Chapter 26: Everything is for the sake of life
Just after sending off a group of villagers who had bought tofu, the few who had gone to sell tofu that morning returned. They had gone to nearby villages, so they returned quickly. Upon their return, their faces beamed with joy; clearly, their sales had gone well.
As soon as they reached Zhao Dong’s doorstep, they eagerly requested another twenty pounds of tofu and twenty bowls of tofu. They planned to go out and sell more in the afternoon.
"Brother Dong, please make more this afternoon! You wouldn’t believe it—I pushed the cart to Sun Village, and before I even had to shout much, it was all sold out! I want twenty pounds this afternoon!"
Other villagers chimed in, "That’s right! I went to the small village, and I’d barely started hawking my wares when the villagers working in the fields smelled that fragrant sauce and gathered around."
"They saw it was something new, something they’d never seen before, and everyone wanted a taste. In less than half an hour, it was all gone! I’ll take another twenty pounds of tofu this afternoon, and I want twenty bowls of tofu as well—the kind in bowls sells the best!"
Shi Tou, also grinning, said with exaggeration, "Honestly, that tofu sells incredibly well! The tofu in bowls was the first thing I sold out of. If you ask me, it’s all thanks to sister-in-law’s sauce. The moment you open that sauce jar, the aroma spreads for miles! You don’t even have to shout; people just follow their noses. Brother Dong, I’ll also take twenty pounds of tofu and twenty bowls of tofu this afternoon!"
Zhao Dong chuckled. My wife uses seasonings from the space, he thought. In an era where ginger is exorbitant and pepper costs as much as gold, of course, they’d find it incredibly fragrant.
However, he couldn’t give them that much. He waved his hand immediately, saying, "You all want twenty pounds? That won’t work. I haven’t prepared that many ingredients for the afternoon. At most, I can give each of you fifteen pounds of tofu. However, I can give each of you twenty bowls of tofu."
Zhao Dong knew he couldn’t give them so much at once, even though selling more meant earning more. They had just sold ten pounds in the morning; if they couldn’t sell all twenty pounds this afternoon, it would dampen their enthusiasm. Besides, he was employing scarcity marketing. Even if they could sell all twenty pounds, readily available goods don’t create the same lasting impression as something coveted and hard to obtain.