Chapter 489 - 491: Clouds Want Clothes, Flowers Want Beauty
For the concept of high-end boutique approach, the other women in the room might not understand, but Fusa was already very familiar with it. Upon hearing this, she laughed and said, "Ruozhu is right. This crocheting technique is somwthing others don’t know, and rare things are precious. We can market it as a rarity, just like the ’personalized services for VIPs’ that Ruozhu mentioned."
Bai Ruozhu laughed and nodded in agreement. Indeed, Fusa was quite suitable for managing the crocheting business. Bai Ruozhu felt she made the right choice with her.
Although the other people didn’t quite comprehend the whole idea, they did not voice any objections. After all this time, they had developed a great deal of trust in Bai Ruozhu’s vision.
"Let’s brainstorm a name for the shop together. Also, we won’t call it the ’Crochet Shop’ publicly to prevent people from guessing how we handle it," Bai Ruozhu suggested.
"Absolutely, what should we call it then? How about ’Bai Family Clothing Pavilion’? After saying it aloud, Fusa felt it seemed too common and shook her head, "You’re more educated, Ruozhu. You should come up with a name."
"Let’s not have ’Bai Family’ in our name, as it presumes too much family orientation. In the future, we might want to expand our business by opening more branches. We need a name that sounds grand. I was thinking about calling it the ’Weaving Pavilion’," Bai Ruozhu suggested after giving it some thought.
Thereafter, everyone began to brainstorm on potential names for the shop.
"How about ’Lizhen Pavilion’?" Fang Guizhi managed to come up with this after some thought.
"Or perhaps, ’Yaotiao Pavilion’?" Wan Caiyue, who also had an education under her belt, thought of the phrase ’Yaotiao lady, a perfect match for gentleman’.
Lin Ping hurriedly interjected, "I once saw a clothing shop by that name when I was out. I didn’t know the characters, I had to ask Er Lang, and he explained it to me."
"If it’s already been taken by someone, then we can’t use it," Wan Caiyue said regretfully.
Bai Ruozhu gave it some consideration and suggested, "Given the phrase ’A cloud longs for a dress, and a flower desires a charming face’, why don’t we call it ’Hua Xiangrong Weaving Pavilion’? The quote can be placed at the entrance."
"A cloud longs for a dress, and a flower desires a charming face?" Wan Caiyue asked, her eyes wide in surprise, "Are there any other lines to it?"
"A cloud longs for a dress, and a flower desires a charming face. The spring breeze brushes past the door sill, leaving behind rich dew. If it hadn’t been seen on a jade-like mountain, it would’ve met beneath the moon near the jade stand." Bai Ruozhu recited slowly.
Wan Caiyue listened intently, intoxicated by the beautiful lines, "What a lovely verse, the name is so full of imagery!"
The other women in the room, although unlettered, found the verse very haunting. They all expressed their approval and the name, ’Hua Xiangrong’, was finally agreed upon. Fang Guizhi, with a dreamy look on her face, asked, "Ruozhu, who wrote this poem? It sounds wonderful!"
Bai Ruozhu didn’t know if Li Bai was known in this period, she simply said, "I can’t recall, I once came across it while casually browsing through some miscellaneous books outside. I remembered it because I thought the verse was very beautiful."
"It’s a pity we don’t know the name of the poet," Wan Caiyue remarked somewhat wistfully.
Bai Ruozhu shrank her neck, she was glad she didn’t claim to have come up with the poem by herself. Otherwise, everyone would have worshipped her as a god. She would’ve been too embarrassed.
The next morning, Meng Qiu didn’t come. Instead, Sui Xing drove the horse carriage to pick up Bai Ruozhu and they went to the small courtyard they had visited the previous day. This time, the attitude of the four doctors had noticeably changed.
The doctor who asked Bai Ruozhu for advice yesterday, began by asking a few more questions. Bai Ruozhu answered each one of them patiently. The other three men listened attentively. Clearly, they had premeditated these questions and had chosen him to ask them on their behalf.
