Chapter 357: Selling Laba porridge (1)
A Blessed Daughter
Chapter 357: Selling Laba porridge (1)
Translator : Virichime
This translation made by Moonlight Teatime.
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All the people who worked for Wei Ruo were not left out.
At Xu’s Braised Food Shop, Chen Aqing held a bowl and drank the porridge in big gulps, finishing it completely.
Seeing her drink so urgently, Wei Ruo couldn’t help but say, “The way you're eating makes me wonder if I’ve been withholding food from you and not letting you eat enough.”
“No, Miss! This porridge is just too delicious! You and Sister Xiumei are amazing cooks!” Chen Aqing quickly explained.
“It’s not so much about cooking skills—it’s really about the ingredients. This bowl of porridge uses yellow rice, white rice, glutinous rice, millet, water chestnut rice, chestnuts, red cowpeas, and peeled jujube paste. After mixing them together and cooking with water, it’s decorated with dyed red peach kernels, almonds, melon seeds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, and sweetened with white sugar, brown sugar, and some raisins.”
There is some technique to making porridge, but not that much—it’s mostly just slow cooking with water. There's not a lot of “cooking skill” to show off here.
What makes this porridge special is really the ingredients. Not every place has the patience or the resources to gather this many ingredients to make it.
“This… this many ingredients? Then it must be really expensive…” Chen Aqing stared at her now-empty bowl, starting to regret how quickly she had eaten it.
“It’s fine. Giving you all a nice meal every now and then is something I can afford. And it’s not just for you—I’m planning to sell it too. Tomorrow is Laba Festival, it’s the perfect time to sell this kind of porridge*.”
*It originated from Buddhist rituals. Monks would offer congee to the Buddha on this day to commemorate his enlightenment. Over time, it became a symbol of blessing, warmth, and harvest.
As she spoke, Wei Ruo gave instructions to Chen Aqing: “Make some space in the shop in a visible spot later. We’ll be selling this porridge—one bowl for one tael of silver.”
“One tael of silver?” Chen Aqing froze in place, unable to believe what she had just heard.
“Yes, one tael of silver,” Wei Ruo replied firmly.
Upon hearing this, Chen Aqing swallowed hard and glanced again at her now-empty bowl. Had she just gulped down a whole tael of silver in one go?
Even though she felt the price was extremely high, Chen Aqing didn’t question it. She trusted Wei Ruo completely and believed that if her young lady set that price, she must have a good reason!
Wei Ruo had made up her mind from the moment she chose these ingredients—that this porridge would be sold at a premium price, targeted specifically at wealthy families.
Since Xu’s Braised Food Shop opened, it had drawn in many noble customers from the city, thanks to Madam Yuan’s promotion, and gradually built up a loyal customer base of the wealthy and influential.
Although the previous incident with Drunken Immortal Restaurant had caused some losses to the shop, in another way, it also served as free advertising for Xu’s Braised Food Shop.
At present, the shop no longer lacked wealthy customers, and everyone already acknowledged the excellent flavor of Xu's braised dishes. So placing the Laba porridge in a prominent and eye-catching spot in the store would definitely attract people willing to spend generously for a taste.
Sure enough, by midday, several portions of Xu’s Laba Porridge had already been sold.
In the afternoon, even more people came to buy it. Some tasted it on the spot and then bought several more bowls to take home.
Wei Ruo had only prepared one barrel of porridge for sale, and by the time it was around 2 or 3 PM, it had completely sold out—thirty servings in total, earning thirty taels of silver.
Chen Aqing still couldn’t quite believe it. They had actually sold thirty taels of silver worth of porridge! It felt like magic!
Although Wei Ruo wasn’t exactly surprised, even she was stunned by how fast it sold.
From the start, Wei Ruo had known that even if she priced the porridge at just five copper coins, ordinary or poor families wouldn’t buy it.
They needed to focus on staying warm and fed—not indulging in gourmet delicacies.
At Xu’s Braised Food Shop, Chen Aqing held a bowl and drank the porridge in big gulps, finishing it completely.
Seeing her drink so urgently, Wei Ruo couldn’t help but say, “The way you're eating makes me wonder if I’ve been withholding food from you and not letting you eat enough.”
“No, Miss! This porridge is just too delicious! You and Sister Xiumei are amazing cooks!” Chen Aqing quickly explained.
“It’s not so much about cooking skills—it’s really about the ingredients. This bowl of porridge uses yellow rice, white rice, glutinous rice, millet, water chestnut rice, chestnuts, red cowpeas, and peeled jujube paste. After mixing them together and cooking with water, it’s decorated with dyed red peach kernels, almonds, melon seeds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, and sweetened with white sugar, brown sugar, and some raisins.”
-laba porridge
There is some technique to making porridge, but not that much—it’s mostly just slow cooking with water. There's not a lot of “cooking skill” to show off here.
What makes this porridge special is really the ingredients. Not every place has the patience or the resources to gather this many ingredients to make it.
“This… this many ingredients? Then it must be really expensive…” Chen Aqing stared at her now-empty bowl, starting to regret how quickly she had eaten it.
“It’s fine. Giving you all a nice meal every now and then is something I can afford. And it’s not just for you—I’m planning to sell it too. Tomorrow is Laba Festival, it’s the perfect time to sell this kind of porridge*.”
*It originated from Buddhist rituals. Monks would offer congee to the Buddha on this day to commemorate his enlightenment. Over time, it became a symbol of blessing, warmth, and harvest.
As she spoke, Wei Ruo gave instructions to Chen Aqing: “Make some space in the shop in a visible spot later. We’ll be selling this porridge—one bowl for one tael of silver.”
“One tael of silver?” Chen Aqing froze in place, unable to believe what she had just heard.
“Yes, one tael of silver,” Wei Ruo replied firmly.
Upon hearing this, Chen Aqing swallowed hard and glanced again at her now-empty bowl. Had she just gulped down a whole tael of silver in one go?
Even though she felt the price was extremely high, Chen Aqing didn’t question it. She trusted Wei Ruo completely and believed that if her young lady set that price, she must have a good reason!
Wei Ruo had made up her mind from the moment she chose these ingredients—that this porridge would be sold at a premium price, targeted specifically at wealthy families.
Since Xu’s Braised Food Shop opened, it had drawn in many noble customers from the city, thanks to Madam Yuan’s promotion, and gradually built up a loyal customer base of the wealthy and influential.
Although the previous incident with Drunken Immortal Restaurant had caused some losses to the shop, in another way, it also served as free advertising for Xu’s Braised Food Shop.
At present, the shop no longer lacked wealthy customers, and everyone already acknowledged the excellent flavor of Xu's braised dishes. So placing the Laba porridge in a prominent and eye-catching spot in the store would definitely attract people willing to spend generously for a taste.
Sure enough, by midday, several portions of Xu’s Laba Porridge had already been sold.
In the afternoon, even more people came to buy it. Some tasted it on the spot and then bought several more bowls to take home.
Wei Ruo had only prepared one barrel of porridge for sale, and by the time it was around 2 or 3 PM, it had completely sold out—thirty servings in total, earning thirty taels of silver.
Chen Aqing still couldn’t quite believe it. They had actually sold thirty taels of silver worth of porridge! It felt like magic!
Although Wei Ruo wasn’t exactly surprised, even she was stunned by how fast it sold.
From the start, Wei Ruo had known that even if she priced the porridge at just five copper coins, ordinary or poor families wouldn’t buy it.
They needed to focus on staying warm and fed—not indulging in gourmet delicacies.
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