They were busy until dark before Li and Wei made the first batch of soap and put it in the mold to wait for cooling.
Wiping his sweat, Li Wei let out a long breath. It was really tiring to do this work. Not to mention moving it around, he had to keep stirring when heating. His arms were so tired that it was hard to earn some money. Easy!
"Master, you go and have a rest. I'll make dinner and call you when I'm ready."
"Okay, just do something simple. It's quite late."
"OK."
Xiaoqing agreed and started cooking. Since Li Wei was doing most of the hard work, she was not too tired.
After dinner, Li Wei went to bed early. The soaps would be shipped tomorrow, and he was going to sell them at the market to try them out.
When he closed his eyes, the graceful figure of Xiaoqing could not help but appear in his mind, and he could not get rid of it for a long time.
"Hey, if I had known it would have been smooth sailing yesterday!"
Li Wei opened his eyes and sighed. He already regretted it a little now. He could just miss the opportunity and never come back. Now that people don't mention it, he can't be so embarrassed to talk about it, right?
Since time traveling, his computer and mobile phone are no longer around him, and he has no longer looked at study materials to solve physical problems on his own. He has been holding back for several months now. It is impossible to say that he has no ideas in his mind.
That night he tossed and turned again for most of the night before falling asleep.
The next day, Li Wei went to the palace for a walk as usual, especially the military battle.
Lao Zhu was very anxious about making guns, and Li Wei did not dare to neglect, reporting almost every day.
When I came to the War Bureau today, I finally got good news. Fang Jianbao took out a sample of the made flintlock gun and asked the craftsman to show it to Li Wei.
I tried it several times in a row, and at most it only took two or three pulls to fire it successfully. Several times it was fired successfully in one go, which was a lot better than at the beginning.
"Well, that's good. You can try again according to the methods I taught you and see if you can improve it, especially the firing problem. It's best to be able to fire every time. Two or three clicks is still too much!"
"Okay, Mr. Li, if I keep working hard, I will definitely create a spontaneous gun that satisfies you!"
Fang Jianbao said confidently.
"It doesn't matter whether I am satisfied or not. The main thing is that the emperor must be satisfied."
"Yes, that's what the adults said!"
Fang Jianbao took the opportunity to flatter him a few more times, but Li Wei was not interested in these nonsense, so his efforts were in vain.
After telling Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Wei went back early again and wanted to take the soap to the market to try out today.
Yesterday, he and Xiaoqing worked all afternoon and only made about thirty pieces. They just had to carry it in a basket.
When we got to the market, we laid out a piece of linen cloth and spread out the soap.
The scent of the soap is quite good, and it didn't take long to attract an aunt.
"What is this?"
"Auntie, this is soap. It is used for washing clothes and body just like soap locust. It sterilizes and protects skin. It is very useful. Please take a look."
The aunt was stunned when she heard it. She didn't understand anything about sterilization and skin care, but she understood that it was the same thing as soap locust. It just smelled fragrant. If it was not expensive, she could buy it and try it.
"How much does this cost?"
"We are selling it for the first time today. If you want it, Auntie, the original price is 300 renminbi, but I will calculate it as 250 renminbi!"
Li Wei promoted with a smile.
"What? Are you trying to steal money? What kind of crap is so expensive!"
When the aunt heard this, she angrily threw the soap back to Li Wei. A piece of soap cost less than ten cents, and the best medicated soap only cost ten or twenty cents. He actually paid ten times the price for a piece of soap. It costs more!
"Auntie, my soap is different from saponin..."
Li Wei wanted to explain, but before he could continue, the aunt cursed and walked away.
Li Wei suddenly felt helpless.
The soap he sells is a bit expensive, but as a monopoly luxury product, a high price is necessary, and Li Wei thinks it is worth the money.
After that, a few people came to Li Wei's stall to look at and ask questions, but as soon as they heard the price, they left cursing, which made Li Wei look very unhappy.
Xiaoqing also helped introduce it to others, but it was of no use at all.
"Master, have we set the price too high? How about we lower it again?"
Xiao Qing knew very well that the cost of making these soaps was only a dozen cents per piece. Li Wei suddenly set a price that was more than ten times the cost. To be honest, even she thought the master was too shady!
"You don't understand. I plan to go the route of luxury goods. I can't sell them cheaply. Besides, I have worked hard for most of the day and selling them for three hundred yuan is already very cheap!"
Li Wei frowned and said displeasedly. He felt that he had worked hard yesterday. How much did it cost to sell all these dozens of soaps?
Xiao Qing looked at Li Wei and did not refute him. Although the little girl felt that it was not too hard to do that kind of work, the master had a distinguished status and naturally could not be treated like ordinary people.
"Forget it, I won't sell it anymore. Let's talk about it tomorrow and close the stall!"
Li Wei said impatiently.
After saying that, he took Xiaoqing and packed up and went home.
After returning home, Li Wei thought carefully. Although he was not good at marketing, he had seen a lot of various marketing methods in later generations. He knew some of them and should be able to use them.
First of all, since it is a luxury product, the packaging must be gorgeous. No matter whether the product is good or not, the packaging must not be missing!
As soon as he thought of it, Li Wei went to the war bureau, found a few carpenters, and asked them to make several exquisite small wooden boxes. He also had the soap molds remade into various smooth shapes. The appearance no longer has that square appearance.
Moreover, in line with the basic principle of copying what you can and never using your brain, the mold and wooden box were engraved with the words "香piaopiao", as well as graphics that resembled butterflies and petals.
He paid these craftsmen the market price. Although the craftsmen repeatedly refused, Li Wei still insisted on paying.
He knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was a guy who did not tolerate criticism. The reason why he had committed so many things so far and had not been executed was partly because of his own importance. On the other hand, it was mainly because he had never made any principled mistakes.
If he took advantage of his position to ask craftsmen to do private work for him without paying, then Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely not be able to spare him, and even if he did not kill him, he would never give him a few slaps.
But as long as the wages are paid, then there is no problem. The work of these craftsmen for the imperial court is actually considered a tax. They do not work for the imperial court all year round. They also have to take over the work to make money. Li Wei's doing so is completely reasonable and legal.
After making new molds and packaging boxes, Li Wei made a new batch of soap, and melted the thirty or so pieces from before and reshaped them.
After two days, Li Weicai brought these newly made soaps to the market to sell. This time he was well prepared and got a sign saying: Rare treasures, fragrance everywhere.
And this time, they brought a simple small table with a basin of water nearby for people to try soap.
After putting enough effort into it, the price was also marked directly, so as not to say it late and get scolded.
