Jinyi flashed a radiant smile.
“Mr. Zhang, I actually wanted to discuss something with you. A few days ago, someone came to our residence and said that they wanted to build a distillery near our home to supply us with inexpensive base alcohol. I had a conversation with that person…”
Mr.
Zhang’s face went pale with fright.
He hurriedly waved his hands.
“Miss Jinyi, you’ve misunderstood me! I’m not trying to raise the price. What I meant was that my base-alcohol production has increased, but I really can’t lower the price any further. After all, I have to hire workers.”
“Oh, then I was the one who misunderstood Mr. Zhang. My apologies.”
“It was my fault, my fault! I didn’t explain myself properly and caused Miss Jinyi to misunderstand.”
After discussing a few other matters for a while, Jinyi collected the money and finally left the tavern.
She then traveled around town in the cart to buy a few things before beginning the journey home.
When she returned, Jinyi, who normally behaved with great composure whenever she was outside, finally let a little bit of her girlish side show.
“Sir, that Mr. Zhang has made quite a lot of money from our alcohol, and he’s still not satisfied. It seems we’ll have to get rid of him soon.”
“Yes, yes. You decide these matters however you see fit. I’ll just be responsible for applauding you.”
Jinyi nodded and continued excitedly,
“Sir, we’re currently producing one hundred jin of alcohol a day. Every shipment we send to the tavern brings us ten liang of silver.”
“And the tavern sells it for another ten liang. Compared with the profits, the expenses are practically negligible.”
“On top of that, Mr. Zhang supplies other types of alcohol to the tavern. Although the profits from those products aren’t very high, they’re enough to cover the expenses. Since we receive seventy percent, that’s seven liang of silver.”
“The main cost is the base alcohol. Later on, we’ll probably have to buy firewood, but we won’t need that much. The total cost shouldn’t reach three liang.”
“That means we make more than fourteen liang a day. In a year, that would be approximately five thousand liang…”
Jinyi was stunned by the figure she had calculated herself.
Good heavens!
Five thousand liang a year?
If they devoted themselves to farming, probably only a truly wealthy family with ten thousand mu of fertile land could earn that kind of income!
The other girls were excited as well.
Jinwen wore a somewhat foolish grin.
“So… can we eat whatever we want?”
Mountains of meat and fish, roast chickens, roast geese…
Those images appeared in Jinwen’s mind once again.
She imagined herself sitting in the middle of an enormous circle of tables, with every single one piled high with delicious food!
Jinyi also allowed herself to fantasize for a moment.
But she quickly regained her composure.
“Well, you can imagine all you want, but that’s all. Our wealth must not become public knowledge. We can’t let anyone start setting their sights on our money.”
“Sir, I don’t feel comfortable leaving the base alcohol in Mr. Zhang’s hands. I think it would be better if we produced it ourselves.”
“I’ve done some calculations. If we build a distillery capable of producing five hundred jin of base alcohol a day, we’ll need around a dozen people.”
As soon as Zhao Baihui heard that they needed workers, he immediately perked up.
“Will a dozen really be enough? Shouldn’t we hire more? That way, no one will have to work too hard. Besides, Sir isn’t short of money.”
“Hmm… Then let’s tentatively set the number at twenty people. Ten families, ten men and ten women. That should be enough.”
“Jinyi, let’s do it this way. Hire people as soon as possible. We have to make that greedy Mr. Zhang learn the consequences of offending a little girl!”
“Sir!”
Jinyi and the other girls were the type to act as soon as they made up their minds.
They immediately began making plans: where to build the distillery, how much space it would require, how many materials would be needed, what production equipment to use, how many large barrels they would need, and so on.
In the end, Jinyi decided that the best option would be to simply buy Mr.
Zhang’s distillery and take everything there.
If possible, they would even buy the distillery together with its workers and take the whole package.
In the middle of all this, Zhao Baihui made a suggestion concerning the location of the factory.
