Uncle Lai in the Red Chamber

Chapter 213 Killing two birds with one stone

Lai Shangrong never expected that Jin Chuan and his family would find a way to make money when they entered the mansion.

Since time travel, he has only been able to reach out for clothes and open his mouth for food. Not to mention oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar, he has never even seen vegetables before cooking.

In previous lives, sugar was an extremely common condiment, but in this era it is an expensive luxury.

Due to the immature technology for removing impurities, sugar in this era is generally black, not the dark color of brown sugar in later generations, but burnt black.

The same problem also occurs with salt. In addition to finely processed salt, both official and private salt in this era are large pieces of coarse salt with impure color.

However, salt is a necessity and an important source of revenue for the imperial government. It is difficult for Lai Shangrong to get involved, but sugar does not have this restriction.

And removing impurities is very simple, just add lime and react, then filter the impurities.

The price of ordinary table sugar is about two taels of silver and ten catties, while the price of snowflake marshmallows is ten times that of ordinary sugar, which is two taels of silver and one catty.

This ten-fold price difference, after deducting the loss of processing and personnel wages, has at least five times the profit.

Most of the snowflake candies on the market today are imported from Xiyi, and Lai Shangrong can earn this money with peace of mind.

He didn't plan to find someone to join the business this time. Although the fifth-rank master doctor is not a high-ranking official, he is enough to transform the firearms for the emperor.

Of course, he had no sales channels. If he opened his stall too big just to sell sugar, he would lose more than he gained. Therefore, it was necessary to find Uncle Tian Guo to cooperate.

After all, the cement factory had to deal with the Ministry of Industry. Father Lai was already familiar with the staff, so he arranged for Xing Zhong to be in charge.

The scale of the factory construction will not be large at first. It will only manage production. Xing Zhong should be competent. This is also regarded as an examination of business capabilities.

He did whatever he thought of, and that night, Lai Shangrong went to Huazhi Lane.

"Why is nephew here?"

After all, he was not a serious son-in-law, so Xing Zhong couldn't help but call him Uncle Lai.

Lai Shangrong also followed his title and said, "Uncle Shi, are you still used to being in the factory these two days?"

"Habit, get used to it! To be honest with my nephew, I also did serious business in the south."

Mrs.

Then he brought the tea to the table and smiled at Lai Shangrong: "Brother, let me tell you, he is a soft-eared person. He will believe others after just a few words, but he will play tricks on his family members. No matter how much he says, he will not Just ignore it and let him follow the in-laws to prevent him from being deceived again."

"伱..." Seeing his wife making trouble, Xing Zhong suddenly became furious, but he pointed at his wife but had no words to refute.

The so-called no business, no evil, Xing Zhong's character is really not suitable for doing business, but production management does not need to go out and compare with others.

Of course, lax management is also a big taboo. I don’t know if Xing Zhong is qualified. Fortunately, he didn’t start at a high level, so he inspected a workshop first.

Lai Shangrong smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, the family business has sales channels, but I don't know if Uncle Shi has any ideas about production management."

When talking about business matters, Xing Zhong straightened his back.

"I've been to the cement factory with you... and my in-laws for the past two days. The division of labor is very appropriate. Each of these workers is only responsible for one piece. As long as a reliable person is placed on the ingredients, there is no fear of the recipe being leaked. No. My nephew, I had some property in my family in my early years, but later I failed to take care of it properly. The recipe was stolen, and I was tricked twice by those evil people..."

When he saw his wife calling his in-laws directly, but Lai Shangrong didn't refute, he also changed the name, and Lai Shangrong didn't care.

White sugar is simple to process, mainly using lime to remove impurities, so it is easy to steal the technology. Xing Zhong has suffered losses in this area and has observed the benefits of division of labor in cement plants, which surprised Lai Shangrong.

Although the division of labor in the cement plant is to improve production efficiency and not to protect intellectual property rights, it only takes two days to gain something, which can be regarded as a diligent effort.

