Chapter 72: Make an appointment, make an alliance

Upon returning from Anyi County, Liu Yu arranged two things. The first one was literacy.

The dimensions written by Cui Erniang, the invoice written by Lu Chengxiao – Liu Yu shouldn’t recognize any of these. After returning home, she sought advice from Aunt Wei. Originally, she thought about asking Liu Yanping and Liu Yanan to teach her, but she didn’t expect Aunt Wei to be literate as well. So, Aunt Wei read everything aloud to Liu Yu.

At this moment, Aunt Wei realized that her niece couldn’t read. If she were marrying into an ordinary peasant family, it wouldn’t matter much. But since she was marrying into the Lu family, and Aunt Wei herself wanted to do business, illiteracy wouldn’t do. So, she dug out the Thousand Character Classic that Liu Yanqing, Liu Yanping, and Liu Yanan had used in their childhood and instructed them to give Liu Yu lessons whenever they could spare time.

Liu Yanan was particularly enthusiastic about this. Without a second word, he went to make a sand tray for Liu Yu and presented it like a treasure to her.

Liu Yu was stunned. Liu Yanan said, “When you’re just starting to learn, you can write on the sand tray with a twig. It’s easier than using a brush and also saves ink and paper.”

Many children from rural families learned this way.

Liu Yu raised an eyebrow, thinking it was a good idea. Using a brush might expose the fact that she wasn’t a beginner, but using a twig would be better.

After that, half an hour after lunch every day became Liu Yu’s designated literacy time, with Liu Yanping and Liu Yanan taking turns as teachers.

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Not wanting to delay the sale of the clothes and fearing that customers would have to wait too long, Liu Yanan took the initiative to make a trip. Carrying only a small parcel, he took a boat, which was cheaper and faster than driving a mule cart.

During this trip, he also brought back the money from the sale of the clothes that the embroiderer had taken over last time: 1200 wen in total. Cui Erniang received 240 wen, while Liu Yu received 960 wen. Adding the previous balance of 160 wen, it totaled 1120 wen.

Cui Erniang was delighted when she heard from Liu Yanan that Liu Yu had hired two women from the village to help with the simple sewing. This time, she didn’t give silver but directly gave copper coins, saying it was more convenient for Liu Yu to pay the wages this way. After deducting the fifteen taels of fabric from last time, Liu Yu now had thirty-eight taels of silver and fifteen pieces of fabric.

Cui Erniang was also pleased to learn that Liu Yu was hiring people. She instructed Liu Yanan to tell Liu Yu to send the payment faster.

She found that although she only got twenty percent profit from selling Liu Yu’s clothes, because the unit price was high, her profit from each item was not less than that from the clothes she embroidered herself. Furthermore, because Liu Yu’s clothes had good designs and could attract customers as soon as they were displayed prominently, not only did she attract a few high-spending customers from the town, but she also brought more customers into her shop, boosting the sales of mid- to low-end ready-to-wear clothes. She tasted the sweetness and eagerly hoped that Liu Yu could supply new designs more frequently, so that there would always be three to five eye-catching high-end products in her shop.

Liu Yanan naturally agreed and conveyed this message to Liu Yu.

Liu Yu wanted to produce clothes quickly, but it was difficult to find women with good needlework skills in the village. Although sewing clothes with just fabric, color, and cutting was not enough to command high prices, embroidery was also a crucial element for adding value. Designing, cutting, and embroidering—Liu Yu already found it challenging to handle the fabric for three people alone.

However, producing three new sets every two days and steadily delivering them to Cui Erniang’s embroidery shop as a high-end supplement was already sufficient. Many affluent families in Changfeng Town knew about Cui Erniang’s embroidery shop selling high-end products. Although the prices weren’t much cheaper than those in the county, the convenience was unbeatable. They could come to see new designs every other day.

Especially knowing that these clothes were not made by Cui Erniang herself but were privately ordered by a skilled embroiderer whose identity Cui Erniang kept secret, and with very few designs available, selling out quickly once they were displayed, buying these clothes became a competition. Cui Erniang’s embroidery shop quickly became a sought-after place for wealthy ladies and young women in Changfeng Town to shop every two days.

That’s a story for another time.

In late May, the ramie¹a type of plant used to make fabric was ripe.

Yuanzhou was a major producer of grass linen, and one of the main reasons was that the climate and soil here were extremely suitable for cultivating ramie. Almost every household grew a few mu of ramie, which could be harvested three times a year. Late May was the season for harvesting ramie, stripping the bark, and spinning the yarn. Almost every household was busy, and stalls selling ramie began to appear in the market in Xifeng Town.

At this time, most of the people who come to collect are those who have harvested and processed ramie, and have dried the raw ramie fiber. They sell it for three wen per ounce. For example, the Liu family also planted several mu of ramie, but because Wei Shi did not know how to weave fabric and processing ramie was too labor-intensive, in previous years, after the ramie was harvested and processed, it would be sent directly to the town to be sold as raw silk.

However, there is also a portion of the populace who do not sell the raw silk but weave the fabric themselves. After some time, they sell the finished fabric to merchants who collect fabric in the town.

Upon seeing the ramie fiber that had been processed simply this year, Liu Yanping didn’t rush to send it to the town for sale. Instead, he instructed Liu Yanan and then went to find Liu Chengxiao in the county.

