The sky was clear and crisp, the autumn breeze gentle. Su Xiaoqi and Shen Yun leaned against the corridor, observing the two people inside the room with serious gazes.
Their presence finally drew the attention of the two inside the operating room.
The two exchanged a look, and suddenly their faces flushed red.
Su Xiaoqi smiled warmly, then smiled at those inside, signaling them to continue their work and that they would not disturb them.
She casually pulled Shen Yun and the two of them returned to the front shop.
Chen Jinniang was busy greeting one wave of customers after another.
It was a new female assistant in the shop who saw Su Xiaoqi and the two and discreetly gestured to her, only then did she notice them.
After seeing off a group of customers, she asked the female assistant to attend to them and rushed over herself.
She held Su Xiaoqi's hand and apologized.
Su Xiaoqi chuckled, saying that good business was a good thing and there was nothing to apologize for.
The three found a hall to talk in, and Su Xiaoqi took out the design for the membership cards that Shen Yun had drawn and showed it to Chen Jinniang.
"Membership cards will be divided into grades: gold, silver, and bronze, all cast in copper. The card will use the crown of this cake as the logo, stamped on the upper left corner, with the card number written on the lower right, and the usage and precautions written in the middle."
Su Xiaoqi had already drawn up a detailed plan.
She then explained it to Chen Jinniang, who listened with wide eyes, her face filled with disbelief.
"Heavens, this is so new, I've never heard of it."
Xiaoqi is too amazing, how does she know so many new things?
She was like a treasure chest, no matter how much you dug, you could never empty it.
Shen Yun remained silent, but his gaze towards Su Xiaoqi was incredibly fervent.
His wife was truly remarkable, knowing everything.
"Then I'll find someone to make them?" Chen Jinniang said.
Su Xiaoqi shook her head, "No need. these cards must be made by trustworthy people. I have someone in my manor who is a blacksmith, and he might be useful."
Chen Jinniang felt it made sense and let Su Xiaoqi handle it.
After finishing up here, Su Xiaoqi and Shen Yun went to visit the grain shop she had opened not far away.
"Tianxia Liangcang (天下粮仓), what a good name," Shen Yun praised as he looked at the large red plaque at the entrance.
His little wife really dared to name things.
If Xiaoqi hadn't explained, he wouldn't have understood the name 'Supermarket' at all.
But 'Tianxia Liangcang' was easy to understand.
The grain shop was doing good business. By the time Su Xiaoqi and Shen Yun got out of the carriage, several groups of people had already arrived, entering with empty baskets and coming out with full ones.
Their faces showed both happiness and satisfaction.
Su Xiaoqi remembered Zhao Dayou's affirmation of Xiao Yi from before, so she pulled Shen Yun and asked him to wait before going in, they would stand at the entrance and watch how Xiao Yi conducted business.
Taking advantage of this time, Su Xiaoqi carefully observed the area outside the shop.
Above the sturdy main gate was inscribed the four large characters "Tianxia Liangcang".
On both sides stood wooden racks, on which were pasted hand-drawn price posters for the shop.
Grain prices had fallen considerably compared to before.
It stated that fine rice was five wen per liter, and coarse rice was two wen per liter, as well as various flours, with prices that were generally very fair.
This was Su Xiaoqi's intention; she hoped that the grain from her space could be used by the people.
This was also accumulating merit.
It was worth noting that after her space was upgraded last night, and with her utilizing modern agricultural knowledge to adjust the hybridization, the yield per mu had now reached five shi.
She had eleven mu of fields and eleven mu of land in her space, as well as a two mu pond. The daily yield of rice was fifty-five shi, and wheat was also fifty-five shi.
Currently, this was enough to supply the sales of the three grain shops.
She wouldn't be afraid if her business expanded in the future; she would continue to research grain varieties to increase production.
Furthermore, as she continued to acquire more manors, she could also grow a significant amount of grain.
Of course, what pleased her the most was the newly unlocked coffee beans in her space.
Su Xiaoqi pondered grinding some coffee beans when she returned, to enjoy the ambiance of coffee.
As she was lost in thought, she suddenly heard a commotion.
A hunchbacked old man carrying a cloth bag stumbled onto the steps, spilling rice all over the ground.
The commotion was loud and quickly attracted the attention of passersby.
