A New Team

 

Lately, Jing Yi unified his family’s businesses under a common brand, using a maple leaf-shaped logo. To emphasize this brand, the soap molds have a small maple leaf pattern on the front right corner.

 

This initiative came after successfully negotiating with the Huang family, allowing Jing Yi to sell soap with this small maple leaf logo in Anchang County.

 

However, if other merchants from different regions willingly offered money to sell these products, Jing Yi wouldn’t reject such opportunities. This was clearly stated in their contracts.

 

Jing Yi also planned to update the signs of the two restaurants in town with the addition of a cute small maple leaf.

 

Since Jing Yi and Chuxia started wearing matching jewelry when they were in the county, the maple leaf had replaced bamboo and pine trees as Jing Yi’s symbol of love. This was due to Chuxia’s influence on his heart, and the official reason was that the Jing family originated from Fengshan, a place known for its maple leaves. Jing’s parents had jokingly stated that whenever he mentioned this, he should stop showing off the maple leaf pendant in his hand.

 

Nevertheless, Jing Yi managed to turn the family business around, so they didn’t mind his small quirks.

 

Now, concerning the soap factory, the first batch of products had already been delivered to stores in town. Jing Yi had decided to produce both hot process soap and cold process soap from the very beginning, which was one of the suggestions he gave to the Huang family.

 

Hot process soap required continuous heating during its production, which shortened the soap-making time. This meant that it could be used almost immediately. Cold process soap, on the other hand, retained most of its nutrients, making it more suitable for special types like milk soap or honey soap. However, it had a much longer production time, with at least two to three weeks needed for natural cooling. As a result, cold process soap naturally became a premium product.

 

Now that everything seemed to be ready, they only needed to determine the pricing. Jing Yi began calculating the costs, such as one pound of mixed oil producing roughly two and a half pounds of soap, or twenty-five pieces.

 

One pound of fatty pork cost sixteen copper wen, yielding six ounces of lard. Jing Yi had agreed with the butcher to offer discounts for larger purchases. Taking this into account, one pound of lard cost roughly twenty-five copper wen. For one pound of rapeseed oil, it was around twenty copper wen.

 

Jing Yi had already hired villagers to collect dry wood and straw for one cart, costing three copper wen. These materials were used to make lye, an essential ingredient.

 

Moreover, just the wages of the villagers alone amounted to eight taels of silver every month. The wages of the family servants weren’t included in this calculation. Logically, this was part of the soap factory’s costs.

 

After careful consideration, Jing Yi concluded that a small piece of soap would cost three copper wen, and two pieces for five copper wen. This was indeed a fair price, but the reality was that the daily sales were only around a hundred pieces. Jing Yi was prepared to incur losses if sales didn’t pick up. They had to rely on a small profit margin and high sales volume.

 

Most of the profit came from the scented soaps. Their production cost was only a few copper wen more than regular soap, but they sold at much higher prices. These scented soaps were all small-sized, with sheep milk soap selling for twenty copper wen per piece, honey soap for thirty copper wen per piece, and Mei soap for fifty copper wen due to its special crafting technique.

 

Jing Yi even designed some custom large-sized scented soaps and created “Three Sheep’s Prosperity” and “Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl” gift sets. “Three Sheep’s Prosperity” contained one piece each of the three types, priced at a whopping two hundred and eighty-eight copper wen. “Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl” included one piece of sheep milk soap and one piece of honey soap, sold at one hundred and thirty-eight copper wen.

 

This time, the gift box production didn’t involve carpenter Zhang, as he already had plenty of work scheduled. After the Chinese New Year, spring was approaching, and many people were getting married. The work carpenter Zhang took on before winter couldn’t keep up.

 

The challenging task was handed over to the family servant, Jing Ming, who had mentioned he knew a bit about carpentry work. Now, he was putting his skills to good use.

 

After Jing Yi explained the styles and colors to him, he didn’t bother him much and told him not to make too many—just three of each style. They were mainly for display in the shop, so there wasn’t a need to go overboard.

 

Unexpectedly, on the day before the grand opening at noon, Jing Ming came to report that everything was ready and asked Jing Yi to inspect it.

 

Upon seeing it, he realized that it wasn’t just decent carpentry work, it was outstanding. Jing Ming’s craftsmanship was on par with that of the experienced carpenter Zhang.

 

“Great! Excellent work. If you had these skills, you should have told me earlier. I’ve underestimated you. From now on, this work will be yours, and your monthly wages will be increased by a hundred wen,” Jing Yi happily exclaimed.

 

Having skilled personnel was a truly satisfying thing.

 

In the blink of an eye, the opening day had arrived. Firecrackers popped incessantly, creating a festive atmosphere.

 

The shop that Second Brother Huang bought was also on the main street of Fuyang Town, not far from the hot pot restaurant on the eastern side and Jing’s family restaurant. It was a prime location near the county government office. It was a sizable two-story building, almost as spacious as the hot pot restaurant. However, the backyard was small, with only about five rooms.

 

Due to its excellent location, the price was slightly higher than the hot pot restaurant, costing an extra twenty taels.

 

Nevertheless, they received a discount for showing respect to the Jixiange Pavilion.

 

The advantage was that the house was brand new, and the previous owner had sold rouge and powder. So, there was no need for significant renovations; a simple rearrangement was enough to open for business.

 

The local people in Fuyang Town lived in comfort and happiness, and there weren’t many hooligans, so the traditional custom of the local residents was to enjoy spectacles. Seeing the firecrackers, they immediately knew that a new shop was opening.

 

Second Brother Huang went all out and even hired a lion dance troupe, something the town didn’t have, so they had to be brought from the county town. The townsfolk were thrilled to witness this rare performance, and applause and cheers were constant.

