Chapter 23 Business is Booming

  Business is booming

  Yao Fan nodded in satisfaction, his third sister's injuries were getting better, and he felt a little comforted.

  "Master, as soon as you left that day, He Zhuangzhu came the next day. You didn't greet him before leaving, and he was a bit unhappy about it. He asked me anxiously why I hadn't told him. I told him that you had instructed me to visit the four families of Zhou, Huang, Lan, and Yang on your behalf, but He Zhuangzhu looked displeased at the time."

  Yao Fandao said: "I was in a hurry earlier and forgot to tell him, it's not a big deal, I'll just be away for a short while."

  Luo Guangqun nodded repeatedly in agreement with Yao Feng, and continued to say: "However, He Zhuang still listened to your words, Master East, and took me to visit the four families of Zhou, Huang, Lan, and Yang. I followed the proper etiquette, gave them the gift money from you, Master East, handed over the visiting card, met with their masters, had a cup of tea, and then left."

  Yao Fan was now sitting in the central hall of the store, on a brand new armchair. He took over the tea cup handed by Wang Chuan Nian and took a sip, then asked: "What about those four families? Are they friendly to us?"

  Luo Guanqun said: "I see that all four families are very happy, and everyone in the family is praising you for being too polite. They say that they will come to visit you another day when you return. Look, we've given such a big gift, haven't we? Nowadays, even if it's just a small official title, it doesn't require such a generous gift!"

  Yao Fan smiled and said, "Whoever sees such a generous gift will have to give some face."

  Luo Guanqun smiled and said, "The East House is very clear. To tell the truth to the East House, He Zhuangzhu's side has already opened the store, it's on Quanye Street, where there was originally a car and horse inn, He Zhuangzhu took it over, now even the house inside hasn't been tidied up yet, yesterday they hurriedly opened for business."

  Yao Fan listened carefully and knew that there was nothing major, so he asked: "Have the Guo family had any reaction in these days?"

  "If I go back home, it seems like nothing is happening at Guo's house."

  "Go ahead and go down."

  After Luo Guanqun left, Yao Fengyang wanted to rest his eyes for a moment. San Jie, who had been waiting outside the living room door, entered the house.

  "Third Sister is here." Yao Feng smiled and greeted upon seeing Su Sanjie.

  "Third Sister greets Big Brother Yao." Third Sister said and then knelt down.

  Yao Feng hastily stepped forward to help her up, pretending to be angry and saying: "Don't be so polite, I don't like it."

  The third sister got up and said: "Brother Yao thinks this living room is decorated well?"

  Yao Feng looked around the living room and found that except for the armchair he was sitting on, there were also bookshelves. He smiled and said, "Not bad, not bad, this armchair is new, right? It's quite comfortable to sit on."

  Third sister saw Yao Fang boasting and smiling, said: "Big brother's new house, everything was sent by He Zhuang, looking a bit simple, I think big brother is so noble, can't sit comfortably, so I asked He Shicheng to buy a good Taishi chair from the furniture store."

  Yao Feng smiled and said: "Very good, this cushion is also comfortable."

  Third sister happily said: "I'm clumsy, I didn't do a good job, as long as big brother feels comfortable it's fine. These days I've been rushing to make a new single-layer robe for big brother, try it on later to see if it fits, and here's also a small pouch."

  Then the two of them started chatting, and Yao Fan saw that San Jie's physical condition had indeed recovered well, so he didn't take out the anti-inflammatory medicine he had brought with him to give to San Jie.

  Before long, He Wan Nian arrived.

  "Older brother Zao Fan! How could you leave without saying a word? This whole week has been agonizing for me, your younger brother."

  Third sister saw He Wan Nian had arrived, stood up and gave a bow.

  He Wan Nian hastily cupped his hands and said: "I don't dare, I don't dare."

  The third sister knew that he was showing respect for her because of Yao Fang, and probably misunderstood the relationship between herself and Yao Fang, so she blushed and retreated.

  Yao Feng lazily got up and bowed, saying: "Wan Nian brother, don't be so polite, there's no need for such formalities among family members, please sit down quickly."

  He Wan Nian sat down beside Yao Fangwen and said, "Brother Yao, our main store's facade has been opened up and business is booming. Before you left, I told you that Wu Zhuanggui from Risheng Foreign Firm had ordered a thousand foreign watches and wanted to treat you to dinner, but you left without saying goodbye, so I had to go apologize to Wu Zhuanggui the next day."

  Yao Fan looked at He Wan Nian wearing a brand new light blue robe made of the same fabric he had brought, which was similar to the color of the curtains in his school in 2011. He stifled a smile and said: "He can't buy these fabrics from anywhere else if not from me. My other goods are also like this, one-of-a-kind on the market."

  Furthermore, for someone as shrewd as him, he wouldn't even want to rely on a money house, let alone go through the trouble of transporting all that silver back to Shanghai. If they were to use a courier service instead, not only would they make extra money, but also save a large sum on transportation costs. So I'm not worried about him being unhappy. Besides, with you going, it's already given him enough face. Heh heh, a foreign trading company like that, how much face is it worth?

  Yao Feng sat in a high-backed chair, pointing and gesturing as if he were the master of all he surveyed, speaking with obvious clarity.

  He Wan Nian smiled wryly and said: "So Early Cloud brother looked down on their occupation, you should have told me from the beginning."

  Yao Fang shook his head: "I'm not going to the banquet because I look down on him, but I've already set my schedule and don't want to delay it."

  He Wan Nian changed the subject and said with a mysterious tone: "Zao Fan, do you want to know how our business's sales have been for the past ten days?"

  Yao Fan smiled and said: "Anyway, it won't be the bicycles that sell well, right? Those things are all in boxes, I reckon you guys don't even know how to assemble them."

