With that one glance at the unruly woman, Chu Lian’s heart trembled violently. He was extremely surprised; he hadn’t expected her to be there too, and at the sight of her, his heart even skipped a beat.
However, that feeling was wiped out by the cold, frosty expression on the unruly woman’s face.
It was only when he heard Xiaoxiao’s voice that Chu Lian realized Xiaoxiao was standing next to the unruly woman; he had completely overlooked Xiaoxiao, his eyes fixed only on the unruly woman.
He didn’t have time to think further, "I came to see how Yang Ming was doing?"
"He’s doing fine, he’s gone to work, right over there," Xiaoxiao said as she pointed the way to Chu Lian.
Chu Lian glanced in the distance. He had heard from Yang Ming’s family that they were digging a pond, and that was why he had come to check, not expecting the project to be so extensive.
"Then I’ll head over there."
"Yes, alright." Xiaoxiao agreed, then watched Chu Lian walk directly towards the direction she had indicated.
Xiaoxiao was genuinely puzzled, these two knew each other yet didn’t greet each other; it was as if they were strangers, "Sister Wang, what’s going on with you two, acting like you don’t know each other?"
"We really don’t know each other."
"..." These two definitely had a secret; they’d met several times yet still spoke .
"Let’s go back then, to distribute the wages."
Afterward, the two boarded Wang Xiangxiang’s carriage and went to the rented courtyard. Everyone was happy to hear about the wages being distributed; being paid by the piece, some even received two taels of silver, which they had never dared to dream of before.
After the wages were distributed, Xiaoxiao and Wang Xiangxiang returned home. As soon as they entered, Wang Xiangxiang produced a silver note and handed it to Xiaoxiao, "This is for you."
Xiaoxiao took the silver note, startled by the number on it; it was five hundred taels of silver. It was only half a month, and there was already so much. She looked at Wang Xiangxiang, "Sister Wang, how much silver does one set of your underwear sell for?"
Wang Xiangxiang replied with a smile, "Not much, just one tael of silver."
"Cough, cough!" Xiaoxiao coughed in surprise. Wang Xiangxiang was simply bandit-like in her pricing; one tael was already exorbitant, yet she said it was just one tael.
The underwear and underpants used less fabric to begin with. Though there was embroidery, much of it was embellishment rather than extensive intricate work—it was practically robbery.
Seeing Xiaoxiao’s reaction, Wang Xiangxiang immediately patted her on the back, "Don’t get excited, we only sell to wealthy families. One tael is nothing to them."
Her words did make sense; from the beginning, they had aimed to market to the rich and not the poor, as the poor would likely buy their own fabric and sew themselves, making it difficult to open up that market.
"Sister Wang, I totally admire you now." Wang Xiangxiang was a natural-born businesswoman; Xiaoxiao couldn’t have picked a better partner. She didn’t have to worry about anything, just sit at home and count the silver.
Being complimented made Wang Xiangxiang much happier. Confident in her business acumen, she said, "Xiaoxiao, let’s hire more people, make more, I want to try selling in other counties."
"How are you planning to sell?"
"Opening stores would take too long, and I can’t open one in every place; I’m thinking of partnering with cloth shops in other counties to supply them."
"..." Was Wang Xiangxiang really from this era? Her business mind seemed like that of a modern-day entrepreneur—she was thinking of wholesaling.
"Sister Wang, it’s a good idea, but we can’t let every cloth shop sell our merchandise; that would make our underwear seem cheap. Rarity increases value."
Xiaoxiao made a good point, "Do you have any suggestions?"