Xu He hadn't been to the shop in the city for a long time. When he came here today, he found that there were a lot of goods piled up in the warehouse, which was already full.
He looked through the shop accounts again. These days, the business is being taken away from the shop next door. The income from single sales is not as much as before, but the total income in one’s pocket is much higher than before.
Currently, five shops in the city have come to buy goods, and they have made nearly two hundred taels of silver from these orders.
Xu He sighed. Actually, the goods such as toothbrushes and tooth powder that people came to take were not many, and they could not make much money. The most important thing was that they had not sold the goods on the market yet, and even their own shop had not started to stock new goods yet.
"Why sell it to those who come to place orders? Why not sell it yourself and make some money?"
Xu He was a little confused when he saw Zhang Fangyuan distributing the several boxes of new goods he brought today to the guys who came to pick up the goods.
"I have already done the math. Although being the only one in the business can indeed make some money, the current situation is that you can only make the most money for a short period of time. What matters is how to maximize the profit during this short period of time."
Zhang Fangyuan said, "The Xue family has their own supply. When they see new goods in our shop, they come over to learn from them. I'm afraid they will start to get new goods in less than two months."
"If we sell them piecemeal, we won't be able to sell much in a month or two. It's better to sell them directly to the shops that come to place orders. This way, we can sell a lot at once and let those merchants only buy from us."
Zhang Fangyuan walked forward and whispered in Xu He's ear for a while, and finally said, "Just wait and see how Xue gets upset."
Xu He held the account book in his arms and smiled after listening to this. He felt that this man was too bad and was deliberately trying to trick others. It was a waste of time for me to come here. I'm just worrying about nothing.
Just as Zhang Fangyuan expected, they came with new goods to supply the merchants in the morning, and in the afternoon Xue De went to discuss supplying goods to people with the merchants in the city.
"Boss Xue, I'm actually very interested in this business, but there are already so many shops in the city selling this thing. You know that things are valuable because they are rare. Now that they are everywhere on the streets, I don't think I can make much money."
"Thank you, Boss Xue, for the invitation. The competition for toothbrushing is fierce now, so it's better for us to stick to our own business."
Xue De invited three or four people with whom he had business dealings in the past to discuss business, but he never expected that none of them were willing to join.
He sighed. This toothbrush shop is not like a restaurant. It can still do business even if it is located in the streets and alleys. The pancake is so small, and if more people share it, not only will there be less to share, but those who come later may not even get any.
These old foxes in the city are not fools who can be fooled.
"It was so hard to get the shipping price from the other end, but it was all in vain."
Xue De glared at the servant, but he did not give up because of a small setback: "How can you ask in vain! Since the others are unwilling to join, there are still some merchants who have already joined. Since they are doing this business, they will always want more goods."
He exhaled, "At worst, our shop can earn less and sell at a lower price than Linglong Shop. I don't believe they won't be jealous and come to buy from me."
Merchants are only interested in profit, and loyalty changes according to needs.
"Go and invite the merchants who have already stocked the goods."
Xue De had a plan in mind and he used a low price as an inducement to actually invite the person to come.
"Boss Xue gave us a good price, so we can easily negotiate. To be honest, I also think that the price of Linglong Shop is a bit high, but Boss Xue is quite sincere."
Xue De smiled and said, "Business can only last long if we work together."
"Okay, okay. I don't really care about the other things, but Mr. Xue only gave me the price of the toothbrush and tooth powder. I wonder how the price of the new product is calculated?"
Xue De was confused: "New product?"
Seeing Xue De's expression, the merchant thought that this trip might be in vain, but he still said patiently: "Toothbrushes are sold on several streets now. If you don't have new products, how can you compete with others? Toothbrushes are not as popular as before. You have to rely on new products to make money."
Without saying anything too bluntly, he exposed the fact that Xue De had no new products. The merchant stood up and said, "If Mr. Xue has no plans to sell new products, then I will take my leave."
Xue De hurriedly tried to persuade him: "Even if there are no new products, you can still buy toothbrushes and tooth powder from here at a low price."
The merchant waved his hand and said, "Linglong Shop has already said that if you want to get new goods from their shop, you must also get old goods from their shop. Otherwise, they will not provide new goods."
When he saw the Xue family's servants coming to his door with full confidence, he thought they also had new goods, but it turned out to be a wasted trip.
Xue De looked at the merchants who bowed and left, his face turned pale, and his clenched fists pounded the table.
"The shop is just across the street, and you can't find out where it is!"
The servant was scolded, and when he went to inquire, he was surprised that the tooth powder sold by Linglong Shop was so expensive. He thought that other shops had bought expensive tooth powder, but he didn't know that they were new goods. He also blamed himself for being in a hurry and not finding out clearly. He hurried to follow again.
There was no activity in Linglong Shop in the morning, but when a string of firecrackers went off, the people nearby knew that Linglong Shop had new goods, and they all went to see the new things.
"This is a new product in our shop. It is the same as the previous tooth powder. It also has the effect of cleaning teeth. However, compared with the previous tooth powder, which easily fell off when dipped in, the new product in our shop this time is in paste form. When you use it, you can stick it to the bristles of the toothbrush and it will not fall off anymore."
Xu He, with her bulging belly, did not follow Zhang Fangyuan to promote and explain the new products. She sat at the counter collecting money, watching people taking toothpaste to show customers how to use it, while staring at the situation on the other side of the quilt.
"It's a herbal scent, and smells better than tooth powder."
The visitors were amazed and rushed to try the toothpaste and smell its fragrance.
"Boss, how much is this?"
"A piece of toothpaste is two hundred coins."
Although new products have been launched, the business in the shop is still not as good as it used to be. The reason is that there are more shops in the city, and they all sell this kind of toothpaste. Naturally, it is not as dominant as before. The only people who can make money nowadays are those living in the alleys around the shop. For example, people from the west and south of the city naturally will not come here from far away to buy, they can just buy it nearby.
However, nothing is absolute. There are still people who recognize old shops and will come here from far away to see them.
Xu He thought that although he was no longer the only one, the money he made as a supplier was more than before. Not only had they squeezed out the business next door, but they were still making money. Looking at the owner of the Qinheng Cloth Shop standing in front of the gate with a gloomy face, Xu He felt happy.
These unreasonable people who steal business should be dealt with properly. Wouldn't it be fine if they opened the business somewhere else? Why did they have to open the business opposite to others to disgust people? He was angry when he was selling pig offal before, but he failed to deal with those people who stole business. After such a long time, he finally got rid of his anger.
"Master, there are so many shops in the city, and the customer flow is not as good as before. There are already three shops selling toothbrushes on our street, including the one at the corner. Linglong Shop and the one at the corner have lowered the prices of toothbrushes and tooth powder, and now they are on par with our shop. They mainly sell new goods, but our shop doesn't have any, so we don't have much business."
"Do you need to tell me that I can't see it?"
Xue De was unwilling to give up. He had spent a lot of time and money to find suppliers for several months. Now there was still a pile of inventory in the warehouse. How could he be willing to see that he had to wait for the goods to be put into use before he could even make any money?
Things have come to this point. Since the supply is blocked, I have no choice but to fight with Linglongpu again. If he can produce new products, why can't I?
Xue De put the new goods bought from the shop on the table: "Send these new goods to the pharmacy, let them see how they are made, quote the price, and we will also produce them."
After hitting a wall again and again, Xue De's confidence was waning. As his last resort, he went to the shop that provided tooth powder to negotiate in person.
Fortunately, the people in the shop looked at the toothpaste and knew it was not a rare treasure. It was made of Sophora japonica, willow and mulberry branches with ginger juice and asarum, and also contained shell powder which helps whiten the skin. All they had to do was keep trying and researching and they would be successful.
Xue De felt relieved and let the people in the shop go about researching and making it. Every day he felt uneasy watching the shops in the city making money by selling new products. Before he had the chance to urge them, the shop owner came with news that the finished product was out.
After waiting for half a month, Xue De finally saw hope and immediately asked people to prepare for mass production. After a busy period of work, he found that the raw materials for making toothpaste in the city were almost sold out. He asked Zhang Fangyuan to buy them all and stockpile them to make a large number of toothpaste to supply merchants in the city. It would take until next spring for the stock to be replenished.
