CH 123

The rooms were mostly repaired, and the equipment was almost ready. Chi Jie had already written a letter to his family, and a batch of oilcloths and canvases of various colours had been sent over. Now, the only thing that was needed was workers.

Lu Junming wrote a recruitment notice and planned to let Chuzi post it in the streets and alleys of the market. Mo Yan also said, “I’ll go back to my village and ask around to see if anyone is willing to come work in the workshop.”

Mo Yan knew a little about the clothing factory. On top of female workers for embroidery, they also needed male workers to do the heavy lifting. Bundles of oilcloths and canvases are very heavy, and it’d be difficult for two women to lift a bundle together.

Lu Junming discussed it with Chi Jie, and they decided to recruit twenty women and three to five men to start with.

Lu Hong only stayed with Ms. Zhao for one day, and then went back to Chenzhong Village to see Lu Junming’s grandpa and went back to the Upper Valley.

This day was another market day, Mo Yan and her sister were busy working when Chuzi hurried over, “Yan’er, this is bad. There are people selling the same things as you also claiming to have shipped them from the Upper Valley, and at a lower price!”

It wasn’t far to the Upper Valley, and it wasn’t surprising to see someone copying them after their success, but Mo Yan still wanted to go and have a look.

She followed him to the streets. There was a stall on the north street, and many people were surrounding it. She only heard someone in the crowd yelling loudly, “Everyone, come and have a taste! These are goods brought back from the Upper Valley, dried fruit and beef jerky. It tastes good and we’re selling at a low price!”

The voice sounded familiar. Mo Yan squeezed in and saw that the vendor was Mo Zenian, whom she hadn’t seen in a few days.

He lost his job in Yi City, so it’s understandable he wanted to come back to run a small business to make a living, but he wants to sell the same things as them.

Mu Zenian saw Mo Yan squeeze in, and deliberately raised his voice, “It’s the same beef jerky as Yanling Storefront’s, and my prices are cheaper.”

She suddenly wanted to flip his stall when a hand in the crowd grabbed her wrist. It was Lu Junming. He pulled her away from the crowd, “He’s just trying to make a living.”

“If it were anyone else, he would be beaten up for these actions!”

“The more he acts like this, the more we can’t be fooled. No matter what we do here, we lose. Think about it, if you beat him up, he’ll say you were inhumane and ruin your sister’s reputation further. If you don’t, he’ll drive your storefront out of business.”

“Then what?”

“Just ignore him. If he sells these, you can sell other things that can’t be bought.”

Mo Yan thought, “Salted duck eggs, my mother’s sauce, side dishes, and…”

“What else?”

Lu Junming waited for her to answer, but Mo Yan just smiled without speaking. It doesn’t matter if she spoke, he’d know what she wants to sell later anyways. Instead of interrupting her beautiful smile with questions, it was better to take a few more looks. [1]

In the past six months, Mo Yan hadn’t gotten sick. She had grown a lot taller, and her complexion had become ruddy. In addition, her clothes and hair style have changed, and her appearance looks better than ever.

The two went to Ms. Hua’s house. She was drying clothes in the yard, and when she saw them coming in, she asked, “Do you want to get something? I’ll get it for you.”

Mo Yan said, “Godmother, there’s no need, we just want to take inventory.”

Ms. Hua pointed to the things covered by the oilcloth at the bottom of the wall, “There are still some dry goods left, and there aren’t many dried fruits left in the house.”

As the two of them walked into the house, Mu Yan said, “It’s not easy to store these things when the weather gets warmer, so we won’t be selling them anymore. There isn’t much left, so you can sell it all at the market. You can take the net profit afterwards.”

“How could I? You shipped these goods all the way over here.”

“It’s nothing inappropriate, you’re doing us a favour.”

Ms. Hua weighed the rest of the goods, asked Mo Yan to remember the quantity, and she pushed these things onto the streets.

She knew everyone well, so even though she went late, she managed to find a place to set up a stall. It was at a T-junction, not too far away from Mo Zenian’s stall.

As soon as she opened her mouth to yell “Dried fruit from Yanling storefront”, an acquaintance came over and told her, “There’s also another store selling dried fruit over there, they’re exactly the same in quality but even cheaper.”

Ms. Hua didn’t believe it, so went to see it herself. She didn’t know Mo Zenian, and when she saw him keep saying that his goods were cheaper, she got angry and yelled loudly, “Candied fruit and beef jerky from Yanling Storefront is on clearance sale!” [2]

The crowd cheered and turned to Ms. Hua. After all, Yanling Storefront had been open for a while, and Mo Zenian’s stall only opened today. It was clear which was more credible.

Mo Zenian also raised his voice and yelled, “I’m also doing a clearance sale hereI”

Few people from his side bought it, and Ms. Hua’s side was so busy Chuzi squeezed in from the crowd, “Godmother, I’ll help you!”

He was still holding a stack of stamped paper in his hand. Lu Junming asked him to help out!

Mo Zenian was not willing to give up. He quietly approached, asked a shopper for their price, and then returned to his stall, yelling out a price slightly lower than Ms. Hua’s.

Chuzi heard him yelling, so called out a lower price. They went back and forth, and soon got down to the purchase price. Then, he stopped and faked remorse, “We can’t sell at a loss! We can’t beat his prices, so might as well close shop.”

He put the lid on the bamboo basket containing the goods, and quietly looked at Mo Zenian with Mrs. Hua.

The current price is slightly lower than the purchase price, and anyone who has bought something at Yanling Storefront knows how cheap the prices currently were. There is no problem with the items either, and people who weren’t interested changed their minds and bought some goods anyways.

Mo Zenian’s stall was full of people coming and going. Soon, all the things in his bamboo basket had been sold out, and he was in a happy mood as he packed up.

Chuzi asked Ms. Hua to close shop and go home, and quietly followed Mo Zenian. He saw him happily pushing the cart along the road, but instead of going back to Chenzhong Village, he went to the Shunlai Restaurant.

As soon as he arrived at its entrance, Manager Liang came out with a smile on his face, “You’ve sold out so soon? Old ginger is truly spicier, you must’ve made a lot of profit!”

Mo Zenian put down the cart, “I made no profit, but squashed their arrogance immensely!”

When he heard there was no profit, his expression immediately changed, “What?”

Mo Zenian habitually smiled,”How can you make money as soon as you start a business? You must first gain a foothold and attract customers. Are you afraid we won’t make any money in the future?”

Post-translation notes: Mo Zenian is going to regret it so much when it gets warmer and all of his goods spoil instantly.

[1] That’s creepy.

[2] Is that considered taking advantage of her? I’m not sure.