Until the day before delivery, Sun Miao'er had never felt so nervous. Her heart was pounding as she counted the goods, afraid that she might miss something.
Fortunately, every order was fulfilled and completed.
"Aunt, thank you so much these days." After checking the goods, Sun Miao'er saw that Sun Caiping had finally regained her plump figure, but had lost some weight due to working late into the night recently, and couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
Sun Caiping looked at the full load of goods in front of her with satisfaction, feeling a warm glow in her heart. She had finally lived up to Miao'er's expectations and had prepared all the goods without any problems.
"Miao'er, it's not just my contribution; Mei Niang helped me a lot back home."
Sun Miao'er remembered that Mei Niang was the woman who had divorced her husband and later lived in their village.
Sun Caiping continued, “Mei Niang is quick to learn and has a meticulous mind, but there are too few odd jobs in our village, and there is no man in her family who can earn money. The money she earns is not enough to make a living. I was thinking that since we are short of embroiderers, why not find Mei Niang?”
Sun Miao'er thought this was a good idea. She had met Mei Niang before, and she was indeed very skilled. Secondly, many women in the village were struggling financially, and some even had to raise several children.
If she gradually builds up her skills, she can also delegate the work to the women in the village, allowing them to earn money on their own.
If they could earn money, those women who had been humiliated and beaten by their husbands' families would have a way to survive, and that was her original intention.
"Aunt, from what you're saying, I think I'm not as good at choosing embroiderers as you are."
The goods were delivered on schedule the next day, and Pingting Cloth Shop's reputation was instantly established.
The first batch of customers received their orders and gave them rave reviews.
Sun Miao'er came up with a solution: she put up a sign at the door. Customers who were satisfied would leave the door open and have the sign painted in vermilion; those who were slightly dissatisfied would have the sign painted in white; and those who were completely dissatisfied would have the sign painted in cyan.
This way, guests can immediately see the quality of their restaurant.
The guests had never seen her do this before and found it novel. Sun Miao'er had Liu'er hold the pens for them and stand by, waiting for the guests to make annotations.
The first guest circled "satisfied" in red ink and made an annotation. After finishing, they could receive a small sachet at the entrance, which immediately increased the enthusiasm of visitors to make annotations.
Before long, many red circles appeared on the board, with an occasional white circle. Sun Miao'er would keep them and carefully inquire about their shortcomings.
Of course, some of the results were that "the pattern was different from what I expected" and "the color was different from what I expected". The most outrageous thing was that a customer thought "it was too cheap", which caused too many people to queue up.
Hopefully, Sun Miao'er can raise prices appropriately to deter some customers.
Sun Miao'er was speechless after hearing this. She never expected that there would be such a customer who would criticize her. She was really wronged!
Over the next few days, more than a hundred orders were gradually fulfilled, and because no new orders were placed, the fabric shop gradually became quiet again.
Sun Miao'er worked tirelessly through two long nights, tapping away on her abacus, and looked utterly haggard.
"Xiao Ning, have you finished compiling all the annotations?" Sun Miao'er rubbed her temples and yawned, but the pile of unfinished work in front of her clearly didn't allow her to sleep peacefully.
Xiao Ning listed the boards and quickly scanned them, her hands and brain working in sync. She finished in no time. "I've done the tally, sister. A total of 102 people were approved in red, 5 people were approved in white, and no one was approved in green."
"Hey, you're quick! I'm still keeping track of my accounts." Sun Miao'er's ledger was already full. Doing accounting doesn't look tiring, but it doesn't allow for the slightest carelessness. If you make a mistake, you often have to start all over again.
She went through countless repetitions and made countless mistakes before finally throwing down her pen, exhausted, and collapsing into her chair.
Xiao Ning took the ledger. "Sister, let me help you calculate it!"
Sun Miao'er was tired and thirsty, and while she was drinking water, Xiao Ning took the abacus over as well.
He was quick-witted and nimble; sometimes he could simply make a mark to indicate that the calculation was complete, without needing to record it on paper.
Sun Miao'er wanted to ask him if he had done it, but she was afraid that speaking would interrupt him, so she could only watch quietly from the side.
Half an hour later, Xiao Ning laid out the ledger, wiped the sweat from her palms, and said, "Sister, I've finished calculating."
Sun Miao'er took the ledger with some skepticism. The ink still smelled of fresh ink, and the entries were neatly written. Xiao Ning's beautiful handwriting was pleasing to the eye.
"Is it over so quickly?" Sun Miao'er asked. Although she still had to review everything bit by bit, she was still very surprised by her brother's extraordinary abilities.
Xiao Ning jumped off the chair, her tone confident, "Don't worry, sister, I've calculated it three times already, it definitely won't be wrong!"
Three times? Hearing Xiao Ning's confident tone, she swallowed the rest of what she wanted to say.
After deducting costs, the company made a profit of over 300 taels of silver from more than 100 orders. Of course, it also owed Hu Tingzhi 100 taels of silver.
It's rare to have such a successful first big order. Sun Miao'er smiled with satisfaction, feeling happy but also knowing there's still a long way to go.
Xiaoman also returned. Besides reading, he spent his days exploring Pingnan City. In less than a month, he had thoroughly explored every street and alley of Pingnan City. He even got to know a group of children of similar age. He was very accurate in getting information, and he could hear everything that happened in each shop.
"Sister, there are so few people in the east of the city these past two days, hardly anyone goes there anymore!" Xiaoman's throat was hoarse from running around, having just finished promoting her family's business.
Sun Miao'er pondered that it was mostly because of her shop; she hadn't decided when to start the second batch of orders. After all, once things really started, the second batch of orders would definitely be more, if not more, but she simply couldn't afford to take on too much risk using this contractual model.
Sun Miao'er thought for a moment and asked, "How has Yunmiao Manor been lately?"
Xiaoman tilted her head and said, "The people are still about the same as before, but I heard that it's getting cold and there's less raw silk, so they might not be using the same materials as before."
Winter hasn't even arrived yet, but the price of cloth is already soaring. To get warmer, you need to use good quality fabrics for blankets, short jackets, cloaks, and capes.
The prices of the raw materials she used previously would probably have to go up, but she felt that if she followed suit now, she would lose the little advantage she had worked so hard to build up.
We should wait and see how things develop, considering the current situation at home.
It's a big deal; it probably won't be long before it attracts the attention of its competitors.
"Auntie, I plan to hold off on the second batch of orders for now. Today, we'll just sell the materials we had before as usual."
Sun Caiping understood why Miao'er didn't take advantage of the momentum to make another move; after all, the bigger the tree, the more the wind will blow, and she had to figure out the situation before taking action.
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