This is why later generations should choose careers they are interested in. Only when they are interested can they be willing to delve into it. Xing Zhong may not have a personality suitable for business, but his interest is enough. As long as he is guided and avoids the bargaining process, he should still be competent. .

Lai Shangrong took out two thousand and five hundred taels of silver notes, plus a few drawings drawn in the Yamen, handed it to Xing Zhong and said: "My family still has an idle Zhuangzi outside the city. Uncle Shi took the money and rebuilt it according to the drawings. I plan to buy a dozen or so servants with a family and a family, and I plan to use them to produce snowflake marshmallows." Two thousand, five hundred taels was the cost according to Lai Shangrong's calculation, and of course, Xing Zhong was able to spare a little.

The cost of the renovation is actually not much. The main thing is to bring the servants with the family. In the future, these people will be responsible for the ingredients and refills. Only with the servants can it be used with confidence.

This can also be regarded as a part of the investigation. It is impossible for him to expand production or build factories in other places in the future.

As for the father, Lai Da, as a son, it is not easy for him to assign him to travel far.

"Snowflake marshmallows?" Xing Zhong and his wife exclaimed.

Although the Xing family was in decline, they were rich at any rate. They had never eaten pork and had seen pigs run away, so they still knew about Baitang.

Hearing that Lai Shangrong actually entrusted him with such an important business, Xing Zhong suddenly became filled with ambition.

"Shang Rong, don't worry, I'll take good care of this matter."

Xing's wife said in panic: "How can he afford such a big business..."

"What do you know, you woman?" Xing Zhong immediately retorted when he saw his wife tearing things apart, fearing that Lai Shangrong would repent.

In fact, Lai Shangrong's choices are limited. After all, there is no such thing as technical content, and there was no such thing as patents in ancient times, so confidentiality is the most important thing.

In ancient times, women could show their faces in public, so Xing Zhong was already the best candidate he could find.

"Since I told Uncle Shi, I can trust him. As long as this business is managed properly, I won't be stingy with dividends."

"This...how is this so embarrassing!"

"Shang Rong, please stay and eat!"

Seeing Xing Xiuyan's mother's warm invitation, Lai Shangrong also planned to teach Xing Zhong some management experience, so he stayed for a light meal.

After having enough wine and food, I returned home and went straight to the east wing of the backyard.

Xing Xiuyan hurriedly stood up to greet Lai Shangrong, and helped Lai Shangrong change out of his official uniform. He smelled the smell of alcohol and asked, "Is this a temporary social occasion? Why didn't I hear what you said this morning?"

Lai Shangrong shook his head and said, "I went to Huazhi Lane and had two drinks with Uncle Shi."

After changing into his casual clothes, Xing Xiuyan helped him onto the bed, put his two long round legs together and let Lai Shangrong lie down on his pillow. While fanning him with a fan, he asked, "Is it possible that dad did something wrong with the master?"

Lai Shangrong hugged her slender waist sideways, buried his head in her arms, shook his head and said, "No! I thought of a business today and planned to leave it to your father. I went over to talk for a while. By the way, Stay and eat."

I heard that I had arranged business for my father.

She knew best what was going on with her father, so she thought Lai Shangrong was taking her own feelings into consideration. The hot air gushing out from his words flowed into his chest and abdomen through the gauze skirt, which already made Xing Xiuyan feel uncomfortable as if he was scratching his heart with a hundred claws.

Now, my bones are even more numb.

He said in a trembling voice: "Master! Don't take care of me, just let him follow me, don't ruin my business!"

Lai Shangrong climbed up the pole and said, "Don't worry! I can never make things difficult for you."

Then he straightened his back, raised his head, and whispered a few words into Xing Xiuyan's ear.

Her head turned red with embarrassment, but she still nodded imperceptibly.

Lai Shangrong was overjoyed and shouted: "Yuanyang! Go and prepare a large bathtub..."

(End of this chapter)