NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 23
Zou Youcai was the shopkeeper and the boss.
After personally testing the effect of the green grass ointment, he immediately wanted to buy all the finished products.
"For one box like this, I can give you 300 coins."
He thought the price was generous enough, but Li Yao shook her head. This time she was going to fleece some rich people first, so how could she set the price so affordable?
"Two taels of silver per box."
The shopkeeper was so shocked that he staggered.
If he had to sell it to him for two taels, how much would he have to sell it for?
"Even if the product is good, selling it at too high a price would be futile."
"That's because you're using the wrong method," Li Yao said. "If you do as I say, you will not only be able to sell it, but I guarantee you will have more demand than supply."
After listening to Li Yao's method, Zou the shopkeeper's eyes kept flashing.
"Okay, I'll try it your way."
...
Before long, a message began to circulate among the ladies and young ladies in Baichuan Market.
"Have you heard? Zou's Rouge Shop has a new type of green grass ointment that takes effect immediately. If you get bitten by mosquitoes, just apply a little and it will heal right away."
"It doesn't stain your skin at all when applied, and feels nice and cool."
"I heard about it too. It seems it can also repel mosquitoes."
...
Through word of mouth, some people began to come to Zou's Rouge Shop.
But they were told: Indeed there is such a magical green grass ointment, but I'm afraid I can't sell it to you for now as we have run out of stock.
No stock? Then just wait a little longer.
As a result, they kept waiting and waiting, but there was still no stock.
There was no green grass ointment, but there was no shortage of mosquitoes. No matter how well you protect yourself, you're bound to get a few bites.
The mosquitoes this season were like venomous, even a light bite would immediately swell up badly.
The more unbearably itchy the ladies felt, the more they thought about that magical green grass ointment. Those with bad tempers brought their servants to threaten,
"If you still have no stock, do you believe I will smash your shop?"
"Tomorrow, I will definitely have it by tomorrow!" Zou Youcai wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, "It's just not easy to make this stuff, so the price will be a bit high..."
"I don't care how expensive it is! Just get me the goods!"
"Yes, yes..."
Anyway, recently Zou Youcai has been rather frightened, afraid that someone would smash his shop. It wasn't until Li Yao delivered 60 boxes of green grass ointment as promised, that he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly spread the word,
"The green grass ointment is in stock!"
This news exploded and spread throughout Baichuan Market instantly. The ladies who were free and had nothing to do immediately threw aside what they were doing and rushed to Zou's Rouge Shop.
"I came first, I want two boxes!"
"What do you mean you came first, I obviously came first. I want 10 boxes!"
"Don't fight with me, I want them all!"
...
Zou Youcai was dumbfounded.
In over twenty years since he opened his shop, it had never been so lively. Let alone seeing such a frenzied scramble.
"Everyone listen to me!"
"This green grass ointment is not easy to make. We only managed to produce 50 boxes with great difficulty."
"So that everyone can buy some, the limit is one box per person. It will be cold soon and there won't be as many mosquitoes."
"But don't worry, there will definitely be new stock next spring."
The crowd thought it made sense, and the price was indeed expensive at 3 taels of silver per box.
So they started taking out money.
The green and smooth green grass ointment looked good, and smelled nice too.
Most importantly, it was very delicate, finer than even the best rouge and powder, and was invisible when applied to skin. And the cool sensation made people feel refreshed and moods improved instantly.
These ladies had seen fine goods before, yet they still raved about the green grass ointment.
"This really works well, the itch is gone immediately."
"It was worth the wait."
"Xiao He, go buy another box for the old master to use too."
In a moment, the originally aggressive scrambling scene turned harmonious.
The 50 boxes of green grass ointment were snatched up in the blink of an eye.
Zou Youcai dared not take out the remaining 10 boxes no matter what.
He was afraid that if some unaffordable big shot wanted to buy it and he couldn't produce the goods, the consequences would not be so wonderful. He also wanted to send several boxes to Yizhou, as he could probably get better prices there.
"Ms Li, your idea was great, but you really scared me!"
"But you also earned a lot." Li Yao said.
"That's because Ms Li's goods were good."
"It's also because Boss Zou dared to do it."
...
After a round of business complimenting, Zou Youcai took out the silver notes.
A 100-tael banknote, plus 20 taels of silver, totaling 120 taels.
Li Yao calculated that the profit was probably around 119 taels?
