Chapter 27: Investing in Shares "Poisonous woman! Stop!"
"Shopkeeper! Come out here quickly! I need custom knives!"
The crimson silk gown was wrinkled and covered the man's bulging belly at the door.
He half-opened his eyes, leaving only a slit, and looked at the people in the room.
When Shopkeeper Yang saw the newcomer, he stood up and went to greet him, saying, "Mr. Wu, what brings you here?"
The man called Master Wu ignored Manager Yang. He raised his hand and held the wine pot high, tilted it slightly, and the wine flowed out of the spout and into his mouth.
As he moved, Zhou Tinglan noticed that the box was filled with the stench of alcohol since Master Wu entered.
It smelled like someone who hadn't bathed all night, and it had a foul, fermented smell mixed with various alcoholic beverages and strong liquors.
She frowned and covered her mouth and nose with her hands. The delicious dishes on the table instantly lost their charm under the stench, and even became a little nauseating and made her want to vomit.
Xie Zechuan noticed Zhou Tinglan's movements and quickly took out a white handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her: "Lan'er, cover yourself with this."
Shopkeeper Yang at the door of the wing room was insulted, but he recognized the person in front of him: the only son of the town's official. He was known for his arrogance and domineering behavior, and did not take others seriously.
He forced himself to be patient and asked again, "Mr. Wu..."
Unexpectedly, before he could finish his words, Master Wu threw the wine jug in his hand directly to the ground. The jug shattered with a sharp sound, which scared Manager Yang.
"Stop talking nonsense! I already said I want to make a knife, what are you waiting for?"
The other two shopkeepers naturally recognized this dandy young master. Seeing that the situation was not good, they stepped forward and said kindly, "Mr. Wu, you see, we have important matters to attend to. Why don't you wait a moment? We will return to the shop and make a knife for you later."
"I said now is now, how dare you refute me!" Master Wu was dissatisfied and slapped Manager Yang in the face.
Shopkeeper He immediately took two steps back.
Shopkeeper Zhang spotted the blacksmith's clerk hiding behind Master Wu. He pulled the clerk aside to ask about the details and tried to come up with a solution.
However, the clerk only knew that Mr. Wu came to the shop to ask Manager Yang to make a knife. When he found that the manager was not there, he insisted that the clerk bring him to find him. The clerk had no choice but to do as he was told, and that's when the scene of banging on the door happened.
Shopkeeper Yang was slapped by Master Wu, and his face immediately turned ugly. He was so angry that he had no place to vent, so he clenched his wrists.
"Mr. Wu, please forgive me for blaming you. I have something important to discuss with this young lady right now." Shopkeeper Yang gestured to Zhou Tinglan who was sitting behind the table.
Zhou Tinglan also learned the man's identity from the people in the mountain stronghold. She saw the lust in Mr. Wu's eyes and had a bad premonition in her heart.
As she expected, after Master Wu saw that the person Manager Yang was pointing to was a beauty, he no longer wanted to urge Manager Yang to make the knife, and he walked towards Zhou Tinglan.
Xie Zechuan saw the fat pig-like man walking towards Zhou Tinglan and stood up to stop him: "Mr. Wu, are your actions offensive?"
"Who are you? You're blocking me from looking at a beautiful woman. Get out of here!"
Xie Zechuan didn't move, and Master Wu was instantly enraged. He reached out and wanted to hit him again with the same trick.
However, Xie Zechuan was not someone who could be bullied. He quickly grabbed Master Wu's hand and threw him to the ground.
"I'll give you this sentence, get out!"
Young Master Wu felt pain and got up from the ground: "Don't you know who my father is? How dare you treat me like this? I'll let my father teach you a lesson later!"
His hand swung in the air and finally stopped on Xie Zechuan.
Zhou Tinglan sneered in his heart. He was another daddy's boy who relied on his father's power to bully others all day long. It was really hateful.
She looked down at Master Wu, her eyes full of contempt.
When Master Wu saw Zhou Tinglan approaching him, he thought his threat had worked and said lewdly, "My beauty, you are sensible. Come with me, my beauty. I already have several concubines at home, but none of them are as pretty as you. I will definitely treat you well..."
The next moment, Master Wu's screams, like a pig being slaughtered, came from the room.
Zhou Tinglan's eyes grew colder as she listened to Master Wu's words. She kicked Master Wu in the crotch one after another.
This scumbag has ruined countless girls in the town. In this case, it’s better to just not have that ugly thing of his and just have it castrated.
Xie Zechuan saw Zhou Tinglan's ruthless actions without hesitation, and inexplicably felt a chill in his lower body.
Master Wu was kicked so hard that he screamed and covered his lower abdomen, shouting, "You vicious woman! Stop! Ah! You vicious woman!"
Zhou Tinglan quickened her pace, and Master Wu rolled and crawled towards the door of the wing room. She followed closely behind him. Just as Master Wu was about to leave, Zhou Tinglan finally showed mercy and let him go.
However, just as Zhou Tinglan stopped, Xie Zechuan rushed out from beside her, kicked Master Wu in the buttocks, and then slammed the door of the compartment shut.
Before the door closed, Zhou Tinglan saw Master Wu being kicked out. She cried out in her heart that the old lady on the street was not lying. There really were people in the world who could carry people several meters away.
It's just that he wasn't punched away, but kicked away.
She turned around and saw everyone in the room staring at her and Xie Zechuan in astonishment. Zhou Tinglan asked in confusion, "What's wrong with you? Why are you looking at us like that?"
Xiao Ruo's voice trembled as he said, "Miss Zhou, aren't you afraid?"
"What are you afraid of?"
"That's the official's son, Miss Zhou, aren't you afraid of getting into trouble?"
