With two shops selling goods, plus Lu Lin occasionally designing new bag styles, Huaxia Trading Company’s business was finally doing okay, and their income was pretty stable.
Lu Lin was still doing the wine brewing business too.
“Lu Lin, you guys have that refrigerator thing, so you can have ice even in summer?”
“Yeah, refrigerators are seriously useful for so many things.”
“Can you make one?” Chen Xiaomi looked at Lu Lin with complete admiration.
Lu Lin: “…” Chen Xiaomi thought way too highly of him. Even though he had studied some electrical circuits, that was all just theory on paper, and he’d forgotten everything after graduating from college. “No, I can’t.”
Chen Xiaomi sighed. “What a shame.”
Lu Lin smiled awkwardly. If they wanted ice in summer, they didn’t necessarily need a refrigerator. There seemed to be some kind of saltpeter stone that could absorb a lot of heat when put in water, making the water freeze into ice. But he wasn’t sure if this world had saltpeter.
Chen Xiaomi’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. “I heard that even the imperial palace has ice in summer.”
In this era, if they wanted to use ice in summer, it wasn’t completely impossible. The most common method was to build an ice cellar. Ice cellars were mostly built underground. In winter, they would store ice in the ice cellar, blocking out light and heat. The ice in the cellar melted much slower, so when summer came, they could take it out to use.
This method was expensive and labor-intensive. Only the imperial family in the capital and high officials could afford it. Ordinary people couldn’t use it.
If the ice cellar wasn’t built well, the ice inside would melt easily. In the scorching heat, when they took the ice out to sell, if they couldn’t sell it quickly, it would melt in no time. Not only would they not make money, they could easily lose money.
Lu Lin rested his chin on his hand. “Things that only the emperor can enjoy, let’s not dream about them for now.”
Chen Xiaomi tugged at a nearby piece of fabric, confused. “You’ve been hiring village embroiderers lately to make some really strange things.”
Lu Lin shook his head. “It’s not what you think. I just feel like the shop only selling bags is a bit boring, so I want to sell fans.”
Recently, many villagers came asking if he still needed embroiderers. The shop’s business was just average now, and they had enough workers. Firing people for no reason would definitely upset the current employees, and Lu Lin didn’t want to change people anyway.
“We’re all from the same village. If I refused too bluntly, it would be easy to offend people. So I told them I’d start buying finely embroidered goods. If anyone in the village has embroidery to sell, they can bring it to the shop, and I’ll pay a fair price.”
“Fans made of fabric?”
Lu Lin nodded. “Exactly!” The fans here were mainly two types: one was the palm-leaf fans that poor people used, and the other was paper fans.
Palm-leaf leaf fans were very cheap, five wen could buy one. Paper fans varied in price – cheap ones cost over ten wen, while expensive ones could cost dozens or even hundreds of taels of silver, all depending on the craftsmanship and who wrote the calligraphy on the fan.
Lu Lin nodded and said, “Yeah, I want to make round fans, and also fabric folding fans. Plain colored fans always seem to be missing something. It would be better if they had some embroidered patterns as decoration.”
The fans that noble ladies used were mostly paper fans. This era didn’t seem to have anyone who thought of round fans yet.
Recently, the weather was getting hotter. If he could make them, he should be able to earn a good profit.
Many village embroiderers had been practicing since childhood, and while some weren’t very skilled, Lu Lin had drawn some patterns for them to follow. Surprisingly, quite a few turned out beautifully.
“Speaking of which, I met a strange woman a few days ago,” Lu Lin said.
Chen Xiaomi glanced at him. “What kind of person?”
Lu Lin shook his head. “She looked familiar. She’s chubby and quite arrogant. As soon as she came over, she said her skills were good and told me to fire Grandma Shen, saying her eyesight was too poor for the job and that she could do better.”
“You turned her down.”
Lu Lin nodded. “Of course.” He originally hired Grandma Shen not just for her skills, but also for her character. “But after I refused, that woman said I wasn’t giving her face, and if I didn’t give her face, I wasn’t giving the village head face.”
Chen Xiaomi nodded. “That’s probably the village head’s sister. He has one who likes to throw his name around to get her way. He seems to dote on her, though.”
Now that he knew her connection to the village head, Lu Lin wasn’t too concerned. Lu Lin didn’t really care. He wasn’t even living in the village anymore, what could the chief do to him?
Actually, Lu Lin’s impression of the village head was just average to begin with. In the original owner’s memories, when the original owner’s father didn’t want to go to military service, the village head came to persuade him, telling him to think of the big picture and not be unfilial and rebellious. He also said that Lu Chengyu would have great achievements, and if he made such a fuss, it would affect Lu Chengyu’s studies… If Lu Chengyu succeeded in his studies, their family could benefit too.
To him, the village head might pretend to care about the villagers, but he was just a self-righteous guy.
When Lu Lin said he wanted embroidered goods, the villagers came to get materials and went home to work.
