Chapter 21 Making Flower Wreaths and Putting Them in the Basket
"Hahaha! He Meng, you're the idiot!"
Guoguo was feeling itchy on her face, which was quite uncomfortable because of the willow catkins. When she saw Hemeng's disheveled appearance, she couldn't help but open her mouth wide and laugh.
Unexpectedly, her joy turned to sorrow. As soon as she opened her mouth, it was stuffed full of willow catkins. With a pained expression, she started spitting out the catkins.
Looking at the other little figures, they were all squinting as they walked, spitting and spitting. Some were waving spears, some were using leaves as shields, and some were covering their mouths with flower petals, struggling to move forward under the fierce onslaught of willow catkins.
There were so many dense willow catkins fluttering in the wind that a little person had a clever idea. They wrapped themselves up completely in a large leaf and rolled around on the grass. But because the leaf covered their face, they kept getting lost and almost rolled into the river...
An ordinary journey suddenly became so difficult that even He Meng, who had the highest combat strength, could not take it anymore. His movements as he swung his spear gradually slowed down, and he was constantly covered in willow catkins, making him so uncomfortable that he almost cried.
Just as the villains were on the verge of collapse, a somewhat familiar voice descended from the sky:
"Don't panic, everyone, get into the basket!"
Wearing a high-necked windbreaker, a hat, sunglasses, a mask, gloves... Ning Jia suddenly appeared, startling all the little people.
Oh no! Giants are coming to capture them?!
The little creatures were terrified and were about to scatter when Ning Jia quickly crouched down, risking getting her face covered in willow catkins, and pulled down her mask. "It's me! It's me!"
The little creatures strained to see for a long time in the wind, then suddenly cheered, "Wow, it's Ning Jia! We're saved!"
Ning Jia chuckled, placed two fruit baskets lined with plastic bags on the grass, and directed the little people to jump into the baskets one by one. Then, with a strong lift of both hands, holding a basket of little people in each hand, she said, "Let's go! Everyone, hold on tight!"
Amidst the whistling wind, Ning Jia strode forward, leading the little ones from their dwelling to a place where wildflowers bloomed, as if she knew the way well. "Alright, we've arrived."
This corner was sheltered from the wind, so the wind subsided considerably, and there were far fewer willow catkins. The little people jumped out of the basket one after another, all of them breathing a sigh of relief.
Under the bright sunshine, Ning Jia squatted listlessly beside the flower bushes, watching the little children nimbly pick the pretty flowers with their tiny hands while laughing and playing. She couldn't help but feel a little itchy: "Why don't I pick flowers with you?"
"No, please. Last time I asked you to pick devil's grass, and what did you end up picking?" He Meng shook her head violently, looking disgusted.
Even Bai Su, while brushing the leaves off her clothes, advised, "Everyone has their own expertise. You're not very good at this, so you don't need to force yourself."
Ning Jia: ...These days, even wanting to do manual labor is frowned upon -_-||
"Fine," she snorted, "I'll go pick them myself and make a wreath bigger than all of you!"
The little ones didn't care at all, and continued to pick the flowers they thought were the prettiest, carefully placing them into the cardboard box that Ning Jia had prepared.
The cardboard box was lined with a layer of fluffy wild grass beforehand, and various little flowers were placed on the "artificial lawn"—a touch of light pink, a touch of bright yellow, a touch of deep purple... It quickly became colorful and very cute.
The little people were used to picking flowers and plants, so they moved quickly and soon gathered enough small flowers. Ning Jia immediately transformed into a driver, carrying two little people trains and taking everyone back to the depths of the forest.
Canglan did not participate in this flower picking. She was severely allergic to willow catkins, and her eyes would water uncontrollably as soon as she went outside. She could only stay in the tree hole and let Gancao relay messages back and forth.
Standing on the grass under the tree, Gan Cao looked up at Ning Jia and said:
The clan chief asked, "How did you [do something] with these [things]?"
Ning Jia looked completely bewildered: Huh? What did you say?
She crouched down a little lower, tilted her head toward the little girl with light yellow hair, and strained to hear, "Licorice, what did you just say?"
Gancao scratched his head in confusion, then opened his mouth and repeated, "The clan chief is asking you—xxxx, xxxx?"
A gust of wind suddenly blew by, scattering the faint sound of licorice. Ning Jia blinked, her expression gradually becoming blank.
Seeing this, Gan Cao frantically waved her little hands in the wind. Ning Jia, puzzled, was full of questions: ???
"Never mind, I'll call you a taxi."
Ning Jia suddenly reached out and grabbed Gan Cao around the waist, placing him directly on his shoulder, gesturing for him to stand close to his ear and speak.
Startled, Gan Cao blushed slightly, steadied herself, and whispered in Ning Jia's ear again:
"The chieftain asked, 'How will you sell these flower wreaths?'"
This time the voice was a bit too loud, startling Ning Jia, but she finally understood: Oh, so that's what you're asking.
Ning Jia grabbed the licorice root and put it back on the grass. "Tell the clan chief not to worry, I have a way. Just do what you need to do."
Licorice nodded, and its small figure quickly disappeared into the wind.
The rampant willow catkins made it more difficult for the little people to make flower wreaths. Fortunately, the local authorities took timely measures to improve the environment. Within two days, the amount of willow catkins flying everywhere was greatly reduced, and the little people were able to make flower wreaths at an ever-increasing speed.
