Chapter 266 Truly Being Yourself
Master Wang was beaming with health.
A few days ago, he ordered soap from Cheng Wanwan. Four or five days ago, he picked it up and had it delivered to Wang's shop in Huzhou to sell.
Because it was in Huzhou, he raised the prices a bit. Unscented soap was 500 copper coins a piece, while honey-scented and milk-scented soaps were repackaged in exquisitely carved wooden boxes and priced at four taels of silver. As soon as they were put in the shop, they sold out in less than two days, and he made a fortune.
So, they rushed to Dahe Village without stopping, intending to order another large batch of soap.
“Master Wang, a rare guest.”
Cheng Wanwan quickly welcomed the person in and had Chunhua serve tea.
Master Wang sat down in the hall, cupped his hands and said, "Madam Sui, I never expected soap to be so popular. I came here this time to order three thousand unscented soaps, and one thousand each of honey-scented and milk-scented soaps."
Cheng Wanwan nodded, got up, took the order form, filled in the amount, and said, "The pickup time is one month from now..."
"Why is it taking so long this time?" Master Wang asked in surprise. "Could it be brought forward a little earlier?"
The soap market in Huzhou has just opened, and countless people are waiting to buy. If he takes a few thousand bars of soap to the shop, they will definitely sell out in less than ten days. If he waits a month to stock up, it will be too late.
"To be honest, there are still more than a dozen people waiting to pick up their orders," Cheng Wanwan said. "It's a total of 20,000 bars of soap, and even if we try to shorten the production time as much as possible, it will still take at least 20 days."
The smile on Master Wang's face gradually froze.
They originally thought this was a business exclusive to the Wang family, but they never expected to have dozens of competitors...
Cheng Wanwan is a manufacturer, and her ideas are completely different from his.
For the manufacturer, the more people who place orders, the better. Her production prices are very favorable, and anyone who orders from her will make some profit. Those who enter the market first will earn more, and those who enter the market later will earn less. In short, this is not a losing business.
She was grateful for her title of a ninth-rank lady, which would make those merchants who wanted to monopolize the market wary.
She asked with a smile, "Is Master Wang still making reservations?"
Master Wang had no other choice.
Because he knew very well how popular this thing was, he couldn't let other shops have it while he didn't.
Now that there are more sellers, it's just that we earn less. The original price was four taels of silver, but we'll lower it a bit. Even three taels can still earn us a lot.
“Of course I’ll order,” Master Wang nodded. “The deposit is here. I’ll come to pick up the goods in a month.”
He paid the money, took the delivery slip, and left.
Many villagers were talking about it.
“Master Wang came just a few days ago, and he’s here again now.”
"That shows how fast soap sells. No wonder Aunt Dashan expanded the workshop so much."
“Grandma Dashan makes a lot of money, and we can make a little money too. I have to hurry up and sign up with Grandma Zhao. This time, I have to be selected no matter what.”
“We women have no status at home. We go out every day to take care of the children and cook, and we don’t even get a kind word from our mothers-in-law and husbands. If we work for Da Shan Niang, we get paid every month. Let’s see if our mothers-in-law and husbands still dare to give us a hard time.”
"I heard they're mainly recruiting women this time. Let's go check it out!"
In Old Zhao's courtyard, a long line of people were waiting in line.
Grandma Zhao sat in the main room, interviewing each person one by one. Since she couldn't write, she had Zhao Erwang write down their names.
After Zhao Dawang refused to study, Zhao Erwang was sent to school by Old Man Zhao. He already knew how to read, and after a few days of study, he could write a few characters quite well.
"I am Changgui's wife," a woman said nervously as she sat down at the table. "I'm strong and efficient, and I promise I won't slack off or steal food..."
Grandma Zhao said, "I'm not asking for your husband's name, I'm asking for your name."
“My maiden name is Zhou, so I am Zhao Zhoushi.”
“This name won’t do,” said Old Mrs. Zhao. “Whatever your name was before you married into the family, that’s what’s written on this paper.”
This registration method was proposed by the eldest son's wife. She said that if any woman in the future separated from the family and divorced like Zhao Fugui's wife, the name with the combined surnames would not be counted, and there were many people in the village with the same surname.
After thinking for a moment, Changgui's wife said, "My name is Zhou Xiaoya."
Saying that name made her feel a little embarrassed, and it inexplicably made her feel like she was back before she got married, without a man, without a mother-in-law, without children, living a carefree life every day... That was when she was truly herself, not someone's wife, someone's mother, or someone's daughter-in-law...
The women who had been chattering in the courtyard fell silent.
The question, "What was your original name?" brought back a flood of memories for them, those irretrievable teenage years.
After getting married, when have you ever truly been yourself?
Working in the soap factory, they were no longer Granny Changgui, no longer Hammer Girl; they had their own names—
"My name is Zhou Xiaoya."
"My name is Xu Zhaodi."
"My name is Zhao Xiaoliu."
"My name is..."
Grandma Zhao asked everyone one by one, first writing down all their names. After the first round of screening, she took the list to Cheng Wanwan to confirm the final number of participants.
Just as the interview process was coming to an end, an uninvited guest suddenly appeared in the courtyard.
"It's really lively here."
A cheerful voice rang out, and then four people walked in through the courtyard gate: two women and two girls.
Grandma Zhao looked up and saw her two married daughters whom she hadn't seen for a long time. When she was young, she first had two daughters, and then three sons in succession. Her two daughters got married early and used to visit their parents' home often when they were young. Now that her two daughters have grandchildren, they have gradually stopped coming back.
Seeing that Old Zhao's daughter had returned to her parents' home, it seemed that something important had happened, and the people waiting for the interview in the courtyard automatically dispersed.
"Why did you two come back together? Did you plan this?" Old Mrs. Zhao asked Erwang to put the list away and then asked Qiuhua to pour tea. "Did you come on foot or by oxcart? It's not a holiday, what are you doing here?"
"Grandma, Mom said Auntie is hiring, is that right?" Aunt Zhao's daughter asked curiously. "Wasn't Auntie lazy and good-for-nothing before? How come she was suddenly granted the title of Ninth-Rank Lady and opened a workshop?"
"That's such an old story, why are you bringing it up again?" Old Mrs. Zhao said irritably. "I'm busy, just tell me what you need to do."
Aunt Zhao smiled and said, "Instead of hiring outsiders, why not hire our own children? Our Erniu is hardworking, so I brought her here to help Aunt Dashan."
Aunt Zhao chimed in, "Our Yu'er is honest and hardworking, let's confess to her."
Two girls were pushed out, one was Chen Erniu and the other was Lin Yu'er, both of them were fifteen or sixteen years old.
The two of them stared longingly at Old Mrs. Zhao.
Grandma Zhao had a headache.
Her two daughters have both married into villages in the next county, so how could she possibly hear about what happened in Dahe Village?
“I can’t agree to this.” The old lady pulled out the list of interviewees. “See? Everyone needs to register for an interview. We’ll screen them based on their abilities and other factors. The final list will be decided by my eldest son’s wife. I can’t make that decision.”
Aunt Zhao slapped her thigh: "Then let's go find Aunt Dashan!"
The four of them walked towards Cheng Wanwan's house.
Grandma Zhao slapped herself in frustration. How could she have dumped such a big problem on her eldest daughter-in-law? Wasn't she just asking for trouble?
The old lady quickly said, "Erwang, you're fast, take the shortcut and explain this to your aunt."
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