Chapter 143: Truly a Decent Man
Young Master Zhu tapped his fingers on the table. "So that’s how it is."
Still, even a one-year monopoly was enough for him to make a killing.
Young Master Zhu smiled. "You’re quite something, little girl. At least you’re honest about it."
"Alright then. I’ll buy these twenty catties of dried chili peppers and the thirty recipes. And when your peppers are harvested next year, you have to supply my restaurant first."
He looked at Gu Fei. "Name your price."
Gu Fei gave a faint smile. "My family is new to Jiangnan, so we’re not familiar with the local prices."
"I’ve heard you’re a fair and generous man, Young Master Zhu. So why don’t you name a figure? I’ll see if I can sell for that amount."
Young Master Zhu let out a hearty laugh. "Hahaha, you’re flattering me, little girl."
"How about this? At my restaurant, whenever a chef develops a new dish, I reward them with ten taels of silver."
"For thirty dishes, that comes to three hundred taels of silver."
"As for the peppers—"
’Too high a price isn’t worth it—it’s just a seasoning, after all. But if I go too low, she won’t sell, since she has the monopoly.’
Gu Fei smiled. "The dried peppers can be two hundred wen per catty. They’re very light, so a catty is quite a lot."
Young Master Zhu raised an eyebrow. The price for the peppers wasn’t high at all.
’That’s a good thing. It means using the peppers won’t increase the cost of a dish by much.’
Gu Fei continued, "Let’s just call it three hundred taels of silver, and you can consider the twenty catties of peppers a gift."
"I do, however, have a small favor to ask."
Young Master Zhu nodded. "Go on."
Only then did Gu Fei state her request. "Young Master Zhu, you bought that estate today. I was wondering if you could spare ten or twenty mu of land for me. I plan to start planting peppers after the new year, but I don’t have any land yet."
Young Master Zhu waved his hand dismissively. "A few mu of land? That’s nothing."
Gu Fei added, a little sheepishly, "There’s one more thing. The residence on that estate—you probably don’t use it often, Young Master Zhu. My family is new here and we don’t have a place to live yet. I was wondering if you might rent us a few rooms? It would also make it easier to tend to the fields."
By now, Young Master Zhu was convinced of the peppers’ value and was keen on building a good relationship with the Gu Family. He said readily, "Since your family needs a place to live, I can just sell you the residence."
Gu Fei was overjoyed. "That would be wonderful!"
Gu Zhang and Gu Qing, standing to the side, exchanged a look. They could hardly believe what they were hearing.
’They were about to have land and a house of their own?’
Both were ecstatic, but they desperately suppressed their joy so as not to lose their composure.
Young Master Zhu beckoned to an attendant. "Bring me the deed for that estate."
The attendant handed him the deed. Young Master Zhu looked it over, then pointed to a diagram of the property. "Since you’re buying the residence, I was thinking I’d give you the land near it for convenience. The only issue is this pond. We’d have to go around it, so the plots wouldn’t be contiguous, which is a bit inconvenient."
Gu Fei’s eyes lit up. "The pond is fine, too! I was actually planning to raise some fish. If you’re willing to part with it, Young Master Zhu, you could transfer the pond to me as well."
Young Master Zhu laughed. "You know how to raise fish, too?"
"Fine by me. If you raise good fish, my restaurant will buy your entire stock in the future."
Gu Fei quickly curtsied again. "Thank you, Young Master Zhu. You truly are a generous man."
Young Master Zhu smiled. "The residence itself is worth over a hundred taels of silver. How about this: I’ll give you twenty mu of land plus the pond, and we’ll value it all at three hundred taels of silver to cover the price of the recipes. What do you say?"
Gu Fei was ecstatic. She gave Young Master Zhu a deep curtsy. "Thank you so much, Young Master Zhu."
"My father and I will deliver the peppers and the recipes to the restaurant in three days. Is that acceptable?"
Young Master Zhu nodded. "That’s fine."
"Then we’ll draw up the contract in three days."