Wei Nian returned to Beijing before the Mid-Autumn Festival. He did not plan to let the two female masters live in the factory, after all, the factory was full of men. Wei Nian planned to arrange for them to live in the old house. After all, since the couple moved to Wangfucang Hutong, there were more empty rooms in the old house.
During this trip to Shanghai, Mrs. Wei complained about it once, "He sent a telegram back, which made me worried. He didn't say he was going to Shanghai when he went to Tianjin."
Wei Nian smiled, "It's hard to say for sure about finding the goods. I originally thought that Tianjin is close, so it should save some trouble. After all, Shanghai was the first to do this business. I can't just take a look and come back. I have to get the job done. I have to invite the master back, and also buy the crochet hooks and lace threads for them."
Li brought some tea, and Wei Nian hurriedly stood up to take it, "Sister-in-law, you should take a rest."
Li smiled, "I don't have anything to do. I just asked my eldest sister to go to our shop and the hat shop to tell them. Grandpa, my sister-in-law, and Yin will be back soon." Eldest sister, Wang eldest sister.
Wei Nian nodded and asked if everything was fine at home.
Old Mrs. Wei said, "It's all good. It's just that when you're not at home, your father is busy. All the things in the shop are in your father's hands."
Wei Nian thought for a moment and said, "After winter comes, when the hides are shipped here, my brother can go back outside the Great Wall first."
"There are still not enough people." Old Madam Wei sighed, "It looks quite lively at ordinary times, but it becomes apparent when you go on a business trip." She then said to Li, "When your eldest sister comes back later, tell her to go to the Zhao family and tell her that Ah Nian is back, and invite your eldest sister, her husband, and your nephews to come over for dinner."
Li smiled, "I just told my eldest sister. Old lady, I'll go to the mutton stall to buy some mutton. My eldest sister-in-law loves it." Seeing that Old Lady Wei had no objection, Li went to prepare dinner. Before leaving, Li asked, "Are you hungry, uncle? I'll make you a bowl of noodles first."
"I'm not hungry. I ate on the plane."
Only then did Li go about getting busy.
Old Mrs. Wei pulled Wei Nian aside and started to talk, saying nothing more than that he should not have discussed his going to Shanghai with his family beforehand, "You are married now, so you should think more about your family in the future. There is nothing special about your father and I. She is your wife, and she used to come with you every day to visit me and your father, and she would do some side jobs. Now she comes every day, and she feels uneasy after you left. A woman should not be able to take on the responsibility."
It's hard for Mrs. Wei to misinterpret her daughter-in-law's good intentions in this way.
Wei Nian corrected his mother, "I'm away from home, so she has to come over and show her respect to the two elders."
"It's good that you're back. I have a son, so why do I need a daughter-in-law?" Old Mrs. Wei raised her chin, feeling proud that her son could make money and run a business. As long as her son was filial to her, how could her daughter-in-law dare to treat her badly? Old people also have their own cunning.
Wei Nian smiled, "We went back in a hurry, and most of the goods were replenished according to the order written by Ah Yin. Some of the large items were checked in, and some were to be carried with me. My friend took the train back, and I asked him to take them. He will be home in a few days. Ah Xuan sent me a telegram specifically, asking me to buy some pear paste candy for you, saying that it moisturizes the lungs and is good for your health."
Mrs. Wei didn't appreciate this, "It's my son's money that's being spent."
Wei Nian was also helpless and said to his mother, "Mom, you are just stubborn."
"Bullshit, you're talking about your mother." Old Mrs. Wei also laughed and quietly taught her son how to subdue her daughter-in-law. "You silly boy, you can't just listen to your daughter-in-law. You are the head of the family, you have to make her listen to you, understand?"
"Okay, then if she asks me to bring something to you next time, I won't do it!"
Old Mrs. Wei almost choked her son to death. She smiled and hit her son twice and scolded him a few words. She was so happy in her heart.
Wei Nian mentioned the two female masters again, and Mrs. Wei smacked her lips, "Two women came all the way to Beijing with you?"
Wei Nian nodded.
Old Mrs. Wei sighed, "The women in the south are really brave. They don't worry about encountering kidnappers."
"Mom, a train ticket from Shanghai to Beijing costs fifty dollars per person. Who would spend fifty dollars to kidnap someone?" Wei Nian said, "Even in Shanghai, there are so many maids and women who come to the city to find work. Ten dollars can only hire two people. We bought the train ticket sincerely. Am I a kidnapper?"