Other small shops could probably gather some supplies, but it was difficult to negotiate a price by buying from one shop and then filling the gap with another, and the costs soared.
It would be more economical to wait for the main store to restock the goods, but considering the production time, it would probably take until March next year for the new goods to be available in the store.
By then the novelty of the product will have worn off and he won't make any money. However, if I buy raw materials from everywhere and wait for a while for the construction period, it will be almost the Chinese New Year. With the high costs, how much profit can I make?
Xue De was so angry that he almost vomited blood. He thought he was one step ahead, but he never expected that the other party was more evil than him.
He thought that Zhang Fangyuan had long anticipated that one day someone would open up shop in the city to grab business, so he had stockpiled enough goods early on, prepared new products to lure people in, and even bought out the raw materials, leaving those merchants who wanted to share the profits to the back.
With enough time, he would have made a fortune.
By the time Xue De figured it out, it was too late to regret.
There is no more room for improvement this day. It is impossible to catch the trend and make money. I thought it would be a huge profit, but now it has become a case of losing sight of the main goal.
In the end, he had no choice but to sell out his inventory with great difficulty, find some peddlers to sell them, and go back to his old business. However, he had agreed with the carpenters and other suppliers in the brothel to engage in long-term business and took a low price for them. Now, they suddenly quit. Not only did he lose his reputation, but he also lost some money.
For a while, he became a laughing stock among the merchants in Tianjie. He really lost face, and even the business of his cloth shop was not as good as before.
I felt so regretful that my intestines turned green, but I could only watch Linglongpu collect the money.
After this incident, the merchants in the city who had been watching the fun began to look at Zhang Fangyuan with new eyes. They had never taken him seriously as a small merchant, but they didn't expect him to be quite successful. For this reason, many merchants extended olive branches to him.
Today they invited guests to tea, tomorrow they invited guests to wine, and Zhang Fangyuan never offended anyone and accepted all the invitations. They didn't discuss business, but just some merchants gathered together to chat and talk about what they had seen and heard, such as what new things had come out in which city or county, and where to buy the better glass jadeite and so on.
Although it was all just idle chat, he was able to learn a lot of the latest news. Zhang Fangyuan had never been in such close contact with businessmen before, and he didn't know much about many things. This can be considered an unexpected surprise. After getting into the inner circle and becoming familiar with the people there, it will be more convenient to do business in the future.
After three rounds of drinking, the merchants' cheeks were flushed.
"I heard Xue De took the toothbrush goods with him and sold them to the capital."
"It's almost the New Year and the business tax is so high. He really doesn't want to make money anymore and just wants to get rid of this hot potato."
"The goods did ship out. He had bought some new cloth in the city and was shipping it back to Siyang. Unfortunately, he met some rogues on the way back to the county, and they ruined his entire cart of goods."
The merchants at a table laughed out loud: "He must have not checked the almanac before going out. How could he be so unlucky and have to be tricked by a scoundrel? Didn't he hire some good people to accompany him when he went to transport the goods?"
"At first, the shop hired a bunch of people to keep idle. I thought that there would be a lot of people on the road during the New Year, so I didn't hire anyone from the escort agency to save money because my business was losing money before. Who knew it would be so unfortunate."
"It's just like buying insurance. It doesn't mean you will be unlucky every time, but if you don't buy it, you will definitely suffer if you encounter danger. You should be more careful when transporting goods in the future. Don't save that little money. You may end up losing a lot of money." The merchant raised his glass and clinked it with Zhang Fangyuan, who had not spoken a word and only listened to the conversations and laughter: "Boss Zhang, don't you think so?"
"Boss Wu is right."
"Xue De has reaped the fruits of his own actions. He wanted to bully the newcomers, but he never expected to bully a shrewd man like Boss Zhang. He must be so angry that he will fall ill."
Zhang Fangyuan held the wine glass and drank it slowly. There was a gleam in the corner of his eyes, but he pretended to be confused: "I only knew that Boss Xue was away on a long trip. I thought he was going to another place to ship goods. I never thought his luck would be so bad."
"Hahahahahaha, that's God's will to take him away."
Zhang Fangyuan smiled but did not answer. He glanced out the window at the sky. It was a gray winter day, but today was the first time that some sunlight came out, and it was particularly bright in front of the window.
