After dealing with Shen Qiyue's matter, Yan Xiao continued to devote herself to her money-making endeavors.

The crayfish business continued, but there were fewer and fewer crayfish near Jiangbei City, and the quantity was much smaller, and the size also began to vary.

So Yanxiao changed the purchase price: 20 wen per jin for the larger ones and 18 wen per jin for the smaller ones. This price was acceptable to the migrants outside.

Or perhaps because of the previous incident of refusing to accept the goods after the price reduction, they no longer dared to have any more troublesome thoughts.

Not only that, Yan Xiao also started buying all kinds of river mussels and shells from the refugees outside the city. The price was about the same as the outside market price, only two coins per pound, and the shells had to be processed and dried.

Since the crayfish in the river are no longer a threat, it is still possible to catch some shellfish if you want to.

Although the price is low, it's fine to just pick up any crayfish you see while catching them; it won't cause any problems.

However, these things are usually found in deep water and muddy areas, making them difficult to collect and quite troublesome to process. Therefore, given the availability of crayfish, not many people make a special effort to search for them.

However, Yan Xiao wasn't in a hurry. After all, she was the only one buying shells right now, and with so many refugees picking up one each, she had enough for the time being.

Moreover, even if no one comes to sell them, you can still buy seashells for making jewelry in the city, although they will be much more expensive.

Since we've decided to do it, we need to get all the preparations done. Otherwise, it would be embarrassing if we didn't have any stock when the soap became famous.

After all, this isn't something that can be finished in just a day or two.

In the past few days, Mu Yunniang has begun to promote the soap according to Yan Xiao's plan.

The names of the first twenty distinguished guests have already been posted at the entrance, and it has been announced that the mysterious general's wife, Yanxiao, will personally appear that day to present the soap to the twenty distinguished guests who have won the soap award.

This news caused a sensation throughout Jiangbei City.

Besides being curious about what the soap was and what its purpose was, people were even more curious about the connection between the soap and the general's wife.

It's astonishing that the general's wife, who has always kept her true identity hidden, would choose to show herself at this time when rumors are rampant.

The names on the list of the top 20 people displayed at the entrance of Duobaoge change daily.

Just as Yan Xiao thought, wealthy people care about face and status, especially some wealthy ladies who like to compare themselves with others and are proud to be on that list.

This has led to a significant increase in Mu Yunniang's business and profits at her Treasure Pavilion recently.

The soap business hadn't even started yet, but it already had such an effect, which made Mu Yunniang admire Yan Xiao even more.

She intended to give Yanxiao a share of the profits, but Yanxiao refused, generously stating that those goods had nothing to do with her and she couldn't take them.

The most important reason was that she knew Duobaoge had a boss behind it, and she didn't want to offend her future god of wealth before even making contact.

Seeing that she really didn't want it, Mu Yunniang didn't force her, but secretly increased her initial investment in the soap.

Yan Xiao knew and let her be, as long as she wouldn't suffer a loss.

The list at the entrance of Duobao Pavilion vaguely resembled a ranking of the richest people in Jiangbei City, which was undoubtedly due to Yan Xiao's efforts in secretly creating hype.

In other towns, these wealthy people might keep a low profile and wouldn't dare to be so high-profile, much less appear on the rich list.

But this is Jiangbei City, the territory under Shen Muzhi's jurisdiction.

When Shen Muzhi first conquered Jiangbei, he only targeted corrupt officials and some unscrupulous merchants who colluded with them to make ill-gotten gains. He didn't even consider targeting honest businessmen like them, let alone now.

Nowadays, as long as these people behave themselves and pay their taxes on time, they can be protected and don't have to worry about being taken advantage of. This is the main reason why Shen Muzhi is so beloved in Jiangbei.

Besides promoting her soap, Yanxiao is also looking for a location to build a soap manufacturing factory, as well as selecting managers and production staff.

Even with Mu Yunniang helping out, they were still so busy they barely had time to breathe.

We finally chose a location and even bought a few skilled craftsmen from a local vendor, but that's simply not enough to really get the factory up and running.

From a security perspective alone, it's a huge problem.

If security measures are not good enough, it is likely that some people will become envious once the soap business takes off.

Her ultimate goal is to expand this business to various towns and cities. Inevitably, some people will try to steal the formula, so the factory must be extremely careful with its security measures.

When it came to solving the security problem, the first person she thought of was the mechanic Mo Antong.

Judging by the time, the molds she ordered from Mo Antong should already have quite a few finished products by now, and she felt it was time for her to go and take a look.

Having made her decision, she immediately instructed Zhao Qian to prepare a carriage and headed straight for Mo Antong's shop.

When entering the shop, Yan Xiao hesitated for a moment before gesturing for Qianqiu Wandai and Zhao Qian to wait outside.

She has something to discuss with Mo Antong today, so it's not very convenient to bring these people along.

When Yan Xiao arrived, Mo Antong was inside carving the interior of a mold. Upon seeing her, Mo Antong simply nodded slightly and then continued with his work.

Upon seeing this, his apprentice quickly explained to Yanxiao:

"Please don't take offense, Madam. That's just how my master is when he's doing things; he doesn't really pay attention to people."

"It's alright."

Yan Xiao waved her hand, not angry at being ignored.

She picked up the mold that had already been carved into its internal shape and set it aside to examine it.

Upon opening it, one could see that the interior had been carved into the shape of flowers, and each compartment was carved with the character "言" (yan), as she had requested.

"As expected of Master Mo, the things he made were even more exquisite and refined than I expected."

As soon as Yan Xiao finished speaking, Mo Antong immediately stopped what he was doing and slowly raised his head to stare straight at Yan Xiao.

His gaze, combined with his current appearance, was truly frightening.

But this had no effect on Yan Xiao at all. No matter how ugly Mo Antong was, at least he still looked like a human being, and he was much more kind and approachable than that zombie.

She put down the mold in her hand and stared at Mo Antong without taking the initiative to speak, which made the atmosphere at the scene somewhat tense.

In the end, it was Mo Antong's apprentice who noticed something was wrong. Although he was somewhat puzzled about the situation, he still took the initiative to speak to Yan Xiao:

"Madam, are you mistaken? My master's surname is Li, not Mo."