18
Selling Smaller Soap: Poor People Have Their Own Tricks
Chen Yanqiu was nearly driven to despair by her own daughter.
It was clearly a trap, yet she had jumped right in without a second thought.
Wang Xiao, on the other hand, tried to console her mother: “Integrating technology with production—if I do well at the soap factory, no one will be able to take credit for my work later. Isn’t that better than toiling away only to have someone else reap the rewards?”
Chen Yanqiu held back again and again, swallowing the words, “Isn’t this mess your own doing? If only you’d been a bit more sensible back then, you wouldn’t have ended up like this…”
Her daughter had finally stopped mentioning Ruan Rui—she absolutely must not remind her of him again.
She could only grit her teeth and say, “Fine, but don’t make decisions on your own from now on. At least give us a heads-up first.”
What a curse—this debt collector, this repayment for sins from a past life.
Grumbling under her breath, the mother finished packing her daughter’s luggage, saw her off at the bus station, and waited until the girl was seated and the bus had driven away before turning back home, her heart heavy with melancholy.
What? You think she’d escort her daughter all the way to the Xinxian Soap Factory? Impossible.
In 1990, parenting emphasized independence. Few parents even saw their children off to university, let alone accompanied a working adult on a business trip. If the leaders saw it, they’d laugh and dismiss her as an unweaned child, unfit for serious responsibility.
Having traveled far and wide before transmigrating into this novel, Wang Xiao was used to hardships. Though she couldn’t stand the suffocating smell inside the bus, she endured it, pinching her nose. After a bumpy four-hour journey, she finally arrived at Xinxian Bus Station.
By the time she got off, she felt as if every bone in her body had been jolted loose.
Fortunately, the soap factory took her role as an expert from the provincial chemical research institute seriously and had even sent someone to pick her up.
A middle-aged man with a receding hairline and a young man with a crew cut stood holding a cardboard sign bearing Wang Xiao’s name.
Thank goodness it didn’t say “Warm Welcome”—that would have been mortifying.
Wang Xiao dragged her suitcase over and greeted them with a smile. “Comrades, hello! I’m Wang Xiao. And you are?”
The balding man, however, merely glanced at her and shook his head. “We’re here to pick up Senior Engineer Wang from the chemical institute. Little girl, it’s not you.”
Wang Xiao was embarrassed but produced the letter of introduction issued by her institute. “I am Wang Xiao from the chemical institute. My superiors assigned me to come here.”
At this, the few remaining strands of hair on the balding man’s head seemed to stand on end. He nearly threw the letter on the spot.
What was the provincial chemical institute thinking? The soap factory had sincerely invited an expert to guide their work, and they sent a mere girl to brush them off like beggars—this was nothing but contempt!
If this were a tech-themed revenge novel, the female lead would surely whip out some dazzling skills and humiliate the ignorant soap factory in spectacular fashion.
Unfortunately, in chemistry, Wang Xiao was an academic slacker.
When it came to soap-making, she had to address every employee at the soap factory as “master.”
She sadly realized she had already forgotten the steps to making soap.
Even though she had done it in high school chemistry class.
So she pretended not to understand the disdainful look from the “Balding” uncle, maintaining a beaming smile: “Finally arrived. So, where’s the factory? The institute said you were in a hurry and sent me straight over without even letting me catch my breath. Let’s go, no time to waste—time is life, and we can’t delay production.”
“Balding” and “Buzz Cut” exchanged a glance, with the former pulling a long face: “Our factory’s conditions are poor, so Comrade Wang will have to endure taking the bus.”
Wang Xiao made it her mission to keep smiling, effortlessly tossing her luggage to the “Buzz Cut” young man. An expert had to carry herself with an expert’s demeanor—did they expect her to do everything herself for them to respect her?
Nonsense. Human instinct is to admire strength.
“Fine, let’s hurry and catch the bus then.” Wang Xiao strode ahead, taking the chance to take a jab at the soap factory: “Can’t even sell soap? Heard you can’t even pay wages? I’m really worried for you!”
So incompetent!
“Balding” was the soap factory’s office director. In these times, workers had a strong sense of collective honor. Hearing Comrade Wang’s seemingly offhand remarks, his face flushed red, and he instinctively retorted: “These days, with the triangular debt crisis, which factory is having an easy time?”
Wang Xiao turned her head, smirking faintly: “I heard Erhua Soap Factory is selling well. I’ve seen their soap in plenty of stores in the provincial capital.”
The office director’s face turned even redder.
Their factory actually had a longer history than Erhua, dating back to the 1960s. In the early 1980s, when Erhua was just established, they even came to their factory to study their techniques.
Who would have thought that teaching apprentices would starve the master? Those people had no honor—introducing foreign technology, hiring experts—they snatched the market clean, leaving their Xin County Soap Factory without even a drop of soup.
Wang Xiao couldn’t care less about the grudges between soap factories. She boarded the bus confidently and unabashedly took the seat the “Buzz Cut” young man had scrambled to get for her. Any treatment other engineers enjoyed, she wouldn’t accept less.
When they arrived at the soap factory and it was time to arrange accommodation, the factory office started causing trouble again.
Originally, the factory had booked a guesthouse for the institute’s engineers, but now, seeing Wang Xiao was just a young woman, they felt the institute was brushing them off. The factory wanted to put Wang Xiao in the women’s duty room to save on accommodation costs.
