Cultivation Simulator: Starting From The Empress' Palace

Chapter 127: 127 The shopkeeper is truly conscientious in doing business.

The third year of Xuanhe Era.

August 10th.

Sunny.

Even though it was still early in the morning, the sunlight already showed signs of being scorching.

But even so, it couldn’t stop the people from going out.

The entertainment options in the Great Song Dynasty were scarce, aside from going to listen to music in theaters, people stayed home to have children.

In Bianliang City, where every inch of land is worth its weight in gold, those who live there are relatively wealthy, and they have long been tired of such monotonous lives.

So, while the day was not too hot yet, people came out to stroll around, trying to find some fun to pass the time, then would sit in a teahouse, listen to storytelling, and this was how a boring day went by.

Now with the opening of Hongfu Ice Shop, the lion dance at the entrance became the ”fun” they found, drawing a crowd like those watching a spectacle.

Wang Cai was among them.

His father was a well-known wealthy merchant in Bianliang City, his eldest brother passed the imperial examination in the first year of Xuanhe, and his second brother was a County Magistrate. But he was a dullard, uneducated, and spent his days with women.

However, he had one good trait, which was not causing trouble for the family.

He knew that Bianliang City, being under the Emperor’s feet, was filled with nobility. Even though his family had some wealth, they couldn’t compare to the nobles.

So he never caused trouble, and his usual hobby was visiting pleasure houses.

But he didn’t go yesterday.

The reason Wang Cai didn’t go was because, besides beautiful women, pleasure houses were cooler. Even in summer, any distinguished guest would have a block of ice in the room to cool down.

Lying on the bed, he didn’t want to leave.

But recently, the pleasure house he often visited had no ice supply.

This made Wang Cai very upset.

You see, this activity was physically exhausting, leaving him sweaty and hot, desperately needing to cool down afterward.

And now it’s summer.

Who could bear it?

So Wang Cai planned to find another pleasure house with ice.

Before he got there, he was drawn by the lion dance.

Planning to join the fun.

The pleasure house wasn’t going anywhere, after all.

But if you missed the fun, it would truly be gone.

”Make way.”

Wang Cai finally squeezed to the front, looking at the handsome man standing in the middle at the shop’s entrance, who was clearly the leader, and asked, ”Shopkeeper, what business does this shop do?”

Chen Mo noticed Wang Cai’s extraordinary attire, obviously the offspring of nobles, and immediately greeted him with a smile, ”Hongfu Ice Shop, Hongfu Ice Shop... naturally, we sell products related to ice.

We offer ice blocks one foot long, half a foot wide, and two inches high for sale.

We also have iced drinks such as sour plum soup, iced herbal tea, and ice water available to provide cooling services for esteemed guests.”

”Selling ice?”

Though Wang Cai was uneducated, he knew that ice was a scarce item now and hadn’t heard of anywhere selling it.

This was because in the Great Song Dynasty, ice was excavated during winter, stored in underground cellars, and only used in the summer.

But naturally, there was loss in this process.

Moreover, how much ice could one cellar store?

It might not even be enough for oneself, let alone to sell?

Apart from this method of storing ice,

there was also ice-making by martial artists.

But that method was extremely inefficient, yielding little ice.

And the value of the ice didn’t justify hiring martial artists.

Only the Imperial Family was so extravagant as to use Fourth Grade martial artists and above to make ice.

But there were always exceptions.

What if someone had a very large cellar with more ice than they needed...

But since they were selling it, the price must be high.

”So how much does your ice cost? Must be very expensive, right?” Wang Cai asked.

”Is there any doubt? Of course, it’s expensive. A few days ago, a block of ice half a foot long, three inches wide, and one inch high sold for three taels of silver at Qing Chi House, and I can call a lady for just two taels, not even as expensive as one piece of ice.”

The people around started to jeer.

Chen Mo shook his head with a light smile and raised a finger.

”One tael?” Wang Cai frowned. Although this price wasn’t exorbitantly high, it was still quite high.

Chen Mo shook his head again and said, ”Not one tael, but one hundred wen.”

”One hundred wen?”

As soon as those words were spoken, everyone was shocked.

One tael of silver was two strings of coins.

One string was three hundred wen.

A block of ice wasn’t even one string.

The shopkeeper was really doing business with a conscience!

Though one hundred wen was still expensive for ordinary people, in Bianliang, for these people joining the fun, it was just a small amount.

”Shopkeeper, is what you said true?” Wang Cai asked again, somewhat incredulous.

”Doing business is about honesty, naturally I keep my word. With our grand opening, if esteemed guests buy over fifty taels of silver, we offer delivery service, and for over a hundred taels, we give a 10% discount,” Chen Mo said.

”A 10% discount?”

”That’s right, ten taels off for every hundred taels,” Chen Mo said.

Before opening, he asked the clerks, and the cost of one block of ice didn’t exceed ten wen.

And this ten wen was all spent on saltpeter.

After all, in Bianliang, water practically cost nothing.

Since Bianliang had the Grand Canal, every household almost had a well, so there was no lack of water.

”What about the iced sour plum soup?”

”Ten wen.”

...

”The shopkeeper is truly honest in business, I want to buy everything.”

”Get out of here, if you take everything, what about me?”

”Why should I care about you? How dare you insult me? Do you know who my eldest brother is?”

”Do you know who my father is?”

”Who is it?”

”The Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Zhang Erhe, is my father.”

”Oh, so it’s Young Master Zhang, apologies, apologies, please go ahead.”

”Hmph.” The person named Zhang arrogantly stepped forward and said to Chen Mo, ”Boss, I want all your ice blocks.”

”That’s impossible,” Chen Mo shook his head, still not having established a reputation.

”How dare you! Do you know who my father is?”

Chen Mo shook his head and said, ”Hongfu Ice Shop is a Xiao Family business.”

Upon hearing this, Young Master Zhang’s face changed, and he trembled slightly.

”Sorry, sorry for the disturbance.” Without turning his head, Young Master Zhang quickly slipped away.

...

...

As the number of people purchasing ice blocks increased,

seeing that it was on track, Chen Mo wiped the sweat off his forehead and stepped back.

”Young Master Chen is truly a master in business, I admire you,” Peng Haizhu, the steward arranged by the Xiao Family at Hongfu Ice Shop, praised Chen Mo at this moment.

He didn’t know Chen Mo’s true identity.

Only knew that he was set up by the Empress.

He didn’t dare to ask more.

”Not at all,” Chen Mo cupped his hands, then said, ”Going forward, I’ll have to trouble Steward Peng to take care,”

ps: The selling price of ice was calculated by Orange Cat based on the current price of a ton of ice being 200 to 300 yuan, converted comprehensively.

A block measuring 50cm in length, 25cm in width, and 10cm in height, weighing roughly 70 jin.

A foot is about 33 centimeters.

Of course, this comparison is not very accurate, so take it as a reference.

If there’s too much deviation, just consider it a joke.