Chapter 026 Made Money!

Because of his good mood, Qin Mian didn’t feel that it was a long way to town. On the way, they came across a donkey cart going to town, so they hitchhiked.

Arrived in the town, Qin Mian took Lei Tie to a teahouse and asked for two cups of herb tea.

Lei Tie saw that he seemed to have a plan and became almost as silent as a post. He just followed and wondered what the little wife would do.

“Waiter, check out.” Qin Mian only took a sip.

The waiter wiped his hands and came over. “Thank you for your patronage. It’s 2 wen in all.”

Qin Mian paid the money for the tea and handed over three more coins. “Waiter, I want to know something.”

Lei Tie then understood why the wife went to the teahouse when they had brought their own water. His dark and deep eyes fluctuated slightly and then returned to calm.

The waiter took the money and was happy,” You ask away. I’m not bragging but there’s really nothing in this town that I don’t know about.”

Qin Mian carried off with a laugh, “We want to customize some furniture, do you know which shop has the best woodcraft work in this town?”

“Hey, you are asking the right person. Yao’s Woodcraft Shop is the best one to do carpentry work. In the town, the rich people with some money basically make furniture in their shop.”

Qin Mian showed a look of embarrassment, “The Yao’s ah, I didn’t have a pleasant time with the shop assistant in their shop few days ago. Aside from the Yao’s?”

Without thinking, the waiter replied, “The Rich and Honor Woodcraft Shop. Their shop is no worse than Yao’s only because they rise later than the Yao’s and has a little bad reputation. The competition between the two is fierce!”

Qin Mian had been waiting for this sentence and he nodded with satisfaction, “Thank you very much.”

After asking the address of the Rich and Honor Woodcraft Shop, he left with Lei Tie to find it.

The building of the Rich and Honor Woodcraft Shop was not small. There were exquisite wardrobes, carved beds, round tables, mahogany chairs and other things at the door, which made the shop easy to find.

As soon as they entered the shop, a young shop assistant straightened his Baotou hat on the head as he greeted them with a smile on his face.

“What do the two honored customers want to buy?”

Qin Mian said: “Where is your shopkeeper? I have something to sell to your shopkeeper.”

As soon as the shop assistant heard this, he looked at him up and down again. The enthusiasm on his face immediately faded away. The right corner of his mouth rose disdainfully as he waved them away, “Go go go. This poor looks yet still want to sell things in the woodcraft shop. Hurry and go!”

Lei Tie frowned.

Qin Mian however didn’t take offence. He shook his head and said with a light smile, “I finally understand why your Rich and Honor Woodcraft Shop’s is not as good as that of Yao’s Woodcraft Shop.”

“What did you say?” The shop assistant stared at him with a particularly bad expression. “Boy, are you tired of living? Go go go!”

“Wait!” The blue curtain behind the counter was opened by one hand and a somewhat stout middle-aged man came out.

“Manager Liao.” The shop assistant’s expression became respectful.

Liao Zhifu ignored him and raised his eyelids to size up Qin Mian. He had an air of arrogance and a foxy smile, “I’d like to ask this brother what you said just now.” The employer left the woodcraft shop to him to manage and he thought he was doing his best but today, being criticized by an ignorant youth caused him to be angry.

“Is it?” Qin Mian was fearless and pointed to the direction of the assistant. “I’m not a customer of your shop today, which doesn’t mean I’m not a customer of your shop tomorrow. It’s no wonder that the first thing people think about when they mention the woodcraft shop is the Yao’s. Be done with it, I don’t want to talk to you much if my words are regarded as ill-mannered. Farewell.”

This brother’s extraordinary speech and calm momentum made Liao Zhifu care a little, his heart jolted, “Wait!”

Qin Mian stopped and faintly smiled before he turned around.

“You just said you wanted to sell something?” Liao Zhifu’s eyes drifted to Lei Tie’s basket on his back. Anyway, he had nothing to do, so he regarded it as killing time.

Qin Mian nodded, “That’s right. It’s a blueprint of a manual noodle maker. ”

“Manual noodle maker?” Liao Zhifu was at a loss.

