Jiang Shuwan pretended not to hear Wen's sarcastic words. She said to the fourth wife, the third wife, and the old lady, "I understand what Aunt is saying. But if I remember correctly, according to the rules of the manor, two new clothes should be made for the masters every season. This emerald green satin has always been popular. In the past two years, every season when new clothes are made, the masters have chosen it. Why don't we see the storeroom nanny taking this out of the storeroom to use, but instead letting it rot away?"
"No, Princess Consort, did you not understand what your fourth aunt said? Come, your third aunt will explain it to you again..."
Jiang Shuwan understood, of course.
The display in the Hou Mansion's warehouse was simply a matter of new goods over old goods, piled up inch by inch. When needed, the new goods on top were taken out first, while the old ones were all placed underneath.
Moreover, the more fabric that is put into storage, the more will be crushed and damaged underneath.
This was nothing new to them; they had always done it this way. But for Jiang Shuwan, it was a huge waste and a dereliction of duty by the management.
Let's not even talk about large companies. Take a supermarket as a simple example. Whenever supermarkets restock, they put items that are close to their expiration date on the front of the shelf, and items with longer expiration dates are placed further back.
Customers always take the first row of goods, which effectively reduces waste. Otherwise, if new goods are always placed in the first row and old goods are placed in the back, they will all spoil after a long time, which is a waste.
The fabrics and silks in the Marquis's residence should also be used in the same way, categorized and stored according to the time they were put into storage, and only those that were put into storage first should be used when needed.
"Grandma, look, not only are the silks rotten, but some of the utensils in the storeroom are also broken."
As Jiang Shuwan spoke, the maid behind her found some rusty utensils in the storeroom. They were all good items, but unfortunately, they were worthless because they were rusty.
There were also some decorative items, which the storeroom maids had piled up together, and they had all sorts of dents and scratches.
There were many of these things, and the further you went into the storeroom, the more there were, especially some calligraphy, paintings, and antiques. Because they were not top-tier or valuable items, the master did not select them to put in the house, and they had been left in the storeroom to rot, covered with cobwebs, in piles and piles.
Madam Pei's face immediately fell.
The Marquis's mansion was wealthy, and its storerooms contained various items that had been stored for decades. There was bound to be some wear and tear, but she hadn't expected it to be this serious. In particular, when she saw that a century-old red coral had a corner missing, the old lady's face turned even more grim.
She used to love this red coral, but after displaying it for a long time, she got tired of it and replaced it with something else. Unexpectedly, after a year in the warehouse, a corner of it was missing.
"Please spare me, old lady. There are too many things in the storeroom, and they're all piled up together. I guess some hard object accidentally slipped and hit the coral, causing the injury."
The storeroom maid was so frightened that her legs went weak and she trembled with fear.
She couldn't possibly afford to compensate for those coral horns.
However, she was much calmer about other losses.
After all, the warehouse being so messy wasn't entirely her fault; it had been like this ever since she took over.
Back then, it was still Madam Pei who was in charge, but the warehouse didn't have so many things back then, and the backlog wasn't as severe.
But this can't be blamed on her. During festivals, shops, estates, and caravans would send dozens or even hundreds of cartloads of goods as tribute, and the master would simply pick out whatever he liked.
The rest were all piled up in the warehouse. She's not a god, how could she remember which piece of cloth went into the warehouse first? She would pick out the first piece when she needed it.
As for the other paintings and calligraphy, it's not her fault. Some were bought casually by the young master of the mansion, and were thrown into the storeroom after only playing with them for a couple of days. Others were gifts from officials given as part of social interactions.
The gifts from minor officials weren't expensive, and since they couldn't be sold or thrown away, they just piled up in the warehouse, gathering dust.
Therefore, none of this is her fault.
Madam Pei thought so too. For a family like the Marquis's mansion, such losses in the storeroom were painful, but there was nothing they could do about it.
Moreover, some upper-class nobles would even flaunt the losses in their warehouses.
After all, only wealthy families with more than enough things will experience stockpiling and waste.
Some declining families, let alone suffering losses, sometimes couldn't even find a single coin in their storerooms after sweeping them three times. They were so short of money that their wives and daughters-in-law had to pawn their dowries.
Madam Pei did not question the storeroom nanny; instead, she focused her gaze on Jiang Shuwan.
"Wan'er, from what you're saying, you can sort these items into categories and reduce waste?"
"Yes, old lady."
Madam Pei's eyes lit up immediately, while Madam Wen sneered, "Madam Jiang, you certainly know how to talk big. You probably don't know how big our warehouse is."
Madam Pei also said gently, "Wan'er, you should know that this is the accumulated wealth of our mansion over the past few decades. There are twenty or thirty rooms and thousands of items. You can't even fit them all in ten courtyards. It's so complicated and numerous that even if you send twenty maids to sort it out, they might not be able to do so in a month."
"Besides, the storeroom nanny has been managing the storeroom for a long time, and she remembers the exact location of all these items. If you move them, what will you do if I need something later and the storeroom nanny can't find it?"
"Grandma, this is easy."
It's just setting up a warehouse entry and exit register; it's very simple.
"Grandma, all you need to do is set up dozens or hundreds of shelves and arrange them according to fabrics and utensils. Number each shelf, such as 'Fabric 1,' 'Book 1,' and 'Utensils 1,' and you can categorize them. Put items of the same category in one room. If one room isn't enough, allocate another room."
“Each shelf and each layer is labeled with the year it was brought into the warehouse and its place of origin. Everything is registered in a book, and you can just flip through the book to find what you need.”
Jiang Shuwan then instructed Granny Tao to present her storeroom ledgers to Old Madam Pei.
Her warehouse still has a lot of things, but they are all easy to find.
It clearly indicates what kind of fabric, when it was received into the warehouse, the quantity, and its location (which row, which shelf, which compartment).
The storeroom nanny's excellent memory was of no use to her.
A bad pen is worse than a good memory.
As long as you can read, you can find what you need in seconds by holding the warehouse book and following the catalog.
"Grandma, this is a great idea."
Mother Chang's eyes lit up. She had been to Jiang Shuwan's storeroom once before because of the betrothal gifts, and at that time she saw Qingxing nailing something that looked like a wooden sign on the shelf.
It said that the number of bolts of silk and when they were put into storage were written on the wooden plaque. After writing it on the plaque, it was also written in the ledger. She glanced at it at the time and felt curious, but didn't think much of it.
Now that I've heard Jiang Shuwan say it, it's not possible to clean up such a large warehouse using this method.
Those bad and messy items were cleared out, and the good ones were categorized and registered according to Jiang Shuwan's method.
The Marquis's own storeroom ledgers were cluttered with various items, a chaotic mess, unlike Jiang Shuwan's, where silk fabrics and utensils were in separate ledgers, making it much more convenient to look at.
"Excellent!"
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