Chapter 060 The First Batch of Soap
Xu Qingying looked at the soap that was slowly solidifying in front of her. Some of it solidified quickly, some slowly, and some remained liquid.
She carefully checked the dosage marked on each mold, controlled the variables, and tried to find the best mixing ratio in one go.
At this rate, we should be able to see the final product in just two days.
Xu Qingying covered the things and suddenly saw a figure flash past the carriage. Zhao Bantou came over and said, "Your aunt was just strolling here. I guess she wanted to see what you were doing in there, but she was chased away by my people."
"It's okay. If there are any more people like this, just drive them away."
Zhao Bantou glanced inside the carriage, then withdrew his gaze and couldn't help asking, "How is it? The soap is ready. Can I see it?"
Xu Qingying smiled, "Don't be impatient, Captain Zhao. It will take another two days to solidify before we can see the final appearance. I have never made this recipe before, so I am just trying it out. Please take good care of this carriage for the next two days to prevent anyone from damaging our things."
"Of course I saved that. But what do we do next? Just wait for the mold to be removed?"
Xu Qingying asked, "How far is it to the next county town?"
"It will take about three more days to walk southwest."
"Great, then we'll just make another large purchase. This time, we'll need to mobilize more people. We'll conservatively make 5,000 bars of soap and try to take over the entire Henan Prefecture market in one fell swoop!"
Zhao Bantou's face changed, his throat rolled over, and he looked at Xu Qingying who was full of confidence. He really wanted to ask where she got the confidence to sell 5,000 pieces of soap.
Henan Prefecture has a population of only a few hundred thousand people at most. 5,000 yuan... to take over the entire Henan Prefecture market...
The initial investment alone would have to be several hundred taels.
Zhao Bantou suddenly felt that he could no longer breathe or feel dizzy, but was left with only panic. It took him a long time to regain his consciousness and hesitantly advised, "Miss Xu, should we slow down? Business can't be rushed. You should go back and discuss this with Mr. Xu San..."
Xu Qingying smiled and said, "Is Captain Zhao scared?"
Zhao Bantou shook his head like a rattle, "What's there to be afraid of? I'm just worried that Miss Xu will lose all her money..."
"I'm very confident in myself, and I hope Captain Zhao will give me more trust. Our situation is special. Unlike other businessmen, we have to move to another location after each shot. The key is to take the enemy by surprise. Besides, you don't have to pay the capital. You get the same amount as I sell. If there is any concern, it should be me. I'm not afraid, so why should you be afraid..."
Shoot and move to another place?
These words really make people's hearts surge.
That's true, but five thousand yuan would be enough to fill several cars, right?
Why is Xu Qingying still so calm, as if this is just a small business.
You know, including the cost of raw materials and hiring people, it would cost at least several hundred taels to produce 5,000 bars of soap.
"Miss Xu, forgive me for being blunt, but five thousand bars of soap is a lot of money. Where did you get all that money? Don't forget, you promised to give us 30% of the soap sales..."
"Don't worry, Captain Zhao. My shop is so big, it's obvious that I'm going to do something big. As the saying goes, you can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child. Once you see the soap with your own eyes, you won't have such doubts."
Zhao Bantou was a little hesitant.
This soap sounds good, but five thousand yuan is not a small amount of money.
This was definitely not a typical petty fight. Zhao Bantou even felt an inexplicable panic, mixed with a hint of barely perceptible excitement. If he could imagine that if all the soap was sold, the profit would be at least several hundred taels.
Zhao Bantou was terrified and felt as if he was overwhelmed by a huge ecstasy, and his feet felt light.
But then he regained consciousness.
How can this business be so easy to do?
They could only stay in Henan Prefecture for one or two days at most. Not to mention how to find a buyer who could swallow these 5,000 bars of soap in such a short time, and the strong dragon cannot defeat the local snake. What if they blocked someone else's way to wealth?
Anyway, Zhao Bantou became more and more unsure, until two days later Xu Qingying invited him to see the soap being demolded.
According to old custom, the curtains of the carriage were drawn tightly to prevent peeping.
Xu Qingying called Zhao Bantou, Xu Degui, Miao and others, then took out all the molds and poured them out straight away.
Then, several people saw the legendary soap.
