Luo Xingchen stretched her chopsticks and took another bite. The spicy taste landed on the tip of her tongue and caused a small explosion on her taste buds. When she heard Su Tang asking if the food was delicious, she quickly nodded while gulping down her food and taking another bite of rice. Between bites, she said, “This tastes even better than your last dish.”
Su Tang had been a bit worried that Luo Xingchen wouldn’t be able to get used to this kind of flavor since, after all, sichuan was a relatively heavier taste. However, unexpectedly, it seemed that Luo Xingchen actually quite liked it.
“I didn’t expect for you to have such strong tastes.” Su Tang joked.
Luo Xingchen poked at a small grain of sichuan peppercorn with her chopsticks and asked, “Is this a new kind of spice?”
“Yes, it is. But this isn’t something that needs to be imported from overseas, it can be found down in the south where they call it Chinese prickly ash. When eaten it creates a numbing sort of taste in the mouth, and when it’s combined with our chili peppers it becomes very spicy!”
Su Tang casually explained that this kind of spice could be found locally, but it generally only appeared in the south and was relatively rarer here in the north. Moreover, because of its unique and heavy taste, even if people knew about it not many of them would eat it as a seasoning.
It was more or less the same as the climbing figs that Su Tang had taken out from the space before. That is, they both grew locally down in the south, however, the country was extremely vast and there was no developed transportation in this ancient era. Thus, even Luo Xingchen, who was from the wealthiest family of businessmen in the north, had never encountered these kinds of foods before.
“The taste of these two things mixed together really is very wonderful. Can this spice be planted in the north as well? Can we grow it and sell it as a new kind of seasoning?” Luo Xingchen took another bite of food and asked. Her thoughts were wandering, if this could be grown and sold it would certainly make be able to make money, and a lot of money at that.
In reply, Su Tang just shook her head.
Luo Xingchen felt very confused by this response and asked again, “Can’t we just plant it?”
Su Tang couldn’t help reaching over and knocking her friend on the forehead with her little fist. “Are you stupid? Haven’t you heard that tangerines are tangerines in the north while tangerines are oranges in the south? Can you just randomly plant things in the north and expect them to grow the same way? Wouldn’t it be smarter to plant it in the south and ship it to the north?”
“Things aren’t that simple. Those profiteers in the south aren’t so easy to get along with. If they learn that there is a big business opportunity, they will certainly try to take advantage of us.” Luo Xingchen covered the spot on her forehead which Su Tang had knocked and replied with watery eyes.
“Don’t hit me on the head, I’m not as smart as you, and if you beat me into an idiot, aren’t you just harming yourself?” Luo Xingchen continued in a protesting tone.
Su Tang snorted and retorted, “As long as the market is big enough, it’s fine to give others some benefits. But with your current position in the Luo family, let’s just forget it for now. In two years, when we aren’t able to keep the secret of the tomatoes and the chilis anymore and your status in the family is much higher, let’s discuss making a breakthrough in the south then.”
This was Su Tang’s vision. After all, when doing business, how could one just rest on one’s laurels? Su Tang had no intentions of limiting herself only to the northern market. If they could market to a province, why limit themselves to a city? If they could achieve a continent, why would they limit themselves to a country? If they could cover the whole world, why not rush out into the universe? Why limit themselves to just one Earth?
A soldier who doesn’t want to be a general couldn’t be called a good soldier, and a businessperson who didn’t want to be number one in the world couldn’t be called a good businessperson. Ambition was a must. Without ambition, what was the difference between a person and a salted fish?
Luo Xingchen looked at Su Tang slightly disbelievingly, “Tang, you really plan to expand to the south?”
Luo Xingchen had never dared to imagine such a thing. How big was the Qihuang Kingdom? Her Luo family of Beikou had slowly been able to make themselves the largest business family in the north thanks to generations of effort, but even their behemoth family wasn’t enough for Su Tang? In this little girl’s mind, she was even thinking of expanding down south? She was really daring beyond belief.
.
tl begging corner:
