Soon, Li Kaishan and his son arrived at the entrance of the county government office. Li Kaishan thought they were already early, but he didn't expect there to be people who had arrived even earlier than him.
Li Kaishan took a deep breath and got off the oxcart. He went up to greet the village chiefs of Wangjia Village, Lijia Village, Zhaojia Village, and Dayang Village, because the village chiefs of these four villages were running against him for the position of village head.
Meanwhile, on Yan Qingqing's side, Xu Shi and Yuan Huiniang had already made several large dolls, which the girls in the family loved.
Everyone gathered around Yan Qingqing's room to admire the dolls, while Xiao Jinxiu clung to them, refusing to let go, insisting that Yan Qingqing give her the Donald Duck doll.
Jinxiu was overjoyed that her granddaughter liked Yan Qingqing so much that she took the Donald Duck and went back to her room.
Yuan Huiniang said, "Mother, please don't spoil that girl too much. We need to take these samples to the embroidery workshop."
Yan Qingqing smiled and said, "If the child likes it, then give it to her. You and your third aunt have already made some, so you can make another one later."
Madam Xu quickly replied with a smile, "That's right, this girl likes to prove that our products are popular with young girls, and they'll definitely sell very well in the future."
Not to mention Li Jinxiu liked them, even Madam Xu wanted some of these fluffy and cute dolls, but she was too old to ask.
Li Yueniang was touching a large bear doll with a look of anticipation on her face, but she knew that it was for the family to use for their legitimate business, and that it wouldn't be too late to ask for it later when the embroidery workshop started mass production.
Yan Qingqing called them over because they were the main backbone of the embroidery workshop. Besides, the workshop belonged to Yuan Huiniang and her two sisters-in-law, so any new products needed to be discussed with them first.
Yan Qingqing said, "If you think it's feasible, we'll have the embroiderers in the workshop take some time to make a batch, of course, targeting the mid-to-high-end market."
Therefore, you must strictly control the quality and absolutely prevent any instances of cutting corners. Also, all items must be embroidered with our Canghe Liji label.
After Yan Qingqing finished speaking, Yuan Huiniang and the others quickly nodded. Yan Qingqing had told them from the beginning that doing business must be done with integrity, otherwise it would not go far. Therefore, they had always done so in their cooperation with Jinsheng Pavilion.
Yuan Huiniang said with a smile, "Mother, don't worry, Jinsheng Pavilion has always been very satisfied with our embroidery, and they will be satisfied this time as well."
Yan Qingqing glanced at her and said, "If Jinsheng Pavilion wants our dolls, we can supply them with some, but they won't be exclusively for them. We can't just focus on our existing partners; we need to expand our market."
"If we only cooperate with Jinsheng Pavilion, and one day the two have a conflict and stop cooperating, wouldn't our embroidery workshop have to close down?"
Yuan Huiniang felt somewhat ashamed upon hearing this. She had always felt that her family's business with Jinsheng Pavilion was stable, and she even thought that these dolls were supplied to Jinsheng Pavilion, because she had never thought about expanding the market.
Yan Qingqing didn't blame Yuan Huiniang. After all, peasants had limited experience and had little business dealings.
Li Yueniang spoke up, saying, "Mother, Chengyang County is a small place after all, so the price of these dolls will definitely not be too low."
"Besides, a toy can be played with for many years, so there's probably not much of a market for it in our county alone. Could we sell it in neighboring counties?"
Yan Qingqing gave Li Yueniang an approving look. She was right. If their family's embroidery workshop wanted to flourish in the future, they would probably have to rely on Li Yueniang.
Li Yueniang was also pleased to see the admiration in Yan Qingqing's eyes. Under her mother's guidance, Yan Qingqing was slowly developing her own ideas, and it seemed she would need to think about them more in the future.
Yan Qingqing wanted to say a few more words, but Ruyi walked in and said, "Madam, the village chief and his wife have arrived. They said they wanted to thank you, and I've already invited them to have tea in the front hall."
After a moment of surprise, Yan Qingqing remembered that today was the day Li Kaishan was running for village chief. Since he said he was coming to thank her, he must have been elected.
Seeing this, Madam Xu said, "Second Sister-in-law, why don't you go ahead and get busy? We should head back now. We'll have the embroidery workshop staff start making the dolls when they have time tomorrow."
Yan Qingqing thought it was a good idea, so after Xu left, she came to the front hall. This time, Li Kaishan brought two catties of pastries with him.
As soon as Yan Qingqing entered the door, Jiao Shi stood up and said, "Oh, Qingqing, we really owe you a lot this time, otherwise your uncle definitely wouldn't have been selected."
After Yan Qingqing sat down, Li Kaishan explained the election process in detail.
The election was presided over by the county's clerk. Li Kaishan had hoped that he would have a better chance of winning the election, even if he didn't show up, because of the magistrate's influence. But the magistrate didn't show up at all, and Li Kaishan's heart sank.
Li Kaishan was the last to be assessed. Although Canghe Village had the fastest economic development in the past year, it also had the most problems.
First, Li Daniu was stripped of his official title for his moral depravity. Then, Li Erdan caused poisoning by selling offal. And there was also the incident where Tie Tou poisoned the chickens and ducks at Yan Qingqing's house.
To be honest, Li Kaishan felt extremely embarrassed that his competitors had listed all these things out. He thought that he definitely had no chance this time, so he calmed down.
Remembering the words Yan Qingqing had written for him, and thinking that they shouldn't be wasted, Li Kaishan first gave Li Daniu and the others a stern lecture, then subtly expressed his law-abiding and selfless nature, and finally stated that he would still report such situations to the authorities in the future, only in this way could everyone abide by the law and there be a clean and honest government.
Moreover, it is fair to the victims, so that they will not harbor resentment and will have greater faith in the imperial court.
Li Kaishan's eloquent speech left the county magistrate's clerk and several village chiefs from neighboring villages speechless.
Every village has its share of petty theft and shady dealings, but everyone tries to save face by stopping it.
They all thought that in the end, it would be better to let Li Kaishan be the village chief than to let those nice guys be the village chiefs, at least he would be impartial when conflicts arise with other villages.
Besides, the embroidery workshop run by Yan Qingqing's family also employs embroiderers from their village. With this in mind, these people's thoughts began to stir.
If they elect Li Kaishan, they will have this favor to rely on, and when Canghe Village recruits workers, they will always give priority to Canghe Village in addition to those from their own village.
Li Kaishan, who probably thought the same thing, actually passed it unanimously in the end.
After hearing this, Li Qingqing quickly congratulated Li Kaishan, who beamed from ear to ear. The head of the household here receives a salary of two taels of silver per year; if they spend it frugally, it's enough to support the whole family for a year.
However, Li Kaishan could never have imagined that in the near future he would not care about the two taels of silver salary at all.
Knowing that Yan Qingqing's family was busy, Li Kaishan and Jiao Shi sat for a short while before leaving.
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