Chapter 712  : Making a Killing

In the Chu Village.

In her room, Chu Qingyan suddenly cheered, “Finally done!”

She had been working on making freckle-removing cream for the past few days and finally managed to prepare a hundred bottles. She carefully packed them into two boxes, wrote a letter on white paper, and called an eagle to deliver the letters to Fan Yuru and Rong Shiyu.

She decided to sell her freckle-removing cream in their pharmacies, distributing it evenly between them to avoid favoritism.

Fan Yuru and Rong Shiyu quickly sent someone to pick up the cream and brought the money from the previous sales.

When Chu Qingyan left the capital, she had placed five bottles of cream in each of their pharmacies, which had already been sold out.

The cream was priced at three taels per bottle, totaling thirty taels. The cost was ten taels, leaving a profit of twenty taels. Each shop took a ten percent commission for selling the cream… four taels, leaving sixteen taels for Chu Qingyan.

Chu Qingyan counted the money in her hands and was delighted, thinking to herself that she could also make a lot of money, “Thank you.”

After exchanging pleasantries, the visitors took the boxes and left.

Chu Qingyan ran back to her room, excitedly threw herself on the bed, and counted the money again, sixteen taels.

She calculated that ten bottles earned sixteen taels, so a hundred bottles would make a hundred and sixty taels, and a thousand bottles would bring in one thousand six hundred taels…

“So much money!”

Chu Qingyan was overjoyed.

She quickly decided to buy more herbs to make more cream and earn more money.

With this thought in mind, Chu Qingyan turned around and sat up. She ran downstairs.

She first looked for her friends in the village and gave them the cream that they had spent money on. Then, she went to the county.

Chu Hongxiu accompanied her, saying she would help Chu Qingyan carry things.

In the county town, Chu Qingyan generously bought snacks for Chu Hongxiu, grateful for her friend’s constant support and companionship.

Chu Hongxiu tentatively asked, “Qingyan, when your business grows, you won’t be able to manage it alone. You’ll need help, won’t you?”

This reminded Chu Qingyan, who thought for a moment and asked, “Do you want to be my helper?”

Chu Hongxiu was thrilled, “I would love to.”

Chu Qingyan patted her shoulder, “Then you’ll be my helper. But you have to be diligent, or you won’t be able to keep up with me, and we won’t make money.”

Chu Hongxiu nodded vigorously, promising, “Don’t worry, I will.”

And so, Chu Hongxiu’s destiny was changed.

Not long after Chu Qingyan left, Chu Qingning also finished making her cream, producing a total of one hundred and fifty bottles.

She packed them into boxes and handed them over to the Ning family’s transport team to deliver to Chu Qingyue.

The wrinkle-removing cream was more expensive to produce and sold for a higher price, five taels per bottle. However, giving it to Chu Qingyue to win over the rich ladies greatly increased its value.

At the county office.

Since the morning, the entrance to the county office had been bustling with people, all of whom looked eagerly towards the examination hall.

Chu Xujin had been patrolling the area and stopped at the main entrance, noting that it was almost time for the candidates to come out.

As he expected, the doors of the examination room soon opened, and the students began to exit…

“Son, how did you do?”

“Grandson, how was it? Did you finish all the exam questions?”

Elders approached their children, eagerly inquiring about the exam. After years of study, everything depended on this examination.

Chu Xujin saw Chu Xuyuan and Chu Xuyao and hurried over, “How did it go?”

The two brothers mysteriously pulled Chu Xujin aside into a corner…

Chu Xuyuan thought for a moment and said, “It was easy.”

Chu Xujin was slightly relieved and turned to Chu Xuyao, “And you?”

Chu Xuyao succinctly replied, “I knew how to do each question.”

Chu Xujin’s heart, tense all day, gradually relaxed. He patted the two boys on their heads, “That’s good.”

“Xuyuan, Xuyao…” Li Qingyu and Chu Rong came to pick them up.

Chu Xuyuan and Chu Xuyao called out together, “Dad, Mom,” and then walked towards them, “We can go home now.”

Li Qingyu quickly said, “Let’s talk while we walk.”

On the way back, Li Qingyu saw that the two boys didn’t seem happy and thought they hadn’t done well, so after a bit of conversation, she didn’t say much more.

Chu Rong said, “The exam is over, let’s prepare well for tomorrow’s test.”

There were two days of exams, and this was just the first day.

The two nodded together, “Mmm.”

After returning home, one transcribed the morning’s paper, and the other transcribed the afternoon’s paper, then they answered them again before riding to the school to find Yan Yixian.

Chu Xuyuan cautiously asked, “Teacher, how did we do?”

After looking at their work, Yan Yixian had them bring over a brazier to burn the two exam papers, to prevent any trouble, “Just focus on the upcoming exams, don’t dwell on the past.”

He didn’t give them feedback, but internally, he gave them perfect scores.

Chu Xuyuan and Chu Xuyao were a bit disappointed that Yan Yixian didn’t comment on their papers, but they thought there must be a reason for his actions, so they bowed and left to go home.

At the Chu Family Paper Mill.

Chu Qingzhi reviewed the new paper made by Li Changjiang, which was added with pearl powder, and each sheet met her standards. In a few days, once there was enough stock, it could be put to use.

Tang Jinghong admired the beautiful wrapping paper, “Once this wrapping paper is released, I reckon many people will come to you to discuss business.”

Chu Qingzhi hadn’t considered this, but if people wanted to buy the wrapping paper, she was open to discussion. After all, as long as it was profitable, it was worth considering.

Chu Feng ran over, “Sister Qingzhi, the oil paper is ready.”

Chu Qingzhi raised an eyebrow, “That quick? Let’s take a look.”

The three went to the room where the oil paper was made, which was filled with a strong smell of oil, a bit stuffy.

The finished oil paper was spread out on a container designed for drying oil paper, with one large sheet of oil paper in the container now.

“Please have a look, Miss.”

Chu Qingzhi inspected it and found the oil paper’s texture uniform and odorless, better than the current oil paper used in the workshop, “How many years have you been making oil paper?”

Yu Zihui replied, “Five or six years.”

“No wonder your technique is so proficient.” Chu Qingzhi decided to hire Yu Zihui, “You’ll be the head manager, with a monthly salary of twelve taels, a one-month probation period. Are you willing?”

Yu Zihui didn’t expect such a high salary from Chu Qingzhi and happily accepted, “I’mwilling.”

“Then come tomorrow. However, the people to assist you will need two days to arrive, so you can start with some preparatory tasks in the meantime.”

“Okay.”

Chu Qingzhi had Chu Feng take him to sign the employment contract, confidentiality agreement, etc., and then she went to Li Changjiang’s paper­making area.

The new workers today were quite unskilled, giving Master Li a bit of a headache, but finding work wasn’t easy nowadays. Seeing Chu Qingzhi come, he spoke well of everyone, “It’s like this for everyone starting in this line of work; it’ll get better over time.”

Everyone was very grateful when they saw Li Changjiang speaking up for them.