He admitted that when he couldn’t sleep at night, he’d scoop two spoonfuls of sauce, pour some wine, and alternate bites and sips until it was gone.
He had none yesterday and complained during breakfast noodles that noodles without mushroom sauce weren’t tasty.
Chen Aying wanted to scold him but felt sorry since he was working far away, so she sent him to ask Jiang Heng for more. But he was shy, so she just brought him over herself.
Jiang Heng retorted, “Even if I sell them, I won’t shortchange family.”
Jiang Da Qiu smiled dumbly and didn’t argue.
Chen Aying watched Jiang Heng pack the mushrooms so liberally and warned, “Hey, take fewer! You don’t need that many! Keep the Boletus for yourself—it’s expensive.”
Jiang Heng said, “It’s fine. Make extra. Da Boiniang only comes home a few days a month. He probably can’t eat well out there.”
Chen Aying scolded, “Still, that’s too much. Making the meat sauce takes half a day.”
Jiang Heng laughed, “Then I’ll help you make it this afternoon.”
“No need, no need. You’re busy; earning money is more important,” Chen Aying refused hastily.
Seeing Jiang Heng still filling bags, Chen Aying grabbed the bag, took out the expensive Boletus, leaving only two jin of slightly cheaper mushrooms, smiling with satisfaction.
“That’s enough. This much can make over ten jars of sauce. But pickles eaten too much aren’t good either.”
Jiang Heng was helpless. She wanted to fill the bags but had been stopped, so she gave up and packed two jin of Termitomyces separately.
“Da Boiniang, you can stew some chicken mushroom oil from this. Don’t add too much salt—very healthy!”
“You’re too generous,” Chen Aying shook her head but smiled brighter.
Before leaving, Jiang Da Qiu looked at Jiang Heng with admiration.
“Xiao Heng, you’re really making progress. Work hard. Next time Da Boiniang comes back, maybe you’ll have chickens and ducks in flocks.”
Jiang Heng nodded confidently, “Definitely!”
After lunch, Jiang Heng continued her cultivation as usual.
The workers rested until two in the afternoon, then resumed work.
Around four in the afternoon, Jiang Heng transferred half the fish and shrimp to her tricycle, followed by mulberries and mushrooms.
With more and more things, the tricycle basket was full.
In the end, she had to hang packed mushrooms on both sides and place the items for Ye Sui and her Uncle on the seat side.
It was close—any more and the little tricycle wouldn’t fit everything.
With everything arranged, Jiang Heng set off a bit earlier than usual to send packages before deliveries.
Now, she had to deliver mushrooms to ten stores, each with different orders but mostly consistent varieties.
A highly-rated but expensive restaurant only ordered Termitomyces, Boletus, and Black Chicken Mushroom.
Jiang Heng had seen on the ugly group (referring to the online community) that they launched new dishes: Chicken Mushroom Oil Fried Rice, Boletus Fried Rice, and Black Chicken Mushroom Stewed Chicken.
Several recent positive reviews mentioned those three mushrooms.
Others, focused on soup, preferred Tea Tree Mushrooms.
The quantities weren’t large—mushrooms were expensive, so the dishes cost more, but overall sales were high.
With just these orders, Jiang Heng earned nearly ten thousand yuan a day, plus four to five thousand from her stall.
In just seven days, she had fully repaid Da Boiniang’s fifty thousand yuan loan, completely debt-free and feeling light. She now had about seventy thousand yuan in savings.
Because of this, Da Boiniang and the others realized Jiang Heng’s mushroom business earned much more than they had imagined.
Today, with fish and Small Dragon Shrimp orders added, the total pre-order amount surpassed ten thousand yuan.
Wow!
Before her transmigration, she was a hardworking laborer—who could have guessed she’d now earn over ten thousand yuan a day?!
Jiang Heng was in high spirits, delivering orders in sequence. The second stop was a fast-food restaurant, and the owner, having hired help, had time to chat.