Subsequently, the doctors began suturing wounds, Bai Ruozhu observing the mistakes the other three were making, couldn’t help but laugh.
"Miss Bai, could you tell me what I’m doing wrong?" Finally, Ling Shan couldn’t resist asking.
Bai Ruozhu had been hoping they’d show some humility. She didn’t intend to withhold information when they asked, she also wanted to quickly teach them everything, so they wouldn’t disturb her every day, as it was eating into her money-making time.
After pointing out Ling Shan’s mistakes, she immediately underwent an enlightenment, improving his technique significantly based on his shortcomings.
The other two doctors eventually also asked Bai Ruozhu for advice sincerely. Bai Ruozhu gave them each pointers, then said, "Now that you’ve mastered the basics, you need to practice more and get better at handling the angle and precision of the needle."
After she left, the four men in the yard exchanged glances, as if they had just awake from a dream.
"Actually, she’s not bad. If only we knew to ask her sooner, Lei San wouldn’t have been ahead of us," Ling Shan muttered.
"Huh, weren’t you the ones who mocked me for having no integrity before? Everything she said made sense. It’s because you cared too much about status and looked down on her," the first doctor who asked Bai Ruozhu for advice retorted.
The haughtiest one of them didn’t counter. He just continued practicing diligently, somewhat unwillingly.
...
Bai Ruozhu had the carriage take her to the Xie Residence. Upon arrival, she went looking for Sister Hongxiu. Her aim was to inspect the property Sister Hongxiu had spoken of. Sister Hongxiu was idly enjoying a meal then. Seeing Bai Ruozhu, she pulled her outside, saying, "I’ll take you there right away. We don’t need to take a carriage, it’s very close to here."
Indeed, as they walked to the property, it really didn’t take long, about a quarter of an hour. Sister Hongxiu pointed to a tea shop and shared, "This is the dowry property of the wife of the city’s current administrator, Hao Zongze. She was originally running a tea business, but she wasn’t making any profit. Instead, she kept losing money and has decided to lease out the shop."
"She doesn’t plan to transfer her stock of tea, does she?" Bai Ruozhu enquired.
Sister Hongxiu waved her hand dismissively, "No need, she said whatever couldn’t be sold could be used as gifts, or given to the shopkeepers to transfer it to other tea houses. You check if the location and size of the shop are suitable."
Bai Ruozhu took a look around. Although this was not a particularly busy street, it didn’t matter as her Weaving Pavilion didn’t necessarily have to be situated in a very busy area. Most of the business would be from repeat customers or referrals. As for the size of the shop, it was slightly larger than what she had initially envisioned, and it was a two-story property. On the contrary, this could be better as customers visiting the shop could go upstairs to enjoy some tea. It might even come across as a more high-end service.
Bai Ruozhu followed Sister Hongxiu into the shop for a brief tour. She found it quite satisfactory, even the renovation seemed to require minimum effort.
Seeing Bai Ruozhu’s satisfaction, Sister Hongxiu quietly told her about the rent Hao’s wife hoped to receive. Bai Ruozhu was not familiar with the rental and sale price of shops in Beiyu city. She responded, "If you, Sister Hongxiu, think it’s fair, then I’m fine with it. I trust your judgement more."
"Of course, I’m on your side. I have already negotiated the price for you and it is indeed quite reasonable. We shouldn’t strain the relationship by haggling any further," Sister Hongxiu affirmed.
Bai Ruozhu nodded, "Alright then, let’s set up a meeting with Hao’s wife to sign the rental agreement."
"By the way, in Beiyu city, we have to pay half a year’s rent upfront when leasing a property. If you’re tight on. funds just let me know," Sister Hongxiu whispered to Bai Ruozhu.
Bai Ruozhu knew it was well-intended. Initially, she was going to tell Sister Hongxiu that she had enough money on hand. However, she quickly changed her mind and with a smile, suggested, "Why don’t you invest in my Weaving Pavilion, Sister Hongxiu? That way, you can sit back and enjoy the profits."