I just wrote a love poem, how did that make me so powerful?

057 Regain Confidence

Just as Xiao Lanzhi was about to nod, Su Man also came over.

"Miss Xiao, I also have a few words I'd like to discuss with you."

The two men stood in front of Xiao Lanzhi, one on her left and one on her right, both staring intently at her face.

Xiao Lanzhi glanced at the two of them, then smiled and pointed to the side hall next door.

"Please come in, both of you. It's convenient over there."

The three entered the side hall and closed the door.

……

Song Yao stood at the entrance of the main hall, watching Su Man's figure disappear through the door of the side hall, and then looked down at the bra she was wearing.

A thought suddenly occurred to her: she didn't seem so bad after all.

Su Man is rich, has connections, and has status.

But she herself is not bad either; she is young and beautiful, with a good figure, and now she has a business that can earn hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

At least when it comes to dressing, I don't think I'm inferior to anyone.

Song Yao clenched her fist, then relaxed it. She started chatting with the ladies and wives around her again.

I feel much lighter than before, and my back is straighter than it was before.

After the ladies and young women went to look at the other bras on display.

She paused for a moment, then a smile crept onto her lips.

Su Man has connections, so today is the beginning of my own connections!

……

On the other side, Xiao Lanzhi chuckled as he entered the side hall.

After she had the two of them sit down, she didn't rush to speak but waited for them to speak first.

Su Man sat down first, her posture composed.

Perhaps he was anxious inside, but on the surface he remained calm and unhurried. He still maintained that composed and collected demeanor.

But he deliberately spoke before Gu Zhiyi.

"Miss Xiao, having seen the finished product of that bra today, and also seen how it looked on Miss Song when she tried it on, I'll cut to the chase. I'd like to invest in this deal."

Su Man got straight to the point.

"The Xiao family will be responsible for production and local distribution, while Zhuangyuanlou will handle areas your business can't reach, including promotion in the capital. Profit sharing will be calculated based on the proportion of investment. If Miss Xiao is willing, I can provide 10,000 taels of silver as initial investment."

After listening, Xiao Lanzhi did not express any opinion, and turned to look at Gu Zhiyi.

"Where's Zhiyi? Are you here to discuss investing as well?"

Gu Zhiyi shook her head: "I don't want to invest, but I want the management rights. I don't want ordinary management rights, but management rights for all brothels, entertainment venues, and theaters in Hengyang, the prefectural city, and the entire Hengzhou."

Both Xiao Lanzhi and Su Man were somewhat surprised by these words.

Seeing the surprised looks on their faces, Gu Zhiyi offered an explanation.

"I work in a brothel, and my reputation is what it is. If I invest, people will gossip. But the management rights are different. In brothels and entertainment venues, I can stock up on goods and organize girls to demonstrate. This is more useful than simply investing money."

Xiao Lanzhi nodded, thought for a moment, and then responded.

"I understand what you two mean, but I can't make decisions about the shareholding and management rights. I need to discuss it with my father. Please don't rush, I'll go and discuss the articles of association with my father, and then I'll talk to you two in detail."

The two said in unison, "That's exactly right!"

They wanted to exchange a few more polite words, but then there was another knock on the door.

But then Li Wan, Madam Ma, and others arrived.

As soon as Madam Ma saw them, she laughed and made small talk.

"You guys are really fast. We took a closer look and realized you were already gone. You must have come to discuss a business partnership, right? To be honest, we'd like to get involved too."

Su Man smiled faintly, "As expected, everyone here is a smart person. We just briefly mentioned it; these details still need Miss Xiao's father's approval."

Mrs. Ma laughed heartily, "Perfect timing, there's still time, let's go together."

Xiao Lanzhi smiled and said, "Please have a seat, everyone. I will go to the front hall to invite my father over."

Xiao Lanzhi walked quickly to the front yard and briefly recounted what had just happened.

After listening, Xiao Wanjin stroked his beard and pondered for a while.

"It's normal for Su Man to invest, but it's interesting that Gu Zhiyi wants management rights instead of shares."

He turned to look at Xu Qing. "What do you think, Mr. Xu?"

Xu Qing thought for a moment and replied.

"Miss Zhiyi's concern about her reputation is indeed reasonable. If a courtesan like her were to invest in a business, it would certainly be detrimental to the future growth of the Xiao family's bra business."

But having the operating rights in our hands means we won't suffer losses in face-to-face negotiations, and we can expand our bra business through brothels and entertainment venues, which is more flexible for us. Her willingness to do this shows that she genuinely wants to do it.

Xiao Wanjin nodded. "Then let's do as she says."

Xiao Wanjin greeted them.

"Yuan'er, go and tell Liu Zi to get ready."

……

Before long, Xiao Wanjin and the others arrived at the main hall.

Seeing everyone's expectant looks, Xiao Wanjin laughed heartily.

"I'm sure you're all very anxious, please have a seat."

After everyone was seated, Xiao Wanjin spoke.

"Everyone is already aware of what happened today, so I won't go into details. I'll start valuing this bra project at 200,000 taels of silver."

Xiao Wanjin looked at the group of people, and some of them already had puzzled expressions in their eyes.

He continued, "If this business doesn't reach 200,000 taels within a year, then our Xiao family will keep all 200,000 taels in our accounts."

His words caused a few people to whisper among themselves.

"It seems the Xiao family is very confident about this matter."

Madam Ma chuckled, "Let alone the Xiao family, I'm confident in this matter myself. Two hundred thousand taels, I think Boss Xiao is being conservative. This is also to give us a chance."

"It's a huge business opportunity. If I price it too low, I'd feel like I'm doing this a disservice."

Seeing this, Xiao Wanjin chuckled and continued speaking.

"Each person present can invest at least 5,000 taels. The maximum is 20,000 taels, and the remaining shares will be reserved for others."

He paused, his gaze lingering on Xu Qing and Song Yao for a moment.

"As for Xu Qing and Miss Song, they don't need to pay anything, because the idea is theirs and they don't need to incur any costs. They will receive 20% of the profits."

Song Yao stood next to Xu Qing, clutching the handkerchief tightly in her hand.

When he heard the words "20%", his mind went blank.

Two-tenths of two hundred thousand taels is forty thousand taels.

If one can achieve a profit of 200,000 taels in a year, then one can earn an income of 40,000 taels.

I'd never see so much money in ten lifetimes, let alone this one.

She opened her mouth to speak, but found that she couldn't make a sound, probably because she was too excited.

Xu Qing, having lived two lives, remained calm and cupped his hands in a gesture of respect.

"Thank you, Master Xiao, but isn't 20% a bit too much? I've decided to give 10% to Miss Xiao. It's much more worthwhile for her to take the lead in this matter than for me to keep it. I'm going to focus on the county examination."

These words shocked everyone!