Chapter 72 Qin Ren: "It's not about the money..."

Qin Ren: "It's not a matter of money."

Wen Lingzheng was getting a little impatient. "So what exactly is the problem? Just tell me directly."

Qin Ren: "There are very few rubber trees in the fiefdom. I need to make not only tires, but also other things. This amount of rubber is certainly not enough."

If there isn't enough rubber, where did he get so many tires to sell to Wen Lingzheng?

Wen Lingzheng: "If there aren't enough rubber trees, then let the local people plant them. If they don't want to plant them, we can plant them ourselves."

"This can't be done in a year or two. It usually takes five or six years for a rubber tree to grow to maturity. In other words, even if we start planting now, we'll have to wait another five or six years to get more rubber."

Why is it taking so long?

"There's no way around it; trees grow slowly. It takes rubber trees this long to mature."

Upon hearing this, Wen Lingzheng couldn't help but snort. If he had known how good rubber trees were, he would have definitely encouraged the local people to plant them sooner.

It's just a pity that he couldn't predict the future, so naturally he couldn't know in advance how beneficial rubber trees were.

"Because the amount of rubber is limited, and I want to make other things, I can't produce tires in large quantities."

Hearing this, Wen Lingzheng frowned.

What else do you want to do?

"Making gloves, making rain boots, making family planning supplies..."

"What's the use of making gloves out of this? Are gloves really that urgently needed? And what about rain boots? Are rain boots shoes worn in the rain?"

As Qin Ren walked into the workshop, he slowly explained to him.

"Rubber gloves are very useful. For example, doctors can wear them when performing surgery on patients, and midwives can wear them when delivering babies. Firstly, they can prevent bacteria from being on people's hands, and secondly, they can prevent patients with infectious diseases from transmitting the disease to the doctors through blood or saliva. Rain boots are also useful. The rain boots I'm making will be much more convenient than clogs. They will not only be rainproof and waterproof, but I will also make non-slip soles."

"Then... what are family planning supplies?"

Wen Lingzheng handed the bicycle to the guard and then strode into the workshop with Qin Ren.

"Family planning products are a type of hygiene product used for contraception."

"Contraception? Is there any need for that?"

"Of course, pregnancy is not a good thing for women and boys, especially for those women and boys with poor health. Appropriate contraception can help them live longer."

"You can also take contraceptive decoction."

Wen Lingzheng is still young. He is not yet married or has children, and no one has told him that taking contraceptive soup is bad for his health.

So when he heard that Qin Ren was going to great lengths to make contraceptives for women and boys, his first reaction was complete incomprehension.

Qin Ren didn't expect him to understand. "Drinking too much contraceptive soup can also harm the body. Some loving couples, or those who don't want their wives or concubines to get pregnant, can use contraceptive products. Such products won't harm the man's body, nor will they harm the woman's or the boy's body. I think quite a few people would be willing to buy them."

Even if this is a feudal society, a male-dominated world, Qin Ren believes there must still be men willing to use such things for the sake of their wives' or husbands' health.

Not all men in a patriarchal world abuse their wives and concubines like perverts. Men are also born of children, and some men are willing to treat them well.

"Well... this isn't worth much money, why did you go to all that trouble to make it?"

In Wen Lingzheng's view, Qin Ren was just a businessman.

Merchants are driven by profit, and everything Qin Ren is doing now is for money and power.

Wen Lingzheng thought that he was doing all this in order to make money.

Qin Ren: "It's not about how much money we make, it's about the fact that there are people who genuinely need this kind of thing."

As long as there is demand, there will naturally be buyers.

This kind of thing won't make him a lot of money, but it also won't make him lose money.

Qin Ren is not short of money now, so whether he makes a lot of money or not doesn't make much difference to him.

It is said that when one is poor, one should cultivate one's own virtue; when one is successful, one should benefit all under heaven.

Qin Ren used to be a poor man, and he was somewhat greedy when doing business.

Now that Qin Ren is rich and powerful, he doesn't mind doing some good deeds for the sake of his child.

