Zhenniang, The Three of Us (XIV)

Jian Yu'an wanted to scream, "Is there no law anymore?!"

But how should I put it, there really is no law in this era.

In an era without laws, illegal means bring in money really fast...

After a period of frustration, Jian Yu'an had no choice but to accept reality.

Having a nail stuck in his back made Jian Yu'an feel like he had a thorn in his side, but no matter what, he had to take care of himself first.

With money, even fleeing to the foreign concessions could provide a way to survive.

Without money, you'll just rot away here.

Jian Yu'an composed himself and made arrangements for this unexpected windfall.

The villagers earn their oil penny by penny by penny. They scraped over three hundred yuan from the Zhao family.

Old Zhao probably doesn't dare to come back now. He still has money outside, but he can't take his house and land with him. They all benefited the villagers.

The Zhao family's house is exceptionally bright and nice, but if it were given to just anyone, no one would be happy about it, and the house in the countryside would be impossible to sell.

Zhao Zhenniang then decided that the courtyard would be used as a kitchen from then on, where everyone would eat after work, and the livestock would also be kept there.

The Zhao family's courtyard was spacious enough to accommodate everyone, and the cooks also fed the livestock, which was convenient for them.

Although everyone coveted the Zhao family's spacious courtyard, they knew that if they couldn't obtain it privately, it would be better to give it to the public, which satisfied everyone.

As for the Zhao family's land, Zhao Zhenniang plans to plant sesame next year after this year's harvest.

Buying sesame seeds from others is always expensive, so it's better to grow your own.

She is now leading a village in making a living, some of whom are manual laborers, and they can grow and harvest sesame seeds, but Ye Xiqing rejected her suggestion.

Sesame seeds are indeed expensive, but they are not necessities. You can't fill your stomach by eating sesame seeds when you're hungry, nor can you survive by drinking sesame oil.

Sesame oil is an economic commodity, not a necessity, so we shouldn't put all our energy into it.

The land at home should be planted with more grain, and every household should store grain in preparation for unforeseen circumstances.

Money is needed in times of peace, but in times of chaos, what matters most is human life; food is life itself.

In this day and age, money can't always buy food.

Zhao Zhenniang, having come from humble beginnings, naturally understood the importance of food and was immediately persuaded to change her mind.

Guided by her aunt's ideas, she wanted to raise more pigs, chickens, and donkeys, integrating animal husbandry, planting, and economic activities.

Fortunately, Jian Yu'an came online in time and managed to grab the money.

Jian Yu'an could no longer distinguish whether her partner was radical or conservative; as soon as she had money, she became enthusiastic about developing her landlord business.

But in this era of rising capitalism, if you want to make money quickly, you definitely have to embrace capitalism!

Taking advantage of being online, Jian Yu'an went to the city early in the morning to investigate the market conditions for goods distribution.

Even if the entire Zhao family village collectively absorbed the extinct descendants of Uncle Zhao's family, their total capital was still too little. They couldn't even dream of opening a factory; they could only start with small shops.

Even though it's just a small shop, Jian Yu'an is quite happy. Who wouldn't want to own their own business?

Although this dream was realized only after traveling to the era of warlord conflicts, it still counts as a success, doesn't it?

Jian Yu'an appeared aloof as he went to the city with Granny Wang to choose a shop, but he was secretly overjoyed.

Granny Wang was a master of charlatanry, but knew nothing about business. She looked at Jian Yu'an and asked, "Second Sister, which shop should we rent? Near a restaurant?"

Jian Yu'an pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "No, let's rent a place near the foreign firm."

Granny Wang was startled by her boldness: "Near the foreign firm?"

Since foreigners entered the country, they have used their advanced local industry to dump low-priced products on Chinese people and squeeze out the market.

Chinese people also want to support domestic products, but what can they do if domestic products are expensive?

People at the bottom of society, struggling to survive under the weight of life's pressures, just want to get by. It's impossible for them to buy expensive things out of patriotism.

Only when the granaries are full do people know etiquette; ordinary people just want to survive.

Even knowing that fattening up foreigners would lead to their own downfall, they could only live day by day, drinking poison to quench their thirst.

