EBE Chapter 338, Part 1
Chapter 338, Part 1
Lin Xiaotang took out some silver and gave each person a tael of silver as a celebratory gift. Everyone received a share, including Manager Su. The people in the restaurant were overjoyed.
When Manager Su left the restaurant, he still felt like he was dreaming. He felt completely refreshed and kept smiling foolishly all the way home.
Originally, his elders in the family did not agree with him going into business. They felt that he was already over thirty years old, had no official position or rank to rely on, and did not seek advancement. They thought that he was a disgrace to the family by insisting on becoming such a lowly and insignificant merchant.
Every time I go home, my parents nag me for a long time. My wife is always unhappy because she feels that she is not as well-liked by her in-laws as her sister-in-law, and their children are not as favored by their grandparents as her brother and sister-in-law's children.
Now it seems that he can finally stand up for himself in front of his elders and clansmen.
As long as he works well with Qingchuan and Xiaotang to open restaurants all over the country and even in the capital, making a name for himself and earning more money, they can become incredibly wealthy. What more can the elders and clansmen say?
……
Six months later, Lin Xiaotang had grown quite a bit taller. She and her father went with Manager Su to see the hundreds of acres of land under Manager Su's name.
They walked along the ridges of the fields, looking up at the endless green rice paddies.
Shopkeeper Su asked, "Xiao Tang, are your second uncle's several hundred acres of land enough? If not, your second uncle will ask around and we can buy some more."
Lin Xiaotang smiled faintly, revealing two small dimples.
"Second Uncle, we've never planted on a large scale before. We can't be too hasty this first time. Let's plant medicinal herbs on these few hundred acres and see what we learn from this one season. If it goes well, we can buy more land to expand our planting area later."
Shopkeeper Su scratched his head and laughed, "It's because your second uncle didn't think things through. Planting too many at once is risky. If we don't have enough manpower to handle it, that would be inappropriate. You've thought things through carefully. Your second uncle and your father will be relying on you from now on."
"Second Uncle, you're joking. I'm just here to offer suggestions. When it really comes down to getting things done, we'll have to rely on you adults."
Lin Qingchuan laughed and said, "Yes, your second uncle is a scholar, and he is very humorous."
Now, everyone has made a lot of money, and the Lin family is also wealthy. Although the clothes Lin Qingchuan wears are in a low-key color, they are made of good material. He has seen a lot of the world and has been dealing with guests for a long time. He is no longer the dull and simple-minded person he used to be. He looks like a person of status.
On the day the restaurant distributed its profits, Lin Xiaotang gave Manager Su half of the money from the several hundred acres of land she had looked at with him a few days earlier. At first, Manager Su refused in every way, but after she spoke with her father, Manager Su finally accepted it.
Since then, they have worked together with even greater understanding and trust.
After the harvest of this season's crops, they returned to Guihua Village to buy up turmeric in large quantities. Half of the turmeric they bought was sold to Xue Zhiyuan's Baicaotang, the other half was kept as seeds for their hundreds of acres of land, and the rest was sold to different villages in the surrounding area, thinking that if they could promote it more widely, more farmers would plant it in the future.
One pass to ten and one hundred to pass.
Lin Xiaotang transplanted the gardenia tree that had been planted in the pig's trotter shop, and now is the perfect time for cuttings.
She carefully calculated the distance and quantity, planting a gardenia tree every five meters in all directions, and using the empty space in the middle to plant turmeric. This not only made efficient use of the field but also allowed for alternating harvests.
Because gardenia trees cannot bear fruit after a year of propagation, while turmeric planted in the open space can be harvested, this way the land is not wasted and money can be earned at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.
Next year, when the gardenia trees bear fruit and the turmeric can be harvested, one field can earn two kinds of money, and the harvest will be doubled.
Now the restaurant has chefs and waiters. Wu Yusheng is in charge of the restaurant and manages it very well. The two restaurants are close to each other, and Manager Su will visit them from time to time. The restaurant business is booming.
From then on, Lin Xiaotang, her father, and Uncle Shuisheng went to the countryside to hire workers to help plant and manage turmeric, weed, and loosen the soil.
A few months later, the turmeric ripened, and when they went to the countryside to buy it, they were surprised to find competitors.
When they went to various villages, they were surprised to find that many small medicinal herb merchants were already buying them.
Lin Qingchuan and Shui Sheng's expressions immediately changed, especially Shui Sheng, who looked completely distraught.
