Chapter 58: Business is Booming
Wan Tie and Yun Niang were both thrilled that the schoolbag business was taking off, servants like them who had signed indentures with the masters relied heavily on the masters' livelihood.
Wan Tie knew neither Lu Lin nor Chen Xiao Mi would abuse them, but he used to worry what if they masters' business fail and they couldn't afford to pay their wages. But now he let out a sigh, he was confident in the prospect of the commercial house.
Wan Tie didn't want much in life, he just hoped his son could grow healthily and happily.
Lu Lin came back home this day only to find Chen Xiao Mi studying the sketch book attentively, Lu Lin told Chen Xiao Mi the day before about zipper and how zipper could make a schoolbag more functional and presentable. It turned out Chen Xiao Mi was studying the sketches and trying to come up with a substitute for zipper.
"The schoolbag business has become a hit!" Chen Xiao Mi grinned.
Lu Lin started to sell schoolbags after he built up a good stock, but now the products were about to well out. The product was so popular that not only kids in this town were buying but kids from neighboring towns were also buying.
Lu Lin nodded, "That's a good thing."
Lu Lin taught Chen Xiao Mi multiplication table days ago, Chen Xiao Mi was a quick learner, Lu Lin had also taught Chen Xiao Mi addition and subtraction, now Chen Xiao Mi had mastered them through account checking at night.
Wan Tie was the manager of the commercial shop, but Chen Xiao Mi would check the account every night, the reasons were twofold, firstly they could have a more direct understanding about the profits and secondly it was good math practice for Chen Xiao Mi.
Chen Xiao Mi ticked off the beads on his abacus and said, "We have sold 210 schoolbags in total, minus the expenditure such as the wages for our workers and maintenance, our net income is 40 taels!"
Chen Xiao Mi let out a sigh of relief that they finally started to have a favorable balance, he was so anxious during the past few days that they had spent money like water. And now they finally started to make a profit, that was great news, it had soothed Chen Xiao Mi's nerves a great deal.
"But we need to have a sense of danger and crisis, the schoolbag business is a hit now, but I think it will go downhill soon." Chen Xiao Mi expressed his concern.
Lu Lin nodded, "I agree."
There were only a limited number of school kids in town, their business would take a bad turn after every school kid bought a bag from them. Lu Lin could feel they had less customers recently.
"I still have confidence in the business if we can launch new products." Replied Lu Lin.
Chen Xiao Mi doodled on the paper and said, "Maybe we can design bags for those rich ladies in town."
Lu Lin nodded, "That's definitely a good idea! There are so many rich ladies in town who do nothing but playing mahjong and going to the theater all day."
"Yeah, but that cannot be rushed, let's give it a bit more time till we gain a firm foothold."
The two looked into each other's eyes and smiled.
Lu Lin decided to take Chen Xiao Cai and Chen Xiao Mai to make a trip to Big Stone Village soon, the vegetables in their veggie patch must be ripe now, Lu Lin wanted to harvest them, Lu Lin was still very frugal even though they were leading a wealthy life.
Chen Xiao Cai and Chen Xiao Mai missed their little friends in the village as well, they didn't say anything to Lu Lin, but Lu Lin cold tell.
Lu Lin took Wan Xiao Fan back to the village together with Chen Xiao Cai and Chen Xiao Mai, he only knew the Wans for a short period of time, he was worried what if the Wans escaped while he and Chen Xiao Mi were away, so he invited Wan Xiao Fan to go back to the Big Stone Village with them. Wan Tie and Yun Niang knew Lu Lin's real intention and they allowed Wan Xiao Fan to go with them with alacrity.
Chen Xiao Mi's house was a bit remote in the village, not a lot of villagers were even aware that they were away.
"Lin Gege! You are back!" Shen Chi was thrilled to see Lu Lin, Chen Xiao Mi and his friends Chen Xiao Mai Chen Xiao Cai.
Shen Chi missed his two little friends.
"I keep your chooks and geese in my yard, would you like me to return them now?" Shen Chi blinked.
Lu Lin felt so sorry that he asked Shen Chi and Granny Shen to look after the chooks, geese and the mule for 20 days or so. Lu Lin had stored some stuff in the shop before they moved, but he couldn't keep the animals in the shop. He lent the mule to Granny Shen to do some farm work for her, so he knocked on Granny Shen's door and asked her to take care of the chooks and geese while they were in town. He had left some food at Granny Shen's for the animals.
He didn't expect they would be away for 20 days, the food he left for the animals was definitely not enough for 20 days, Lu Lin felt so sorry.
Lu Lin went to Granny Shen's together with Shen Chi, the chooks and geese were all very chubby and healthy-looking, it was obvious that Granny Shen and Shen Chi had taken good care of them.
Lu Lin gave Granny Shen a chook and a goose as a thank you gift, he planned to move the rest to their new property in town.
The kids hugged each other, they missed each other a lot. Chen Xiao Cai and Chen Xiao Mai told Shen Chi the funny stories happened to them in town while Shen Chi updated them with the anecdote in the village. Shen Chi had specifically mentioned the sharp contrast between Lu Cheng Yu and Lu Tong's wedding ceremony.
