The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

Xu rolled her eyes in annoyance and said nothing more, finishing the bowl of tofu skin in one gulp.

Before going to bed at night, Zhang Ping'an went to the study to take a look. The duck down in the three winnowing baskets was already half dry. After adding a few more pieces of charcoal to the brazier, Zhang Ping'an went back to the room to sleep.

The next morning, just as Zhang Ping'an got up, Wu Ya ran in and said excitedly, "Little brother, the duck down has been dried and it still smells good."

Zhang Pingan said with a smile, "Fifth sister, are you going to take a look?"

"Yes, Dad went to check it early in the morning, and Mom also went to check it. I just went to check, and the duck down was all dried and smelled good. Mom and Dad didn't know whether to put it away, so they left it alone and waited for you to get up to make a decision," Wu Ya said with a smile.

"That's good," Zhang Ping'an went to the study to look at the duck down after washing up. It was indeed fluffy, white and fragrant. He reached out and touched it, and it felt very delicate.

Zhang Ping'an asked his mother for two more cloth bags and called his fifth and sixth sisters to help: "Fifth sister, sixth sister, let's put all the duck down in, but don't pack it too tightly, otherwise it will affect the elasticity of the duck down."

"Okay," Wu Ya and Liu Ya said with a smile, feeling a sense of accomplishment.

After packing the duck down, Zhang Ping'an didn't wait for the Yuan family to come and pick it up the next day. He gave Xiaohu a few cents and asked Xiaohu to run errands to deliver it to the Yuan family.

"Xiaohu, when you go out, call a cart and don't talk to strangers on the way, okay?" Zhang Pingan advised. He always felt that Xiaohu was too young before, and never asked Xiaohu to help with things, and he was always worried.

Xiaohu was even more excited than Zhang Pingan. He patted his chest and said, "Brother Pingan, don't worry. I'm almost eleven years old. I've gone shopping with my second uncle many times before. I'm familiar with the east side of the city."

After saying that, he picked up two cloth bags and ran out.

Zhang Laoer also said: "Xiaohu is already a grown man, don't worry about him."

Zhang Ping'an was worried at home. About half an hour later, Xiaohu came back, holding his knees and panting, "Brother Ping'an, the things have been delivered. Second Young Master Yuan said he would ask the embroiderer to make them quickly."

Zhang Pingan breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "Okay, I understand. Go get a glass of water and take a break."

Yuan Ziang's efficiency did not disappoint Zhang Ping'an. He thought he would have to wait until at least tomorrow, but around 3 p.m., Yuan Ziang came by car with a down quilt wrapped in a large bag.

Yuan Ziang had two servants spread out the quilt in the main hall, holding it at both ends. He smiled and said, "Ping'an, this down quilt is really good and very warm. To save time, I asked ten embroiderers from my grandmother's embroidery workshop to work on it together. They divided the work and worked together, and it was done in less than an hour. I used light blue silk for the quilt cover. I didn't have time to do anything too complicated, so I just embroidered a simple peony flower."

Zhang Ping'an carefully looked at the embroidery craftsmanship, which was very good, with delicate stitches. The simple peony flower in Yuan Ziang's mouth was not simple either. The color scheme was from light to dark, very realistic, and the flowers were surrounded by green branches, making it a fine product.

I couldn't help but praise: "This is pretty good. What price are you going to sell it for?"

Yuan Ziang picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea before saying, "I've thought about it. The cost of our fabric, embroidery, and duck down is about two taels. I plan to sell a quilt for six to ten taels, depending on the complexity of the embroidery."

Zhang Ping'an nodded. "This is pretty much a one-time deal. Once duck down becomes popular, the price will get lower and lower. We really can't set a low price now. What about clothes? The cost of duck down for one piece of clothing will be even lower. The amount of duck down for one quilt can make about eight to ten pieces of clothing."

"It varies from three to ten taels, depending on the workmanship of the embroiderer and the fabric," Yuan Ziang said after thinking for a moment.

"Okay, then we'll have to collect and process a lot of duck down."

Yuan Ziang smiled and said, "I have already instructed my servants to go to the various large duck farmers in the surrounding area to collect them."

Zhang Pingan praised: "Zi'ang is very thoughtful and resourceful!"

"Hehe, if it weren't for your idea, there would be no such business," Yuan Ziang laughed.

The Yuan family has a small villa on the outskirts of the city. The next step is to process the duck down in the villa and then send it to the embroidery workshop for processing.

The embroidery workshop that Old Madam Yuan brought as a dowry was quite large, with twenty or thirty embroiderers working in it. After being promised high wages, these dozens of embroiderers began to work overtime and embroider day and night.

The two sides cooperated together, and after a few days they had a batch of inventory, they began to sell it in the cloth shop. The sales were average at the beginning because the price was expensive. Later, Yuan Ziang gave a few quilts to relatives and friends he knew, and asked them to recommend them. In addition, those who bought them at the beginning thought they were really good, and word of mouth spread, and gradually the supply began to fall short of demand.

Yuan Ziang ran to the other courtyard to complain: "At the beginning, we had goods but were worried about selling them. Now we have goods but are out of stock. Many families are marrying off their daughters in the twelfth lunar month and they buy six or seven beds as dowries. We simply can't make up for it by collecting duck down from the surrounding duck farmers."

Zhang Pingan was also helpless. "A good cook cannot cook without rice. Anyway, we have made the first wave of money. There is nothing we can do without raw materials!"

Yuan Ziang also knew this truth, but he felt uncomfortable when he saw that he had money but couldn't make it. He could only collapse in his chair and sigh: "Hey! Ping An, what you said makes sense. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. I'll check the accounts with you and give you a share of the money."

Even brothers should settle accounts clearly. Zhang Pingan carefully looked over the account book and verified that it was correct. He nodded and said, "I've checked it. It's fine."

"Okay," Yuan Ziang said with a smile, pulling out a banknote from his pocket. "We sold a total of 1,865 taels. Minus the cost of 500 taels, I'll give you 546 taels. I don't have any change, so I'll give you 600 taels of banknotes."

Zhang Pingan took it and said, "Okay, I'll give you 54 taels later."

Yuan Ziang nodded. Both of them had a plan in mind and didn't say anything about not wanting the change.

Just like that, on the day before New Year's Eve, the duck down business came to an end, and Zhang Ping'an returned home with more than 500 taels. The amount was too large, so Zhang Ping'an only told his father about it.

Zhang Laoer gasped when he heard this: "It's so easy to make money from rich people. In less than half a month, you've made more money than an ordinary person can make in their entire life."

Zhang Pingan kept 100 taels of silver for himself and gave the rest to Zhang Laoer for safekeeping. He smiled and said, "Dad, rich people's money is not money, it's just a form of purchasing currency. As long as it makes them feel comfortable, they are willing to spend any amount of money."

Zhang Laoer sighed, "When you were born, our family was still farming in Zhangjia Village. We could only save a little over three taels of silver a year, and that was considered a well-off family in the village. It would take us several lifetimes to save up over 500 taels!"