Three women make a drama, and with so many women by the river, they could talk endlessly.
Seeing that they had achieved their goal of promoting soap by the river, Qin Shiyu and the others quietly left.
For three consecutive days, they followed the same method, going to places with many people washing clothes by the river to promote soap. Gradually, almost every household knew that there was something called soap, which was very effective for washing clothes.
Some observant people have even noticed that soap can be used not only to wash clothes, but also to wash hands and face.
Finally, on the fourth day, a businessman named Qian Song, who came from Yingkou Town, came to learn about the soap.
"Have you ever seen soap, Manager Qian?" Zhao Xian asked.
“I’ve never seen soap before. I run a shop in Yingkou Town, and my business is quite extensive. These past two days, people have been asking me if I sell soap. At first, I didn’t care, but as more and more people asked, I started to pay attention.”
I learned that soap is used to wash clothes. It works much better than soapberry and is more durable; a small piece can replace a whole bag of soapberry powder.
Can you show me a bar of soap now? I want to know what it looks like and if it's really that good.
Zhao Xian didn't say anything, just smiled, took a bar of soap, and told him to wash his hands first to see how effective it was.
Qian Song's hands were calloused and rough from years of working, and looked very dirty.
He took the soap and, following Zhao Xian's instructions, first wet his hands, then applied the soap and rubbed them carefully. Soon his hands were covered in foam, which became increasingly dark, clearly indicating that the dirt in his hands had been washed away.
Seeing that he had rubbed them enough, Qian Song put his hands in the basin to wash them. Soon the basin of water turned black, but his hands became clean. Some stains that could not be removed were completely washed away.
Qian Song was so surprised by the soap's powerful cleaning ability that he couldn't stop smiling.
He only applied a little soap to his hands, yet he washed them so clean, and the soap was hardly used up—it's much more durable than soapberry.
"Sir, I'd like to buy some soap wholesale to resell, but I don't know if you have any in stock, and what the wholesale price is."
"What do you think is a suitable retail price for soap, Manager Qian?"
Qian Song thought for a moment and said, "If we don't consider the cleaning effect, just in terms of usage, one bar of soap is equivalent to at least five packets of soap powder. And one packet of soap powder costs fifty coins, so one bar of soap would have to sell for at least two hundred and fifty coins."
Let's compare the soap with soapberry paste. A box of soapberry paste costs almost one tael of silver, so the price of a bar of soap shouldn't be less than one tael of silver either.
Zhao Xian nodded, finding Qian Song's analysis quite reasonable, and then said:
"Soap will become an essential household item, so its market price cannot be too high. In order to make it affordable for ordinary people, the price of soap cannot exceed one hundred coins."
Qian Song's eyes lit up. He had thought the price of the soap would be at least one tael of silver, but he didn't expect it to be less than one hundred coins. Such a low price was affordable for most people.
"Of course, this price is just the market retail price. Manager Qian only needs to pay forty coins wholesale from me. I hope Manager Qian will not raise the price when selling retail."
Of course, even if Manager Qian sets the price at eighty coins per bar, some people still won't be able to afford soap. Manager Qian could cut the soap into pieces and sell them, so that more people would be able to afford it.
"Okay, I understand. I'll buy some soap wholesale and sell it later," Qian Song said eagerly.
"Since the soap has just been produced, there is not much stock. Manager Qian will first wholesale 100 yuan worth to sell. Yingkou Town is not far from here, so it is convenient to purchase goods."
"Then it's settled. I'll buy a hundred bars of soap wholesale first." Qian Song was a little regretful; once the soap started selling, this small stock would be sold out in a day.
Qian Song loaded one hundred bars of soap onto the carriage and drove away.
This is the first customer who came to buy soap in person. After that, more customers will come to buy soap in bulk. My current inventory is simply not enough. I must immediately increase the production of soap.
Thinking of this, Zhao Xian immediately went to the village head and asked him to find twenty workers for him. Since making soap does not require much strength, the workers needed this time could be either men or women.
"Then let's hire all the female workers. The villagers all have land, and the men still have to work in the fields. Most of the women in the village don't know how to do farm work, so they would be very suitable to work in the soap-making workshop," the village head said.
Zhao Xian thought it made sense; hiring female workers in a soap workshop would be more suitable. So the matter was settled. Suddenly, Zhao Xian remembered something.
“Making soap requires a lot of lard. Currently, there aren’t many people in the village raising pigs. How about we let the villagers raise pigs, and I’ll be responsible for buying them? The purchase price will definitely be higher than the market price, so that the villagers can also benefit.”
The village headman immediately became excited upon hearing this, as it was indeed a very good way to increase the villagers' income.
Although pork prices are high in the market, the pigs raised by the villagers don't fetch high prices when sold; most of the profits are taken by the butchers.
The villagers' hard work in raising pigs didn't bring in any profit, which led to a lack of enthusiasm among them for raising pigs.
The village head nodded. He planned to help Zhao Xian find workers first, and then convene a meeting of the villagers later to discuss how to raise pigs.
Next, Zhao Xian expanded the scale of soap production, and the twenty workers hired by the village headman quickly arrived. After a series of training sessions, these workers were soon engaged in intensive production.
In the following days, more and more vendors came to the village to wholesale soap. These vendors were mainly retailers, and their wholesale volume was not large.
Currently, the production of soap can still meet the demand, but if a large wholesaler were to come and buy tens of thousands of bars of soap at once, we simply wouldn't be able to supply that many.
At noon that day, a carriage arrived at the gate. The driver was a young man, and a guard stepped forward to question him.
"Where are you from? Are you here to buy soap wholesale?"
At this moment, a middle-aged man got off the carriage, followed by a girl. The soldier recognized the girl; she was Ruan Fang.
"So it's Miss Ruan. If I'm not mistaken, this must be Manager Ruan."
“Brother Bing has a good eye. This is indeed my father, Ruan Zhenggang, and the driver is my brother, Ruan Jingui. We have come to Shuixian Village to express our gratitude to the registrar. Please inform him, Brother Bing.”
"Haha, Miss Ruan is no outsider, why are you being so polite? The head of the family is in the soap workshop. Please wait a moment while I go in and inform him."
After Jiabing finished speaking, he quickly walked into the workshop.
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