Xu Qingying observed while removing the molds. "Mold No. 1 performed poorly, probably because of too much alkaline water. Mold No. 2 failed to solidify, probably because of insufficient oil. Mold No. 3 is pretty good... Look at this..."
Xu Qingying's tone was full of surprise. Everyone followed her gaze and saw a palm-sized soap, snow-white in color, with a hint of transparency and a soft texture. It was obviously a top-quality product.
Zhao Bantou has been unable to sleep these days. Although he did not invest any money, he feels very anxious when he thinks of the 5,000 pieces of soap. He also doesn't know how the sixth daughter of the Xu family sleeps at night.
If it is really sold according to her price, five taels of silver per piece, and five thousand pieces would be twenty-five thousand taels!
Just thinking about this number, Zhao Bantou began to worry about gains and losses -
"Is this soap?!" Zhao Bantou couldn't wait to grab a piece in his hand, repeatedly playing with it and looking at it, even taking a bite of the edge, and then almost spit it out, "Pah, pah, pah, it stinks..."
Xu Qingying had no choice but to tell the truth: "This one does have a bit of a smell. I'll see if adding some flower petals can fix that."
Miao took a sniff and said, "It's not smelly, it has a slight smell, but even fragrant soap has a smell. From the appearance, it looks like jade. It depends on how effective it is to use."
Xu Qingying said to Xu Huiming, "Brother, please go to the river and fetch some water."
Xu Qingying pulled out an iron pot from somewhere, with the bottom facing up. She looked around and smiled maliciously, "Come on, let's try the effect of the soap."
"I'll do it!" Miao volunteered and rubbed the bottom of the iron pot with her hands. In an instant, her hands became dirty.
Xu Huiming has already fetched some water.
Xu Qingying said, "Mom, first wet your hands with water, then touch the soap, and rub them to see how it works."
Miao did as she was told and wet her hands with water. As soon as she touched the soap, she felt it was slippery. After rubbing it, it was covered with moisturizing foam. She scooped some water to rinse it, and her skin instantly became smooth.
"Huh?" This magical touch made Miao a little uncomfortable. She couldn't help but touch a handful of soap again. After washing it, she stared at her hands and was overjoyed. "It's amazing! This soap not only cleans very well, but it's also fragrant and smooth—"
"Let me try."
Several voices sounded at the same time.
Zhao Bantou couldn't wait to try the soap and exclaimed: "Oh my god, what is this? How come my skin is so smooth and tender after washing it?"
Xu Qingying took the opportunity to explain, "This soap can not only be used to wash hands, but also to wash clothes, especially for cleaning grease stains. It's extremely effective!"
"This is truly a magical product!" Zhao Bantou jumped up, his face suddenly becoming very excited. He called a few escorts to try it out, and kept saying, "Come and try it, this thing is really magical. Not only does it remove all the oil from your hands, but it also seems to whiten your skin... My God, who would still want to use scented soap after having this thing? Not only do women love it, even I, a man, think this thing is good-"
Zhao Bantou was a little incoherent and praised the product three times in a row, which attracted everyone in the post station to look over here. Old Man Fang had been looking forward to the finished soap product for a long time, and he came over first when he saw this. Everyone consciously made way for him.
Old Master Fang first picked up the soap and observed it for a while, then put it down, rolled up his sleeves and said, "Xu girl, let me try..."
Old Master Fang simply grabbed a little oil on his hands and rubbed them on the ground. His hands instantly turned pitch black.
He looked at Xu Qingying with great pride, like an old naughty boy, with a hint of provocation: "I want to see whether this soap of yours that you boast about is really useful. If it doesn't work, I will immediately take back the carriage... and see where you can go to cry..."
Xu Qingying also knew that Mr. Fang was teasing her, but she felt a little funny thinking that she was a thirty-year-old woman and was being teased by an uncle.
"You try it."
"Xu girl, can I try too..."
"Yes, yes, I want to see this soap too..."
Xu Qingying naturally accepted everyone who came to her. After all, this batch of hers was just samples, used to find the adaptation ratio. The more people used it, the more timely the feedback would be, which would naturally be better.
"This batch is all samples. Everyone come and try them out. If you have any comments or suggestions, please tell me so I can make improvements."
As bars of soap were distributed, people came to try them out, accompanied by bursts of exclamations.