At first, it was difficult to deal with Zhang Fangyuan because he was at the center of the storm. Now that things have returned to normal, if he doesn't deal with him, he won't learn a deep lesson.
Xue De should know that Zhang Fangyuan is not just a businessman, but a gangster at heart, who would never allow himself to be bullied and swallow his anger.
After entering the twelfth lunar month, the city becomes more and more lively. Every day passes, it is one day closer to the Chinese New Year, and the weather is also at its coldest.
There were actually a few light snowflakes that day, and the people in the city were all huddled together, walking quickly. The warming mutton offal soup in the restaurants was especially popular, at 15 cents a portion, and it kept one warm for most of the day.
Zhang Fangyuan also ordered one. The taste seemed to be not as good as Xu He's, but he still ate it all after spending the money.
The weather was cold and the shop assistants in the market were all looking for something to do to warm themselves up. When he returned to the shop, he saw that many shops had started to hang red lanterns in front of their doors, with so many different styles.
There are square lamps, umbrella-shaped lamps, four-corner flat-head lamps, etc. There are more hangings if there are trees at the door.
When one or two households hang up the red lanterns, there is not much color yet, but when every household hangs them up, the whole street looks like it is decorated with flowers. The weather doesn't seem so cold under the backdrop of the red lanterns.
Zhang Fangyuan also bought a few lanterns from the lantern shop on Tian Street to decorate the shop, and took a few home.
He was clumsy in hanging the lanterns and they didn't look good, but he had to make do with it. He couldn't ask his husband to help. Not to mention that the due date was getting closer, it was not easy for him to leave the village. Besides, he might not come even if he was called. He treasured the chickens and ducks he raised.
Xu He hatched thirty chicks and ducklings in the first batch, but the weather was cold the day before and he had been in the city for a few days, so he didn't take good care of these little things. As a result, three of them died. He was so heartbroken that he put all his attention on taking care of them this morning.
The little duck, now a little older, has soft and fluffy yellow fur, and is very happy in the house with the charcoal brazier lit.
Xu He took the opportunity to hatch the remaining thirty eggs.
Every day Xiaomao and Xiao'e go straight here after school, just to see the little chicks and ducks. They like them very much.
The two children haven't come today, but Zhang Fangyuan came back first.
The carriage arrived at the yard and Zhang Fangyuan took out a few red lanterns.
"These lanterns are so beautiful." Xu He liked them as soon as he saw them.
"Lanterns are hung everywhere in the city. It's the New Year and other festivals. The lanterns in the lantern shops are made in many different styles and are very affordable. I brought a few back with me."
Xu He said, "Leave two at home, and take the rest to the tea stall. Decorate that side as well, so it looks like the New Year."
Zhang Fangyuan slapped his forehead. He had been to that side before coming back. His second aunt and fourth aunt had cleaned that side very cleanly and even pasted window paper-cuts on it. They had totally forgotten to leave the two there and only wanted to bring them back for Xu He.
"It's okay. I'll bring it over tomorrow."
Zhang Fangyuan went to the hut to take a look at the ducklings. There were too many poultry, and if each one defecated a little, there would be dozens of them. In the blink of an eye, the ground was covered with feces, and it smelled bad. However, farmers have never been afraid of the smell of feces.
Many people even save it to grow vegetables and fertilize the land.
The smell is not that strong now in winter, and Xu He cleans the house twice a day, so it is still in good condition.
Xu He also collected the feces and put them in his own vegetable garden, which will definitely serve as fertilizer for growing vegetables next year.
Zhang Fangyuan stood at the door for a while, staring at the chicken coops. Xu He chopped up some vegetable leaves, mixed them with some bran powder and corn flour, and brought them to feed the ducks. Seeing that he didn't go in, he asked, "What's wrong? Do you think it's dirty?"
"How could that be? In the past, it wasn't dirty to shave the hair and stuff the pigs with intestines. I just thought that now that I have money, I might as well repair the house."
When this was mentioned, Xu He remembered the plan of Xia Shi and the other man. They had originally wanted to build a blue brick and tile house, but in the end they decided to use the money to do business.
The fact is that Zhang Fangyuan's decision was right. With the capital to do business, he now makes a lot more money.
