CHAPTER 50: CHAPTER 50: RETURNING IN DEFEAT

In the end, after all the discussions, everyone still trusted Lin Wanwan the most, believing that such a significant matter should be handled by her.

"Alright, I’ll go to the town and see what the situation is first."

After the crowd dispersed, Lin Wanwan sat alone in the main hall, pondering how to avoid the label of "commerce." Maybe it would be best to just sell steamed cakes directly; farmers selling food during their leisure time certainly wouldn’t count as merchants.

For Lin Wanwan, making money was too easy, whether it be soap, glass, cement, or sugar—she could handle it all. But these things had too high a profit, and money could stir people’s hearts, attracting starving wolves. Right now, the Hou Tao Lin clan didn’t have the capacity to protect immense wealth.

The upper layers of wealth in the Great Tang had always been controlled by aristocratic gate valves. Without power, merely earning money through commerce wouldn’t suffice; merchants held too low a status, and they were fattened sheep ready for slaughter whenever the elite decided to kill for their consumption.

Lin Wanwan had to focus on small changes that could genuinely improve her family’s conditions.

She couldn’t just keep pouring resources into her clan. After all, it’s better to teach someone to fish than to give them fish, and sacrificing too much can lead to unreciprocated gratitude and potential disaster. She needed to control this balance well.

Today was a rest day for the clan school, and Lin Wanwan, along with her two maids, set off in a horse-drawn carriage to Wanghai Town early in the morning.

At this early hour, the streets were bustling and lively, with many sitting inside and outside major breakfast shops. The residents of the town were different from those in the countryside; many had the habit of eating breakfast at street stalls.

Hua Nong had already shamelessly visited several breakfast shops to sell her master’s baking soda, but few showed interest, and no store was willing to purchase.

The shopkeepers showed no interest in the secret recipe Hua Nong claimed would make the pastries taste better.

Customer flow in the town’s breakfast shops was mostly fixed; whether or not they improved the pastries, people would continue to eat. Why bother with the effort to change things? If the addition of the secret recipe caused the food prices to rise, they’d be scolded by neighbors for being gouging—it wasn’t worth it.

Finally, seeing no hope, Lin Wanwan called Hua Nong to get on the carriage, and the three headed to Xiaoxi Town.

Xiaoxi Town was the county seat, exceptionally bustling, with a much greater flow of people from north to south, far beyond what the small Wanghai Town could compare to.

This time, Lin Wanwan didn’t target small shops but directly went to large inns, bringing Hua Nong herself. Unfortunately, she returned empty-handed again.

After being rejected once more by the inn’s shopkeeper, Lin Wanwan sat in the carriage, stretched her legs, propped her chin, and started doubting her own ability to market. After a moment of negative thinking, she perked up again.

I am the entire clan’s hope, and I can’t give up. Let’s try and target the next establishment.

Soon after, Lin Wanwan discovered a grand and splendid inn. It was the most luxurious inn she had seen thus far, with banners fluttering at the entrance, inscribed with the large characters "Yuebin Building."

Lin Wanwan looked up at it, thinking that if this inn also rejected her, she’d have to abandon the idea of selling baking soda. After all, accepting change is not easy, and she understood the shopkeepers’ caution.

Standing at the inn’s entrance, Lin Wanwan looked up, then stepped up the stairs.

Yuebin Building was renowned throughout Mao County, a chain inn along the Jiangnan Road and Lingnan Road, present in various major cities. The four-sided flags at the entrance represented the willingness to cater to guests’ culinary desires, something ordinary inns couldn’t dare to display—a testament to the chain inn’s confidence.

The waiter at the inn, seeing Lin Wanwan dressed in luxurious clothes and accompanied by a New Luo Maid and a Kunlun slave, immediately greeted her with smiles, "Madam, do you have a reservation?"

Lin Wanwan didn’t waste words, simply stating, "I have a secret recipe that can remove the sour taste from pastries, making them fluffier and tastier. Is your shopkeeper here? I’d like to sell it to him."

Sigh, when it comes to marketing, Lin Wanwan truly has a long way to go.

The waiter was startled, surprised that such a lavishly dressed young lady was actually the daughter of a merchant. His smile immediately diminished by a third as he said, "I’m sorry, young lady, it’s currently dining time, and the shopkeeper likely doesn’t have time to discuss business with you. It might be better for you to come back another day with a father or brother to talk to the shopkeeper."

"Go and let him know; he might be interested." After speaking, Lin Wanwan glanced at Hua Nong, who promptly tipped the waiter with ten copper coins that had been prepared earlier.

As soon as the tip was in hand, the waiter brightened with a smile and went to find the shopkeeper.

Unfortunately, as soon as the shopkeeper of Yuebin Building heard Lin Wanwan mention a secret recipe, he interrupted her.

By then, it was almost noon, the inn’s busiest time, and unsurprisingly, Lin Wanwan was rejected. She looked back at the large hall on the first floor of Yuebin Building, where guests were playing wine games and eating and drinking, frowned, and walked away dejectedly.

The veil hat she wore today had dangling white veils, and even through the veils, Hua Nong could sense her master’s unhappiness.

"Young lady, perhaps we should return to Wanghai Town and try Lord Mengli?" Hua Nong attempted to offer some relief to her mistress.

Lin Wanwan got back into the carriage and took off her veil hat, saying, "Enough, let’s just consider it all a wasted effort. I’ll go find Mengli and give him this baking soda, see if he can market it among his peers."

Hua Nong listened to her words, understanding only half, as many of the terms were unfamiliar.

Back in Wanghai Town, they located Lin Mengli in a somewhat shady inn. Lin Wanwan gave him all the baking soda she had brought out, told him the cost price and the suggested selling price, and left him to manage it.

These days, whenever Lin Mengli had spare time, he’d rush back to the clan to learn arithmetic from Lin Wanwan. Now, he was quite adept at addition and subtraction, and Lin Wanwan wasn’t worried about him being outsmarted anymore.

Besides, even if he did get outsmarted, it wouldn’t be a big deal; it’d just be experience gained, like paying tuition fees. Doing business in the Great Tang wasn’t something that could be achieved on a whim.

Not long after Lin Wanwan left, Lin Mengli suddenly heard a voice behind him. He turned to look, finding it was his good friend Shan Xinrong, who worked as a junior chef at Yinge Guest Welcoming Inn in Xiaoxi Town. Although Shan Xinrong was merely a junior chef, he harbored dreams of becoming a head chef but had yet to encounter someone who could recognize and appreciate his talent.

Today, he had come to Lin Mengli intending to order some sea fish.

Despite Lin Mengli coming from the poor Lin Family Manor, his connections allowed him to acquire sea goods, making purchases from him far more favorable than picking from the market.

For Lin Mengli, securing more sales channels for his family’s catch was naturally beneficial. After all, selling at the dock meant having to deal with price suppression from major commercial firms, and selling directly to inns and stalls often led to getting outsmarted.

The two had been doing business for some time now, and although Shan Xinrong couldn’t offer high prices to Lin Mengli, he had never undercut him on quantity, gradually developing a rapport between them.