Chapter 381: Something Happened in Linjiang Village
Everyone had been busy until lamp lighting time until everything was finally moved. Fang Guizhi and Wan Caiyue had cleaned up a room in the yard in advance, so when the wheelbarrow brought Rongrong and her mother over, they could immediately rest there.
Seeing the condition of Rongrong’s mother, everyone was filled with distress, but Bai Ruozhu had instructed them not to cry. So, everyone held it in, not showing their panic, so as not to upset Rongrong’s mother.
After all the exertion, everyone was tired. Zhang Liliang did not feel right to insist on having more drinks with Bai Yihong, so everyone freshened up and went to sleep one after another.
Early the next morning, before going to her stall, Lin Ping asked Bai Ruozhu in a whisper, "I heard your uncle Zhang say that he will work for you now, as some kind of a companion or something. I thought you were planning to go into business with him."
Bai Ruozhu hadn’t had the chance to explain in detail earlier due to busy events, but now she briefly shared about Zhang Liliang deciding to work for her, and added, "Mom, you should let dad know too, Zhang Uncle is still his brother. Uncle Zhang working under me is a different matter altogether. I won’t short-change the Zhang Family."
Lin Ping nodded and looked at Bai Ruozhu worriedly, "So, doesn’t this mean that you have taken on even more responsibilities? Aren’t you going to have more things to think about and worry about?"
Bai Ruozhu smirked playfully and said, "Mom, don’t all the significant figures have a lot to worry about? Your daughter is destined to do great things!"
Lin Ping chuckled at Bai Ruozhu’s confidence, and pointed towards her with a teary ye, "Behave like a significant figure. From now on, your mother will follow you to enjoy good food and drinks."
"Sounds good, I will arrange two pretty maids for mom in the future. They can massage your shoulders and legs every day to ensure your comfort," Bai Ruozhu cheerfully responded.
Lin Ping laughed and lightly smacked her, "Less of that! Swaying two pretty maids in front of me all day, are you trying to lure your father’s soul?"
Bai Ruozhu was already laughing so hard that she could hardly keep straight, "My dad is not that type of person. Plus, if he dares, there’s the washboard at home waiting for him!"
Just as Bai Yihong was tidying up to go out, he heard the two of them mention his name and stuck his head out to ask, "What about me? What happened to me?"
Both mother and daughter were already doubled over with laughter. Lin Ping waved her hand towards him, "Nothing, let’s head out."
Watching the figures of her parents and brother and sister-in-law heading out, Bai Ruozhu made up her mind to accumulate wealth quickly, so her family would no longer have to labor from dawn to dusk.
Zhang Liliang had also got up and was waiting nearby. Seeing that she was free, he approached her, "Ruozhu, now that they’re here, I can rest easy. You should assign me some tasks, I can’t always be idle, right?"
Bai Ruozhu smiled at him, "Uncle Zhang, don’t worry, I planned to discuss it with you today."
At hearing Bai Ruozhu’s words, Zhang Liliang’s eyes lit up. Bai Ruozhu turned and went to the kitchen, then brought out some salt for him to taste.
"Uncle Zhang, try this salt, is there anything unusual about it?" Bai Ruozhu handed him the salt spoon.
Zhang Liliang took a taste, very quickly, his brows relaxed, "This isn’t like normal salt, it has a bit of a fresh taste, so you want to work with this?"
Upon saying this, his brows furrowed again, "No, nowadays, private salt dealing is prohibited. We don’t have a strong background, we might run into legal trouble."
Bai Ruozhu shook her head, "It’s not about selling this salt, but the additive I’ve mixed with the salt. I accidentally discovered this thing, so-called fresh soup powder, from a foreign trader. I sold it to a restaurant in the beginning and was so captivated by its flavor that I started to experiment and research it on my own. Now I have a rough idea about it. Although it might not totally replicate the original flavor, it is enough for us to make a profit."
Zhang Liliang looked surprised, "Is the production cost high?"
Bai Ruozhu shook her head, "Not high, just need some small fish and shrimp of the size we catch in the river, and which nobody bothers to eat because of their small size. Now, I am planning to hire more people to specifically process this fresh soup powder. As a woman, I cannot leave my home, and my knowledge isn’t as broad as Uncle Zhang’s. Therefore, this fresh soup powder processing work has to be handled by Uncle Zhang."
Zhang Liliang felt even happier after listening, "I will take care of this for you, I promise to do it to your satisfaction. However, the formula must remain confidential. If it gets out, won’t we stand to lose money?"
Bai Ruozhu gave him a smile, "I have a plan for this. You have to find several reliable families, and they should live far apart, some providing shrimp powder, some producing fish powder. Assign one family to each component, and let them work exclusively on that. We will collect the produce periodically. The quality must be well controlled and we can’t let them make it unclean."
"In this way, the laborers won’t know what we are making, and we can control the ratio of the ingredients even if we have all the raw materials. It’d be useless for others to reproduce what we’re producing unless they know the exact proportions," Bai Ruozhu explained.
Zhang Liliang continuously nodded in agreement, "Your plan is good, I get the idea now, I can start organizing it."
"Just because I’ve been able to figure this out, doesn’t mean that others can’t. We’ll start like this at first, once the soup powder is ready, you will be responsible for selling it to the restaurants. If you can’t handle it alone, my older brother can help you. Once we’ve made a name for ourselves, even if competitors emerge, we won’t be scared. By that time, we can open a food processing plant and sell the products on a large scale," Bai Ruozhu continued.
Seeing Bai Ruozhu’s thorough explanations, Zhang Liliang couldn’t help but praise, "How does your mind work? You understand it much clearer than me, who has many years in this business. Uncle Zhang truly admires you."
Bai Ruozhu laughed, as a modern person, she had some knowledge about sales and market-related issues.
She then wrote down the list of materials for preparation and handed the list to Zhang Liliang. He was to find the manufacturers according to the list. She would monitor the quality of the materials brought back. The ones with poor quality would be rejected or the price would be reduced, and there would be additional payment for the ones with good quality.
Zhang Liliang took the list and headed out to take care of the work, while Bai Ruozhu returned to her room. She began to prepare new ointment for Zhang Aunt and Rongrong. Now with access to a few medications, she could prepare a better scar removal ointment.
After a busy day, her ointment was more or less ready when she saw her father, mother, elder brother and sister-in-law return from market. Their faces, however, didn’t look very cheerful.
Father, mother, what happened? Has there been trouble at the stall?" Bai Ruozhu took some things to put away and asked with some concern.
Bai Yihong shook his head, "No, it’s just that the Zhou family of Linjiang Village who leased our fields came to us saying they can’t cultivate the land anymore." After saying that, Bai Yihong let out a deep sigh.
Bai Ruozhu was startled and asked, "Why can’t they cultivate it? Is the land problematic? When we bought the land, you and Uncle Dehai had examined it, there won’t be any issues right?"