CHAPTER 326: CHAPTER 326: SOAP LAUNCHES ON THE MARKET

Liu Xu appeared gentle, but in reality, she had a much stronger grasp of business and pricing than Pei Shu’er.

Originally, she was a young lady, just buying rouge and powder, clothes and jewelry at most.

But Pei Shu’er, in the modern era, was in medicine and had almost no exposure to business affairs.

The price of the soap was set at 20 wen, and Pei Shu’er thought of a new product.

Pei Shu’er said, "Mother, look, if I package this soap as a gift box, with shapes of various precious flowers, and each box contains six bars of soap, how about selling it for three taels of silver? Additionally, I’ll add beauty-enhancing ingredients to the soap."

Firstly, those who think about beauty enhancing mostly belong to wealthy families, and if it’s in a gift box, it’s quite prestigious to give it as a gift.

When making this soap, two markets can be opened: one is the market for the average citizen.

The other is the market for wealthy ladies and madams.

Although Su County is just a small town, it doesn’t mean there aren’t any rich people. Spending three taels of silver on beauty-enhancing soap is something they are willing to do.

Liu Xu pondered for a moment and then said, "I think it’s feasible."

Pei Shu’er gathered Zhang Chao and the other three together, deciding to let these four make the soap, as she could trust them with the recipe.

The most core task was done by them.

As for other trivial matters, like preparing raw materials, those could be distributed among others. This way, the recipe wouldn’t be leaked.

The four were very willing and spoke in unison.

"Young Madam, leave it to us, there will be no problem."

Even though people from the Deserted Mountain are trustworthy, she trusted those who followed her during her exile the most,

The people who later joined her in the stone house were merely brutes, not as flexible as these four.

The demand for soap is greater, and its craftsmanship is not as meticulous as that of the beauty soap, so Pei Shu’er wrote down the recipe and ratios for them to memorize, then destroyed the recipe once they had memorized it.

The beauty soap was something she made herself, with a more refined formula, and even some beauty-enhancing ingredients were added, making the workmanship more complex.

She was responsible for the formula, while others prepared the raw materials, so this time, the output of both the beauty soap and the soap was considerable.

In one batch, they produced 600 bars of soap and 200 beauty soaps.

And in about half an hour, they could produce a batch, plus drying time, in roughly three to five days they could make 2,000 bars of soap and over 800 bars of beauty soap.

At 20 wen per bar of soap, 2,000 bars translate to 40 taels of silver.

At 500 wen per beauty soap, 800 bars equal 80 taels of silver.

As for the sales channels, Pei Shu’er was not worried.

Lin Wei and others still came to the Deserted Mountain to purchase goods, primarily because Pei’s Pastry Shop had good business and there were no surplus pastries for wholesale.

If they wanted to wholesale, they had to come here, which would also boost the economic development of the Deserted Mountain.

In addition, another reason was that the Deserted Mountain had more good stuff than Pei’s Pastry Shop.

Also, since the purchase price hadn’t increased, they could earn more per purchase.

Naturally, Lin Wei saw the delicate yellow blocks used by the maidservants for laundry, which had the words "Pei’s" printed on them.

"What is this?"

The maid said, "This is the soap our Young Madam newly made, specifically for laundry, and it’s very effective."

Lin Wei was eager to try. As a businessman, he was especially sensitive to good products.

He used the soap on a piece of fabric stained with ink.

Normally, once stained with ink, it’s almost impossible to clean completely.

He applied the soap and casually scrubbed it a few times, seeing the fabric come out spotlessly clean, and his eyes widened immediately.

"This... soap, is quite remarkable."

He could already imagine how much this soap could sell for if marketed.

Lin Wei immediately went to Pei Shu’er to share his thoughts.

Pei Shu’er smiled and said, "I’m selling this soap for twenty wen, it’s a set price, but for you guys, the purchase price will be ten wen."

Lin Wei hesitated a bit, realizing this meant only a ten wen profit on the soap.

However, he quickly came to terms, since he was satisfied with a profit of three wen on a pastry, so a ten wen profit wasn’t low at all.

Pei Shu’er continued, "But we are also selling this soap in town ourselves, setting the price to avoid tarnishing our brand and to prevent malicious competition."

Lin Wei nodded, acknowledging it depended on each business’s abilities.

Just then, a few more merchants came in to purchase goods.

Pei Shu’er decided to explain everything together with them, also demonstrating the soap to everyone.

Originally, they only came for pastries, tender tofu, and frozen tofu.

Now, seeing the soap piqued their interest.

After hearing the pricing for the soap, no one had objections.

This long-term competition was advantageous for everyone.

Immediately, these merchants placed an order for a total of ten thousand bars of soap, each paying a deposit.

Deserted Mountain currently had four thousand bars, which Pei Shu’er distributed among them. The remaining were assigned with a delivery date, and the merchants would return for the goods then.

As for Pei Shu’er, she kept some for herself, and with the beauty soap she made, she also needed to sell them.

The soap opened the ordinary market, and since most soap buyers were likely women, she could also promote the beauty soap along with it.

People going to Pei’s Pastry Shop soon noticed that beside the pastries, there were also shiny, varied in color, simple yet exquisite items they called soap.

Pei Shu’er demonstrated the soap’s effectiveness to everyone.

Initially, people were watching out of curiosity, but as they watched longer, they couldn’t help but be amazed.

How could it even clean ink stains? It could even wash away blood stains. During a woman’s period, could it mean no more worrying about hard-to-clean items?

Some women were tempted. The way this girl washed clothes looked so effortless.

They, too, wanted to wash clothes so easily without scrubbing on a washboard for ages, only to have the clothes torn and stains still present.

Inquiring about the price, it was twenty wen.

Many were discouraged; it was too expensive, almost half a month’s household expenses.

Some questioned if the girl was faking it, that the ink wasn’t real ink or that the girl was just strong enough to scrub it clean easily.

Pei Shu’er poured ink on the clothes right there and handed the soap and clothes to one of the doubters.

The doubting Aunt Li came up, sneering as she scrubbed the clothes.

Today, she intended to expose this fraud and save her neighbors some money.

Ink is so hard to wash; it’s impossible to get it clean.