Pei Xia brought back a large order from the Shu family yesterday. Today, Tang Guiniang went to the town and came back with an order from the Zhu family.
"The wife of the Zhu family said the salted duck eggs are selling extremely well! The oyster sauce is also good! Since there are many villagers coming back from outside to celebrate the New Year these days, she asked you to make another batch and send it to the town. Here, this is the order list. Jiao Niang, take a look."
Qi Jiao was organizing the village women in the yard to make oyster sauce and was extremely busy.
Hearing this, she raised her hand to wipe the fine sweat off her forehead and took the order list from the wife of the Zhu family.
The quantity on the order list made Qi Jiao smile.
It seemed that she had to recruit another batch of helpers.
Although it was a bit rushed, as long as they could make money, they had to produce them even if they worked overnight.
Qi Jiao asked Tang Guiniang to find another twenty diligent and hard - working women. The Pei family's small courtyard could no longer accommodate the simultaneous production of several items, so Aunt Ye led a team directly to the Ye family.
Tang Guiniang, Aunt Ye, and Jiang Yuniang were in charge of oyster sauce production and salary settlement.
Qi Jiao, along with Pei Jin and Pei Li, baked snacks.
Pei Xia and the Ye brothers were responsible for packing gift boxes.
Everyone worked together and finally completed the order five days later. The output was even half more than the original plan.
Ye Yun and Pei Xia rushed to deliver the goods to the town and the county without a moment's rest.
After delivering the goods and receiving the payment, Pei Xia didn't rush back.
He took several design drawings to the An family's workshop.
The An family's workshop was the largest workshop in Lingle County. The owner of the workshop had dozens of skilled craftsmen and could undertake the production of all kinds of customized items.
There was nothing they couldn't make as long as you could think of it.
Of course, it was all within the productive capacity of the era.
Pei Xia came this time with the new design drawings drawn by Qi Jiao to customize packaging gift boxes.
According to Jiao Niang, it was an upgrade of the packaging.
Since they had received the payment and Pei Xia had earned a lot of money from fishing last time, he directly ordered thousands of packaging gift boxes this time.
Moreover, the designs drawn by Qi Jiao had various auspicious flowers and animal patterns, which were bright, eye - catching, and looked high - end and elegant.
Even the ordinary packaging was decorated with brushstrokes.
Just looking at the outer packaging without seeing the contents, it would make people want to reach for their purses.
Pei Xia ordered a thousand items at once. The second shopkeeper of the An family's workshop rushed out to receive him.
When he saw the design patterns on the drawings, he couldn't stop praising them.
The second shopkeeper picked up the silver abacus hanging around his neck, clicked it a few times, and then asked Pei Xia, "May I ask, sir, would you be willing to sell the patterns in your hand to our workshop?"
Pei Xia slightly raised his eyebrows, and his thin lips spat out two cold words, "No sale."
"My wife stayed up late to draw these. They are all for our own packaging."
The second shopkeeper quickly said, "Sir, don't be angry. We are in this business. How could we not know the uniqueness of a business's patterns? What I mean is, if your wife can draw more cute - looking patterns like these, our An family's workshop would like to buy them."
Only then did Pei Xia's expression soften a bit. He nodded and said, "Let me go home and talk to my wife. If it's okay, I'll send the patterns here."
"Alright, alright. Sir is quite right. I'll be waiting for your good news."
The second shopkeeper took the five - tael silver deposit from Pei Xia, with a smile on his face. He bowed slightly and sent Pei Xia out.
Pei Xia went home and handed all the money he had earned to Qi Jiao, and told her about the An family's workshop wanting to buy the patterns.
Qi Jiao was lying on the couch counting the money.
She didn't expect that the An family's workshop would take a fancy to the patterns she had drawn.
Thinking about it, it made sense. The core of advertising was to catch people's attention.
The patterns she drew were not complicated. She just used bold color combinations and the patterns were clear and vivid.
She happily threw the pile of silver ingots in front of her into a clay pot and listened to the tinkling sound.