"Big Brother, Shen Chi told me Li Fang Yue and Lu Cheng Yu had a big fight over her brother Li Hong the other day."
Chen Xiao Mi nodded, he wasn't surprised to hear that.
He and Lu Lin had overheard Li Hong belittling Chen Xiao Mi last time when they sent wine to Manager Wang. That Li Hong put on airs in the restaurant and looked down upon Lu Cheng Yu, but the irony was he was spending Lux Cheng Yu's money when he belittled Lu Cheng Yu. Chen Xiao Mi thought chances were Li Hong's remarks had reached Lu Cheng Yu's ears.
The matchmaker assured Tang that Li Fang Yue was born in a rich family and she would bring a presentable set of dowry, no way would the bride and her family take advantage of them, that was why Tang allowed Lu Cheng Yu to send so much money to her as betrothal present.
However, Li Fang Yue only came to the family with 5 tales of silver in total. Tang was furious, she felt like she had played into the matchmaker and the bride's hands, she started to see the bride as an eyesore and she always found fault with the bride.
Tang would have had made a scene if Li Fang Yue were a normal village girl, she only dared make oblique accusations for fear of the Secretary-General.
Lu Cheng Yu was as disappointed as her mother, if not more. Lu Cheng Yu was devastated that he failed to pass the imperial examination, he racked his brains in scheming to marry a lady from an official's family thus to take a short cut in passing the exams. Little did he expect that the official in his bride's family didn't even bother to attend their wedding.
The more Lu Cheng Yu looked at Li Fang Yue, the more he found her offending to the eye. Lu Cheng Yu was a good-looking boy, but Li Fang Yue's appearance was by no means attractive. Lu Cheng Yu was seized with remorse, but he dared not say anything for it was him who was eager to marry Li Fang Yue in the first place.
Tang had been ordering Li Fang Yue around for house chores, Li Fang Yue swallowed the unfairness in meek submission at first, but soon she decided she had had enough, she would disobey Tang and scream that she was going back to her maiden family and tell her brother-in-law all about it.
Tang would restrain herself whenever she heard 'my brother-in-law', no one in the family was happy.
What Li Hong said in the restaurant had provoked an outburst of anger from Tang, she was furious that Li Hong referred them as 'pathetic peasants', she was furious that the money they gave Li Fang Yue as betrothal present was now in Li Hong's hands! Li Hong and his evil associates were spending their money indulging in debauchery.
Tang was always anxious to outdo others, she was so indignant to find out her in-laws looked down upon her and her family like that.
Lu Lin gloated over what happened to Tang.
Lu Lin invited Granny Shen to work for him in town, he appointed Granny Shen to become a chief stewardess.
Granny Shen was so flattered that Lu Lin gave her a job offer, she always thought no one would hire an old woman like her, but now not only did Lu Lin want to hire her but he wanted to hire her to manage other workers.
Yun Niang was in charge of the seamstresses and the embroiderers, she was swamped with work all the time.
Lu Lin wanted to find a woman to cook for them, he didn't mind going to the kitchen and cooking, but people always condemned men for cooking.
Yun Niang was a good cook, but she was too busy handling the schoolbag making to cook. Lu Lin would take over and cook for everybody when Yun Niang was occupied.
Wan Tie would look so bewildered whenever he saw Lu Lin cooking.
Lu Lin knew he should establish his authority in front of the servants even though he didn't mind cooking, but he didn't trust just anyone to work for him, and he just didn't want to hire so many people.
Lu Lin pondered the question and decided to hire Granny Shen. Granny Shen could use some extra money to support Shen Chi, plus Lu Lin had confidence in Granny Shen's needlework and work ethics.
Granny Shen told Shen Chi the great news, they packed their stuff and went to town with Lu Lin. Yun Niang welcomed Granny Shen sincerely, she was glad that Granny Shen was here to share her workload. Yun Niang wanted the best for Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi wholeheartedly, because the young couple were the best masters she had ever had, also because she and her family relied on the young couple.
There were 3 bedrooms for servants on Lu Lin's property, the Wans took one, Granny Shen and Shen Chi took one, while the other workers all lived nearby and they chose to go home at night.
Shen Chi was a Bio, all the Bios in the time and space were supposed to learn some needlework like girls. Granny Shen wanted to teach Shen Chi some needlework skills in Lu Lin's shop.
Granny Shen was curious about the making of the schoolbags, but she didn't pester Yun Niang with questions, she just did what she was told by Yun Niang, and her needlework outshined others.
Lu Lin used to worry about the market of his schoolbags, but his worry soon turned out to be unnecessary. Some wealthy businessmen in neighboring town would bulk buy from Lu Lin and sell them in their towns. Lu Lin had to hire more people to deliver the order.
Lu Lin recently launched a bag made with linen, this bag featured functionality rather than aesthetics.
It was priced at 80 cents each, more affordable than the schoolbags. The target audience was the public including the farmer and the peddlers who needed to carry a lot of stuff.
The profit margin wasn't great, but it sold well. Chen Xiao Mi was in a great mood recently, their business was booming and he had mastered the multiplication table Lu Lin had taught him.