"Brother Qingchuan, Xiaotang, these people are shameless! They actually rushed to buy turmeric before us. These farmers bought their turmeric seeds from us, so they should sell their turmeric right before us."
"These days, there are still people so blatantly competing for business. We've really seen it for ourselves today. It's infuriating!"
It would be a lie to say they weren't angry; they had worked so hard for so long, only to have someone else beat them to it.
Lin Xiaotang said, "Uncle, calm down. Farmers have been growing turmeric for two or three seasons now. It's normal for small medicinal herb merchants to compete for business now. Everyone has a tendency to follow the crowd."
Seeing that we're making money from buying medicinal herbs, they'll also try to buy herbs to resell. Others have the right to buy herbs, and we can't stop them.
However, we have the resources to purchase in bulk, which allows us to lower prices slightly. With more competitors, it's time to engage in a price war.
Shui Sheng was slightly taken aback, somewhat confused.
"What, a price war with price cuts?"
"If the price drops, won't we earn even less? We've worked so hard for so long, if we don't earn more money, wouldn't all our efforts have been in vain?"
If running a restaurant is more profitable than being a medicinal herb merchant, they might as well quit and open a restaurant elsewhere. That would be a better option.
Lin Qingchuan was also somewhat worried. He said, "We sold you the seeds for planting turmeric, and we also taught you how to plant it. But when the harvest season comes, those small herbal medicine merchants come running up to you with their eyes wide open. They're really shameless!"
If it weren't for those small herbal medicine merchants coming over, they could have made a fortune by buying all the turmeric.
Seeing that the money you've got is about to be divided up by others, anyone would feel angry and regretful.
Lin Xiaotang had long anticipated this situation. When an industry emerges, many people will inevitably become envious and want to make money along with it. That's their freedom, and they can't stop them.
"Dad, Uncle, please don't be angry. Think about it carefully. We sold the turmeric seeds to everyone, thinking that when the harvest season came, everyone would sell them to us so that we could make a big profit. It's natural that we feel uncomfortable when those small medicinal herb merchants rush to buy them first."
But the same principle applies to opening a restaurant. Several restaurants have already opened in the county, so why don't we follow suit and open one too?
The restaurants in the county have always been competitors. In the end, whether they can make money and how much money they can make depends on their own abilities.
Although we have opened a restaurant, all our dishes are developed by ourselves, and we have not copied the recipes of other restaurants.
The same principle applies to purchasing medicinal herbs. We have hundreds of acres of land planted with turmeric and gardenia trees. Those farmers are just planting a lot of turmeric. In fact, turmeric can only be planted for a few more seasons because the market is saturated due to over-planting, and the price will only keep falling.
We should find ways to guide farmers to grow different medicinal herbs. As long as we react quickly enough, we can cultivate new varieties of medicinal herbs, sell a batch of seeds, and then buy back the mature herbs from the farmers. Those small-time herb traders won't get much of the profits.
After hearing this, Lin Qingchuan and Shui Sheng immediately calmed down considerably.
“Okay, Xiaotang is right. We have several hundred acres of land. Just from the turmeric harvested from these few hundred acres, we can earn several thousand taels of silver. Adding the money we make from buying from the farmers, it’s already quite a lot.”
They suddenly lowered the price to buy turmeric, and since they were the ones who sold the turmeric seeds to the farmers in the first place, the farmers immediately lined up to buy their turmeric from them.
As for the smaller medicinal herb merchants, because their channels were not as good as the Lin family's, they dared not engage in a price war with the Lin family, so they could only purchase in small quantities.
Lin Qingchuan and his daughter Xiaotang hired workers to go to the countryside to buy medicinal herbs for more than ten days, while Shui Shengcai hired workers to harvest turmeric from the fields.
After Lin Qingchuan and his daughter finished purchasing the goods in the countryside, they went to the fields to help with the harvest. Manager Su also arranged for many people to help, as he was worried that there wouldn't be enough manpower, so he called over some of the servants from his household.
After a busy 10 or 20 days, they finally finished harvesting all the turmeric from the hundreds of acres of fields.
Everyone sat on the edge of the field, covered in sweat and mud, their faces flushed as they breathed a sigh of relief.
One worker said, "My God, we're finally done collecting them. I'm exhausted."
"It's really tiring, but we can earn wages. If it weren't for the landlord planting so much turmeric, our family only has a few acres of land. After taxes and food, what would we have left?"
"That's right, that's right. It's already great that the employer is willing to give us this opportunity to make money. As long as the employer is hiring again, I will definitely come back!"