Chapter 106 Differentiating Prices

Eight hundred kilograms of tea leaves.

Tang Yuan weighed the last bag of tea and put the money in different bags.

After mid-April, the leaves of young tea are much larger than before, and the number of picked tea is more than before, resulting in an increase in the amount of tea delivered every day.

Fortunately, Zheng Man's tea sales were going smoothly. She sold 250 kilograms a day, and I sold more than 100 kilograms a day. Add to that the 40 to 50 kilograms sold by the coffee shop, and the total sales of the three sides is nearly 400 kilograms.

In this way, at worst we can sell some more tea after the tea season to use up the stock. As for the old tea that will be delivered by then, that batch of tea will be sold faster, so there is no need to worry too much.

After counting the tea leaves, Tang Yuan started to count the number of hair bands.

While selling hair circles in Country M these days, she also inquired about the local situation. Generally speaking, due to the vast land and sparse population, as well as the rapid development of agricultural tools, there are many large-scale plantings there, which leads to relatively lower prices for crops.

Similarly, due to the high labor costs, the price of handicrafts will be slightly higher.

So her hair tie can be sold for one dollar, while the price of various crops will be lower.

It's different in Hong Kong. Due to the influence of the local environment, there are not enough local crops, and many things have to be imported. The prices of daily necessities are higher.

With the same monthly salary of over 1,000 yuan, life in Country M is much more comfortable than in Hong Kong.

However, if calculated by exchange rate, a monthly salary of over 1,000 yuan in Hong Kong is equivalent to only 200 to 300 yuan in Country M. The prices of daily necessities are also high, so the living conditions are naturally not as good.

Tang Yuan flipped through the notebook in his hand, looking at the approximate prices on both sides.

Coffee beans in Hong Kong cost 48 per pound, while coffee beans in Country M cost a little over 3 bucks per pound, which is almost a little over 3 bucks per pound, a five-fold ratio. Coffee beans in Hong Kong are nearly 30 Hong Kong dollars more expensive, which is 6 US dollars.

In this case, the coffee bean business should still be done in Hong Kong, while it would be more cost-effective to sell hair bands and small wallets in the United States.

After seeing the number clearly, she counted the hair ties in front of her. 330 hair ties were delivered today.

After putting away the hair ties and the money, she brought two large bags of rags from a house not far away, hoping to hint to the villagers to find more people to help her make hair ties.

…

"Village chief."

"This is your share," the village chief put the money in Sang Qiu's hand, "You've been making hair bands the fastest and best lately, and you've made the most money, so I can finally rest assured."

"Thank you, village chief," Sang Qiu took the money with a smile. Looking at the village chief's expression, he thought about the situation in the village and asked, "Did I do too much?"

"No," the village chief shook his head, "two large bags of rags were pulled down today. I guess that person wanted us to make more, but the number of hair ties you can make every day has reached the limit."

Sang Qiu frowned: "The villagers are now concentrating on picking tea leaves. There is still work to do in the fields. After this season, there will be summer and autumn. After autumn, we can pick coffee cherries."

"Yes, I didn't expect that we are so busy all year round," the village chief said, looking at Sang Qiu with a frown, "Recently, everyone in the village wants to keep their girls for a few more years so that they can earn more money. You know, girls in the city outside are required to get married at the age of 18, but most of us get married and have children at the age of 16. Can we call girls from the surrounding villages over and let them do some work?"

Sang Qiu raised his eyes and said, "Is it okay?"

"Do you think this is feasible?"

Sang Qiu pursed her lips and whispered, "I couldn't have children before, so I went to the city to see a doctor. The doctor said it's not good for girls to get married and have children too early. They are more likely to die young and have accidents. People in our village don't understand. There are also people who give birth at the age of 14 or 15. If we can call those girls over to work, they can live longer in the future."

"I think so too," the village chief nodded, "but I don't know if they are willing to do so."

"They are definitely willing, but they are afraid..." Sang Qiu said, looking at the village chief, "What if they are reported..."

"Let's ask people to come and help dry and fry the tea leaves," the village chief had already thought of a plan. "We have harvested a lot of tea leaves during this period, and people have some suspicions that this is not a staple food, and families can sell it without anyone noticing. Girls have nothing to do at home, and it's enough to get married and get some money as a gift. If they can earn more money to support their families, those families should be willing to do it."

"I'll go with the village chief." Sang Qiu said immediately.

"No, first notify the families who have relatives in our village to take the girls over," the village chief took Sang Qiu to the house, "you can make hair bands here later, and I'll ask you to take care of them. But this way you may have to do less. I can tell them to subsidize you from the money they earn every day."

"We can also ask them to help clean up the tea leaves at night," Sang Qiu suggested. "Let them go to their relatives' homes and let them prepare meals for them. They can also rest here so that they don't have to walk back and forth."

