Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 228 Business is going well
After leaving the foreign company, the three went straight to Bao Sheng Tang Pharmacy.

Qu Shaoyang didn't come to sell goods this summer, but the clerk in the pharmacy still remembered him.

As soon as he saw Qu Shaoyang coming, he hurried to greet him and immediately informed the chief manager.

When Yu Da, the manager of Baoshengtang, learned that it was the man from Maoer Mountain who had arrived, he hurried out to meet him.

"Hey, Brother Qu, it's you. I haven't seen you for a long time. Are you here in Yingkou to buy New Year's goods?"

Qu Shaoyang bowed to the other party and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Chief Manager.

Well, this time I came here not only to buy New Year goods, but I also have a batch of medicinal herbs, mountain products, and hides to sell. I wonder if the shopkeeper can accept them."

Qu Shaoyang went straight to the point and stated his purpose directly.

“I’m in charge of the medicinal materials, but the mountain products and hides have to go to Hengsheng Store.

How much merchandise do you have, brother Qu? Give me a rough estimate and I'll have the money ready at the counter."

Business owners are not afraid of people coming to sell goods. Shopkeeper Yu would like to have as many goods as possible. The more goods they have, the more money they can make.

Qu Shaoyang had a bill in his hand with the amount written on it, so he took it out and showed it to Manager Yu.

Shopkeeper Yu took the list and glanced at it, then immediately looked up at Qu Shaoyang with surprise.

"Brother, you are amazing. It's only been a year since we last met, and you've managed to get so many good things?"

"Boss, to be honest, this is a collection of money from several villages around us.

Everyone knew I was coming to Yingkou for business, so they all asked me to bring some goods with me.”

Qu Shaoyang was cautious and did not say that he had received it himself.

We must always be on guard against others. This shopkeeper Yu looks very kind, but who knows what kind of person he is?

What if he finds out that Qu Shaoyang paid for the goods and deliberately lowers the price?
The goods will die when they arrive at the destination. This old saying will not fool anyone.

If Baoshengtang deliberately makes things difficult for Qu Shaoyang, by refusing to pay a high price, or by teaming up with other pharmacies to squeeze Qu Shaoyang, Qu Shaoyang might end up having to pay compensation on this trip.

Of course, Qu Shaoyang’s words might not be able to deceive the other party. Anyway, he said so, and they can believe it or not.

This trip is just a test. When he has figured out all the tricks, he will open a drug store, warehouse, etc. here.

Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Yu nodded and said, "No wonder, I thought Brother Qu was going to make a fortune after not seeing him for a year.

OK, I have the number of things. I will ask the accountant to prepare the money right away.

Later, Brother Qu will deliver the herbs and we will negotiate the price based on the quality and pay in cash."

Shopkeeper Yu was a straightforward man. He nodded immediately and agreed to accept the goods.

The two chatted for a while, then Qu Shaoyang and the other two said goodbye and went to Hengsheng store to find the owner of Hengsheng store.

It is the twelfth lunar month, and the wealthy families in the city are busy making clothes for the New Year and preparing new year goods, so all kinds of leather and mountain products are in great demand.

When Manager Cao heard that Qu Shaoyang had a large number of hides and mountain products, he immediately said that he would take as many as Qu Shaoyang could send.

The three of them walked around and concluded the deal very smoothly, then returned home happily.

At Chen's house, Liu Dongshan directed everyone to light up all the kangs and clean up every corner of the house.

The Chen brothers come here often, so the things here are quite complete, with pots, pans, and everything, except for the bedding.

But this did not pose a problem for everyone. When they went to bed at night, they covered themselves with their own cotton-padded jackets or leather jackets and managed to make do with the situation.

We naturally had dinner at the restaurant. I have to say, the chef in this restaurant has great skills and his signature dishes are of very high quality.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they went back to rest. The next morning, the Chen brothers went to the foreign company to sell bristles, Qu Shaoyang led people to sell medicinal herbs, mountain products, and hides, and Liu Dongshan took a few people out to go shopping.

On the way here they had agreed that they could not return with an empty sled and had to bring back a batch of goods.

Yingkou is the earliest opened port in Northeast China. There are many foreign goods here and the prices are not expensive. Not to mention Maoershan, even Tonghua can't compare with it.

It’s just around the corner, and every household needs to buy New Year’s goods. The Qu family has good things, so why would they worry about selling them?

That's how business works, you sell the goods here to there, and make money from the difference in price.

Qu Shaoyang had everything planned out. This trip was just to explore the route, and in the spring of next year, he would build a warehouse in Maoer Mountain.

While collecting all kinds of mountain products and hides, I also sell some things that are not available locally. It doesn't matter whether the business is big or small, as long as I make money.

Among the remaining seven sleds, two sleds were filled with pig bristles, four and a half sleds were filled with mountain products and hides, and only half of the sled was filled with medicinal materials.

I have to say, this pig bristle really makes huge profits.

They collected it by pound, then went back and sorted it out according to the length of the bristles and tied them up, and then graded them according to color and length.

Even the worst small bundle can be sold for forty or fifty cents. If the bristles are pure black and relatively long, the price will double.

The two sledge bristles alone sold for more than two thousand taels of silver, earning more than half a billion.

The prices of medicinal materials are not low either, especially the precious ones such as ginseng, bear bile, musk and tiger bones. None of them are cheap and they make a lot of money.

The skins are also good, a mink skin costs twenty or thirty taels, and the price of lynx skin is a little higher.

Leopard and tiger skins were even more valuable, and a wolf skin cost five or six taels of silver. Although gray skin and yuan skin were small, their prices were not low.

Relatively speaking, various mountain products such as mushrooms, wood ears, pine nuts, hazelnuts, etc. are low in price and have less profit.

When doing business, it is impossible to make all the money, there has to be a balance.

Anyway, it's just a side job. If you have one more variety, you can earn more money.

Qu Shaoyang spent most of the day and finally sold all the things he had.

After some calculations, I realized that I could earn several thousand taels of silver from all these mountain products, medicinal herbs, and skins.

The main thing is that there are several large wild ginseng seedlings in it, which are really good. They are sold at a high price and I can make a lot of money.

"It seems that we will have to focus more on ginseng in the future.

I will go to Dianzi Street again later. I heard from Erkui that there are many ginseng gangs there, and there are also some old mountain dogs on the mountain, and they all have goods in hand."

After working for most of the day and returning home, Qu Shaoyang sorted out the accounts while talking to Liu Dongshan.

"Are you planning to expand your business? That's fine, make more money while you're still young.

You and Xiuyun can have more children in the future, eight or ten. When they grow up, they can get married and have their own children. Wouldn't that be a big family?
Build up more property and leave it to your children and grandchildren so that they can study. Who knows, one of them may pass the imperial examination and become an official.

Otherwise, why don't we send our children to study abroad, to see the world and broaden their horizons? How great would that be?"

Liu Dongshan smoked his pipe and looked forward to the future.

Studying abroad and the like are new terms I heard from Chen Yunzhe and others.

Chen Yunzhe travels all over the country all day long and has a wide range of knowledge. It is said that the imperial court is now selecting talents to study abroad and learn some foreign technology.

For Liu Dongshan, he simply could not imagine what the world outside the Qing Dynasty was like.

He is old and has no chance to travel abroad in this life. He will be content if his children and grandchildren are capable and can travel abroad for him in the future.

(End of this chapter)