Transmigrated into the role of the matriarch, I ensured my family had enough to eat and wear during

After pondering for a moment, Manager Luo realized that his restaurant only had about a hundred customers a day, and could only sell a hundred servings of cold noodles at most. He was not qualified to ask Tang Susu to be the exclusive supplier.

He stopped dwelling on the issue and readily agreed with Tang Susu to deliver the goods first thing tomorrow morning, with payment upon delivery.

Tang Susu led her four boys out of the neighboring restaurant and immediately spotted Manager Liu of Zuiyuefang.

The previously arrogant shopkeeper Liu was now like a deflated balloon, pacing anxiously back and forth at the door. When he saw Tang Susu come out, his eyes lit up instantly.

Tang Susu turned to the four boys and asked, "Did you all see and remember what happened during my discussion with Manager Luo about the cooperation?"

Tang Lifu scratched his head, looking confused: "I just remember... I have to deliver the goods tomorrow."

Tang Liqiang and Yang Xiaobao also shook their heads, unable to offer any explanation.

Yang Gousheng stepped forward and spoke up, "Mother, I see things clearly now. I want to try talking to Manager Liu of Zuiyuefang about a collaboration."

Tang Susu secretly praised the child's courage and memory, and nodded with a smile: "Alright, then go and give it a try. If you succeed, I'll reward you with two copper coins."

Yang Gousheng's eyes lit up. Carrying the small bucket of jelly, he walked into Zuiyuefang with his head held high.

Tang Susu waited outside with the other three boys. Her gaze swept across the street and she noticed that the area was densely packed with shops. She roughly counted more than forty of them and suddenly had the idea of ​​opening her own shop.

She pointed to the signboard of "Yang's Noodle Shop" not far away and said to Yang Xiaobao, "Xiaobao, look at that signboard, can you recognize any of the characters?"

Yang Xiaobao looked in the direction she was pointing, his eyes widened, and he shouted excitedly, "Mom! It's the character 'Yang'! The 'Yang' that's our surname!"

As he spoke, he took the initiative to look at the signs of other shops and recognized the simple characters "small" and "big," his face turning red with excitement.

Tang Susu then asked Tang Lifu and Tang Liqiang, "Did you remember the words Xiaobao said?"

Both of them shook their heads, saying that Xiao Bao only said it once and didn't remember it.

Tang Susu secretly judged that Tang Lifu and Tang Liqiang's learning abilities were relatively weak, so she could arrange more physical labor for them in the future.

Yang Gousheng has business potential and should be given special attention.

Yang Xiaobao loves learning to read, so sending him to school was the right choice.

Not long after, Yang Gousheng came running out of Zuiyuefang excitedly, shouting, "Mom! It's a deal! Zuiyuefang will order two hundred servings of jelly from us every day! And they also have a branch in Qianjiang Town, so we just need to deliver the goods to their store in Jiangtou Town, and they'll handle the rest!"

Tang Susu smiled and stepped forward, taking out two copper coins from her pocket and handing them to Yang Gousheng: "Well done! This is your reward."

Yang Gousheng carefully put away the copper coins and said earnestly, "Mom, our family can make a thousand servings of jelly every day. We've already secured orders for six hundred servings. For the remaining four hundred, I'd like to find some vendors nearby to negotiate with!"

Tang Susu patted his head with full of appreciation: "Good, Mother believes in you."

She already had a plan in mind: she would go to Dongtai Town to expand the market for liangfen (cold mung bean jelly) and, on the way, inquire about Yang Xiaobao's enrollment in the elementary school.

When the group reached the town entrance, they saw Yang Defu fast asleep on the oxcart, his face covered by a bamboo hat, snoring loudly.

Yang Xiaobao mischievously ran over, leaned close to his ear, and shouted, "Uncle Yang, wake up!"

After calling out, he handed over a bowl of broken jelly noodles.

Yang Defu used to drink this kind of broken jelly often, and he could drink two bowls at a time. He loved the taste very much.

