Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 930 - 928_1

Chapter 930: Chapter 928_1

Broker Yang laughed, "Refreshing! The two young ladies’ determination in dealing with things surpasses many men."

The two plots he introduced were well-located, feng shui was excellent, and both transportation and water supply were convenient, but the reclamation was very troublesome, and it would be impossible without spending several hundred taels.

Because there was a stone mountain, and every year during the torrential rain season, it would experience a phenomenon of mudslides, so no one wanted to come near here.

Yet, Broker Yang has passed the examination for second-tier scholars multiple times and has seen countless scions of officials. Those born to high-ranking, scholarly families emit a noble aura, like being full of poetry and knowledge.

The lady in front of him had the best temperament he had ever seen; beautiful yet not vulgar, noble but not oppressive, proud but not arrogant. From her, everything seemed just right!

The other lady was slightly less graceful in comparison, but it was clear that she was carefree and boisterous.

Xiao’er smiled without saying a word, looking down at the ground under her feet and cautiously checking the terrain.

Apart from this stone mountain being a major inconvenience, the land was indeed good for just about anything.

Moreover, there were green hills nearby, which was convenient for chopping firewood! After all, firewood was indispensable for making fried dace with salted black beans.

From a feng shui perspective, Xiao’er could only think of one sentence: Backed by the mountain peak, faced toward the ravine, with distant views lead to a promising future!

"We will build a road here, and construct a bridge over that river in the distance," Xiao’er pointed at a spot and said.

In that way, villagers could deliver the catch in good condition, have it cleaned properly, thus ensuring the freshness of ingredients.

Also, it would make it easier for their workshop to transport the products out.

Broker Du was even more deeply impressed. Roads and bridges, she said they would be built immediately.

The cost of constructing a road and a bridge was no small sum. Plus, the cost of removing a large mountain, and who knew if 500 taels would be enough? Once the land was developed, the processing plant would need to be constructed. On a plot of more than ten acres, how large would that plant be!

As they explored the site, Xiao’er was planning. "The main entrance to the processing plant will be established here, facing directly south. On the north side, a seven-story employee dormitory will be built. The factory will be constructed on the west side, a three-story warehouse will be built on the east side. I hear that during spring, there will be two to three months of plum rain weather which makes the space very humid causing the ground floor to become wet. That’s the best time to store the products produced on the second floor and above. What do you think?"

Xiao’er looked at Zhu Yan, awaiting her response.

"This arrangement seems reasonable. I think we can also construct a small pond over there and divert the water from that river for use. Sometimes, when the workers are too busy, the fish can be raised in the pond without worrying about them dying."

Broker Du felt quite shocked. A seven-story employee building? Even the Garden Hotel in the city only had eight stories!

He was starting to consider working here because the employees here would be living better than he was.

Xiao’er nodded, "Correct, it needs to be live water pond. Otherwise, it’s challenging to rear carp in a stagnant pond."

Besides making fried dace with salted black beans, Xiao’er also aimed to make other sauces in this workshop.

There are seven essentials when opening a shop daily, kindling, rice, oil, salt, and soy sauce, vinegar, tea! Xiao’er plans to produce salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea.

Although the sauce and vinegar business may seem small, it thrives on volume. Moreover, they have a longer shelf life, low risk, and profits pile up just like sand forms a tower!

With the improvement of people’s living standards, many people are willing to buy some sauces to bring home to make their meat and vegetables look, smell, and taste excellent. However, the flavors of the sauces on the market are not good enough.

All the sauces used in the Four Seasons Restaurant are produced in Xiao’er’s space.

Many people inquire about those sauces at the restaurant and ask if they are for sale. Xiao’er has heard the shopkeeper talking about this several times.

Previously, when she was just starting to accumulate wealth, there weren’t enough hands to do the work. But now, after a few years, plenty of labor has been trained.

Xiao’er no longer feels like there is a lack of manpower and hasn’t needed to borrow help from Shangguan Xuanyi.

Now is her time to flex her muscles.

Her goal is not too high, she just to become the richest person in the country.

After all, as a woman standing on the shoulders of giants (the perspective of seeing further), she can’t lose face, right?

After spending half an hour familiarizing herself with the terrain, Broker Du took them to see another piece of land.

This was a salt-contaminated plot with a very low grain yield. Industrious people have tried to dig it up to plant grains, but after paying taxes, they couldn’t even earn back the money spent on seeds, so no one was willing to work in vain ever since.

For many years it has been lying fallow, with weeds growing everywhere.

This land was nearly ten acres larger than the one Xiao’er had just viewed.

But Zhu Yan runs a silk weaving mill, so naturally the bigger, the better. After all, producing silk involves many procedures, and various types of silk have to go through many subsequent steps after being woven. They need to be colored and dried, all of which occupy land.

Zhu Yan roughly familiarized herself with the terrain, had an initial blueprint for the workshop in mind, and then the two hurried back to the city.

The carriage sped along the road, but it still took quite a bit of time.

"We need to build a road directly to the city to facilitate and save time for the transportation of goods from the workshop. The most dreadful situation would be during rainy weather. The road would be muddy and might jam the wheels or the carriage may overturn." Xiao’er sat in the carriage, sometimes shaking with the carriage. This made her feel an urgent need to construct a road!

Moreover, future products from the workshop would be packed in bottles or jars. On such a bumpy road, she worried that the products would break before they reached their destination!

"Yes! The cost of building this road will be borne by my family!" Zhu Yan also realized that this was a relatively poor area and the government office, full of loopholes, probably couldn’t afford to construct a road. Although the cost of building a road was not small, as the richest family in Shengping County, her family could afford it!

Furthermore, construction of the road also would facilitate their own workshop. After all, if their carriage did overturn as Xiao’er suggested.

They were in the silk cloth business, and a piece of brocade was worth more than a hundred taels of silver! If the cart overturned and the cloth got wet or dirty, wouldn’t they suffer a huge loss!

So, this road had to be built!

"Really? That’s great! I’ve saved a lot! It seems that in the future, my family’s workshop must be built next to your house. In that way, I can save a considerable sum every year on road construction," Xiao’er joked.

Of course, she didn’t really intend for Zhu Yan to foot the entire bill. She could provide cement and steel bars.

Once they returned to the city and evening fell, they had dinner. Afterward, Xiao’er took out paper and started planning.

She was going to draw the rendering of the workshop, the construction plans for the plant, and the workshop’s operating standards.

This workshop would consume a significant amount of firewood. To avoid deforestation and destruction of the natural environment, Xiao’er established a policy of planting a tree for each one chopped down.

She felt the protection of the natural environment was absolutely necessary. One shouldn’t wait until it is destroyed before considering prevention and treatment, and there were plenty of precedents for this.