The four boxes of bamboo paper sold out in no time. Lu Qiqi was in a good mood and took Zhou San to buy a lot of delicious food.
We bought all sorts of pastries and even went to the butcher shop to buy three pounds of meat to make braised pork.
That night, Lu Qiqi enjoyed a meal of fatty but not greasy pork belly.
The next day, everyone in the village knew that the bamboo paper had been sold for money, and they all rushed to the paper mill to watch.
Even Mr. and Mrs. Yuan went there.
They originally thought that even if they didn't come to work, they would still get paid for the bamboo they cut down in the village, but they didn't see a single penny and were sent away.
Zhao Xiaodong, Zhao Zhiwei, Lu Qiqi, and Lu Da were all in the small house in the paper mill.
Through the windows of the small house, you can see villagers occasionally peeking in this direction.
Zhao Xiaodong said with a grin, "Village Chief, we sold a total of two hundred reams of paper, earning sixteen thousand coins."
All eyes were fixed on the dark-colored bundle on the table.
The 16,000 coins filled the Tibetan-style cloth bag to bursting; everyone was thrilled to have made so much money in just one day.
Previously, when it was said that they wanted to make paper, Lu Qiqi reached an agreement with Tianxin Village and signed a contract.
This paper mill was set up by Lu Qiqi and managed by Lu Da. Without Lu Qiqi's recipe, bamboo paper could not have been made, let alone sold.
This paper mill naturally belongs to Lu Qiqi.
Therefore, Lu Qiqi proposed that the paper mill should give priority to hiring villagers from Tianxin Village.
The men did the heavy work, while the women dried paper in the paper mill.
The paper mills prioritize purchasing bamboo from Tianxin Village.
Villagers employed by the paper mill were exempted from taxes based on the labor force of each household.
For example, if a household has six people and three of them are engaged in papermaking or lime burning, they can be exempted from taxes.
A household of six, with three able-bodied members but only one working, receives a 30% tax reduction.
And so on.
In this way, villagers have jobs to earn money, can also share profits from selling bamboo, and can even get tax reductions and exemptions—it's a win-win situation no matter how you look at it.
Lu Da explained the situation to the villagers overnight, and Lu Qiqi received the consent form and contract the next day.
Now that she had earned her first pot of gold, Lu Qiqi planned to expand the scale of the paper mill and have the villagers build another paper mill next to this courtyard.
They also developed career plans, differentiated job types and departments, and selected several capable villagers to serve as managers for each department.
Lu Qiqi has found ten accountants: some in charge of purchasing, some in charge of production, and some in charge of bookkeeping and collecting money. Now the only thing missing is a head manager.
Lu Qiqi spoke her mind, and apart from Lu Da, Zhao Xiaodong and Zhao Zhiwei's eyes were full of smiles.
The villagers had been busy for almost two months, so Lu Qiqi asked Zhao Xiaodong to distribute the wages so that the villagers would have a clear understanding of their situation and be more motivated to work.
The villagers received their wages that afternoon, and that evening they gathered for a meeting to distribute the first sum of money from selling the bamboo.
The villagers who received the money were all smiles. They never expected that they would earn so much more money in just two months than they would have made making umbrellas.
After all, there are only a few rainy seasons in a year, and umbrellas are reusable items. It's a luxury for a household to have two umbrellas.
Therefore, not many umbrellas could be sold.
Tianxin Village used to be wealthy because it sold timber to make coffins, but now that the timber has been almost completely cut down, this business has come to an end.
Unexpectedly, Lu Qiqi was able to make paper from bamboo, allowing them to make money even without doing any work.
Where else can you find something this good?
Therefore, the people of Tianxin Village wished they could enshrine Lu Qiqi on a shrine, burn incense for her every day, and worship her as a god of wealth.
Of course, these are all things to be discussed later.
The people of Tianxin Village were only happy for two days before they all became dejected.
The reason was simple: two days had passed, and another batch of bamboo paper had been produced in the warehouse, but there was no sign of it being sold.
Many villagers began to worry, after all, they had faced the same situation when they sold umbrellas.
When I first started selling umbrellas, customers flocked to my shop, but later they became very few and far between.
Isn't this bamboo paper business just following the same old path as selling umbrellas?
Then look at Lu Qiqi, what kind of training is she doing in the accounting room every day? How can this not make them anxious!
But there was no use in them being anxious. They didn't understand business, so all they could do was worry, and they couldn't stop working.
Wednesday was also part of the training. After Lu Qiqi finished her training, everyone in the accounting department was busy with their own work.
He walked up to Lu Qiqi and asked in a low voice, "Sister Lu, it's been two days and there's still no news. Should we keep waiting?"
"If all else fails, how about I have Brother Dong take the bamboo paper to the school gate to sell again?"
When he entered the paper mill this morning, he heard the villagers talking. There were no dissenting voices; most of them were worried that the bamboo paper would not sell.
Lu Qiqi estimated the time and figured it should be about time, so she said, "Wait two more days, and our bamboo paper will be ready to sell in two days."
"These next two days, you should help appease the villagers and keep a close eye on the quality of the paper. If the quality is up to standard, we won't have to worry about selling our bamboo paper."
On Wednesday, Lu Qiqi ruffled her hair, and she blinked as she walked out of the small house.
Meanwhile, in the Baoyu Bookstore in Heshun Prefecture, a shop assistant was being berated by the manager.
"You idiot! Money was delivered to your doorstep, and you didn't even reach out to take it! You're driving me crazy!"
Shopkeeper Xue pointed at a shop assistant and scolded him because in the past two days, dozens of people had come and gone, all saying they wanted to buy paper at eighty coins a ream.
At first, he thought these students were delusional and obsessed with studying!
Where can you find paper this cheap?
There's no way you could possibly have that in the entire Jin Dynasty!
Therefore, he asked the person to leave.
Unexpectedly, the shop assistant came to him today, trembling, and told him that there really was such a person a couple of days ago who came to his door to sell paper and left a piece of paper as a sample.
Shopkeeper Xue stroked the pale yellow paper, smooth as silk, and could smell a faint bamboo fragrance when he brought it close.
No matter how many times he traveled around the country and ran his bookstore, this kind of paper was the first of its kind in the Great Jin Dynasty!
The selling price is so cheap! If we sold these papers, we would make a fortune!
Thinking of this, Manager Xue felt as if he had lost a hundred million!
It's all because of this stupid, pig-like guy! He didn't even think of trying a different approach!
Manager Xue, holding the bamboo paper, glared at the shop assistant and said, "Did that person leave any message? Don't tell me he didn't leave a word! Otherwise, you and your entire crew are out of here!"
The guy thought about it for a long time, and he actually came up with an idea!
The waiter smiled obsequiously, "Boss, we really do have some!"
"The young man said they have a workshop in Tianxin Village and you can contact them anytime if you need supplies."
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