Chapter 100
100
Cheng Yeran took a day off the next morning and went to visit Lu Liu. He was relieved to see that he had recovered from his illness but was still a little weak. He thought he could go back to class after a day's rest.
But Lu Liu's expression was very strange, as if he had done something wrong. He didn't dare to look at him and kept avoiding his gaze. When he asked him something, he hesitated and didn't give a direct answer.
He thought Lu Liu was a man who cared a lot about his reputation, and must have felt embarrassed because he had seen his sloppy and sick appearance. He did not stay long, but wanted to go home to rest and catch up on some sleep so that he could go to class in the afternoon.
As soon as I walked to the door of my house, I saw a strange man standing at the door looking at their plaque, as if he wanted to buy something.
He thought it was a supplier from outside. He thought that he would not be able to catch up on sleep this morning. Shen Yuntang was tortured enough by him last night, so he decided to negotiate the deal himself.
He walked up to the man and started talking to him, only to find out that the man was a neighbor from the alley where they lived before, the one who had been doing business outside. Everyone called him Lao Zhao.
Lao Zhao travels to many places. He not only buys things from his hometown, but also brings things from outside back to his hometown to sell. He travels to various places and does business everywhere. He is outside almost all year round.
He even went to the capital and became friends with the owner of a shop there.
This time, the soap from Cheng Yeran's family spread to the capital. The shop owner told Lao Zhao about it, and only then did Lao Zhao know that there was such a new thing at home.
The county where Cheng Yeran is located is far away from the capital, and there are few merchants who travel so far. At first, a child from a wealthy family went out to travel, bought some soap outside, and brought it to the capital. He showed it to his friends in the capital, and then the news spread, and everyone wanted a piece.
Later, some merchants also bought soap from here and sold it to the capital, but the soap was in short supply. Even the shop owner that Lao Zhao knew couldn't get any. He said to Lao Zhao, "That soap happened to be sold from your family. Go back and get some."
Lao Zhao originally wanted to come back before the Chinese New Year, but he came back early just for this soap.
In the capital and in every place he passed by on his way back, he asked about the price of soap. In the capital, an ordinary soy milk soap cost ten taels of silver, while pink peach blossom soap cost twenty-five taels. Because of its special color, exquisite packaging, and the beautiful patterns on it, the price was driven up very high.
He went to other places, and although the price was not as high as in the capital, it was still seven or eight taels per piece, and most people could not buy it.
Only ordinary soy milk soap is easier to buy, but many people have bought it and are tired of it. Some people can use up the soap at home for more than ten years. Those who are still buying soy milk soap at this time are those who really need soap at home.
In the past, people would buy soap by simply going to the store and buying whichever soap they liked. Now that soy milk soap has become so famous, even if it’s not for the image of Yuanbao, people who come into the store will specifically ask for soy milk soap. Because everyone is buying it, it shows that this stuff is good.
Old Zhao didn't expect that after he had been away from home for a few months, such a hot-selling product would appear at home. If he had left a few months later, when the soap shop opened, he would have brought the soaps out to trade and might have made a fortune.
After returning home, he found that the soap workshop was actually very close to his home. He was very upset that he didn't even make any money from the factory near his home. After he got home, he didn't stop for a moment and went to the soap shop first.
It turned out that there was a transparent peach blossom soap. I heard that it was sold out and would be restocked next spring. Now there is a transparent mint soap, which only costs 100 cents per piece.
He almost asked for a hundred yuan in the store on impulse. Later, he asked someone where he could buy the goods. If you buy it in stock, it will definitely be much cheaper than buying it in a store.
It's autumn already, and this peppermint soap is not limited edition, so few people buy it.
The new products have not yet been released, so the store has much less traffic, but if they are released, they will go to the yard with the Shen Fulang plaque to buy them.
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After Old Zhao found out, he ran to find Cheng Yeran.
When Cheng Yeran heard that he wanted soap, the neighbor from before welcomed him in warmly and showed him several kinds of soap.
As soon as he took out the soap and put it on the table, Yuanbao came back after hearing the news. He took over his cousin's job and started selling it himself.
Cheng Yeran thought that this kid was really positive about making money. Knowing that a big customer had come, he stopped watching the store and hurried back, fearing that he would not get any share if he didn't do the business.
Cheng Yeran really appreciated his work attitude, and he went back to catch up on his sleep.
When Cheng Yeran returned to the room, he saw that Shen Yuntang had not yet gotten up.
Normally, Shen Yuntang would not stay in bed, unless he was so tired at night that he couldn't get out of bed.
