Chapter 91: Do It First
“It’s not about opening a weaving workshop. If we buy fine cloth from a weaving workshop, or from somewhere else, like the guild, and then resell it elsewhere, how much tax would we have to pay?” Li Xiaonan asked again.
“It depends on where you sell it. If you sell overseas, it’s fifty percent. If you transport fine cloth from Jiangnan to Jiangnan, the transaction tax for one bolt of cloth is only ten large coins. If you transport it north, there’s no tax, but if you go north and pass the border, it’s thirty percent tax,” Gu Yan answered vaguely.
Li Xiaonan listened intently, her smile blooming. She rested her arms on the table and looked at Gu Yan, laughing, “I’ve asked. If you have your own loom, a six-harness jacquard loom, a skilled worker can weave one bolt of jacquard fine cloth in three days. Even if you use the best silk threads, one bolt of jacquard fine cloth only costs three hundred and thirty coins for the thread, and that’s the price for buying in small quantities.
“Three days of wages, plus the depreciation of the loom, let’s say three hundred coins. The cost of one bolt of fine cloth would be about six hundred and thirty coins. Let’s add another hundred coins, making it seven hundred coins for the cost. But in Pingjiang City, the cheapest jacquard fine cloth sells for at least one thousand coins per bolt.”
Li Xiaonan counted on her fingers.
“I was thinking, with such large profits, why isn’t anyone opening weaving workshops? Now I know, with fifty percent tax added, it’s only losses and no profit.”
“So, this fine cloth business can’t be done?” Gu Yan raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at Li Xiaonan.
This little girl is quite good at calculations, but she’s calculated the wages too high.
“No, it’s that this fine cloth business *can* be done!” Li Xiaonan said with a smile.
“How do you plan to do it?” Gu Yan asked with great interest.
“When we were in Kunshan County, the copper coins my brother spent on paper and ink were all earned by my three sisters weaving cloth. If we have looms and harness boxes, my three sisters can all learn to weave jacquard fine cloth. I plan to buy looms and harness boxes and sell them on credit to people like my sisters, and then buy the fine cloth they weave.”
Gu Yan looked at Li Xiaonan and slowly hummed in acknowledgment.
This was indeed a good method.
Since the weaving workshops were changed to a fifty percent tax, Jiangnan’s prosperity had declined, and there had been no improvement for decades. This was one of the things he discussed most with the Crown Prince and one of his greatest concerns.
If her business could succeed…
But was she a person capable of doing business?
Gu Yan sized Li Xiaonan up and down.
“What are you looking at?” Li Xiaonan asked, confused.
“This is a big business. Looms and harness boxes are not cheap. How much capital do you have? Twenty-five taels? Or…” Gu Yan trailed off, “Like your preserved egg business, you just give orders, and your sisters do the work. How much capital can your preserved egg business provide?”
“The preserved egg business is our family’s business, and my sisters manage it. This business is mine, and I’ll manage it myself!” Li Xiaonan shot Gu Yan a glare.
What did he mean by her just giving orders? She didn’t even have a chance to give orders for the preserved egg business!
“How will you find weavers? Knock on doors and ask people if they know how to weave? Where will you start? Li Family Market?”
“Li Family Market won’t work. If it’s done well, we won’t know if it’s because of personal connections. If it’s done poorly, we won’t know if it’s because they’re family. Kunshan County won’t work either, the Hong Family is in Kunshan County.
“Let’s do it in Pingjiang City. Pick a nearby town, like Guo Xiang Town.
“It’s easy to find people. When there’s a market day, just set up a stall,” Li Xiaonan waved her hand.
It’s like a roadshow promotion, she was very familiar with that!
Gu Yan’s eyebrows shot up when she mentioned setting up a stall, and they only came down after a while.
He felt her business would only go as far as setting up a stall, and he doubted she could even manage that.
“With your total capital of twenty-five taels of silver, how many looms can you buy?” Gu Yan leaned back against the chair back, the corners of his mouth pulling down imperceptibly.
“I plan to start with the cheapest three-harness looms. Sigh!” Li Xiaonan sighed at length. “That’s the cost of two and a half looms. Let’s buy two to try first.”
“Have you spoken to your eldest sister? Did your eldest sister agree?”
Li Xiaonan glanced at Gu Yan’s ill-intentioned smile and ignored him.
She had been worrying for the past few days about how to convince her eldest sister.
“I’ll be waiting for your business to open!” Gu Yan said, looking at Li Xiaonan’s worried expression, and burst out laughing.
