Chapter 563, Incense Making
In March, when all flowers are in full bloom, Daohua asked the manager of the farm who specialized in growing flowers to send him a lot of fresh flowers, and then he made perfume in the yard.
"Miss, the manager of the glass shop has brought the bottle you requested."
Wang Maner and Bishi each came back with a box of transparent glass bottles.
When Daohua decided to make perfume, she asked someone to go to the glass shop to order a hundred perfume bottles.
Today, the glassmaking technology of Liulichang has reached a very advanced level. The shapes of the perfume bottles produced are not much different from the patterns she gave, and each one is small and exquisite.
Looking at the rose perfume extracted from the table, Wang Man'er took a deep breath and said intoxicatedly, "It smells so good!"
Guyu nodded aside: "It smells really good, but the quantity is too small. A large basket of roses can probably only hold two or three bottles."
Wang Maner: "That's why this perfume is so expensive."
Daohua sat aside and organized the production process, preparing to write down each step in detail, and then find someone to go to the flower farm to do it.
"Pour the perfume into the bottle. Remember, don't fill it too full. Just fill it three-quarters full."
By mid-March, several kinds of flower perfumes were produced and put on sale in rouge shops.
The rouge shop under the name of Daohua has always been doing good business. As soon as the perfume came out, it attracted the attention of regular customers. With the display of the store manager, one hundred bottles of perfume were sold out in less than a few days.
The manager came over excitedly with the account book to report. After reading it, Daohua was silent for a while and asked someone to call Yan Shouhou, who was replacing Qin Xiaoliu.
Yan Shouhou is the son of Madam Wei, the kitchen manager. Daohua has been in charge of the kitchen for the past two years. Madam Wei was promoted by her, so Yan Shouhou can be considered her man.
"Miss, you're looking for me?"
Unlike Qin Xiaoliu who is clever and adaptable, Yan Shouhou is as honest and loyal as his name suggests.
If the shop and farm were just starting out, she would definitely not hire such a person. However, now that the rules of the shop and farm have been established, such a person is the best candidate to be the manager.
Daohua: "Last year, Brother Xiaoliu led a group of people to Taohua Village. Do you know those people?"
Yan Shouhou nodded quickly: "I know, Xiaoliu brother even told me about their situation."
Daohua nodded and said, "Now those people have been assigned to the wheat farm. Go over there tomorrow and pick out seven or eight skilled women from among them and bring them to the flower farm in Xingzhou."
As he spoke, he handed him the flowchart for making perfume.
Yan Shouhou took a look at the perfume flow chart and seemed to be hesitant to speak.
Daohua smiled and said, "Just say whatever you want to say."
Yan Shouhou immediately replied, "Miss, Brother Xiaoliu said those people still need to be observed. Although they have been quite well behaved over the past two or three months, it would be too much to tell them the secrets of perfume making just like that."
Daohua took over the conversation: "Too rash?" Then he smiled and said, "Don't worry, their indentures are in my hands. They can only survive by following me."
Yan Shouhou gave a wry smile and said, "I was just worrying too much."
Daohua said, "Your concerns are correct. Now that you're helping me manage the shop and the farm, you should think more carefully about everything you encounter. If you're unsure about something, come to me and don't keep it to yourself."
"Many things start out as trivial matters, but if they're not addressed initially, they'll snowball and eventually become major disasters."
Yan Shouhou quickly said, "I will definitely keep this in mind."
Daohua smiled and nodded.
Maizhuang.
This is the largest farm owned by Daohua, covering an area of ten thousand acres.
At this moment, spring plowing has been completed on tens of thousands of acres of land. People in the village are sitting in groups of three or four on the ridges of the fields chatting. Among them, a few people are particularly eye-catching.
There was no other reason. These men were all tall and strong. One of them was blind in one eye, and another was bald. They looked like they were not easy to mess with.
"Brother Cao, do you think that girl from the Yan family really treats us like farmers?" The bald man rubbed his head.
Cao Gu glanced at him and said, "I told you to work peacefully in the farm, and you're not happy about it?"
The bald man shook his head. "It's not that I'm unhappy, it's just that I find it a little hard to believe. They built us a house, and when we harvest the grain in the future, they will divide the grain among us according to the number of acres of land we cultivate. Every month, they will also take out 10% of the farm's operating output and divide it equally among us. This treatment is too good, and it always makes me feel a little uneasy."