The herbs grew wild in the mountains, she just put in some effort. The biggest expense was just buying some rouge boxes.
It was like Da Zhuang running a braised food stall for half a year.
This showed that no matter the era, it was easy money to earn from the rich, especially rich women. It seemed that she could make some high-end cosmetics in the future, they would definitely sell well.
With money and goods settled, Zou Youcai hurriedly asked again: "Ms Li, is there any more of this green grass ointment?"
"There is, how much do you want?"
Hearing there was more, Zou Youcai immediately perked up: "As much as you have!"
Rarity means value, so unlimited supply was definitely impossible. Li Yao thought for a while and said, "It depends on the situation, hard to say for now."
"Ms Li, you must make more!" Zou Youcai thought for a while and said, "How about this, I'll treat you and your family to lunch at He's Restaurant, consider it my humble gesture of appreciation?"
Turns out treating guests to meals to improve relations was a thing in ancient times too.
"No need for meals," Li Yao said. "How about this, I'll first go to the market to see how much ingredients I can buy, then I'll let you know."
"Okay, okay, I'll await your good news! Let's meet at He's Restaurant at noon!"
Zou Youcai said and took out 20 taels deposit upfront, and gave her a box of the best rouge and powder each. This Ms Li looked plain, but she was his God of Wealth, he had to curry favor with her.
...
With a huge sum credited to her account, Li Yao finally didn't have to pinch pennies.
She had been in this world for a while now, wearing coarse cloth clothes and sleeping on straw mattresses every day made her very uncomfortable. It was time to improve things a little.
Bringing the children to a fabric shop, they each bought 3 sets of ready-made clothes first. 800 coins per set on average, 15 sets cost 12 taels of silver.
Shoes of course could not be omitted.
Forget about brocade shoes, they were expensive and not practical. Cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles were good, 160 coins a pair, 3 pairs each.
Seeing her spending freely, the fabric shop owner seized the opportunity to make a sale: "Madam, it will be cold soon, we have new cotton, would you like to take a look?"
There was no cotton yet in this era, or rather it wasn't widespread. For quilted jackets and comforters, good ones would usually have bulrush flowers or willow catkins stuffed inside, poorer ones would stuff straw.
Warming effect aside, wearing them felt really awkward.
Kapok was a relatively high-end filler, but also expensive, 500 coins per jin, only the rich could afford it.
"Son, there's no hurry for the kapok," Da Zhuang saw her spending money like flowing water and felt a little distressed, "Winter is still early."
"It's not early."
Kapok must be bought.
Li Yao had endured the straw bedding for a long time. Sleeping under it every night made her feel itchy all over, this time she would change it no matter what.
Making 4 quilts and mattresses each, 8 jin per set, totaling 64 jin.
Plus 2 sets of cotton jackets and pants for each person, at least 10 more jin would be needed.
"80 jin to start with."
"8...80 jin???"
The fabric shop owner was stunned.
In his many years running the shop, he had never met anyone buying 80 jin of kapok in one go. Even when Zhang Official married off his daughter, the 30 jin of kapok as dowry was the biggest deal he had ever done.
This lady didn't look like much, he didn't expect her to spend so extravagantly. He really hit the jackpot today!
"Don't you not have that much?"
"There is, definitely enough!" The fabric shop owner's face blossomed with smiles. "Go get the goods for this lady! And we have fine silks, great for making quilted jackets..."
"I'll take them!"
"And high quality cotton cloth..."
"I'll take them!"
...
Li Yao also bought a bolt of silk to make jackets and pants.
Three bolts of cotton cloth.
Although the workmanship was a bit crude, they were all made of pure kapok and felt very soft to the touch, perfect for making quilts and blankets.
Finally, there were several large spools of cotton thread, for making the batting.
In total it cost 60 taels.
Half of the money they had just gotten went straight out.
But it couldn't be helped, that's what happens when there's so many people in the family.
The kids neatly organized everything on the cart, loading up the big bundles of kapok, filling up the whole cart.
Although it hurt to spend the money, being able to wear comfortable new clothes and cloth shoes, sleep in a soft bed at night under a thick warm quilt...
Just thinking about it made the kids tremble slightly in happiness.
"Mother, we've bought most of what we need, can we go home now?" Li Yao asked.
Li Yao shook her head. Going home was out of the question, they hadn't finished buying everything yet.
"What else do we need to buy?"
"Cattle."