Shen Yuntang originally wanted to force himself to get up, but his waist was sore, his legs were weak, and some unspeakable place was swollen and uncomfortable.
If he got up and went out now, he would probably limp, which would make people laugh at him. It would be better for him to rest in the house and go to work in the afternoon.
When he saw Cheng Yeran, he snorted in grievance and ignored him.
Cheng Yeran smiled, opened the quilt and lay down beside him, hugging him in his arms, "Don't be angry, don't be angry, I will be gentler next time. The content of the performance yesterday was different, so it must be wilder. What's more, you like it very much."
After he finished speaking, Shen Yuntang twisted his thigh. He quickly stopped talking and lowered his head to kiss the little red mole on his neck. "Take a rest. Don't worry. There are people to take care of things outside. You don't have to worry about it."
"I said I would go to the noodle shop today, but I'm afraid I can't make it." Shen Yuntang was talking about the newly opened noodle shop.
Shen Yuntang's new noodle shop opened these two days. He hired two employees before opening. This time they were not a couple, but two aunts who worked efficiently.
Shen Yuntang first asked them to work in their previous noodle shop for a while, so that Ah Xiang could see their skills and character. If they were both good, they would stay, which was equivalent to a training session.
He also promoted Ah Xiang to be the manager, letting him manage the two noodle shops. He also hired someone to replace Ah Xiang's previous position as the noodle shop owner, and he would occasionally visit the two noodle shops to check on the situation.
Ah Xiang had always wanted to open his own restaurant, but he and his husband lost money when they opened a small stall. He thought he would never be able to become a shopkeeper, so he just worked as an assistant. As a result, Shen Yuntang helped him realize his dream of becoming a shopkeeper.
Although he was still working for others, his status and wages were different. He was very grateful to Shen Yuntang and would work harder in the future.
"It's okay. They can do it well. You don't have to watch them in real time." Cheng Yeran was afraid that he was too overworked. "Many things can be let go. They also need training to grow. You just need to look at the overall situation."
"I also want to see if there are many people and whether they are busy enough to come over. Ah Xiang said she was going to deliver pickles, but I don't know if she has delivered them." Shen Yuntang became anxious without seeing it with his own eyes.
"We will open dozens or hundreds of stores in the future. Do you have to travel all over the country?" Cheng Yeran said, "You need to train a few capable assistants to help you."
"Those kids are all good. I'm training them." Shen Yuntang was talking about his cousin Tugen and Lin Yu. Lin Yu had made rapid progress recently. He was not so nervous when selling goods to people. He also remembered the account books well and remembered all the names. Shen Yuntang was teaching him new characters.
None of his cousins learned as fast as he did, so he gave Lin Yu special lessons and taught him more.
The two of them stayed in bed until noon, and only got up to eat when they were too hungry to bear it anymore.
Yuanbao was very happy and shared with his cousin during the meal that he had sold a big order.
"Uncle Zhao just ordered 300 pieces of soy milk soap, 1,000 pieces of peppermint soap, and 2,000 pieces of pink peach blossom soap from us. He also wanted transparent peach blossom soap. I said we didn't have any, so he reserved 3,000 pieces in advance and told me to keep them for him when they're ready next year." Yuanbao said happily.
They had picked the peach blossoms originally, for free. At the time, there were only him and Wild Dog picking them out, and they also had to do many other things, so a few hundred dollars was already the limit.
Next year he plans to harvest peach blossoms and have people pick them and send them to him. He will give people a dozen cents for a sack and he guarantees that many people will rush to give them away. By then he's afraid that his yard won't be able to hold them all.
This soap is usually cheap when wholesaled, with a minimum order of 100 yuan. The mint soap is 90 cents, and the peach blossom soap is 45 cents a piece.
Old Zhao ordered a lot, and Yuanbao gave him 80 cents for a piece of mint soap and 40 cents for a piece of pink peach blossom soap.
The store is now in the off-season, and it is estimated that it will have to wait until the new products are launched on the market before it can usher in another wave of big sales. I just don't know whether people will be aesthetically fatigued of it and their purchasing power will decline. He even wants to learn singing, dancing and playing the piano to attract people, but will that turn the soap shop into a Qinglou style? Just think about it and forget it.
He had been upset for a while recently, but Lao Zhao's order made all his worries disappear.
"When will he leave? Why not let him wait for a while until the new winter models are available, and then let him take some out?" Cheng Yeran asked Yuanbao.
"We don't have that many soaps at home. I told him it would take at least half a month to complete his order. I'll go over to ask him later. But cousin, aren't we making new autumn models?" Yuanbao asked.