Cao Gu glanced at the people elsewhere, his eyes dim, "Why should we be uneasy? We are not the only ones who have this kind of treatment."
In fact, at the beginning, he also found it hard to believe. Other villages only needed to ensure that the people in the village did not starve to death. How could it be like this?
But the people in Taohua Village can't be fake. Their relaxed smiles and affluent lives all show that the Yan family is really treated so well.
Zhuzi interrupted, "Lord Yan is a good official, so his daughter is naturally not bad either."
Cao Gu didn't say anything. He didn't dare to underestimate the eldest daughter of the Yan family.
That young lady single-handedly defeated a large number of assassins trained by the Eighth Prince.
Also, why were the people from the imperial court able to find Sishan Village?
He didn't believe at all that the eldest daughter of the Yan family had no contribution to this.
At this moment, someone ran over breathlessly: "Brother Cao, Brother Bald, go back and check, Manager Yan is at your house."
Cao Gu and the bald men immediately stood up and asked as they walked over, "Which one is in charge?"
The visitor said, "It's Steward Yan who took over Steward Qin's job."
Upon hearing this, Cao Gu and the others sped up their pace.
When they returned to the residential area, they saw Yan Shouhou gathered the wives of several families in the yard at the head of the village and asked them to pick beans.
Yan Shouhou walked back and forth beside them, observing whether the women's clothes were clean, whether their fingers were clean, and how light, heavy, and fast they were doing the work.
Making perfume is a delicate job, and this person has to choose carefully.
This was the first task the girl gave him, so he didn't dare to be careless at all.
He knew that in terms of ability and weight in the girl's heart, he could not compare with Brother Xiaoliu at all, nor was he as flexible and capable as Brother Xiaoliu. But his mother told him that everyone had their own strengths, and he didn't need to compare himself with Qin Xiaoliu. Since the girl had chosen him, all he could do now was to try his best to complete every task the girl had assigned him.
Seeing Cao Gu and others arrive, Yan Shouhou glanced at them and continued to watch the women picking beans.
The bald man hesitated for a moment, but finally couldn't help but walked over. There was nothing he could do. Manager Yan kept staring at his wife, which made him very annoyed.
"Manager Yan, I wonder why you called my wife and the wives of Brother Cao and the others here?"
Yan Shouhou didn't think of asking them any questions, but he didn't want to explain too much either: "Good thing, the girl wants to select a few women to do the work." He didn't say anything else.
The bald man immediately looked at Cao Gu.
Cao Gu was silent for a moment and glanced at the pillar beside him.
After receiving it, Zhuzi immediately took out a small piece of silver from his pocket and walked over to Yan Shouhou. While giving the silver, he whispered, "Manager Yan, please be flexible. What exactly does the young lady want our wives to do?"
Yan Shouhou pushed away Zhuzi's hand that was offering him the silver and said with some dissatisfaction, "What are you doing? Don't you know that the rule prohibits officials from accepting bribes?"
Zhuzi choked. He knew the rule, but he felt that few managers could follow it.
Seeing that Cao Gu and the others looked worried, Yan Shouhou was silent for a moment, thought for a moment, and then said, "It's a good thing. The young lady's rouge shop is short of workers. We need a few skilled people to make rouge and other things."
As soon as these words came out, some women who were watching nearby immediately gathered around and said, "Manager Yan, are you really going to work at the young lady's rouge shop? They don't want to go, but we do."
Yan Shouhou comforted her, "We have enough manpower now. Let's wait until next time. If you need someone next time, I'll come and choose." As he said that, he immediately pointed to a few neat and tidy women.
"You guys go back and say goodbye to your family, and then you'll leave with me."
The bald man's wife blurted out, "So fast?"
Yan Shouhou explained, "Miss, your rouge shop is doing very well. A lot of the goods have been bought out. We urgently need you to come over." After that, he said no more and followed the head of the village into the house to drink tea.
Cao Gu walked up to his wife, took her hand, and walked out of the yard in silence.
The bald guys hurried to follow.
The bald man was still a little worried: "Brother Cao, do you think it's okay for my sisters-in-law to work in the Rouge Shop?"
Cao Gu was silent for a moment: "There shouldn't be a problem, but..." Miss Yan probably still doesn't believe them and wants to separate them from their family. Lan Niang and the others can be considered hostages.
(End of this chapter)
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