However, for the little people, simply making flower wreaths is too easy, just like making sachets; it gets boring after a while.
After Ning Jia said that the flower wreaths didn't need to be the same style, the little ones started racking their brains:
To add to the fun, some people combined various small flowers in different colors to create solid-color wreaths, rainbow-colored wreaths, and multi-colored wreaths; others took a different approach, weaving herbs into bracelets and embellishing them with small flowers to create floral bracelets...
After seeing the finished products of the little people, Ning Jia quietly put away the simple large wreath she had made and prepared to show off.
Since she was about to leave, Ning Jia didn't care about her boss's opinion. As soon as she arrived at work, she took the "new products" of Little Clan Limited Liability Company and peddled them around the company.
However, the company's colleagues had limited purchasing power for small items like flower wreaths and rings, and they only sold less than ten in half a day.
It seems I need to launch my "sales plan" plan B as soon as possible.
Ning Jia searched online and found that a handmade market called "Slow Living" would be held in a square not far from her home this weekend, which seemed to be a perfect match for the new products she was selling.
However, the stall fee at this handmade market is 500 yuan per day.
500 a day? Ning Jia gasped: That's too expensive! I wonder how much foot traffic there is at this market. If we can't even make back the stall fee, wouldn't we be losing money hand over fist?
You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub, so Ning Jia gritted her teeth and paid the exorbitant stall fee.
That morning, Ning Jia rode her bicycle to the venue of the handicraft market early.
The market looked quite large, and it took her a while to find her stall. Once there, she didn't rush to set up but first went to check out the other stalls to learn from their experiences.
With a stall fee of 500 yuan per day, this market looks quite high-quality. The vendors include not only young artisans, but also inheritors of intangible cultural heritage and ethnic minority craftsmen, who sound very prestigious.
"Hello, how much is this bag?" Ning Jia asked, pointing to a uniquely styled small bag at a stall.
The stall owner said casually, "This bag costs 458 yuan and is an eco-friendly bag designed from old jeans."
What?! A cloth bag made from old clothes costs nearly 500 yuan?! Her jeans aren't even that expensive!
Ning Jia was greatly shocked. He smiled at the stall owner and quickly left.
She then browsed other stalls, asked about the prices of some goods, and gradually went from being shocked to numb: the stalls at this market were completely different from what she had imagined. Everyone's pricing was very bold, no wonder there were so many people participating even with a stall fee of 500 a day.
Ning Jia wandered around for half a day and found that the cheapest prices were at a stall run by a couple from out of town. They sold local specialties such as honey and dried fruit, and freshly made green soybean milk for only eight yuan a cup.
Although the eight-yuan cup of soy milk was expensive for Ning Jia, the couple said that they came purely to promote their local specialties. They didn't even have to pay for their travel and shipping costs, let alone make money.
In other words, the total cost for this couple to hold a market is at least nearly 10,000 yuan...
Ning Jia was full of admiration. She would never have been willing to spend so much money to promote her own products.
After browsing around, Ning Jia returned to her stall, took out a price list she had prepared beforehand, and fell into deep thought as she looked at the prices:
Floral wreath rings: 5 yuan each; floral wreath necklaces: 10 yuan each; floral bracelets: 10 yuan each; floral wreath bracelets: 20 yuan each...
What she considered a normal price was a bit out of place in this market where prices often reached three digits.
Or should we just follow the crowd? What if she sets the prices too low, lowering the market's high-end image and causing dissatisfaction among other vendors?
Ning Jia stared at the string of numbers on the cardboard, hesitated for a moment, then picked up the marker she'd borrowed from the company, scribbled a few lines, and readily changed all the prices:
Floral wreath ring: 20 yuan each; floral wreath necklace: 30 yuan each; floral bracelet: 30 yuan each; floral wreath bracelet: 50 yuan each...
Even the energy-boosting sachets have been slightly increased in price, now priced at 50 yuan each.
Although Ning Jia really wanted to simply add a single digit to the price of all the goods, she hadn't lost her last shred of conscience and ultimately held back.
Nevertheless, she still felt a little uneasy.
She thought for a moment, then realized, what's there to be afraid of? All the jewelry I sell is handmade by the Lilliputians, and the designs are all unique.
Strictly speaking, the Lilliputians could be considered a minority group, so these are unique handicrafts of the minority group!
"What a pity," Ning Jia said with regret. "Such a great selling point couldn't be advertised on the billboard, otherwise the price could really have reached three figures (just kidding)."
Ning Jia's stall wasn't even set up yet when it was time to open, and people were already starting to come in.
She quickly put up the price tags, hung up the QR codes, arranged her goods, and then took out the small stool left by her landlady and sat down steadily.
Her stall was located towards the back, and there weren't many customers yet. She wasn't in a hurry; she took out her phone, snapped a few photos, and posted them on her dedicated sales account with the caption: "Just joining in the fun, hehe~"
She changed her WeChat name from "AAA Natural Sachet Boss Ning" to "AAA Specialty Goods Boss Ning".
You can't just stick to one thing when it comes to selling goods. The sachet business isn't as booming as it used to be, so we need to diversify the types of goods we sell.
Ning Jia was engrossed in WeChat, completely unaware that more and more people were coming to the market, and soon they flooded her stall like a tide.
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