Old Mrs. Wei kept muttering, "Why are train tickets so expensive?"
"We are here to invite people to come and learn skills from them." Wei Nian said, "Isn't the eldest sister living in the east wing now? Let's clean up the room in our backyard and let the two female masters live there."
Old Mrs. Wei said, "I thought of your three rooms because Ajie and Aming are grown up now, and your eldest brother is not at home, so it's fine for them to live in one room with your eldest sister-in-law. Sister Yun should have her own room, which will be perfect for the children to live in." The rooms in the backyard are truly the main rooms in the north house, and Old Mrs. Wei does not want to let the female master live in them.
Wei Nian said, "The east room is not small either, clean it up and let the female teacher live in it. I think the eldest sister is also a hardworking person, so it's a good idea for us to live together."
Old Mrs. Wei had no objection.
As the mother and son were talking, Chen Xuan and Wei Yin came back. When Chen Xuan saw Wei Nian, her eyes were full of smiles. She was always a little shy, so she looked Wei Nian carefully from head to toe. She felt that Brother Nian looked better than before, both in spirit and appearance. His clothes were also newly made, and they made him look very classy. Chen Xuan was relieved and still just said simply, "Brother Nian, you're back." She felt the tea in Wei Nian's cup was no longer hot, so she immediately replaced it with a new one.
Wei Yin had more to say, "Brother, you're back. How's the matter going?"
Wei Nian talked to the two of them in detail, and Wei Yin widened her beautiful eyes and laughed, "Oh, brother, you even hired a female master back. It seems you want to set up a lace factory, otherwise you will waste such a large sum of money." From her brother going to Tianjin, and then from Tianjin to Shanghai, hiring a female master, buying thread, and the effort her brother spent these days, it was not a small amount.
Wei Nian smiled, "It seems like you guys have made plans these days."
Old Mrs. Wei said disapprovingly, "They are always talking and discussing things together."
Wei Nian did not ask in detail, because Grandpa Wei had returned. The father and son went to the west annex to talk, and Chen Xuan brought hot tea again. After all, it was almost Mid-Autumn Festival, and the weather was getting colder. The west annex was used less and it was even colder. Wei Nian roughly told his father about the trip to Shanghai to hire a master, and Grandpa Wei asked him, "You have hired people and bought thread. Are you going to open a factory?"
Wei Nian whispered, "Shipping the lace from Shanghai to Beijing will at least cost more in shipping fees, so let's try to sell it domestically first. Both Tianjin and Qingdao are busy places, so there will be no worries about market. If it's a foreign company, we can take advantage of the relationship between Mr. Yourong and Miss Qin and go to Shanghai again. If others can find market, we can find market too!" Wei Nian was not afraid of going out to do business.
He added, "This lace is mainly made by hand, and the raw material cost is not much, just some cotton thread. Let's use this to get some help. Beijing is a good place, but since the emperor passed away, the government has moved to Nanjing. Now it is called Beiping, which is not as good as before. In recent years, it is not as lively as Tianjin, and Tianjin still has Tianjin Port. Dad, I think it is faster to do business in the south than in the north."
"There's nothing we can do about it. But there's no rush. The south has its own business, and the north has its own business. A few days ago, a batch of furs arrived from outside the Great Wall. The quality is pretty good."
"It's still necessary for Big Brother to go there in person. The shopkeeper and his clerks are more attentive."
"Yes." Old Master Wei actually expressed the same feeling as Old Lady Wei, "We still have a small family. You two brothers are like this. Your eldest brother has Ajie and Aming in his family. This is not a disgrace to our ancestors. From now on, it's up to you. Business will only flourish if there are many people."
Wei Nian was really impressed by his father, who was able to push him to have a son in such a roundabout way. Wei Nian said, "Mr. Rong has only one brother in his family. Look at how successful he is in his career. He is well-known in Shanghai."
Old Master Wei was smoking a pipe, clacking at the sound of a cigarette, looking calm and composed. "If you had Mr. Rong's ability, I wouldn't have said anything."
Wei Nian choked his father and fell backwards.
When it was time to eat, Wei Nian realized that although his wife saw that he was quiet, she really cared about him. When Chen Xuan returned home, she told the shopkeeper Xiao Li to go to the restaurant and order two dishes. One was Hou Defu's sweet and sour tiles, which is Hou Defu's specialty. The carp has thick meat and a strong earthy smell, but it is cooked in a particularly tender and fragrant way. The other was Tianfuhao's braised pork elbow, which was also An Nian's favorite. Because there were Zhao Da's husband and his family in the evening, there were many people, so they ordered double portions of both dishes.