………………………………
After lunch, Li Xiaonan sat next to Li Yin Zhu, resting her chin on her hand and watching Li Yin Zhu spin thread.
“You’re not going to study, why are you watching this? Do you want to learn?” Li Yin Zhu asked Li Xiaonan with a smile.
“Third Sister, I’ve asked everything and calculated it. The business of collecting fine cloth will definitely make money,” Li Xiaonan said with a smile.
“Where will you collect fine cloth from? Even the guild can’t get jacquard fine cloth,” Li Yin Zhu gestured for Li Xiaonan to hand over the cotton sliver basket.
“I’ve thought about this carefully. First, the price the guild pays for jacquard fine cloth is too low. Considering the cost of looms, harness boxes, and pattern books, you can’t make much profit per bolt of cloth.
“Second, dobby looms are too expensive. If you change the pattern, the harness box and pattern book are not cheap. Families that can afford dobby looms, like Mr. Gao’s family, weave jacquard fine cloth for their own use. Families that can’t afford fine cloth probably can’t afford dobby looms either.”
“Yes, it’s too expensive,” Li Yin Zhu sighed, thinking of that beautiful four-harness loom.
“What if we first sell looms on credit to families that can’t afford them, and then buy the fine cloth they weave? Wouldn’t that work?” Li Xiaonan looked at Li Yin Zhu with bright eyes.
Li Yin Zhu frowned, “You said the other day, why isn’t anyone making money from such a profitable business? Have you found out why?”
“Yes! Because when the guild does business with fine cloth, they calculate taxes as if it were from a weaving workshop. The fine cloth they handle has to pay fifty percent tax.”
“So, if we collect it like this, we don’t have to pay tax?” Li Yin Zhu looked at Li Xiaonan.
“Mm.” Li Xiaonan’s “mm” was not forceful.
This method of distributing looms to various families couldn’t be considered a weaving workshop, but it wasn’t entirely just buying and selling cloth either. If it really grew…
She’d worry about that when it grew. For now, she just needed to get the business started.
“Do you really want to do this?” Li Yin Zhu stopped spinning and looked at Li Xiaonan.
“Mm!”
“Then you have to tell Eldest Sister and Second Sister. Your business requires buying looms, and the capital is too large,” Li Yin Zhu shook her head. “I don’t think Eldest Sister will agree. Besides, our family’s preserved egg business is already too busy.”
“Let’s do this business secretly, just the two of us,” Li Xiaonan said with a fawning smile.
“The two of us? Where would we get the capital? My dowry?” Li Yin Zhu reacted quickly.
“No, we can’t touch your dowry! I have a little bit of silver,” Li Xiaonan rubbed her fingers.
“Where did you get the silver?” Li Yin Zhu’s eyes widened.
“I saved some from when I went to class,” Li Xiaonan mumbled.
“Ah? A single trip costs more than five taels of silver? How much did you save? What? Ten…”
Before Li Yin Zhu could scream, Li Xiaonan reached out and covered her mouth.
“I know, I know!” Li Yin Zhu pried Li Xiaonan’s hand away. “Ten taels? For one trip? Is that Young Lord crazy?”
“How many times have I told you, he’s rich, richer than the country! The horse he rides, the cost of its fine feed for a month, just the black bean money, is ten taels of silver. He has a whole herd of horses like that, hundreds of them!” Li Xiaonan shot Li Yin Zhu a glare.
“So, you’ve saved twenty-five taels of silver?” Li Yin Zhu asked, holding her breath.
“Mm.” Li Xiaonan nodded demurely.
“You should just focus on earning money from that Young Lord, forget about the fine cloth business,” Li Yin Zhu sighed with immense envy.
“His family is from the Capital City, he might go back in a few days. What happens when he leaves?
“Third Sister, look, with these twenty-five taels of silver, Eldest Sister doesn’t know. We can secretly go buy two looms, and as soon as we buy them, we can sell them on credit. Eldest Sister definitely won’t know, right?
“When we weave the fine cloth, we’ll find buyers first, then deliver the fine cloth and get the silver back. Eldest Sister won’t know either, right?
“When we earn money, we’ll tell Eldest Sister…”
Li Xiaonan whispered into Li Yin Zhu’s ear.
Li Yin Zhu was moved by what she heard.
A Nan was right. They could try this business first, and then tell Eldest Sister if it succeeded.
Striving for the third update to repay debts!
