Zhenniang, The Three of Us (Twenty-Three)
Although she didn't know if it was true or not, it sounded very exciting, and Zhang Ying immediately appreciated it and became happy.
"Then Mr. Zhao, you must make money quickly!"
Zhao Zhenniang was quite determined; she nodded earnestly, she was certain she would do it.
Time flies when you're busy, and before you know it, another year has passed.
Sesame oil is the easiest product to sell before the Lunar New Year; you can make half a year's worth of money in just one month of Lunar New Year sales.
The thousand yuan spent on the gun was gone like water, and then earned back just as easily. This is why Zhao Zhenniang's spending became increasingly unrestrained.
With the business now at this scale, it's easy to spend or make money, so I've become less and less tangible with money.
Every household was given a gun in case of emergency, and adults and children alike learned to shoot. However, the bullets had to be handed over to the government treasury for safekeeping and retrieval records.
Bullets, which are irretrievable once fired, are more expensive than guns themselves, so they cannot be manufactured indiscriminately.
Plan your use of bullets.
As for dividends, although we spend quite a lot every year, the profits are also increasing.
With profits increasing, is Zhao Zhenniang going to distribute dividends?
No, Zhao Zhenniang decided that from now on, she would give each villager two yuan of pocket money every month.
Villagers: ...
What to do with the remaining money?
Zhao Zhenniang smiled and said, "Let's use the remaining money to open a few more shops."
Everyone: ...
Another reason that's hard to refuse!
Then, the shop was drawn in by the gimmick of sesame oil, and the daily foot traffic was huge. Sesame oil was the signature product, and the speed at which the local products sold out was also beyond imagination.
With a sales rate of one pig per day, any grocery store could switch to becoming a pork butcher shop.
The key to making money with sesame oil lies in establishing a brand, which attracts other shops to purchase it. Profits from other miscellaneous items come from high volume and low margins.
Looking at the ever-increasing miscellaneous income, Zhao Zhenniang suddenly felt that she had not yet reached her limit.
If they could open more shops in the alleys and streets, they would make even more money.
Jian Yu'an's grand plan to build a factory was based on the Song family's financial resources and military power. Now that Zhao Zhenniang wanted to continue developing the agricultural and sideline products industry, she no longer wanted to interfere and let Zhao Zhenniang make all the decisions.
The business strategy for the secondary stores has been explored and has become a fixed routine, making it much simpler to open branch stores, just by following the model of the main store.
But manpower is a big problem. The reason why the store could be put into operation before was because the entire Zhao family village had free labor.
Even if all the villagers could work in multiple places at once, it would still not be enough to expand the business now.
Using people is never a simple matter, no matter when or where, because people are never easy tools. Even when objectified to the extreme, they still have thoughts, and once they have thoughts, they won't obey orders.
So Zhao Zhenniang came up with a solution: hire female workers for the shop.
It's not that female workers lack thought, but rather that their thoughts are naturally suppressed by society; working hard and eating little is the norm.
Just as black slaves were more cost-effective than white slaves, this is a sad but objective fact.
When Zhao Zhenniang opened her shop, profit was naturally her top priority.
As the store was a crucial place for the flow of money, Zhao Zhenniang gradually felt that it might be better to entrust it to an outsider. When it came to money, even her own people might not be trustworthy. For example, she herself would secretly embezzle public funds...
Without a doubt, Zhao Zhenniang only knew one outsider, so she went to Zhang Ying and asked if she would be willing to be her housekeeper and manage the accounts, offering to pay her forty silver dollars a month.
Zhang Ying has graduated and is working hard to find a job. It's definitely not easy for female students to find jobs. When she heard about the amount of money, she was instantly tempted, but she knew nothing about business.
Even if she doesn't understand, how could she not understand? Zhao Zhenniang didn't think it was a problem. She was just afraid that Zhang Ying wouldn't be able to let go of her psychological burden.
The boss wasn't afraid of being ripped off, so what was Zhang Ying afraid of? All her worries were insignificant in the face of forty silver dollars. Not only did he come himself, but he also introduced her to several female school classmates.
The villagers only had two yuan of pocket money each month, but the housekeeper gave them forty yuan each month. The two newly opened shops gave the shopkeepers twenty yuan and ordinary employees ten yuan. This was very tempting for the girls' school students, and the staff gathered quickly.
Zhao Zhenniang began to experience a stage that every business owner goes through when expanding their operations: labor costs are no longer free.
It was unreasonable for outsiders to have control over the important shops while the villagers were still toiling away at grinding grain. So Zhao Zhenniang hired some oil workers to free the villagers from the heavy burden of production.