  He Wan Nian rubbed his hands and said, "Brother Yao is joking. I really don't know how to assemble that bicycle, so I had to put it in the warehouse first. Apart from the bicycle, all our goods are selling well."

  "Now, as for the best-selling ones, it's got to be the printed calico. I had 450 bolts of calico, which I had someone divide into over 1,200 pieces according to the standard of 40 yards per piece. At first, they were priced at 11 taels and 1 mace per piece, with a silver price of 1 cent per foot. I figured that if they didn't sell well later on, lowering the price would make them easier to sell, but if the price went up instead, it would be harder to sell them, so I set the initial price a bit higher."

  He Wan Nian took the tea from Wang Chuan Nian and placed it on the table, continuing: "Nowadays, good quality Lu silk is two silver coins per foot, and the weaving pattern is also auspicious. Suzhou Rongji dyeing workshop's cotton cloth, one piece only costs four silver coins. So at first, I was thinking of selling those cotton cloths cheaply."

  Brother Yao, what's going on? Unexpectedly, Wu the shopkeeper took a liking to these cotton fabrics and couldn't stop praising them, saying they were fine, soft, and smooth. It seemed he had never seen anything like this before, so he even washed some of it with water right there on the spot.

  "This washing gave me a fright, Brother Yao's cloth didn't fade at all! Whether it was floral or colored cloth, none of them faded. After washing ten or twenty times, the water was still clear!"

  "Are you kidding me? If it fades, isn't that a subpar product? Why would I sabotage my own brand?"

  He Wan nian waved his hand repeatedly: "Brother Yao has been in the Western world for a long time, so he doesn't know that in our Great Qing country, colored fabrics are all washable except for a few stable colors like blue and black. All other colors will fade with each wash, even if it's just a light blue or black, they can't withstand ten or twenty washes!"

  Yao Fang's expression changed: "Oh? So that's how it is!"

  He Wan Nian was delighted to see Yao Fang De Yi, and his spirit was even more abundant. He also smiled and said: "That's right! So after Wu Lao Ban washed it down, he surprised me on the spot too. He wanted to haggle over the price, but I didn't agree at all. I just told him that these fabrics are a total of 1200 pieces, if you don't take them now, someone else will, and waiting for the next Western ship to come is still unknown how many months it will take."

  Yao Feng smiled and said: "Brother He, you have a good eloquence."

  He Wan Nian was delighted, "That Wu boss saw the rare goods and gritted his teeth to buy them all. 1200 pieces were sold for 13200 taels, making a net profit of 9600 taels in the store. Adding the previous 220 taels per piece of the 1000 Rolls-Royces that made 110000 taels, they had already made 119600 taels!"

  Yao Fan didn't react for a moment: "Rolex? Oh, He brother, you even know how to pronounce the brand of that watch."

  He Wan Nian's face turned red: "That was Mr. Wu who reminded me, Brother Yao you left in a hurry and didn't tell me."

  Yao Fan nodded his head and smiled: "Well, let's just call him Luo Les then. This Old Wu is quite a cultured local tyrant, did he buy the fragrant soap?"

  He Wan Nian said: "That foreign soap, no, scented soap is also selling well, but I quoted a price of two coins each, which might be a bit expensive. Wu Boss only wanted 2,000 pieces, 400 taels of silver, and we made a profit of 200 taels."

  He Wan Nian took a sip of tea and muttered: "Brother Yao, at present, watches are still the most profitable. This watch style is novel and unique, and no foreign firm has such a small and exquisite watch. In my opinion, any boss who sees it with his own eyes will like it."

  Yao Fan knew that the true industrialization of watch production would have to wait until after 1900. The reason for its birth, from a functional perspective, was due to the inconvenience of pocket watches; from a technical perspective, it was due to advances in precision mechanical processing technology. As for soap, this year even industrial caustic soda had not been born, let alone fragrant soap with added aromatics, which would naturally sell well. As for colored fabrics, since the level of dyeing and finishing chemistry at that time was so poor, they could completely dominate the market.

  "Anyway, get rid of it as soon as possible and exchange it for silver. Now that the sale is going so well, I need to hurry up and arrange for more goods."

  He Wan Nian said: "In the past ten days, I've been busy to death. With this big deal, plus the scattered watches and soap sold to other merchants passing through Qingdao Port, our company now has enough silver on hand. Previously, we owed Brother Yao 300,000 taels of silver. How much do you think we should take out first?"

  Yao Fandao said: "Just raise 100,000 taels first, and take it to Hengli to exchange for gold."

  He Wan Nian looked at Yao Fan again, then lowered his head and thought for a moment: "Brother Yao, you're doing this with Heng Li to exchange gold, but the fire expense is also too extravagant. If we go ourselves to Tianjin or Shanghai to exchange gold, I estimate that about 15 taels of silver can be exchanged for one tael of gold. You hand it over to Heng Li, and he'll still have to transport it to big cities like Shanghai and Tianjin to exchange for gold."

  Yao Fan shook his head: "It's too much trouble to handle it myself. With Hengli taking over, the risk is shared."

  He Wan Nian saw that Yao Fan was insistent, so he didn't bother to persuade him anymore and changed the subject: "Nowadays, all the merchants coming and going from Qingdao Port know that we have a rare commodity in our hands. I think our business is going to boom soon, Brother Yao can now order more goods to stock up, especially that cotton cloth, it's worth stocking up on."

  Yao Fandao said, "I've already arranged for goods to be shipped overseas this time. Brother He, after you return, please invite Sun Gong, Wei Gong and Liu Gong to come to the Shi family restaurant for dinner. We businessmen must always maintain good relations with officials."

  He Wan Nian hastily said: "I'll go right away."