Rong Hong was a guest at Yixing Boat Company for an hour. When he came out, he readily signed a contract with Su Minguan and paid the deposit.

Lin Yuchan ran back and forth, brewing tea for the two big bosses, her feet practically flying.

Afterward, Rong Hong went home, and Lin Yuchan still had to go to work at Xuhui Tea Shop. The two traveled together for half the journey.

Rong Hong kept glancing at her sideways silently, until finally Lin Yuchan felt embarrassed.

“Your tea is half-roasted, you can inspect it anytime…”

Rong Hong laughed: “How much benefit did that young man surnamed Su give you?”

Lin Yuchan’s face instantly heated up.

On second thought, she hadn’t done anything wrong, so she said righteously: “I bought shares in Yixing, not much, a few hundred taels of silver. Boss Su eats the meat, I drink the soup – Mr. Rong, this is called recommending talent without avoiding relatives. Please don’t blame me.”

Rong Hong was surprised and laughed: “Yixing issues stocks? Does China have a stock exchange too?”

Lin Yuchan quickly explained, saying there was no such thing, it was just a private agreement. Even the contract format was made up by the two of them – just children’s play.

Then she realized: “What did you say – ‘too’?”

If Rong Hong hadn’t told her, she really wouldn’t have known. Present-day America already had the “New York Stock Exchange,” using the telegraph as a medium, with dozens of companies’ stocks trading publicly.

At the same time, in the Qing Dynasty, when common people deposited their hard-earned money with moneylenders, they didn’t even get interest.

What a gap between eras.

She had a sudden inspiration: “Can Chinese people buy American company stocks?”

For instance, if she bought one hundred taels worth of American stocks now, with compound interest over two centuries, how many zeros would be added?

Her descendants would all achieve financial freedom! They’d make the world’s richest list just lying down!

Rong Hong had only heard about stock trading, shook his head, saying it probably wasn’t possible.

“The exchange seats are all fixed; they probably don’t allow foreigners to trade.”

Moreover, Rong Hong mentioned from memory several American companies trading publicly, none of which Lin Yuchan had heard of – they must have gone bankrupt later.

…Forget it then.

Better stick to tea speculation for now.

Xuhui Tea Shop, as a one-stop tea processing service provider, also offered the most basic packaging and boxing services. Now that tea roasting was half complete, Lin Yuchan also had to prepare packaging matters.

Putting these tea leaves into jars and bags, organizing them into various sellable specifications.

Packaging was relatively low-tech work. You could even buy paper and paste bags yourself.

Originally she had only planned to buy six hundred jin of tea leaves – she could have completed it alone even if it made her arms sore.

But now she had to rely on more manpower.

Shopkeeper Mau showed her several samples.

“Our shop’s tea can provide the most basic traditional boxing, which costs less, and we can refund some labor fees, but presumably Miss wouldn’t be satisfied…”

Lin Yuchan nodded and said directly, “I want tinplate cans.”

Shopkeeper Mau smiled, repeatedly praising Miss for understanding the business.

Tea leaves were dry goods, extremely prone to absorbing moisture and odors. It was said that once a foolish British merchant packed tea and camphor together on a ship. After the arduous journey to London, when the box was opened, that smell – “tea-scented mothballs” – actually overpowered the street manure smell, causing nearby real estate prices to spike one point.

Only that boss was so angry he wanted to jump into the Thames.

So, strict sealing was essential.

Domestic tea using traditional boxing could save costs, but the tea Rong Hong wanted to sell had to be positioned as high-end, so Lin Yuchan immediately requested tea cans – specifically the tinplate cans that had just become popular in recent years.

As export tea volumes increased, Chinese tea merchants gradually catered to foreign aesthetics, going to extremes with packaging decoration – for example, adding prominent trademarks, extensive advertising copy, and when conditions allowed, hiring artists to paint flowers, birds, and beauties.

According to Lin Yuchan’s habits, she naturally preferred the simple, clean packaging of later eras. Current tea merchants wished they could paste eight-hundred-character essays on every tea can, detailing every advantage of their trading house. Dense and overwhelming – she never bothered reading them.