"Let's work on the winter products first. When the academy is on holiday in winter, I plan to go back to the village to rest for a month, and give you a holiday as well. So, time will be tight. We can skip the autumn season for now and work on new winter products directly." Cheng Yeran said.
"Can I not take a vacation?" Yuanbao felt that it was more comfortable to make money here than to go home and rest. There was no one at home, so it would be the same whether he went back or not. Besides, he did not have a fixed salary. If he had a fixed salary, he would be happy to take a year's vacation if his cousin asked him to. However, most of his income came from commissions, and taking a vacation would be equivalent to losing money.
Shen Yuntang had the same idea. What would happen to his sausage and noodle shop after returning home? The closer it is to the New Year or other festivals, the busier we are at making money. Everyone wants to have a good meal during the New Year. Even those who don’t want to go out to eat in restaurants on weekdays will choose to go out for a meal during this time.
The same goes for sausages. On ordinary days, whenever a family holds a banquet, a plate of sausages will be placed on the table. Not to mention during the Chinese New Year, doesn’t every household have to put a plate of sausages on the New Year’s Eve dinner?
He just wants to stay at home for three days, wish his parents, brothers, and uncles a happy new year, and then come back quickly. His family will understand him.
But Lin Yu and his cousins all have to go home for the New Year, and the servants at home can't all work here for him during the New Year. That would be too inhumane.
What he told Cheng Yeran was that he would make a batch of sausages in advance so that everyone could have a holiday during the Chinese New Year and he would sell the goods here.
Cheng Yeran said that he had been busy for a whole year and it would be better for him not to work so hard. The original purpose of their business was to launder money. He had 9.9 billion and he could not spend it all. There was no need to tire himself out like this.
Shen Yuntang told him that it had nothing to do with money. He liked the sense of accomplishment of making money and the process. It was a different feeling from Cheng Yeran directly giving him the money in the card.
After Tugen learned of Shen Yuntang's idea, he told Shen Yuntang that he and Mai Miao could just stay to sell goods and also look after the house.
He didn't want to go back to that home, and it was even more impossible for Mai Miao to go back, as she had been sold by her parents.
He also wanted Shen Yuntang and Cheng Yeran to bring some money back to his parents when they returned. If his parents heard that he could still make money in the county town during the New Year, they would not care whether they returned or not, as long as the money was there.
Now that Yuanbao has stayed, Ye Gou must also stay. Fourth brother even said he wanted to stay. He said that the whole family has children and he is worried about them, so he will just go back and stay for two or three days during the New Year.
There are too many children in the family, so each child will get less attention from their parents. Because the third brother looks very much like his father and is skilled in carpentry, his father pays more attention to him. His mother likes the eldest son more because he is his first son. The second is Shen Yuntang, who looks very much like his mother when she was young.
The second and fourth brothers are almost invisible people in the family, especially the fourth brother. He speaks the least when he is at home and few people remember his existence. There is no point in him going home, so he might as well help with the business here.
Liuya and Luwei didn't want to go home either. They felt uncomfortable when they thought of that village. And their eldest brother always looked at them coldly. But they missed their parents, and not for anyone else, they had to go back to see them after a year away.
Finally it was decided that Cheng Yeran and Shen Yuntang would go back for a month, and the cousins would go back for two or three days, and when they came back they would ask the fourth brother to help bring them back.
When Yuanbao heard that everyone had discussed it, he excitedly urged Cheng Yeran: "Since I won't have a holiday during the Chinese New Year, let's make the new autumn models. One more new model means we can make more money."
Shen Yuntang also knew what Yuanbao was thinking. The days when new products came out were the busiest.
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We can sell 300 to 400 bars of soap at retail, but the autumn here is short, so we may not be able to make it in time. "In winter, we can make many themes, such as New Year themes and Lantern Festival themes. We have made them in aesthetic styles before. We can also make firecracker patterns, dumpling patterns, glutinous rice balls, moons, etc."
"The one with the Chinese character for blessing is also fine!" Yuan Bao was extremely happy to hear Shen Yuntang's suggestion, and he became motivated again. "We can make a set of the twelve zodiac animals and sell them as a whole set, or we can just sell a single zodiac soap. It would be nice to give the zodiac soap to children during the Chinese New Year."
Previously, Cheng Yeran learned how to make soap with patterns and passed the method to Yuanbao. Yuanbao has already studied the method of making snowflakes.
He found it very interesting. In addition to snowflakes, he wanted to make more and more patterns, but he had no inspiration. Now Shen Yuntang gave him a lot of inspiration. He wished he could skip meals and go make soap.