Taking the mushrooms, he smiled, “By the way, Boss Jiang, I heard mushroom prices have crashed recently. Many varieties have dropped.”
Jiang Heng was a bit surprised.
She had thought that as more mushrooms appeared, more supply would flood the market, causing price fluctuations. She hadn’t expected it so soon.
Still, she stuck to her view, casually saying, “Don’t know. I don’t deal with those middlemen.”
In earlier years, excessive logging had damaged the local environment. Many formerly common mushrooms were now rare. Few people gathered mushrooms, mostly cheaper, ordinary kinds.
If not for Jiang Heng’s Spiritual Energy, stimulating growth initially and nurturing with Spiritual Rain, she wouldn’t be able to pick so many now.
She didn’t know which buyer had come to their area.
The fast-food owner, Sun Sanxi, smiled awkwardly but was secretly annoyed at her ignorance.
He said, “I asked a friend yesterday. Their prices are about twenty yuan lower here on average, especially for Termitomyces—it’s dropped to just over a hundred yuan per jin. Boss Jiang, we’ve cooperated a long time. Maybe you should adjust your prices?”
Jiang Heng shook her head, “Sorry. These mushrooms are picked deep in the mountains, with much better quality than ordinary mushrooms. I can’t lower prices.”
Sun Sanxi grew impatient, “What? You pick that many deep in the mountains? — Come on — just one day back and forth would take too long, how do you have time to set up a stall?!”
Jiang Heng:
How to explain her speed? Better not explain at all.
Sun Sanxi took her silence as assent and smiled kindly again.
“I know your quality is better, but your prices are about ten yuan higher than others. What do you think? I promise I’ll keep ordering from you.”
Jiang Heng refused again, “Boss, if you find cheaper elsewhere, go for it. I don’t bargain.”
With that, she turned and left.
Sun Sanxi was stunned, “Hey, you…”
But she was already riding her tricycle away.
He stomped angrily back to the shop. His wife noticed and asked, “What happened? Didn’t agree?”
Sun Sanxi gritted his teeth, “That girl is stubborn—won’t budge!”
His wife hesitated, “Maybe just forget it? Her quality is good. Didn’t you eat there yesterday? The taste is just a bit different.”
Compared to the same kind of mushrooms, the cheaper ones tasted different but still good, just not as good.
Sun Sanxi wasn’t satisfied, “But it’s too expensive! She charges way too much. Tea Tree Mushrooms only cost forty yuan, she wants seventy. Termitomyces can be bought for 150, but she starts at 200. We’re a small operation; how can we afford that?”
His wife comforted him, “Actually, we’ve made a lot more money these days. Customers have increased.”
Sun Sanxi: “If it were cheaper, we’d make even more.”
He seemed determined.
“Actually, customers probably can’t tell such subtle differences. When this batch of mushrooms runs out, we won’t buy from her. We’ll try the cheaper ones. If they’re no good, we’ll come back.”
His wife frowned but had no say in these matters.
Similar conversations happened at Ge’s Noodle Shop.
Business was good and busy, but they still closed early, so they had time to handle deliveries.
Seeing Jiang Heng arrive on time, Ge Dongfang greeted warmly, “Have you eaten? Come try my spicy pickled mushroom meat sauce. Many people love it.”
Jiang Heng smiled, “Just ate before coming. You guys are busy—I won’t bother.”
Today’s delivery included not only mushrooms but two jin of mulberries, two jin of Small Dragon Shrimp, and a fish.
Ge Dongfang, having made some money, was willing to spend a bit. She saw the mulberries at Jiang Heng’s stall were popular and bought some to try.
She found… well, they were indeed delicious and expensive for a reason.
So every other day, they bought two jin to eat.
Seeing the well-reviewed fish and new Small Dragon Shrimp, she decided to try those too.
She had to admit their products were excellent.