"Ah, how come the oil on my hands is washed clean——"
"My skin is still soft and smooth. It works better than the scented oil I used before."
"Miss Xu is really capable. I want to buy one of these things. I wonder if it's expensive..."
"Oh, yes, Miss Xu also said that soap can not only be used for washing hands and bathing, but also for washing clothes. Don't mention it, this thing is much better than the fragrant soap—"
Some people even brought basins of water and began washing clothes in front of everyone in the camp. As they cried out in surprise, Miao Shi felt distressed and pulled Xu Qingying aside, saying, "Ying'er, we only have a few pieces of silver, and we have to sell them for money..."
Xu Qingying consoled him, "Mom, these are just samples. They don't look particularly good, but giving them to everyone to try is also a form of publicity for us."
Miao's heart trembled, and she stammered, "That's five taels of silver a piece..."
Xu Qingying laughed, "That's just nonsense to outsiders. How could it be sold so expensively? I've already calculated the cost price. Adding in the raw materials, labor, and transportation costs, each bar of soap costs less than this."
Xu Qingying gestured a number.
Miao covered her mouth in shock, then held Xu Qingying's hand, looked around carefully, and said, "God, please don't tell anyone... We earned five taels of silver for something worth only a few dozen coins... This is really... really..."
Miao really wanted to say "black-hearted", but thinking that so much money was hers, she couldn't say it.
"Mother, how can it really be sold for five taels of silver? It's just hype."
"What is hype?"
"It's to make everyone think five taels of silver is expensive, and that I'm crazy for offering that price. But it will also spark discussion, and the news about the soap will spread quickly. Real buyers will also know that we have such a thing as soap."
Miao suddenly understood.
"And you can't just look at the cost. We haven't even considered the price of the recipe yet. Do you know how much this recipe would fetch if sold?"
Miao covered her chest and asked tremblingly, "How much?"
"I guess there should be someone who would buy it for at least tens of thousands of taels."
Miao almost fainted, but fortunately Xu Degui, who was beside her, pulled her back in time.
Xu Degui had a reproachful look on his face, but he couldn't help but smile, "You're useless! This is nothing..."
"This...this...when we were in Bianjing City, even if business was good, we only made a few hundred taels a month, and it was all hard-earned money. How come we just bought a few pig pancreases, a few molds, and the wood ash was all ready-made, and we made this much...Boss, pinch me and see if this is true?"
Xu Degui immediately raised his hand and pinched Miao, who cried out in pain, "Ouch!"
"Hey, Madam Xu!" Someone had already sneaked up to the camp and asked hesitantly, "Um...how much are your soaps? Can I pre-order some?"
Miao recognized this person as a daughter-in-law of the Fang family. When the Xu family was out of food, the Fang family had helped them. Now that the benefactor had asked for help, Miao really couldn't refuse.
But if one family gives and the other doesn't, it will inevitably give people something to talk about.
Miao subconsciously looked at Xu Qingying, waiting for Xu Qingying's idea.
"Madam, the Fang family has given dry food to the Xu family several times before, so I shouldn't refuse. But as you can see, I've just finished the recipe. I need to go into the city to test the waters and decide the price based on market conditions. If you don't mind, I'll give you a sample later. You can use it first. The soap I make later will be even more exquisite and detailed. Come back and see me then."
Xu Qingying said this with a smile as she took out a bar of soap and handed it to her.
The Fang family's daughter-in-law smiled happily and left with great satisfaction.
Miao hesitated and said, "I think someone will come to ask for soap later. We all went to Qianzhou together, so we'll see each other every day. If the east family gives it to us and the west family doesn't, we'll probably be criticized."
Xu Qingying said, "In life, only mediocre people are immune to criticism. Don't be afraid, mother. The Fang family has been kind to us, and we are repaying them. Who else has the right to say anything? Besides, after our soap business becomes successful, there will inevitably be people who will be jealous and say all kinds of unpleasant things. We just need to be honest in our conduct and do what we do."
Xu Degui felt a surge of relief upon hearing this, but then sighed, "I think this soap business is definitely profitable, but unfortunately, we don't have enough capital. Henan Prefecture is still a dozen days' drive away. If we can increase production along the way, we'll definitely make a name for ourselves in Henan Prefecture!"
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