Chapter 99: Taking a Godmother

Sweetwater Chronicles.

Su Lu sent his classmates away and turned to his godmother, who was busy working behind the counter with a beaming smile. "Godmother, my grandfather has ordered me to come and bring you home to celebrate his birthday."

"I have been ready for a long time!" the godmother replied crisply. "I was just waiting for you to finish school."

With that, she called out loudly, "Closing early today! Everyone go home and enjoy the festival!"

The three shop assistants wondered what kind of festival it was, but they were pleased to get a half-day off. They quickly took down the door panels and spent the next hour cleaning the shop until it was spotless.

By then, the godmother and her daughter were dressed up and had come down from upstairs, followed by Su Lu and his father, who were carrying several large bags.

The three assistants were all from Erlang Beach. Seeing them, they hurried forward to take the bags. An old assistant named Zhang Gui smiled and asked, "Are you not running the shop anymore, Mistress? Why buy so many things?"

"What would you know?" The shopkeeper’s eyes crinkled with joy, unable to contain her happiness.

Just then, the door to the backyard opened, and the eldest uncle walked in. He was still wearing his blue robe with a circular collar and a black hat with a folded brim, but he held his head high and puffed out his chest, his entire demeanor transformed.

"Oh, look who it is—the Honorable Platoon Commander has arrived. My apologies for not greeting you sooner," Su Lu teased, cupping his hands in a mock salute.

Platoon Commander Ma was indeed reliable; the eldest uncle had taken up his new post at the beginning of the month and was currently in the stage of "familiarizing himself with the work environment"—in short, accepting invitations to dine at various shops every day. In less than half a month, he had grown plump and radiant.

"You’ve got some nerve, boy, making fun of your uncle," the eldest uncle said with a laugh. "From now on, don't mention my rank. You must still call me Uncle, understand?"

"Understood, Uncle Platoon Commander," Su Lu said with a grin.

"You little brat!" Su Youjin made a playful swipe with his horse whip and asked the shopkeeper, "Sister-in-law, are you all packed?"

"We are ready to go anytime, Brother," the shopkeeper nodded with a smile.

"You and the little one take my horse." Su Youjin pointed outside, where a soldier in a blue cloth coat stood waiting with a multi-colored Yunnan horse.

"Wow, brother, you’ve already been assigned a horse," Su Youcai remarked, genuinely impressed. Although the Yunnan horse was small—not even as tall as Su Lu—it was still a vehicle.

"Technically, only a Company Commander gets a horse, but since I’m so far from home, the Thousand-Household Commander was considerate of his subordinate and made an exception, even providing me with a groom," Su Youjin said with a look of gratitude. "The Thousand-Household Commander is truly so kind to his subordinates."

The shopkeeper had prepared a donkey, but she couldn't refuse the eldest uncle's warm invitation, so she climbed onto the horse while holding her daughter. Although the Yunnan horse was not much larger than a donkey, it was a proper horse with a broad, flat back and a steady gait. It didn't bounce much on the mountain paths, making it far more comfortable than a donkey. As for the donkey, it was used to carry the bags. The three Su family members, the three assistants, and the groom surrounded the mother and daughter, creating the air of a homecoming in glory.

Su Lu led the horse and said to his godmother, "My second brother wanted to come too, but the distillery is too busy; he couldn't spare a moment."

"Of course I know how hard Xia-ge works," the godmother nodded. "It hasn't even been two months, and the first batch of sample wine is already out."

"Has the price been set?" Su Lu asked softly.

"Yes. I suggest setting the factory price at forty wen, and Sweetwater Chronicles will sell it for fifty. That should work," the shopkeeper said quietly. "What do you think?"

"That’s exactly half of what Cheng's sells for..." Su Lu mused.

"Exactly. We priced it by comparing it to Cheng's," the godmother smiled. "It takes five catties of sorghum to produce one catty of Kunsha wine. Adding in labor, yeast, transportation costs, and waste, the cost per catty is about sixty wen. That's not even counting the kickbacks for business connections, so selling it for one hundred wen only nets a profit of twenty or thirty wen."

"No wonder the Su distillery couldn't keep running. We were losing money on every bottle sold," Su Lu said with a wry smile.

"We won't lose money now," the shopkeeper calculated for him. "Two catties of sorghum produce one catty of Sui-sha wine, labor is only one-third, the yeast is only two-fifths, and the transportation and sales are handled by Sweetwater Chronicles, so those costs are saved."

"So the cost is only about twenty-two wen?" Su Lu did a quick mental calculation and gasped. "A profit of eighteen wen per catty?" What kind of exorbitant profit was this?

"You haven't counted the Su family's aged wine used for blending," the shopkeeper added. "You can't get the current flavor from new wine alone."

"How much do you need?" Su Lu asked.

"About one catty for every ten catties. It comes out to about six wen per bottle," the shopkeeper said.

"Twelve wen of profit is quite good," Su Lu smiled. "And it has revitalized our bad assets. Great-Uncle will be thrilled." He thought to himself that it was no wonder he had helped the godmother handle the old man—there was a reason for everything.

"What’s the next step?" the godmother asked. Su Lu usually focused on his studies and rarely interfered in business, but since he had the time today, the godmother certainly wouldn't let it pass.