Qin Mian explained: “It’s a tool for making noodles.”

He smiled without saying a word and motioned to Lei Tie to take out the noodle maker, dough and wooden basin. He demonstrated it directly.

Seeing the long and thin noodles appeared from the bottom of the noodle maker, Liao Zhifu’s eyes were wide open in surprise. He was excited yet remained calm and collected as he said: “It’s barely considered as a good thing. What is the price of the blueprint?”

The assistant stared straight at the noodle maker with a ‘strange’ written all over his face.

Qin Mian said: “Only sell to one shop. 50 tael. Fixed price.”

“Oh.” Liao Zhifu uttered a sound with an unclear smile, shook his head and said contemptuously, “I don’t think this brother really understands what the concept of 50 silver tael is. You know, a silver tael is enough for an average of four mouths to feed for a year. 50 silver tael is too high.”

“Manager Liao’s words are incorrect.” Qin Mian said calmly, “How many noodle shops are there in the town, Manager Liao? Don’t they need a lot of noodles every day? How many rich people are there in the town? They don’t mind spending a little money on a noodle maker, do they? With the blueprint, you can produce a batch of manual noodle maker. Even if you sell one for a silver teal, you can earn at least 200 tael in the town. What about in the whole county? What about in the whole state? 50 tael is absolutely not high.”

Liao Zhifu was somewhat interested, but the so-called businessmen were all evil, he wanted to keep the price down as long as there was no fraud or business. “This brother has a point. But this doesn’t seem to be so complicated [to make], so I’m afraid it’s easy to imitate.”

“Manager Liao is wrong yet again.” Qin Mian still had something to say. “Tables, chairs, cabinets and cupboards are more easily imitated, but why do some woodcraft shops become famous, while others are unknown? What’s more, if you have the blueprint, you can seize the market first. Even if someone imitates it, they will lose the decisive occasion.”

Liao Zhifu stroked his beard and remained silent.

Qin Mian waited for a while deliberately, but Liao Zhifu still kept silent. He stood up without any anxiety on his face and smiled lightly. “It’s already late; we still have to go to Yao’s Woodcraft Shop.”

“Wait!” Liao Zhifu panicked. “I buy it!” Yao’s Woodcraft Shop was more famous than them. If he could get the blueprint of the manual noodle maker, wouldn’t his shop be better?

Qin Mian quietly gave a proud smile toward Lei Tie.

Lei Tie stroked his head.

Liao Zhifu added: “But we have to write a guarantee document. You have to make sure that you don’t sell the blueprint of the noodle maker and the noodle maker to a second individual, or you will have to compensate 1000 tael of silver.”

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“It ought to be.” Qin Mian nodded, “But we are not the two wise people in the world. Since we can make a noodle maker, it doesn’t mean other people can’t do it. If there is a second noodle maker, Manager Liao can’t blame us. Manager Liao can produce a large batch first and sell them all over the country at the same time.”

Liao Zhifu frowned and also understood that this was the truth. After thinking about it, he nodded, “Alright.”

He wrote down two documents on the spot and then he and Lei Tie pressed their thumbprints.

Qin Mian accepted 5 shoe-shaped silver ingots weighted 10 liang[1], took out the blueprint and explained them to Liao Zhifu in detail before he dissembled the noodle maker apart to show it.

Liao Zhifu patted his thigh and put on a long face, “So simple? Lost money, lost money!”

Qin Mian smiled and shook his head. “Manager Liao, these—”

“This brother doesn’t need to say ‘these words are wrong’ again.” Liao Zhifu was really annoyed.

Qin Mian didn’t take offence. “If it’s as simple as you said, why hasn’t anyone done it before?”

Note:

[1] Each silver ingot is worth 10 tael. I used both tael and liang (tael) to differentiate between money and weight (even though it is the same) as not to confuse some people who hasn’t familiarized with ancient currency which based on weight. I mean, if I translated 1 jin and 5 liang of meat as 1 jin and 5 tael of meat, won’t some be confused? [don’t know if it matters to you, but let me explain anyway]