Chapter 140: Are We Buying the Land or Not?
These chili peppers were a novelty, so naturally, he wanted them.
Yet, he didn’t want his restaurant to launch this new product only for the supply to fall short. That would truly be a case of a clever plan backfiring.
Gu Fei understood Young Master Zhu’s concern. She thought for a moment. "Young Master Zhu, I have a suggestion. You could either wait until my chili peppers are grown before deciding whether to buy, or you could buy this small batch of dried chilies now and use them sparingly. For example, the restaurant could introduce one or two spicy dishes a day—first come, first served, or to the highest bidder. That would actually be more effective in attracting customers and keeping them in suspense."
"If you use them sparingly like that, you can probably make them last until the fresh chilies are ready."
Young Master Zhu raised an eyebrow. He had to admit, that was actually a pretty good idea.
Coming from a family that ran so many businesses, he certainly understood the principle that scarcity drives up value.
Young Master Zhu pondered for a good while before slowly nodding. "Alright, I’ll take these chili peppers of yours."
"However, I have another condition."
"Those dishes you mentioned earlier—Spicy Crab, Spicy Diced Chicken, Hot and Sour Soup, and so on... my restaurants don’t have any chefs who can make them. How about you sell me the recipes as well?"
Gu Fei’s heart pounded with excitement. She loved cooking and had bought several cookbooks in her spare time. Even without the books, the recipes for many dishes were already in her head; all she had to do was write them down.
She nodded. "I can do that. How many recipes does Young Master Zhu need?"
Young Master Zhu looked at Gu Fei in surprise. "Are you saying you have a lot of recipes?"
Gu Fei smiled. "Like I said, when it comes to chili peppers, as long as you enjoy the heat, you can put them in anything. Even stir-fried greens can have chilies in them."
For example, hand-torn cabbage and dry-pot cauliflower both use dried red chilies.
"How about this? I can start by giving Young Master Zhu twenty or thirty recipes, all of which use these dried chili peppers."
Young Master Zhu nodded slightly, pondering for a moment. "Telling me about it is one thing. I have several restaurants here in Ping’an City. If it’s convenient for you, miss, you can come into the city with me in a bit and cook a few dishes. I’ll need to taste them and judge for myself."
"If they’re good, we can talk price then."
Gu Fei nodded. "No problem."
Gu Qing, listening from the side, was getting anxious. ’Weren’t we supposed to be buying land? How did we end up selling chili peppers?’
’Are we still buying the land or not?’
’Why isn’t she mentioning it to Young Master Zhu?!’
Gu Zhang shot Gu Qing a look, signaling for him to be patient.
Gu Fei curtsied deeply. "I only ask that Young Master Zhu grant me one hour. I must go back to get my seasonings, and then I will be ready to leave."
Young Master Zhu nodded. "Perfect. It will take some time for me to purchase this estate anyway. Please, go ahead, miss."
Gu Zhang quickly stood up to take his leave. He, Gu Qing, and Gu Fei hurried back to their own estate.
On the way, Gu Qing asked in confusion, "Sis, why didn’t you ask Young Master Zhu about sparing a few acres of land for our family?"
Gu Fei replied helplessly, "He doesn’t even know us. Don’t we need to build some rapport with him first?"
"Don’t worry, big brother. I have a plan."
When they returned to the estate, Gu Fei avoided the old matron and called the rest of the family into a room. She had Lan Zhi and Lian’er take Little Cao out to play, then closed the door. Taking a large bag of dried chili peppers out of her "space," she said to everyone, "I need to use these chilies now. We need to get the seeds out. They’re all seeds for planting, so we have to collect them carefully."
Mrs. Chen and the others were completely bewildered, not knowing what Gu Fei was up to this time. But they did as Gu Fei said.
The family quickly got to work. After deseeding for a while, Gu Fei’s hands were burning from the spice. She found a bottle and carefully collected the chili seeds inside it.
While deseeding, Gu Zhang asked, "Little Fei, these seeds are all dried out. Can they still be planted?"