After ten years of accompanying me in my studies, the entire court begged me to shut up.

In the courtyard house in the east of the city, Zhou Youcai and others were waiting for news.

Liu Quan pushed open the door, his face beaming with joy: "Manager Zhou, it's done!"

Zhou Youcai jumped to his feet: "How much?"

Liu Quan held up five fingers: "Five thousand catties of wool, all taken!"

Zhou Youcai laughed loudly: "Good! Well done!"

Everyone clasped their hands in congratulations.

Liu Quan waved his hand, his expression turning serious: "Manager Zhou, there's something else."

"explain."

"During the past few days I've been staking out Xuanfu, I've discovered that we're not the only ones eyeing the wool business."

Zhou Youcai raised an eyebrow: "Who else?"

Liu Quan said, "Several merchants are talking to the Mongols. Some deal in furs, some in general merchandise, and there are a few unfamiliar faces. I reckon they've also got their eyes on this business. Next time they buy, it'll probably be a bidding war."

Zhou Youcai sneered, "Wool isn't expensive; a thousand catties only cost six taels of silver. Even if it rises to ten coins per catty, a thousand catties will only cost ten taels. What is that amount of money to us?"

Everyone nodded in agreement: "Yes, we have plenty of money!"

"Let them bid against each other, let's see who can outlast whom!"

Zhou Youcai raised his hand to gesture for silence, then turned to another portly merchant: "Manager Sun, how's the poaching going?"

Manager Sun stepped forward and said with a smile, "Manager Zhou, don't worry. I have a shop assistant in my shop who is from Wuqing County and has many relatives there. I asked him to go back to Wuqing and make some connections. In the past few days, he has already recruited more than a dozen weavers."

Zhou Youcai's eyes lit up: "A dozen or so?"

Shopkeeper Sun nodded: "Yes, they are all skilled embroiderers from the workshop. Although they may not know the complete set of techniques, each of them knows one or two steps. Together, they are enough to get started."

Zhou Youcai slammed his hand on the table and stood up: "Good!"

He glanced around and said in a deep voice, "Gentlemen, now that we have the raw materials and the craftsmen, let's set up a workshop, knit yarn, and make sweaters!"

Everyone perked up, as if they could see silver beckoning them.

Zhou Youcai continued, "Manager Sun, you take the lead on this matter. You'll handle everything—the venue, the equipment, the manpower. I need to see the finished product as soon as possible!"

Manager Sun patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Manager Zhou, within a month... no, ten days, I guarantee you'll be wearing a sweater made by us!"

Zhou Youcai nodded and then instructed, "Remember, you must thoroughly understand the craftsmanship, and the quality cannot be inferior to that of the embroiderers. We need to secure both raw materials and customers. Once she runs out of stock, we can open our supply here, and the business will be ours!"

Everyone echoed in unison, their faces beaming with smiles.

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Embroidery Girl's Sweater Shop in the South of the City.

Yang Shen entered the shop, where the embroiderer was setting up the accounts. He hurriedly went to greet her.

"Master."

Yang Shen waved his hand: "You go about your business, I'll just take a look around."

The embroiderer instructed the shop assistant to make tea, and after finishing the last few accounts, she handed over the account book with both hands: "Master, please take a look, this is the account for the most recent month."

Yang Shen opened the book and read through it line by line.

The embroiderer whispered, "Since the shop opened a month ago, after deducting costs, wages, and taxes, the net profit is five hundred and sixty-seven taels."

Yang Shen nodded and continued flipping through the pages.

The embroiderer continued, "Right now, the most scarce item is cashmere clothing. The workshops are working day and night, but they still can't keep up with demand. More and more high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital are sending people to inquire about it. Yesterday, even the steward of a marquis's mansion came and said he was willing to pay six taels of silver per garment, and he would take as many as he had."

Yang Shen closed the ledger, looked up and said, "The cashmere sweaters aren't urgent, take your time making them."

