Chapter 91
91
Finally, they rented the shop that Yuanbao liked for sixty taels a year. The shop used to be a jewelry store. It did not leave a lot of grease like a restaurant, and the smell was not bad, which saved them a lot of trouble in cleaning.
Shen Yuntang now has some free time, so he helps Yuanbao decorate the shop.
Shen Yuntang had experience in this area, so he went to order a plaque first.
This plaque is a little different from the last one. The noodle shop is positioned as a low-end and affordable restaurant. The custom-made plaque is similar to a template with a name engraved on it, which is very simple.
This time, a lot of thought was put into the design of the plaque, both the font and the pattern, making it feel classy and not tacky.
The cabinets in the shop are all made of good materials.
Cheng Yeran suggested that a clothing area could be set up on the second floor with a personal stage where customers could wear the same clothes as Yuanbao, and then hang two sets on the wall for people to see. The rest could be hung on a long clothes hanger, with more than ten to twenty pieces hanging in a row. Next to the long clothes hanger, a full-length mirror could be placed so that customers could pick up the clothes and look at themselves in the mirror to see if they fit them well.
As for fitting rooms, that is not realistic. Women and men in ancient times would not change clothes outside. However, you can give them a seven-day no-questions-asked refund policy, allowing them to go back and try the clothes. If they don't like them, they can return them.
Shen Yuntang now has a sewing machine, which is like getting a new toy. He can never get enough of playing with it. After making two sets of clothes for Yuanbao, he made a new set of clothes for Cheng Yeran.
Later, when Liu Ya and the other three came over, their clothes were also old, especially Mai Miao's, whose clothes were tattered and full of patches. He then made a new set of clothes for each of them.
He hadn't had enough, and Cheng Yeran happened to say that he could sell clothes here. His eyes lit up, "There is still a big difference between the clothes that men wear and women wear. I want to modify those two sets of clothes and make two more sets of clothes for girls."
Shen Yuntang pointed to the second floor and said, "On these two sides, put the boys' clothes on one side and the girls' clothes on the other side. From now on, no one except girls and boys is allowed to come up to the second floor. How about that?"
Yuanbao was the first to nod in agreement. "Those men always look at me with greasy eyes when they buy soap. It's okay if they just look at me, after all, they have to spend money, but it's disgusting and annoying if they want to touch me. Besides, female customers won't be harassed by men. This is a good idea."
Cheng Yeran looked at the space upstairs and said, "We can also put a row of shelves upstairs to store soaps, so that boys and girls can buy soaps there and pay directly there."
The three of them looked at the area below again, "We can also make a special passage for men and women, put a big screen at the door, the left side is the men's passage, after entering it is the first floor, the right side is the passage for men and women, after entering it is the stairs to the upper floor."
Shen Yuntang was good at painting. He even drew a blueprint and had a screen custom-made.
When he ordered the plaque, he also made an extra plaque with the word Shen Fulang Sausage on it and hung it at the gate of their house.
Sausages have returned to the wholesale model, with the wholesale price being 13 cents per stick. They are selling well in all the shops, and sausages are also served as an extra dish at weddings and funerals. Seventy to eighty sausages are bought every day. During festivals or auspicious days for weddings, one to two hundred sausages can be sold in a day. With the help of peddlers from outside to purchase the goods, the sales are even higher.
Having a plaque would make it appear more formal and make it easier for people to find their location.
Their yard used to be a vinegar workshop, where they made and sold the vinegar at home. Now they continue this way, saving the time of renting a shop.
When selling dried tofu at home, Cheng Yeran negotiated business with the peddler, and later it was Yuanbao who sold the goods. Now Cheng Yeran is studying, Yuanbao is selling soap, and the burden of selling goods has fallen on Shen Yuntang.
Shen Yuntang was not a sociable person, but he honed his skills.
He distributed the sausage-making steps to Tugen and others. Except for adding seasoning and checking the quality, the rest of the time he was either selling goods or making clothes.
People might come to buy goods at any time during the day, so he couldn't go into the house to make clothes, so he embroidered during the day.
I have run out of wrapping paper recently, and Uncle Zhou hasn't printed it yet, so Mai Miao is free.
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When they got there, Mai Miao saw how hard he was working at embroidering and wanted to find something for herself to do, so she told Shen Yuntang that she could also embroider and wanted to help Shen Yuntang.
Shen Yuntang was very surprised, because when Mai Miao came, her clothes were torn, and she must have never been exposed to embroidery, so how could she do these things?
