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Chapter 100 Receiving the Godmother

Sweet Water Diary.

After seeing off his classmates, Su Lu said to his godmother, who was smiling and busy behind the counter, "I've come to help you celebrate your birthday, on my grandfather's orders."

“I’ve been ready for ages!” Godmother replied crisply, “I’m just waiting for you to get out of school.”

Then he shouted loudly, "We're closing early today, everyone go home for the holiday!"

The three shop assistants wondered how they would spend the holiday. But they were still happy to have half a day off, so they quickly took down the door panel and spent another half an hour cleaning and washing it.

At this moment, the godmother and her daughter, dressed neatly, came downstairs, followed by Su Lu and his son carrying large and small bags.

The three shop assistants were all from Erlangtan. Seeing this, they quickly stepped forward to take the large and small bags. An older shop assistant named Zhang Gui laughed and said, "Boss lady, are you not doing well? Buying so much stuff?"

"What do you know?" The proprietress smiled broadly, overjoyed.

Just then, the back gate opened, and my uncle came in from outside. He was still wearing the same blue round-collared robe and a black folded-brimmed hat, but he stood tall with his chest out and belly protruding, and his whole demeanor was different.

"Oh, it's General Flag Commander! I'm so sorry for not welcoming you sooner," Su Lu said with a fist and palm salute.

Ma Qianhu is reliable. My uncle took office at the beginning of the month and is currently getting used to his work environment... In short, he is invited to meals by various shops every day.

In less than half a month, he became slender and radiant with health.

"You've gotten quite bold, kid, daring to make fun of your old man." The uncle laughed and scolded, "From now on, you're not allowed to use your title, you have to call me Uncle, understand?"

"Understood, Uncle Commander," Su Lu said with a grin.

"You brat deserve a beating!" Su Youjin flicked his riding crop and asked the landlady, "Is your wife ready?"

"We can set off anytime, brother." The proprietress nodded with a smile.

“You two, mother and daughter, ride my horse.” Su Youjin pointed outside the door and saw a soldier wearing a blue cloth armor, leading a variegated Yunnan horse.

"Wow, big brother, this is worthy of a horse." Su Youcai was slightly shocked.

Although the Yunnan Ma is short, not even as tall as the Su Lu, the Xiali is still a car.

"Normally, only a centurion could be provided with a horse, but I live far from home, so the commander of a thousand, being considerate of his subordinates, made an exception and assigned me this old horse, along with a groom," Su Youjin said gratefully.
"Lord Commander, you really care about your subordinates."

~~
The proprietress had also prepared a donkey, but unable to resist her uncle's enthusiastic invitation, she took her daughter and rode the horse.

Although the Yunnan horse is not much bigger than a donkey, it is a fine horse with a broad and flat back and a steady gait. Riding it on mountain roads is not very bumpy, and it is much more comfortable than riding a donkey.

As for the donkeys, they were used to carry the large and small bags. The three members of the Su family, along with three helpers and a groom, surrounded the mother and daughter, giving them the air of returning home in glory.

Su Lu led the horse and said to his godmother, "My second brother also wants to come, but the winery is too busy and he can't find the time."

"Of course I know how hard Xia-ge'er has worked," the godmother nodded. "It's only been less than two months, and the first batch of sample wines has already come out."

"Is it priced?" Su Lu asked softly.

"Hmm. I suggest setting the factory price at forty coins, and Sweet Water Shop adding ten coins to the selling price. That should be fine." The proprietress also said softly, "What do you think?"

“It’s just right to sell half of Cheng’s products…” Su Lu pondered.

“That’s right, we’re pricing it the same as Cheng’s.” Godmother laughed. “Five catties of sorghum make one catty of Kunsha wine. Add in labor, yeast, transportation costs and losses, and the cost of one catty of wine is about sixty coins. This doesn’t even include the money for kickbacks, so if we sell it for one hundred coins, we can only make twenty or thirty coins.”

"No wonder our Su's Shop couldn't keep going. We lost money on every bottle we sold," Su Lu said with a wry smile.

“We won’t lose money now.” The proprietress then explained the profits to him: “Two catties of sorghum can produce one catty of broken sand liquor, the labor cost is only one-third, the yeast cost is only two-fifths, and the transportation and sales are all handled by Sweet Water Company, so we can save on those costs as well.”

"The cost is only about twenty-two coins?" Su Lu did a quick calculation and clicked his tongue in amazement. "You can make eighteen coins per pound?" What kind of exorbitant profit is that?
"You haven't even factored in the blended Suji aged wine yet," the proprietress said. "You can't achieve this flavor with just new wine."

"How much will we need?" Su Lu asked.

"It's roughly one jin to ten jin, which translates to six coins per bottle," the proprietress said.

“Earning twelve coins is quite a lot,” Su Lu said with a smile. “Moreover, it revitalized non-performing assets. Uncle Qi must be overjoyed.”

He thought to himself, "No wonder he wanted to help his godmother deal with the old man; it turns out there was a reason for everything."

"What's the next step?" his godmother asked again. Su Lu's mind was always on his studies, and he rarely concerned himself with business matters. Since he had some free time today, his godmother certainly wouldn't let him off the hook.

"Let's stick to what we agreed on before. First, we'll do on-the-ground promotion, giving away free wine to potential customers. Then we'll run some advertising to increase brand awareness, and then we'll hold the order fair in September!" Su Lu said.