Old Mrs. Wei knew that it was Chen Xuan who ordered the dishes, and she couldn't help but say something meaningful, "Look around Beijing, only our daughter-in-law orders dishes from a restaurant by herself."
Chen Xuan had long been immune to Old Lady Wei's tricks, and said with a smile, "Shanghainese people love to eat rice, and without steamed buns, Brother Anian would definitely not be used to it. I felt sorry for him, so I took the initiative. It's also because Old Lady and Grandpa are generous, otherwise, I wouldn't dare to do that."
Old Mrs. Wei also felt sorry for her son, and said to Chen Xuan, "You must tell me next time." How could she order food from a restaurant without telling the elderly at home? She was too bold. Even though Chen Xuan paid for it herself, it was the same.
"Yes, I got it." Chen Xuan responded with a smile.
Old Master Wei smiled, "It's good that An Nian is back. Come, let's have a drink first." After drinking, after Old Master Wei picked up a dish with chopsticks, Chen Xuan picked up a piece of fish for Wei Nian and whispered to Wei Nian to be careful of fish bones. Wei Nian picked up a fried meatball and gave it to Chen Xuan. The couple was so sweet.
Wei Nian invited Zhao's brother-in-law to drink again, and told his elder sister that he bought her a silk scarf in Shanghai. Wei Jin smiled and said, "Okay, I will enjoy the blessing of my brother too."
After dinner, everyone talked together in the old lady's room for a while. It was getting late, so Wei Nian took Chen Xuan back to Wangfucang Hutong.
The couple had a lot of private conversations. Chen Xuan heard from Wei Nian that Rong Yang also came to Beijing, and she was planning to ask Shopkeeper Li to send strawberries to Rong Yang tomorrow. Wei Nian asked about family matters. He had been away on a business trip for more than half a month, and there was nothing to do at home, except for the lace factory. The women had discussed the equity distribution. When Wei Nian heard about this humiliating treaty, he almost exploded and asked Chen Xuan, "What do you think about the equity distribution! Why does that silly girl from the Qin family get 25% of the shares?" Do these women know how to do business? This time when Wei Nian went to Shanghai to deal with the lace business, Chen Xuan and Wei Yin discussed with Qin Shu and asked Qin Shu to join the partnership. The shares were calculated like this. The lace factory was divided equally among the four people, that is, Wei Nian, Chen Xuan, Wei Yin, and Qin Shu, each with 25%.
Wei Nian had no objection to this for his wife and sister, but Qin Shu dared to take 25% for all the effort he made! If it were Wei Nian, he would give Qin Shu 10% at most!
Chen Xuan patiently explained to Wei Nian, "Brother Anian, Ah Shu really helped me think of many ideas. Now that we have moved to a new store, the clothes we make are much more advanced than before. Now we have several types, and we have ready-made styles and materials for customers to choose from. If a customer has his own style, the customer will tell her, and Ah Yin will draw a style and show it to the customer first. If the customer thinks it is good, then we will make it. In addition to running the store, Ah Yin is also busy with the clothes. Sometimes when she is too busy, Ah Shu comes to watch over her. Ah Shu often comes to help. We have come up with many new patterns and found several good embroiderers to do embroidery. Ah Shu helped with many ideas. Let alone other things, just drawing styles, there is no one in the whole city of Beijing that is more advanced than us. Because other families still have old craftsmen, they don’t know how to draw this kind of Western style drawings.”
"This method is indeed good." Wei Nian's comment was also very pertinent.
Chen Xuan poured a cup of warm water for Wei Nian and handed it to him, and continued, "I think the lace business is not a big business. Otherwise, if it was a big business, we wouldn't have to import it directly from other places to sell it in Beijing. Ah Shu is not the kind of person who cares too much. When we do business, making money is of course important, and being happy is better than anything else. If you really calculate so carefully, then Ah Shu helped to come up with so many ideas, should you calculate the money for her?"
Wei Nian took a sip of water and sighed, "Forget it, 25% is 25%, whatever you want, it's your business anyway."
Chen Xuan looked at Brother Anian with a smile. Wei Nian asked, "How much money do you plan to invest in this lace factory?"
"We don't have much money now, so we can just pay from our store," said Chen Xuan.
Wei Nian raised his eyebrows and made his point clear, "That girl gets 25% of the money, don't forget to include her in the payment."
"How can Ash have money? She earns a lot, but every month she has little money left to call home and write letters. Ash said that she is investing with her intelligence and wisdom."
