He never doubted the sales of the wine, but he never expected it to cause such a sensation on the very first day, even stimulating the market for "scalpers" in later generations.
In this way, no matter what their workshop produces in the future, they will never have to worry about not being able to sell their goods or getting a good price.
"Sun Jian, look at the current situation, should we double the price of our Forget-Worry Valley?"
Old Jiang brought up the issue of raising prices with Sun Jian, arguing that the supply of Forget-Worry Valley was already insufficient to meet demand, and even if a bottle sold for twenty taels of silver, those people wouldn't say anything.
After much deliberation, Sun Jian decided not to raise prices for the time being. He plans to launch different flavors and varieties of wine in the future, and it will not be too late to set prices then.
They might even pull off a scarcity marketing tactic, and setting up an auction isn't out of the question.
Today, the Valley of Forgetfulness yielded over 1000 silver taels.
Sun Jian kept some silver for himself and also gave some to Lao Jiang, instructing Lao Jiang and Lao Cao to expand their businesses, purchase more raw materials, and hire more odd-job workers in the coming days.
At the same time, Sun Jian also reminded Old Jiang to purchase some supplies for everyone in his Sun residence.
"Sun Jian, do we still need servants in our household?"
"I've been asking around these past few days, and it turns out that all the poor people want to send their children to work as maids and servants in the homes of high-ranking officials and nobles. They're even willing to sign life-or-death contracts!"
"A contract of servitude?" Sun Jian frowned.
He quickly recalled his past life's memories of these events.
In those days, many poor people, if they had too many children and couldn't afford to raise them, would try to sell their clever and bright children to high-ranking officials and wealthy people.
Once sold, it's equivalent to signing a death contract; the child becomes the slave of this family, and their life or death is at the mercy of this family.
After becoming servants, these slaves and servants were just trying to make a living; they didn't receive any wages at all.
Some wealthy people spend money to buy servants and maids just to satisfy their lust and indulge in some perverse hobbies.
Once a death contract is filed and registered with the government, even if the master of the household tortures the servant to death and then throws her into a dry well, it will not violate the law.
Because they can fabricate pretexts and forge evidence at will. As long as there is no concrete evidence and they still hold the deceased's indenture, even the Prefect of Kyoto can't do anything to them.
Even so, those poor people were still willing to send their children away.
Compared to starving to death, or selling one's child to a brothel and being abused and mistreated, this outcome is undoubtedly much better.
After absorbing this information from his mind, Sun Jian shook his head and sighed.
This wicked feudal society, this wicked system of slavery.
In this era, human life is as cheap as grass.
Although he sympathized, he did not want to change anything.
Change means going against the entire era.
Sun Jian wasn't a saint; he just wanted to take good care of the people he cared about.
Seeing the uncertain expression on Sun Jian's face, Old Jiang thought he had said something wrong.
"Sun Jian, what...what's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"
"No, I was just lamenting the state of the world."
Sun Jian smiled, sighed softly, and continued, "It's alright, Lao Jiang, you can continue."
“Sun Jian, that’s just how the world is. For poor people, a rich person who can give them a bite to eat is a benefactor, and a rich person who can feed them for a lifetime is a living bodhisattva.”
“The brothers often talk about it in private. Someone like you, who provides food and lodging, helps the brothers make a lot of money, and treats the brothers so well, the brothers would be willing to give their lives for you.”
Old Jiang became more and more excited as he spoke.
"Stop, stop, stop! We're not talking about indentures, what are you trying to say?"
Sun Jian rolled his eyes at Old Jiang.
Why the hell did he suddenly become so emotional?
Old Jiang looked ashamed. "Most wealthy families only want maids and not men, so the market prices are different. Those maids with good figures and good looks can be paid between 20 and 30 taels of silver for a contract."
“Servants start at 5 taels of silver, and you can buy them anywhere.”
Sun Jian was speechless upon hearing the price.
"Five taels of silver? You'd sell yourself for the rest of your life?"
"Wow, so cheap?"
"So, by that logic, the lives of ordinary people aren't even as valuable as a bottle of wine?"
Old Jiang gave a wry smile. "Yes, that's true. That's why the brothers in the back workshop work day and night, just to repay you..."
Sun Jian shrugged, signaling Old Jiang to stop.
In Sun Jian's mind, there was no question of repaying or not repaying; it was all about mutual benefit.
He uses these villagers to make money for him, and these villagers use him to make a living and improve their lives.
Sun Jian did not deny that there was indeed a foundation of trust and loyalty between him and the people.
Otherwise, Er Gou wouldn't have died taking an arrow for Gu Zijian.
He was grateful to everyone and trusted their loyalty, but matters should be handled separately.
Aside from family ties, all human relationships are based on mutual exploitation. Imagine if Sun Jian were still the same as his predecessor, he wouldn't have so many followers today...
Old Jiang continued, "Next, Old Cao, Gousheng, and I will increase production. As a result, we will have more and more workers doing odd jobs in our workshop. Although the workshop doesn't need to be transferred out now and can still be processed in the backyard, we will need to manage more workers."
"Think about it, hundreds of people eat, drink, relieve themselves, and sleep every day, and the household has to take care of everything. Whether it's their lives or their work, they all need someone to run around and help them."
"Moreover, the three ladies are the mistresses of the household, and they can't do without one or two maids by their side. We can't expect the three ladies to do everything, can we?"
"So, I was thinking, how about we buy a few maids and servants?"
Sun Jian thought about it and realized that what Old Jiang said made sense.
In the future, Chu Qingcheng and the others can't always be the ones doing the laundry, cooking, and housework.
This yard is so big, the owner can't all be just a lone commander, right?
But the courtyard is so deep, it can't be left without someone to guard the gate!
"Alright, then you pick a few clever ones first."
Seeing that Sun Jian agreed, Old Jiang finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Alright, leave this to me, Old Jiang."
After speaking, Sun Jian gave Lao Jiang some other instructions. Only then did Lao Jiang leave the study.
Having finally finished dealing with everything, Sun Jian stood up from his chair and stretched.
I glanced at the clock in my house; it was almost midnight.
Sun Jian dared not stay up late, so he quickly washed up and went to sleep in his study.
However, he hadn't slept for long before it was time for court.
Sun Jian slowly woke up after Chu Qingcheng kept calling him.
He sleepily put on his official robes and hat before staggering out the door.
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