"Can you embroider?" Shen Yuntang felt that she was just too afraid of being driven away and wanted to find something to do, so she said that. He would rather Mai Miao be idle when she had nothing to do than to cause trouble.
Mai Miao was very timid. She could hear the doubt in his tone and quickly explained, "When I was at home, my mother sent me to learn from my aunt. Usually, people from the county town would come to the countryside to buy embroidery products. I only embroidered some handkerchiefs and sachets, never anything big."
Cheng Yeran never expected that she would have to support the family at such a young age. Her parents were such cruel people, treating their child as a tool.
He had heard from Tugen how lazy and gluttonous their parents were in their daily lives. He was still wondering, if Cheng Yeran had not traveled through time, and he had married the original lazy man, would that lazy man be as terrible as Tugen's parents?
He gave Mai Miao a piece of cloth and asked him to show a small peach blossom to see the effect. If the effect was good, he would do it again.
Mai Miao's work was better than he had imagined and she had great potential. With a little guidance, she would definitely become a great embroidery master in the future.
In fact, Shen Yuntang had never learned embroidery from a professional. He relied on his natural talent. After buying the design book last time, he asked Cheng Yeran if there were any books that taught how to make clothes and embroidery.
The two of them went to Wangchunlou and picked out a lot of books online, including many embroidery patterns from ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad, as well as books on clothing styles and methods from various dynasties. Shen Yuntang bought more than a dozen books.
After getting the book back, he flipped through it and realized how superficial the patterns he had designed before were and how many mistakes there were in his techniques.
In the past, he always kept a dictionary at hand when reading, and would look up any words he didn't know.
It has been a long time since he asked Cheng Yeran to teach him to read. He learned many words by reading books and looking up dictionaries. Now he hardly looks up dictionaries when reading books.
He had an additional job of learning to draw design drafts in the evening, and he sat next to Cheng Yeran. The atmosphere between them was like that of classmates doing homework together.
He used the newly learned techniques to embroider clothes, and taught it to Mai Miao, asking Mai Miao to help him embroider some small flowers and petals next to them while he embroidered the large groups.
With Mai Miao's help, they doubled their workload.
He told Yuanbao that Maimiao would embroider for him from now on, and he hired an assistant to help him pack soaps.
It just so happens that opening a shop really requires recruiting staff, so we can hire a few more.
The matter of recruiting people will depend on Shopkeeper Wang again. Shopkeeper Wang knows the people in the county better than they do. The people he recommended last time were all good, so it's up to him this time.
The store needs at least two clerks to sell goods, and one to package soaps. It can also be a part-time job, and the salary is calculated based on the number of packages.
When the aunt who cooks at home heard about the part-time job, she recommended her daughter-in-law to come over. She has time in the morning and afternoon every day, and has to go home to cook at noon and in the evening.
Yuanbao said that there was no rush now, and she would wait until Uncle Zhou finished printing the new packaging and then ask her to come over. The part-time job did not pay much, only one cent for ten sheets, but she had to pack almost 200 sheets every day, and the meal was provided.
My aunt calculated that if she could make 200 yuan a day, that would be 20 wen a day, 200 wen in ten days, and 600 wen a month. If she made more, she might earn more than she did.
The store hired three guys, two downstairs and one upstairs.
The waiter upstairs is a husband, who specializes in serving the guests upstairs, and the waiters downstairs are two men.
The men downstairs are two brothers. One of them used to work for Manager Wang and was a reliable person. But later he heard that his father was seriously ill, so he went back to take care of him. Later, his father passed away, so the two brothers brought their mother to the county town to find a job and take care of her at the same time.
But Manager Wang had already hired a new clerk, so he recommended them to Cheng Yeran's soap shop. The clerk's brother brought his husband to the county town. The husband was also a good talker, so he let him work upstairs.
The recruitment is ready, except for Zhou Shuyin's new packaging.
Uncle Zhou usually prints about 30 to 50 sheets and sends them over in a batch.
The first batch consisted of sixty sheets, all of which were pink peach blossom soaps. The packaging of the transparent peach blossom soap had not yet been completed. Mai Miao and Shen Yuntang went to embroider, so my aunt's daughter-in-law came over to help with the packaging.
She wrapped them very quickly and finished sixty by herself.
The wild dog couldn't grab her no matter what he did, and just bared his teeth at him.
After wrapping the soaps, my aunt's daughter-in-law went to help wrap the labels for sausages. The money for that label was less, one penny for twenty pieces. But that was easier and the quantity was also very large. Within a few days, she became the person who made the most money in the family.
