Chapter 70: New Year’s Gift
The big families planning to buy their annual gifts in Baizhen Luo came one after another. Dried seafood and candy snacks were in high demand and the big families who bought dried seafood and stewed them all began to recognize the goods after eating them. Recipes were handed down from family to family and it has become a new dish on their daily dinner table, and even the dishes made of dried seafood were served at the New Year’s Eve banquet.
Sweets, cakes, and snacks are good gifts, or they can be prepared at home as snacks during the Chinese New Year due to their popularity.
All families and households have to purchase for the Lunar New Year, and Baizhen Luo products are must-buy items in the upcoming ceremonies. The amount of gifts ordered for the Lunar New Year by the big families was huge and the supply of goods made by the Wei Family’s Workshop was not enough so the supplies had to be limited in order to maintain normal sales.
The store puts new stocks on their shelves every morning and they sell out by noon.
The gifts can only be purchased in a limited amount, except for the few big families in the inner county who have ordered gifts as much as possible, other reservations were limited, or even not available.
The supply of goods in the grocery store is less, and many people can’t wait to order some. Peddlers sell as much as they can get their hands on and people depend on their relationships with the peddlers to be able to avail goods.
Not only sweets, snacks, seafood, and dry goods are selling well, but even hot pot dishes are selling well, and many people have all ordered in advance and asked to be supplied a few days before New Year’s Eve.
Of course, it was not only Wei Cheng’s store that was doing well, but other stores were also doing well. People in the county are all buying New Year gifts so business everywhere has been good.
Zhou Yuan was preparing their New Year’s gift at home, with Uncle Mao assisting him. Wei Cheng was busy with the supply of goods every day so he asked Boss Gu and Zhang Shao to deliver another batch of goods. The New Year’s ceremony could not be arranged by anyone else but Zhou Yuan.
In addition to the annual gifts for Father Wei and Mother Wei, there are also the annual gifts for Uncle Wei’s family, annual gifts for his parents’ family, annual gifts for their friends like Wei Yuan and Wei Lei, annual gifts for Young Master Yun’s family and the manager and shopkeeper of Tai Fu Luo, and he also has to give New Year’s gifts to the distinguished guests of Xian Manju, and if the bosses who made appointments at the grocery store comes to give New Year’s gifts, he’ll have to prepare some New Year’s gifts in return.
In addition to other purchases for the preparation of the annual ceremony, most of them come from their own workshops. As for the annual gift for the staff and workers, it is simple, five catties of meat and rewards for each person, and a piece of ordinary handmade soap.
Zhou Yuan was holding a thick annual gift book with his head becoming dizzy.
Fortunately, Uncle Mao, the housekeeper, and Xiao-Liu pointed out the premises for gift-giving and gave opinions on the difference in status and class, and how many gifts should be prepared, he would be at a complete loss if he were alone.
There is also someone responsible for registering the things in the annual gift book, and after the annual gift book is finalized, someone will be arranged to handle it.
Although he was responsible for reviewing and confirming the whole process, there were not many things, but seeing the densely packed things made me dizzy.
When Wei Cheng came back, he saw several large stacks of gift books on the desk in the living room. The desk was added temporarily while his wife was listlessly lying on the desk, staring at the stacks of books.
Wei Cheng laughed and leaned over, “Are you tired? If you’re tired, tell Uncle Mao to do it instead of you doing it personally.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Zhou Yuan shook his head, “I’m not tired. With Uncle Mao and the servants helping me, I wouldn’t be tired. It’s just that it is the first time I’ve encountered this kind of thing, so I’m bound to be in a hurry. Besides, this is what I was supposed to do. It’s an annual gift for relatives and guests. How can we be lazy?”
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“Everything ordered by customers can be supplied on time, and I’m busy supplying goods for the next year.” Wei Cheng said, “My brother-in-law and the others are ordering a batch of New Year’s gifts at the workshop, such as candy, cakes, handmade soap, etc. The reservation is not big, is it the gifts meant for your sister-in-law’s family?”
Wei Cheng’s tone was very normal. When he mentioned the annual gift to Zhou Yuan’s sister-in-law’s family, his eyes were fixed for a moment, but Zhou Yuan didn’t notice. Zhou Yuan was surprised for a moment, thought for a while, and shook his head, “No, it should be an annual gift to my grandfather, grandmother, and my uncle’s family.”
Wei Cheng was surprised when he heard this, “Grandfather? I haven’t heard you mention them before?”
Zhou Yuan said, “My family seldom interacts with that place. It seems that my grandfather doesn’t want to see my father. That’s all I know. I only went to my grandfather’s house once when I was a child, and I never went there afterward.”
Wei Cheng asked, “When we got married, did my grandfather come over?”
“Grandfather and grandmother didn’t come, but my uncles came.” Zhou Yuan said, “When my brother and the others got married, several of my uncles came.”
Wei Cheng asked, “Where is your grandfather’s house?”
“Ningping Town which is under Quyang County and is quite far away from Nanshan County,” Zhou Yuan said. “My second uncle’s family also opened a shop in Ningping Town. My second uncle’s mother is from Ningping Town and they go back to Qinghe Village once or twice a year.”
Wei Cheng understood that in ancient times if the journey was longer than a day, there would be very little travel. Apart from many factors, the road would not be safe.
Wei Cheng continued, “What’s the relationship between your family and your second uncle’s family?”
Zhou Yuan wrinkled his nose, “Not good, it’s similar to my paternal aunt’s family in the village, my family is closer to my maternal uncle’s family, and my paternal uncle’s family is closer to my second aunt’s family.” His second aunt didn’t like his family or his uncle’s family.
Wei Cheng gave it some thought.
