Zhao Qian had already seen the soap Yan Xiao made; after all, it was currently drying in the yard.

It looks quite nice. Judging from its appearance, it should be for women, but we don't know exactly what it's used for.

The lady at the time meant that it would need to be dried for about a month.

Upon hearing Yan Xiao's question, he quickly replied:

"It's already decided. The patterns drawn by the lady have been given to the boss, and he said there are no problems after reviewing them."

"That's fine as long as there are no problems."

Yan Xiao nodded in satisfaction. The mold issue was resolved; now the most important problem was finding partners.

Otherwise, it would be too troublesome for her to do it alone, as she would have to find shops and sales channels. She already had a target for a business partner: Mu Yunniang.

When it comes to doing business with women, Zhao is the most reliable, and with Mu Yunniang's generosity, she's simply the best choice.

Given Mu Yunniang's current attitude towards her, it should be easy to get Mu Yunniang to cooperate with her. Even if it doesn't make money, she will still give her face.

However, she wasn't only interested in the business in Jiangbei; once the soap business was successful, it could be expanded to other towns.

As for Jiangbei, it would be troublesome and costly for her to handle the production headquarters directly, and there would be a lot of resistance when it was implemented.

But if Mu Yunniang really is from that mysterious force, then she already has established shops and influence elsewhere, so she doesn't need to worry about sales channels at all, which would save her a lot of trouble.

However, if it were only in Jiangbei, Mu Yunniang should have no problem, but for businesses elsewhere, Mu Yunniang probably wouldn't be able to make decisions.

Therefore, Mu Yunniang could only be a middleman to relay messages to her, and she had to let the people behind Mu Yunniang know the value of the soap in order for the business to have any chance of success.

The soap had only been drying for a few days, so it couldn't be used yet and its effects wouldn't be visible. She could only wait, but she could talk to Mu Yunniang about the business in Jiangbei first.

Once the business in Jiangbei took off and the soap gained a good reputation, she could say she had proven the soap's value to the person behind it.

Therefore, Yanxiao has decided to bring up the soap business with Mu Yunniang after she finishes her treatment today.

This way, she can continue making soap later, since it needs to be dried. If she doesn't make it now, she won't have any stock when her business picks up.

Just as Yan Xiao was thinking, a servant came to report that Ma Youcai had arrived.

Yan Xiao calculated the time over the past two days, and with some news that Zhao Qian brought her, she felt that Ma Youcai should be coming to find her by now.

Seeing that the person had arrived, he immediately instructed the servant to invite them in, while he himself went behind the screen and sat down.

It's not that she believes women shouldn't see men outside the home, but rather that her appearance changes every day, so it's better for her to see fewer outsiders and she's too lazy to explain.

As soon as Ma Youcai entered the room, he glanced at Zhao Qian, who was standing to the side glaring at him, and then immediately bowed and greeted Yan Xiao.

"This humble servant greets Madam."

"Manager Ma, there's no need for such formalities."

Yan Xiao gestured for Qianqiu to offer Ma Youcai a seat and pour him tea, then got straight to the point:

"Manager Ma, did you come today because of the crayfish?"

"Indeed, Madam is incredibly insightful."

Ma Youcai first flattered him, and then said:

"After the lady said she would stop buying, the sales channels for crayfish were almost cut off. The refugees outside the city were still looking around, but when they saw that the city really stopped buying, they became anxious."

They are now outside the city demanding to see the general, saying that the general cannot abandon them and insisting that the purchases continue at the original price, making no further mention of raising prices.

The fact that the migrants outside the city wanted to raise prices was a headache for other businesses in the city.

But ever since Yanxiao stopped buying crayfish and spread rumors that the cost was too high and he wanted to lower the price, other businesses in the city seemed to be waiting for the price to drop, and they also stopped buying crayfish and stopped their crayfish business altogether.

That's understandable. 20 coins per catty is already expensive. They're just eating scraps of meat anyway. If the purchase price goes up, how will they make any money?

This has led to the current situation where it's not that the refugees outside the city aren't selling, but rather that nobody is buying them at all.

At most, a few greedy individuals would occasionally go to buy some, but this was far from enough to solve the problem of crayfish in the hands of the migrants outside the city.

Some migrants managed to catch crayfish from afar, only to find that the city had stopped buying them, and they could only watch as the crayfish slowly died one by one.

Then think about the price it could have sold for, how could you not feel heartbroken?

Those few migrants who initially instigated the price increase have now become thorns in the side of many migrants. They could no longer stay in Jiangbei and secretly ran away on a dark and windy night.

They had no choice but to run away. The refugees felt that the current situation was all their fault; the crayfish that could have been sold for money were now stuck in their hands.

I can't bear to eat live shrimp every day, so I eat dead ones instead. Every time I eat them, I feel uncomfortable and heartbroken.

When they were upset, they would curse at them, and those with bad tempers would even beat them. If it weren't for the city guards watching over them, they would probably have been beaten to death long ago.

After listening to Ma Youcai's report, Yan Xiao nodded knowingly.

The outcome was pretty much what she had guessed. That's human nature. If the price really went up, those few people would be heroes and would probably get a few nice words.

But if the outcome is not as desired, then one is a sinner, and what one receives is not just a few words that are neither painful nor meaningful.

The nail that sticks out gets hammered down; this has been the case since ancient times.

She had already figured out how to end this matter, so she directly said to Ma Youcai:

"Crayfish have been off the market for so long, it's time to resume selling them. Go buy them tomorrow and set the price at 18 coins. I said I'd lower the price, so I have to."

As for whether the price will be changed in the future, we'll have to wait and see how things go as crayfish become increasingly difficult to find.

To the outside world, they said it was because the general's wife was considerate of their difficulties and couldn't bear to see them suffer, that she continued to risk losing money on this business.

Upon hearing this, Ma Youcai's face twitched suspiciously. Afraid that Yan Xiao would notice his lapse in composure, he quickly lowered his head even further, continuing to flatter him:

"Madam's kindness is a blessing to the refugees! I will not disturb you any longer and will take my leave now."

Yan Xiao accepted the flattery with a clear conscience and felt that this was indeed the case, as if he were a living bodhisattva.

Regardless of her motives or how much money she made, those refugees did indeed benefit from her and found a way to survive. No one can deny her contribution.

That's why there's no Jiang Ziya now; otherwise, Yan Xiao's name would definitely be on the Investiture of the Gods list.

After Ma Youcai left, Yan Xiao calculated the time and realized it was almost time to meet Mu Yunniang.

She got up and stretched, intending to walk towards Yuanyitang, but saw Zhao Qian staring at her with a hesitant look in his eyes.

She raised an eyebrow in confusion and asked:

"What's up?"

Zhao Qian pursed her lips, gave Yan Xiao an awkward smile that looked more like a grimace, and then uttered a few words through her mouth:

"Madam, the general has been gone for almost half a month."

Fortunately, Yan Xiao, being a superhuman, has better senses than ordinary people; otherwise, he probably wouldn't have been able to hear what Yan Xiao was saying.

Hearing his words, Yan Xiao was even more confused, looking completely bewildered.

"Then what?"

Zhao Qian, looking utterly miserable: ......

Is this lady genuinely unaware, or is she pretending not to understand?