บท 23: Chapter 22: Demand Outstrips Supply
Xu Duoyu sat quietly behind the stall, not speaking, just gazing around with wide eyes.
Once the first sale had been made, the young men who had been sizing up the situation finally realized that the beautiful girl running the roadside stall was selling water.
Instantly, their interest was piqued. Xu Niannian's looks, to use modern terms, were absolutely stunning.
In other words, she was both gorgeous and had a great figure.
The young men's eyes were glued to her.
Xu Niannian found her long hair to be a nuisance, so she simply gathered it at the back of her head with her fingers and tied it up with a string.
Her high ponytail, along with her delicate face, exuded youthful vibrancy.
The weather was indeed hot enough to make sweat run down your back.
Before long, people started feeling thirsty.
A few young men approached and asked, "How much for your water?"
Seeing new customers, Xu Niannian greeted them warmly, "Eight cents a cup, would you gentlemen like one?"
Every time Xu Niannian called them "gentleman", combined with her pretty face, she left several of the young men blushing, whether from the sun or shyness, it was hard to tell.
Beautiful women are always popular, regardless of the era. Even in these impoverished times, the slightest bit of refined beauty can carry an air of arrogance, especially in front of men.
Such a beautiful woman as Xu Niannian, speaking so warmly and kindly, made the young man who had initiated the conversation stutter slightly, "We'll…. we'll have five cups."
There were five of them in total, just enough for one each.
Xu Zhiqiang and Xu Zhicheng had already prepared the water when they saw people coming by.
Xu Niannian took the money, and they handed out the water to the customers.
The young men had originally just wanted an excuse to talk a bit more with the beauty in this hot weather and also fancied a drink of water.
But they didn't expect the water to be so ice-cold and sweet, chilling them to the core and greatly alleviating the heat, with a pleasant sweetness to boot.
One of the young men said, "Another cup, please."
"Sure," Xu Niannian took the money and passed the water with a beaming smile.
"It's really so refreshing," another young man commented.
People tend to follow the crowd, so seeing several people gathering around, others curiously came over to ask what was going on.
Upon learning that water was for sale and hearing it was particularly refreshing—and only eight cents a cup on such an extremely hot day—many followed suit, wanting to try for themselves.
Within a short time, a crowd had gathered around the small stall. Unfortunately, there were not enough cups to go around, with only six people able to drink at a time.
Moreover, a particularly pressing issue was the few young men who had already drunk were still lingering around, watching Xu Niannian.
Xu Niannian, helpless, politely said, "Gentlemen, I'm busy here with the business. If you're not planning to buy more, could you please make way so others can come and buy water?"
Xu Niannian, with her beautiful looks, when she smiled, her eyes curved, and her bright, sparkling eyes were captivating.
And with her friendly attitude, the young men suddenly felt embarrassed to stay any longer, and they quickly cleared out to let others buy water.
With nearly a thousand people coming to watch the dragon boat races and only one water seller, many were so parched they couldn't stand it but didn't want to spend too much on buying fruits.
When word got out that water was for sale here, the news spread from ten to a hundred, and many people came over to buy water in an ongoing stream.
The stall was crammed with people in no time, and Xu Niannian, while taking money, called out, "Would everyone please line up?"
Xu Zhiqiang and Xu Zhicheng were overwhelmed with the workload.
With so many people waiting to buy water and each cup needing to be washed in a basin after use,
Xu Zhicheng eventually called Xu Duoyu over to wash the cups while he and Xu Zhiqiang handled the water.
Xu Niannian was so busy collecting money that she nearly got dizzy and miscalculated the accounts.
There were simply too many people.
Xu Niannian had considered the possibility of selling water during such an event, confident that the business would do well, but she hadn't anticipated it being this successful.
And well, given the scorching weather that was hot enough to sear the ground, it was no surprise that people, having been out in the sun all morning to watch the race, would be parched.
Because the crowd was so dense, they seemed to block the air itself, and the heat made Xu Niannian sweat profusely.
After about half an hour of non-stop busyness, the situation finally began to improve, and the crowd started to thin out a little.
At last, she could catch her breath. Looking at the bulging wallet, Xu Niannian asked Xu Zhiqiang, "How much water do we have left?"
"Just one bucket."
Xu Zhiqiang was also dripping with sweat, and his face was beet-red.
He hadn't expected the business to be so booming that both he and Zhicheng's arms had grown sore from pumping water.
Though their arms were sore, their spirits were lifted—they were making money.
Xu Niannian looked up at the clear, cloudless sky, a vast expanse of blue. Last year's dragon boat race had gone on until almost evening, but now it was only noon, and they were down to their last bucket of water.
With some sugarcane still left to boil at home, Xu Niannian thought for a moment and said to Xu Zhiqiang, "Zhiqiang, rush back home and boil the remaining sugarcane and bring it here."
Xu Zhiqiang, who was already excited from selling so much water, upon hearing Xu Niannian's words, quickly responded, "I'll go right now."
Xu Zhiqiang took the ox cart and five empty buckets and headed back.
Taking advantage of the lull in customers, Xu Niannian took out fifty cents from her pocket and gave it to Xu Zhicheng, asking him to go to the store to get the owner to freeze a few more blocks of ice.
Not long after Xu Zhicheng had left, more people came to buy water.
This time, it was a couple.
The woman, seeing how pretty Xu Niannian was, felt a bit displeased, but her thirst overtook her. The fruit she ate only made her thirstier.
Slightly annoyed, the woman asked, "How much for a cup of water?"
"Eight cents a cup. How many would the beauty like?" Xu Niannian asked cordially.
The woman, initially displeased, was instantly charmed by the designation "beauty," warming up considerably and even beginning to view Xu Niannian more favorably.
"Two cups," she replied, much more cheerfully.
Xu Niannian smiled and prepared a cup for each of them, "Please enjoy."
The smile was mainly directed at the woman.
Having learned from the morning's interaction, Xu Niannian realized the power of her looks, thus she was careful not to engage too much with men, focusing her conversation on the woman instead, to avoid unnecessary trouble.
It wasn't that she was afraid of trouble, but she preferred not to invite it.
Seeing that Xu Niannian, despite her beauty, was very proper, the woman's favorable impression of her increased considerably.
"Your water is quite sweet. Did you add rock sugar?" the woman inquired.
"No, it's just boiled from sugarcane."
"Boil water from sugarcane?" the woman exclaimed in surprise. "That's really odd."
After finishing her water, the woman handed her cup back to Xu Niannian, and, little by little, more customers arrived.
It was good that Xu Zhicheng came back to help.
This was the reason it was easy to make money in business during this era—supply didn't meet demand, and the demand exceeded the supply.
If this were in the future, the entire riverside would be lined with vendors; it wouldn't be this easy to sell so much water.
About an hour later, the last bucket of water was sold.
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