Zhou Tinglan walked back to the table and sat down. He touched the teacup and found it was cold.
She slowly poured another cup of hot tea. "What are you afraid of? The current emperor is dedicated to governing the country and has zero tolerance for corrupt officials. Can a government official like him really go beyond the emperor's control?"
Zhou Tinglan thought that there was nothing wrong in flattering the emperor. Besides, if it weren't for the investigation into corrupt officials, how could her father be accused by Yao Ningde of embezzling military funds?
"Miss Zhou, even though that's the case, we really don't dare to offend you!"
The three shopkeepers all nodded in agreement, they didn't dare!
When Xiao Ruo heard Zhou Tinglan's words, he became more convinced of his inner thoughts: Miss Zhou is really a wonderful person!
Zhou Tinglan placed the teacup on the table. "Three shopkeepers, Master Wu's unexpected appearance just now disrupted our normal discussions. If you're afraid of offending Master Wu by cooperating with me, you may leave the restaurant now. However, I must warn you: what I'm about to do may double your daily knife sales."
Sales doubled!
The shopkeepers were shocked. They all knew what doubling the sales meant to them.
"How about it, are there any shopkeepers who want to quit?" Zhou Tinglan reminded the shopkeepers when he saw them thinking with their heads down.
Shopkeeper Zhang asked, "Miss Zhou didn't fool us, did she?"
"That means sincere cooperation. Trust those you employ, and don't employ those you doubt. Manager Zhang, do you have any other questions?"
"No." Shopkeeper Zhang gritted his teeth and said, "Miss Zhou, I am willing to cooperate with you."
Shopkeeper He, who had been silent for a long time, said, "Shopkeeper Zhang, don't think about it any more. What if something goes wrong?"
That's Master Wu. If we really offend him, he will bring his soldiers to investigate, and then everything will be in vain.
The question asked by Manager He is also what Manager Yang wants to ask.
Shopkeeper Zhang replied with a smile, "Just as Miss Zhou said, we must trust His Majesty. At the same time, I believe that Miss Zhou is definitely not playing tricks on me!"
After thinking for a moment, the other two shopkeepers agreed to cooperate with Zhou Tinglan.
Zhou Tinglan told the shopkeeper all her cooperation strategies.
Shopkeeper Yang was completely confused after hearing this and asked, "Miss Zhou, I'd like to ask what you mean by investing your technology in the company?"
Zhou Tinglan thought for a moment and said, "Let me put it simply. The three shopkeepers and I are now one. The kitchen knives I forge can fetch a higher price, which falls under the technical area. The three shopkeepers have been selling knives in town for many years and have far more experience and connections than I do. This falls under the marketing area."
Shopkeeper Zhang understood immediately: "Miss Zhou provides us with kitchen knives, and we go to sell them."
"That's right. We can set up a brand, and the four of us will each do our own thing. You pay me a fixed monthly rent, and then you only need to pay the cost price for that month."
"Will this work?" Shopkeeper Yang asked worriedly.
"Shopkeeper Yang, don't you have confidence in yourself? Just give it a try and you'll know."
Finally, they reached a consensus.
Zhou Tinglan had a very pleasant conversation with the three shopkeepers. They decided to name the brand after Zhou Tinglan's surname, and thus Zhou's Knife Shop was born.
After leaving the restaurant, the shop owners went back to redecorate the blacksmith shop sign.
Zhou Tinglan couldn't stop either. She took the people in the village to the nearby area to buy a few forging furnaces and forging materials before returning to the village.
Xiao Ruo asked, "Miss Zhou, why did you buy so many forges?"
"Since we are the technical team, we must have a sufficient supply of kitchen knives. I can't do it alone, so I will teach you how to forge kitchen knives."
What Xie Zechuan heard sounded increasingly familiar: the familiar collaboration, the familiar teaching of sword-forging.
Lan'er really has students wherever she goes.
"Ms. Zhou, Xiao Ruo is stupid. Can we really forge it?" Xiao Ruo exclaimed.
"Yes, trust me."
The kitchen knife that Miss Zhou taught us to use was not the previous type of kitchen knife, but another simpler type of kitchen knife.
The people in the mountain stronghold were not the blacksmiths in Beijiang City, and they had no forging skills, so everything had to start from scratch. Therefore, Zhou Tinglan chose to teach them simpler styles first, so that they could operate better and increase their success rate.
Although the styles are different, they are not inferior at all.
Xiao Ruo was among those learning to forge kitchen knives. He noticed that the knife Zhou Tinglan was demonstrating was not the one he had sold before: "Miss Zhou, this knife is not the kind I sold before?"
"No, that one is a little more complicated. You guys should learn it first. I'll discuss with the shopkeepers about changing the previous one into a limited edition. I'll forge it myself."
Because Zhou Tinglan successfully made money by selling knives to the people in the village, the people in the village now trust her very much.
The village was previously an alliance of brothers, with no established leader. When Zhou Tinglan arrived, she was immediately respected by the people in the village and became the true leader of the village.
Zhou Tinglan did not refuse and happily named the stronghold Black Wind Stronghold.
**
The people in the village practiced forging day and night. Zhou's Knife Shop was officially unveiled on a sunny morning. The sunlight shone on the newly made plaque, adding a festive atmosphere to the shop.
The knife shop is doing good business, and many people in the town come to the shop to choose the knives they like.
The limited edition kitchen knives forged by Zhou Tinglan himself were sold out in less than an hour after the shop opened.
She checked the other kitchen knives again in the back room of the shop to ensure their quality.
Zhou Tinglan vaguely heard a noisy quarrel coming from outside the shop. She lifted the door curtain in confusion and walked out.
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