Chapter 257

Mr. Bai took the tea, sipped it, and said with a smile, "I won't hide it from you: the one thousand bars of soap I ordered from your family earned me several hundred taels of silver in just a few short months."

Jiang Xiaoxiao was shocked: "That much?!"

Even Jiang Wei, who was to the side, couldn't help but cast a surprised glance at Mr. Bai.

One had to know that the initial price of their soap was not low; the cheapest was three hundred wen per bar. For the other party to earn several hundred taels of silver in one go, they must have at least doubled the price.

"Haha, to tell you the truth, I was originally in the bath bean business in Xuzhou, but there were simply too many businessmen doing that trade. Supply exceeded demand, the market was saturated, and a small fry like me without connections couldn't compete with the shops opened by high-ranking officials. In the end, I lost almost everything and had no choice but to close the shop and return to Qingping County."

As Mr. Bai spoke of his past, there was a hint of melancholy on his face.

"However, fortunately, the most correct decision I have ever made in my life was to take all the money I had left and buy your family's soap, then transport it to the shop in the state... In just one month, the one thousand bars of soap were sold out. And even though I raised the price by more than double, there were still plenty of people scrambling to buy them..."

Speaking of this, Mr. Bai couldn't help but feel a bit emotional.

Thinking back to when his business was failing, he had been at his lowest, returning to Qingping County to endure cold glares and mockery from others.

He had also felt that his life might just end like that, that he wasn't cut out for business... Fortunately, in the end, he didn't give up.

Listening to this, Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn't help but feel moved.

The popularity of the soap in Xuzhou far exceeded her expectations. If only her family had a shop in the state as well...

Whether it was the flow of people or the level of wealth, Xuzhou far surpassed a small place like Yong'an County. Going there to sell soap would definitely be a steady, profitable business.

"My purpose in coming this time, besides thanking you, is to continue ordering a batch of soap from you," Mr. Bai said.

"How many do you want to order this time?" Jiang Wei asked.

Mr. Bai held up one finger: "Ten thousand bars."

Jiang Xiaoxiao was stunned: "That many?"

Mr. Bai said decisively, "I am willing to stake my entire fortune on this."

"Ten thousand bars of soap is not a small number. I will go check the inventory before making a decision."

Jiang Wei did not agree immediately, but instead went to the soap workshop to take stock of the inventory.

"I've checked. Our soap workshop's daily output is at most five or six hundred bars. You will have to wait half a month to receive the ten thousand bars you need."

"That's fine. I am willing to wait."

After saying this, Mr. Bai took several silver notes from his pocket: "This is the deposit."

Ten thousand bars of soap, even if they were all the cheapest unscented soap, would cost at least three thousand taels of silver.

Mr. Bai paid a deposit of five hundred taels of silver.

This was a large order that had to be taken seriously.

Jiang Wei went to the soap workshop again to instruct everyone to be diligent, as a big client had arrived.

After Mr. Bai left, Jiang Wei looked at the five one-hundred-tael silver notes and fell into deep thought.

"Mother, what's wrong? Is there a problem with these silver notes?" Jiang Xiaoxiao looked at the notes curiously.

Jiang Wei shook her head, then suddenly said, "Xiaoxiao, do you want to go to the state to play?"

"Ah?" Jiang Xiaoxiao was stunned for a moment, then nodded happily: "Of course I do! Mother, are we going now?"

"No rush for now. Let's wait until the batch of soap Mr. Bai wants is produced. We can discuss it and go to Xuzhou with him."

As she spoke, Jiang Wei took out the stack of contracts from her space, which included the property deeds and land deeds for several shops: "Besides that house in Yong'an County, the Huang family also had several shops, and two of them are in Xuzhou."

The Huang family had fallen, and since these shops were now in her family's hands, she naturally couldn't ignore them forever. It was time to find a time to manage them.

Jiang Xiaoxiao nodded with a smile, her heart filled with uncontrollable joy.

Having transmigrated here for so long, she had always lived in this small mountain village, and the furthest place she had been to was the neighboring Qingping County. Now that she was going to the state, it would be a lie to say she wasn't excited.

Although her family was the only soap shop in the entire Yong'an County, the number of people in Yong'an County was limited, so the market was gradually becoming saturated. The soap business wasn't as explosively popular as it was in the beginning. It was time to expand the soap market in a big place like Xuzhou.

During this time, Jiang Wei spent more and more time in the soap workshop. On one hand, it was because of Mr. Bai's order; on the other, it was because more and more women and old matrons were coming to introduce men to Jiang Wei.

The Jiang family had now become a hot commodity in Yuhe Village.

Jiang Wei was annoyed beyond measure, so she simply stayed in the soap workshop all day.

The soap workshop was surrounded by high courtyard walls, and apart from the workers of the soap workshop, no outsiders were allowed to enter.

Seeing no one, the villagers had no choice but to give up.

Time flew by.

Half a month passed, and Mr. Bai arrived as promised.

More than a dozen mule-drawn carriages entered Yuhe Village in a grand procession, causing another sensation.

The carriages stopped in front of the soap workshop.

Jiang Wei greeted the soap workshop workers to move the soap from the warehouse onto the carriages.

During this half month, because Jiang Wei stayed in the soap workshop all day, the workers didn't dare to slack off at all, and the progress of the work was pushed to the limit.

Usually, they produced at most five or six hundred bars of soap a day, but in this half month, the production volume reached seven hundred bars per day.

Excluding Mr. Bai's order, there was still plenty of stock left in the warehouse, enough for the shop in town for more than half a month.

Jiang Wei also felt at ease discussing going to Xuzhou with Mr. Bai.

Mr. Bai was naturally happy to agree.

The two began to discuss the time and route to Xuzhou.

Xuzhou was not far from Yong'an County, but given the backward transportation of ancient times, it would take more than half a month to travel by carriage along the official road.

However, because Mr. Bai's batch of goods was urgent, the two finally decided to take a merchant ship to Xuzhou.

After Mr. Bai left with his grand procession of vehicles, Jiang Wei called Zhao Dasao over and began to explain various matters regarding the soap workshop.

She didn't know how long they would be gone for this trip to Xuzhou. It didn't matter that there was no one at home, but Zhao Dasao would have to put in more effort to look after the soap workshop.

Finally, she called Old Man Zhao and Chunmiao over. Since the two had experience delivering goods to the restaurants and tea houses in town, the task of delivering goods to the soap shop would naturally be handed over to them after they left for Xuzhou.

After arranging everything, the mother and daughter began to pack their luggage.

Jiang Wei prepared food for the road, while Jiang Xiaoxiao, besides packing her own clothes, had to consider what to do with their pet tiger.

It was hard to go on a long trip, and she couldn't take it with her, and no one in the village dared to keep such a thing.

There was no other way. Jiang Xiaoxiao could only take A Huang up the mountain late at night, letting it return to the mountains for a while, and then pick it up when they returned home.