The Lucky Farmgirl

Junior Ms.Qian said, "Three doesn’t count, he may not settle in the capital in the future, but Datou here, his wife is a great physician, it would be better to buy a house in the capital later."

However, houses in the capital are too expensive, and their family would need to save for many years to afford one.

Junior Ms.Qian asked again, "How much does it cost to buy a shop? Would it be two thousand taels?"

Currently, the restaurant they bought at the time was about this price.

Manbao said, "It’s more than that, taking into account all the costs, it would be around ten thousand taels."

Junior Ms.Qian’s mouth dropped open, this wasn’t just buying a shop, it was like buying a gold mountain.

Manbao comforted her, "You can earn a lot too, I trust Lijun’s vision.

Junior Ms.Qian also trusted, but their family didn’t have that much money.

She whispered, "Can we buy less? If we spend eight hundred taels, how much share can we get?"

Manbao laughed and said, "Aunt, this share is not easy to come by, I have seen the accounts Lijun calculated, if the accounts are truly as she calculated, we can earn back the investment in the first year, and thereafter the shop would be pure profit aside from the cost of making ointments."

Junior Ms.Qian was skeptical, "I know the ointments we make at home, occasionally I help out too. I’ve heard from Lijun that a bottle of Whitening Cream earns only two or three hundred wen, how many bottles do you need to sell in a day to make up a year’s worth of ten thousand taels?"

Manbao said, "Lijun and Silang have found merchants, as long as our shop opens, they can immediately bring money and ask for goods."

This is also why Zhou Lijun requested ten thousand taels for the costs, aside from the eight thousand six hundred and seventy taels needed to buy the shop, the remaining expenses for renovation and shelves are not much. She looked at Lijun’s calculation sheet and found that only eighteen taels were spent on renovation, the rest were all used to buy raw materials.

And the large-scale production of ointments was to sell to merchants who come to buy wholesale, meaning this shop is not only for retail but also for wholesaling to traveling merchants, just like cloth shops.

Zhou Lijun apparently didn’t come up with this idea on a whim, she had been planning for a long time, unlike Zhou SiLang who acts on impulse, she was different. She prepared for three years from the time she had this idea to presenting it.

When she was carrying Whitening Cream from house to house recommending it to various ladies and misses, she wanted to buy or rent a shop too, but because there were few buyers back then, a jar of Whitening Cream could be used for two or three months while some people used it sparingly, even using one jar for a year.

So she didn’t dare risk doing it.

She waited continuously, recommending her family’s Whitening Cream and various ointments to familiar merchants whenever she had time, and pulling Zhou SiLang together, under the two’s recommendations plus Zhou Man’s reputation, many people outside now knew about Zhou’s ointments and creams.

With the addition of the Light Impression Paste produced from the cowpox vaccination, Zhou Lijun knew her opportunity had come, as well as her family’s opportunity.

She wanted to open a shop, a shop specialized in selling these ointments and creams.

As long as it makes money and allows her niece to fulfill her ambitions, Manbao naturally wouldn’t oppose. She’s very confident about it.

She whispered to Junior Ms.Qian, "These ointments and creams have no worries about the market, Lijun and Silang have been preparing for it for two years, it would be a great loss if you don’t buy sufficient shares."

She said, "Believe it, if you say you don’t have enough money, Silang will immediately snap up the shares you left out."

Junior Ms.Qian said, "I won’t give it to him, I’ll give it to you. Manbao, don’t you have money? You can invest it when the time comes."

Manbao laughed, "No, I’ll lend money to you and Eldest Brother, and you can pay me back after making money."

Junior Ms.Qian wanted to speak, but Manbao quietly said, "I’ve calculated, if Eldest Brother and Aunt don’t have enough money, Third Brother definitely won’t have enough either, and I’ll cover the part you lack."

Junior Ms.Qian said nothing.

Manbao whispered, "You and Eldest Brother are the main branch, on this matter you mustn’t be less than others, otherwise the relationship among the brothers is good now but won’t show, in the future you’ll have to bow a head, how would you and Eldest Brother manage the younger siblings then?"

Junior Ms.Qian sighed, "Your Third Brother is honest, now he’s in charge of all the land at home. By rights, it should be left to me and your Eldest Brother to take care of it..."

Manbao smiled, "Exactly, I’ll also cover Third Brother’s part, you can pay me back after you make money."

As for the other branches, they definitely have enough money.

Because the money each person earns only contributes forty percent to the common fund, like Zhou ErLang, Zhou SiLang, Zhou WuLang, and Zhou LiuLang and their wives, they all have their own skills, hence earn quite a lot every year, and only the rest is divided as communal funds.

In comparison, Zhou DaLang and Zhou Sanlang, who are also from humble origins, mostly stay in farming, and farming belongs to the common fund, so they have very little private income.

Old Zhou and Ms.Qian also knew the first and third branches were at a disadvantage during the money distribution, thus occasionally would secretly subsidize them a bit, only they still had an unmarried daughter, so the support was limited.

Just occasionally slipping a few pieces of silver or having Zhou SiLang bring back more meat when he returns to the village.

Manbao picked out Eldest Brother and Aunt’s savings, so she roughly estimated Third Brother’s family’s financial condition. Hmm, Third Brother was even less adept at making money than Eldest Brother.

Mainly because Eldest Brother had Aunt, who would earn money by making steamed meat at the restaurant, and over time saved a bit of private funds.

Third Brother truly had almost no private income.

Once Manbao made up her mind, she gathered the family for a meeting, of course, Zhou ErLang and Zhou Sanlang far away in Qili Village, as well as Zhou SiLang on the grasslands, couldn’t attend.

But they all had their own sons as representatives.

Zhou Liwei had no opinions, and Zhou Ligu even less, as their parents had instructed before leaving to take good care of their younger siblings and listen to Grandma and Aunt.

Everyone was stunned by the ten thousand taels.

Zhou Lijun held an abacus and calculated the accounts for them, and brought out the channels she had already negotiated for them to see, meaning that as long as they made it, someone would buy.

Old Zhou first raised a question, "Since you’ve found a market, why not just make ointments and sell to them? Why spend over eight thousand taels on a shop?"

Ms.Fang and others were also puzzled by this point, which Zhou WuLang knew, and explained to Old Zhou, "Dad, if you don’t have a shop, outside merchants wouldn’t dare buy in bulk these facial products."

Zhou Lichong nodded and explained more thoroughly, "Now our family’s ointments mostly sell to people in the capital. These people started as Aunt’s patients, buying them because they trusted Aunt, later recommending them when they found them useful, resulting in current sales. But without a shop, outsiders wouldn’t dare buy."

Initially, Zhou Lijun followed Manbao, selling one bottle at a time explaining high and low doors.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!