When it rained, it felt like there was a wind leaking everywhere and it was cold and chilly with nowhere to go.
Zhang Fangyuan was afraid that Xu He would feel cold, so he went to the street to buy a hand warmer, and then filled it with hot water at the restaurant and held it for him.
"You're using this in early spring?"
"You can't get cold."
Xu He's mouth twitched, holding the hand warmer, his heart warmed: "Fortunately, no one at home came to see us open today, otherwise they would be worried."
Zhang Fangyuan has a good attitude: "Business is not a one-day job, you can't rush it."
Xu He nodded. Actually, he had no idea in his heart. The cost of opening the toothbrush shop was not a small amount. He had been calculating the cost of buying the shop, decorating it in the early stage, and preparing the goods. By the time the shop opened today, he had already spent fifty taels of silver.
With such a large sum of money, you can marry a lot of wives in the village, let alone other things.
"Then can we have business today?"
Before Zhang Fangyuan could reply to Xu He's pitiful words, two or three young faces came in. He patted Xu He's hand and whispered, "What do you think?"
After saying this, he stood up to greet the guests.
"Gentlemen, please feel free to take a look. If you need any introduction, just let me know."
Several scholars, holding folding fans, nodded to Zhang Fangyuan and started walking around the shop. The shop is not big, with no upstairs or downstairs. It is just a shop that you can see the end at a glance. Although the place is not big, there are a lot of things.
There is a waist-high display cabinet as soon as you enter the door, extending all the way to the end of the shop. In between are evenly distributed small grids, filled with small porcelain bottles that look like those for spices and powder. There is another standing cabinet above the head, inside which are small brushes that are two inches long, as thick as an index finger, and have fine bristles on the head.
Although there was no other shop like this in the city, several scholars recognized at a glance that the cabinets against the wall contained toothbrush utensils.
"Could you please bring out two for us to see?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Fangyuan took down three toothbrushes from the cupboard for the scholar to see. In fact, the toothbrushes were displayed for the guests to feel and feel, and those who wanted to buy would be picked up separately.
“The softness of this fur varies.”
"That's right. The furs used are different." Zhang Fangyuan explained as he took out a jar of the cheapest soap tooth powder from the waist cabinet. Xu He brought a glass of water at the right time. Zhang Fangyuan wet the back of his hands, soaked the toothbrush shallowly in the cup, and then poured some soapnut powder on the toothbrush so that the powder would stick more easily to the bristles of the toothbrush.
Several scholars read it with as much seriousness as if they were listening to the teacher talk about the articles that interested them most in the academy. Zhang Fangyuan was seen rubbing the back of his hand gently with a toothbrush, and then rinsing it. The originally dirty area immediately became clean again, and a fresh scent of soapberry remained.
"If you use this toothbrush, it is best to use it after dinner. It can clean your teeth in time to prevent food residues from staying in your mouth overnight, which will cause tooth decay in the long run. Use it again in the morning before meals, and your mouth will be fresh and your breath will be as fragrant as orchid. You can have a pleasant conversation with others all day long."
Several scholars listened to Zhang Fangyuan's detailed explanation and laughed out loud at the end. The man was so excited that he didn't care about the cold weather. He habitually opened his folding fan and exclaimed: "Wonderful, wonderful!"
"I usually use broken poplar twigs dipped in salt, which can remove the bad breath, but how can poplar twigs compare to this fine thing." Scholars like elegance and cleanliness the most. Now that they have found this good thing, they can't help but feel like they have found a treasure: "May I ask how much is the toothbrush the shopkeeper mentioned?"
"It depends on the quality of the hair. Ordinary pig hair without carving is 50 wen per bundle. Horse hair without carving is 80 wen for both soft and hard hair. If there is carving, add 10 wen."
When Xu He heard Zhang Fangyuan's confident offer, he felt that the price was not very affordable.
After comparing them, several scholars naturally preferred the one with patterns on it. Although the one without patterns was also novel, who could refuse a toothbrush with patterns on it that looked more beautiful? Zhang Fangyuan continued to add fuel to the fire: "This toothbrush can only be used for three or two months, and it is a private item, which can only be used by yourself. Why don't you be more generous to yourselves and choose the ones with engravings? Wouldn't it be more elegant and better suit your temperament?"
Flattery never wears out, no matter how many holes it has.
"Then take one carved with plum blossoms." But the scholar was still puzzled: "But what is the difference in the quality of the hair?"
"Horse hair is precious. If your teeth are often red, swollen and bleed easily, you should choose horse mane hair. If your teeth are healthy and you want to remove as much dirt as possible, you should choose horse tail hair. Pig bristle hair is somewhere in between, but it is still not as new as horse hair and cannot be used as long as the other two."
The scholar suddenly realized: "In summer, the weather is hot and dry, and the mouth often has a bloody taste, so I use horsehair."
"Haha, Brother Fu chose plum, then I will choose orchid."
The four of them had just put together a collection of plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum. Zhang Fangyuan immediately urged them to buy tooth powder.
The scholar was dazzled by the array of toothpastes: whitening, teeth strengthening, breath freshening, and cooling down... As the saying goes, every profession has its specialties, and the effects of toothpastes are also different.
The small shop really opened the eyes of the scholars.
I bought toothbrushes and tooth powders of different styles without realizing it. When I checked out, I found that I had spent several hundred coins. However, the scholar did not complain about the high price. Instead, he said, "I will bring someone to visit us some other day."