The office director was still racking his brains to come up with excuses when Wang Xiao impatiently cut off his nonsense: “Enough, this isn’t important. Let’s talk business first.”
She’d dealt with plenty of unreasonable partners before—back when she ran an online lingerie store and sought OEM factories, she’d seen all kinds of oddballs.
But did she refuse to cooperate with oddballs? Of course not!
As long as there was money to be made, she could tolerate any oddball.
Right now, Wang Xiao didn’t mind the soap factory looking down on her because she’d already spotted a business opportunity.
Selling soap—large-scale soap sales.
Any business wanting to grow big needs factories involved, even for high-end weapons. Only industrial production can guarantee a steady output of products.
With a ready-made soap factory right in front of her, she’d be a fool not to seize the chance to make money.
Wang Xiao didn’t even drink the water the “Balding” director offered out of politeness and went straight to the point: “Director, please take me to see the soap your factory produces. I need to identify where the problem lies.”
The factory office director was momentarily stunned, unsure whether to laugh at this young girl’s audacity or suspect she simply had a youthful baby face while actually being a senior engineer.
He could only instruct the crew-cut worker: “Xiao Tang, help Engineer Wang carry her luggage to the room. Engineer Wang, shall I take you to visit our workshop then?”
“No need.” Wang Xiao was being practical – she had zero curiosity about the workshop. “Just show me the soap products your factory manufactures.”
Well now, the factory office director didn’t dare put on airs anymore.
Just listen to her tone – clearly an expert who could identify problems just by examining the products.
So the director quickly led the way to the warehouse and brought out samples: “Our factory currently produces two types. One is Stinky Soap – this is really effective. Back in the day, supply and marketing cooperatives competed to stock our products, lining up at our gates. The other is Scented Soap, which we started producing ten years ago. It’s also very popular – our factory operates three shifts around the clock, stopping only for workers, not machines.”
Wang Xiao let the words go in one ear and out the other, feeling no admiration for the soap factory’s glorious history.
After all, its prosperity was a product of the planned economy era. During the period when the country focused on developing heavy industry, all daily chemical products were treasures – no factory worried about sales.
Now without the guaranteed unified purchase and sales system, with market competition opened up, other factories could also produce soap and scented soap. Those willing to invest in equipment upgrades, technological improvements, and marketing naturally surpassed others – wasn’t that inevitable?
She only picked up the soap and scented soap, turning them over in her hands and sniffing them.
Well, Stinky Soap lived up to its name – it did have an indescribable odor. Not exactly unpleasant, but certainly not fragrant either.
The scented soap was much better, smelling somewhat like sandalwood with a hint of lotus fragrance – light and quite pleasant.
In Wang Xiao’s view, there was nothing particularly wrong with these two soaps. Their poor sales were simply the result of changing times.
Take Stinky Soap for example – mainly used for scrubbing shoes and washing clothes. As washing machines became common household items, laundry detergent was definitely more convenient than soap.
As for scented soap, shower gel was aggressively capturing the market, leaving less and less space for its survival.
To reverse this trend, the soap factory needed to find alternative approaches and diversify soap varieties.
Since laundry detergent was gradually replacing laundry soap, what should they do? Produce lingerie soap.
Currently, there were no specialized lingerie washing machines. Most people used machines for larger garments, while intimate apparel and light clothing were still often hand-washed by many. Producing specialized lingerie soap would meet this specific need and naturally find a market.
Besides lingerie soap, children’s soap was also a good option. By 1990, the one-child policy had been implemented for nearly ten years, and the first generation of only children had reached school age. Doted on by parents and grandparents – even described in newspapers as little emperors and princesses – adults were willing to give them the best they could. Buying special children’s soap would be perfect.
When she explained these ideas, the factory director and production manager who had rushed over upon hearing the news immediately brightened up, eagerly asking: “Engineer Wang, how do we produce these two types of soap?”
Wang Xiao shook his head: “Your factory’s equipment isn’t up to standard – you need imported machinery. Hmm, I estimate it would cost nearly a million.”
The truth was she only knew the concepts of lingerie soap and children’s soap, completely unaware of the actual soap-making process. Since she couldn’t just rely on gimmicks to deceive consumers, she had no choice but to blame their lack of funds.
The soap factory managers’ faces immediately fell.
If they had the money, why would they be humbling themselves and desperately seeking help from the chemical research institute? They could just import the equipment themselves.
Truly, lack of money could defeat even the mightiest hero. They clearly knew how to make money, yet couldn’t actually do it.
Seeing their dejected expressions, Wang Xiao smiled: “Don’t be discouraged. If one path is blocked, take another. I’ve examined your factory’s soap – the quality is acceptable, but it’s too similar to others without any unique selling points. How about this: let me try selling your soap for you.”
Everyone was utterly astonished.
In 1990, nearly every factory had a sales department with dedicated salespeople. But they had invited this young, unfamiliar Engineer Wang to serve as a technical consultant, not to brave wind and rain as a salesperson.
“Engineer Wang, we really can’t impose on you like this.”
Wang Xiao said half-jokingly, half-seriously: “It’s fine, just treat me as a salesperson and give me the sales commission. However, I can’t sell them as they are. You need to make the scented soap smaller, about this size, and shape them into rounds before I can sell them.”
Seeing their skeptical expressions, her smile widened. “Don’t worry, boldly produce the samples. I’ll pay for them myself. If they don’t sell, the factory won’t lose money.”