He had previously spent money on having the System carry out a comprehensive urban plan, so it would be best not to go outside the boundaries established by that plan.
He didn’t want to affect the future aesthetics of the city.
Afterward, he spent another ten yuan to purchase the blueprint for an excellent small factory and copied it by hand for the girls.
The girls were filled with enthusiasm.
Once the planning was complete, they immediately got to work.
Jinyi sent someone by carriage to fetch Mr.
Zhang, while Jinxiu went to find Mr.
Wang, the construction supervisor, and have him build the factory.
Jinwen and Jinyuan contacted the grain merchants to negotiate a food supply.
The only one who remained sprawled out at home, playing dead, was Zhao Baihui, the master of the household.
He couldn’t stop lamenting that the girls had already grown up and that, as their master, he now had nothing left to do.
It was the typical case of someone gaining an advantage and still finding something to complain about.
The girls successfully handled their respective tasks.
Mr.
Wang, the construction supervisor, brought several men to visit Zhao Baihui and then immediately set the workers to work.
Building the factory was quite simple.
Basically, it consisted of constructing a large rectangular courtyard, with high walls to protect it from potential thieves in the future.
Inside, earthen walls would divide the space into different areas for different functions.
For storing grain and liquor barrels, simple sheds would be sufficient for the time being.
The workers’ dormitories were a little more complicated, but not by much.
They could simply be built to the same standard as the residences in Zhao Manor.
The factory was completed in seven or eight days. Get faster updates on g.com.
For the sake of that great business venture—the tavern—Mr.
Zhang had to reluctantly give up his little liquor factory.
He had no other choice.
Once the Zhao family’s liquor factory was completed, his own would be finished.
After all, the liquor he produced could only be sold in Qingniu.
Most of it was supplied to the Zhao family as base alcohol.
So what was he supposed to do with all that ordinary liquor?
His liquor wasn’t Immortal’s Drunk, which had buyers lining up everywhere.
Qingniu itself couldn’t possibly consume one hundred jin of Immortal’s Drunk a day.
But Zhao Baihui had done an excellent job with his scarcity strategy.
There was always someone in town saying that Immortal’s Drunk was so good because it contained some special ingredient.
And because it could sell out at any moment, many alcohol enthusiasts would buy one jin to drink and another ten jin to store away.
This time, after the price increase, sales were even better.
Everyone had realized that the liquor wasn’t merely delicious—it could even serve as an investment.
So even more people began competing to get their hands on it, including people who normally didn’t drink alcohol at all.
That was how the market worked.
It was always strange.
At first, there had been nineteen people in Zhao Baihui’s household, providing him with a stable daily subsidy of 190 yuan.
That was equivalent to 1,900 wen a day, almost two liang of silver.
But since he was making even more money from Immortal’s Drunk—more than ten liang a day—the subsidies gradually began piling up.
Now, several families had joined them from Mr.
Zhang’s liquor-factory business, and Jinyi had also recruited several families who were in desperate need.
Ten more families had been added in total, and including the children, there were now no fewer than fifty-three people.
Once they completed their trial periods, the daily subsidy would rise to 720 yuan, exceeding even the salary Zhao Baihui had earned before transmigrating!
“Jinyi, I think we ordinary people still need to give priority to the land. Do me a favor: work a little harder and find more people to cultivate the wasteland. We need to produce more grain!”
Although Jinyi didn’t understand why her master, who was earning so much money every day, was still worried about cultivating land for a few coins…
As the person closest to her master, she obediently agreed anyway.
She promised Zhao Baihui that she would continue looking for people to work the land.
“Jinyi, now that we have money, we also have a sense of responsibility. Ordinary people are having a very hard time.”
“So don’t just look for men. The elderly, children, widows, even monks, nuns, or people with disabilities. As long as they’re willing to come here and work, we have to make sure they can at least get something to eat, one way or another. That’s called social responsibility. Understand?”
“Yes… yes, Sir.”
Heh.
I don’t care who you are.
As long as you’re alive, give me your ten yuan a day.