Chen Ren quickly released her hand, his expression earnest. "Let me buy ten pounds of rice from you."
"What?"
"I really want to sell these noodles," Chen Ren explained. "Right now, I'm using ingredients from the guest room kitchen, but if I'm going to sell them, I can't keep doing that. There's honour and ethics in business, and I want to do this the right way, unless you have fallen for my noodles and want to donate the ingredients."
Tang Yuqiu studied him for a long moment, ignoring his last few words before replying, "I won't sell it cheap."
Chen Ren nodded, undeterred. "We can negotiate. Right now. I don't need a lot, but if this works, we can talk about a bigger purchase."
Tang Yuqiu gave a thoughtful nod.
"Let's talk tomorrow," she said before turning to leave, her posture more composed than before.
***
Early the next morning, Chen Ren found himself standing with Tang Yuqiu in a quiet corner of the Tang Clan's storage area, the soft light of dawn casting long shadows over the bags of rice stacked neatly along the walls.
A few guards stood nearby alongside Tang Yuqiu's maid, their faces blank as they did nothing more than to add to the background.
Ignoring them, he focused on the rice bags.
He needed just ten pounds for now, enough to test his idea and see how the evening crowd would react to them.
Tang Yuqiu watched him closely as he inspected the rice on his palms, her expression unreadable.
The grains were clean, and polished to a near-perfect sheen. It was above average, at least— definitely not the cheap stuff. Setting the small sample back down, he looked up at her.
As one pound was priced around four to ten copper wen depending on the quality, Chen Ren thought for a moment.
"I'll give you five copper wen per pound," he said, his tone straightforward.
Tang Yuqiu arched an eyebrow, her voice firm.
"Ten copper. This rice is worth way more than what you're offering."
Chen Ren resisted the urge to sigh. He knew this wouldn't be easy. "It's good quality, but ten copper is too much. Six copper per pound, and I'll take ten pounds."
She crossed her arms, clearly not inclined to back down. "Nine copper and that's my final offer."
Chen Ren shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips.
"Seven copper is fair for both of us. I'm not asking for charity, just a reasonable price. Seven copper and I'll consider this a done deal. Either way, this is probably not much for you to gather and I'm giving you a good opportunity to make a small profit.
Tang Yuqiu narrowed her eyes, sensing the determination in his voice. After a long moment of silence, she relented with a slight nod.
"Fine. Seven copper per pound, but don't expect this kind of generosity next time."
Chen Ren chuckled, pleased with the outcome. "I wouldn't dream of it."
With the negotiations settled, Chen Ren quickly weighed out ten pounds of rice and handed over the agreed amount of copper coins.
As he turned to leave, he noticed the young miss watching him with an expression of mild surprise.
"You're good at this," Tang Yuqiu remarked, almost as if she couldn't quite believe it. "I didn't know your clan birthed merchants too."
Chen Ren offered her a modest smile. "They don't. At least not anyone I can remember. But they do have cultivators with a silver tongue who strive to get more than what's in their fate. You can think of me as one of them. Either way, I'll see you around, young miss."
She nodded, still looking a bit stunned as he walked away, using a guard to carry the rice back to his temporary kitchen in the guest courtyard.
Honestly, he didn't need any help, but he was still a guest and a cultivator, and it wouldn't look good for him to carry all that load. Though, he guessed that he was either way going to break a few cultivation conventions by selling noodles on a stall.
The rest of the morning was peaceful. As it was going to be his start of the stall, he had to inform the servants he won't be giving out more noodles to them.
At the same time, he needed to make sure he had everything before he ventured to the streets. He already got the permit, so he just needed to prepare the ingredients and the stall.
Chen Ren soaked the rice carefully, taking his time with every batch he took to wash. He also got a few vegetables. He wasn't going to add them in the regular noodles, but he could always add more variety for more money.
As the grains soaked, he turned his attention to setting up his stall.
Carpentry wasn't his strong suit, so he scoured the Tang Clan manor until he found an old, unused stall in the old storage room. It wasn't much to look at—cheap, weathered wood with a few splinters sticking out— but it would do for now. As long as he had space to create noodles, he wouldn't bother to complain.
He hauled it back to the guest courtyard and set it up, giving it a quick once-over to ensure it was stable.
Next, he paid four coppers for a set of cheap bowls.
They were plain and unadorned, but they would serve their purpose. Finally, he set to work on a signboard. His drawing skills were decent, and he carefully sketched out a simple image of a steaming bowl of noodles. Below it, he wrote in neat characters: "Rice Noodles — 5 Copper Wen."
He knew that most of the population was illiterate, so the drawing would have to do most of the work. The image of the noodles, simple as it was, would hopefully catch the eye of anyone passing by.
As the day went on, he felt more and more that he was ready. The stall was there, the rice noodles were prepared, and the signboard was prominently displayed.
It was going to be the first evening of his first business venture in this new world.
***
Chen Ren stood in the marketplace, setting up his modest stall in one of the few empty spots that were left.
Tang Xiulan was by his side, helping him arrange the bowls and make sure everything was in place. It was a simple setup, nothing fancy, but it was all he needed to get started.
As they finished arranging everything, Old Man Tian from the skewer stall across the way wandered over, eyeing Chen Ren's stall.
"I didn't expect to see the young master personally selling stuff," he said, his tone both amused and respectful.
Chen Ren smiled and shrugged. "I wanted to cook, and there's nothing better than seeing the satisfaction on people's faces when they enjoy good food."
The old man nodded, looking around at the crude setup before asking, "So, what are you selling?"
"Noodles," Chen Ren replied simply, gesturing to the signboard with the drawing of the rice noodles.
The old man squinted at the sign, clearly puzzled. "Noodles, eh? Never heard of them. How much, young master?"
"Five copper per bowl, seven for vegetable rice noodles," Chen Ren said, hopeful that the man's curiosity might lead to a sale.
But the old man shook his head, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"Five copper, huh? Too much for a dish I never heard of. I think I'll stick to my skewers." With that, he moved back to his own stall, leaving Chen Ren and Tang Xiulan to wait.
Chen Ren didn't think of it much either. Was the noodles overpriced? Not in any way. If anything, he had observed, calculated and measured if it was worth the price they were selling. Expectedly, anyone with a brain would know that it is.
After Old Man Tian returned to his stall, Chen Ren and Xiulan waited.
They waited... and waited.
As the minutes turned into hours, not a single customer approached their stall.
The market was lively, with the other stalls busy with activity, but Chen Ren's corner remained stubbornly quiet. He could feel the stress of each passing moment, the growing tension gnawing at the back of his mind.
He couldn't blame the crowd. His stall, with its plain appearance and lack of seating, didn't exactly scream for attention. Plus, he was offering something completely new. A slow start was to be expected.
But as the second hour dragged on without a single customer, Chen Ren's patience began to wear thin.
He glanced over at the Old Man Tian's skewer stall, which was surrounded by people.
The old man noticed him watching and with a mischievous glint in his eye, gave a smile that only served to stoke the embers of Chen Ren's frustration.
"I'll show him how to get a stall running," Chen Ren muttered under his breath, his jaw tightening in determination.
Tang Xiulan, who had been quietly observing the situation, looked up at him with curiosity. "What are you going to do, young master?"
He didn't answer right away as his mind worked. In this world, most of the online marketing stuff he knew was useless and he had to rely more on word of mouth to attract attention, but if no one tried his noodles, there was never going to be any of that.
The more he thought, the more he felt like he was close to getting an idea until his expression brightened with sudden inspiration. "I have a great idea," he said, a sly grin spreading across his face. "Once it works, Old Man Tian would change his sly grin to one of envy."