"Okay, let's have a meeting later in the evening and discuss it. There's a lot of tea at this time and we really need people to do the work." The village chief agreed with Sang Qiu's suggestion.

The seasons are good here in Yunnan Province, so there is no shortage of food. Besides, it doesn't take much food to feed the children a few meals. If I can let the children look after the house, I can have time to pick more tea leaves and earn money, which is good for both of us.

Sure enough, at the meeting in the evening, the villagers all agreed with the village chief's proposal and immediately expressed their willingness to inform their relatives.

Relatives are fine, and relatives of relatives are fine, because they are mainly here to make hair bands. The villagers also insist on sending girl children. However, even if they would like to have boy children, people will not give them up, after all, boys are the main labor force.

On the third day after the notice was issued, more than a dozen girls were sent from several nearby villages. Most of them were fourteen or fifteen years old, and the older ones were almost all married.

The girls gathered at the village chief's house and were taught by Sang Qiu to make hair bands.

They all know how to sew at home, so it was easy for them to make hair ties and they were quite fast at it.

After working for three days, they took some of the money and went home. When they came back, they not only brought themselves back, but also brought dry food and girls from the same village with them.

"Village chief, is it okay with so many people?" Sang Qiu was the first to discover the situation and took the initiative to find the village chief. "If it's not okay, I can do less."

"Look over there..." The village chief pointed to the bag in the corner.

Sang Qiu turned around and saw three extra bags. He was instantly surprised: "So many! It seems that person really needs a lot of hair bands!"

"Yes, in addition to this, we also gave them a bag of small rags. You can share some of them later and let them mend their clothes. I think several people's patches are torn," said the village chief with a smile. "If there are any extra ones, put them at the door and let the villagers take them when they come."

During this period, small scraps of cloth were delivered almost every few days, and many villagers' torn clothes were patched with patches of almost identical colors, so there was no longer a need for new patches.

But my clothes would be torn when I went up the mountain, so I would come here from time to time to get a patch to take back to repair it.

If you really don't have time, you can just leave it here and ask anyone who makes hair circles to help you fill in the gaps. It's just a matter of convenience.

The villagers have made money over the past year, more or less, but the abundant assets at home have made the villagers, who were not very frugal to begin with, even more generous.

"Okay, I'll put it away later." Sang Qiu was not short of patches now. She had enough money to buy several complete pieces of cloth. However, she had to save money in case she could adopt a child in the future. She would have to raise the child, which would cost money.

As she was talking, she felt someone beside her. She smiled, turned around, lowered her head, and rubbed the head of the person next to her: "What's wrong?"

"Sister Sang Qiu," the girl hugged Sang Qiu's waist, "my parents almost married me to a fool."

"How old are you?" Sang Qiu was shocked.

"My mother is sick, and it will cost a lot of money," the girl leaned her head against Sang Qiu, "I was willing to go at first, but now I don't want to. This time when I went back, I saw that idiot, and I was scared."

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid," Sang Qiu patted her gently, "Just make money here, and I'll lend you some money. You can take it back to your mother and take her to see a doctor first. Then you can make money and pay me back, okay?"

"I'll have someone accompany her back and take her mother to see a doctor," the village chief said, looking at the girl, "when your mother is well, you can stay here with peace of mind."

The girl nodded slowly.

Sang Qiu and the village chief looked at each other and they both nodded at the same time.

If the girl's mother passed away, her future life would be even more difficult, but if she could be rescued, she would feel a little relieved. As for having someone accompany her, it was to avoid having to use the money for other things.

The village chief called the girl's relatives in the village to accompany her on the trip, and when they came back, both of them were smiling.

The disease can be cured, but it requires care and not overwork.

The village chief discussed with Sang Qiu and brought the girl's mother over as well, allowing her to join in making money by making hairbands. The news would not spread out, but they could all make money on their own, which was better than lying at home.

Tang Yuan still had no time to pay attention to what was happening in the village. She only looked at the things at hand. In front of her were the hair bands that had been delivered to her in the evening. She counted them and there were a total of five hundred and fifty.

This quantity will be enough to sustain several businesses when Zheng Man returns to the hair band business after this tea season is over, and will be able to meet more customer needs.

Tang Yuan's hair tie business in Country M is not all priced at one dollar each. The price is determined by the material of the fabric. The cheapest is 80 cents each, and the more expensive ones are $1.30 or $1.40, but there are still people willing to buy them.

Because they are all made of scraps of cloth, she has a lot of material for hair ties on hand, and when customers come back, they can find hair ties that are different from the previous ones. With three hours of business a day, she can almost maintain an income of more than two hundred dollars a day.

As the villagers made more and more hair bands, her house was piled with a lot of inventory. She was thinking of looking for Aunt Li and Aunt Lan to sell a batch of them, but she first met a big customer in Country M who came to make wholesale purchases.