Even if progressive students continued to advocate boycotting foreign goods, foreign-owned businesses continued to expand, forcing countless local shops to close down.

With foreigners so powerful, why would Second Sister knowingly walk into danger?

Jian Yu'an was certainly aware of the competitiveness of foreign firms in this era, but there was a phenomenon in modern times: milk tea shops were being built in clusters, and competitors were also clustering together.

Why crowd together with competitors? Because we trust their market research.

My roommate's behavior of building a landlord business as soon as he had money in the era of rising capitalism was indeed very strange.

But since the village's collective business has been established in such a bizarre way, it is no longer suitable for her to open an oil shop, but rather a general store.

A general store is essentially a miniature trading company, and its customer base is the same as that of a trading company. What could attract a larger customer base than a trading company?

You need to have a customer base before you can show your competitiveness. This shop is located near the foreign trading company!

What Jian Yu'an said was counterintuitive, and people in the old days, with limited information flow, naturally wouldn't understand it, but what Second Sister said must be true.

It's right near the foreign firm!

Jian Yu'an logged off after noon, so Zhao Zhenniang and Granny Wang still had to watch the shop.

After running around all day, the two finally found a shop that suited their taste.

The shop originally sold fabrics, but it was completely squeezed out of business after the foreign firm opened up. The owner quit and went home, so the shop owner had to rent it out again.

The shop owner wanted more rent, and Granny Wang was not someone to be trifled with.

In this situation, if you back down even slightly, you'll get a piece of your flesh bitten off. Zhao Zhenniang looks too honest, which affects her performance.

Aunt Wang told her to stay aside while she went up to bargain with the shop owner.

After some back and forth, the two finally settled on a price of two hundred silver dollars a year, to be paid in full at once.

Two hundred silver dollars isn't expensive considering the location of the shop. If the market weren't so bad right now and the shop owner couldn't afford to leave empty, he would have raised the price even further.

For Zhao Zhenniang, however, it meant she had almost emptied her pockets, and she became very anxious. What if she couldn't earn it back?

Jian Yu'an did have her own worries, but the vast amount of knowledge she possessed in modern times allowed her to remain calm.

She's trying to maintain a superior image, that's fine, just listen to her.

...

Although it's called a general store, it mainly sells sesame oil, which is currently the only decent industry in Zhao Family Village.

Rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea are all essential items in daily life. There are many oil shops in this era, and many sell sesame oil as well. If you manage your business well, you can make a living no matter what.

But Jian Yu'an's goal was clearly not just to make a living; she wanted to pull off a big heist, and the first batch of oil would be packed into 500 bottles!

After hearing what she said, everyone was stunned.

Sesame oil is much more expensive than regular oil. Bottled sesame oil is only affordable for the middle class and above. Even families that can afford sesame oil will only change a bottle every few months. It is not a fast-moving consumer good.

Where can I buy so many?

The villagers were very worried, but Sister Hu was a fairy, so she wasn't worried.

Those 500 bottles weren't all for sale; 50 of them were "buy one get one free" offers.

Everyone was stunned. What did "another bottle" mean?

This concept was too difficult for people at that time to understand, but it is commonplace for modern people.

The bottle cap has floral characters printed on the bottom; opening it reveals good fortune, and you can have another bottle.

The "buy one get one free" business model may not be appealing to modern people. Nobody is short of a few dollars, and even if they win a prize, they're too lazy to redeem it.

For people at that time, that was a bottle of sesame oil!

When sesame oil was sold in retail, it cost 30 cents per pound; when it was bottled, it cost 12 cents per bottle. Millet cost 1 cent per pound, and you could buy 12 pounds of millet.

You also have to pay a two-cent deposit for the glass bottle. The glass bottle is considered rented, not purchased. The deposit will be refunded only after you return the bottle when you're done using it.

For customers, a bottle of oil is so expensive, but for the original manufacturer, the cost isn't that high.

A bottle of sesame oil weighs four ounces, half a pound or eight ounces, and a pound of oil is packaged into four bottles.

