That's what they said, but Zhou Ziqiong was still puzzled.

"But if only two hundred people get it for free, how will other women know the benefits of sanitary napkins?"

Jing Zhe laughed and said, "Sixth Sister, you don't need to worry about that. They say three women make a drama, which shows how powerful women's mouths are. Two hundred people have used sanitary napkins, so the women in the whole city probably know about their benefits!"

"..."

The four women thought about it, nodded, and agreed wholeheartedly.

After all, every woman is a gossip, and the word spreads from one person to ten, from ten to a hundred. How much can two hundred people spread the word?

Thinking of this, Zhou Ziqiong smiled broadly.

"My lord, this idea for sanitary napkins is indeed excellent, but what if someone imitates us?"

Zhang Xiaoyu has been in business for a long time and has seen too much of the deceit and treachery in the business world. For example, when strong liquor first came out, some people even bribed the servants of the distillery to try to imitate them!

However, their distillery's spirits were a royal business, so the other party's imitation failed. But sanitary napkins were different. The idea was good, but the production difficulty was not high. Anyone could just buy one, open it up, and sew it up.

Zhou Ziqiong frowned after hearing this.

The reason why Zhou Family Cloth Shop's business plummeted was because Qu Family Cloth Shop imitated them by selling cotton-padded clothes, and sold them at much lower prices, which led to the current situation.

Compared to Zhou's Cloth Shop, Qu's Cloth Shop has no shortage of manpower, cotton, or money. Even if Zhou's Cloth Shop produces sanitary napkins first, as long as Qu's Cloth Shop imitates it and lowers its prices, Zhou's Cloth Shop will likely repeat the same mistake.

“Zhe’er, you said it yourself, the cotton from the Qu Family Cloth Shop is obtained directly from the Prince of Jin by the Prince of Yu, so the cost price is very low. Therefore, if they really imitate our sanitary napkins, the price will definitely be very low…”

"Hehe, I'm just afraid he won't imitate it!"

Jing Zhe smiled and waved his hand, then asked, "Do you know what the core competitiveness of our sanitary napkins is?"

"Lightweight?"

"Comfortable?"

"convenient?"

Jing Zhe shook his head. "It's the word 'hygienic' in 'sanitary napkins'! Even if Qu Family Cloth Shop imitates us, they don't know how to disinfect. Even if their sanitary napkins are exactly the same as ours, they'll still cause itching and other problems after use, just like cloth bags! Who will buy theirs then?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziqiong suddenly realized what was going on.

...

About an hour had passed since Zhou Ziqiong and the others put on sanitary napkins, and Jing Zhe began to ask about their feelings.

"Master, are you itchy?"

"..."

"Owner, are you itchy?"

"..."

"Xiaoyu, what about you? Are you itchy?"

"..."

Although Jing Zhe was serious, the question sounded rather strange to them. He had often asked them this question in bed before, so hearing it suddenly made the three women feel as if they were back in the middle of a battle, recalling the sweaty, intense encounters they had experienced, and it certainly made them itch…

So this is a bit awkward.

It shouldn't be itchy, but it is itchy right now...

Jing Zhe, unaware that his serious question would be so provocative, asked Zhou Ziqiong again, "Sixth Sister, do you feel itchy?"

On the contrary, Zhou Ziqiong, who should have been the most shy, perhaps because all her thoughts were now focused on business, answered seriously.

"It doesn't itch. Zhe'er, your disinfectant really works! When I used to wear a cloth bag, even if I only wore it for fifteen minutes, I would feel a little itchy, especially if I wore it for a long time, the itching would be very obvious. But I've been wearing this sanitary napkin for more than an hour, and I haven't felt any itching at all!"

Jing Zhe nodded, clapped his hands, and said, "That's settled then."

Then, Jing Zhe started asking questions again.

"Sixth Sister, how many employees does our Zhou Family Cloth Shop have now?"

Zhou Ziqiong thought for a moment and said, "Besides the people that Xifang and Song Dalu took away today, there should be about forty people left!"

Jing Zhe nodded and continued, "Sixth Sister, you just sewed some sanitary napkins too. How many sanitary napkins do you think a person can sew in a day at most?"

"Actually, sewing sanitary napkins is much simpler than sewing a cotton coat. The most time-consuming part of sewing sanitary napkins is cutting the cotton fabric. If we send someone to cut the cotton fabric in advance, and the employees only need to add cotton and sew, the speed will be faster. With the skills of our employees, making a hundred a day should not be a problem."

Zhou Ziqiong said confidently.

Jing Zhe was very satisfied after hearing this: "If each person can make a hundred a day, then thirty people can sew three thousand a day. That's a good speed!"

"Zhe'er, we have forty people, so there should be four thousand!"

Zhou Ziqiong quickly corrected him after hearing this.

Jing Zhe waved his hand, "Sixth Sister, the main cloth shop, as well as the West and North shops, each need to leave three people to watch the shops. If these nine people leave, then there will only be thirty people left."

Zhou Ziqiong laughed and said, "Zhe'er, anyway, the fabric shop is practically closed now, no one comes to buy cotton clothes, so we might as well close it down. That way we can free up manpower to sew sanitary napkins!"

"That won't do! Not only can we not stay open, but the next few days are also crucial!"

"key?"

"Yes, because Zhou's Cloth Shop is going to lower its prices starting tomorrow, with each cotton coat only costing 150 coins! The cloth shop will definitely be very busy then!"

"Price reduction?"

This time, all four women were puzzled.

"One hundred and fifty coins? Fifty coins cheaper than Qu Family Cloth Shop?"

Zhou Ziqiong was equally surprised; she was increasingly unable to understand Jing Zhe's actions.

Jing Zhe nodded with a smile: "Yes, it's fifty coins cheaper than theirs!"

Because the Qu family's cloth shop was supported by the heir of the Yu King, his original goal was to bring down the Zhou family's cloth shop so that he could take down Zhou Ziqiong. Therefore, whether or not he made money was not within his consideration.

Of course, all this cotton came from the Prince of Jin, and the cost price was pitifully low. The cotton clothes from the Qu family cloth shop were basically only worth the labor cost. So, in order to compete with the Zhou family cloth shop, they deliberately sold them for only 200 coins each, which was more than twice as cheap as the Zhou family cloth shop's 500 coins.

Of course, the effect was immediate. All the people of Ruzhou rushed to Qu Family Cloth Shop to buy cotton-padded clothes. They wanted to support Zhou Ziqiong, but the clothes at Qu Family Cloth Shop were too cheap, so they couldn't support her even if they wanted to.

When Zhou Gui bought cotton from the Prince of Jin, he paid a high price. With the addition of labor costs, he could only make a profit by selling it for 500 coins a piece. However, the Qu family cloth shop sold it for too low a price. Even if the Zhou family cloth shop wanted to lower the price, it couldn't—200 coins a piece would result in a direct loss, and they wouldn't even be able to make up for the cost!

So after hearing Jing Zhe's affirmative answer, Zhou Ziqiong was even more confused.

————