Mr. Li smiled awkwardly: "Yes, I have been cooperating with this farm for many years. In previous years, I would only contact them when it was time to harvest the wool. I didn't expect you to beat me to it this year."
Shen Qing smiled but didn't say anything.
Looking at the fabrics displayed in the shop, Mr. Li asked curiously, "But Mr. Shen, you're in the fabric business, what are you going to do with all this duck feathers this year?"
Shen Qing did not answer immediately.
The down jacket business is currently kept secret, and outsiders must not know that she is buying up large quantities of duck feathers for use as fabric.
After thinking for a moment, he smiled and said, "It can be used as a hair accessory for girls."
As she spoke, she casually took a hairpin from her hair and pointed to the enamel ornament on it, saying, "Right here, with a circle of dyed duck feathers, lively and mischievous."
He raised his hand again, pointing to the cuff, and said, "Here, we can sew a circle of duck feathers on it too, it'll look nice!"
Mr. Li knew she was lying, so he smiled awkwardly and said, "Let's get back to business, Mr. Shen."
Shen Qing smiled and nodded: "Please go ahead, Mr. Li."
“I heard from the farm that you only need the duck armpit feathers, not the feathers from other parts.”
That's right.
Mr. Li did not breathe a sigh of relief. He frowned and tentatively asked, "In that case, Mr. Shen, you can keep the duck armpit feathers and sell me the rest of the feathers, is that alright?"
Shen Qing swept up all the duck feathers in the Jiangzhe region, making it hard not to suspect that he was trying to monopolize the market and raise prices.
So he came not only to buy duck feathers today, but also with the intention of bargaining.
Thinking of this, before Shen Qing could reply, she began to play the victim: "My family is just a small pharmacy, selling only to local people. We've always set our prices extremely low, with almost no profit. If Mr. Shen's duck feathers are priced too high, we can't afford them either, which will be a hardship for the local people..."
In an effort to drive down prices, they even brought out the common people, attempting to morally blackmail Shen Qing.
If Shen Qing insists on raising the price of duck feathers, then he is being heartless and making enemies of the people.
Shen Qingquan understood and was a little unhappy, but he didn't show it: "We're all businessmen, so let's not say things like 'there's almost no profit to speak of.' Those who understand, understand."
Mr. Li's face stiffened, and he remained silent.
Shen Qing smiled and poured him a cup of hot tea, indicating that the business was still open to discussion.
Mr. Li tactfully drank the tea, indicating that he wanted to continue the discussion.
Shen Qing asked with a smile, "How much did you pay per pound for the duck feathers you bought from the farm last year?"
"One hundred and fifty coins."
"The price of this batch of spring wool I bought is two hundred coins per pound, but I'll sell it to you for one hundred and fifty coins."
Shen Qing was not angry because the farm sold it to him for fifty coins more per pound.
She's a new customer; how could I possibly get this batch of wool if I didn't charge a higher price?
But next year, she won't be able to give the farm 200 coins.
Upon hearing that he could buy back the duck feathers at the original price, Boss Li was overjoyed and immediately stood up, cupping his hands in greeting to Shen Qing: "Boss Shen is so generous!"
I came prepared for the price of Shenqing to rise by several hundred coins per jin.
It went so smoothly, I didn't expect it to be so easy.
Shen Qing smiled and said, "But I have one condition."
Mr. Li paused, awkwardly lowered his clasped hands, and stood there looking at Shen Qing: "What are the conditions?"
"When the duck farm is collecting feathers, you need to send someone to separate the feathers, separate the duck armpit feathers I need, and send them to me in Jiangzhou. You can take all the feathers from the other parts."
Mr. Li looked troubled: "But this is a huge project! You know how expensive labor is these days..."
Shen Qing smiled nonchalantly: "It's alright, then let's work together again sometime in the future."
After saying that, he stood up and called out, "Manager, see the guests out!"
"Mr. Shen! Mr. Shen!" Mr. Li hurriedly invited her to sit down again. "Let's talk again!"
Shen Qing showed no intention of taking a seat, raising an eyebrow at him: "This is my condition. If you can do it, Chunmao is yours. If you can't, I can give it to someone else."
She collected all the duck feathers in the entire Jiangsu and Zhejiang region. If you didn't get the duck feathers from her, you would have to go to a much farther place. The round-trip travel expenses were one thing, but the most troublesome thing was that the distance was too far, and the duck feathers would rot and become smelly before they could be transported to the local area, and then they would all be wasted!
So now Mr. Li is essentially being held by the throat by her; if he doesn't get the duck feathers from her, he has nowhere to go!
Mr. Li sighed, "Alright. One hundred and fifty coins per catty. Sort the duck armpit feathers and deliver them to you, Mr. Shen, in Jiangzhou."
...
Two days after Boss Li left, several more pharmaceutical merchants came to talk to Shen Qing about recycling duck feathers.
Shen Qing followed the same method, selling the batch of duck feathers at the original price of 150 coins, but on the condition that the medicine merchant must sort the duck armpit feathers and send them to Jiangzhou for him.
When a share of the profits suddenly appeared out of nowhere, those people initially refused, but since the profits from the Jiangzhe region were all in Shen Qing's hands and they were under her control, they had no choice but to agree in the end.
With the feather sorting issue resolved, Shen Qing began preparing for the washing and disinfection of the duck feathers after they arrived.
She went to invite the former female workers one by one, asking them if they would still like to work with her.
She used to be kind to the female workers, and everyone remembered her kindness. Without a second thought, they agreed to go back to the factory to help when the duck feathers arrived.
Once the manpower is determined, chemicals for cleaning and disinfecting duck feathers need to be prepared.
Baking soda and bleach used to be imported with Cheng Zhiwen's help, but Shen Qing didn't want to ask him for help anymore, so he asked Lao Xu to make a trip to Shanghai to import them from other compradors.
Two days later, Lao Xu quickly returned to Jiangzhou with several bags of baking soda and bleach, saying that the large shipment would arrive at the dock in a month.
Relieved, Shen Qing devoted himself to the research and development of down-proof lining fabric.
The anti-down-leakage lining fabric has a high density, because the tightness between the fibers prevents down from getting out.
The vest Cheng Zhiwen wore earlier had a rayon lining. Rayon was designed for breathability, so it wasn't very tightly woven. As a result, after wearing it for half a day, all the fine fibers had come out.
Shen Qing is currently facing a problem—finding a fabric that is both extremely dense and soft for the inner lining.
There are several types of fabrics available on the market right now: cotton, imported fabric, silk, and rayon.
Both rayon and synthetic fabrics contain chemical components, making them more likely to achieve a tighter, more compact effect.
Since rayon was their own product, Shen Qing knew it very well and didn't immediately start researching it.
She bought some foreign fabric and found that the fibers of the foreign fabric were not tightly arranged. To make it prevent down leakage, a coating was needed.
A layer of chemicals is applied to the surface of the fabric to create a "wall," locking the fluff inside the lining so it has nowhere to escape.
However, the downside of doing this is that it is extremely poorly breathable.
Wearing it in extremely cold weather is fine, but if you wear it in slightly warmer weather, you'll easily get sweaty.
The user experience was poor. Shen Qing quickly rejected the proposal.
Having given up on foreign cloth, she then brought out her own rayon fiber raw materials.
The machines were sent for repair and haven't returned yet, and those ten machines can't produce a high-density weaving effect either.
She thought of hand-woven silk tapestry.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com