But it's impossible for the villagers to do nothing; the villagers themselves have to source the core goods for the store.
Now, the store sells more than just sesame oil; it also offers a full range of daily necessities, including firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea, with a very complex range of sourcing channels.
This is a tangible thing, so of course we should keep it in our own hands.
The village also needs someone to manage the internal accounts. Aunt Huang, who used to work in the canteen and logistics, can stop working there. She will find some other people to manage the incoming and outgoing goods and the internal accounts, and Zhao Zhenniang will no longer be in charge of the money.
When the pie was small, there was no problem with how it was distributed. But as time went on, people started to question the fairness of her distribution.
If she didn't delegate the work, the villagers would come after her if they were ever dissatisfied. Now, at least there are two buffers.
Zhao Zhenniang now understood why her third aunt had asked her to give the money to her godmother; it turned out that sometimes managing money really wasn't a good job.
As the person in charge, she was only responsible for certain directional matters and liaison with various parties.
Don't be fooled by her relaxed demeanor; this is the most important and technically demanding part.
After this thought popped into her head, Zhao Zhenniang suddenly remembered her father holding the copper gourd, who had told her, "This is the most important thing!"
Zhao Zhenniang realized in an instant, so that's what it meant...
...
Realizing she was gradually becoming the father holding the oil gourd, Zhao Zhenniang instantly broke down and quickly tried her best to do more work.
To prevent others from finding out how easy and effortless the job is when they pick it up, thus adding some real value to their resume.
Then, two more shops opened in the store. Zhao Zhenniang went from street to street, counting the number of households and selecting shops to ensure that each shop could serve a specific area.
This time, the store is selling more than just sesame oil; they've started offering sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, and even a bag of snacks.
Sesame oil is the only industry in Zhao Family Village, but that doesn't matter. Where there's a business opportunity, people will flock in, and where there are buyers, there will be producers.
Zhao Family Village's rapid rise has attracted the attention of surrounding villages, who have also seen the business opportunity and want to take over the supply business of the store.
But as the saying goes, everything has a cost. Grinding sesame oil requires a cost, and so do other things. People who were extremely interested started coming to the door, asking if they could borrow some money from Boss Zhao.
Becoming a wealthy household inevitably involves encountering such situations. For a moment, Zhao Zhenniang had a very dangerous thought: could she also become a loan shark in the future?
Fortunately, the gods are watching over us, and Zhao Zhenniang stopped this dangerous idea. Her aunt said that she should do more good deeds and make many good relationships, and not do such a wicked thing.
Zhao Zhenniang agreed to lend them money to start their business, without requiring them to repay the debt. She suggested that they follow the sesame oil business model of Zhao Family Village, collectively develop an industry, supply the shops, and gradually repay the debt by purchasing goods. There was no time limit; they could repay the debt once it was fully paid off.
Despite the large size of the shops in Zhao Family Village now, they don't actually have much of a foundation and can't really help others much.
When Zhao Family Village started its business, it relied on the collective efforts and resources of the entire village; one person alone could not have accomplished it.
If they want her investment, they can only learn from Zhao Family Village back then and help only a small group of people.
Those who heard Zhao Zhenniang's words returned home dejected and consulted with everyone in the village about the matter.
Seeing that life in the neighboring Zhao family village was getting better and better, the people in the neighboring village were naturally tempted.
But there is a problem. Back then, Zhao Zhenniang was the "young mistress of the Song family" in advance. The villagers believed that she would not embezzle their money, and if she did, she would have connections to find someone to help her. That's why they dared to give her the funds. Are there people in other villages who can be trusted like this?
People living together in the same village, you know who's who and who's who, you can't trust anyone at all.
After thinking about it, everyone thought of the girl from Zhao Family Village who had gone back to her parents' home.
The Zhao family is a large and wealthy family; they probably wouldn't abandon such a large business and lose all sense of shame for the sake of a few people like them.
The head of Zhao Family Village was a kind and righteous person. Over the years, when she bought other goods in the village, she was very trustworthy. Compared with those few cunning people in the village, everyone actually trusted Zhao Zhenniang more.
Therefore, the villagers unanimously demanded that fundraising be allowed, but only if the Zhao family's daughter acted as matchmaker and guarantor!
How could Zhao Zhenniang disagree? Unexpectedly, she managed to gather money and labor from several villages.
When Zhao Zhenniang expanded her business, she faced immense pressure. Even with just two more shops, the costs increased exponentially.
Now, they can turn payments for goods into costs and even collect a sum of cash for free. They'd be laughing in their sleep.
