A fierce wife enters the house: She helps up a house full of spineless people.

Liu Mingyuan stopped fanning himself with his folding fan and said seriously, "Madam Wang, are you not satisfied with the price? The price is negotiable."

"It has nothing to do with the price." Wang Jinzhu pushed the teapot in front of him, broke off a piece of melon for herself, and said, "The aloe vera and fresh flowers used in the lip rouge are seasonal. They bloom profusely in July and August, which is barely enough. Once autumn comes and the flowering season is over, what will we use?"

Liu Mingyuan was stunned for a moment.

He was in charge of sales channels and hadn't really thought about the raw materials in detail. In the prefectural city, whatever the shops wanted, the workshops would naturally produce it. This was the first time he had encountered a situation where he "could make money but couldn't produce it."

"Currently, I can reliably deliver 200 sets per month, which is the minimum I can guarantee," Wang Jinzhu said, holding up two fingers. "I dare not promise more. If I promise and cannot deliver, it will damage the reputation of both families."

Liu Mingyuan pondered for a moment: "What about winter?"

"We'll cut the production by half in winter; we'll be lucky to sell a hundred sets."

Liu Mingyuan's smile faded slightly. A hundred sets wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between the few big clients in the capital.

Wang Jinzhu saw through his thoughts and didn't give him a chance to haggle: "So now that the flowers are in full bloom, I need to stock up more. Besides the two hundred sets I supply you each month, I'll keep the rest to make up for the shortfall in winter."

She paused, then looked up at him: "Young Master Liu has been in business longer than I have, so you should understand one principle—a steady, long-term approach is better than exhausting resources."

"Alright." Liu Mingyuan nodded. "I'll take the two hundred sets. But I can help with the raw materials. There are farmers around the prefectural city who grow aloe vera and flowers. I'll have someone collect a batch and send it over. You just need to focus on production. In months when raw materials are plentiful, supply as much as you can. How about that?"

"It would be great if Young Master Liu could help with collecting the materials," Wang Jinzhu readily agreed. "Once the materials are ready, I'll add more people to speed up the process, and any extras will be yours."

Liu Mingyuan picked up his teacup with satisfaction, took a sip, and as he put it down, casually asked, "Then let's talk about the price."

"chat."

"A set of four, eight taels of silver, how about it?"

Wang Jinzhu put the melon rind in her hand on the table and wiped her fingers with a handkerchief.

"Ten taels."

Liu Mingyuan laughed: "Madam Wang, eight taels isn't a low price. That covers my shop rent, my employees' wages, and transportation losses."

"Young Master Liu," Wang Jinzhu interrupted him, "how much do you sell a set for in the prefectural city?"

Liu Mingyuan's laughter stopped.

"I'd guess no less than twenty taels." Wang Jinzhu held up a finger and waved it in front of him. "The single 'red bean paste' one can sell for seven or eight taels, and with a discount, a set of four would be twenty taels or more. If you can't sell them for that price, you won't be able to sell them all in three days."

Liu Mingyuan did not respond.

He sold it for 22 taels a set, higher than she had guessed.

Wang Jinzhu continued, "I want ten taels, you make ten taels. With a profit margin of at least 50%, can Young Master Liu find another business like this in the prefectural city?"

Liu Mingyuan tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table.

He wasn't incapable of doing the math, but he hadn't expected her to be so clear about it.

"Nine taels," he tentatively stated.

"Ten taels." Wang Jinzhu picked up her teacup. "I can't lower the price even a little."

Chen Tianfang stood under the eaves moving chairs, his eyes not glancing in this direction, but his ears were perked up more than a rabbit's.

Liu Mingyuan suddenly laughed and shook his head: "Alright, ten taels it is."

He took out a contract from his sleeve and spread it on the stone table. Wang Jinzhu leaned over and looked at it, then took a pen and changed a few numbers and clauses. The two of them signed it, each keeping a copy.

The ink was still wet when Liu Mingyuan carefully folded the contract and tucked it into his robes. He stood up and cupped his hands in a respectful bow: "Madam Wang, it's been a pleasure doing business with you. I'll send someone to collect the first batch of two hundred sets before the fifteenth of next month."

"The goods have arrived, and so has the money," Wang Jinzhu added.

"That's natural."

After seeing Liu Mingyuan off, Chen Tianfang walked over from the corridor, his movements of moving chairs noticeably slower.

"Signed?"

"Signed. Two hundred sets, ten taels per set."

Chen Tianfang quickly did the math in his head—two thousand taels? No, two hundred sets a month, ten taels a set, that's two thousand taels of silver worth of goods?

