Chapter 369: Seeking Advice
Chapter 369: Chapter 369: Seeking Advice
"Making money really feels great." Bai Suihe held the ledger. In just one day, she had earned several hundred taels of Silver. How could she not be happy?
This was especially true for the ready-to-wear clothes she had designed. The moment they were displayed, several wealthy families in the county town bought them up. It seemed she had definitely chosen the right path.
"It’s only the first day of business, so people came in out of curiosity," Gu Kaiyuan said. Seeing her so happy, he hadn’t wanted to be the bad guy, but if he didn’t speak up now, her disappointment would only be greater tomorrow. "The county town is only so big, and the actual purchasing power is limited. You need to mentally prepare yourself."
"Of course I know that," Bai Suihe replied. "Before, we were spending money every day with nothing coming in. Now that we’re finally seeing some ready cash, I just feel happy."
Gu Kaiyuan sat down beside her and offered timely encouragement. "Still, it’s a very good start. I imagine the business won’t do too poorly in the future. For my two shops, I’ll have to learn a lot from you moving forward."
"No problem," Bai Suihe said. "Send those shop assistants you hired over to my store to learn for a few days. If nothing else, they can properly study our customer service attitude. When people walk into our shop, they are here to give us their patronage..."
Bai Suihe spoke eloquently. As long as she properly copied the marketing models of the modern era, things wouldn’t go wrong.
While the couple happily chatted away, the other merchants in the county town were reflecting in their own homes. They were all wondering if they should also change their business methods and renovate their shops.
However, this was easier said than done. Changing their customer service attitude was simple enough, but the difficult part was remodeling their shops. That would cost Silver. They were already just earning enough to scrape by. If they made these changes and didn’t see results, the losses would be devastating.
Only a few of the bolder and more ambitious merchants brought gifts to pay them a visit.
In truth, Gu Kaiyuan and his wife’s background had long been investigated by everyone. They had just been exiled here and then immediately pardoned—they clearly had some luck on their side. Especially with the Capital City’s Bai Family as their backing, no one dared to harbor any malicious intentions. People even sighed in admiration inwardly, thinking they were indeed worthy of being from the Bai Family. It was no wonder they could accumulate such massive wealth.
If they could follow behind and learn a few tricks to get rich together, that would be wonderful.
Hearing that they had visitors, both Bai Suihe and Gu Kaiyuan found it strange. Ever since moving to the county town, they had buried themselves in starting their businesses. Aside from some interactions with the county magistrate’s office, they hadn’t begun building any other social connections.
When they saw several men dressed as wealthy masters, Gu Kaiyuan whispered to Bai Suihe, "These are some of the other rich merchants in town. I’m afraid they’re here because of your shop."
Even he was envious of how booming Bai Suihe’s shop was, let alone others.
Fortunately, he had kept an eye out at the time. When the two escort agencies arrived in Zhang County, they hadn’t hidden their purpose. Back then, anyone with even a slight source of information knew that the legitimate daughter of the Capital City’s Bai Family had arrived here.
Gu Kaiyuan didn’t see any problem with borrowing her family’s prestige at a time like this. One should leverage power when necessary. As long as their small family lived well, losing a bit of face didn’t matter. Besides, it was the truth anyway.
"Boss Gu, Mrs. Gu, we are truly intruding today. We hope you can forgive us."
It wasn’t that they were unruly or unwilling to send visiting cards in advance, nor was it that there weren’t many rules here. Rather, they simply couldn’t wait.
"Not at all. Boss Qian’s presence brings light to my humble dwelling." Although Gu Kaiyuan had never formally met these people, he liked to stroll around the streets when he had free time. Coupled with the information Lin Hua and the others had gathered, he quickly memorized some of the key figures in the county town.
This Qian Sihai was also a prominent figure. His ancestors had been exiled here, and it was only in his generation that his family had finally reverted to commoner status.
However, having been away from the center of power for decades, coupled with his generation’s mediocre aptitude, none of them were able to enter officialdom. Qian Sihai was the most enterprising descendant of his generation. He took the family assets left by his ancestors and went straight into business.
From a small grain shop, he developed it into the most influential grain merchant in Lingnan. Of course, he later expanded into other industries. Besides Zhang County, he had businesses in many other county towns.
Qian Sihai wasn’t surprised in the least that Gu Kaiyuan recognized him. He chuckled and followed him inside. "When Boss Gu first arrived in the county town, I should have come to visit. But with so many trivial matters at home, I ended up delaying it until now.
"These two are also merchants in our county town. This is Boss Li, Li Yu, of the rouge shop at the end of the street, and this is Boss Jiang, Jiang Ronghua, of the Bright Moon Embroidery House. We happened to bump into each other at the door, so we came in together."
Gu Kaiyuan hurriedly cupped his hands in greeting to the two bosses. "I’ve looked forward to meeting you for a long time."
"Not at all. We are the ones intruding."
The group walked inside politely, while Bai Suihe led the accompanying female family members to the backyard.
"You’ve tidied up this little courtyard really well." Mrs. Qian took a glance around. They had been to this courtyard before, but it seemed much cozier after Bai Suihe’s arrangements.
She couldn’t quite put her finger on what else had changed, but she simply felt that her entire body relaxed a bit after walking in.
"You flatter me." The weather was quite pleasant today, so Bai Suihe led them to the pavilion in the garden, where the sunlight felt warm on their bodies. "Please sit down, ladies. I just tidied up this garden a few days ago, so it has a bit of elegant charm..."
Bai Suihe began her first round of madam diplomacy since arriving here. The three madams already had the intention of befriending Bai Suihe, so the atmosphere instantly became harmonious and cheerful.
Before coming, they had been a bit nervous, afraid that this legitimate daughter of the Bai Family would be difficult to get along with.
However, in just a short while, they found Bai Suihe to be incredibly easygoing. No matter what they discussed, she could seamlessly chime in. It hadn’t even been half a day, yet the few of them were chatting away like old friends who had known each other for years.
Moreover, Bai Suihe was very generous. When they asked about the shop renovations, she straightforwardly gave them a simple explanation of the changes she made and even taught them how to serve customers...
Knowing that Bai Suihe handled all these shop matters hands-on, they admired her even more.
They also had dowry shops under their names, but they weren’t good at running businesses. They only collected a fixed amount of rent every year, which wasn’t even enough to buy a set of hair ornaments.
With shops in their possession, how could they not be envious when they couldn’t rake in a daily fortune like Bai Suihe? Thus, it was inevitable that they would ask for advice.
Bai Suihe behaved with natural grace, asking them about the locations of their shops and what ideas they had in mind.
The three madams didn’t want their ventures to conflict with their husbands’ businesses, so they were somewhat at a loss.
Although the county town wasn’t large, it already had everything one could need. Opening new shops at this point wouldn’t necessarily give them an edge.
Bai Suihe tried hard to recall the shop locations mentioned by the three madams, which were all rather remote.
In such secluded corners, making a business boom would indeed require a great deal of effort.