Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 509 Successful Sale

She packed the layered cakes into boxes one by one, while placing the regular rice cakes directly on the cutting board. She counted the quantities and found that she had made eighteen regular rice cakes and twenty-five boxes of layered cakes.

Xu Xiaoyan took out a new A4 sheet of paper from her spatial storage, leaned over the stove, and wrote stroke by stroke: "Today, rice cakes are 10 yuan per box, and layered cakes are 12 yuan per box. New products are available for tasting. Welcome to try them."

She wrote the words "taste test" in very large letters, taking up two lines, and drew a small arrow next to it pointing downwards.

She will place a small dish with scraps cut from the layered cake and rice cake, and a box of toothpicks next to the dish.

She opened the glass door, and the red paper was pasted in the most conspicuous position on the inside of the door.

She moved a small table to the doorway, on which were placed several sample boxes and a plate of tastings.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the streets gradually became more crowded, with all sorts of people passing by the entrance of C-12.

Some people didn't even glance at it and walked straight past.

Some people glanced at the sign, slowed down, lingered on the words "free samples" for a moment, and then looked away.

The first person to stop was a young girl, who looked to be in her early twenties, with her hair in a ponytail and carrying a canvas bag.

When she reached the entrance of C-12, her pace slowed noticeably, and she twitched her nose twice. She looked down and saw the words "taste tasting," and hesitated for a moment.

Her gaze shifted from the red paper to the small dish on the table, and then to Xu Xiaoyan standing behind the table.

Xu Xiaoyan smiled at her.

The girl picked up a toothpick, pierced a small piece of mille-feuille cake from the plate, put it in her mouth, and chewed it twice.

Then her eyes widened. She looked down at the remaining scraps of mille-feuille cake on the plate, then looked up at the table in front of Xu Xiaoyan, her gaze sweeping over the neatly stacked disposable bamboo boxes.

"Is this... a mille-feuille cake?" the girl asked.

"Yes!" Xu Xiaoyan nodded. "Nine-layer cake, the white one is the original flavor, and the coffee-colored one is the brown sugar flavor."

"Nine layers?" The girl looked down at the cross-section of the mille-feuille cake again, as if counting the nine stripes.

"How much is one box?"

"Twelve yuan."

The girl was silent for a moment, her gaze shifting back and forth between the mille-feuille cake and her phone several times. Then she nodded and took her phone out of her canvas bag.

At this moment, Xu Xiaoyan realized that she had never used a payment machine before. She hurriedly took it out and frantically turned it on. Fortunately, it was simple to use, and she could figure it out in no time.

After entering the number, the girl handed over the cash register. She scanned the number with her phone, and soon her phone vibrated, displaying a message that read "Received 12.00 yuan".

Xu Xiaoyan took out a box of layered cakes from behind her and handed it to her with both hands. The bamboo box was light yellow, and the layered cake pieces inside were neatly arranged.

The girl took it, but instead of leaving immediately, she opened the box and ate another piece.

She ate as she walked, her ponytail swinging behind her. When she turned the corner, she looked back at the words on the sign.

The second order came sooner than expected.

A middle-aged man rode by on an electric scooter, glanced at the sign, and suddenly braked to a stop.

His car was parked on the side of the road with the engine running, and there was a toolbox strapped to the back seat, probably for repairs.

He took off his helmet and hung it on the handlebars, then walked over and asked, "Rice cake? Is it the soft kind?"

"Yes, it's soft and sweet." Xu Xiaoyan handed him a small sample. There were few scraps of ordinary rice cake, so she cut a small piece and placed it on the side of the plate.

The man took it, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and his cheeks bulged out.

After finishing his meal, he pulled out his phone from his pocket without saying a word. "How much?"

"Ten yuan".

He paid and took a box of ordinary rice cakes; the whole process took less than a minute.

The third customer was an elderly woman with completely white hair, neatly combed, wearing a dark blue coat, and leaning on a wooden cane.

She walked up to the stall, bent down, squinted at the words "free sample," and then picked up a small piece of mille-feuille cake from the plate and put it in her mouth.

She chewed for a long time without changing her expression. Then she took a small piece of ordinary rice cake, put it in her mouth, and chewed it for a long time as well.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't urge her, but stood quietly to the side and waited. The old lady seemed to be carefully distinguishing the two kinds of rice cakes, her eyes going back and forth between the layered rice cake and the ordinary rice cake several times.

Finally, she pointed her cane at the ordinary rice cake and said, "Give me a box of this."

By 11:30 a.m., there were far fewer pedestrians on the street, and the morning market's peak hours had passed.

Xu Xiaoyan stood behind the table, looking at the empty street, and stretched.

She tallied today's sales: three boxes of regular rice cake and four boxes of layered rice cake, finally achieving a breakthrough from zero.

She closed the door and then put the remaining rice cakes and layered cakes into her space. These pastries could be sold again tomorrow, without having to get up early and work late every day to steam them.

Xu Xiaoyan sat in a folding chair, holding her phone, looking at the extra seventy-eight yuan in her account balance, unsure whether she was happy or unhappy.

She couldn't understand why people complained about the three-yuan sweet potato cakes, but didn't even blink at the twelve-yuan box of layered cakes.

A young girl scanned the QR code with her phone for twelve yuan, without even asking the price.

A middle-aged man, ten yuan, takes a bite to sample, then pays for the rest.

The old lady frowned and thought for a long time before finally buying it. It cost ten yuan.

How exactly did they calculate this?

Xu Xiaoyan looked up at the ceiling, her fingers tapping unconsciously on her knees.

Is it simply because sweet potato cakes are snacks, deep-fried, and made with sweet potatoes and flour, and therefore seem worthless?

Rice cake is a staple food, it's steamed, it's made from rice, and it looks expensive.

People in Qingcheng are used to eating steamed buns, porridge, and noodles for breakfast. Rice cakes are in the same category as these foods; they are all rice and noodle products, staple foods, and are considered "proper meals."

You think it's normal to spend twelve yuan on a box of rice cakes for breakfast.

You think it's abnormal to spend three yuan on a sweet potato pancake for breakfast because it's not what you consider "breakfast".

But if you cut the sweet potato cakes into small pieces, pack them into an elegant bamboo box, and sell them for fifteen dollars a box, calling them "Golden Fried Sweet Potato Cakes," then someone might buy them.

It's not a price issue, it's a packaging issue, a positioning issue, it's a question of "what you make it look like".

She banished these chaotic thoughts from her mind, telling herself that none of them mattered.

She only needs to remember one thing: the people here like rice products.

So tomorrow she can try making red date rice cake, the day after tomorrow rice balls, and the day after that fried rice.

That's right. It seems like she's trying to cater to the tastes of the people of Qing City, but in reality, she's indirectly increasing the variety of food available in her space.

If you can sell them, sell them; if you can't, keep them in your space and eat them yourself. You won't lose money either way.

Thinking about this, she felt inexplicably at ease.