The embroiderer was taken aback: "Master, cashmere sweaters are clearly more profitable, why are you taking your time making them?"

Yang Shen smiled, picked up his teacup, and said slowly, "Let me ask you, if cashmere sweaters were everywhere and everyone could afford them, would those wealthy people still care about them?"

The embroiderer paused, seemingly lost in thought.

Yang Shen continued, "Things are valued for their rarity. The rarer something is, the more precious it should seem. Even if our warehouse is overflowing with cashmere sweaters, we can't just take them all out at once. We have to make them line up, make them wait, make them pull strings and find connections to buy them. That way, they'll perceive the item as valuable and be willing to pay a high price."

The embroiderer listened intently, murmuring, "So that's how it is..."

Yang Shen casually remarked, "In business, this method is called scarcity marketing."

The embroiderer looked up and asked, "What is scarcity marketing?"

Yang Shen said, "It's like having plenty of steamed buns, but only giving you half a bun. Even if there are so many buns that they can't be piled up, they're still sold in halves. If you want to buy some, you have to wait, you have to fight for them. That way, the price naturally goes up."

The embroiderer pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "What about the sweaters? Why aren't sweaters also sold using scarcity marketing?"

Yang Shen laughed: "That's a different story."

The embroiderer listened attentively.

Yang Shendao said, "Cashmere sweaters are for the wealthy and powerful; they're high-end. High-end items are about rarity and prestige. Sweaters are for ordinary people; they're about quantity. People want practicality and something they can wear. If you make them queue up for sweaters, they'll just go buy cotton-padded coats. So sweaters can't be in short supply, and they need to be plentiful and readily available to everyone."

The embroiderer nodded and then asked, "What about the price? If the sweaters are sold cheaply, won't the profit be lower?"

Yang Shen said, "Low profits are not a problem; large volumes can still generate profits. If you earn twenty coins per sweater, what about a hundred? Or ten thousand? As long as the quality is good and people feel warm wearing them, word will spread. Once a reputation is established, this business can last a long time."

The embroiderer listened silently, her eyes gradually clearing.

Yang Shen stood up: "Alright, you're busy, I'm leaving."

The embroiderer hurriedly got up to see him off, but as she reached the door, she suddenly remembered something: "Master, please wait."

Yang Shen turned around: "Hmm?"

The embroiderer said softly, "We received news from the workshop that some people have left in the past few days, about a dozen or so."

Yang Shen remained calm: "If they're leaving, they're leaving. They were just doing their jobs anyway. It was a mutual decision, and we can't stop them."

The embroiderer said, "At first, I didn't think anything of it, but after more than a dozen people left, I realized something was wrong. In our workshop, whether it's brick kiln, land reclamation, or textiles, the employer pays the highest wages. Even those who aren't refugees are willing to work here. Recently, the number of people applying for work has been increasing, but people are leaving the textile factory..."

She paused, then said with some worry, "Could it be that someone is deliberately trying to poach our staff? I heard from Butler Fu that someone has been competing with us for raw materials lately."

Yang Shen looked at her and asked, "Are the processes all separate?"

The embroiderer nodded: "The master instructed that each small workshop should only perform one step of the process. Currently, no craftsman is familiar with the entire process."

Yang Shen hummed in agreement and stepped outside, saying, "Let them go, don't worry about it."

The embroiderer opened her mouth, but ultimately didn't ask any more questions. She simply curtsied and said, "Take this to the master."

Yang Shen walked out of the shop and slowly walked back along Chengnan Street.

After walking a few steps, he suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky.

The sky was overcast, with a few snowflakes drifting down.

The first snow of this winter seems to have come earlier than usual.

This winter is going to be very cold, and the sweater business is sure to boom.

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P.S.: Happy New Year to everyone on Lunar New Year's Eve!

Happy, happy, happy all year round, and may you make a fortune!!