Chapter Seven: Reaching an Agreement

  Although the boss was young, he didn't have the impatience that young people should have. He was always calm and composed, and wasn't biased against Su Qing because of her age or rural background. Moreover, he boldly agreed to let her use the kitchen.

  This steady and profound momentum and insight are extremely rare in a twenty-year-old young man, if there is an opportunity, future achievements will definitely not be limited.

  "The chef in your store can also produce such a flavor." Su Qing threw out the bait. Sure enough, the person opposite her eyes were shining with excitement, full of interest, waiting for Su Qing's next words.

  Su Qing swallowed her saliva and got down to business. "I added our family's special seasoning to the dish, which can make the flavor a hundred times fresher."

  What she said was the seasoning, which was used when stewing chicken soup last night. At that time, she just tried it out and didn't expect the flavor to be so different. Even Su Xia, who had been losing her appetite, drank two bowls and still couldn't stop.

  The recipe for this seasoning was found by Su Qing in a stack of books in her space, including a book on health preservation that wrote many ancient recipes, such as the refining of this seasoning, tea leaves, and medicinal dishes.

  The medicinal materials for making this seasoning are easy to find, and can be found in the mountains. Zi Cao, Bai Zhi, Bo He, Ding Xiang, Gan Cao, etc. are all common medicinal materials. According to the ancient method, they are refined through Su Qing's body and spiritual energy.

  The downside is that it can't be mass-produced because of its special production method. A small bottle takes a lot of effort to make, and Su Qing's accumulated spiritual energy would be completely depleted. Fortunately, when she cultivates again, her spiritual energy absorbs faster.

  So, considering that only a small amount of production is possible, Su Qing can only choose stores like Dongbei Hall, if it were a larger scale store or a large company unit, the bosses who spare no expense to make a profit would definitely interrogate Su Qing thoroughly, and if they took it for testing and found any abnormalities, she might even have concerns about her life.

  She just wanted to make some money, but didn't want to risk her own life or be used as a guinea pig for research.

  "How much are you planning to sell it for?" As expected, she was very skilled, but still hadn't guessed her true intentions.

  Su Qing took a sip of the tea water that Ma Jianzhong had personally poured, and after savoring it carefully, he found that this tea water was no longer the one he had been drinking at first, as if someone had replaced it with high-quality tea leaves.

  "Currently, the flavor enhancers on the market, such as MSG and chicken essence, are all chemically synthesized. If used at high temperatures above 100 degrees, they will transform into carcinogenic chemical substances. In contrast, our family's secret seasoning is made from wild medicinal herbs that are beneficial to the body and have no side effects. Long-term use can even provide certain nourishing benefits."

  The conversation took a turn, and he said: "Unfortunately, these medicinal materials are extremely rare and require our family's secret recipe to refine. The process is complicated and the yield is very small. If it weren't for our family being short on money, I wouldn't have taken it out either, because neither the materials nor the production process can be mass-produced..." Su Qing half-jokingly boasted.

  Su Qing finished speaking, Ma Jianzhong fell into deep thought. Half a while later, as if he had made up his mind, he gritted his teeth and said: "I'll give you 20% of the store's profits. But you can't sell it to anyone else."

  Patent? This guy really has a business mind, immediately thought of monopoly.

  "Three autumns, I guarantee that only your store has it, but the terms we discussed are only for a year. After a year, we can renegotiate, and during this year, you can back out at any time. I have confidence in my things." Maybe after a year, she won't even be here anymore.

  Three autumns, this little girl really dares to ask for it?

  Ma Jianzhong couldn't help but re-examine the other person, with delicate facial features that suggested an age of no more than 14 years old. The clothes were handmade, and although the fabric was ordinary, the style was not lacking in casual elegance, making the wearer appear refined, calm, and effortlessly natural. If it weren't for the occasional flashes of sharpness in her lively eyes, Ma Jianzhong would have been completely taken in by her appearance.

