bookcurios Chapter 108 We also need to do business in lower-tier markets!
Chapter 108 We also need to do business in lower-tier markets!
"Why do I hear you talking about cutting back on the servants' monthly wages as soon as you come in?" Doctor Hu stroked his beard and walked into the kitchen with a smile.
He didn't know what the bonus was, but based on Cheng Ruoan's words, it should be the same as the monthly allowance.
As soon as he finished speaking, Dr. Hu was stunned when he saw the state of the kitchen.
This was very different from the kitchens he had ever seen before. It wasn't dark and gloomy like a typical kitchen, with walls covered in soot and fire marks. There were no stoves or sinks along the walls, and no counter or long table for displaying vegetables, fruits, or meat in the middle.
The kitchen was spacious, with walls painted a bright white, which looked like a lot of money had been spent on it.
Directly opposite the door is a large window, with two pools made of blue bricks on either side of the window, and a table with a smooth stone slab surface around the pools.
The space that should have been used for a workbench and a long table has instead been turned into a stove with two burners.
"Apprentice, why did you change the kitchen like this?"
Cheng Ruoan smiled brightly, "Master, believe me, this kitchen will be cleaner and more convenient to operate, whether we use it to make hand cream now or to make other cosmeceuticals in the future."
As she spoke, she pointed outside the door, across from the kitchen, to a small side room that had been converted into a similar white-walled storeroom.
"The dried medicinal herbs stored over there are also clean and tidy, so our customers can use our medicines with peace of mind."
As a doctor, Dr. Hu naturally preferred such a clean environment. "But, my apprentice, aren't you worried about letting too much dust into the room with the window so wide open?"
"No, Master, look here."
Cheng Ruoan led Doctor Hu to the window, where Doctor Hu noticed that the window was covered with a thin layer of gauze.
The fine pores were unlike those of the textiles produced in the Great Xia Dynasty.
of course not!
That was a curtain that Cheng Ruoan had taken down from the villa; it was imported moonlight gauze!
Made using Western hand-weaving techniques, it is as light and thin as a cicada's wing. Hanging in front of the French windows, it truly resembles the bright moonlight cascading down vertically.
If she hadn't used up all the gauze she had in the villa by making gauze masks, she wouldn't have had to resort to this "robbing Peter to pay Paul" approach.
But when it comes to making money, you have to give up something to gain something.
Cheng Ruoan looked at her masterpiece with considerable satisfaction. "The gauze window can filter out some dust, which won't hinder ventilation and will also prevent our hand cream from getting dusty before it hardens."
After she finished speaking, she touched the stone table: "When the hand cream is cooling down, you can just lay it flat on this. If you are still worried about dust, you can cover the bottles and jars with a layer of gauze."
"You're so thoughtful, my apprentice!" Doctor Hu felt extremely pleased.
Look at his last disciple; he not only studies medicine diligently and attentively, but he also pays such attention to detail in doing business.
No wonder he was raised by a reclusive medical master!
it is good!
The master and apprentice let Aunt Zhang slowly render the lard before leaving the kitchen... no, Cheng Ruoan had already renamed it the "production workshop".
The nameplates have already been written by Si Shaoheng and are being carved by Shaoyang.
The master and apprentice went to the medicine storage room together, took out the medicine as needed, and then went to the courtyard to brew the medicine.
"This batch of lard can make 300 bottles of hand cream. Master, shall we make all of them into soft hand cream?"
Dr. Hu poured the prepared medicine into a medicine pot, added water, and started boiling it.
This herbal formula that can make the skin soft and smooth was conceived by Doctor Hu, and it is said to be a modified version of a secret recipe used by the empresses in the palace.
Dr. Hu: "Are there any other prescriptions?"
Cheng Ruoan pouted: "Then making some ordinary hand cream without any secret formula, just something that's purely moisturizing and prevents dryness and cracking, would be a good idea."
