The gossip snowballed. People who had been ready to pay up started to hesitate, wanting to wait and see if the Hu family would lower the price.
But to everyone's surprise, not only did the Hu family not lower the price, but new information spread that very day—franchise opportunities for the hot and spicy soup were limited to only ten people.
That was enough to make many people antsy.
The first person to show up at their door with the money was Aunt Wang.
She felt a little awkward.
In fact, she and her husband, Wang Min, had already talked it over the night she got back from the Hu family's home. Wang Min often traveled for work and had a broader perspective on things, so he agreed without much hesitation.
They dug out their family's meager savings of silver, planning to deliver it to the Hu family first thing the next morning.