The family planning products that Qin Ren wanted to make certainly couldn't be mass-produced.

Because of different social values, people here don't care much about the health of men and women. They only care about maximizing the benefits of limited resources.

Therefore, in their eyes, family planning supplies like rubber gloves are definitely not as valuable as things like tires.

Wen Lingzheng now greatly admires Qin Ren and naturally does not want to clash with him at this time.

Qin Ren also knew that they were born in different eras, so there was really no point in arguing about such a topic.

The two tacitly avoided mentioning it again, instead shifting the topic to other things.

Wen Lingzheng: "Okay, I'll see if I can buy a piece of mountain land later, and then plant some rubber trees on that land."

"We can't plant them too densely. We need to plant some other plants as well, otherwise it will easily damage the natural environment."

Wen Lingzheng didn't understand what it meant, but she still nodded.

There are many things he doesn't understand, and he doesn't understand much of what Qin Ren is saying.

He didn't understand what bacteria or viruses meant.

But if he didn't understand, he just had to do as Qin Ren said.

Wen Lingzheng stayed in the workshop for a while longer before leading his men to find a suitable mountain site.

In fact, since Qin Ren built the rubber workshop, many people in his fiefdom have started planting rubber trees.

They learned the benefits of rubber trees; the rubber that flows out when the tree is cut can be used to make things.

Nowadays, rubber workshops collect rubber, and people can collect the rubber and sell it to the workshops.

Some people who didn't have rubber trees around started planting them near their homes.

Because it was uncertain how many Qin Blades were needed, people did not start planting them on a large scale.

Land is limited, and the land owned by ordinary people is even more limited.

Those mountains and fields mostly belonged to landlords and the public.

For ordinary people like them, it's already a blessing to own even a small plot of land.

The small amount of land they own is not even enough for them to grow crops and vegetables, and most of them are reluctant to use it to plant rubber trees.

Under such circumstances, even if someone wanted to plant rubber trees, they wouldn't be able to plant too many.

Qin Ren wasn't in a hurry to use too much rubber; given their current production capacity, they couldn't produce more tires.

This much rubber is enough for now. In five or six years, when this area develops, most of the rubber trees will have grown up.

After returning from the workshop, Qin Ren brought back some rubber gloves, rubber rain boots, and family planning supplies.

Liu Qingyue has a shop that now sells cosmetics for both women and men.

Shen Wanying has two shops that sell soap and grains.

Qin Ren planned to open a shop on the same street as Liu Qingyue's shop.

His shop doesn't always sell the same type of goods. Now that he's made rain boots and family planning products, he'll sell those in his shop for the time being.

Qin Ren went to the shop the next day. He was going to deliver goods to Liu Qingyue's shop and also open his own shop at the same time.

Liu Qingyue's shop has always been very popular, and many small vendors buy a lot of goods from her for resale.

Qin Ren knew they were middlemen, so he didn't bother with them.

His fiefdom is still too poor. More small merchants like him would bring in more commercial taxes.

Furthermore, no matter what, it's a good thing as long as the people can become prosperous.

As for whether or not there is a concern about no one farming?

Qin Ren reduced the local commercial tax, and also reduced the local land tax.

Furthermore, merchants were considered to be of low social status, so many people were unwilling to be reduced to that status.

Furthermore, nowadays farmers can collect rubber to sell for money, so being a farmer isn't any worse than being a merchant.

If Qin Ren provides them with more opportunities, they will have more ways to make money, and their lives will gradually improve.

When Qin Ren went to his shop to restock, many curious people came to watch.

Gloves and rain boots were unusual, but once people found out what they were, they weren't so unusual anymore.

Compared to these two things, people are more curious about family planning products.

When Qin Ren saw someone asking, he explained it to them frankly.

Then he scared the customers in the shop so much that they turned red in the face. Several old men looked at him as if he were some kind of monster.

Qin Ren was speechless at the sight. "What's there to be afraid of?"