  Ma Jianzhong was actually not very old, having just graduated from high school a year ago. He didn't like reading books and was also opposed to the job his father had arranged for him. Despite his father's objections, he took over this store with the help of his mother.

  For half a year, the business has neither made nor lost money, fortunately his family's economic condition is good, otherwise he wouldn't be allowed to continue like this.

  The reason the store hasn't changed hands is that he wants to prove a point, to let his old man see that he has business acumen and it's not just about reading books and getting into a company to achieve something.

  He had indeed put in a lot of effort, spending all day in the store, personally busy with everything, but business just didn't seem to be picking up. Just when he was about to lose confidence in himself, Su Qing suddenly appeared.

  Let's put aside whether the thing is good or bad for now. As for Su Qing, her temperament and demeanor are calm and composed, although it's surprising to see such qualities in a child so young, one can't help but acknowledge that even he himself feels inferior compared to her.

  His mother was also doing business, and since he was young, he had seen many people of all kinds. He understood that when cooperating with others, whether or not they could succeed depended largely on the other person's charisma.

  Three hundred thousand, it sounds like an outrageous price, but he had a premonition that this might be the turning point in his life. He wanted to take a gamble.

  Thinking of this, Ma Jianzhong made the most correct decision in his life. In the following days, every time he thought about it, he was grateful for his courage at that time, blindly believing in a little girl's nonsense. However, if not, there would be no achievement like now.

  After signing the contract, Su Qing left a bottle of prepared sauce and instructed on its usage before walking out of Dongbei Building. As for her meal expenses, Ma Jianzhong refused to accept payment no matter what.

  It was still early for the appointment with Second Aunt and Second Uncle, so they went to the farmer's market, bought some vegetable seeds and fruit seedlings, and quietly put them into the space in a deserted place.

  When Su Qing and her companions arrived home, the village was already shrouded in a haze of cooking smoke.

  "Sister, you're back." Su Xia had been leaning against the gate with her chin in her hand, looking bored, but when she saw Su Qing, she excitedly ran to Su Qing's side and wanted to help her sister carry things.

  "I didn't tell you to come back later, why are you still waiting outside?" Su Xia had been frail and sickly since childhood, spending most of her time at home, not liking to play with people of the same age, always following her around like a tail. Every time she came back, she saw him waiting at the door, no matter how many times she told him it was useless.

  After dinner, Su Qing handed over 200 yuan to her mother who was sorting out the eggs, meat and rice she had bought back, and roughly told her about going to Songhua County. As for the cooperation with Ma Jianzhong, she only briefly mentioned it within a range that her mother could accept.

  Her mother didn't say anything, but her daughter not only could handle things well, she seemed to have more ideas than her. It seemed that she had her own thoughts about these matters and didn't need her mother to nag her unnecessarily.

  "Sister, is this what you bought for me?" Su Xia pulled out a set of brush and inkstone, as well as some rice paper from the bamboo basket. She looked up to ask her sister.

  Su Qing nodded, but her mother slowly said: "Your sister was eight years old and had already taught her to practice calligraphy. You were often sick since childhood, so I never let you practice."

  "I'm much better now, I want to practice writing." Su Xia hugged her pen and inkstone, with a determined look on her face. Her sister knew too many things, she couldn't let herself be inferior to her sister.

  "What's wrong?" Su Qing was about to return to her cultivation when she saw that her mother had an unusual expression, as if she wanted to say something but stopped herself, so she asked.

  Her mother didn't say a word, turned around and walked into the inner room, stuffed a heavy envelope into her hand. With great care, as if afraid of angering her. "Your aunt brought this over during the day, said it was given by Hou San, 20,000 yuan, I don't want it, but she put it down and left, you return it to her tomorrow."

  She's still so stubborn, helping Hou San to take money to crush them? Does she think others are like her, that everything can be sold for 20,000 yuan?

  It seems that she should have made a statement, and her mother has been entangled in this matter all the time, especially in rural areas where traditional ideas are very heavy. Even if nothing is done, people will talk about it, and there is no reputation to speak of?