"Just as we discussed: start with ground-level promotion, give free samples to potential customers. Then, run advertisements—find a way to increase our popularity—and wait for the ordering conference in September!" Su Lu said. "Don't bother with the original distributors of the Su distillery yet. If you chase them, they won't value the deal. They can't run away anyway; let them come to us."

"My son is right. If we go to them now, they’ll think we’re begging them and will surely press down the price," the shopkeeper agreed. "Better to wait until we've opened up the market. When they come to us, we can do business by the rules."

"Your godmother is already doing that 'ground-level promotion' you mentioned," Su Youcai interjected. "We've been running door-to-door, even visiting every boat at the pier. It's truly exhausting. Sigh, it's really a case of you just moving your lips, and your godmother running her legs off."

"It's not exhausting, having Second Brother with me... he shares the burden," the godmother smiled. "Second Brother is the one who works hard."

Su Lu felt as if he had been force-fed a mouthful of dog food, his eyes rolling back in his head. "Since you two are so capable, I suppose there is nothing left for me to worry about?"

"There is, there is, of course there is!" the godmother said quickly. "It's that 'advertisement' thing you mentioned. I have no idea how to go about it."

"To put it simply, advertising is brainwashing marketing," Su Lu explained. "For instance, fill the town's main streets and the piers—any conspicuous place—with flags. Have Father write on each one: 'Erlang Wine, No Hangover,' 'If You Drink, Drink Erlang Wine,' 'If You Give a Gift, Give Erlang Wine.' Create a carpet-bombing effect so that people see nothing else!"

"Won't we get beaten up for that?" Su Youcai asked with a wry smile.

"What are you afraid of with my eldest uncle covering for us?" Su Lu teased. "Right, Uncle Platoon Commander?"

"Get lost," Su Youjin laughed. "If it's just putting up flags, as long as you don't put them on the gate of the Thousand-Household Office, do whatever you want."

"Hahaha, you heard that? Now our family has someone in official circles," Su Lu laughed.

"How are you even more smug than me?" the eldest uncle asked with a laugh.

"Well, if you had become a Platoon Commander a year earlier, I wouldn't have had to study so hard," Su Lu joked.

"Look at your ambition!" The eldest uncle patted his scholar's cap and laughed loudly. "If you hadn't insisted on studying, I never would have become a Platoon Commander."

"That's true," Su Youcai sighed. "If it weren't for your tuition, how could I have gone to your godmother's place to collect debts?"

The man and woman exchanged a meaningful look, filled with emotion.

"So, everything was caused by my need to study?" Su Lu pointed to his own nose.

"Hahaha, what did you think?" The elders laughed together.

Little Tiantian, however, worried, "Third Brother, you must keep studying. I'm afraid that if you stop, everything will return to how it was before."

"Don't worry. Whoever dares to stop him from studying will be the enemy of our Su family, including himself!" The eldest uncle waved his hand and said in a deep voice, "As I said before, what others give you doesn't count; only what you earn yourself is reliable!"

"Yes," Su Lu nodded, thinking that the eldest uncle was a truly wise man. He hadn't been blinded by his new position after all.

"Then I will hire someone to make a thousand flags," the godmother said, getting back to business with great spirit. "We'll fill the entire Taiping Town with them!"

"Good." Su Lu nodded, then had another inspiration. "I also have an advertising jingle that would be perfect. Mother, find some loud-voiced men and have them sing it every day. The effect will surely be excellent!"

"My son has so many ideas!" The godmother was delighted. She had been thinking for days without a plan, but here, ideas just kept popping out of Su Lu one after another!

"Coming up with ideas is simple; being able to execute them is the real skill," Su Lu said, engaging in a bit of mutual praise with his godmother.

The group walked and talked, and it took more than half an hour to return to Erlang Beach. This grand procession was even more impressive than that of Company Commander Zhou, instantly stunning the fellow villagers. Whether they were from the Su family or the Cheng family, everyone greeted them warmly; no one dared to criticize why the shopkeeper was mingling with the Su family.

That is how the world works: malice to your face is only directed at the weak. When you are strong enough, you will never hear any voice you don't want to hear. Of course, malice behind your back is only directed at the strong. When you are strong enough, rest assured, there will be plenty of people cursing you behind your back—ten or a hundred times more viciously than they would to your face.

But what of it?

The group arrived at the Su family's stilt house. Little Jinbao had been waiting upstairs, and upon seeing them, she waved and cheered, "Third Brother is back, and they are all back too!"

"You brat, is your father not among them?" Su Youjin feigned anger. "In that case, I'll just eat this rock candy myself!"

"Father!" Little Jinbao immediately changed her tone, then jumped and pounced into the eldest uncle's arms to rescue her rock candy.

At this moment, the shopkeeper saw the old man come out of the main room upon hearing the commotion, stepping into the courtyard to welcome her.

"The godmother is here?" A forced smile hung on the old man's face.

The godmother was flattered and said, "Uncle, you should have just waited inside for the younger generation to pay their respects. Why did you need to come out to greet us?"

"How could that be?" Su Daji followed the old man out, smiling happily. "My Sixth Brother said the shopkeeper is a dear and honored guest, so we must come out to greet her, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes." The old man rolled his eyes at him, then turned to the godmother with a smile. "Girl, just treat this as your own home. Come inside and sit."

This time, the smile looked a bit more natural.