Everyone boarded the oxcart, and Tang Susu discussed transportation with Yang Defu: "Uncle Yang, starting tomorrow, I'd like Liqiang and Gousheng to ride in your oxcart to deliver cold noodles. We'll depart at dawn, first going to Jiangtou Town, and then possibly returning to Dongtai Town before heading back to the village. How do you plan to calculate the round-trip fare?"

Yang Defu scratched his head honestly: "We're all from the same village, four copper coins will do."

Tang Susu smiled helplessly, knowing that Yang Defu was honest but didn't know how to run a business.

Previously, when the five members of his family and a large amount of goods traveled to and from Jiangtou Town, it took even longer, and Yang Defu never asked for extra money.

She patiently explained, "Uncle Yang, this oxcart will mainly serve Liqiang and Gousheng from now on, so it may not be able to take on other passengers, which will delay your farm work a lot."

Yang Defu then realized what was happening, scratched his head, and said embarrassedly, "Oh, I see. Well... then I'll take ten copper coins, that way I won't lose out."

Tang Susu nodded in agreement, and the two parties happily finalized the transportation cooperation.

When the oxcart arrived at Dongtai Town, it was just past 1:00 PM, the sun was blazing, and there were very few pedestrians on the street.

Tang Susu assigned tasks: "Gousheng and Liqiang, you two go to the restaurants and taverns in town to discuss cooperation; I'll take Lifu and Xiaobao to Zhiyuan School to inquire about enrollment."

The three arrived at Zhiyuan Academy and inquired with the scholar at the entrance. They learned that, like Chongwen Hall, it required students to have the status of a child student to enroll.

Although the headmaster here is only a scholar, his monthly tuition is one tael of silver, which can be offset by grain, and there are only about fifty students, he still does not accept children who have not yet received their education.

Unwilling to give up, Tang Susu inquired about other schools from the scholar.

The scholar informed him that there was another school in Dongtai Town, the Liu Family School, which was run by the Liu family. In addition to enrolling the younger generation of the clan, it also enrolled students from outside the clan, but required them to be able to recite either the "Hundred Family Surnames" or the "Three Character Classic" before they could enroll.

At the school gate stood a man selling writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. Hearing Tang Susu's question, he looked Tang Lifu and Yang Xiaobao up and down, and said bluntly, "These two children are nine years old and still can't read. They clearly have no talent for studying. No matter how much money you have, no school will be willing to accept them."

Tang Susu sighed softly. She knew that Yang Xiaobao was not stupid; he had only fallen behind in his studies because his family was poor.

She knew there was no way she could go to the private school in Xihe Village. After much thought, she decided to have Yang Xiaobao memorize primers like the Three Character Classic at home to build a solid foundation before trying to find a school for him.

"Mom, I can learn to read from Brother Zhimao!" Yang Xiaobao tugged at Tang Susu's sleeve and said earnestly, "Brother Zhimao said that reading and writing are very easy."

Tang Susu secretly rejected the idea. Yang Zhimao was just a teenager with limited knowledge. If he taught him wrong, it would be difficult to correct him later.

She secretly resolved that when she got back, she would definitely think carefully about early childhood education and teach Xiaobao herself.

While Tang Susu was worried about the school, Yang Gousheng and Tang Liqiang's cooperation negotiations went very smoothly. Before long, they reached an agreement on supply matters with two large restaurants in Dongtai Town.

However, Dongtai Town's development couldn't compare to Jiangtou Town's. The two restaurants only ordered a hundred servings of jelly noodles in total, and the purchase price was only one copper coin per serving, barely covering their costs.

In contrast, in Jiangtou Town, the Linjia Restaurant and Zuiyuefang Restaurant ordered a total of 600 portions, each costing two copper coins. These two restaurants alone would earn 1,200 copper coins, or one tael and two mace of silver.

Tang Susu calculated that, after deducting the costs of raw materials and transportation, her family could earn a net profit of about one or two taels of silver per day from selling jelly.