A man dressed as a scholar said, "This, this kind of thing is hardly suitable for refined occasions. My lord, why would you sell such a thing?"

Qin Ren: "What's so unrefined about this? Don't you scholars love to boast about your romantic nature? I overheard you talking to some of your classmates about the beautiful women in brothels. Now you're pretending to be innocent and naive."

Hearing Qin Ren's impolite words, the scholar's face turned red and then white.

Qin Ren didn't care about his reputation at all. He despised those who seemed suave but did so many dissolute things in private, yet pretended to be very noble.

"This thing of mine has its own advantages. If you want to buy it, buy it; if you don't want it, leave. I don't want to listen to your lofty talk, and I don't need your pointing fingers."

After Qin Ren finished speaking, he waved his hand, indicating that those who were not buying anything could leave, looking completely unconcerned about not having customers.

In fact, people who want to buy it won't say much at all.

Those who chatter and point fingers are clearly not going to buy, so why should Qin Ren indulge them?

Because Qin Ren openly sold things like condoms in his shop, he was criticized by the scholars quite a bit in the following days.

Unfortunately, Qin Ren was neither a civil official nor a military general.

The path he took was different from that of other officials.

His Majesty didn't care about his slander.

The emperor only cared whether Qin Ren could bring benefits to Dayong.

As for the condom, it wasn't anything outrageous, not something he had to concern himself with.

Besides, just as Qin Ren said, that thing is also useful.

Contraceptive decoction is a strong medicine; taking too much of it is bad for your health.

If he were to meet a concubine he liked, and she happened to be in poor health...

Compared to taking contraceptive soup, that stuff is definitely more effective.

Many people assume that things like condoms wouldn't sell. But after making inquiries, they find that they can actually be sold.

Some men who love their wives and husbands will buy it, and some wealthy young ladies will buy it. If men don't cherish their bodies, then they will cherish their own bodies.

Anyway, there are indeed people who buy them, and quite a lot of them.

They would have their servants go to buy it just before dark.

Because Qin Ren didn't make many, they sold out quickly, and were all gone in just a few days.

This made some people who didn't buy feel like they had missed out on something good, so they started asking around about when the store would get new stock.

Even Qin Ren himself wasn't clear about the new products being introduced.

His shop doesn't sell any particular items regularly; what he sells in the future depends entirely on his mood.

On New Year's Day, Qin Ren built a new car.

This vehicle is a modified wheelchair, with newly made tires and a shock absorber.

Qin Ren didn't need this, so he planned to put it in the shop and sell it at a high price during the New Year.

Before he could even sell his items, Wen Lingzheng threw him a bag of gold beans and bought the wheelchair from him.

Seeing this, Qin Ren couldn't help but ask, "You're so young, you don't need a wheelchair, why are you spending so much money on this?"

Wen Lingzheng: "I don't really need it, but I don't want to see you waste good things."

Can ordinary people really understand how to use something as good as tires?

"You're not planning to buy it and then remove the tires, are you?"

"No, it's not that. What you made is quite interesting. I want to buy it and send it to the capital."

Then let the artisans in the capital study it. If they don't need it, they can dismantle it. In any case, they will never let Qin Blade be sold to anyone else.

Qin Ren saw that the man was foolish and had a lot of money, so he stopped caring what he was going to do.

He weighed the money bag in his hand, then smiled and said to Wen Lingzheng, "Very well, please visit my shop often, young marquis."

Wen Lingzheng snorted reluctantly, thinking that it was fortunate that he had plenty of money, otherwise he would have had to watch Qin Ren run wild.

The tires that Qin Ren made later were immediately put on Wen Lingzheng's bicycle.

Wen Lingzheng gave him money, and Qin Ren had made a lot of money from him, so naturally he had to give him some face.

There was another major reason why Qin Ren was so generous: his car engine had not yet been developed.

Since he hadn't made an engine, the tires he had weren't of much use, so he might as well sell them to Wen Lingzheng to turn them into money.

Only with money could he collect more rubber and make more good products.