Xu He put down the food bowl, washed his hands, and went to the inner room with Zhang Fangyuan. He took out the wooden box containing money from under the bed. The piggy bank that always contained copper coins could no longer hold silver and banknotes, so it was replaced with a box.
Ever since he got married and handed over his property, Zhang Fangyuan never touched his own piggy bank and safe again. This was the first time he saw Xu He move them out.
"To date, we have saved five hundred taels of silver. If you want to repair the house, I agree."
Zhang Fangyuan smiled and took a look at the white silver and banknotes. He felt particularly at ease. The villagers knew that his family made money from business, but they probably didn't expect them to be so rich.
"We can build a bigger house now. It's better to start construction now. The labor cost is not high. It will not be cost-effective to hire people during the busy farming season."
Xu He took out 150 taels from it to repair the house, which was enough to build a luxurious mansion.
Although we have a small fortune now, we cannot be lazy and spend money recklessly. First, we need to have enough money on hand to operate the business as it grows. Second, we need to always save some money for the little one in our belly.
By this calculation, the money is not that much.
They both knew what was going on.
Having made up his mind, Zhang Fangyuan hurried to make arrangements. The New Year was coming soon, and although he did not expect to have the house completed before the New Year, he hoped that it could be completed before the child was born, so that the child could live in the big house as soon as it was born.
Zhang Fangyuan first invited a Feng Shui master to mark out the area on his own land, finding the best Feng Shui location.
Then he hired someone to lay the foundation. But before he could do that, the villagers came up to him and asked him about the land when they saw him asking a Feng Shui master to look at the land.
The villagers are extremely sensitive to these things. It is not easy to find work during the winter when there is no farming work, so naturally they keep an eye on any little movement, for fear of missing the opportunity to go and help.
Zhang Fangyuan also knew that it was impossible to hide it, so he took this opportunity to confess. In fact, not many people were needed. His fourth uncle was eager to come and join in the fun. Two cousins from his eldest uncle's family had returned from the New Year and came over with some things to help.
"It's not good to keep the eldest and second brothers busy. It's not easy to run around outside all year round. You can have a good rest after you come back for the New Year."
Zhang Fangyuan didn't want to invite brothers from his own sect, as it would be troublesome. But his two cousins refused to give up, insisting that they had not taken good care of their brothers and sisters in the clan over the years, and it would be good for them to come back and help out, and they didn't want any money.
Zhang Fangyuan thought that his uncle was a petty person who would not tolerate any loss to his family, so he would never agree to that.
Although he is now the most successful one in the sect, it is normal for people in the sect to want to curry favor with him, but he still feels that he is unreliable.
Seeing that he was stubborn and refused to agree, and that he was no longer as reckless, aggressive, and smooth-talking as before after doing business, the two cousins knew that they were no match for him, so they had to tell him his true purpose.
"Ayuan is doing big business now. Your second brother and I are out there. We are thinking that if we can get some good stuff from you next year, we can have some hope for the future."
Zhang Fangyuan's eyebrows twitched. Why didn't he say this earlier? It might be difficult for a peddler to make money by brushing teeth in Siyang, but he could still make money in other places.
Since he made a living by his hands and feet and his two cousins had never offended him, Zhang Fangyuan agreed. After all, they were his relatives, and he should not do anything to the extreme. He should still help them if he could.
"But the cost of this product is also high. Although I can sell it to my eldest and second brothers at a reasonable price and make some money, if they want a lot of it, they have to prepare the money in advance so that I can rush for the goods. Now I have to repair the house, and the money is all on hand. I don't have any extra to make up for it."
The two understood what he meant. He was worried that they would just take the goods without paying, or that they would pay after the goods were sold. "Okay, we'll get ready when we get back."
Zhang Fangyuan nodded. Given his uncle's temper, he had to be on guard: "Then come and pick up the goods when you are ready, big brother and second brother."
"become."
In this way, there will be three strong men to repair the house, and there will be no need to hire too many people.
Zhang Fangyuan could only help occasionally. He had to look after the shops in the city and go to the kilns to select bricks and tiles and compare prices from three different stores. He could not do both when he was busy, so he had to hire a clerk for the shop.
Although it costs a little more money, I can now let go and do my job.
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