The Story of a Destitute Noblewoman Farming

"Uncle Dashui, these are the clothes prepared for you. From today on, you will each have two sets to wear alternately." As soon as everything was settled, Lu Linlang asked Ma Da and Xing'er to ask the waiter for the fastest and cheapest ready-made clothing store nearby, and buy two sets for each of them according to their size, and then called Uncle Dashui over.

"Boss, this, this is too expensive. How can we wear it? It must cost a lot of money, right?" Lu Dashui was obviously the backbone among them and the most flexible in mind. He was elected as the captain this time by several people.

"Uncle Dashui, I'm sure you've seen the situation in Zhuozhou. Business people are most concerned about our attire. I'm not really against your clothes, but when we go out, wearing these will prevent people from looking at us strangely, and it will also make us feel more comfortable. Don't worry, these are the benefits you get from following me. These are all gifts from me. You can keep them when you go back.

Going out to do business is different from being at home. Tell everyone that these are just business tactics. Let them wear them with dignity. Tomorrow I will take you to Zhinu Street in Zhuozhou. It is said that there are fabrics sold there. Maybe after seeing the fabrics there, you will realize that these are all cheap goods I bought for you.

"Boss, these are all excellent clothes you gave us. Even for the New Year, we wouldn't wear such fine clothes. I'm just worried about wasting money. Since Boss said this is necessary for doing business, then I'll give them to them. We can't wear the ones we wore today anymore. We were just talking about how those people looked us up and down at us when they saw what we were wearing. It made us feel very uncomfortable."

Lu Dashui understood what Lu Linlang said and was no longer worried. These clothes were all made of cotton and all of the same style. It would be easy to find people when wearing them. Zhuozhou was too lively and they were all a little uncomfortable.

"Then you should be more alert tonight. Too many people isn't necessarily safe. I didn't let you sleep in the dormitory because I thought the rooms are next to each other so you can look after each other if anything happens. You should rest assured for a night, because tomorrow we'll be busy."

"Okay, then I'll go back first." Lu Dashui was very sensible. He did whatever he was told to do and didn't ask about anything else.

"Miss, I have just asked about Room No. 1, and it turns out that Young Master Zhang is living there. He heard that you asked him to come over later and has agreed." Lu Linlang chose Room No. 1 because of the reception room. If she had chosen other ordinary room types to save money, there would only be one room, which would not even be convenient for business talks.

"Xing'er, has Ma Er ordered the food and wine?" There is a restaurant next door. Lu Linlang just observed and found that there are quite a few customers in the restaurant, which shows that the food is pretty good. Of course, eating is necessary when discussing business.

"It's ordered and will be delivered shortly."

Young Master Zhang came over very quickly. The two of them lived only one room apart, very close to each other. His servant had reported to him about what Lu Linlang and her group had done just now. Knowing that she also lived here, Young Master Zhang knew that their cooperation was a sure thing.

"Miss Lu is so polite. I haven't had dinner yet, so let's talk while we eat." When they were out, Young Master Zhang had long discovered that Miss Lu was a casual person and was not polite. Moreover, her servant was guarding the door and her maid was serving on the side. Miss Lu's actions showed that she was here to do business sincerely.

"Master Zhang, there's no need for formalities. I invited you here today to discuss our cooperation. The price of cloth in Zhuozhou has indeed dropped, but I think there are many people eyeing this piece of fat meat. I wonder what your plans are, Master Zhang?"

"Then I won't be polite. Most of the people who know this news are merchants in the Jiangnan area. If we want to spread it out, it will probably take another month. What we have to do now is to seize the opportunity, buy as much goods as we can, and sell them to other places. Otherwise, once more merchants come, the price will go up sooner or later.

I wonder how much goods Miss Lu plans to buy this time and what quality they are. Zhuozhou does not only have silk, but they also buy cotton from Anzhou and make cotton cloth. These are also the big items. Now that winter has begun, there must be many people who want to buy cotton or cotton clothes.

If we want to make more money, we need to understand the price of these fabrics before we can negotiate. My family has some connections in Zhuozhou and knows some vendors who specialize in selling cloth. Although they don't have a lot of goods on hand, they do have a lot of sources. If we buy from them, we also need to calculate how much we can still make."

"Master Zhang, can we go to the village and find the source of the goods ourselves? The price of cloth is low now, and if the weavers don't want to sell, the goods should still be in their hands. Can we find a way to find and convince those people to sell the goods to us?"

"However, we are short-handed. If we ask each household one by one, I'm afraid we won't know when we can gather enough money. Moreover, those weavers are all cooperating with the big merchants in Zhuozhou Prefecture. They may not trust us. It will also be easy to offend the local merchants. They are not just doing business, they also have a say in Zhuozhou."

"Then let's try contacting those vendors first. However, if there's a chance, it would be best if we could contact the weavers and buy directly from them, which would save us a lot of money."

"Okay, I'll go back and make some arrangements. I still have some face in Hezhou, but here in Zhuozhou, my family's business is simply not worth the attention of these people. They make tens of thousands of taels a month, and in Chongshui, making a thousand taels a month is already very impressive."

What Young Master Zhang said was true. Lu Linlang also knew that they were in an unfamiliar place and could not easily offend the local big merchants.

After the two discussed, they decided that Young Master Zhang would contact the merchants, and Lu Linlang would be responsible for inquiring about the prices of cloth in Zhuozhou and finding opportunities to contact weavers.

The next day, Lu Linlang took everyone to Zhinu Street. There were many shops on Zhinu Street. You could see the inside of many shops from the door. There were also stalls on the street. The people selling the fabrics were actually of average quality.

Lu Linlang walked forward and carefully examined the fabrics on the stall. The person selling the fabrics was a middle-aged woman. She looked at Lu Linlang with an awkward smile on her face and was a little nervous.

The price of cloth has dropped this year, and not many people go to the village to buy the goods, and they all try to lower the price sharply. The cloth they have worked so hard to weave has to face the situation of being subject to price cuts, and no one is willing to sell it at a low price.

So she brought the goods from her home and set up a small stall on Zhinu Street. There were only a few pieces of cloth on the stall. People passing by just took a look and went into the shop to look at the fabrics. They didn't even want to look at her.

"Madam, how do you sell this fabric?" Seeing her like this, Lu Linlang guessed that she was probably a novice in selling goods. These materials looked different from those in the shop and were rougher, but she had also visited the cloth shop in Chongshui, and such materials were considered medium quality in Chongshui.