 

“Second Brother Huang, you’re certainly grand! Haha, I’m no match for you,” Jing Yi sighed. He had heard that lion dance troupes didn’t come cheap.

 

“Oh, come on. You let me and Big Brother share twenty percent of the profits. How could I not make some grand gestures? Haha.”

 

Before, Jing Yi had discussed with Second Brother Huang that the village would provide the goods, and Huang’s family would be responsible for sales. However, Huang’s family was currently unable to allocate manpower for this small place, and even Jing’s younger brother was too lazy to manage it.

 

So, they negotiated and decided to let the soap factory belong to Jing Yi. If he wanted to fly the Huang family flag, he could. They considered investing in Jing Yi.

 

But Jing Yi didn’t feel right about it. Doing business in the name of the Huang family, secretly branding it with their own logo, wasn’t appropriate. He proposed that they give twenty percent of the profits to the Huang family, as a sign of respect.

 

The Huang family appreciated Jing Yi’s integrity. They accepted the profits, and Jing Yi further increased their shares as a gesture to ease his conscience. However, compared to the prosperity in Qingzhou and the capital region, it was indeed a drop in the bucket. So they shared most of the profits with the Huang family, two brothers of the Huang family were satisfied, and it was a win-win situation for everyone.

 

“Don’t be so modest, Brother Huang. I still have the deed you gave me in my small box at home,” Jing Yi teased.

 

Second Brother Huang was truly generous. After buying the shop, he was afraid that Jing Yi might misunderstand and feared that someone would try to create discord later. So he dragged Jing Yi into the house, despite Jing Yi’s resistance.

 

“Alright, alright! You are quite the man. Haha.”

 

“Stop pretending, the auspicious time is here! Let’s go! Unveil the sign!” Second Brother Huang led Jing Yi out of the shop.

 

At this point, the lion dance troupe had cleared the area in front of the store, the gongs and drums were sounding incessantly, and a new string of firecrackers was ignited. The atmosphere was lively with the constant sound of drums and gongs, waving red flags, and a sea of people.

 

In this lively atmosphere, Big Brother Huang  and Jing Yi each held one end of the red cloth and gently pulled it down to reveal the plaque: “Ningxia Pavilion.”

 

Chuxia stood in the crowd, blushing with embarrassment and trying to remain strong, receiving teasing or mocking glances from friends and family. It was a proud and shy moment for him.

 

It turned out that whenever Chuxia asked what to name the new shop, Jing Yi always hesitated and said he couldn’t decide. He simply wanted to “surprise” him, knowing that she was prone to embarrassment, making it quite devious.

 

Glancing at Jing Yi, who was raising his eyebrows and winking, Chuxia was genuinely moved, but his hands were getting itchy.

 

After the unveiling ceremony, the temporally reassigned Jing Feng and He Erlie stayed outside the shop to demonstrate and explain the use and effects of soap and scented soap to the visitors. The other men headed upstairs.

 

Currently, with limited inventory, only the first floor was sufficient. The second floor was reserved for VIPs. Since most of the customers for such products were women and children, today, apart from Jing Yi, the other men went to the second floor. Otherwise, they might put pressure on the delicate female clientele.

 

Today, the main workforce in the store includes Chuxia, Jing’s mother, Lin’s Mother, Xiao Lan, the wife of Jing Zheng, and Liu Xiaochen, the nephew from Jing Yi’s eldest uncle’s family.

 

Originally, they didn’t want to trouble Lin’s Mother but Jing’s father prompted Jing’s mother.

 

During their previous discussion, Jing Yi proposed that his mother and Chuxia would be in charge of the shop because the primary customers for these products were usually women and husbands.

 

To manage the business, they would need two additional nephews or nieces.

 

They had seen the vibrant operation of a lady managing a top store in the county before.

 

But then, Jing’s father, who often couldn’t see eye to eye with others, expressed his doubts, igniting a verbal explosion from Jing’s mother. “What? Others can do it, but I can’t? Do you, surname Jing, look down on the three of us?”

 

Indeed, Jing’s mother hadn’t forgotten to rally the troops with Chuxia and Jing Shu.

 

In the end, regardless of how Jing’s father tried to pacify and explain, Jing’s mother wouldn’t let him help in the shop. Apart from Jing Yi’s plea to be a mascot in the store, the other men were sent to the second floor. Second Brother Huang was no exception.

 

Jing Yi certainly wouldn’t joke around with such an important business, but considering Chuxia was there, he felt comfortable. However, for safety and emergencies, he had to be on the first floor.

 

Everyone they asked to help in the shop were close relatives: Xiao Lan, Jing Zheng’s wife, and Liu Xiaochen from Jing’s mother’s elder brother’s family. While these two had somewhat timid personalities, they were well-behaved individuals.

 

Back when Chuxia and Jing’s mother considered that the store would initially be busy, Jing Yi would mainly handle the accounting and deal with urgent matters, as his mother didn’t have much experience. She privately admitted to Chuxia that she was also nervous, and with two softies by her side, it wouldn’t work.

 

After careful consideration, Jing’s mother had a brilliant idea: they should invite Jing Yuan, the older brother who she approved of. He was a resourceful hero. Working together with Chuxia and Jing’s mother would certainly be a success.

 

Jing’s mother felt confident that it wouldn’t be a big deal. A brother with a great relationship like this would definitely help her out.

 

Chuxia had nothing to say and was quite pleased with the idea, wholeheartedly agreeing with Jing’s mother.

 

A new team had formed, and Mother Lin had joined the group. He never left the shop after entering it.