Cheng Yeran looked at the transparent soap and felt that if it was packaged, its beauty would be concealed. Although it was nice to be amazed when unpacking it, he felt that no matter how beautiful Yuanbao was, people would get tired of it. Just like a future star, he needed to constantly create new highlights to attract attention, otherwise he would be easily forgotten.
He hopes that everyone will focus on the soap itself, which is better than anything else if it is useful.
But plastic packaging is not allowed in this era. He remembered that there were some transparent papers, but the technology in this era was not so mature, and the thin and transparent paper was not strong. The cheap packaging made the product look cheap as well.
He told his whole family about this idea, hoping to get everyone's advice.
"Make a box," Shen Yuntang knew what he was struggling with. "Don't you think that after the package is finished, the buyer can't see what's inside? Make a box so that they can open it and see the soap inside before buying it, and then decide whether to buy it or not. Although the cost of making a box is higher, it can increase the price."
"Yes, you are always so smart, and this peach blossom is seasonal. Even if it is limited to spring, the price will naturally be high. But now spring has passed. It blooms in spring, it is made in spring, and it starts selling in summer..." Cheng Yeran felt that this was their first year of doing business, and there were still many immature aspects, and it was too late.
"There are summer flowers in summer, and there are different things to make all year round, with seasonal specials," Yuanbao said, "This year's soap was not sold on time, it has nothing to do with the flowers, but with the packaging. Let Uncle Zhou print next year's packaging in advance, and peach blossom soap can be sold next spring."
"I don't want to use flowers as the theme for summer. Spring is already full of flowers. Summer is so hot, so why not make a mint soap that will make people feel refreshed when using it. I can also make it transparent like this, but make it light blue, like ice. How about that?" Cheng Yeran asked.
"But ice is transparent, how can it be blue?" Yuanbao felt that transparent things looked more like ice.
"But the light blue ones look more refreshing. You'll know once you make them. I'm the boss, so you listen to me." Cheng Yeran made the decision right away, then turned to Shen Yuntang and said, "I'll leave the new clothes to you as well. It's already the end of May, and the weather is getting hotter. It would be best if we could put the limited summer items on sale in early July."
Shen Yuntang rubbed his forehead and said, "I have no problem, but Uncle Zhou will have a headache if he hears that you are going to print new packaging."
Everyone at the table couldn't help but burst out laughing when they heard this, because Uncle Zhou lived next door and they often heard Uncle Zhou shouting manically in the yard, saying things like it was too much, there was no way to finish it, he was so tired, etc.
Uncle Zhou was quite gentle before. Zhou Hua also said that since his father took over the order from their family, he became impatient. He did everything very quickly and even had to shout when he spoke, as if he was venting something.
"Speaking of painting, I would like to ask Yang Shiming to paint another picture of women's clothing. I have improved the style of women's clothing, and it would be better to hang a painting in the store." Shen Yuntang said.
"But who should we find as the model for this women's clothing?" Cheng Yeran said and looked at Yuanbao.
Yuan Bao opened his mouth and pointed at himself, "Am I wearing women's clothes?"
Cheng Yeran: "I'll give you two taels of silver for a set and let you be a model. Do you want to do it?"
Yuan Bao didn't even think twice: "Deal!"
Shen Yuntang: "...Don't bother him anymore."
"Sister-in-law, I do." Yuanbao was so happy that he couldn't help laughing. His savings were going to increase again.
…
Shen Yuntang first made eight sets of clothes for the boys, four sets in each of two styles, and divided them into large and small sizes.
He made four sets and put them on sale in the store first. He planned to make two women's styles first and let Yuanbao wear them and then draw pictures.
Although the sewing machine is fast, embroidery is a troublesome job. He and Mai Miao are fine with one or two pieces, but they are too busy to handle too many. He wants to continue hiring people.
Shen Yuntang counted the people in his family now, seven relatives, a helper, his aunt and daughter-in-law, Ah Xiang and Wang Sanyi, a total of twelve people. He never thought that his family's small workshop would use so many people.
IA
Many people, and it’s still not enough. Cheng Yeran said that he wants to expand the business all over the country in the future. How many people will he need to recruit? Hundreds or thousands of people? He couldn't even think about it now.
However, recruiting people brought them to a new problem. The embroidery patterns had to be kept absolutely confidential. If they hired someone they couldn't trust and sold the patterns to someone else in advance, all their work would be in vain.
His previous idea was to find relatives, just like sausages and soap, they were all relatives in the family, they were all family, so he could use them with confidence, but now that the scale has expanded, relatives are not enough.