She had come up with a formula to whiten the skin, but after experimenting with it for the past two days, the master and apprentice found that the formula, when boiled into a medicinal broth, was not very effective.
Therefore, we will not be making whitening hand creams for the time being.
“Master, think about it. We price a jar of hand cream at one tael of silver, but the cost is no more than forty coins. The profit margin is huge, but only embroiderers and wealthy young ladies in the north can afford it.”
"What about all those ordinary people? Are we just going to abandon this lower-tier market?"
One pound of lard costs fifty coins, enough to fill three jars of hand cream, while the medicinal decoction is made by boiling one hundred pounds of lard with three doses of medicine.
The cost of one dose of medicine is eighty coins.
The small porcelain jars that Cheng's mother and eldest sister specially bought cost twenty coins each. If they were made to order from the kiln, they would cost about sixteen or seventeen coins each.
The most expensive component in the cost is alum, which is used to remove the odor of lard.
But you can't add much of this stuff.
A pound of alum costs only one tael of silver, enough for Cheng Ruoan and her team to make tens of thousands of jars of lard.
Dr. Hu didn't understand what the lower-tier market was. He just fanned the fire in the medicine stove and casually offered a skin care recipe: "For something less effective, you can soak Saposhnikovia divaricata, Angelica dahurica, and cloves in sake, then boil them to make a medicinal juice that can be mixed into a regular hand cream. A little bit of the herbs can make many jars."
Cheng Ruoan's eyes lit up, "We still have two hundred catties of unwashed and uncooked pork fat, let's make some cheap stuff!"
"When you go to get the liquor, get me a jug of strong liquor too, it's terribly cold in the north."
"Row!"
Cheng Ruoan beckoned to a young boy, "Dapeng, come and watch the fire for me! I need to go to the street to buy some wine."
Dapeng is Aunt Zhang's youngest son.
Yesterday, when Mother Cheng was buying people, she specifically bought a family of four: Aunt Zhang's husband and Uncle Zhang, who usually works as a gatekeeper and manages the chores in the front yard.
Zhang Yi and Zhang Er, whose two sons were renamed Zhang Dakun and Zhang Dapeng by Cheng Ruoan, the older one helped make tofu, while the younger one helped Aunt Zhang make lard paste.
In addition, Cheng's mother bought two maids, both about the same age as Si Dahua. Cheng Ruo'an told them to just stay with Cheng's mother and Cheng Ruotong.
Zhang Dapeng was a thin, small boy with dark skin. After responding, he ran to take the firewood he was carrying to his mother in the kitchen.
After delivering the package, he hurried out, ran up to Cheng Ruoan, and bowed respectfully: "Second Miss."
“You don’t need to do all this at home anymore. Just get things done quickly. Da Peng, if you can keep an eye on things while Dr. Hu is preparing the medicine, you can also help him with the stove.” Cheng Ruoan smiled and handed him the two small fans she was holding.
Dapeng: ...
"Okay... okay."
He only has two hands and two eyes, but he's supposed to hold three fans and watch over three stoves?!
Cheng Ruoan ran like the wind from the backyard to the side gate of the second courtyard and went out.
Turn left after leaving the house, then right, and you'll be on Ta Ma Street. Head straight to the tavern and buy two jars of sake. "Could you please ask someone to deliver these to the Cheng residence up ahead?"
Sake is not expensive; two large jars can be bought for one tael of silver.
Just as Cheng Ruoan put down the silver, the shop assistant was opening a jar of strong liquor for another customer.
The strong, overpowering aroma almost made Cheng Ruoan faint after just one whiff.
It's not that it's overpoweringly strong, but rather that I don't know what ancient method it was brewed with; it has a strong, sour rice flavor.
"Oh, look at that expression, Madam Cheng. You must have smelled the strong liquor. How about we get a jug?"
Cheng Ruoan quickly waved her hand, "No need, no need."
The old man wanted to drink strong liquor, but her villa had Wuliangye and Moutai. The taste of this traditional strong liquor was really not suitable for their home!