Chapter 389 Shortage of Manpower
Zhao Jingya's eyes were filled with pain. As her cousin, she could only struggle, but in the end, she couldn't overpower the Zhao family.
"Sister Zhao, now that you're here, please relax. This is not something you can control."
Lin Yuesha comforted Zhao Jingya, saying that even if Zhao Jingya tried to avoid adding makeup, the Zhao family would send someone else, and no one could change the outcome.
"Sigh, no matter what, I still feel sorry for Pink Butterfly."
Zhao Jingya was silent for a moment, then her eyes focused. She looked at Lin Yuesha and said, "I could tell you were smart when we were at the girls' school. You're not swayed by other people's opinions, so I can only say a few words from my heart to you."
Although Lin Yuesha was a bit greedy, she wasn't a gossipmonger.
“You’re right. Even if I struggled to the end, the Zhao family withheld my dowry. From the moment I married into my husband’s family, I was looked down upon.”
Zhao Jingya looked at Lin Yuesha with envy. The difference between the two was that she didn't have much savings, while Lin Yuesha, although a merchant, had real money in her hands.
In this world, what's more important than fame is a woman's means of survival. She may have no parents, no relatives, no husband's family, but as long as she has money, she can live. People say that money is worthless, yet they spend their whole lives chasing after it.
Lin Yuesha was surprised that Zhao Jingya had come to this conclusion after much thought: that she couldn't fight back because she had no money. After all, women in the Great Qi Dynasty were expected to follow the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, spending their days thinking about how to marry, obey their husbands, and raise children. They rarely showed their faces in public.
"Do you suddenly feel like I've suddenly become enlightened?"
Zhao Jingya smiled faintly. After several days of tossing and turning, unable to sleep, she finally came to this conclusion.
She didn't want to rely on her parents' dowry; she wanted to earn money.
"But I still can't understand."
Lin Yuesha was stunned. She worked hard to earn money because her family was poor, especially when she first transmigrated. Her family was destitute. She only managed to eat a few pieces of meat when her stepbrother wrote Spring Festival couplets and the villagers sent them to her. Even so, her mother, Chen, couldn't bear to eat them, and she couldn't bear to waste the oil in them. When she stir-fried the cured meat, she didn't dare to use up all the oil.
People who have experienced hardship tend to be more frugal. Even though their families are not short of money now, they never indulge in extravagance.
Zhao Jingya's situation was different from hers. Although the Zhao family couldn't compare to the Li family's wealth, it was still a large family. Unlike her, Zhao Jingya had never experienced poverty.
"That's why I never realized that money was so important."
Zhao Jingya gave Lin Yuesha a thumbs up and said enviously, "I heard you opened a food shop, so I specially asked my maid to buy some."
As she spoke, she pulled a paper package from her pocket, inside which was pork jerky made by Lin Yuesha.
"The taste is good, but this pork won't keep for very long, will it?"
"Yes, so the texture is a bit dry and hard."
Daqi lacks proper storage facilities, and sales of meat jerky are lower in the hot summer than in colder weather, making it somewhat seasonal. Each batch baked at home requires adding extra salt to extend its shelf life.
It would be ideal to bake and sell fresh, but my shop is not big enough and I don't have enough manpower, so I haven't achieved scale yet.
In her past life, Lin Yuesha was focused on learning to cook. She had no business acumen and her own ideas were not suitable for Daqi, so her family's shop encountered problems many times, which were gradually improved little by little.
In modern times, if a brand does well, its chain stores will spring up everywhere, and you can even shop online. But Daqi is different. Each region has its own specialty snacks, and you can hardly find any branches in other cities.
Especially for century-old brands, there are only one or two shops, such as Shuangfuji's roast duck, which only has so many available each day, so you have to queue up early.
Craftsmen keep their skills secret and don't allow outsiders to see even a glimpse of them. To keep the recipes even more private, the person who knows the recipes must do everything themselves without any help.
"The snacks in your shop are so delicious, you should open a shop in Yingcheng."
During the days when Zhao Jingya was fighting against the Zhao family, she secretly relied on dried meat to fill her stomach, and she even smuggled it into the girls' school.
"I do have this idea."
Lin Yuesha hesitated, considering that her family's shop in the prefectural city had only been open for a short time, with limited manpower and few people they trusted, making it difficult to open a shop in Yingcheng.
Firstly, the food business emphasizes hygiene. If the food is prepared in the prefecture and transported, it takes at least five days. Once it arrives in Yingcheng, it won't be as fresh, unless someone has the manpower to prepare it fresh in Yingcheng.
However, Lin Yuesha could not find this person.
Her snacks aren't exactly a secret recipe, but they do have a few tricks. If you miss one or two ingredients, they just won't taste as good.
Manpower is the most crucial element.
If they hire someone to help them learn the skills, that person might learn how to do it and then start their own business. Lin Yuesha has to consider these issues.
The business in town has been taken over by her maternal uncle's family, who have been very kind to her. Her cousin, Chen Xiaohua, is already married, and her uncle and aunt have to take care of her maternal grandparents, so it's unlikely they will travel far.
There are other relatives in the clan, but even close brothers should keep clear accounts. Lin Yuesha didn't approach the clan members because she was afraid that the accounts wouldn't be settled in the end. She could explain things clearly to outsiders, but not necessarily to the clan members.
"What do you have to worry about? If you're worried about not having enough manpower, you can buy a few servants and sign them to permanent contracts."
Zhao Jingya suggested to Lin Yuesha, "I really like this dried meat, but the first time I ate it wasn't in Fucheng, but in Yingcheng."
Yingcheng has many traveling merchants who carry goods all over the country. Zhao Jingya bought the dried meat from a peddler, and the price was 30% higher than in the city.
"Peddlers travel back and forth selling goods, and they need money for clothing, food, shelter, and transportation, so all of that has to be added to the price of the goods."
Meat jerky has been shipping out recently, though the volume isn't huge. We still sell at least several dozen kilograms a day. If men make it as a snack with alcohol in the winter, the sales will at least double.
“When the pink butterfly was alive, she also liked to eat it. She even asked me which shop I bought it from.”
Because the peddler brought it back and the source couldn't be found, Zhao Fundie only dared to eat a little bit, and every time she was tempted, she would come back to ask for more.
When Zhao Jingya talked about her cousin, her nose tingled with emotion. When Zhao Fendie was alive, she had said that if the shop were in Yingcheng, she would definitely have her maid go shopping for her every day.
"Later, the peddler stopped going to the prefectural city. My maid asked him about it, and he said that he was afraid the food would spoil if he carried it along the way, so he stopped."
Zhao Jingya was disappointed when she found out, but fortunately the peddler generously told her the location of the shop. When she arrived, she realized that it was Lin Yuesha's shop.
To get the shop to Yingcheng, she went to great lengths to persuade Lin Yuesha, telling her that listening to her would be the right thing to do, and the business would definitely thrive in Yingcheng. Besides, she had a place in the Zhao family in Yingcheng, so she could ask her for help if she encountered any difficulties.
Lin Yuesha's lips twitched. She had already prepared her words of comfort for Zhao Jingya, but Zhao Jingya didn't give her the chance. Starting from the second sentence, she went off-topic. She even suspected that Zhao Jingya had stopped her just to get her to open a shop.
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