Chapter 244 The Soap is Now Available
Aunt Xu worked half a day in the soap workshop and received ten coins, becoming the laughing stock of the whole village.
She didn't dare lift her head on the way home.
As soon as Aunt Xu left, another spot became available, and the village women of similar strength rushed to Cheng Wanwan's house to plead for her.
The first one to arrive was Aunt Fugui, whom everyone had been calling Big Head Auntie for some time now.
She was busy with things in the fields before and didn't have time to sign up, but when she had the opportunity, she came without delay.
“Big Mountain Aunt, I’m strong. One woman can be as strong as three men. You definitely won’t lose out by coming to me.” Big Head Aunt said somewhat awkwardly, “I’m not a glutton. Even if there were delicacies in front of me, I wouldn’t even swallow my saliva.”
She caught the aroma of rice wafting from the kitchen and immediately held her breath, afraid of making something embarrassing.
Cheng Wanwan asked, "Won't your family matters be affected?"
“Big Head can handle the farm work, and Little Head can help out. Big Head’s wife can take care of the housework. The two of them are both very capable workers,” Big Head’s mother said with a smile.
Since separating from Zhao Fugui, her life has improved, and she no longer has so many troublesome things.
Zhao Fugui couldn't manage to cultivate all the land, so she asked the village head to uphold justice and get half of the land back. Then she spent money to buy two acres of wasteland and has been busy clearing it up these past few days. She doesn't know anything about the situation in the village.
Cheng Wanwan nodded: "Okay, then Big Head Aunt will take over Aunt Xu's place. She can come over after dinner and help Gou Sheng's mother render lard."
Big-Headed Lady left, thanking everyone profusely.
Those who arrived a step too late saw Big Head Mother's appearance and knew that the vacancies were already full, so they all went back dejectedly.
After Cheng Wanwan fired Aunt Xu, everyone in the village knew that Aunt Dashan was someone who couldn't tolerate any nonsense. If anyone dared to steal chickens or do anything petty, Aunt Dashan would definitely kick them out without any mercy.
Not making money is a minor issue; the main problem is the shame. I can't even hold my head up in the village.
Lunch was simple. After delivering the food to Master Yu and He Xiao respectively, the family sat down at the table.
Wu Xiaochui refused to sit at the table. Instead, he sat at the doorway with Afu, eating a bowl of rice. He didn't pick up any side dishes; he just ate plain white rice.
He came over that day to eat Xi San noodles, and he thought that only banquets offered such good food.
But now he understands that at his second sister's house, eating white rice is the norm, and everyone's expression is calm.
At his home, there are only two meals a day, which are millet and wild vegetable porridge. When there is not enough food at home, the wild vegetable porridge is very thin. Now that the autumn harvest is over, the wild vegetable porridge is thicker and he can drink a big bowl of it in one meal. A bowl of porridge can fill his stomach, but he gets hungry quickly and often wakes up hungry in the middle of the night. His stomach hurts from hunger.
He remembered that they could only eat dry rice during the Chinese New Year.
If he were to eat this well every day and still be paid 400 coins, how could he possibly accept it?
After finishing his meal, Wu Xiaochui went to the workshop to keep an eye on things.
Seeing her younger brother so diligent, Wu Huiniang smiled with satisfaction.
After a busy day, the warehouse had an extra hundred bars of soap, and plenty of alkaline solution and other raw materials were still left, but there weren't enough molds, so the daily output was limited to one hundred.
However, Cheng Wanwan has already asked Old Man Zhao to speed up the production process.
The soap packaging was made of paper. Cheng Zhao drew a simple design on the paper, with the four characters "Dahe Zhao Shi" (Great River Zhao Clan) on the edge and some plants drawn around the edge. The lower right corner was decorated with a pattern to distinguish the fragrance. The design was taken to the Nanfu Academy and some poor scholars were asked to make rubbings. Two coins were paid for each piece of packaging paper drawn. A scholar could draw about twenty pieces a day in his spare time, so earning forty coins was quite easy.
