Chapter 31: Introduction

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

Yu Bing first boiled the glass bottle with hot water and placed it aside to dry. The improved apple sauce method was slightly different.

Yu Bing peeled the apple and removed the core. After the skin was cooked into a light red color in the pot, she fished it out. The apple skin was actually very nutritious. Since no one was using pesticides on the fruit trees in the mountain, it was naturally edible.

Xiao Sheng took out a small dragon fruit and pressed it into a bowl before squeezing the juice out of it with a cloth.

Yu Bing freed her hands and began to cut the apple into small pieces. Then, she poured the apple pieces into the water brewed from the apple skin and repeated the first cooking step. When it was cooked to a transparent color, she pressed the apple into a mud shape. Before lifting the pot, she added the fire dragon fruit juice. After she stirred it evenly, the color became extremely bright.

Then, she waited for the jam to cool.

Why did Yu Bing dare to make jam in front of Xiao Sheng? Wasn’t she afraid that he would steal the recipe and make it himself?

Firstly, since the two of them had confirmed their cooperative relationship, they naturally had to trust each other. Moreover, this was considered a life-and-death cooperation in this era. No matter how dishonest they were with each other, it would be meaningless if they had their own plans.

Secondly, it was because Xiao Sheng knew about Yu Bing’s good skills and wanted Yu Bing to produce more new products for him to sell.

Third, Yu Bing knew about Xiao Sheng’s craftsmanship skills, and Xiao Sheng knew his own strength very well.

Xiao Sheng couldn’t wait to taste it with his chopsticks. His eyes lit up. “It’s sweet and sour. I can tell that it’s apple sauce, but it doesn’t completely taste like apples. The taste of the dragon fruit is very light. After it’s mixed together, it’s not easy to taste it. This taste is definitely unique!”

Yu Bing said with some regret, “Moreover, this color is bright red. The only downside is that we only have an iron pot. No matter how we avoid it, the jam cooked will have some impurities.”

Xiao Sheng hurriedly asked, “Then what should we use to avoid it?”

Yu Bing turned to look at Xiao Sheng and frowned. “A casserole or stainless steel pot.”

Xiao Sheng remained silent after hearing this. These two things were not easy to get. At this stage, they could only make do with the iron pot.

The two of them waited for the jam to cool down before immediately putting it into a glass bottle. They carried the oil lamp and walked down the path for half an hour before reaching the foot of the mountain.

There wasn’t much farm work recently. Xiao Sheng sped up and finished his morning work before running to the county city with two bottles of jam samples.

Xiao Sheng walked to an alley that extended in all directions. There were two sentries at the foot of a tree not far away, and Xiao Sheng was looking for their boss.

At this time, there were two types of black markets. Some people got customers from the streets. This method was very unsafe. If inexperienced buyers asked people who wanted to report them for meritorious service, they could only run for dear life.

Some of them had to be charged. For example, the place where Xiao Sheng came to was free when he went in to buy things. However, the seller had to pay a venue fee of 0.05 to 0.2 yuan every day. The price was decided by the goods sold. Agricultural products were cheap and meat was expensive. If he sold the food he made, he would be charged a corresponding price according to the value of the item.

Because someone was keeping watch outside, if they saw a suspicious person, they would immediately inform the people in the alley. Everyone would skillfully turn into various small roads. If they were still caught, they could only blame their bad luck.

Xiao Sheng entered the black market first and found the person who asked him for the loach mustard soup and vegetables. “Brother Quan.”

Brother Quan’s full name was Zhao Quan. He was shrewd and gregarious. He specialized in reselling and selling to earn a profit.

Zhao Quan had just sent off a guest when he heard a voice and turned around. He saw Xiao Sheng holding a vegetable basket that was half filled with vegetables and asked curiously, “Ah Sheng? Isn’t today the delivery day? Why are you here?”

Seeing Zhao Quan take the initiative to walk towards him, Xiao Sheng was slightly nervous and held the vegetable basket tightly.

Xiao Sheng said slowly, “Brother Quan, I came here today to ask you for a favor, just a small favor.” After Xiao Sheng finished speaking, he stared at Zhao Quan carefully, afraid that he would be angry or reject him directly.

Zhao Quan said straightforwardly, “There’s no need to mention favors between us buddies. As long as I can, I’ll help.”

“Brother Quan, I made some jam myself. The amount isn’t small, and it’s convenient to store. I want to sell them in large quantities. I came this time to trouble you to introduce me to Brother Qiang.”

With that, Xiao Sheng pushed the vegetables in the basket to the side and revealed a jar of jam.

Zhao Quan took a look. Although he didn’t show it on his face, he was shocked. Jam was considered a nutritional product in the supply company. It was small in quantity, but it was expensive and required stamps to buy. To be able to establish a connection with Brother Qiang, even if he chose the path of making smaller profits in order to sell more in terms of quantity, he could still obtain considerable profits.