Since they were fellow villagers, Lu Lin didn’t have the heart to ask for deposits, but he registered everything. People who had taken materials once had to bring their embroidered goods when they came for the second time, otherwise he wouldn’t continue providing materials.
Most of the villagers were quite honest and wouldn’t try to cheat, but Lu Lin still had to guard against anyone who might try to take advantage.
Soon, various embroidered goods were delivered to Lu Lin one after another, and Lu Lin paid them as he had promised.
Chen Xiaomi had been making fans during this time.
The fan ribs and fabric were prepared by others, and the final step of gluing was mainly done by Chen Xiaomi. Lu Lin discovered that Chen Xiaomi’s hands seemed quite skillful.
The attachment of the fan fabric to the fan ribs was done very precisely.
Lu Lin had recently ordered a large batch of fan ribs, and the fabric pieces were almost ready. However, most of the people making the fan surfaces didn’t know what the fabric they were making was for. Most people thought the fabric they made was still for bags, since Huaxia Trading Company would launch new bag styles from time to time.
After stockpiling a batch of round fans, Lu Lin released a batch of round fans one day, priced at two hundred wen each.
Huaxia Trading Company’s shops often had wealthy ladies browsing around. As soon as the round fans came out, they immediately caused a round fan craze.
While book bags mainly targeted students at academies, these round fans targeted all women. The exquisitely crafted round fans immediately attracted many wealthy wives, and some wealthy wives bought dozens at once.
Round fans were a novelty, and giving them as gifts was very prestigious.
“This one is mine.”
“I was here first.”
“I said I wanted to buy it.”
Chen Xiaocai and Shen Chi were startled by two young ladies fighting over fans. Shen Chi really didn’t understand. If there was only one fan left in the shop, it would make sense for the two to fight, but there were clearly still seven fans left in the shop! Yet both young ladies said they wanted to buy them all.
“Little shopkeeper, what should we do?” When the two young ladies couldn’t reach an agreement, they turned to Chen Xiaocai. Chen Xiaomi hesitated before offering, “How about… each of you buys half?”
“I saw it first, why should I give her half?”
“Didn’t you see I was choosing? I was choosing first, you have to wait until I’m done choosing.”
Chen Xiaocai remembered what Lu Lin’s words – when many people wanted to buy something, it made others want to buy it even more. The young lady in green who came first had originally been choosing fans one by one, as if unable to decide which one to buy. When the young lady in purple came in and said she wanted to buy them all, the young lady in green couldn’t stay calm and also said she wanted to buy them all.
The two young ladies probably knew each other and seemed to be competing as soon as they met.
Chen Xiaocai had Shen Chi go to the back courtyard to get a new batch of round fans, and only then managed to send the two away. After that, when more people wanted to buy, there weren’t any left for a while.
Chen Xiaocai felt strange. “I didn’t expect fans to be so popular.”
Shen Chi nodded. “Yeah!”
In Shen Chi’s opinion, palm-leaf fans were still more cost-effective. Five wen for one fan, and they created more wind when you fanned with them. After dinner, villagers liked to each take a big palm fan and sit in the courtyard chatting.
The round fans in the shop cost at least two hundred wen for ordinary ones, which was really like robbery. But it seemed many wealthy wives and young ladies really liked them. Quite a few young masters also came to the shop to buy them to please their sweethearts and family elders.
After the shop started selling round fans, the book bag business was also boosted, and many people came to buy.
Chen Xiaocai alone was often too busy, and only with Chen Xiaomi’s help could they manage.
The exquisitely crafted round fans immediately became a symbol of elegance among the wealthy wives in Lin Town.
Lu Lin also took a batch of round fans to sell in Liu Town, where they sold like hotcakes.
At the Lu’s
Lin Xiu’er eyed Li Fangyue’s round fan with displeasure. “The family can barely make ends meet, and here you are, still buying these useless pretty things.”
Li Fangyue held the fan and said, “Aunt, I didn’t buy this fan. My sister gave it to me. The clerk gave my sister several fans, so she gave me one.”
A few days ago, Lin Xiu’er had visited the clerk’s house and was immediately attracted by the big mansion.
She discovered that the clerk’s family had the best of everything – food, clothing, everything was good. Even the maids looked respectable.
Meanwhile, her own life was a mess, worse than a servant’s.
Lin Xiu’er forced a smile. “Since your sister has extras, why didn’t you ask her to give you a few more? You’re real sisters after all, and your grandma doesn’t even have one yet.”
“Aunt, you’re joking. These fans are too precious, I wouldn’t dare ask for more!”
“Your sister isn’t a stranger, what’s wrong with asking for more?”
Li Fangyue stroked the fan in her hand. She could see that the old woman liked her fan, but she only had one and was reluctant to give it to that greedy old hag.
Lin Xiu’er couldn’t help but envy Li Fangyue’s fan.
According to Li Fangyue, this fan was also made by Huaxia Trading Company, selling for two hundred wen each, which was like robbery. However, they had many customers. The wealthy landlords in town who had money to spare would buy several fans at once.
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