Hearing Qin Shu's shameless words, Wei Nian almost vomited blood. He said casually, "She put her limited intelligence into our lace factory. Won't she become even dumber in the future?" Thinking of Qin Shu's phone call, Wei Nian couldn't help but say, "Could this silly girl be calling Shanghai from Beijing?"
"Yeah, I heard from Ah Shu that he only dares to call once a month. Long-distance calls are expensive. He dares not say more. Even so, it costs at least ten dollars for one call."
"It's hard for her to still be able to afford food now."
Chen Xuan smiled and said to Wei Nian, "Let's do this. If we really want to build the factory, we alone won't be able to handle it. I think Ah Shu is good at doing things. He can help take care of things."
Wei Nian didn't say anything more. After all, the matter of the lace factory was not a big deal. He thought that Qin Shu was slowly restoring his relationship with his family, and he might need Qin Shu in the future, so he didn't say anything more.
As for the so-called smart and wise investment, how shameless!
The one who really invested with wisdom and intelligence was Wei Nian. After Wei Nian invited the female master back, Chen Xuan and Wei Yin discussed how to recruit people to learn lace weaving. But the two of them calculated that the initial investment in recruiting people to learn lace weaving was really a bit high. You know, you have to pay salaries when you recruit people. Even if you hire a nanny in Beijing, it costs three yuan a month. Even if you only recruit ten people, the monthly expenditure is at least thirty yuan, plus the salary of two female masters, this is not a small amount of expenses.
Chen Xuan and Wei Yin were reluctant to make such a huge investment before any output was produced. Even Qin Shu was not so extravagant after becoming a shareholder.
Chen Xuan said, "Weaving lace is a skill. There is an old saying in our countryside: if you have a skill, you can eat anywhere. It means if you have a skill, you don't have to worry about going hungry."
Qin Shu also said, "If I have to pay them to teach them skills, it would be a bit of a loss."
Wei Yin strongly agrees with the previous two views.
The three of them started to worry. When Wei Nian heard about this, he said to them, "You are so stupid. Why are you so worried? Who said the technology is free? We don't provide it for free. I have come from thousands of miles away and paid fifty dollars for a train ticket to invite someone here. Can I teach him for free? Is there such a good thing in the world?"
“But if we don’t teach for free, even if we recruit people, they won’t know how to crochet lace and our lace factory won’t be able to operate,” Wei Yin said.
Wei Nian clicked his tongue twice, and sat on the kang to give instructions, "A lace factory and teaching technology are two different things. How can technology be free? The lace master we hired is provided with food, lodging, round-trip tickets, clothes for all seasons, and a monthly salary of 30 yuan. The initial investment is so huge, the technology can't be free! Not only can it not be free, we have to charge money, 5 yuan a month, and we guarantee that you will be taught and find a job in three months. Why is the lace factory in a hurry? First open a school to teach lace crochet, teach technology, charge tuition, find a job, and guarantee that the monthly income after graduation is no less than 5 yuan."
The three of them were stunned by Wei Nian's brilliant idea!
As for investing smartly and wisely, Miss Qin Shu, your father is the director of the Shanghai Education Department. Now is your time to shine!
The author has something to say: ps: The second update is here~~~Good night everyone~~~I'm going to go to the movies tonight, two updates today~~~~About making phone calls in the Republic of China, here is some information about Guangzhou, it's really, super expensive!!
The cost of making phone calls: Making phone calls is very, very expensive. During the Republic of China period, Guangzhou's communications were relatively developed, and automatic telephones were installed very early, even earlier than Shanghai. However, in the 19th year of the Republic of China, if a private person installed a phone, he had to pay the Guangzhou Automatic Telephone Management Office an initial installation fee of 350 yuan, and a monthly rental fee of 6 yuan. At that time, the monthly salary of the mayor of Guangzhou was less than 300 yuan, and a month's salary was not enough to install a phone. At that time, street shops would occasionally install public telephones, which were charged every 5 minutes. Calls of less than 5 minutes were also calculated as 5 minutes, and the charge was 0.6 yuan per call. If you make a domestic long-distance call, the charge can be as high as 5.5 yuan per call, and the average charge is more than 1 yuan per minute. As mentioned earlier, a low-level teacher could earn dozens of silver dollars a month, and a month's salary was not enough to make a one-hour long-distance call. So you can imagine that in Guangzhou during the Republic of China, only very wealthy families could install telephones, and only very wealthy people would make frequent calls.