Chapter 39
Making money?
Fu Wenyu was stunned for a moment, then came back to his senses, "Is it the money from the velvet flower business?" Zhou and Fu Rong had previously partnered with the Li family to do business, and according to the time, they should have divided the money.
Sure enough, both of them nodded.
Zhou couldn't help but take out a box and put it on the table, "This morning, Madam Li and Miss Li came to our house and calculated the accounts of the previous business with us. This time, we made a total of more than 500 taels of silver. We each took half, and after paying back the money that Madam Li gave us before, there was still more than 100 taels left."
"More than 100 taels, that's great." Fu Wenyu was also happy for them.
This sum of money, plus the rent sent by the tenants before, plus the money Fu Wenyu earned from writing storybooks, their family's income this year exceeded 600 taels.
This is not a small amount.
Then Fu Wenyu learned from the two people's words that although the scale of velvet flowers is not large, the sales volume is good. Especially in winter, when all flowers are withering, those ladies who love to be coquettish are particularly fond of velvet flowers. Especially the velvet flowers they make are novel in style and inexpensive. The big ones need dozens of coins, but the small ones only need three or five or ten coins. So the merchants who came to get the goods before came back to add orders after selling them.
"But Miss Li said that this will only happen in the next two months."
Zhou sighed: "When it comes to March and April, when the peach and apricot flowers outside are blooming, our velvet flowers will not be sold so much. And by that time, it is estimated that others have learned it."
This is a reasonable speculation.
Fu Wenyu nodded secretly.
He still agreed with Li Xin's keenness in business. After all, the last meeting left a deep impression on him, and he felt that the other party was the kind of person who was very good at doing business.
After dinner, Zhou talked to Fu Wenyu about the follow-up of the business.
"This time, our family got more than 100 taels. Because we plan to continue this business, I gave 150 taels of it to Madam Li as money to buy thread and copper wire."
"The last time, the material money was paid by her family. We had no money at that time, so we had no choice. But now that we have money, it's not good to ignore it. This is not the way to do business."
Fu Wenyu agreed, "Mom, you are right."
He agreed with Zhou's approach. Let alone saying that the Li family has done a favor to his family, even if there is no favor, there is no saying that one family always helps another family. Give and take is the way to get along.
Then Zhou said, "Mother has thought about it."
"Now that the weather is cold, Rong'er and I can't go to the city every day, or we will freeze our bodies. But it's not a good idea to let Madam Li manage those embroiderers all the time."
"So I plan to find some more people in the village."
Zhou thought, "In this way, they will do one batch in the city, and we will do one batch in the village. The girls in the village are clumsy and may not be able to do any delicate work, but they can make those simple fluffy sticks."
"In this way, the velvet flowers can be made faster."
"If we can make a few more batches before the New Year, we can earn more."
"Find in the village?"
Fu Wenyu was really surprised this time. He looked Zhou up and down. Then he found that half a year had passed, and his mother in ancient times had really changed a lot. I remember that when he just woke up, Zhou was not only thin, but also had dry hair, a sallow face and a sense of fatigue.
But now she sits upright and has flesh on her cheeks. And because she seldom goes out, her skin has become fair and smooth, and paired with a blue satin dress, she looks much younger.
The key is that temperament.
No more sorrow, no more worries, no more worries. She is like a reborn, closer to the memory when Fu Qingshan was not dead and the family still lived in the city.
No, her condition is even better than that time.
Maybe this is the charm of career.
Then he moved his eyes to the side and saw his sister Fu Rong.
Fu Rong has also changed a lot.
A few months later, she often eats eggs and milk, not only has she gained weight, she is no longer as thin as before, and her complexion is healthier and better looking. Even the temperament of the whole body is slightly different from that of country girls like Chunhua, and is closer to city girls like Li Xinli. Now seeing him looking at her, Fu Rong returned a puzzled look.
"Brother, is mother's idea bad?"
"I think it's good."
"No, mother's idea is very good." Fu Wenyu nodded affirmatively, "Let's do it this way, well, we can ask the village chief for help, find those families and people who are easy to get along with, they will not disobey the village chief's words."
Zhou nodded, "We should ask the village chief for help."
"In fact, after listening to my idea today, Miss Li also suggested that I ask the young ladies in the village who are about the same age as Rong'er to help, saying that these young ladies are still far from getting married, and the recipe will not be spread for a while. Now our velvet flower business, the most important thing is to keep it secret."
"I think this is also good."
She turned her head to look at Fu Wenyu and said, "Wenyu, you are still living at home after all. If you find some young wives to work at home, it will not be good to come and go."
