The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 213 Perfume Launched

There are only four masters in the Liu family, including Qin Ruozhi herself. Even if we count the guest Mr. Zou, there are only five people. How many things can there be in a day? Qin Ruozhi doesn't need much time to deal with them. Chen Cui doesn't need her to serve her, so she has a lot of free time, which she uses to study medical books.

Especially after the Changping holiday ended and she started working in the government office, she had more free time. No one cared about her whether she was at home or out. She was freer than before she got married.

Although she was not unable to go out before, she was an unmarried girl after all, and it was not good for her to go out often. Now that she has the identity of a married woman, it is much more convenient for her to go out.

Chen Cui's entire attention is now devoted to the research and development of perfume. Zhang Ruomei bought a nursery in Tongzhou before the New Year, which contains a variety of flowers. After the beginning of spring this year, she also bought a ready-made osmanthus garden.

With these two bases, the source of perfume raw materials is temporarily guaranteed. As for other raw materials, it will take more time to cultivate and search.

Chen Cui's main product now is jasmine perfume. She spends every day in the workshop and has tried several formulas, constantly adjusting the concentration and the combination with various spices.

After several days in a row, she felt that her nose had become numb and everything she smelled smelled of jasmine.

Every day when her mother-in-law came back, she always had a scent on her body, and Qin Ruozhi naturally noticed it. Chen Cui did not hide it from her and told her that she and Zhang Ruomei were planning to jointly open a perfume workshop.

Qin Ruozhi was no stranger to Mrs. Zhang. She was not only her mother-in-law's best friend, but also the matchmaker between her and her husband.

According to Chang Ping, the close relationship between the two families has lasted for several years and is very strong. Moreover, Lord Wang is now her husband's superior. From any perspective, the relationship between the two families is extremely close.

Moreover, she also learned that the canned fruit and hot pot businesses that had been thriving in the capital for many years were all the property of Mrs. Zhang, and her family also had a share in them, which could explain where the family's expenses came from.

Originally, she was puzzled as to how her husband, a farmer's son, could come up with such a generous betrothal gift, and the wedding was also held in a very decent manner, which brought honor to her parents' family.

Many people said that my father was so greedy that he married his daughter to a poor boy from a small town, but my betrothal gift and the grand wedding completely slapped those people in the face.

There are many officials in the capital, but they are notoriously poor. Take my family for example. My father is already a high-ranking official of the third rank, but the Qin family still lives in a small house with two entrances. Although their life is not difficult, they are not rich either. If it were not for my mother's good housekeeping and management of the family business, and if my two brothers had not studied hard and were not playboys, their life would not be very good.

Not to mention the low-ranking officials in the capital. My brothers told me that many of their colleagues are still renting houses and cannot afford to buy houses in the capital.

Liu Changping himself has a cheerful and open-minded personality. His knowledge and talent have been recognized by his father and brothers. He also has a wealthy family and his mother-in-law is kind and generous. It is hard to find such a good family even with a lantern.

What’s more important is that my mother-in-law doesn’t object to my studying medicine. She personally selected the two medical books. This is such a surprise!

Although Qin Ruozhi seldom went out often in the past, she still had an impression of perfume, an imported product that once caused a craze among noble ladies. She knew that it was expensive and rare, but she did not expect that her mother-in-law actually wanted to make such a thing and had already made some plans.

Chen Cui finally developed a jasmine perfume that she and Zhang Ruomei both approved of, and presented it to Empress Shufei along with three other perfumes. After all, she was not the only concubine in the palace, and there was also the Empress above her. It was impossible for Empress Shufei to enjoy such a rare thing alone, and she had to leave some for giving away.

Chen Cui gave two bottles of rose perfume to her daughter-in-law, and two bottles of osmanthus perfume to Mrs. Qin. Although the cost of these perfumes is not high in general, in order to prepare for future listing and maintain their noble style, they cannot be given away in bulk like cabbage.

The distillation equipment has been modified again to make it more efficient and produce less impurities. Four sets of equipment have been made and each set is assigned to a reliable person to operate. The final perfume-making process is done by two girls with a keen sense of smell selected from the Zhang family's servants.

However, at present, it is still Chen Cui and Zhang Ruomei who are in charge of the review. Chen Cui knows many modern fragrances, while Zhang Ruomei understands the preferences of the women in powerful families better. Only by combining the two can they create more popular perfumes.

The perfume sent to the palace was not only loved and recognized by Concubine Shu, but also praised by the Queen. As a result, the perfume store "You'ran Pavilion" created by Zhang Ruomei was finally opened.

Among them, Shufei accounted for 30% of the shares, Zhang Ruomei accounted for 40%, Chen Cui accounted for 20%, and the remaining 10% was given to the queen's sister-in-law.

Although Queen Zhang came from a family of officials, her family was not powerful. Her father had passed away and her brother worked in the Imperial College. It was only after the King of Shu ascended the throne that she conferred the title of Duke Cheng'en on her eldest uncle and gave him some money and property. Although many people had tried to curry favor with them in the past two years, the Zhang family still lacked some foundation.

Although this ten percent share is not much, it is not given to the Queen, but to her sister-in-law from her natal family. The profit of perfume is so huge, and this is free money. She does not have to spend any money or work hard. The ten percent profit is enough to make the wife of Duke Cheng'en smile happily.

Because of the hype created by the perfumes originally imported from overseas and the publicity done by the concubines in the early stages, the perfumes made by Chen Cui and others were loved by the majority of noble ladies as soon as they were launched on the market.

Also, because these perfumes are actually more in line with the preferences of the people of the Great Zhou and are slightly cheaper than overseas perfumes, they are more popular.

However, Chen Cui suggested that Zhang Ruomei adopt a hunger marketing strategy, limiting sales to only ten bottles a day, two bottles of each fragrance, and each person could only buy one bottle. Once they were sold out, they would no longer be sold to the outside world. They told outsiders that perfume was rare, difficult to make, and had low production, so they had no choice but to do so.

However, there are quite a few soaps of various flavors in the store. After washing your hands with them, your hands will smell good and will not dry out easily. When perfumes are not available, these soaps are also snapped up.

However, although there is a large supply of soap, it is limited. Each person can only buy one piece while stocks last.

The women who wanted to buy perfume would send people to queue up early every day. If they couldn't buy perfume, they could at least get a piece of soap. They couldn't go back empty-handed.

Only three months after the perfume was launched on the market, it brought huge profits to Chen Cui and her friends. At this time, the fleet in which the Zhang family had invested returned from a long voyage, bringing good news.