Five hundred bottles of sesame oil may seem like a lot, but in reality, it only contains 125 jin (62.5 catties) of oil, which is less than what was supplied to the Song family for burning.

A 125-jin (62.5 catties) bottle of oil sells for only 37.5 yuan when sold in retail, and even after deducting the 50 bottles that were given away as a gift, it still costs 54 yuan.

Of course, bottled glass was more expensive, as glass was scarce at the time and a single bottle cost 1.2 cents.

The label printing costs 4 cents, and even the rubber stopper costs one cent each. Not counting labor costs, each bottle costs 2.6 cents.

However, they did not start making profits from retail oil. They started by processing oil raw materials, eliminating middlemen and directly bottling the oil.

Because they eliminate the middleman's markup, they can sell not only in their own shops but also authorize other shops to sell, allowing the merchants to earn two cents per bottle.

The net profit of a second-hand shop selling sesame oil is about this much, and she also provides after-sales service to prevent inventory buildup.

Each batch of sesame oil produced in Zhao Family Village is labeled with its production date. Shops that purchase from them will be restocked if they are out of stock, and expired oil can be returned for a new one.

We can use recycled expired sesame oil to make soap. If it sells, we can sell it; if not, we can implement a points system where people can exchange points for soap.

This not only gives back to customers and gets rid of old sesame oil, but also makes merchants more willing to buy from them.

When redeeming the "buy one get one free" reward, customers should bring the bottle stopper and receipt to the main store to exchange it. This serves two purposes: to prevent distributors from cheating and to attract customers to the main store.

Selling at the main store at the original price allows them to earn more than they would selling to distributors.

So, the initial investment is a bit high, but if you can build up the brand, it will be extremely profitable. For fast-moving consumer goods to make big money, the key is to sell in large quantities at low profit margins.

After integrating the resources of the entire village, Zhao Family Village's productivity is quite substantial. Ideally, it could sustain a production of several thousand bottles per month.

It's not a large scale for fast-moving consumer goods, but it's just right for nurturing local brands.

The brand's value is immeasurable. Once she establishes a good reputation, she can expand production and sell nationwide.

At that time, we can not only do the sesame oil business, but also a series of derivative industries, such as soap.

If you were transported to this era, who wouldn't have a sense of national responsibility and want to revitalize the national industry?

The idea was good, but she was penniless and didn't have the financial resources to open a factory, so she could only start with a small oil mill.

Her idea was actually quite simple, but when she got to the part about hundreds of kilograms and hundreds of bottles, the villagers were completely baffled.

There's no way around it; modern people have all received nine years of compulsory education. Without a calculator, they can mentally visualize a sheet of paper and almost finish the calculations.

In this era, people at the bottom of society are not only illiterate, but some can't even count.

Seeing everyone's stunned expressions, Jian Yu'an sighed helplessly. As the business grew bigger and bigger, he needed some capable employees.

She wanted to teach the villagers basic bookkeeping and literacy, but then she realized that she only had half a day to work, and the villagers would never spare their mornings. So, she had to rely on her internal partner.

It wasn't until this moment that Jian Yu'an realized that she and her partner shared a body, and while her partner had always been causing her trouble, she had never caused her any trouble!

Thinking of this, Jian Yu'an immediately picked up his pen to write a letter, asking his roommate to take charge of the villagers' early education, so that at least they could handle some simple tasks.

Before I could even begin to write, I suddenly stopped, and several "I'll definitely do it next time" phrases flashed through my mind.

I put down my pen, and the anger in my heart started to rise again.

After pondering for a long time, he didn't write anything in the end, but instead called out to Granny Wang.

As a public shaman, Granny Wang was always at the beck and call of the two deities and would immediately follow them.

Jian Yu'an was surprised at how useful this mouthpiece was. He said to her, "I am good at writing, but not good at planning and arithmetic. My third aunt is knowledgeable in astronomy and geography, and skilled in divination. She has a lot of experience with counting rods. You can ask her for advice."

The shaman's messages take time to arrive, but Ye Xiqing, as the dominant personality, can know the information of the subordinate personality every minute and every second.

Hearing this, he sat up without being told: Huh?