Li Yao, the factory manager, was a name she randomly picked. Her main job was to secretly inspect each branch store to prevent them from damaging the brand reputation through any shady dealings.
This position came with great power and was a cushy job, so it had to be given to someone she trusted.
After careful consideration, she felt Wang Yuanding was the most suitable.
As the second son of the Wang family, he had an honest personality, and his wife Zhou was also a kind person. As long as the pay was good enough, they surely wouldn't become corrupt in the next few years.
When Li Yao gave him such an important position, Wang Yuanding almost didn't dare accept it.
But thinking that this was very important to Li Yao, and there was no one else in the family capable of taking on the role, he finally agreed.
"Don't worry sister-in-law, I will do a good job."
"Okay, I'll teach you specifically what to do later," said Li Yao. "You can stop making braised food for now. I'll give you 5 taels of silver per month, plus a 10 tael bonus at the end of the year. This money is enough for your family's expenses."
"Tha...thank you sister-in-law!"
Wang Yuanding and his wife didn't know what to say.
80 taels a year!
Wasn't that more than a county magistrate's salary?
"But I have to make this clear first," said Li Yao. "If I find you secretly colluding with shop owners and taking bribes, I will not let you off easily."
"Sister-in-law, don't worry, I would never do such a thing!"
No one doubted Li Yao's methods. Wang Yuanding would also never betray an annual salary of 80 taels.
After arranging these matters, Li Yao let everyone disperse for the time being.
She still had many things she wanted to do, but she didn't have enough money now. She'd have to wait a few days until the branch stores took the goods before making any plans.
...
The children spent the entire afternoon tidying up and arranging their own houses.
Da Zhuang and He Xiaoya lived alone in one house, and would begin their two-person world from now on. Counting it, He Xiaoya had already been married for over six months, but her belly didn't seem to show any signs yet. She wondered what was going on.
Wang Er also lived alone in a house.
But because Song Zhe was here, he let Song Zhe live with him instead of sleeping in the incubation room anymore.
This improved Song Zhe's impression of Wang Er quite a bit. The two felt like classmates who had known each other for many years.
Wang San'er and Wang Xiao Si didn't have much to tidy up. Wang San'er still hugged the piglet and went to the back hill in the afternoon, while also practicing the simple moves Li Yao had taught him. Wang Xiao Si watched over a flock of geese.
The geese in the family were now as big as chicks. All they did every day was eat. Wang Xiao Si was afraid they would make a mess of the house, so he herded them onto the open space behind the house and fenced them in.
In the afternoon, Li Yao began teaching Wang Xueshi how to make menthol ointment, soap, and perfumed soap.
Actually, these techniques were quite simple, and a smart person like Wang Xueshi naturally learned them quickly. The difficult part was keeping accounts.
After all, when the production volume grew, she couldn't rely on memory and had to have written records.
To this end, Li Yao specially taught her Arabic numerals, then drew modern income and expenditure ledgers. Surprisingly, Wang Xueshi didn't find this simple accounting method too difficult to learn.
Before nightfall, she had already grasped the basics.
"I don't know where you learned all this," Wang Xueshi marveled. "Our Wang family is truly blessed to have a daughter-in-law like you."
If Li Yao remembered correctly, this was the first time Wang Xueshi had praised her to her face. It felt a little strange.
That night, to celebrate moving into the new house, Li Yao personally cooked a full table of dishes.
Salt baked chicken, beef stewed potatoes, cumin lamb, sweet and sour pork ribs, blanched cabbage, shredded potatoes...
Song Zhe didn't even recognize the names of several dishes.
Especially the salt baked chicken and beef stewed potatoes, he had never eaten anything like it in his life. He felt the taste was even better than the chefs at the big restaurants in the capital!
Plus, having just moved into the brand new, spacious and clean new house, he suddenly felt this home was more elegant than the county government, or even his family home in the capital.
He was also gradually getting used to living with Li Yao's family, and thought less and less about returning to the county office.
...
After dinner, Li Yao went to the bathroom.
Next to the toilet, she had a coppersmith make a very large bucket out of brass. She then directed the stove fumes over to heat it up, allowing her to have hot water.
After pouring the hot water into a large wooden bathtub, she soaked in a nice, comfortable hot bath, then lay down on the soft big kang smelling fresh all over.
She had been in this world for two months now, but it felt like it had been much longer.
She realized that although life before her eyes was still not perfect, she was adapting more and more to this world.
The workshop was now open. Relying on selling menthol ointment, soap and perfumed soap, she believed she could earn a lot of money. And this income was enough for her to do many things she wanted.
In a few days when the money was in place, she would start work.
...
Three days later, the branch stores of Li's Boutique opened simultaneously in the various county seats of Jinyang Prefecture.
The limited goods prepared were almost instantly snapped up. They didn't even need to run any opening promotions.
The stores also implemented a membership system and recruited a large number of members, which was akin to having a fixed customer base for each store.
This business model delighted the bosses of each store. They immediately raced back to River Bay Village, both to report on sales and urge Li Yao to quickly replenish stocks.
Some flexible-thinking ones had even started thinking of opening branches in other places.
But Li Yao did not agree for the time being.
Expanding too quickly was not a good thing, plus production still couldn't keep up.
After three days of training, the soap workshop was also officially in operation.
Early that morning, Li Yao and Wang Xueshi came to the workshop together.
Making menthol ointment was simple. Soaking herbs and other small tasks could produce a lot in one day, and it was easy to produce. Wang Xueshi only needed to spend two to three days a month on it.
Soap and perfumed soap were slightly more complex.
Wang Xiao Si's kitchen was used to brew lard.
This lard was purchased everywhere by Wang Yuanguo, who worked hard from dawn to dusk. Because the price offered was slightly higher, lard from the nearby markets was supplied to him.
About 100 catties of raw oil could be collected every day, and after rendering, 60 catties of lard was produced. Thus the daily soap output was fixed at around 800 bars.
To expand the market, Li Yao set a low sales price for soap, so profit was only 10 copper coins per bar.
But even so, soap still brought in 8 taels of silver per day.
50 bars of perfumed soap were produced each day, earning 1 tael per bar, so 50 taels.
As for menthol ointment, there wasn't much demand for it this season, so production was stockpiled to sell next spring and summer.
After deducting various flexible expenditures, daily income was now steady at 50 taels.
Even big merchants did not dare look down on such profits.
And this was just the beginning.
Once soap and perfumed soap sold throughout the country, the income would likely be shockingly high.
Seeing that the production process was problem-free, Wang Xueshi's bookkeeping was professional, Li Yao confidently handed over full management of the operations to her.
Next, she could wholeheartedly focus on doing what she wanted.
