I Became the Eldest Daughter of a Fallen Family - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 19. Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing.
A type of marketing strategy that induces the spread of product information by cultivating rumors and public opinion among potential consumers.
Stripping away unnecessarily complicated language, in its simplest form, it is a word-of-mouth promotion strategy.
Wait, isn’t paid endorsement illegal?
This is a neighborhood where whip-therapy and sizzle are legal instead of forensic science. Do you really think there’s anything like fair trade laws or “regulations on fair labeling and advertising”?
As the atmosphere among the potential customers grew ominous, So Yeon-hui broke into a wide smile and shouted.
“Everyone, today marks the opening celebration—free Tang Hulu for all! Just for today, I’m handing out samples so you can get a taste of what Tang Hulu is really like. Please, try one before you go! It’s a bit melted because of the heat today, but normally it’s much more delicious!”
At that, Yang, standing nearby, shook her head in exasperation and clicked her tongue.
“Oh dear girl, you’ll get yourself cheated like this! Why do you keep handing things out in all directions?”
“It was food I wouldn’t be able to sell anyway. I’m grateful if anyone enjoys it happily.”
“Hmph! The more I look, the more you seem to have no greed for money. Are you perhaps a bodhisattva who descended to this world?”
Yang shook her head firmly, clicking her tongue.
Never having experienced special events or tastings, she believed So Yeon-hui was simply engaging in charitable work out of a good heart.
‘Of course I’m not entirely without such feelings, but even if it were charity, it’s absolutely no loss for me.’
That was because every time she distributed Tang Hulu to people, she heard that familiar “ding” sound, and Good Deed Points accumulated one by one.
Today’s revenue: 0 coins.
But at the same time: 50 points.
Combined with the 100 points received yesterday, her Good Deed Points earnings over two days totaled 150 points.
‘This much… I can buy it. The meat grinder!’
Chopping sausage with a knife?
Oh, of course it’s possible.
Filling the casings one by one by hand using bamboo tubes?
That’s how everyone used to make them!
But if tools were available, why not use them?
So Yeon-hui curled her lips upward and opened Jijangmol.
This was the time for showing off.
* * *
The difference between having tools and not having them is that work proceeds at least three times faster.
On the way home, So Yeon-hui reached a mountain path with few people and shopped as though it were Black Friday itself.
A Manual Meat Grinder, stainless steel containers good for hygienic food storage, and even an assortment of spices to add to the sugar and sausage.
Her back carrier was completely full and she had to carry more in both hands, yet her steps felt light.
“Yeon-hui, what is all this? These metal things… wait, is this really metal? It looks like silver somehow.”
Ah, well, that is called ‘Stainless Steel 304.’
But in a neighborhood where there isn’t even proper steel, only cast iron, there’s little point mentioning cutting-edge alloys.
So Yeon-hui glossed over it with a vague laugh and hurriedly asked her family to help make Fragrant Sauce while heaping various tasks upon them.
After all, when the body is busy, the mind has no room for other thoughts!
“So you’re saying you’ll earn a guaranteed 150 coins once every four days? By selling this Fragrant Sauce?”
“More precisely, 100 coins. The materials cost about 50 coins per batch.”
“How much is that? Over a month, you’d be earning 1,000 coins just from Fragrant Sauce! Of course, that falls far short of what’s needed for taxes….”
“That’s why we also sell Tang Hulu. If I bring Tang Hulu every time I go to Jinseong, I should be able to earn 200 coins every four days.”
That means conservatively, 2,000 coins a month. Enough to buy two sacks of rice.
Considering there’s about two and a half months left before taxes come due….
‘Will… will it somehow work out?’
Sweat ran down So Yeon-hui’s spine.
Five sacks of rice was far more daunting than she’d imagined.
At least impossible for a mere criminal cast out with nothing.
“No, it’s fine! How could anything go wrong when the Bodhisattva Jijang himself helps me?”
If worst came to worst, he’d step in to help. Surely he wouldn’t just look the other way?
Besides, So Yeon-hui had prepared one more contingency strategy.
‘If it comes to that, I can just take something from Jijangmol and sell it.’
As she clenched her fist and steeled herself, her mother let out a soft laugh and offered her comfort.
“Looking at you, Yeon-hui, you’ve got an unexpectedly optimistic streak. You’re right. Surely Heaven won’t turn away from our family. Not after all that hardship defending the nation.”
Three generations of protecting the people and accumulating virtue—surely Heaven would preserve their lives at least, she said, forcing a smile.
In this softened atmosphere, So Yeon-hui finished preparing the meat and finally placed the imposing Manual Meat Grinder on the table.
Jang, who had been rinsing the seasoned and soaked Casings, looked between her daughter and the strange machine with eyes full of curiosity.
“It’s such a fascinating object. But what on earth is it for?”
“It’s for grinding meat. There’s a blade inside, and when you turn the handle, it rotates and grinds the meat.”
A picture is worth a thousand words. So Yeon-hui fixed the grinder firmly in place, set a broad Basin in front of it, fed in the meat she’d cut into appropriate pieces, and slowly turned the handle.
Crunch-crunch. Crunch-crunch-crunch.
With that unfamiliar sound, finely ground meat began spurting out from the exit of the perforated grinder like noodles.
“Heavens above! What am I seeing?”
Curious, she touched it lightly—the meat was indeed finely ground.
What’s more, the fat and lean were already well mixed together.
“To mince it this finely would require hours of knife work. Yet it’s resolved so simply.”
A divine instrument.
It could be nothing other than a mechanism sent by Heaven.
Jang’s thoughts came to a complete halt.
They say your mind goes blank when you see something truly miraculous—and her expression was exactly that.
Yet even so, she couldn’t suppress the question that suddenly rose in her mind.
Where on earth had So Yeon-hui obtained such a thing?
Turning her head in confusion, she found ‘So Yeon-hui’ turning the handle of the strange divine instrument as though perfectly accustomed to it.
‘Is that child… truly my daughter?’
Jang’s words caught in her throat.
Unaware of her mother’s turmoil, So Yeon-hui continued in a calm voice.
“At this pace, it won’t take even half a Shicheen to grind the meat, season it, and fill the casings.”
“Fill them too?”
“Yes, there’s a nozzle at the exit here—you just fit the casing and tube, and turn, and it fills automatically.”
Seeing her daughter shrug as though cooking really does come down to equipment, Jang swallowed hard.
So that’s why she’d boasted she could run both Fragrant Sauce and Tang Hulu businesses simultaneously. This was the plan?
“At this rate, you could make over ten pounds in a day.”
“If Father helps. Doing it all alone would tire my arms too much.”
Grinding six pounds of meat by hand would only bring on body aches. She had a four-hour round trip to travel for business—she needed to preserve her strength.
“Actually, what really worries me is less the Fragrant Sauce and more the Tang Hulu. The Tang Hulu I took in a basket yesterday all melted and ruined both the Tang Hulu and the basket. I don’t regret using it for a good cause, but if that keeps happening, it will be a problem.”
She needed to take some measure to keep the Tang Hulu from sticking together, but she couldn’t think of how.
So Yeon-hui let out a short sigh.
Then Jang blinked quietly for a moment before asking in an odd tone of voice.
“Why not just sell them all before they melt? They sold just fine at the Five-Day Market—why did you let them sit until they melted?”
Um… I happened to go to prison unintentionally?
But if she said such a thing, she’d be forbidden from going to Jinseong at once.
……
So Yeon-hui held her tongue and simply smiled.
Only the grinding whir of the meat grinder echoed quietly through the kitchen for a while.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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