Someone pointed at the spilled rice on the ground and exclaimed, "Heavens, this rice, this rice has a problem."
The person who had fallen was an old man. He glanced at it and immediately shouted, "Help, folks, please judge this fairly."
"What happened?"
"The rice from this place is moldy rice. I bought a dou of rice, and before I could even carry it back, it turned out like this."
"Moldy rice..."
As it concerned the grain that people consumed, everyone crowded around, pointing at the moldy rice with green fuzz and discussing it animatedly.
A thin, dark-skinned middle-aged man shouted the loudest, "Heavens, this 'Tianxia Liangcang' is truly black-hearted to sell such rice. They're only after money."
A fat man of similar age immediately chimed in, "Bastards, making this kind of ill-gotten gains, be careful you don't get castrated."
The fat and thin men conversed in a back-and-forth manner: "Tsk, they've lost their conscience, so they don't fear these things."
"Alas, people doing business now, they don't wake up early without profit..."
The two spoke with enthusiasm, reducing Tianxia Liangcang to nothing. Some regular customers who often bought grain at the shop couldn't stand it anymore and retorted:
"Hey, that's not right. I often buy from this grain shop, and I've never bought moldy rice before. This..."
"Peh, peh, peh, don't talk nonsense. We saw this old man carrying it out with our own eyes. If you don't believe it, just ask him."
That dark and thin man was indeed a troublemaker. He immediately went up to the old man who had fallen and was covering his leg and crying out in pain, and asked loudly:
"Old man, did you buy this bag of rice at Tianxia Liangcang?"
The old man was wearing a coarse hemp robe with patches on his shoulders. His hair was messy, and his face was deeply wrinkled, his nasolabial folds as deep as drainage ditches, indicating he was very old.
Coupled with his naturally bitter expression, without even speaking, just a slight furrow of his sparse brows could convey his suffering.
He cried out "Ouch, ouch," lying on the ground, touching the rice clumped together by mold, weeping tears and snot.
He said that his family was poor and couldn't afford it when grain prices were high.
His grandson cried and begged to eat. He finally saved enough money to buy a dou of rice, only for it to be moldy rice.
The old man cried so heartbreakingly.
The scene, which had only garnered a third of the onlookers' sympathy, instantly increased to eight parts.
Even those who were purely watching the spectacle and remained neutral couldn't help but blame Tianxia Liangcang.
They clamored for the shopkeeper to come out and explain.
Xiao Yi walked over amidst the chaotic shouting of the crowd.
"Black-hearted shopkeeper, a degenerate!"
As soon as Xiao Yi appeared, the dark and thin man, like an ignited spark, burst into flames, pointing his index finger at his nose and spewing the most unpleasant words.
Xiao Yi had heard the commotion and came out, not yet fully understanding what had happened.
He was stunned by the dark and thin man's scolding, but soon learned the cause of the incident from the words of the onlookers.
Despite being cursed about his ancestors and family, he didn't get angry. He just squatted down, picked up a pinch of moldy rice, and looked at it. Then he felt the rice bag. A barely perceptible cold smile flashed across his clean face.
Afterward, he put on a professional smile and walked up to the fallen old man, reaching out to help him up.
The old man was startled, and instinctively reached out to him. Only when he was grabbed did he react and quickly struggled free, shouting:
"You, you don't try to harm me, I, I've hurt myself and can't walk. You sell moldy rice, you're trying to kill people.
I want to report it to the officials, let the officials bring justice for me..."
He mumbled on, seemingly timid and fearful, but what he said was precisely what the onlookers outside could clearly hear.
"Reporting to the officials, of course. But old man, I see you are indeed quite badly hurt. Let me help you up to sit down first, and call a doctor to have a look, shall we?"
As soon as Xiao Yi arrived, apart from squatting down to look at the moldy rice and the rice bag, he didn't do anything else, only focusing on taking care of the old man.
His actions completely bewildered the onlookers. Where was the promised big gossip?
They had prepared their stools and melon seeds, and now they were being shown this?
Shen Yun glanced at Su Xiaoqi. Only she, the true owner of the shop, stood outside with her arms crossed, as steady as a mountain, as if the events happening had nothing to do with her.
He thought of Su Xiaoqi's character and immediately grasped the key point.
Her calmness suggested that she already had a plan to resolve the situation.