Chapter 3 My Future Is Mine

  Although Huo Shan has been in this world for over a month, he has only just figured out his own home, a super-large estate covering hundreds of hectares. So far, he hasn't left the house once. Apart from knowing that he is in Taipei, Taiwan, he knows nothing about the outside world.

  With Ping'er's help, Huo Shan put it on. He had his mother specially make an improved Han Chinese garment according to his own design. After adjusting his clothes, a look of satisfaction appeared on his face, but the annoying braid at the back of his head made him frown slightly.

  "Never mind, just bear with it for now!" Huo Shan thought to himself.

  Looking at her son's elegant attire, Mrs. Huo also had a smile all over her face! Although in the Qing government's Taiwan, wearing Han Chinese clothes was already a capital offense! But with the status of the Huo family in Taiwan today, who would dare to say anything?!

  Turning his head to look at the surprised faces of the people around him, Mr. Huo couldn't help but smile proudly, not feeling any shame for plagiarizing someone else's hard work.

  "This is a classic! But its current designer is Ben Da Shao Ye!" thought Ho Da Shao Ye with great satisfaction.

  Looking at her son's appearance, Mrs. Huo couldn't help but smile and say: "Alright, Shan, don't be too pleased with yourself! Today your teacher Huang has gone back to Hong Kong for a family visit, so I can let you take a two-day break! But you can't fall behind in your studies either, make sure to review carefully, got it?"

  "Got it, don't worry, Mother!" Huo Shan said with a respectful expression. As an orphan in his previous life, he cherished this hard-won maternal love.

  Although she didn't know why her son had become so sensible in this one month's time, the mindset of wanting her child to grow up well made her enjoy this change.

  Looking at the smile on his mother's face, it showed that she was in a good mood! Seeing this, Huo Shan's eyes turned around and he took out the results of his labor for the past few days.

  "Look, daughter! This is a soap I made myself!" Huo Shan said with great enthusiasm.

  As she looked at the yellow crystal in her son's hand, Mrs. Huo couldn't help but show a curious expression and took it from him. A faint scent of osmanthus wafted up, piquing her interest in this thing called soap that her son had mentioned. She had seen Western soap many times before, but this one not only looked like soap but also carried a pleasant floral fragrance, which she was seeing for the first time.

  Huoshan looked at his old mother, constantly rubbing the soap in his hands, with a more and more interested expression on his face, knowing that the results of his hard work for over ten days had not been in vain.

  Although he has more than a hundred years of experience in this world, and countless ways to make money, all of these boil down to one point - 'money', you know that now he is penniless. Although he knows his family is very rich, it's impossible for his mother to give him tens or hundreds of millions, even billions, to invest in industry, this little kid who has just turned twelve.

  So, Huo Shan, who urgently needs a start-up fund, can only take other measures. Fortunately, he is in Taiwan, which is called the "Treasure Island", not only strategically important but also rich in resources.

  Spent a day studying the information about Taiwan on the computer, and after finally waking up from the reverie of occupying the Jinguashi gold mine, I practically focused my attention on Taiwan's rich sulfur mines, and spent several days bringing out the simplest sulfur soap decades ahead of time.

  "Son, what's this... Ah, soap! The soap you mentioned! Where did it come from? Tell me quickly!" His mother's urgent words interrupted Huo Shan's daydream. Although their family's factory didn't produce soap, that didn't mean she was unaware of the profits it contained, especially for a new kind of soap that had never appeared before.

  "Mother, don't worry, the formula for this soap is from an ancient book I read, and it's something I made myself based on its records!" Huo Shan said with a pat on his head.

  "Did you make it yourself?" The woman was taken aback and asked subconsciously.

  "Alas, I knew it would be this way!" Huo Shan sighed inwardly. After all, he was still too young, and even in the Qing dynasty where one could start a family and career at fourteen, his mere twelve years of age made it impossible for people to place much trust in him, let alone invent soap that even foreigners didn't have.

  Looking at her son's scrunched up and somewhat angry face, the woman suddenly smiled, although she still didn't quite dare to believe it, but looking at her son's expression, she also didn't probe too deeply. After all, this kind of thing with a fragrance, was obviously different from Western soap, which she had indeed never seen before.

  "All right, I believe you! Then why did you give it to me today?" The woman asked with a smile.

  "Why not? A son should respect his mother, shouldn't he?" Huo Dashi said with a smug face, but then thought of his grand plan and hesitated, saying in a somewhat hesitant tone: "Mother, can you please ask Fu Bo to help me build a workshop? I promise it will definitely make money!" There was no other way; at his current age, he had to constantly demonstrate his extraordinary talent to gradually increase the wealth under his control and provide a solid economic foundation for his series of plans.

  Looking at the expectant expression on her son's face, the woman nodded sympathetically and said: "Mother promises you, Uncle Fu will help you solve the money problem! In addition, the workshop site and workers, Mother will also find a good one for you, is this okay?"

