreed to deliver the meat every morning at the third watch of the day, and would inform in advance if there was any beef. Only then did Nanzhi return to the restaurant with the set of sheep offal given by Liu Hui.

Watching Nanzhi leave, Liu Hui breathed a sigh of relief. Ten pounds a day equals three hundred pounds a month. Although it’s not a big deal, it would make the home life more stable. She wondered how her sixth brother was doing in Kyoto with his studies.

After some consideration, Nanzhi decided to go directly to the restaurant with the sheep offal. As for pork, she decided not to reserve it for now and let Wang Sheng and others buy it in the mornings.

When Nanzhi came back to the restaurant, the others just woke up. Seeing her holding a set of bloody offal that she brought back, An Wazi was startled.

Even Uncle Ping didn’t understand her intentions.

"Manager, what is this for?"

"I’m going to cook something new for you for lunch. Today we need to build the stove, can you handle it?"

"Everything is ready, we can start as soon as it’s daylight." Liao Da nodded.

"Alright."

Nanzhi nodded, had them fill a tub of water to soak the offal before washing her hands. Then she led them to the place planned out yesterday.

"We will build the stove here. Not a round one, but a long one, not too broad. Just follow the design I drew."

"Uncle An, I’ll need your help to oversee this. I remember Xu Chou sent a message yesterday saying he could be back before noon today. Then we’ll try out something different later."

"Alright--"

The men unanimously replied, Nanzhi, along with An Wazi, left to buy breakfast, leaving the men to gather together.

They had grown accustomed to each other over the past few days, and were exceptionally pleased with Nanzhi and Shen Miaomiao as their managers. Besides the fact that two meals were provided every day, they could taste meat at every meal, which was a rare privilege.

"However, the new stuff the boss mentioned, could it be that set of offal?"

Liao Da glanced at the wooden tub beside him, looking somewhat complex.

Although he hadn’t eaten mutton many times, he hadn’t eaten offal either.

Could this stuff be delicious?

"Since the boss has said so, let’s wait and see." Wang Sheng didn’t say much, just stood quietly on the side, looking at the planned foundation.

Nanzhi drew the blueprint based on her memory of a barbecue oven. She also thought about having a steel one made, but when she asked, one stove alone would cost several tens of taels of silver, not for any other reason, but because iron is expensive.

In the end, she tearfully ordered a few long iron skewers to be fixed on the stove surface. Those few iron skewers alone cost her three taels of silver.

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