CHAPTER 382: CHAPTER 382: TAKING SHAPE

Locking them up is too much of a waste; if sent to the military camp, they can still contribute to Dayan and won’t harm the surroundings.

After all, if such cannibalistic individuals form a trend, it would undoubtedly become a natural enemy for those living nearby.

These are more terrifying than man-eating beasts because, although ferocious, these beasts lack human intelligence, making them still manageable.

But encountering those who eat people, they know humans best and are clever, leading to a significant loss of people.

They should be sent to the military camp where no exiled criminals would dare to act recklessly.

In the evening, Pei Shu’er discussed this matter with Tang Zan, and Tang Zan did not look particularly pleased.

"In the future, send such individuals to the military camp to serve as laborers," said Tang Zan.

Pei Shu’er nodded, "Also, keep an eye on the newly recruited soldiers; if anyone behaves suspiciously, pay extra attention to them."

Tang Zan nodded, knowing these individuals have survived such a lengthy escape, all possessing some extraordinary qualities.

Either they have particularly affluent backgrounds, exceptional luck, or have broken moral boundaries.

Initially, she was wary of those people’s families causing trouble, but perhaps feeling culpable or knowing they can’t win, their families said nothing.

After all, the deserted mountain didn’t starve them, yet they resorted to eating people.

Meanwhile, another batch of outer wall people passed the review and entered the deserted mountain area.

In fact, upon entering the deserted mountain, there are designated personnel for assessment, but only a few core members know these rules.

Some thought they could get away with inappropriate actions after entering the inner wall, but they disappeared silently from the deserted mountain the next day.

After layered screenings, those who remained were individuals of good character with no issues.

On the morning of the seventh day of the lunar month, Pei Shu’er went to the soap factory for an inspection.

The soap factory now operates on three shifts, with continuous production.

Previously, everyone was still a bit unfamiliar, but now they’ve gotten the hang of it, and soap production has increased.

Everyone at the various job positions performs their duties.

As for the beauty soap department, people work meticulously; even if a bit slow, they strive for no mistakes.

Moreover, since Tang Qingning can’t endlessly work on prescription formulas, Pei Shu’er recruited a few obedient young girls to work with her.

Once Tang Qingning teaches these girls, she’ll have some relief.

Part of the soap produced in the factory is sold to merchants at a wholesale price of ten wen per bar.

The rest is transported to Pei’s.

With more merchants coming for goods, the soap sales at Pei’s Trading House decreased.

However, since soap is a consumable, it always has a market.

In general, Pei Shu’er still made a profit, even doubling her earnings.

Because merchants coming to buy soap at the deserted mountain aren’t only from Su County, some even hail from Jingzhou City.

Zhao Li from Jingzhou City is among them.

At the time, seeing the soap from Su County, he spotted a business opportunity and immediately secured an order for a thousand bars.

When he received the soap and completed the final payment, he became a bit worried.

After all, it was a large sum, and he had been doing small-scale business with modest profits, fearing the goods might remain unsold.

Naturally, how could people in Jingzhou City look favorably on items from a county town? Generally, new things trend from big cities to smaller places.

Jingzhou City is dozens of times more prosperous than Su County and is the superior prefecture to Su County.

Yet this soap shattered their arrogance.

The soap’s appearance and color were appealing, and most importantly, it was very practical.

It cleaned clothes well and could remove oil stains or ink marks from hands effectively.

When waves of people came to buy soap and found it was unavailable,

he realized he ordered too little and immediately placed an order again in Su County.

Inadvertently, he heard that in the Gulan Mountain Range lies a deserted mountain where this soap is produced, known as the soap factory, the production base behind Pei’s.

Not wanting to miss the business opportunity, he hurried over, and consequently, merchants from Jingzhou City also became aware.

Thus, recently, business at the soap factory is thriving, batches of soap are shipped as soon as produced.

By this situation, Liu Xu still has quite a few pending orders from the soap factory in her hands.

Liu Xu initially thought Pei Shu’er’s soap-making was trivial since very few were doing it, and the scale was small.

Moreover, coming from a wealthy Jiangnan merchant family, she didn’t see much profit in it.

Nevertheless, whatever Pei Shu’er chose to do, she only wished to support her.

To her surprise, her daughter-in-law excelled in every aspect.

Now, clearly, the soap factory has developed into something substantial.

While walking, she and Pei Shu’er discussed the recent soap sales conditions.

As for the beauty soap, there are orders as well.

The soap follows a low-margin, high-volume strategy, while beauty soap targets beauty-conscious women, gaining fame in Jingzhou City.

However, producing beauty soap is much harder than regular soap.

Similarly, Pei Shu’er sells it wholesale at half price and even set the retail prices.

The merchants in Jingzhou City initially had opinions, but after seeing the chaos caused by those breaking the rules, they understood the benefit of uniform pricing.

So no one questioned Pei Shu’er about pricing anymore.

Liu Xu smiled, "Shu’er, you earned several hundred taels of silver just from wholesale soap sales."

Pei Shu’er nodded, her eyes filled with a smile.

Regarding the breeding of sows, Pei Shu’er also had it arranged.

The first litter of piglets and small boars from before are ready for breeding as well.

Once this batch of piglets is born, Pei Shu’er plans to allow twenty outstanding households to come adopt them, with each family getting only one, dividing the pork evenly.

All of them are boars, no sows, because the sows are being reserved for future breeding.

If the pigs die, compensation will be based on the market price of piglets at the time.

This is to prevent negligence.

Additionally, agreements must be signed to establish mutual terms.

The first litter of sows, along with last year’s sows, will need a large amount of feed once successfully bred.

Pei Shu’er entrusted the feed recipe to Liu Xu, choosing a method that maximizes weight gain while minimizing grain use.

She asked Liu Xu to select capable individuals for feed production, with pigs still requiring cooked food to gain weight rapidly and stay healthy.

The wild chickens also hatched many chicks, capable of being fed cornmeal, while grown chickens can be fed corn kernels or rice grains.

The breeding system for wild chickens has long been implemented, with Pei Shu’er only taking a third of the chicken meat.