390 Busy
“Here’s what I’m thinking,” Jiang Yue said. “Since the quilts can keep the ice from melting for a long time, we must buy a lot of new quilts, but it’s best to buy some wooden boxes as well just in case.”
Just as she said that Xue Yifu said, “You don’t need to buy a wooden box. I can make it.”
“You can do so much more than that. I have something else for you to make,” Jiang Yue said.
“That’s fine, that’s fine. Tell me what it is later.” Xue Yifu chuckled awkwardly.
Jiang Yue continued, “The wooden box must be suitable for the ox cart to carry to town. We can use the wooden box to store the ice and sell it in town. This way, the wooden box can also help to block the sun from directly hitting the blanket. The ice in the blanket will melt slower.”
“I agree, let’s do that.” Xue Sifu nodded.
Jiang Yue continued, “This is food, so it has to be clean. We also have to buy some oil paper to wrap food. We’ll wrap it in ice before we can wrap it with a quilt. You can’t let the quilt come into direct contact with the ice.”
“This is a must.” Xue Sifu nodded again. “If you dared to sell anything dirty in town, no one would buy it.”
“It’s best to wrap each popsicle in oil paper. The oil paper doesn’t have to be too big, just one small piece will do. As long as you wrap the popsicle in a piece of paper, it’ll be easier to take it out of the quilt and give it to customers that want to buy it.”
After a pause, Jiang Yue continued.
“The small wooden box is for popsicles. A small wooden box that could hold dozens of popsicles would do. When the time comes, you can tie a rope around the small wooden box and carry it on your back or hang it around your neck.
“This way, you won’t have to sell it at our rice noodle stall. You can carry a wooden box on your back and sell it everywhere you go. Although our rice noodle stall is located on the street with the most customers, you can actually sell it on other streets.
“Even if those people know that we sell ice here, they might not come so far to buy it. But if you go to them to sell it, there should be quite a lot of people who want to buy them.”
“That’s a good idea!” Xue Sifu was excited.
“We can’t buy a big wooden box,” Jiang Yue said. “When people buy a popsicle, we have to open it, lift the quilt, and take it out. The more times we take it out, the more cold air in the quilt will dissipate, and the other popsicles in the quilt will melt easily. We’ll buy the kind that can only hold dozens of popsicles. It’ll be better so that it won’t cause more popsicles to melt. Even if it does, it won’t affect much.”
“That’s reasonable.” Xue Sifu nodded again, “The carpenter shop in town must have a lot of wooden boxes of all sizes for people to buy. I’ll just pick some that are suitable for the amount that we intend to sell. Is there anything else I should take note of before going to town?”
“I do have some ideas,” Jiang Yue said honestly. “I want to make a small wooden cart, but it’s not a two-wheeled one. It’ll be a four-wheeled one. I can’t explain it clearly now. I’ll have to discuss it with Xue Yan later. If you think there’s anything that needs improvement, you can improve it. When the time comes, he’ll draw it for you to make it. This is the thing I want you to make.”
“Then what’s this small cart for?”
“So that it can be folded and brought to town. When the time comes, you can push three or four small wooden boxes on it. Since it’s small, it doesn’t take up much space, and the wheels are small, so it won’t be too far off the ground. Even if no one is supporting it, it can still be stopped or moved around, and it won’t take that much energy to push it.”