  She has been the sole breadwinner for decades, pushing the Huo family to become Taiwan's first family. Her economic vision is always commendable, and she naturally understands the value of this thing in her hands! So, taking advantage of her son's words, she readily agreed.

  "Thanks, Mom!" said Huo Shan, unable to contain his excited expression.

  After bidding farewell to his mother, Huo Shan returned to his own yard. Today, he still had to write down the formula and various details of soap production, as well as the necessary machinery and equipment, with a pen. Tomorrow, he would hand it over to Fu Bo. At this time, one more day of production meant one more day of opportunity. In his memory, the French invasion of Taiwan was only a few years away. To save China from this disaster, he had to work even harder.

  After a sleepless night, Huo Shan got up early the next day, ate breakfast in a hurry, and then boarded the carriage heading out of the city under his mother's loving gaze.

  The young master, Ho, was visibly excited on his first outing. He kept gazing out of the small window beside him at the lush scenery outside. Although it was already midwinter in the north, Taiwan, being an island overseas, felt none of the cold air from the north and remained a vibrant and thriving landscape. Breathing in the crisp, unpolluted air, Ho Shan couldn't help but close his eyes in rapture.

  After leaving the manor of the Huo family, it was a cement road that stretched far away. In an era where most roads were dirt roads, this place was indeed rare, and from this, one could also see the wealth of the Huo family.

  The carriage was moving at a steady pace on the flat road, and the good road conditions allowed it to maintain its speed. The driver was also an old hand, so although Hoshan was sitting in the carriage, he didn't feel much bumpiness at all.

  Coming back to his senses from the scenery outside the window, after sitting down, Huo Shan handed over the soap production plan and formula he had written yesterday from his own pocket to Fubo beside him.

  "Mr. Fu, you take a look first, if there's anything you don't understand, just ask me!"

  "Good young master!" The old man's face still showed respect, took the small booklet from his hand, and carefully looked at it.

  Due to the silence of the two, the carriage became somewhat quiet. Huo Shan's plan was written on sixteen-page paper, with more than twenty pages, and it would take less than half an hour to finish reading it.

  As time passed, the old man's face became increasingly astonished. Just yesterday, when his wife told him about this matter, although he remembered it in his heart, he didn't pay much attention to it. After all, a 12-year-old child was really hard to believe. But now, looking at the booklet in front of him called "Soap Promotion Plan", which clearly and logically listed out the product called soap, from its function, production method, market prospects, and development plan, hum, although these terms were strange, the old man quickly understood their meaning.

  He let out a deep breath and carefully handed the booklet back to Mr. Huo, who had been watching him closely. Now he no longer had any doubts that as long as he followed what was written in the booklet, this soap would definitely make a huge profit.

  "Finished reading it, Uncle Fu! What do you think of this plan?" Huo Shan handed over the plan book he had passed over, and casually placed it aside, asking with a relaxed expression.

  "Alas, young master is indeed a genius! An old man like me has lived for half his life and has never seen such an intelligent youngster. Young master is truly the Gan Luo of this world!" The old man said with a sigh, looking at the 12-year-old boy in front of him who was just tall enough to reach his shoulder.

  To be honest, this time Huo Shan was really a bit embarrassed. He knew that he couldn't compare to the twelve-year-old Qin dynasty demon who had bowed to him. However, now he could only endure it, and the memories of the past would forever be buried deep in his mind, becoming an eternal secret.

  "Fu Bo has won the award, what do you think of my plan now?" Huo Shan quickly changed the subject, and now he was most concerned about making money.

  "It's feasible, the old man has always followed his wife in business and created such a large family business, this insight is still there! Hehehe, young master can rest assured! Now we'll go take a look at the prepared factory, if the young master is satisfied, we can produce the first batch of products within a week!" The old man said with a smile all over his face.

  "So fast!" Huo Shan was somewhat surprised, although the tools for making soap were simple and the main ingredients were abundant in Taiwan, he didn't expect that it would only take seven days to start production. He had thought that with the efficiency of this era, it would take at least half a month to prepare everything!

  "It wasn't supposed to be this fast, but a few days ago we just passed through Guangzhou's Ewo Yianghang and ordered 20 steam engines from the UK, which were originally intended to replace those used in textile mills. Now it's just right to start the soap production factory first, and I can have someone order more steam engines for the textile mill later."

  After listening to his words, Huo Shan also nodded and thought to himself: "Using machines to produce goods will make the efficiency even higher!"

  "Just listen to you, take this planning book back and have a look, if there's anything unclear, come ask me anytime!"

  "Understood, young master!" As soon as the old man finished speaking, the carriage came to a stop. Through the thin curtains, a row of connected factories appeared before Huo Shan's eyes. The massive scale made him wonder if he was still in Taiwan!