"Your sister-in-law is learning to paint now, you can ask her to design a zodiac pattern for you. It doesn't have to be traditional. Since it's intended to be given to children, make it cute." Cheng Yeran felt that cute things are not only liked by children, but adults too, and the sales will surely be good.
"So do the twelve zodiac signs also have clothes? We can't make twelve styles at once. We can start with the style for this year's zodiac, and print the pictures on the boxes. Every year, different zodiac clothes will be placed on the boxes." Shen Yuntang also became motivated. Now he has different new ideas and different things waiting for him to do every day. These things fill his time. When he was in the countryside, he would think about his past life in his free time and feel sad and angry for a while, or be upset for a while when he thought of his cousin's frame-up. Now he only has himself in his life, and his energy will only be used on his own affairs. Those annoying people will no longer consume him.
"Since it is a New Year's style, the clothes are made more gorgeous, like costumes. It doesn't matter. It won't look exaggerated when packaged. But there is no way to make clothes and sell them. Ordinary people can't wear them out on weekdays. Even if someone buys them, it will only be a small number of people. It's not cost-effective." Cheng Yeran said.
"It doesn't matter. The clothes are all for the soap. I just sell the clothes by the way. As long as the soap sells well, I don't care whether the clothes are sold or not." Shen Yuntang thought he had to do it quickly and make the clothes before Yang Shiming went on vacation so that he could draw.
"If we want to print the twelve zodiac animals, Uncle Zhou will be exhausted. Now he is shouting and venting his anger every day. Won't he beat us up when the time comes?" Yuanbao said jokingly.
After he finished speaking, Uncle Zhou next door sneezed loudly.
…
Lin Yu saw that they made decisions on business matters while talking and laughing as if they were chatting. He thought they were so amazing and hoped that he could become as amazing as them one day.
Before he came to work for Shen Yuntang, he had very low self-esteem. Before doing anything, he would imagine what he would look like after failure. He didn't believe that he would succeed, so he simply gave up before doing anything and didn't want to work hard anymore.
Now I am full of energy and I just think that I will become better.
But he had to go back to the village with Zhao Yanlin to celebrate the New Year and live that disgusting life again. When he heard that Tugen, Maimiao Yuanbao and others didn't have to go home, he was extremely envious.
When he was embroidering with Shen Yuntang during the day, he couldn't help but complain a few words. Now he is not so afraid of Shen Yuntang anymore and dares to chat with Shen Yuntang.
Shen Yuntang thought for a moment and said, "Why don't you take some cloth back with you and tell them that I need it urgently and need to finish it during the New Year. I'll give you an extra ounce of silver and give it to your family, and they won't bother you anymore."
"How can I ask you to spend money?" Lin Yu just complained casually and was prepared to endure this month by himself. Unexpectedly, Shen Yuntang immediately helped him come up with a solution and even wanted to spend money for his troubles.
When he first came here to work, he was paid two cents of silver a month. In the second month after he came here, Shen Yuntang said that he wanted to sell goods and embroider at the same time, and his embroidery was also good, so his salary was raised to four cents of silver.
Shen Yuntang also secretly pulled him aside and told him not to tell his family and to give them two taels of silver when giving them money.
Before, when Cheng Yeran was at the Zhao family, he told the Zhao family that they would pay Lin Yu two cents of silver a month as wages. Given the character of the Zhao family, they would definitely ask him for money when Lin Yu returned. Shen Yuntang was afraid that Lin Yu was too honest, so he told his family about the wage increase. His family asked for all of it, and he felt embarrassed to refuse.
"Originally, I was going to give you a year-end bonus during the Chinese New Year, two taels of silver per person. I'm telling you in advance that you should keep one tael for yourself and give one tael to your family. Don't be foolish and give it all away. Only when you have money in your hands can you have confidence and courage." Shen Yuntang also said that he would also receive extra overtime pay for the fabrics he brought back for embroidery.
Lin Yu was so moved that his eyes were red. He felt that Shen Yuntang was his relative, closer than any of his relatives.
He used to be timid, but now he has saved some money. The more money he has in savings, the bolder he becomes.
On weekdays during holidays, Liu Ya dragged him to go shopping. At first, he didn't dare to go into the shops or talk to the shop assistants, for fear of being looked down upon. Now that he has money in his hands, he no longer has such pressure and can talk to the shop assistants on an equal footing.
In the past, what he feared most was being divorced by Zhao Yanlin. That was why he didn't dare to talk back when Zhao Yanlin scolded him. Being divorced was too shameful. Not only could he not go back to his parents' home, he couldn't survive in the village either. He would have no way out. But now, as long as he could stay by Shen Yuntang's side and work for him, he was not so afraid of being divorced.
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