“The cheapest food is indeed four copper coins per catty, but that’s black noodles.” Mother Rong was calm and did not retreat from fear. She said calmly, “But my porridge is pure white rice porridge. How can it be compared?”
Ye Lulu had calculated the expenses of the people present and already guessed that someone would explode and find it very expensive, so she had taught Mother Rong how to deal with this in advance.
“One catty of white rice is nine copper coins. Although little rice is used to cook porridge, my family’s porridge takes a long time to cook. It took more than two hours this morning before we came to the stall. The rice has already been boiled and there isn’t much water added. You can see that this porridge is smooth and dense. There’s definitely quite a lot of rice used. Besides, look at our bowl. It’s a little bigger than an ordinary bowl. It’s not expensive to sell a bowl of plain porridge for two copper coins.”
The person standing at the front pursed his lips. Two copper coins for a bowl of pure white porridge was indeed not expensive. They could agree. However, the cost of stacking the other ingredients was too expensive. It was just porridge. It could not fill one’s stomach for a long time. Who would be willing to spend so much money on a bowl of porridge?!
In fact, pure white porridge was not expensive.
It was specially designed by Ye Lulu to lower the price of plain porridge so that everyone could at least accept a bowl of it. This guaranteed that they could sell the porridge.
Mother Rong continued, “The ingredients aren’t expensive either. We are here to do business, not to chase customers away, so we’ve thought about it. Everyone, although there are miscellaneous ingredients, pig liver and intestines are not inferior to meat. Four pieces of pig liver can be added for one copper coin. The entire bowl of porridge is rich, so is it expensive? Furthermore, pig liver nourishes blood and nutrition. Both adults, children, and men are suitable to eat them, and it can nourish their bodies and strength. It’s cheaper to specially buy pig liver than here, but can you spend three to five copper coins each time to buy an entire pork liver?”
“Pig intestines are delicious. Some people especially like it, and it’s also a piece of meat. Women should know how difficult it is to wash pig intestines. Although it costs a copper coin here, there are still four small portions. They’re washed clean. Drink a bowl of porridge and you can leave after just drinking it. Isn’t that worth it?”
“Many people might think that chicken bones and fish bones are not worth it, but why don’t they see that there’s still a lot of meat on them?! For the taste of porridge, we wouldn’t shave the meat cleanly.”
“As for the rest, fish, chicken, and minced meat are all real meat. Shouldn’t we charge extra for them? It’s still the same thing. Cook the ingredients with the porridge, and the cooked porridge is tasty and nutritious. It can also fill one’s stomach. Our wooden bowl is really big, can’t you see? Besides, it’s cold by the docks, so why is this unsuitable?”
Mother Rong did not give in at all. She finished her words.
However, most of the people did not agree with the rest of the content. This was because a bowl of congee was still too expensive.
When some women heard this, their eyes flashed as they asked, “Is pig liver really that nourishing?”
No one had heard of the effects of miscellaneous ingredients. They only knew that internal organs were also meat and were cheaper. Hence, they would buy miscellaneous ingredients to make braised dishes.
“Of course. Pig liver nourishes the blood. It’s best if women and children at home eat it.” Mother Rong replied according to what Ye Lulu told her. She then said, “Congee added with ingredients would be served on the spot. Not only is it warm and steaming, but you can also eat a bowl here. There are different kinds of nutritional ingredients added. The taste is good as well, so what’s wrong with it?”
“There’s minced meat in the big flatbread sold next door. It’s only three copper coins each!”
“Braised meat should at most cost only two copper coins…”
“No one has bought this before. How can you prove that your porridge tastes good?”
“I’ve never heard of or eaten this… Congee. I can try it, but it’s too expensive.”
Everyone started discussing.