"Young ladies are different, they are all your sisters."
Fu Wenyu: "..."
He didn't know how to respond to this, so he nodded, "Mom, you are right, I will listen to you."
So the matter was settled, and the next day Fu Wenyu accompanied Zhou to discuss the matter with the clan leader Fu Wencheng. They said that their family was going to find seven girls aged between ten and twelve or thirteen in the village to help with the work at home. As for what kind of work they would do, they would divide the wires, organize the wires, make small fluffy sticks, etc.
From morning to afternoon, they could go home for lunch at noon.
The monthly salary was not high, only three hundred coins at the beginning. But they would increase it when they became skilled, or adopt a commission system, with more work and more pay and less work and less pay. The latter salary system was formulated by Fu Wenyu.
He considered that when he told Fu Dashi that he helped copy books for Kaiyuan Bookstore, he was very happy with eight hundred coins a month. And these girls were only eleven or twelve years old, and their monthly salary must not be higher than his, otherwise their family would become the "sucker" in the eyes of the villagers, and they would think they made a lot of money.
Of course, they did make a lot of money.
But the account was not calculated that way.
Anyway, when they become skilled, they can get at least five or six hundred coins a month. Those who have talent and can participate in the production of real velvet flowers can get one or two taels without any problem.
Fu Wenyu asked himself that neither his mother nor himself was a demanding person.
But he didn't expect that even the low price of 300 wen in his eyes surprised Fu Wencheng.
"300 wen, 300 wen for each of the seven people?"
"Yes," Fu Wenyu said, "If they do well in the future, they will add more. My mother wants to find some young ladies who are strict and hardworking. They come to our house to do some work similar to needlework."
Zhou added, "It must be from our clan, forget about those from other surnames. Wenyu stays at home every day now, and young ladies from other surnames often come in and out of our house, which is inconvenient after all."
Although the young ladies she found were very young, Zhou didn't intend to let them work for only three or two months. As time goes by, the young ladies will always grow up, and it will be too late to avoid taboos at that time. She doesn't want her son to have a bad reputation because of a momentary carelessness.
But it's different for those in the clan.
The young ladies in the clan are siblings with my son, and with her as a mother, they won't have a bad reputation. At most, when they come to the house to do work, let Wenyu stay in the study in the front yard.
Fu Wencheng also thought of this and nodded, "This is a good thing, the clan supports it."
"But I know a lot of men in the clan, but I'm not familiar with the young ladies. Let me ask your sister-in-law to find some." He turned his head to Fu Wenyu and said, "Find more, and then you and Aunt Qingshan will choose."
He laughed, "Three hundred wen a month, I don't think any family would be unwilling."
After all, in today's world, if the men in the family don't go out to find work, they can't earn three hundred wen a month. These young ladies selected by Aunt Qingshan and Wenyu, even if they have to give their monthly money to their families in the future, when they get married in the future, they will have more generous dowries and better marriages than others.
As for those families who are harsh and treat their daughters poorly, he will tell his daughter-in-law not to take them there. Don't blame him for being ruthless, but everyone knows that a bad apple spoils the whole pot of porridge. He didn't want to do a good thing, but in the end, it was messed up by some ignorant clansmen.
After leaving the clan leader's house, the two went to the Sixth Aunt's house.
The Sixth Aunt's surname was Tian, and the man she married was Fu Chunfeng. In fact, the Sixth Aunt and her husband were older than Fu Qingshan and Zhou, but because they were the sixth in their family, everyone called them "Sixth Aunt".
They went to find the Sixth Aunt to inquire about the situation in the village.
Because Sixth Aunt Tian took care of their family's vegetables, when there were fresh vegetables before, they would pick fresh vegetables every day and send them. Even if there are no fresh vegetables now, they often send pickled vegetables, dried vegetables, eggs, etc. to their family. And they came to help cook when the house was built before, so the friendship between the two families is relatively deep.
Another reason is that because the Sixth Aunt's family often goes to the city to sell vegetables, when their own vegetables are not enough, they will collect them from the village. Not only green vegetables and beans, but also eggs, so she knows the situation of each family very well.
She knows which family is not easy to deal with, which family is not strict, which family's young lady is not diligent and lazy, etc.
In the spirit of not putting all eggs in one basket, the two decided to ask Aunt Liu, so as not to recruit a restless person to affect the family business.
Aunt Liu was surprised after hearing what Zhou said.
"Three, three hundred coins?"
"Just need to do some thread sorting and thread picking work, not even sewing?"
Zhou nodded, "Yes, we are not making purses or embroidery, so we don't need her to know how to sew. But it would be better if she is good at needlework, such a young lady is clever and skillful."
