Chapter 111: The Comprehension of Scholars

Sweeping the streets is the most basic sales skill.

It is also the most primitive skill.

But in the Dayu Dynasty, this skill is not considered primitive; on the contrary, it seems a little ahead of its time.

Chen Wuji and his companions actually attracted a crowd of onlookers.

He originally thought today would definitely be a day of swallowing nails.

After all, Shopkeeper Li's initial attitude was already set there.

This led Chen Wuji to mistakenly believe that the people of Dayu also disliked their door-to-door visits.

The result, however, was exactly the opposite.

The people's resistance to this matter can almost be said to be completely absent.

Knocking on a household's door, simply stating the purpose, even if they were unwilling to buy, they would warmly urge Chen Wuji and the others to rest a while, drink some water, then leave.

Immediately, the neighbors from left and right came over.

A group of people surrounded Chen Wuji and the others, asking seven questions and eight tongues what they were doing, what the pot could do, how it was made, and someone even asked Chen Wuji to demonstrate on the spot.

Chen Wuji, who had made up his mind to teach Chen Wuwei and the others, encountered the same situation as Li Si Fencha at the first household of the first alley.

Light the fire, tend the fire, stir-fry!

Then...

Deal!

Chen Wuji's prepared lines only managed to be spoken a few times before...

Then there was no "then".

Because after knocking on the first household's door, he had done the business of the whole alley.

The whole alley had twelve households, and nine deals were made.

One household bought directly, the rest exchanged old for new.

The tofu fried eggs that Chen Wuji prepared according to the ingredients were especially well received.

The women who cooked at home, upon seeing Chen Wuji cook, already saw the benefits of the pot.

Moreover, those three households that did not buy were not because they did not want to buy, but because they had no money, dared not make this decision privately, and needed to ask the head of the family.

After switching to another alley, Chen Wuji decisively stepped back to the second line, letting Chen Qun and the others take turns.

Just like the scene just now, the neighbors soon came over curiously to watch the excitement.

Chen Qun went up and chatted away, making a group of women extremely happy.

But there were still many questions.

The inarticulate Chen Wuwei stepped forward at the right moment and, on the spot, built a stove under the shadow wall of someone's house.

Then...

Fire up the pot, light the fire, stir-fry!

He wanted to make the garlic eggplant that Chen Wuji had made today, but this household had none, so he still took it from another household.

This move even surprised Chen Wuji.

After burning the fire for a while, he actually learned this dish.

His posture was a bit clumsy, making the onlookers anxious.

But the stir-fried dish turned out quite well; several women tasted it and were all satisfied.

After a bit of muttering and discussion, someone placed an order on the spot.

Four households directly spent a lot of money, one household even ordered two pots at once, one large and one small.

Another six households chose to exchange old for new.

So straightforward and refreshing that Chen Wuji even began to doubt whether he was really in sales.

When did door-to-door sales become this easy?

However, those who can live in Yunan City are different from the rural folk.

Ordinary people consider a few dozen wen a roadblock, but these people almost every household has a servant maid and a female attendant, some even have gatekeepers and sedan chair bearers.

The few dozen wen that ordinary people regard as more important than life are merely pocket change to them.

In one afternoon, Chen Wuji led Chen Qun and the others wandering through the six intersecting alleys of Fuyuan Street, completely clearing out Yang Tiejiang's inventory.

Fifty-four pots, not a single one left.

Of these, Chen Wuji sold nine pots, and a little less than half were sold by Chen Qun and the four others.

The rest were all sold by Chen Bushi alone!

Chen Bushi's display today let Chen Wuji truly witness the power of the scholars of the Dayu Dynasty; that ability to infer three things from one example truly left people unable to disagree.

After touring the first two alleys, Chen Bushi shouldered a large and a small pot and went off on his own; initially Chen Wuji did not notice what this fellow was up to.

Until Yuan Jinshi ran a trip to the blacksmith shop and returned saying, "The pots are sold out," only then did he learn that Chen Bushi was not idle either, actually also taking up sales, and even faster than them.

When they later met up, Chen Wuji finally learned exactly what Chen Bushi had done.

This fellow actually carried a pot to people's doors to lecture on the origin of the cauldron, the difference between the ding and the fu, what is meant by "the bell rings and the ding feeds," what is meant by "fish swimming in the cauldron," and "yellow bell, tile cauldron."

After those people listened and were stunned for a moment, they began to light the fire and stir-fry.

I do not know how good Chen Bushi's stir-frying skills are, but the story he told certainly could fool people.

He claimed that the appearance of the pot was like the court abolishing the recommendation system and replacing it with the imperial examinations, allowing ordinary people to enter officialdom through the exams just like the pot could let ordinary people taste the food of families where the bell rings and the ding feeds, and put ordinary cookware on equal footing with that of noble households.

Then he sold a pot for a high price of three taels.

The key point is that he not only sold it, but sold twenty-four pots in one go.

He gave Chen Wuji twenty-four taels, netting a profit of forty-eight taels of silver.

"You damned, you're really a talent!" Chen Wuji stepped into the blacksmith shop, shook his head, and sighed.

Apart from that, he really didn't know how to evaluate Chen Bushi's operation.

A scholar, truly a scholar.

"I know I'm not an ordinary person, please be a bit reserved!" Chen Bushi chuckled, reminding him, "Don't forget my wages: twenty-four pots, fifty cash each, don't miscalculate."

Chen Wuji: ……

Yang Tiejiang was doubting his life in the shop.

Seeing Chen Wuji return, he immediately rushed over, "Chen junior brother, tell me, what did you do? How could you sell out so quickly? Sixty-four pots, gone in an afternoon? Gone?"

Chen Wuji patted Yang Tiejiang's shoulder, "Old Yang, you've been working hard these past few days, sleep less at night, what we've sold isn't just sixty-four pots—it's that you only prepared sixty-four pots."

"What do you mean?" Yang Tiejiang looked puzzled.

Chen Wuji gave a mysterious smile, "We still owe a hundred pots."

Yang Tiejiang was stunned, "You say... how many? How many?!"

"Today we sold a total of one hundred sixty-four pots!" Chen Wuji said with a light smile.

Yang Tiejiang was completely dumbfounded, his eyes staring like a bull's.

"One... one hundred sixty-four?!"

He let out a cry, suddenly showing a hint of Fan Jin passing the imperial exam.

Chen Wuji quickly grabbed him and said, "Don't panic, if you can't bear it, I'll have them pause a bit, don't give you so much pressure."

"No, no!" Yang Tiejiang immediately said firmly, "I just... find it hard to believe, one hundred sixty-four. You went out for a trip, just this half day's work, I... I'm happy."

"Rest assured, those pots we owe, I and my fellows can finish them by the day after tomorrow at the latest. We and Silver have no grudge, no grievance; how could we possibly leave money unearned?"