CH 73.3

Xu He had been busy taking care of the ducklings these days, and it occupied more than half of his mind, but when he saw his husband came back late everyday, even after he returned to the village, he still ran to carpenter He's house. Even though he didn't say anything, when he saw him busy like this, he vaguely guessed that something happened to the shop.

"It's not a big deal, it's just a merchant who imitates our goods." Zhang Fangyuan didn't intend to hide his own affairs from Xu He, so he said a few words to him lightly.     

Xu He's eyebrows frowned: "It's this kind of person again!"

Zhang Fangyuan rubbed Xu He's hair: "Don't get angry and hurt the fetus."

Xu He lowered his eyes: "Before when I set up the stall I met someone with this kind of character, now when I finally can open a shop, I still suffer from this kind of dirty trick."

"After all, this is not an arbitrary business, unlike the salt and iron bussiness that managed by the imperial court, there is no way to stipulate who can and who can't do it." Zhang Fangyuan comforted him: "We can earn money, and we haven’t lost money."     

"Just take good care of the baby at home and take care of the little things in the yard, for the rest I have taken care of it. If he wants to disgust me and make unethical money, then I won't make him feel comfortable."

Xu He didn't know how he would arrange it, so he said worriedly: "I'd better go to the city with you to have a look."

Zhang Fangyuan thought for a while, instead of making him worry at home, it would be more reassuring to let him stay with him in the shop, so he didn't refuse, and just in time to see the surname Xue hopped mad.

The next day, Zhang Fangyuan and Xu He arrived in the city leisurely, and there were several boxes of goods along with them.

The two of them didn't hide it, they just walked past the Xue cloth shop in such a swaggering manner.

"What are they pulling here? Could it be goods?"

"Their business hasn’t been good recently, so how could they have a mind to buy goods?"     

"Go and tell the master."

The two shop assistants were talking at the door and about to go in, but they saw their employer and hurriedly entered the shop first.

"Master, master!"

"What are you doing so anxiously?"

The man gasped heavily, but he didn't care about etiquette, and hurriedly said: "Suddenly there are a lot of toothbrush shops in our city, and the nearest one just opened in Tianjie!"

"Those shameless people are actually imitating our shop. They are doing their own business while selling toothbrushes. All rouge shops and grocery stores have put up signs."

"What!" Xue De was sorting out the account books of these days, and the smiling face collapsed when he heard the news.

"Where did they get the goods? Their actions are so quick?"

He himself made preparation for three months before negotiating the supply the goods. He was confident that his shop was the first to imitate Linglong Shop, but how could other shops act so fast.

As a businessman, it took time to observe whether there was a prospect. The Linglong shop was located opposite his shop, and he could keep an eye on the other party’s business everyday before he decided to start.

It was just that there were some people with a keen sense of smell who found that this business was profitable early on, so there were many shops selling toothbrush popped up all of sudden, and they were still from the east, west, north, and south of the city.

The bamboo shoots after the rain didn’t emerge so quickly like this.

Xue De quickly dropped his things and ran to the window, leaning on the railing to watch outside. There were several people with nimble hands and feet coming out from the Linglong shop, and they were moving things out of it.

"It's him! He is the one who supplies the goods to other merchants!"

The shop assistant didn't know why: "If there are toothbrushes everywhere in the city, wouldn't the competition become more intense? Isn't this self-defeating?"

"Stupid! Do you think he doesn't make money by supplying other merchants? You can earn money much faster when you sell the goods in batch. There are toothbrushes everywhere in the city, on the contrary our shop can't take advantage and the key moment. "

Xue De punched the window panel with his fist: "Hey, this kid is going to break the cauldrons and sink the boats! Why didn’t I receive the news in advance?”

[破釜沉舟 pò fǔ chén zhōu: lit. to break the cauldrons and sink the boats (idiom); fig. to cut off one's means of retreat; to burn one's boats]

"Hurry up, hurry up and find out how much he is supplying for the goods, and we will also release the news that we can supply the goods. We are better than the other and we also have a source of goods. "

Xu He hadn't been to the shop in the city for a long time, and when he came over, he found that there were a lot of goods in the warehouse, and the warehouse was full.

He looked through the accounts in the shop. These days, the income from single sales was not as good as before, but the income from the batch sales was far greater than in the past.

At present, five shops in the city have come to buy the goods from their shop, and they have made nearly two hundred taels of silver after these few transactions.