On his way to the silk factory, Shen Qing thought that Gao Yuanxiang and her husband originally wanted to take advantage of the Gao family's improved situation, but this morning they learned that the Gao family was still in debt and might be arrested at any time for not being able to repay the money, so they ran away in a hurry.
He said he was going back to get the silver, but it was just an excuse to run away.
These days, when businessmen travel, who doesn't carry a few banknotes in their pockets?
However, Shen Qing found it a bit strange that Gao Yuanxiang's husband didn't take his wife and children with him, but ran away on his own.
Oh well, it's good that the sneaky man is gone. Apart from being a bit sharp-tongued, Gao Yuanxiang probably can't cause any trouble.
With this in mind, Shen Qing was able to focus on her work.
She calculated this year's production plan and profit forecast, and realized that she might not be able to save 100,000 taels to pay off her debts by October, which made her anxious again.
The profit margin for rayon is indeed considerable, but the problem is that she currently only has ten machines. Even if the workers work in two shifts, the output can only be doubled.
That's far from enough.
"We still need to increase production capacity..." Shen Qing muttered to himself.
She put down her brush, stood up, and walked to the covered bridge.
The ten machines have almost filled the small space, and even if we had the money to buy new machines, there would be no place to put them.
Not to mention that we don't have any extra money right now.
If Xuan Yue fails to repay the 100,000 taels of silver owed to Master Zhao, then another bloody storm is inevitable.
Recalling the county jail, Shen Qing felt a chill run down his spine, and a sense of fear crept into his heart.
She rubbed her arms and turned back to the accounting office.
The shopkeeper came in, ran up the ladder, and seeing her, exclaimed happily as he ran, "Young Madam! Young Madam!"
Shen Qing stopped in her tracks: "What's wrong? Why are you here at this hour instead of minding the shop?"
The shopkeeper, breathless, said, "There are merchants from Guangzhou...the merchants want to place an order!"
Shen Qing was delighted and quickly invited the person inside: "Do you want to order real silk or rayon?"
"Rayon!" The shopkeeper tried to catch his breath. "This customer had already ordered real silk from another silk merchant, but by sheer coincidence, he was staying at the inn across from our shop. He saw the excitement of our trial sale of rayon the other day and came in this morning to take a look. Luckily, we still had a few samples in the shop. I showed them to him, and he immediately said he wanted to order 100,000 bolts! Delivery in a year!"
"One hundred thousand horses?" Shen Qing had already automatically calculated the profit this order could generate in his mind.
She was quite excited, but the next second, she was caught in a dilemma.
"But 100,000 horses is almost three years' worth of our production. With a one-year delivery time, we simply can't reach that target."
The shopkeeper suggested, "Hire more workers and buy more machines!"
Shen Qing thought for a few seconds and asked, "Did the customer mention anything about advance payment?"
They said they had never worked with us before and could only accept a 10% deposit.
Shen Qing did some mental calculations for a few seconds: "A 10% deposit isn't enough to buy the machine."
She felt it would be a real pity if this deal fell through, and after a moment's consideration, she decided to personally go and talk to the businessman from Guangzhou.
Shen Qing and the shopkeeper arrived at the shop. The shopkeeper went to the inn across the street to invite the Guangzhou merchants, while Shen Qing wandered around the shop.
During this time, several young women came into the shop to look at the fabrics: "Shopkeeper, I heard that you sell very cheap silk here, what patterns do you have?"
Shen Qing quickly went to the counter and took a sample booklet from the shelf behind him to the counter: "We have these colors in total, but they are all sold out. The next batch of goods will not arrive for another half month."
The girls came forward to choose, and they were all very satisfied.
"But I'm afraid I won't be able to get any! I heard they sell out as soon as the store opens!"
"Then you'd have to line up before dawn, right?"
"That won't do! It's so cold now! It's not worth getting frostbite just to buy fabric!"
"Of course..."
The girls felt that they wouldn't be able to get the fabric even after half a month, so they thought about leaving.
Shen Qing had an idea and called out, "Sir, please wait a moment."
The girls turned to look at her.
Shen Qing smiled and said, "How about this, you tell me the colors and quantities you want, and I'll write them down and save them for you so you don't have to compete with others."
Upon hearing this, the girls happily came forward to choose their own colors.
I loved every single pattern, and I couldn't bear to give up any of them, so in the end I just bought a whole bolt of each pattern.
Shen Qing wrote them down one by one.
"However, if you want to place an order, you need to pay in advance. When the goods arrive, we will arrange for a servant to deliver them to your residences."
The girls were all a little conflicted when they heard this, afraid that if they paid in advance, Shen Qing would run away with the money.
One of the girls said, "It shouldn't be. This shop has been open for over twenty years and has never moved. They wouldn't run away for such a small amount of money. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to do any business!"
Shen Qing suggested at the opportune moment, "These ladies are all here for the first time, and they're willing to trust us and pay in advance to place their orders. How about this, I'll give them a discount?"
After saying that, he crossed out the original amount and changed it to a smaller amount. He also gave each person a gift certificate stamped with the Gao family seal, explaining that if they could not pick up the goods, they could report it to the government at any time.
The girls, having gotten a good deal and received a guarantee, were no longer worried and quickly took out their purses to pay the money.
After seeing them off, Shen Qing immediately turned back to the counter.
She took out her abacus and ledger, and her five fingers clicked and clacked on the abacus until she finally got a satisfactory number.
She looked confidently at the inn across the street.
The shopkeeper quickly led the Guangzhou merchant into the shop, and Shen Qing hurriedly went to greet him and led him to the inner room.
Perhaps not expecting the owner to be a woman, and such a young-looking woman at that, the merchant asked in surprise, "Is this Boss Shen?"
The shopkeeper bowed and nodded: "That's right. This is Mr. Shen, the head of our Gao Family Silk Shop."
The merchant frowned: "Doing business with a woman is a bit inappropriate!"
Shen Qing poured him a cup of tea and asked with a generous smile, "What's wrong with it?"
"How can this woman do business? How could she possibly understand the ins and outs of this business?"
Shen Qing remained unperturbed, maintaining a steady smile on his face: "There are two ways to do business—the crooked way and the honest way. I don't understand the crooked way, but the honest way is what I've always been doing."
The shopkeeper listened and nodded: "Our boss, Ms. Shen, is very good at doing business. The rayon you ordered was invented by our boss, Ms. Shen! In order to make this rayon, Ms. Shen went to Shanghai several times. She not only imported the looms, but also the raw materials, all of which she managed to import from foreigners!"
"Imported from foreigners?" The merchant's eyes lit up upon hearing this.
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