Liu Chengxiao originally thought that Liu Yu had something to tell Liu Yanping to convey, but when the two met, Liu Yanping asked him about the grass linen: “You previously mentioned that the grass linen in Yuanzhou is cheaper than elsewhere. I’m considering trading in grass linen, and I wanted to ask, if one were to trade in grass linen, what are the regulations? Are you still planning to do it this year?”

Liu Chengxiao raised an eyebrow. “You want to trade in grass linen?”

Liu Yanping nodded, then shook his head, saying, “It’s not just about wanting to trade in grass linen, but I’m also interested in becoming a merchant. Most of what I’ve heard related to business matters has come from you. Now that the ramie from the fields has been harvested, I remembered what you said about trading in grass linen. Can you tell me more about it?”

What Liu Yanping didn’t say was that when Liu Yu joked about opening a shop to help them, he didn’t take it seriously at first. Now seeing that Liu Yu was gradually building up the embroidery shop, as the eldest brother, how could he not be anxious? Was he going to let his sister support him?

Liu Yanping also had another thought. If possible, he could earn more money before his sister got married and provide a generous dowry for her.

After listening to Liu Yanping, Liu Chengxiao lowered his gaze and thought for a moment before saying, “If you want to understand this industry, you need to go and see it for yourself.”

He then asked Liu Yanping to wait and quickly returned to the shop to inform Liu Xuan. Then he said, “Follow me.”

He led Liu Yanping to the street.

Liu Yanping asked curiously, “Where are we going?”

“The pier.”

~

Although Liu Yanping had been to Anyi County several times, he rarely went in the direction of the pier. When he arrived at the pier with Liu Chengxiao, he looked around and saw mostly boats and laborers handling cargo. He was about to ask, but a few shops not far from the pier caught his attention.

Liu Chengxiao smiled. “Did you notice?”

Liu Yanping nodded. What he saw were several shops buying and selling ramie fiber and thread. He asked Liu Chengxiao, “Is this where ramie fiber collected from various villages and towns is sold in the end?”

Liu Chengxiao nodded and shook his head. “Some weaving workshops directly go to the countryside to collect it, but most of it is gathered here at the county pier.”

He pointed to the Yushui River and said, “Taking advantage of the convenience of shipping along the river, weaving workshops from Yuanzhou will gradually ship silk along the county. The ramie fiber collected for three wen per ounce in each town is sold to the ramie shops at the pier to make a profit. There are also rural women specializing in processing the raw silk here. The well-processed ramie thread can then be directly woven into fabric by the weaving workshops in Yuanzhou. This is an industrial chain from ramie to fabric. The fabric is purchased by fabric merchants, dyed and printed, and finally sold to fabric shops and dealers.”

He looked at Liu Yanping and continued, “So, to do business with grass linen, it’s hard to have an advantage in Yuanzhou or even Hongdu Prefecture. To truly enjoy the price difference advantage, you need to sell it to places like Zhejiang, Huainan, and northern Jianghuai Road. No matter where you go, the journey is long. You need to calculate the freight, expenses, and taxes at checkpoints along the way. If it’s too little, you may barely make enough to offset these basic expenses. That’s why the capital for long-distance merchants is not small.”

Liu Yanping pondered for a moment and asked, “Then, what is the price of the ramie fabric in Hongdu Prefecture, and how much is the price difference compared to Zhejiang?”

“The difference is significant. It depends on the deductions, craftsmanship, dyeing, and printing. But overall, for large quantities, we can’t compare to the market price. We’re talking about the bulk price of fabric numbers. If we compare the price of grass linen produced by Hongdu Prefecture fabric numbers and those exported from Zhejiang, there could be a price difference of twenty to thirty percent. And if we directly collect fabric from Yuanzhou and sell it to Zhejiang, the profit should be even greater because it eliminates the profit from the Hongdu Prefecture fabric number. I don’t have specific figures. I’m not that familiar with the market situation in Zhejiang. This information comes from inquiries with the steward at home.”

“Twenty to thirty percent, or even more!” This is for bulk sales! Liu Yanping’s eyes lit up. “No wonder you want to do the business of a merchant. If we sell grass linen in Zhejiang and bring back silk from there, the profit would be substantial, making it a win-win.”

Liu Chengxiao looked at the boats docked at the pier, his eyes filled with longing. Looking at Liu Yanping, he felt quite in tune with him in this regard. After some thought, he said, “I’m about to start collecting a batch of raw fabric and dyeing it before heading to Zhejiang. I see you’re quite interested in being a merchant. If you can spare the time, why not accompany me? Whether or not we do business is secondary. It’ll be a good experience, and it’s my first time traveling alone. With you along, it’ll be good to have some company. I’ll cover the expenses along the way, and you can also bring along some goods to try.”

“Great!” Liu Yanping was certainly willing. He smiled and said, “I’ll tag along to broaden my horizons. I may not be of much use otherwise, but I’m handy. It’s like hiring a guard, and I won’t charge you for food and accommodation.”

With that said, he extended his hand, and Liu Chengxiao shook it, both of them smiling.

With youthful vigor, the two legendary figures of Yuanzhou City formed an alliance at this moment, setting out on their first journey together.

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