The next morning, just after dawn, Zhang Ran and his mother got up and started to clean up.

Together, the two of them carried the tofu made last night onto the cart, and tied the bamboo mold with hemp rope along with the tofu inside...

After Sankui came from home, Zhang Ran and Sankui hurriedly had a little breakfast, and then put on their mother's steamed rice crackers, and set off for Xinfeng in the morning light.

After going to Xinfeng County to sell fish several times in a row, Zhang Ran is also familiar with the road to Xinfeng County, and he can be called familiar with the road.

Although the road is still the same road, it is still so difficult to walk, but the speed of Zhang Ran and Sankui is obviously faster and faster.

It took nearly an hour for Zhang Ran and the two to come all the way from Zhangli to Xinfeng County, and after the city gate guard checked the goods and the wooden calf with the identity written on it, they successfully entered the county seat.

Because this time they were selling tofu instead of fish, Zhang Ran and the two couldn't go to the fish market anymore, but went to the vegetable market not far from the fish market...

Although the vegetable market is nominally one of the "listed cities", in fact, it is only a small area designated by the government to sell fruits and vegetables in the market, and its scale is not even as large as the fruit and vegetable area in some supermarkets in later generations.

On the same street as the "vegetable market", there are other "small markets" (areas) such as Su Market and Shu Market, and generally speaking, most of the goods sold in this street are some rice grains, fruits and vegetables.

Pushing a cart full of tofu and crossing most of the streets, Zhang Ran and Sankui finally stopped at the junction between the vegetable market and the Su market.

Then the two found a vacant lot nearby and parked the car on the side of the street.

Due to the early arrival, it has not yet arrived at the official opening time stipulated by the government, and the flow of people on the street is small, taking advantage of this time, Zhang Ran and the two quickly unloaded the tofu, scales, bamboo boards and other sundries...

After coming to the Xinfeng County Market a few times, Zhang Ran also had a preliminary understanding of the various rules and doorways of the Xinfeng County Market.

In general, Xinfeng's bazaar is divided into three markets: morning, middle and evening.

It is said that there are three kinds of markets, but in fact, the streets of the market are still those streets, but the time when the market is open and the individual vendors are different.

In the morning market, only the "sitting merchants" who open shops are allowed to open their doors, and the sitting merchants can continue to operate until the end of the evening market.

After the opening of the middle market, most of the people in the market were ordinary people around the county town who went into the city to sell daily necessities such as fruits and vegetables, grain...

It is not until the evening market that itinerant or out-of-town merchants are allowed to operate in the market (note that they are in the market, not the city), and they must leave the market immediately after the evening market is over.

However, because Xinfeng is only a county seat, the implementation of this regulation is not too strict, as long as it is not a foreign businessman, under normal circumstances, the city officials will rarely go to check or drive away ordinary people. Therefore, ordinary people like Zhang Ran can enter the market to operate before the start of the middle market.

Only a big city with a population of hundreds of thousands like Chang'an City will have a special city official to strictly manage it, and within the nine cities, all vendors must enter and leave the market within the specified time according to the government's positioning...

……

Towards noon, the flow of people in the market increased, and the market gradually had some hustle and bustle. But in front of Zhang Ran's booth, there was still no customer who came to the door...

"How so? Obviously, the last time I sold fish at the fish market, business was booming! ”

Seeing that it had been so long and almost no one was patronizing in front of the stall, Zhang Ran couldn't help but feel a little anxious...

"Could it be because tofu is a new thing, and people don't know what it's for? That's why no one came to buy it? ”

Considering that the tofu may have appeared in the market of Xinfeng County for the first time, the surrounding customers did not know what it was, let alone what it tasted like, so no one cared about the stall for such a long time.

Yes, Zhang Ran thought about it for a while, and decided to try it out first.

As for how to advertise ... This kind of thing is a piece of cake for people like Zhang Ran, who have experienced all kinds of marketing methods, routines, and baptism in later generations.

Zhang Ran didn't even think much about it, so he pulled Sankui's sleeve and said: "Sankui, you have a loud voice, help me shout, just say that it is to give back to new and old customers... Well, let's just say try tofu and taste it for free! ”

"Free... Gratis? Sankui's eyes widened, he looked at Zhang Ran in shock, and asked in disbelief: "Brother Ran, you are not wrong, right?" The tofu we worked so hard to make was given away for free? ”

"Well, that's right, it's free!"

Zhang Ran used a wooden knife to cut a whole square of tofu in the mold into small pieces of one or two centimeters, and then neatly stacked it on a long bamboo board more than two fingers wide, while explaining to Sankui: "I just thought about it, the reason why our tofu can't be sold is because no one knows what it tastes like?" And if you want others to know the taste of tofu, you have to let people taste it first! But how many people in the market would pay a lot of money to buy a food they don't know? Replace you, will you? ”

Saying that, Zhang Ran turned his head and said to Sankui seriously: "So, only after inviting customers to taste it for free, they understand the taste of tofu." will spend money to buy our tofu. ”

After hearing Zhang Ran's words, Sankui suddenly felt that what Zhang Ran said was like, so he could only nod and say, "Okay, eat for free, eat for free!" ”

......

"Tofu, fresh tofu! Free tasting, no money! ”

"Don't miss it when you pass by, don't want money for tofu, eat it for free~"

Sankui's voice is loud and his voice is very loud, and after the last exercise, he basically has no stage fright. In addition, there are phrases of propaganda shouting that Zhang Ran specially taught him.., so shouted a few times, and soon attracted a large number of passers-by to come and watch.

More than a dozen passers-by who were attracted by Sankui's shouts gathered in front of Zhang Ran's small stall, looking curiously at Zhang Ran and Sankui, as well as the pieces of white and tender tofu placed in front of their stalls...

Soon, someone couldn't help but ask: "Two Xiaolang, your name... It's called tofu eating, right? Do you really want money? ”

Zhang Ran looked at the person who spoke, and found that it was a young man wearing muslin clothes, who looked very likely to be a resident of a certain Lilu in Xinfeng County, so he picked up a bamboo board, handed it to the young man and said, "I really don't need money, you can try it for free!" I don't believe you taste..."

"Uh" The young man looked down at the bamboo board handed over by Zhang Ran, and the neatly arranged pieces of white and tender tofu on the bamboo board, square and square, which made people feel very comfortable at a glance.

After all, I still couldn't resist the temptation to taste it for free, so I couldn't help but reach out, pinch a small piece on the edge, put it in my mouth and tasted it...

As soon as the tofu was eaten, he only chewed it a few times, and the young man's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but praise: "Hmm... Soft, tender... Melt-in-your-mouth... It's delicious! ”

With that, the young man quickly picked up another piece of tofu, threw it into his mouth, and chewed it violently...

One, two, three... The seven or eight pieces of tofu on the bamboo board were quickly swept away by the young man, and they were all eaten.

Looking at the empty bamboo board, the young man said with some unfinished thoughts: "It tastes very beautiful..., Xiaolang, can you still eat it?" ”

Zhang Ran shook his head, pulled the bamboo board back, and said, "We have already said before, we are only here for free tasting, not free to eat..., so if you still want to eat, you can only buy it yourself!" ”

"Uh" The young man was speechless when he heard this, in fact, he himself knew that since people came to the market to set up stalls, they must have to do business to make money, and they didn't come specifically to do good deeds, how could they let him eat all he could in one go?

"That's... How much is your tofu a pound? ”

"Two dollars and a catty, buy five catties and get one catty, buy ten catties and get three catties!"