Zhang Fangyuan politely sent the scholars out. When he came back, he saw Xu He counting the money. He raised his eyes and looked at Zhang Fangyuan: "A scholar spent at least 300 coins. These four people spent a total of 1,500 coins. Are scholars so generous?"
It's no wonder that Xu He was surprised. The couple could be considered small businessmen, but they had only done small businesses before. It took them many days to earn the income of more than one thousand coins. Today, they earned so much in just one stick of incense. The huge gap was a bit difficult for them to adjust.
"Look at those scholars, they are well-dressed, with brocade and jade hanging around their waists, and they are well-spoken and full of vigor. They are not in a hurry to go home even though it is raining so hard outside. Scholars like them are probably the sons of wealthy families in the city. They have some achievements, and at least they are students. Their families must cherish them, so why would they care about such a small amount of money? You can kill them if you see them in the future."
Xu He laughed: "We are doing business seriously, we clearly mark the price and never overcharge anyone."
He held the money with a smile on his face: "Sure enough, the investment has increased tenfold, and the money turned over has also increased tenfold." After some time, when the money spent on opening the shop has been earned back, he will be able to relax a little.
Zhang Fangyuan sat down in front of the counter and drank a sip of water. Selling things was very laborious. In the early stage, he could only introduce them one by one. It would not be so difficult after he publicized them in the future. However, if all the customers were as generous as this group of people, then business would be easy to do. However, seeing Xu He happy, he couldn't help but feel happy too, so it didn't matter if he spent a few more words on it.
"Today I have seen your ability to sell things. From now on, I will be responsible for explaining the girl and you will be in charge of the man."
Zhang Fangyuan smiled and said, "It sounds like I got the upper hand."
As usual, the two of them brought lunch with them, found a restaurant, heated up the food, and ate it together in the shop.
Xu He felt satisfied. In the past, when he was at the meat market, he had to eat lunch outside the market, but now they could eat in the shop. When he was selling braised dishes at a stall before, he would always see those shop owners eating inside on his way back from work. He was so envious, and now it was his turn, and he couldn't help feeling uneasy.
The two men deliberately concealed the fact of opening a shop in the city, and only a few families knew about it, either their own family members or their business dealings. No one told anyone outside. Their own family members were afraid of complications, and those with business dealings were afraid that if too many people knew about it, someone would steal their business.
Besides, the villagers were now busy paying the land rent, so the two of them had a quiet period of time, going out early and returning late, just like when they set up a stall to sell pork in the city before.
After Xu He went to the city to look after the shop, the tea stall became a little too busy. Seeing that the busy farming season was over, Zhang Fangyuan called his fourth aunt He to come and help, paying her 500 coins a month.
Considering that his second aunt had been helping him for free, she still needed to have some money on hand for her own spending. Most of the time, the couple wanted to take care of her, but they were too busy with business to pay attention to her. After discussion, the two decided to give Zhang Shiyue 300 coins every month. It's not a lot, but at least he can spend it as he pleases.
As a result, the couple mainly ran the toothbrush shop, and they would occasionally help out at the tea stall when they returned from work in the city to eat. Although there was an increase in wage expenses compared to before, the couple did not have to worry about this and could just sit back and receive the money every month.
There is no need to even look at the pork stall. If Chen Si wants to make more money for his family, he will work hard. The more he earns, the more money Zhang Fangyuan mentioned in the 30% bonus.
Although the income from the two shops each month is not as much as before, it is now completely effortless to make money, and the total income from both ends is still around four to five thousand coins a month.
Xu He calculated that this way the rent of the shops in the city could offset part of the cost, and the pressure on his shoulders would be less heavy.
There haven't been many customers in Linglong's shop in the past few days since it opened. Not only in their shop, but even in the usually bustling Tianjie Street, there are few people walking around.
The business of the restaurants, cloth stalls and rouge shops along the alley is not very good. The street owners are very experienced. When the autumn rain lingers, few people go out to have fun. When the weather clears up and the golden osmanthus is fragrant and the autumn weather is cool and refreshing, more people will go out and business will pick up.
Occasionally, one or two customers would come into their shop to see the novelty. The fewer customers there were, the longer it would take to introduce themselves to the shop. Although the number of customers was small, they were all of high quality and would be very interested in paying after hearing what they heard.
Almost everyone who came in empty-handed would leave with something. Even if one only sold the lowest-quality boar-bristle toothbrush in a day, he would still make fifty cents. Moreover, almost every toothbrush would come with a can of tooth powder, and the cheapest soapberry tooth powder cost sixty cents.
These guests paid several hundred coins and always said they would introduce other guests before leaving.
Maybe it’s because the shop has been open for a short time and I have never seen any returning customers. Xu He felt that the guests in this area were all very polite and courteous, and he felt quite embarrassed because of the disturbance.
This makes me look like a black marketeer. You can usually buy a bag of soap beans for a few cents outside, but the price will increase tenfold if they are just made into powder and other ingredients are added. How can a person who comes from a poor family not be shocked?
At this time, Zhang Fangyuan would say that he was stupid. Although buying soap beans is not expensive, the labor for processing, drying and grinding the soap beans is free? Don’t want to rent the shop anymore?
He was speechless, and when people from the county government came to collect commercial taxes, he no longer felt guilty under the huge taxes.
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