Chapter 37: The Formula

"Weigh these: ten jin of braised large intestine, ten jin of pork belly, seven jin of pig head meat, and ten jin of braised pork knuckle."

Ever since he had been definitively wronged, Luo Dazhuang had become much calmer. He weighed the braised meat one by one, each portion slightly exceeding what Shao Diandian had requested.

Shao Erdan patted his chest and declared, "We would never shortchange anyone!"

"What price do you intend to sell them for?" Luo Dazhuang asked.

"Thirty wen for the pork belly, and forty wen per jin for everything else."

Luo Dazhuang was shocked. "Are you serious? You're charging that much for pig offal?"

Shao Diandian replied, "Scarcity creates value. My recipe and the taste are worth this price!"

"Fine, don't blame me if you can't sell them."

Selling pig offal at such a high price—it would be a miracle if anyone bought it.

***

At Jinji.

Manager Sun had arrived early again today and was currently in a side room with several cooks, sampling the freshly baked pastries.

"How is it?" Manager Sun asked.

The cooks looked at each other and shook their heads. The taste was off.

"It's too sweet," said a cook surnamed Li. He was a veteran at Jinji with over a decade of experience, and his culinary skills were generally considered excellent.

"Why is it too sweet again?" Manager Sun frowned. "The last batch was too bland, and now this one is too sweet. We just... we just can't get it right, can we?"

Cook Li replied, "I can identify the ingredients she uses, but I simply cannot replicate the taste of her wife cakes."

Cook Wang, standing nearby, added, "The heat control and the ratio of ingredients are also vital. Sometimes a hair's breadth of difference leads to a massive discrepancy. Haven't our Jinji pastries been imitated by others, yet they can never achieve our texture?"

The others nodded in agreement.

Manager Sun snapped, "The problem is, someone *has* figured it out! And they're making them taste better than Jinji's! Haven't you heard what the customers are saying?"

"She probably isn't imitating our shortbread at all..." a new cook said timidly.

"How could she not be!" Manager Sun glared at him. The new cook dared not say another word.

"She must have improved upon our recipe," another cook named Liu suggested.

Manager Sun said coldly, "If she can improve it, why can't you? A group of grown men outdone by a little village girl—if word gets out, where will Jinji's reputation be?"

Jinji was, after all, a time-honored brand. It wouldn't be accurate to say the wife cakes were having a massive impact, given that the chubby village girl only sold a limited amount each day. However, it wouldn't be accurate to say they had no impact either; he had heard customers whispering more than once that their shortbread wasn't as good as those wife cakes.

This was a profound humiliation.

"How about... we drive her away?" Cook Liu proposed.

"Do you think I don't want to?" Manager Sun rolled his eyes. "She saved a customer of Jinji's; if we drive her away now, what will the customers think? Besides, she isn't set up right in front of the shop; she isn't blocking the path or bothering anyone. What excuse could we possibly use?"

Manager Sun, though cunning, did possess some business acumen. He understood the importance of the shop's image and knew he could never do anything that would ruin his own reputation.

"You lot keep working on the recipe. I'll think of something else."

***

The line in front of Jinji was as long as ever, but soon, an incredible scene unfolded. As soon as Shao Diandian set out her wife cakes, many customers waiting in the Jinji line collectively moved over to her stall.

Soon, a small line had formed in front of her as well. It couldn't compare to Jinji, of course, but for a street vendor daring to sell pastries right at the entrance of a place like Jinji, it was a rare and marvelous sight.

"Miss! Do you have the chestnut ones today? I didn't get any yesterday!" a young man in the line asked, poking his head out.

"I do," Shao Diandian said with a smile.

Little Wu had returned to her maiden home and offered the coins Shao Diandian had given her to her mother. Knowing her life at her in-laws' was difficult, her mother refused to take them, but she eventually gave in and let Little Wu bring back some chestnuts from their home instead.

"I want to eat the chestnut ones too!" a little boy said.

"We'll buy them, Grandma will buy them for you!" an elderly woman said dotingly. Then, remembering something, she asked Shao Diandian, "They won't be sold out by the time it's our turn, will they?"

Shao Diandian replied kindly, "I made forty chestnut ones today."

Twenty red bean, twenty mung bean, and twenty preserved vegetable. It was still one hundred in total.

The grandmother and grandson successfully bought the chestnut-filled ones. Chestnut filling required great culinary skill; despite its natural sweetness, it still required sugar, yet too much would overpower the natural flavor, making it indistinguishable from other sweet fillings.

Shao Diandian had balanced it perfectly, preserving the chestnut's fragrance and soft, sweet texture. It was powdery and chewy, with a hint of the pastry's oily richness—sweet but not cloying.

"Grandma, it's delicious!" the little boy exclaimed.

The other customers were also full of praise for the chestnut-filled wife cakes. The hundred cakes sold out quickly again.

Shao Erdan muttered, "Sister, I..." He hadn't even had a chance to try one yet!

Shao Diandian laughed, "I saved some for you."

She had other tasks today and wouldn't be able to go back at noon to cook, so she had brought food for herself and Erdan, and set some aside for Old Man Shao and the others.

Shao Erdan started rummaging through his sister's basket. This feeling... why was it so blissful? It had always been Shao Erdan yielding to his sister, making people forget that he was also a child who needed care.

Shao Erdan successfully found a bowl of wife cakes. "Sister, you have some too."

"I'm on a diet. You eat them."

"Oh." Shao Erdan stuffed a cake into his mouth.

After packing up, Shao Diandian prepared to leave. Just then, Manager Sun sauntered over. Hands behind his back, he strolled up with a leisurely air. "Sold out, have you?"

Shao Diandian confirmed he was speaking to her and gave a dry, indifferent, "Sold out."

Manager Sun said with a fake smile, "You... always selling things near Jinji, isn't that a bit like stealing business?"

Shao Diandian replied, "If two country folk like us can steal business from a place like Jinji, then Jinji's business must be remarkably easy to steal."

That was a slap in the face, wasn't it?

Manager Sun coughed a few times. "Look, you're a young girl, it's not easy for you to make a living with your younger brother. As it gets colder, you won't be able to set up shop when the heavy snow comes, right? How about this: why don't you sell your cakes to Jinji?"

"Oh?" Shao Diandian looked at him with feigned surprise.

Manager Sun raised his chin. "You sell them for ten wen each, but I reckon those cakes are only worth three or four. Jinji will pay five wen, and we'll take two hundred a day!"

Shao Diandian took Shao Erdan by the hand and walked away without looking back.

Manager Sun: "..."

Had he just been ignored by a little girl?! He stomped his feet in anger.

"Six wen! Six wen is fine, right?"

"Seven, seven wen! I can't go any higher!"

"Hey—you can't just keep selling them for ten!"

The people were walking further and further away.

Manager Sun hardened his heart. "How about you name your price! Selling me the recipe works too!"