He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"Don't overthink it." Wang Jinzhu noticed he was lost in thought. "Ten taels is the price we sold it to Young Master Liu. After deducting the cost of materials, labor, and packaging, we make three or four taels profit per set. Two hundred sets a month will bring in six or seven hundred taels."

Chen Tianfang: "..."

Six or seven hundred taels, is that something easy to do?

Wang Jinzhu didn't give him time to hesitate: "Come on, let's go find Uncle Village Chief."

During the lunch break, Chen Defu gathered the villagers together in the open space at the village entrance.

"Jinzhu's family business is doing well, and they plan to help everyone make money together. Right now, Jinzhu's workshop is buying aloe vera for two coins per pound and fresh flowers for five coins per pound. Freshness is required, with no rotten leaves or insect holes. The aloe vera must be plump and full; those that are too dry or thin will not be accepted."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the crowd erupted.

"Two coins a pound? There's so much aloe vera at the foot of the mountain that nobody wants it. Just harvest it and you're set for cash?"

"You even harvest flowers? There's a huge patch of wild roses blooming on the hillside behind my house!"

Standing under the tree, Chen Defu relayed Wang Jinzhu's message clearly: "You can also ask your relatives to pick together, even those from other villages, as long as the produce is up to standard, we'll accept it all."

Wang Jinzhu gave Chen Tianfang a wink.

Chen Tian understood immediately, picked up two baskets from the carrying pole beside him, one for aloe vera and the other for fresh flowers, and placed them on the ground.

"Look them all over." He squatted down, picked up an aloe vera leaf, flipped it over, and said, "Take this kind, the thick and plump ones." Then he picked up a thin one, its tip yellowed, and said, "Don't take this one."

Picking up another bunch of flowers: "Flowers with intact petals, picked that day, will be accepted. Wilted ones, those with insects, and those soaked in water to increase weight—none will be accepted. Don't blame me for being rude later."

"Tianfang, what are you saying? We're all from the same village, how could we do such a thing?" someone muttered from the crowd.

"We're all from the same village, but if the goods aren't as described, they aren't as described." Chen Tianfang stood up, dusted off his hands, and said, "Let's get this straight up in advance to avoid any disputes later."

Six months ago, Chen Tianfang wouldn't have said these words. But after spending these past few months with Wang Jinzhu, he learned one thing: setting rules in advance is ten times less effort than arguing after something goes wrong.

The next morning, a queue formed in the workshop's backyard.

Villagers, young and old, carried baskets and hampers, piling up aloe vera across half the yard. Chen Tianwei and Chen Tianrun helped weigh and record the goods, while Wang Jinzhu inspected them. Goods that passed inspection were weighed and paid for, while those that failed were returned on the spot.

Most people's goods are fine, after all, aloe vera and flowers are not precious things, there are plenty of them in the mountains, it's just a matter of walking a few more steps.

But there are always some people with ulterior motives.

Chen Erlengzi from the east end of the village brought over a basket of aloe vera. The leaves were green, but when he picked it up and weighed it, the weight was wrong.

When Chen Tianfang broke it open, he found that it was stuffed with stones.

"You idiot." Chen Tianfang threw a stone in front of him.

Chen Erlengzi, embarrassed, stubbornly insisted, "I sneaked in by accident."

"Six stones were mixed in with one basket. You're quite skilled at being careless."

Chen Tianfang didn't say much, just pushed the basket into his arms: "I'm not accepting today's orders. Bring something better tomorrow. If this happens again, don't ever come back."

Chen Erlengzi glanced at the stares of those around him and slunk away.

After that, no one dared to put anything in the basket anymore.

After finishing work in the evening, Wang Jinzhu sat in the courtyard doing accounts.

In one day, they harvested 800 catties of aloe vera and 300 catties of fresh flowers, spending 3 taels and 1 mace of silver.

Chen Tianfang brought over a bowl of water and placed it next to her, then sat down on the chair beside her.

"Some of the people who came today are from the neighboring Zhao Family Village."

"Come on in, if the stuff's good, we'll take it." Wang Jinzhu didn't even look up, her abacus clicking away. "The hill behind Zhao Family Village has even more aloe vera than here."

Chen Tianfang hummed in agreement, then suddenly remembered something: "Oh, right, the village chief's eldest daughter-in-law said today that she wants to come and help out at the workshop."

Wang Jinzhu paused for a moment, then looked up.

"It wasn't just her; three or four other wives also asked," Chen Tianfang said, looking at her. "If you need to expand your workforce, recruiting from the village is the easiest way."

Wang Jinzhu put away the abacus, leaned back in her chair, and looked at the small mountain of aloe vera and flowers in the yard.

"Yes," she said, "but not in a rush. Let's wait until the process is streamlined."