“Isinglass is out of stock?”
Wei Cheng was looking at the inventory as Wei Lei reported this to him directly, Wei Cheng was stunned.
Wei Lei said, “That’s right, those noble ladies and daughters robbed the isinglass stock in a few days, except for the batch for Young Master Yun, all of the stock is gone. Do you want our supplier to ship a batch of isinglass?”
Wei Cheng nodded, “It’s okay, I understand.”
Originally, the batch of fish gelatin was reserved for sale in the next year, but now it has to be delivered by their supplier in advance.
It’s only been half a month, and once the isinglass effect comes out, these noble ladies and noble daughters will certainly rush to buy it because of their chase for beauty.
Wei Cheng went directly to Yun Chengfeng.
“Isinglass?” Yun Chengfeng said, “Don’t you have a lot of inventory in your workshop?” Steward Guan checked the inventory when he went to confirm the shipment to the imperial city to transport them to the Imperial City together.
In the beginning, he didn’t know the value of isinglass and gave all the supply to Wei Cheng. Now that he knew it, he didn’t want to share it. He directly bought the goods from Wei Cheng and when he sold it to the imperial city, the price was double that of the county city, and he made more money.
Wei Cheng said indifferently, “My inventory has been pre-ordered by those ladies and gentlemen.”
“…Okay, I’ll arrange it.” Yun Chengfeng understood, he was well aware of the craze in the imperial city.
“I won’t meet you personally when you come get the stocks.” Yun Chengfeng said, “I’m going back to the imperial city at the end of the month, and I’m going to get married next year. I probably won’t come to Nanshan County in the short term.”
Wei Cheng was stunned for a moment, then said, “Congratulations!”
“Thank you!” Yun Chengfeng motioned to Yan Yi who was next to him, and Yan Yi gave Wei Cheng a token, Yun Chengfeng said: “This is for you, with this token, no one in Fucheng would dare to embarrass you, but you should only use it when you encounter difficulties.”
Wei Cheng looked at the token in his palm, engraved with the Yin character, Wei Cheng asked in a deep voice, “This is?”
Yun Chengfeng said leisurely, “Oh, this is a token representing my family. My surname is Yin, and my surname Yun is my maternal ancestor’s family name. I use the surname Yun when I go out.”
Wei Cheng frowned, “The Emperor Shang Yun’s family is your maternal ancestor’s family? What is your identity?”
Yun Chengfeng wrote it on the paper casually, and Wei Cheng stared in shock when he saw it. Yun Chengfeng, no, it was rare for Yin Chengfeng to see him so shocked, and he looked proud. As expected, Wei Cheng changed his face, thanks to his identity.
Wei Cheng quickly regained his composure. Looking at Yin Chengfeng’s smug smile, Wei Cheng said coolly, “What are you so proud of? This is your family’s glory, not your ability.”
Yin Chengfeng: “…”
Is it too late for him to take back the token now?
However, Wei Cheng’s reaction surprised him.
Sure enough, this person would not flatter him because of his status.
Wei Cheng calmly put the token away.
Yin Chengfeng: “…What are your plans next year after you become an official businessman?”
Wei Cheng said lightly, “Let’s talk about it next year. I do plan to go to Fucheng as I won’t stay in Nanshan County. I’m not short of money, so I’m not in a hurry.” Now he doesn’t need a backer either. He thought he was always busy and didn’t have time to accompany his wife. He does not have much ambition, his wife is more important than anything.
Yin Chengfeng scolded him with a smile, “You can be satisfied with this little property, your vision is too small.”
Wei Cheng just smiled and said nothing.
Yin Chengfeng thought of something and said, “That’s right, you are just a simple nobody here, even if you have an official businessman’s title, you have no background. The county town is good, but if those intertwined forces in the prefecture city covet what you have in your hands, it’s okay if they were being upfront but attacks from the shadows are hard to guard against.”
Wei Cheng smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I still have this coping ability.” He didn’t worry about it, he wasn’t afraid of being coveted, if the formula was taken away, he would give away the stolen formula for free. What they would steal would become worthless once he publicizes them.
There are also other paths to take, if the formula is taken away, he can improve the quality of the formula so needless to say, he has plenty of ways to make the other party lose their money by taking away the power of the formula.
Of course, he also needs to take precautions, after all, being prepared means losing less,
Yin Chengfeng said, “By the way, you must remember to take over the Baiweifang in the county and Fucheng after I return to the imperial city. It was agreed at the beginning that all the shops in the county and Fucheng would belong to you. As for the money invested in the shop in the early stage, I will get a dividend from you.”
Wei Cheng: “…”
He thought this young master would give it away directly, but it turns out there is a back slot.
“One more thing…”
Wei Cheng: “…What is it?”
Yin Chengfeng said, “A few days ago, there was a storm at sea and my fishing boat picked up a few men in the sea. Most of them lost their memories but these men should be from nearby counties and towns. If I bring them over, they will be handed over to you, and you can help find out about their family members, and if you can’t find out, they will be your workers.”
Wei Cheng remembered something and nodded, “Okay, leave it to me.”
Yin Chengfeng raised his eyebrows unexpectedly, “So straightforward?”
Wei Cheng replied, “Among the refugees, I recruited a mother and son into the workshop and I heard that his husband was caught in a storm at sea and his whereabouts were unknown. The mother and son were driven out by their husband’s family, so they made their way to Nanshan County.”
The matter was handed over to Wei Cheng, and Yin Chengfeng started to prepare for returning to the imperial city.
Thank You for the new chapter(⸝⸝⍢⸝⸝) ෆ
Thanks for the chapter! Silly guy is finally getting married, lol. Hope the mother & son get their family back
Thank you for the chapter 😍