"Don't bother with the original distributors of Su Ji for now. You won't make a sale if you try too hard. Anyway, they can't run away. Let's wait until they come to us."

“My son is right. If we approach them now, they’ll definitely think we’re begging them and won’t know how to negotiate a lower price,” the proprietress agreed. “It’s better to wait until we’ve established a sales channel and they come to us on their own. Then we can just follow the rules.”

"Your godmother is already doing that door-to-door promotion you mentioned." Su Youcai interjected, "These days, the two of us have been running from house to house, even visiting every boat at the dock. It's been so tiring. Sigh, you're such a kid, all you have to do is talk, and your godmother has to run herself ragged."

“It’s not hard work, my second brother is with me… He’s sharing a lot of the burden with me.” The godmother laughed, “My second brother is the one who’s working hard.” “…” Su Lu was caught off guard by this display of affection, and he rolled his eyes in disbelief.

"Since you two are so capable, I don't think there's anything I need to worry about, right?"

“Yes, yes, of course!” the godmother hurriedly said, “It’s that advertisement my son mentioned, but I have no idea about it.”

"To put it bluntly, advertising is brainwashing marketing," Su Lu said. "For example, you can plant flags all over the main streets and docks of the town... in short, all the conspicuous places. Have my dad write on each flag 'Erlang Wine, no headache,' 'Drink Erlang Wine when you drink,' 'Give Erlang Wine as a gift,' and do a carpet bombing so that people can only see it!"

"Won't we get beaten up?" Su Youcai asked with a wry smile.

"What's there to be afraid of with my uncle protecting you?" Su Lu teased. "Right, Uncle Commander?"

"Get out of my way." Su Youjin laughed and scolded, "If it's just planting a flag, as long as you don't plant it on the gate of the garrison, it's fine, isn't it?"

"Hahaha, did you hear that? Now our family has someone in official circles." Su Lu laughed loudly.

"Why do you seem even more smug than me?" Uncle asked with a smile.

“That’s right. If my uncle had become the commander a year earlier, I wouldn’t have had to study so hard,” Su Lu said with a smile.

"Look at how ambitious you are!" Uncle patted his scholar's cap and laughed loudly, "If you hadn't insisted on studying, I wouldn't have become this captain."

"Yes," Su Youcai sighed, "If it weren't for your tuition fees, why would I go to your godmother's house to collect a debt?"

As they spoke, the man and woman exchanged a knowing glance, filled with emotion.

"Is all of this about my feelings because I want to study?" Su Lu pointed to his nose.

"Hahaha, what do you think?" The elders all burst into laughter.

Little Tiantian said worriedly, "Third brother, you must continue your studies. I'm afraid that if you stop studying, everything will go back to the way it was before."

"Don't worry, anyone who dares to prevent him from studying is an enemy of the Su family, including himself!" The eldest uncle waved his hand and said in a deep voice:

"As I said before, what others give you doesn't count; only what you earn yourself is reliable!"

"Yes." Su Lu nodded, thinking to herself that her uncle was truly a sensible man. He certainly hadn't been blinded by greed...

"Then I'll have someone make a thousand flags," the godmother said, getting back to the point with great ambition, "to cover the entire Taiping Town!"

"Okay." Su Lu nodded, then had a sudden inspiration and said, "I have another advertising jingle that's quite suitable. Mom, find some loud-voiced men and have them sing it all the time. The effect will definitely be great!"

"My son is so full of ideas!" The godmother was overjoyed. She had been racking her brains for days without coming up with a solution, but Su Lu's ideas just kept popping up one after another!

"Giving ideas is easy, but being able to execute them is the real skill," Su Lu said, exchanging pleasantries with his godmother.

~~
The group walked and talked, and it took them more than half an hour to return to Erlangtan.

This imposing procession was even more impressive than that of Commander Zhou, instantly intimidating the villagers.

Whether they were from the Su family or the Cheng family, they all greeted each other warmly. No one dared to question how the proprietress could mingle with the Su family.

That's how the world is; malice is only directed at the weak. When you're strong enough, you won't hear any voices you don't want to hear.

Of course, the malice behind your back will only be directed at the strong. When you are strong enough, rest assured, there will be plenty of people cursing you behind your back, ten or a hundred times more vicious than when they are facing you to your face.

so what?

~~
The group arrived at Old Su's stilted house, where Little Jinbao was already waiting eagerly. Upon seeing them, he waved and cheered, "Sanguo is back! They're all back!"

"You brat, even if your father is among them?" Su Youjin said feigned anger, "Then I'll just eat this rock candy myself!"

"Dad!" Little Jinbao immediately changed his address, then jumped and leaped into his uncle's arms to rescue his rock candy.

At this moment, the proprietress saw the old man come out of the main room upon hearing the sound and come to the courtyard to greet her.

"His godmother is here?" The old man had an unnatural smile on his face.

The godmother was flattered and said, "Uncle, you can just wait inside for the junior to pay his respects. There's no need for you to come out and greet me."

"How can that be?" Su Daji followed the old man out, smiling and saying, "My sixth brother said that the proprietress is a close relative and friend, so we must go out to greet her, right?"

"Oh, right, right, right." The old man rolled his eyes at him, then turned to his godmother and smiled, "Daughter, make yourself at home, come inside and sit down."

This time, the smile seemed more natural.

P.S. My eyesight gets blurry when I stay up late these days. But anyway, I've managed four updates on the eighth day! Please keep asking for monthly votes and subscriptions!!

(End of this chapter)