In the workshop next door, Xia Hua was also asking her son how many sets of clothes she had made. This time, she was making mostly double-breasted half-sleeved ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), and since there weren't many colors of dresses in this world, she paired them with particularly bright colors.
Moreover, for this time, she only had them embroider a circle of peach blossoms on the cuffs and hem of the clothes, and nothing else.
Li Nan took out his notebook, checked the records, and said, "Mother, there are fifty sets of silk and eighty sets of ordinary cloth."
Xia Hua nodded, "Okay, put them all in the boxes and take them all away. Also, you need to practice your handwriting properly. Practice it on the ground with a stick. It looks like scribbles, and nobody can understand it."
"Hehe." Li Nan smiled awkwardly, "Mom, this is a good way to remember things. No one else can understand it except me. Even if someone steals it, there's no need to worry."
"Stop dawdling with me. All that talk is just because you don't want to practice. Let me be clear: if you can't write well, I'll switch to the third brother. Hurry up and move the carriage upstairs."
"Okay, Mom, I'll practice hard. Don't be angry, or you'll hurt yourself." Without waiting for his mother to reply, he hurriedly ran to move the boxes.
When Xia Hua and he moved out, An Shuyi was already waiting outside. There were several boxes in her carriage. They moved the boxes containing the clothes to another carriage, and the two of them got into the carriage. Lin Wenqing and Li Nan sat outside driving the carriage.
Upon arriving in Jinnan City, the two separated to sell their wares. An Shuyi instructed Lin Wenqing to drive the carriage directly to Zhuangyuan Street, a place frequented by scholars and literati who bought writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. None of the shops there sold anything else.
The street is called Zhuangyuan Street because several top scholars (Zhuangyuan) emerged from here, which is why the street was eventually renamed Zhuangyuan Street.
"Wenqing, park the carriage to the side. You stay here and watch over things. I'll be back in a bit." An Shuyi said, taking a few sheets of paper with her, and headed to Baomozhai, the largest bookstore on Zhuangyuan Street.
"Hello, madam. Are you looking to buy books, or writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones?" the shop assistant asked as soon as I entered.
An Shuyi looked at the bookstore, its shelves filled with books and a staircase leading to the second floor. She saw the shopkeeper standing at the counter, waved to the waiter, and walked over. "Shopkeeper, can we talk business?" she said, placing the paper in her hand on the counter.
She prefers to be straightforward and doesn't want to be like those time-traveling heroines who get kicked out before even looking at the items, only to find another shop and then stage a comeback. If she's going to sell something, she'll look at it first, and if she really doesn't like it, she can leave.
The shopkeeper was still doing the accounts when he saw the woman appear in front of the counter, then looked at the papers she had placed on the counter, put down what he was holding, and began to examine them.
"This is top-quality sized Xuan paper. The surface is delicate and smooth, the thickness is uniform, and it doesn't bleed ink. Sister-in-law, where did you buy this paper? Did you make it yourself? Are you trying to sell it to our bookstore?"
An Shuyi nodded, "This is paper made in our village. Shopkeeper, would you like it? If you do, we can discuss the price."
The shopkeeper nodded, "I like it, I like it. But do you have a lot of paper? We can't accept too little. Of course, it's not that we won't accept it, but could you have more?" Such good paper is worth a higher price.
Ordinary people can't afford this, but the sons of officials and wealthy families don't care. Moreover, Baomozhai has many shops, so they can accept even if a thousand or two thousand sheets of this paper come in every day.
“Of course we have some,” An Shuyi handed over another large piece of paper. “This paper is the same as the one the shopkeeper has, but it’s bigger. The shopkeeper can take a look and decide whether to accept it or not.”
"These small sheets of paper are one tael of silver each, and the large ones are five taels of silver," she continued, seeing the shopkeeper about to speak. "No bargaining, no matter how many you buy, the price is non-negotiable."
The shopkeeper looked at the paper in his hand. He had originally planned to haggle a bit, but he didn't expect the woman to have said beforehand that she wouldn't negotiate the price. In fact, even if he bought the paper for one tael of silver, he wouldn't lose money, since the paper was better than the paper that sold for one tael of silver in his shop.
If these papers were sold to the sons of officials and wealthy families, they would be eager to buy them, and there would be no shortage of buyers.
"Sister-in-law, how many more of these papers do you have? I'll take them all."
"What I brought today are one hundred large bills and five hundred small bills."
"This is too little, sister-in-law. Is that all? Don't worry, Baomozhai can accept any amount of Xuan paper you need."
"That's all we have now. If you want more, come to our village to get some."
Hearing her say this, the shopkeeper asked, "Sister-in-law, how many sheets of Xuan paper can you make each day?"
"One hundred large ones and five hundred small ones." That's all she can make in a day; any more than that won't do, and besides, there's no need for her to make more—scarcity makes things valuable.
“This isn’t much, sister-in-law. How about this: from now on, Baomozhai will order all the Xuan paper from your village. As long as you sign a contract with us and don’t sell the paper to anyone else, I’ll add an extra ounce to the price of this large Xuan paper. How about that?”
Although it costs an extra ounce or two, he can sell it even if he adds a few more ounces. Moreover, this Xuan paper is so good that it can be used as their shop's signboard. If other bookstores also have it, it won't be a signboard. He wants everyone to know that the best paper is only sold by their Baomozhai.
As long as people think of paper, they will think of Baomozhai, which is much more cost-effective than spending one or two taels of silver.
An Shuyi nodded, "Okay, but we have to write it down properly. You order so many every day, what if you don't buy them and we can't sell them? That would be a huge loss."
"Don't worry, sister-in-law, I will write all of these down. I will send someone to pick up 100 large sheets of Xuan paper and 500 small sheets of Xuan paper every day. By the way, I haven't asked where you live and what your husband's surname is."
"My husband's surname is Lin, you can just call me Sister-in-law An, I live in Taoyuan Village."
“Taoyuan Village, what a nice name. My surname is Li, and my given name is Shou. I’ll go write the contract now. Sister An, bring the Xuan paper over.”
An Shuyi went out and said, "Wenqing, bring the carriage over... Unload the boxes. Little brother, could you please watch the carriage for us for a while? We'll be out in a bit."
"Yes, Madam An." The waiter had been standing nearby and had overheard what they were saying.
"Wenqing, carry the box."
Once inside, the shopkeeper had already written the contract. After checking it and finding no problems, he signed and pressed his fingerprint on it, making two copies. He then put the contract in his purse, which was actually in the warehouse. "Shopkeeper," he said, "this box is full of Xuan paper. Check for yourself if there's enough and if there are any problems."
These sheets of Xuan paper were counted by the clansmen; the ones she brought were placed outside and not with these.
The shopkeeper checked the contents and, finding no problems, said, "Don't worry, Sister An, there's no problem. I'll get the silver right away." He then counted out one thousand taels from the side.
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