Zhi Wu and Zhi Wang glanced in their direction but said nothing.
The two stood to the side with their hands behind their backs, and Zhiwu began to worry: "If we don't give them away for free tomorrow, business will probably plummet."
Zhiwang shook his head: "It's not a good idea to just give away the charcoal at a low price all the time... If you use good charcoal and find it satisfactory and can afford it, you will naturally spend more money to buy more good charcoal. If you can't afford it, you will buy charcoal that costs five coins a pound."
The weather is gradually getting cooler now, and it won't be very hot even when the sun is shining brightly in the afternoon.
Zhiwang had already seen that charcoal was in short supply.
He rolled his eyes and said, "You stay here and keep watch. I'm going to find Brother Xing."
Zhiwu nodded silently.
The owner of the clothing shop had a wife and an old mother who were both sensitive to the cold. They would burn the good charcoal they had acquired early in the morning. It produced less smoke and was of comparable quality to the good charcoal sold for a dozen coins per kilogram in the county town, and was even more cost-effective.
What pleased the clothing shop owner even more was the young man named Zhixing who came to sell charcoal.
He's good-looking and hardworking.
Logically speaking, charcoal is sold in the shop, and Zhixing only needs to weigh the charcoal and collect money when someone comes to inquire and buy it.
But he was different; he was more competent than the shop assistants hired with money.
As soon as the guests entered, Zhixing went to greet them, not taking over the work of the waiters, but quietly following by.
Once the waiter is rendered speechless by the question, Zhixing immediately responds with a smile, and he can convince the customer to open their wallet and buy bedding, cotton clothes, and cotton shoes.
Some people came in just to watch the excitement, and were persuaded by Zhixing to spend a few coins to buy some good charcoal that cost eight coins a pound without any discounts, even if they didn't buy anything from the shop.
The tailor shop assistant was completely convinced and eagerly followed Zhixing around, learning from him.
The shopkeeper of the clothing store, and even the manager who had patronized Zhixing, had tried more than once to invite Zhixing to work for them, but Zhixing had always refused decisively, leaving people wondering what he really wanted.
Little did they know that Zhixing would never leave.
That year, the eldest brother gave him food to eat; it was Brother Ye who suggested that they sell charcoal together, giving him room to show his skills; and it was Brother Dazhuang's suggestion that allowed him to give full play to his strengths.
Otherwise, he would still be a slave who was sold back and forth.
They gave Zhixing a new life.
"Brother Xing."
After seeing off another guest who had left with a full load of silver, Zhixing stretched and was about to count his money when he suddenly heard Zhiwang's voice.
Zhiwang stood at the door, not coming in, looking at him hesitantly.
After greeting the tailor shop assistant, Zhixing went outside: "Is there something you need?"
Zhiwang pulled him to a side alley: "Business will probably be a bit slow tomorrow. Zhiwu and I will both go back to the bamboo house to burn charcoal. What are your plans?"
"Me?" Zhixing thought for a moment, "After the people from the mountain stronghold come and stabilize the situation, I will go back to the bamboo house, learn a few more tricks from Brother Dazhuang, and then ask Elder Nian for permission to lead men and charcoal to Longxing Prefecture City."
The methods used in the small town seem... not entirely unsuitable for use in the county seat.
Three days later, the bandits' charcoal business indeed declined considerably.
Zhixing stayed in the shop in town, waiting for someone to take over his work.
Zhiwen, Zhiwu, and Zhiwang returned to the bamboo house and hurried to burn charcoal.
They don't need to help with digging new charcoal kilns, collecting dry firewood and burning firewood, or transporting goods down the mountain; they only need to focus on burning charcoal and learning to read.
The bald man counted the copper coins the group had brought back one by one: "One hundred and eighty-three, one hundred and eighty-four..."
Xu Lin couldn't see and couldn't help, so he sat quietly to the side and listened to the bald man count.
Ye Wenxue twirled a copper coin and blew on it: "Hmm, it smells like money... It smells really good."
Xu Lin: "......"
Dazhuang counted a thousand copper coins and strung them together, then corrected Ye Wenxue's statement: "Mother, the word 'smell of money' has a bad connotation, we can't use it like that."
Ye Wenxue smiled indifferently: "Who cares what the word is, as long as I get the copper coin."
After all the coins were strung together, the bald man looked at the ledger and calculated the accounts: "...How come it seems like we didn't lose money, but actually made a profit?"
Jiang An, who was in charge of the accounts at the mountain stronghold, took a deep breath and suppressed the urge to retort: "We did make some money, but not much, less than eight taels."
The majority of their profits came from selling charcoal in the shop.
It's a miracle if you sell something on the market and actually make a profit instead of losing money.
Overall, after a few days of high-profile activity and the deployment of dozens of men, we only made this little money, so we still lost money.
Ye Wenxue nodded: "It's normal to earn less at the beginning. Business will pick up once it snows."
Their recent actions have all aimed to give people the impression that the charcoal they sell is of high quality and reasonably priced.
When the weather gets cold, the first thing these people think of when they want to buy charcoal is to buy charcoal from their store.
Old Master Xu picked up a few strings of copper coins and couldn't help but interject, "You think this isn't enough to make a profit?"
He used to sell for a whole month, but he didn't earn as much money in these three days!
He was just a little tired; he could barely straighten his back.
Xu Lin said, "Dad, you have to think about the food and living expenses for thirty or fifty people, as well as the rent... After deducting everything, the actual profit is not much."
The money they earn has to be divided into three parts proportionally. How much will they get?
Ye Wenxue sighed in agreement. She had always felt that selling cheap charcoal was not very profitable, and even if she sold it to the county town, she would have to pay for the travel expenses, so it wasn't worth it.
But they couldn't think of any better solution for the time being, so they could only sell charcoal.
She still had over sixty taels of silver in her storage space, so she wasn't in a hurry to use the money and it wouldn't matter if she earned a little less.
The bald man sighed and turned back to the mountain village. He ordered people to dig a few more charcoal kilns on the back mountain and have those who had learned the charcoal-making skills come back to make charcoal. The bamboo huts would be used to make bamboo charcoal and walnut charcoal.
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