Old Master Chen led the group to the workshop in the backyard and pointed to the neatly stacked bamboo baskets in the corner. He said to Li Yan, "Miss, please check! They're all here!"
Li Yan squatted down, picked up a few small bottles and took a look. It was amazing that the sizes of all the bottles were exactly as measured, without any error.
Li Yan immediately stood up and nodded with satisfaction: "You really helped me a lot, thank you very much!"
After all, it is a handmade bottle. Li Yan was originally worried that there would be errors in the size of the bottle, but now it seems that she was really worrying too much!
Li Yan asked the Zhao father and son to lift the baskets of small bottles onto the mule cart, and then paid the remaining wages to Mr. Chen, and promised that she would come back to customize the bottles after the shop opened.
Old Master Chen nodded excitedly, hoping that the girl's shop would prosper!
By the time they had brought the five hundred soy sauce bottles back home, it was already evening.
Li Yan asked the Zhao family father and son to put several baskets of bottles next to the well, preparing to wash them all in a while so that they could be used to store soy sauce tomorrow.
When Li Erlang came back with the spices, he saw two people busy by the well.
"Dad, did you help me buy the spices?" Li Yan asked.
Li Erlang lifted the paper bag in his hand and said, "Don't worry, I bought everything just as you said!"
Li Erlang put the spices in his hand in the kitchen, then rolled up his sleeves and went forward to help the two of them clean the containers.
With one more person helping them, the three of them moved much faster. When it got dark, Lin stood in the kitchen and said to them, "It's getting dark. We can leave the unfinished work for tomorrow. Let's eat first!"
Li Yan finished cleaning the containers in her hand, looked at the basket of unwashed containers left behind her, and stood up.
There are only about 100 kilograms of fermented black beans that can be used to make soy sauce tomorrow. These fermented black beans can make about 200 kilograms of soy sauce, and the cleaned containers are enough!
As for the fermented black beans made later, they still need to ferment for about five or six days before they can be used to make soy sauce. Let’s not talk about this for now.
"When do you plan to open?" Lin asked as he put down the dishes in his hands.
"The sooner the better. Many shops in the market have already opened. I think we should do it the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow I will take a few people to clean the shops, and prepare the food that Yan'er will cook at home!" Li Erlang said to them.
"Dad, how do you think business is going at the market?"
Li Erlang said with a hint of worry, "It's not as good as I thought. Most of the shops in the market are probably still open. It will take some time before we can take a peek!"
Although Rongcheng is the only way to the north and south, if you want those businesses to stop here, or even let them stay here to trade, you must have your own bargaining chips!
The objective conditions for attracting businesses are in place, and what matters is the soft power!
Li Yan lowered her head and took a sip of porridge, thinking in her heart that if she wanted the market here to flourish, in addition to a good business environment, it was more important that there were benefits that attracted those businesses. As the saying goes, "all the people in the world come for profit, and all the people in the world go for profit", this is the truth.
Thinking through the key points, Li Yan said to Li Erlang, "Now that the market has just been built, the management must be implemented properly. There must be no acts of defrauding merchants. Dad, you can discuss with the adults and arrange for people to be on duty and patrol at fixed times to prevent any provocations from happening!"
"If you have any other ideas, please tell me. I have been discussing this with you these past two days!"
"In addition to ensuring safety, the second most important thing is taxation. Extortion and protection rackets must be avoided. Taxation must also be transparent, with a tiered and progressive system."
Seeing that her father was listening intently, Li Yan continued to explain, "For daily necessities, the tax rate can be set lower, perhaps at 40% tax to one. For example, for cigarettes, alcohol, and tea, which are only affordable to the wealthy, the tax rate can be set higher, at 15% tax to one, or even higher. The final decision will be made by Your Excellency!"
The father and daughter talked for a long time, and Li Yan told her father all her ideas. Li Yan hoped from the bottom of her heart that such a market could be developed, so that it could provide more opportunities to make money and improve the poor lives of the people!
The next day, when Li Yan got up, Li Xiaomei had already finished cleaning the basket of bottles left over from last night.
After quickly cleaning up, he brought out the fermented black beans, some star anise, bay leaves, and dried mushrooms and began to boil the soy sauce.
Different from the last time, this time, Li Yan directly started to cook with ten kilograms of fermented black beans.
Seeing that the water was about to overflow from the pot, Li Yan sighed inwardly. The pot was not big enough. It was too slow to cook it one pound at a time. It seemed that she would need to go to the blacksmith shop to make a bigger pot next time!
In the morning, Li Yan only cooked 20 kilograms of fermented black beans and made a total of more than 40 kilograms of soy sauce.
Li Yan finished her steamed bun and said to Li Xiaomei, "Aunt, please help me keep an eye on the fire. I'm going to go down the mountain!"
The chicken to be roasted tomorrow had not been marinated yet, so Li Yan had to hand over the task of making soy sauce to her aunt, and went down the mountain to catch chickens.
Now all the work in the fields has been completed. When Li Yan arrived at the foot of the mountain, several families were at home.
The people sitting under the eaves chatting saw Li Yan and asked enthusiastically, "Miss, what can I do for you?"
"The snack shop will open tomorrow. Can you please help me kill thirty chickens for later use?"
Li Yan remembered that her father said yesterday that business at the market was not very good, so she thought that preparing thirty chickens should be enough!
After hearing what Li Yan said, everyone acted quickly. Zhao's daughter-in-law and Xiaocao were left at home to boil water, while everyone else went to the mountain to catch chickens.
It is not easy to catch chickens during the day, and there are many trees on the mountain. For a while, the chicken catching scene was very lively. The children laughed happily at the scene of chickens flying and dogs jumping around. It took the four of them a lot of effort to catch thirty chickens.
Some people were boiling water, some were killing chickens, and some were plucking feathers. Fortunately, there were many people, and all thirty chickens were cleaned up in about two hours.
Thirty chickens filled four large wooden basins, with an additional basin of chicken offal and a basin of chicken blood.
Several people picked up the wooden basin and were about to send the things to Li Yan's home. Li Yan raised her hand to signal them not to be anxious, as she still had something to say.
"Thank you all for your help these days. I'm sure you all know that I'm planning to open a shop in the city, and I'm sure I'll need to trouble my uncles and aunts later!"
Old Man Zhao said hurriedly, "What are you talking about, young lady? Not only did you provide us with food and shelter, you also gave us a safe place to live, so we don't have to live a precarious and displaced life. This is what we should do!"
Li Yan raised her hand to stop Old Man Zhao from saying the next thing: "In the future, we will probably need your help. Then I will give you two families an additional 300 coins per month!"
After hearing this, the Zhao family's father and son and the two daughters-in-law of the Guo family were so excited that they didn't know what to do and could only thank Li Yan repeatedly.
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