These days, eating well, she slept soundly despite the kitchen’s constant smoke and heat.
Especially in summer, her oily face felt much clearer these past two days.
Her husband leaned over and whispered, “Did you hear? There’s another mushroom seller at the junction. Their prices are much lower.”
Ge Dongfang was speechless, “I went to see this afternoon. The quality’s completely different.”
Her husband hesitated, “You could ask Boss Jiang to lower prices. Her prices are much higher than theirs. With competitors, maybe she’d consider it.”
Ge Dongfang was tempted but quickly shook her head.
“If she wanted to lower prices, she would’ve done so already. Before, she gave me a discount when I promised long-term orders. Now she hasn’t lowered prices, so she probably won’t.”
Her intuition told her Jiang Heng’s goods were truly different—pure and natural. Even the mulberries were tastier than others. A higher price was understandable.
At least the regular customers who often ate her food could notice these subtle differences.
So Ge Dongfang didn’t want to push for price cuts, fearing it might seem like she didn’t like the products.
She still remembered the old lady who demanded a refund, saying if Jiang Heng didn’t sell, she wouldn’t either. The old lady came back again but still no compromise.
If anyone else ran their business like this, it would have failed long ago.
People say harmony brings wealth, but Jiang Heng didn’t follow that, which showed her confidence.
Her husband said nothing further, frowning reluctantly.
Ge Dongfang nudged him, “What’s wrong?”
“I just feel sorry. The prices are too high, and it’s mushroom season. Everyone else is dropping prices,” he sighed.
“I wish others had the same quality as Boss Jiang.”
Dongfang laughed, “That just means Boss Jiang probably won’t drop prices. With that quality and loyal customers, she doesn’t need to.”
Her husband was convinced and stopped arguing, reminding her, “Go rest first. You’ve been tired these days.”
Dongfang yawned and grabbed the shrimp and fish.
“Right. I’m off then. Finish the Termitomyces yourself and come back. No need to wait long now.”
“Got it.”
Besides the fast-food restaurant, two other places wanted to test if Jiang Heng could lower prices a bit.
She politely refused.
They accepted it without any threats, just naturally giving up.
It was a half-hearted attempt.
When Jiang Heng arrived at her stall, she understood why.
Enthusiastic Song Ming came immediately in a free moment.
“Today, there’s a new mushroom stall at the junction where I came from. They have everything you do, even more!”
Then she glanced furtively around the crowd and whispered, “Their prices are a little lower too. The Torch Termitomyces is 150 yuan a jin, Bud Termitomyces 180, lots of people are buying.”
Some customers were trying to undercut Jiang Heng’s prices.
Song Ming was angry and quietly defended, “I asked my mom to take a look. She said their mushrooms aren’t as good as yours!”
“Pfft!”
Song Ming was adorable like this. Jiang Heng smiled, then quickly turned serious.
“Yeah, I know. When it comes to quality, mine’s definitely the best!”
Song Ming didn’t expect such confidence. She was speechless but reassured, smiling, “You’re right. We’re not afraid! Everyone who’s eaten knows your quality.”
After a short chat, customers arrived.
Song Ming immediately picked up her things—mushrooms, fish, and Jiang Heng’s Small Dragon Shrimp, which were lively and temporarily kept at Jiang Heng’s place until leaving.
“Ah!”
“Eh?”
Zhang Yan was the first customer to arrive, happily eyeing the two still-unloaded baskets of fish.
“There are fish again today. That last fish… well, it’s a love-hate feeling. It’s delicious, but killing the fish was so hard. You know, that fish was still alive after a whole night! My boyfriend and I struggled a lot to finish it. Then we learned how to scale and gut it. Took forever. Still, the resulting Bream Mushroom Soup was so tasty I wanted to just drink the broth and be full!”
The fish made her want to buy but also afraid to buy.
Jiang Heng said, “Yes, there will be more for the next few days.”