These two large orders from the Zhu family and the Shu family had earned a total of thirty - nine taels and five hundred copper coins, which was the biggest sum of money Qi Jiao had earned since she came to the Pei family.
Adding the money she had earned from occasionally contracting village banquets and selling egg yolk pastries before, after deducting the raw material costs and wages, Qi Jiao now had more than fifty taels of silver on hand.
The copper coins took up too much space, so Qi Jiao simply asked Pei Xia to go to the money shop and exchange them for silver ingots.
A row of neatly arranged, shiny silver ingots were so beautiful and lovely.
Qi Jiao said to Pei Xia, "After finishing this batch of goods, we finally have two days of free time. I'll draw some more."
But Pei Xia said, "Drawing patterns is too tiring for your eyes. I don't want you to work so hard."
Qi Jiao turned around and hooked his neck, breathing softly, "As long as we can make money, why not do it? It's not physical work. It's already very easy."
Pei Xia stroked her face, his eyes filled with love and tenderness.
"Okay then. I'll be your bookboy and grind the ink and mix the colors for you."
Qi Jiao smiled with her eyes bent like a crescent moon. She pecked his lips like a little chick.
"Goodbye to the Kitchen God, the New Year is coming."
There was not a single day of leisure at the end of the twelfth lunar month. After the Minor New Year, the first important thing to do was to do a thorough cleaning.
This day was warm and sunny.
Tang Guiniang got up very early.
She felt sorry for Qi Jiao who had been working hard in the previous days, so she wanted her to sleep more. She only woke Pei Xia up.
She also felt sorry for her daughter Pei Jin who was not feeling well because of her menstruation. So she turned around and went into Pei Li's room, picked up his quilt and dragged him out of bed.
Grabbing her two sons as laborers, Tang Guiniang boiled a large pot of hot water, gave each of them a broom and a rag, and the three of them started to clean the inside and outside of the house.
When Pei Li was cleaning the windows, he accidentally spoke a bit too loudly. Immediately, Pei Xia gave him a rap on the head, "Jiao Niang is still sleeping. Keep your voice down!"
Pei Li immediately lowered his voice, then with a complicated look on his face, he murmured, "Brother, you've changed."
Pei Xia said matter - of - factly, "Otherwise? Jiao Niang was drawing patterns last night. She worked so hard."
As he was talking, his mind wandered somewhere.
He was grinding ink beside Jiao Niang. Before he knew it, he couldn't help but kiss the fair back of her neck.
He picked Jiao Niang up and put her on the table. Their faces were close together, their shoulders were touching, and they kissed passionately.
In the dimly lit bed - curtain, the beauty had black hair and fair skin, and her red lips were plump. Pei Xia slowly undressed her layer by layer, caressing her gently...
Qi Jiao was aroused. She moaned in his ear, "Pei Xia, I like you so much."
Pressing against her jade - like thighs, he reached the critical point, stimulated both physically and mentally.
It was as if he had reached the celestial palace in the ninth heaven. It was so wonderful.
——
"Brother? Brother!"
"Your rag fell..."
Pei Xia came back to his senses and saw Pei Li looking at him in confusion, "Are you okay? You just stood there in a daze."
Pei Xia coughed awkwardly twice, "I'm fine."
Then he turned around and went to help Tang Guiniang.
After a thorough cleaning, the whole Pei family's house was clean and bright, looking extremely warm against the blue sky and white clouds.
The tables, chairs, benches, pots, bowls, ladles, and spoons were also free of dirt and looked brand new.
Finally, Tang Guiniang scooped up the dust she had swept up with a dustpan and poured it into the ditch at the village entrance, letting the water wash it away.
The significance of the thorough cleaning was not only to keep the house clean but also to symbolize sweeping away and getting rid of all the bad luck, troubles, and poverty of the past year like dust.
On the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month, people made tofu.
On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, every family steamed sacrificial offerings, commonly known as "steaming offerings".
On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, the last day before the New Year, people had to prepare New Year's dishes.