Zhao Family Village dominated the sesame oil industry. To avoid competing with Zhao Family Village, other villages focused on producing sesame oil, soybean oil, soy sauce, vinegar, and pastries—products that were processed from grains through a second process.
After collecting the funds, they had to do things for the villagers. Several villages each started an industry, and the people from Zhao Village helped to procure the equipment and provided grain and raw materials to the neighboring villages, as well as rations for the villagers to eat in large quantities.
This grain is also considered a donation to the neighboring village. There's no rush to pay it back; we can repay it slowly as our business grows.
Various grains and cereals are precisely what Zhao Family Village is currently focusing on developing.
The people in the neighboring village were extremely grateful, as this solved a major problem. Zhao Family Village used the funds invested to further reduce the actual costs.
At first, Jian Yu'an watched Zhao Family Village bustling about with little interest, but when he saw the collective economy expanding again, he slowly sat up and opened his mouth wide.
Did you teach these things?
Ye Xiqing turned around and said, "No, she usually only takes care of meals, nothing else. These are your responsibilities, honey."
Jian Yu'an: ...
Even if she taught some things, it's unbelievable that things have developed to this point!
Upon learning that the original Zhao Zhenniang was still alive, she immediately taught Jian Yu a lesson, explaining that people in ancient times were simply born early, not stupid.
Many shops fail because of expansion, but some stores survive and even go further.
Marketing concepts are effective quickly, but they are also easy to learn. After sesame oil became popular, other brands saw its effectiveness and followed suit.
The Zai Lai Goods Shop lost its advantage of freshness, but it has already transformed into a legitimate grain and oil merchant and started doing legitimate business, relying on the reputation it had built up in the early days.
When you lack capital, you should take risks; when you have capital, it's best to play it safe.
But there are definitely people taking the safe path. Before, there was only one small sesame oil shop, which didn't affect others. Now, it's definitely taking up a lot of people's space.
If you encounter a straightforward move, counter it; if you encounter a cunning move, counter it; and if you encounter a move that you can't counter, then it's time to use your weapon.
Jian Yu'an actually ran the shop as part of her dowry, just to show her value to the Song family, not because she really made her fortune from it.
The enormous productivity and technological gaps resulting from the Industrial Revolution cannot be bridged by anything.
Just as no matter how much effort is put into sesame oil, a bicycle is equivalent to a thousand bottles of sesame oil, she anticipates that the soil for achieving her goal will not be in Zhao Village, but in Song Village.
But now Zhao Zhenniang seems to have embarked on a new path, and a rural collective force radiating outwards from Zhao Family Village is taking shape.
If Jian Yu'an were to be dressed as the matriarch of a landlord's family, she would certainly be able to think of ideas for uniting the villagers and developing together, but as an independent single woman, she couldn't think of such ideas.
Perhaps thanks to the only empress and the female leaders who held up their households in various chaotic environments, various film, television and cultural products have not hesitated to portray powerful women who held power in feudal society.
But they had to go through the process of marrying a husband and then having another husband die before they could gain power.
After their husbands die, they become fanatical defenders of male power. Their authority is usually not displayed in their skill in managing household affairs, but in tormenting their daughters-in-law and complaining that they cannot give the X family a son.
Whether he is dead, disabled, a playboy, or a figurehead, he must at least have the shadow of a husband, even if he doesn't actually have any power from his father.
Therefore, the concept of having a husband with a good reputation is deeply ingrained in the minds of most people, forming a fixed mindset.
Once this is disrupted, it can create a sense of insecurity, as if one's understanding has been overturned.
This is also the most powerful aspect of marketing: the group that is most likely to cause trouble, squander money, ruin good opportunities, waste resources, and exploit women to the bone.
However, through viral marketing and survival bias marketing, they have portrayed themselves as a talisman, an essential item that people need to have regardless of life or death.
As long as someone believes it, there will be new people taking over this mess. And the general public has always been able to take over all sorts of messes, and this is not the only one.
Jian Yu'an is like a snail that has shed its shell, exposed to the open air, filled with the insecurity of having its old perceptions overturned.
When she's been brainwashed by marketing and gotten used to that facade, she'll be the first to question and deny it, thinking it's impossible, impossible to exist, and that there must be problems!
Jian Yu'an was only shocked for a moment before he was filled with worry and began to list various potential dangers and serious consequences.
Ye Xiqing looked at her: "Didn't you ask the teacher for leave?"
Jian Yu'an: ...
Why are you asking this?
Ye Xiqing: "If you've ever asked your teacher for leave, you'll know that before you ask, you should imagine that she won't agree, imitate the way she would question you, and constantly refine your wording."
"But when she's truly in love, she usually only says one word—"
"OK."
Jian Yu'an: ...
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