Cheng Wanwan plans to price the soap at over 500 copper coins. Although the packaging paper is not top-quality Xuan paper, it is still quite good, costing about 30 copper coins for a large sheet, which can be cut into eight smaller sheets. The packaging cost for one bar of soap is 6 copper coins.
In this autumn and winter season, there are no flowers in the barren mountains and fields, so I temporarily made two scents: milky and honey. They have nourishing effects and can be used to wash hands and face.
There is also a type without added fragrance, with simple packaging and a slightly cheaper price, targeting ordinary consumers.
Cheng Wanwan already had a general idea of how to promote the product.
First, open up the market in Ping'an County, and then expand to the surrounding areas.
Early the next morning.
She went to the warehouse to get the finished products.
As she walked to the warehouse door, Wu Xiaochui immediately took the key off her neck: "Auntie, what do you need? I'll get it for you."
After production officially started yesterday, the warehouse became much fuller, with soap, lard, filtered pure wood ash, highly alkaline solution, honey, and goat milk for today's use... all neatly arranged on the twenty shelves.
Wu Xiaochui took out five bars of soap and placed them in Cheng Wanwan's hand.
She didn't answer, but smiled and said, "Little Hammer, what did I tell you?"
Wu Xiaochui immediately began reciting: "We must guard the warehouse door, pay special attention to fire prevention, check it at least three times a day, and eliminate any fire hazards..."
“No, that’s not it,” Cheng Wanwan said. “Didn’t I say that anyone coming to the warehouse to retrieve something must submit a receipt?”
Wu Xiaochui understood. He scratched the back of his head: "Does Auntie need proof to come too?"
In his view, the entire workshop belonged to his aunt, and it would be simply outrageous if his aunt were restricted from taking things.
Cheng Wanwan asked, "If Er Gou and San Niu come over and want to take some honey, do they need a receipt?"
Wu Xiaochui did not speak.
Because if this hadn't happened, he would have simply brought out the honey and handed it to Er Gou Ge.
When asked this question, he realized that his behavior seemed wrong.
He thought for a moment and then said, "I understand. No matter who comes, they must have proof. This includes my aunt and anyone in her family."
Cheng Wanwan was very satisfied with how quickly the child grasped the concepts.
Cheng Wanwan handed over the voucher, recorded the quantity on the delivery slip, and then prepared to go to Ping'an County.
She took motion sickness medicine in advance and decided to go by horse-drawn carriage. If it didn't work out in Ping'an County, she would still have time to go to other neighboring counties.
She took Zhao Ergou and Zhao Dawang with her.
She plans to hand over the task of market development to Er Gou, while Da Wang will temporarily follow Er Gou to broaden his horizons and learn more.
They arrived in Ping'an County quickly by carriage. The carriage was handed over to the familiar innkeeper for safekeeping, and the three of them walked down the street.
Before deciding to start a soap business, Cheng Wanwan had already scouted the market. There were three shops in Ping'an County that sold cleaning supplies, mainly soapberries and soapnuts. These two products were aimed at ordinary people, but they were not cheap. A soap ball cost about 100 coins, and the price of soapnuts was about the same.
Bath beans are not sold in ordinary shops. They are sold in cosmetic shops and are priced similarly to rouge and face powder, starting at one or two taels of silver.
Many women buy rouge and face powder, but few would buy bath beans.
A box of rouge can last at least a year, but a bath bean the size of a baby's fist will be used up in a month. It's really not cost-effective; it's a luxury that only nobles can afford.
Cheng Wanwan stopped at the entrance of the Prince's Mansion.
Zhao Ergou asked curiously, "Mother, what are we doing at Master Wang's mansion?"
“Of course, it’s about business,” Cheng Wanwan said. “I’ve observed that these three shops in Ping’an County all belong to the Wang family. The Wang family monopolizes all the soapberry and soapberry business in Ping’an County, so we must start with the Wang family.”
She walked up the steps and said calmly, "Please tell her that Madam Sui from Dahe Village has important business to attend to Master Wang."
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