vrcanaries Chapter 370 Mass Production
Chapter 370 Mass Production
Lou Min couldn't leave the county government office, so he recommended his two brothers, Lou Tai and Lou Guo, to work there. They were both satisfied with the two brothers' wages of two taels of silver a month. Chen Wenfang guessed that he probably also had a brother named Lou An, for "national peace and prosperity."
Chen Wenfang happened to be short-staffed, so she took them all. At such a young age, Chu Yi had already become the head manager.
After calculating, Chen's workshop found that the woman had recruited more than 160 people. Lou Tai was more adept at studying than Lou Min. Perhaps people from coastal areas learn to judge people and do business from a young age. He advised Chen Wenfang to rent the two back courtyards. It would be convenient if there were more people in the future, and they could also be used to circulate goods.
Chen Wenfang thought it made a lot of sense. This person was very talented. After discussing it with Wang Erniu, they decided to hand over the management of the shop to him and have Chu Yi take charge of purchasing.
Since the workshop was staffed entirely by women, Aunt Hu and Caiyun were assigned to manage it together, along with Chen Wenfang. The three of them were extremely busy every day.
Chen Wenfang selected about ten skilled cooks from among the women and began training them. All of them had signed contracts, so there was no need to worry about leaks. The most common items collected from Fujian were small fish and shrimp, which could be dried and made into dried goods or cooked as appetizers. Chen's had special chili peppers. As long as they were cleaned and cooked well, they would be unique in the Song Dynasty.
Caiyun was also very capable. She divided the people into groups, and arranged the process of killing, cleaning and drying the fish step by step in a very secure manner.
Aunt Hu is quite skilled in cooking in Wangjiazhuang, and she's naturally good at it too. She was also in the same group, with people mentoring each other. Since she knew how to cook, cooking food wasn't difficult for her either. Plus, Chen Wenfang had taught her step by step, so there were basically no problems.
Currently, there are various fruits available. Lychees and longans can be dried into fruit, and sugarcane can be juiced and made into brown sugar. If the blacksmith's products are produced, there's no need to worry about them rotting.
Money makes the world go round. With Chen Wenfang settling accounts in cash every day, goods kept being delivered to Chen's workshop. In just a few days, hundreds of kilograms of spicy small fish and shrimp, dried small fish, dried shrimp, as well as grilled fish slices, dried kelp, and brown sugar were produced. Especially the dried small fish, which were delivered by fishermen every day. The weather was hot, so they had to rush to produce them. With time on their hands and so much to do, the female workers quickly mastered the skills.
Chen Wenfang also led the female workers in making snacks, such as sachima, rice candy, multi-flavored peanuts, orchid beans, and drunken peanuts.
Chen Wenfang was always generous with the workers' living conditions and meals. Every day, they were given enough coarse flour steamed buns or flatbreads to eat their fill. For lunch, they would either have fish or large pieces of meat, with plenty of oil. They were also very generous with eggs, cooking a large bowl of them. These female workers, who had children with them, lost their sallow complexion in just a few days. They would go out and talk about how good Chen's restaurant was, adding to Chen Wenfang's reputation.
Chen Wenfang noticed that although these women were clean, they all seemed to be struggling financially. Most of them wore tattered old clothes full of patches, and even the better-off ones had one or two patches.
After a few days of work, it's normal to need to change clothes every day, but many people only have two sets of clothes to change into. On the other hand, the kids sometimes have three sets of clothes to change into. It's time to give them work uniforms. Women are always like this, generous to their families but stingy to themselves. Chen Wenfang is busy making arrangements, and at least two sets of clothes should be prepared first.
Upon receiving the notification, the goods that Aunt Liu had entrusted to Ye Family Escort Agency to deliver had also arrived: a large quantity of raw peanuts, walnuts, pine nuts, dried dates, dried sweet potatoes, soybeans, dried chili peppers, dried peaches, ginger, garlic, and wheat.
Chief镖 Ye also brought good news to Chen Wenfang: Brother Nie had already opened a shop on Jiangxi Road with his men, and Da Zhuang had also opened a shop on Hunan Road with everyone's help. It can be said that the trade route from south to north has been opened up.
"That's wonderful, thank you for your hard work, Chief Escort Ye!" Chen Wenfang personally received him.
"Not at all, Madam Chen, you're too kind. It's all thanks to you for letting me use this trade route. My brothers will be able to make money from now on, which is a good thing." Chief镖 Ye's voice was strong and full of energy. He took out a small box from his pocket and said, "This was asked by Aunt Liu to bring me. She said it's half a year's revenue for Chen's business, in case you don't have enough money here."
"Thank you so much! This is a small token of my appreciation, please accept it!" Chen Wenfang took the box and then put a purse on the table.
"Then I won't be polite, haha!"
"Please get some rest. We'll need your help to bring another batch of goods back with us later!"
"It should, it should."
Not wanting to linger, Chen Wenfang got up and left. Back in her room, she opened the box and found 80,000 taels of silver and a letter. Aunt Liu meticulously listed the bills for her, explaining that Wangjiazhuang's brewing business had reached a cooperation agreement with Zhong He, the owner of the Zhong family in the capital, whom she had previously discussed. They would order 1,000 jin of wine every month, and the best wine would be given to him first, which was why they could make such a large profit.
Incidentally, Chengcheng and Yatou have already gone to Wudang with the two Taoist priests, but somewhat surprisingly, Mutou also went.
Chen Wenfang didn't care much about these things. Everyone has their own path to walk. These children are all precocious and it's normal for them to have their own ideas.
Chen Wenfang was replying to a letter when Chu Yi came in.
“Godmother, today you delivered 500 catties of soybean oil, a cartload of coarse flour weighing about 800 catties, and as you requested, I ordered 200 sets of ready-made clothes from Tiancheng Clothing Store in town. They said they can't take the order because there are only three people in their family and they can't make them all. It will take three months to deliver. I think we should just buy the fabric and make them ourselves.”
“Okay, you buy the fabric and thread for the clothes. I’ll arrange it tomorrow. We can make the clothes ourselves in a few days. Just tell Uncle Hu when it’s put into storage. You don’t need to report to me. It’ll save you trouble.” Chen Wenfang liked to delegate authority.
"I just came here to tell you that more and more people are coming to our area lately. I heard that many people who work in Quanzhou have gone back to their hometowns. With so many people, I'm worried that some people might take advantage of the situation. Godmother, you have to be careful and don't go out alone." Chu Yi's little face was serious and earnest, like an old father instructing her.
"I know, your godmother isn't unreasonable. Do we have enough money? Isn't ten thousand taels too little?"
"That's enough. Prices are low here, the people are honest and easy to talk to, and money goes a long way." Chu Yi said calmly.
"Oh no! Oh no!" came a jumble of shouts from outside.
He darted away with a "whoosh" in the first year of junior high school.
"What's wrong now! Why are you making such a racket?" Chen Wenfang put down her things and went outside.
"Madam!" Uncle Hu said gravely, "Someone has brought in the body of that runaway slave. Don't worry!"