She took out the two innermost baskets and smiled enticingly, “There are Small Dragon Shrimp too. Want some?”
Zhang Yan’s eyes truly widened this time.
“Wow! They’re so big!”
Each was about the size of her palm, claws waving fiercely—looking fierce and super delicious.
Jiang Heng nodded decisively, “I picked the big ones on purpose. The small ones were put back.”
Her Small Dragon Shrimp were divided into two types: one with black-red shells, quite large but hard to bite; Jiang Heng didn’t like these, so she had three baskets of them.
The other were big green shrimp, slightly smaller but with softer shells, often used in restaurants for oil-braised shrimp. She had one basket of these left, keeping the rest for herself.
She planned to eat them gradually starting tomorrow!
Zhang Yan was tempted. She had come to buy mushrooms but now wanted fish and shrimp too.
God, she didn’t have that much money!
“Oh, the prices…”
Just as she was about to ask, Jiang Heng had already put up the price list and explained:
The smaller green ones were a bit smaller but had plenty of meat and were easier to eat—41 yuan per jin.
The black-red ones had hard shells and were discounted by 10 yuan to 11 yuan per jin, hoping to sell faster.
Zhang Yan smiled wryly, “Boss, your pricing is the opposite of everyone else—so casual and arbitrary.”
Jiang Heng winked, “That’s how it is with street stalls.”
Zhang Yan: …Makes sense!
Still a bit conflicted, she stepped aside to let the next customer buy first, then looked at the fish and shrimp again.
The next customer brightened at seeing the Small Dragon Shrimp, but then his expression darkened at the price.
He tasted a bit and winced, “Just two jin of shrimp, please. I want to try.”
“Okay.”
Jiang Heng took a small plastic bucket, placed it on the electronic scale, scooped two jin of shrimp into it, weighed it, and then transferred it to a plastic bag with an extra layer outside for protection.
Now that business was picking up, she ordered plastic bags online with good quality, but shrimp claws were sharp, and bags could tear easily, which would be terrible for customers.
Just as she finished, the customer added, “And one more Bream fish, plus mushrooms and mulberries…”
Zhang Yan: …Thought they were like her, but turns out they’re rich!
Seeing their careful yet speedy ordering made people envious.
Jiang Heng was a bit surprised. She remembered this customer hadn’t ordered this much before. Seeing the volume, she asked, “Is there a celebration?”
The customer nodded, grinning slyly, “Yes! Boss, I’ve been eating your food every day, going broke. Three thousand yuan a month is never enough no matter how frugal. I was in painful struggle until I realized something!”
Jiang Heng, Zhang Yan, and the customers nearby all looked over.
An outgoing person asked, “What did you realize?”
The customer said, “Pain is the cradle of literature!” with a serious expression.
Everyone was confused, “Huh? You’re a writer now?”
“Earning royalties?!”
The customer laughed loudly amidst guesses, “Haha, right! I made up a story on some platform, over ten thousand words. Surprisingly, many liked it, and I earned a few hundred yuan! That calls for celebration!”
Everyone: “Wow!”
“So impressive!”
“Really became a writer!”
“I suffer from poverty and pain but never realized this. So sad~”
Zhang Yan: “…That’s possible?!”
The customer shook her head happily, “Hehe~ Of course! Otherwise, with my three thousand yuan salary, no matter how I save, unless I starve, I can’t save money.”
Just then, Jiang Heng finished packing the order and handed it over. The customer paid and left briskly.
With good food in hand and friends arriving soon, it was going to be a lively feast!
When it was Zhang Yan’s turn, she bit the bullet, “Boss, two jin of Small Dragon Shrimp, and this, and this mushroom…”
No more holding back.
Buy first and eat. If cutting expenses doesn’t work, then it’s time to increase income!
She vowed to work harder!
And bring her boyfriend along.
Recently, he was eating better and in a better mood, but his career was still bleak.
That wouldn’t do!!!