Chapter 225: Water Route

Such a long waterway!

A flood of thoughts flashed through Yan Yu’s mind.

“Dad! Then how come we’ve never seen any boats passing by here?”

“They say our stretch of the river is too narrow—big boats can’t get through. Small ones used to make it in past years, but this year there’s a drought, water levels are low, so they stopped coming,” Yan Lao’er replied.

“So does that mean we could start developing water transport in the future?” Yan Yu’s mind was already branching out again.

Li Xuemei glanced at her, then said coolly, “Develop what? The whole point of opening trade routes is for commerce. What kind of business do we have that needs large-scale shipping? Charcoal? Scented soap?”

Yan Yu felt there was something very off about her mother’s tone—it sounded suspiciously like she was looking down on the family’s two prized industries.

“Mom, as long as there’s profit to be made, what’s wrong with shipping? Charcoal aside, Scented Soap might not be so hard to sell in large quantities.”

Li Xuemei analyzed calmly, “Scented Soap isn’t a necessity. There are plenty of other things people can use for cleaning. At one or two taels of silver apiece, not many households are willing to pay that price.

You offloaded a batch in Yongning City already—give the market time to absorb it.

If you want to sell in bulk, you’ll have to lower the price.

Now for us, as long as we can keep up the raw material supply, small profits and high volume would still bring in good earnings. But doing that draws too much attention.

It’s not like we’re the only ones selling similar products. There’s a reason others don’t sell cheap. I’ve been meaning to tell you: best to control the Scented Soap supply. Don’t put out more than… fifty bars a month.”

Li Xuemei gave a number.

Fifty?

Father and daughter turned to her in unison, eyes wide.

“Mom, fifty bars? If we sell like before through the shops, that’s not even forty taels a month! Isn’t that way too little?” Yan Yu was first to object.

Yan Lao’er quickly followed, “Exactly! That’s just over a tael a day on average…”

Li Xuemei said faintly, “Forty taels a month, over a tael a day—not little at all. Look at the folks in our village—earning just a few dozen coins makes them giddy. Look at Physician Cui’s family, working nonstop from morning till night. Your sister said the couple’s work points over several days barely convert into two or three hundred coins. Your sister was so happy, she couldn’t see straight—almost tripped walking out our gate.

And now the two of you are telling me—that’s too little?”

Yan Lao’er: My sister’s that bad at handling excitement?

Yan Yu: Nooo! I can feel my sweet little money slipping away…

“Mom, but Uncle’s the Household Registrar of Crouching Tiger City now. Do we really need to be this careful?” She understood her mother’s concerns—but still wanted to push her case.

“Temporary… petty… clerk… not even a rank…” Li Xuemei said softly.

Stab! Stab! Stab!

Each word was like a dagger in Yan Yu’s chest…

Because—it was all true!

“But Mom, we need money to stock up on grain!” Yan Yu gave one last desperate struggle.

Li Xuemei turned to Yan Lao’er. “I’ve still got fifty taels set aside, and we’ve got two ginseng roots.

With our current household savings and today’s grain prices, that can buy plenty.

Besides, we can’t store too much. There’s the matter of preservation—if we don’t store it well, the more we buy, the more we waste.”

Yan Yu: I surrender with hands and feet raised.

Storage! She really hadn’t thought that through—her mother was covering everything.

Mothers—they’re the real backbone of the family!

Yan Lao’er smacked his thigh. “Almost forgot—we still need to dig a cellar.”

A cellar!

Yan Yu perked up. “How about adding an ice pit too? We can store ice in winter, and have iced drinks in summer—whoa! So cool and refreshing!”

“Let’s build both.” Yan Lao’er nodded. “Summers get pretty hot here too. Even if we don’t eat the stuff right away, it’s like having a fridge. Won’t need to worry about spoilage anymore.”

Then, as if following a natural tangent, Yan Lao’er started rambling about going to find Master Lu to discuss plans. Yan Yu quickly said she’d go along to listen.

Li Xuemei had seen through the father-daughter duo’s tricks long ago. She waved them off, letting them go.

The two of them practically skipped out like they’d been granted amnesty.

They walked in sync to a more secluded spot.

With a sigh, Yan Lao’er squatted down. Yan Yu followed suit.

“Your mother’s made up her mind. The only thing we can do is work on the unit price—get more silver per bar,” Yan Lao’er said with a frown.

“So Dad, do you have a plan?” Yan Yu asked.

“What else? Open our own shop. Go direct to the customer—cut out the middlemen. Gotta set it up in the Prefectural City though—more people, more action, better business.

But rent won’t be cheap.

Also, I remember your uncle once said—something about adding this or that to the Scented Soap to improve quality… we could raise the price that way, go the high-end route.”

Yan Yu looked at her dad with adoration. “Dad, I knew nothing could stump you!”

“Now tell me about this grain stocking business,” said Yan Lao’er.

Yan Yu hurriedly shared all her speculations and everything Uncle had said.

Yan Lao’er stroked his chin. “So your uncle agrees with buying grain too. If we go farther afield, where to? Longxing, Fengming—those are the options.

Good thing I just came back from there, still familiar with the route. From Longxing to Fengming is even easier—you can take the road or the river.

If only we could get a big boat up to our place. Using carts to haul stuff—limited capacity, and travel expenses eat up a lot. Plus, if we run into inspectors, we’ll have to shell out extra silver to smooth things over.

Water route’s definitely better.

No patrols along this river, and we can fish whenever we want.

Tsk tsk, think of how much money we’d save. If we could float everything downstream from Fengming, it’d probably be way faster than by cart.”

Yan Yu’s little head bobbed rapidly. “I think the water route has real potential too. Go upstream and we reach Longxing and Fengming. Go downstream and we pass Gufeng, reach Changping—even hit the open sea. Changping’s right next to Linhai Prefecture. If our boat’s strong enough, we could even sail south along the coast. Now that’s expanding the map!”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. Focus on the present.”

For once, Yan Lao’er got serious. “The boatmen over in Longxing really put on airs.”

He told Yan Yu about the trouble he had trying to hire a boat outside Longxing City.

“Then let’s go downstream to look, Dad. Honestly, the best thing would be to have our own boat—no need to be at anyone’s mercy.”

“Never mind how expensive boats are—who’s going to steer it?”

Yan Yu replied, “Dad, did you forget? Sister Yu said back where she’s from, people make rafts and drift across the world without a care. Why can’t we do the same? Since the water level’s low this year and it’s hard for boats to pass, let’s just build a raft and give it a try. Worst case, we fall in and swim to shore. The river’s shallow anyway…”

“You just think up things on a whim. Tell me, which one of us can swim? You or me?” Yan Lao’er glared at her.

Yan Yu grinned. “You can, Dad! You can dog paddle, right? Doesn’t matter if it looks good or not, as long as it keeps you afloat.”

As for her, she was a total landlubber.

“Besides, we’ve got something others don’t—an advantage that lets us take risks.” She lowered her voice mysteriously.

“What advantage? How come I don’t know about it?” Yan Lao’er asked, thoroughly puzzled.

—

Author’s Note:

I don’t want to write a story where they become rich overnight or sell endless amounts of Scented Soap. Like Li Xuemei said, if you want to sell a lot, you have to sell cheap—go the high-volume, low-margin route. But if I write it that way, the outcome becomes obvious too fast.

If they got overwhelmed, they’d have to hire people, expand operations, and rapidly amass wealth…

But I prefer writing a story where they do things with their own hands—not too exhausting, just enough to make progress. The “premium product” route fits well. Slowly adapting and steadily improving their lives—that’s the story I want to tell.

(End of Chapter)