Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields

Chapter 472: Plans

Zhao San stared helplessly at the distant carriage, his mouth full of dust.
He got up and spat out a few mouthfuls.
He didn’t even had time to express himself, how could they have just left like that? It really made no sense!

“Miss Lian, you can’t be like this! You can’t be like this!” He muttered, “At least give me a chance to explain! You are too much, too much! People change, don’t they? I’ve changed, how can you do this…”

At first, he thought about following to Dafang village to make amends but thinking about the carriage that had sped away without hesitation just now, he couldn’t help but back away.
Miss Lian was the most ruthless and unsympathetic person, even if he went to her door sincerely, she would not appreciate it.
Since she would just drive him away, why should he send himself to her door to make a fool of himself?

He was upset for a while before finally, completely discouraged, he comforted himself by saying: “Forget it, why do I have to beg her? The Zhao family hasn’t fallen yet!” He felt a lot better.

Regaining his strength and full of resentment, he turned around and walked towards Hekou village.

Since he didn’t get what he wanted, it was fine to be a little disgusting!

Listening to Zhao San complain and bad-mouth Lian Fang Zhou, the old man’s expression was calm.
Afterwards, he asked coldly: “I heard that you used to be a servant in the Lian family? Why didn’t you tell us this, why did you leave?”

Zhao San’s face changed slightly.
Forcing himself to smile, he said: “That is the past, it’s not worth mentioning.” He sighed.
“Miss Lian is difficult to serve, both mean and critical.
I couldn’t help but say a few sentences and was scolded by her.
She was so embarrassed that she sold me off.”

This time, it was the daughter who spoke up.
She raised her hand to interrupt Zhao San and said coldly: “You are a servant, you shouldn’t talk about the right and wrongs of your former master behind their back.
Our family is loyal and honest! You dishonest man, go away! I’ve never met anyone like you before and our marriage was not officially declared, so forget it.”

Zhao San was stunned but the old man wasn’t willing to listen to him and just kicked him out!

It seemed that nothing was going well today for Zhao San.
Angry, he returned home but he didn’t expect that worse was waiting for him at the Zhao manor!

Master Zhao had been really struggling these days and had a lot of anger pent up in his heart.
Zhao San’s actions could be regarded as him striking a match on the muzzle of a gun.

As soon as he returned to the Zhao residence, the Zhao steward immediately ordered someone to tie him firmly and beat him up before handing him over to one of the managers, instructing him to sell Zhao San to the salt fields as a hard laborer.

Once a person entered this kind of place, they would never come out again in this life.

~

In the blink of an eye, the Lian family oil mill was put into operation.
The business would be managed by Li San He and Wang We according to the previous agreement.
Li San He would take care of the main operations while Wang We would be in charge of accounting.

With the arrival of a new competitor, the stewards of the other three oil mills were naturally curious and wanted to come take a look at the enemy’s situation under the banner of ‘congratulations’.

Unexpectedly, the Lianji Oil Press was not a semi-enclosed shed like the other workshops, but it was inside a large blue brick building with a high vaulted roof.
It’s secrets were kept from the outside world and no one was allowed to visit.

The three stewards laughed indifferently, all of them saying that Lianji was too careful.
They were all seniors, was it possible that they still needed to steal from them?

They didn’t take it to heart.

Li San He talked to the three of them according to Lian Fang Zhou’s instructions, saying that his business had just started and their raw materials were insufficient.
The price of purchasing soybeans and peanuts would be one coin more per catty than theirs.

Of course, the three stewards didn’t have any opinions about this but made a lot of jokes silently.
They knew exactly how much the profit margin would be, since they were spending more on the materials, their profit would naturally be smaller.

They could spend more when buying the soybeans and peanuts but could they still raise the price when selling their oil? Who would buy it if it was more expensive?

The steward of one family waved his hand generously: “If Steward Li is willing, we don’t have any opinion, even if you spent two more coins.
It’s good to let the villages earn more money, don’t you think so?”

The other two laughed and agreed.
Li San He was also good natured and smiled modestly, earning a bit of goodwill from the other stewards.
However, they also took him much less seriously.

The news that Lianji would be paying one coin more than the other businesses spread quickly like a gust of wind.
Everyone considered Lianji to be the preferred buyer and scrambled to take their produce over, for fear that if they were too late, they could only sell at the market price.

One catty meant one more coin, so a hundred catties meant a hundred coins.
You could make enough to buy some salt for a few months and bring back more fabric for your family.

You could also buy two pounds of oil.

Because the yield for oil was low, the price was not cheap and a catty of oil was usually sold for forty to fifty copper coins.

For poor families, oil was a luxury item.
Your mother-in-law might even scold you to death for using just a few extra drops of oil.

An endless stream of farmers came to Lianji to sell soybeans and peanuts.
Three workers were stationed at the front of check the quality of the produce, weigh them, store them, and settled accounts.
Wang Wu was also there to supervise the payments.

After the farmers were done selling, naturally they wanted to buy a jar of oil to bring back.

Sitting next to the workers was a white porcelain jar with a covered lid.
When it was opened, you could almost see the fragrance of the oil floating out.

No one needed to ask to know that it was excellent quality oil.

In addition, the oil was being sold in either small or large clay pots, which could hold between 2-3 catties and the buyer could keep the pot for free.
Although these clay pots only cost about 2 or 3 coins, weren’t they going to get it for free?

Moreover, everyone needed oil.
Though it was expensive and they were reluctant to use it, they still used it every day.
If you lived in a home with good conditions, you might even use one or two catties a month.

These farmers had just sold their produce and had money in their hands.
Hearing the shopkeeper talking about the oil, almost 70% of the farmers bought a catty or two.
Some even bought more.

The shopkeeper was not stingy and always gave the full amount of oil.
In fact, he always gave a little more and so when others saw this, even people who were not planning to buy ended up getting some.

Customers who bought oil all had the potential to become returning customers.
With just this quiet penetration, in less than a year Lianji not only had a firm foothold but it also caught up with the other three oil mills.

Because of their high oil yield, their cost of production was a lot less than the others.
Lianji was making money but the other three business couldn’t keep up.

Once word of mouth spread, restaurants, wealthy households, and foreign merchants naturally came to the door.
Lianji didn’t have to worry about not having enough business.

Lian Fang Zhou could have asked the Su family to help introduce major customers or even sold directly to the Su family, but she didn’t.
She wanted to rely on her own abilities and not go to the Su family for everything.

Their relationship was good, so if she asked for help every couple days, Su Jing He and Fang Qing would not say anything.
However, the stewards of both families would start to look down on her.

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