"That's easy, I..."
Aunt Liu seemed to have thought of something and suddenly stopped talking.
Then she said, "Then let me tell you about the young ladies in our clan. I know them better than Wencheng's wife. I guarantee you can choose the one that suits your taste."
"I'll tell you from the oldest to the youngest. This first one..."
There are more than a hundred households in Fujia Village, and most of them are surnamed Fu.
From Aunt Six's story, Fu Wenyu learned that there are thirty or forty young ladies of the right age in the village, but not all of them are suitable. Some have difficult elders at home, some are not diligent, and some have to take care of household chores, such as taking care of younger brothers and sisters, doing housework, etc.
So in the end, there are only fifteen or sixteen suitable ones.
Sure enough, a few days later, when they were taken to the Fu family, there were only fourteen people for Zhou to choose.
However, Fu Wenyu noticed that among these fourteen people, there was the youngest daughter of the sixth aunt, an eleven-year-old girl who played well with Fu Rong, and seemed to be called Fu Xinhe.
He thought about the situation of the sixth aunt's family and found that they met the screening criteria. And just because Fu Xinhe did not rely on friendship to get in through the back door, but was brought here by Wencheng's wife, it was obvious that the sixth aunt's family was sensible and cautious.
In addition to Fu Xinhe, there was another person Fu Wenyu also knew.
That was Erya, the second daughter of Fu Chuntian, who rented their land. Thinking of Fu Chuntian, who was evaluated by the clan leader as "honest", and the experience of getting along in the past six months, their family was also suitable.
In the end, Zhou picked seven people from them, including Fu Xinhe and Erya, as well as two little girls from the clan leader's room. In addition to these seven, Zhou also went to find Fu Dashi and brought Chunhua here.
This is what Zhou said about this.
"Your second aunt is narrow-minded and narrow-minded."
"She values money very much."
"Why do you think she sent Wenju back to her parents' home to learn carpentry?"
Fu Wenyu was puzzled, "Why?"
This was also a point that puzzled him after he came here, because the second room had only two children, and his cousin Fu Wenju was the only boy. Under normal circumstances, the only boy in the family would not be sent out. What if something unexpected happened? Only those families with many brothers would cast a wide net.
Zhou said: "That's because your second aunt thought that if the brother's children could learn carpentry from her father, why couldn't her children? If her children couldn't learn, wouldn't they suffer a great loss?"
"So she made a fuss for a while back then."
"Later, the Liu family was probably scared by her fuss, so they also let Wenju go."
Fu Wenyu: "..."
Yes, this is very 'Second Aunt Fu'.
Finally, Zhou concluded, "If your second aunt knew that we chose someone else instead of Chunhua, she would definitely make a big fuss. Although we are not afraid of her making a fuss, it is better to have less trouble than more. Besides, Chunhua is a child who plays well with Rong'er. Because we give her goat milk, she comes to help herd sheep every day and cleans the sheepfold very cleanly."
"Although her mother is not good, she is a good child."
Then she smiled, "And I also told your grandfather that Chunhua's wages would only be paid half, and the other half would be paid when she gets married. Your grandfather agreed. And now Chunhua does most of the housework in the second room. When Chunhua starts to go out early and come back late, your second aunt will not be so idle."
"And with the wages hanging, she will have to talk to us nicely in the future."
This method...
Great!
It not only helps Chunhua, but also disciplines the second aunt.
As for half of the wages of 150 coins, it will be given. After all, Chunhua is really helping their family, and the things she makes are worth 150 coins.
So every day she comes, their family earns a day.
And whether the wages will increase in the future is just a matter of words. In fact, it has increased, but she told her second aunt that it has not increased, or said the amount of increase is less, and the money saved will be used to buy Chunhua's makeup in the future.
Fu Wenyu gave her a thumbs up, "Mom, you are really great."
At the same time, he also sighed in his heart that it seems that whether a person has a job, a career, and whether she has money in her hands has a great impact on her character.
If it were half a year ago, Zhou would not do such a thing.
At that time, she even hesitated to go to the clan leader's house because she was a "woman". But now, even if she sits opposite the clan leader, she will not be timid.
This is the power of career.
Zhou smiled embarrassedly, "Actually, mother learned this from Madam Li."
"I went to her house every day a while ago. Madam Li is very good at housekeeping, so I asked her for advice. I thought that according to the current income of the family, I might have to hire servants in a year or two. I can't manage people well."
"I didn't expect that you would use it on your second aunt first."
No matter who taught it, it's useful.
Fu Wenyu gave his mother a thumbs up again.