When he came back in the evening, he asked Cheng Yeran: "I heard that your family was doing business before you traveled through time. How did you find people?"
"There are many ways, such as campus recruitment or waiting for people to submit resumes and interviews. I don't ask about the company's affairs. I started filming before I graduated." Cheng Yeran didn't like doing business before he traveled through time, but he didn't expect that he would still choose this path after traveling through time.
"How many children do you have in your family?" It was the first time Shen Yuntang asked him about his family.
"I am the only child," Cheng Yeran said. "My mother said that it was so painful when she gave birth to me, so I asked my father to get a sterilization after that."
"You are going to film, who will your family business be passed on to in the future?" Shen Yuntang thought about it. If their family business becomes bigger in the future, it will definitely be managed by their children after they die.
He planned to have more children, at least two, one to be an official and one to inherit the family business. If he had another child, the other two would go out to work, and the last one would stay at home to accompany him, which would also be good.
"Hire professionals to manage the company, and I can just sit back and collect the money. My dad's company is too high-end, and different from ours. I don't understand it. If I were to manage it, I'm afraid it would be squandered." Cheng Yeran knew without thinking that he didn't have his father's ability, and everyone has different talents and skills. There was no need to force himself to do things that would make him distressed. He should just stay out of the fun.
"If we hand it over to someone else, aren't we afraid that he will run away with the money?" Shen Yuntang felt that he had gone off topic after he said this. Since Cheng Yeran could come up with this idea, it must be feasible in the future.
His purpose was to recruit people, and he told Cheng Yeran about his troubles, "How can we ensure that he doesn't leak our tricks?"
"Let him sign a confidentiality agreement. If he is exposed, he will have to compensate for the losses, or he can take in an apprentice, just like Uncle Zhou. Didn't he pass on his skills to his apprentices? Apprentices generally don't dare to betray their masters. Otherwise, if the news gets out, it will be difficult for them to survive here in the future." Cheng Yeran had seen Shen Yuntang's serious look when he was teaching Mai Miao embroidery. He was very suitable to be a teacher and was very patient.
"It's okay to accept a disciple, but this disciple can't be accepted casually. If I want to take him away in the future, his family must agree." Shen Yuntang hugged him, "Go to sleep, don't you have an exam tomorrow?"
Cheng Yeran will take the class placement test tomorrow. He is currently in the middle of Class C. He feels that he has made great progress in the past three months and should be able to rank at the bottom of Class B, or be among the top students in Class C.
He hugged Shen Yuntang and acted coquettishly, "Please send me to the exam tomorrow. When I was a kid, my parents would send me to school for exams, and my mother would cook breakfast for me herself."
"How old were you when you were a child?" Shen Yuntang was helpless. He heard that he was 25 years old before he traveled through time. He should be 26 years old after a year. How come this child's temper hasn't improved at all?
"Before the third grade of elementary school, my parents said I was a big kid after the third grade, and they stopped treating me like this." Cheng Yeran sighed and said in a green tea tone: "I am such a poor child. I lacked love when I was young, and now I can only find love from my husband."
Shen Yuntang grabbed his face and said, "Okay, I'll send you there tomorrow. Stop pretending to be pitiful."
Cheng Yeran doesn't care whether his tricks are childish or not, as long as they work and can achieve his goal, that's enough.
He hugged his soft little husband and buried his face in his chest, "My wife is still the best to me."
The next morning, Shen Yuntang personally made a breakfast for Cheng Yeran and sent him to the academy.
The school starts early, so we have to go out before dawn every day and arrive at the academy just as the sun is rising.
There was no one on the road. The two of them walked and chatted hand in hand, so sweet.
When they were almost at the entrance of the academy, neither of them was willing to part. Shen Yuntang didn't want to send him to school next time. He hated the feeling of separation.
The two men walked slowly to the entrance of the academy, and before they said goodbye, they noticed two people struggling at the door.
It was Zhao Yanlin and a man. The man was dressed simply and carried a basket. He stuffed the basket into Zhao Yanlin's hands, but Zhao Yanlin dodged it with disgust and said impatiently, "I don't want it. Don't send these to me. Isn't it embarrassing? Don't come next time."
The husband said in a flattering tone, "This is what my parents asked me to send you. There are boiled eggs. They won't keep well, so you can eat them today. There are also salted duck eggs and some bacon. You used to love to eat these. My parents were afraid that you wouldn't eat well in the academy, so they asked me to send them to you. There is also some money for you to buy books."
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