But when in Rome, do as Romans do. The era’s steps couldn’t be too big. When complexity was needed, complexity it must be.

She had trained her discerning eye at Defeng Trading House, with basically acceptable aesthetics. From numerous design samples, she chose an elegant floral pattern, feeling it suited “Boya Trading House’s” positioning.

Who knew Shopkeeper Mau would look troubled: “To be honest with Miss, this design was drawn by Shanghai’s famous artist ‘Magic Hands Qin.’ He only has a cooperative relationship with our shop. To commission him requires a separate payment… It’s already written in our terms…”

Lin Yuchan’s face darkened. Despite being extremely careful, she still hadn’t avoided all the contract traps.

Seeing her displeasure, Shopkeeper Mau quickly said: “You’re from the hometown association, this humble person wouldn’t dare cheat Miss. But ‘Magic Hands Qin’ has recently gained foreign favor, his rates have skyrocketed, booking him requires waiting in line, this humble person has no way… Why don’t you look at our own artists’ work… We have three cooperative artists here, and they paint quite fast.”

What could Lin Yuchan do? She had to graciously look at “Xuhui Tea Shop’s” own work.

After just a few pieces, she was appalled.

Babies, beauties, birds and beasts, palaces… all soul-artist sleepwalking productions, full of nouveau riche village style, like Qing Dynasty versions of Pinduoduo ads.

She bit her lip lightly. “How much does Magic Hands Qin charge?”

Shopkeeper Mau looked troubled and showed her a number.

Lin Yuchan turned and left.

Shopkeeper Mau: “Miss…”

Lin Yuchan: “Give me two days. I’ll find my artist.”

After two steps, she turned back: “Refund me the artist’s fee – this clause is also written in, right?”

Lin Yuchan returned to her rental room.

“Good day, two gentlemen.” She greeted the memorial tablets as usual. “It’s been rainy for days, you two be careful of dampness.”

The landlord’s two women, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, were doing embroidery work, looking up at her.

This “little widow” tenant left early and returned late daily, sometimes even wearing men’s clothes, claiming to do tea business but never bringing even half a bag of tea home. Wu Li and Wu Yang had lived proper lives and couldn’t help growing suspicious over time: what exactly did she do?

“Su family young lady,” as Lin Yuchan went upstairs, mother-in-law Wu Li couldn’t help calling her, “you haven’t been eating lunch in your room lately, but we won’t refund the meal fees.”

Hearing the mother-in-law’s tone, Lin Yuchan knew she probably had some opinions about her. Turning back, she smiled: “No refund needed, you two treat yourselves to better meals – I come back in the afternoon, not too late, right?”

One meal cost a few wen, and having gotten this far, she didn’t need to fuss over these few copper coins.

Sure enough, the mother and daughter-in-law’s expressions softened. Wu Li smiled: “Actually, we’re not trying to take advantage of your money. You work so hard running the business daily, we’re just afraid you’ll go hungry. By the way, does the tea business make money these days?”

Mother-in-law Wu Li was also testing her. To see if she understood tea, if she could explain the details.

But the test didn’t hit the mark. Lin Yuchan had no time for detailed explanations, only politely deflecting: “Just earning some hard-earned money…”

She suddenly thought of something, taking out a small tea can from her bag: “This is a sample, you two try it.”

Usually, she didn’t bring tea home. But today, discussing packaging matters, she carried a tinplate can, intending to find her own artist. They can conveniently contain some tea for her to brew at home.

The two women beamed with joy, repeatedly declining: “How embarrassing!”

They also asked: “Which tea shop is this from? Why is it so plain, not even a name written on it?”

Lin Yuchan smiled: “New product, haven’t found anyone to paint it yet…”

Halfway through speaking, her gaze was suddenly caught by something in Wu Li’s hands.

She immediately moved closer.

“Grandma, you – did you draw this?”

Plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum, peony, herbaceous peony – at one glance, Lin Yuchan suddenly felt that the embroidery patterns in Wu Li’s hands were exquisite and lively, no less than those “Magic Hands Qin’s” masterpieces!

Wu Li was instead embarrassed, snatching the pattern back from her hands.

Her daughter-in-law, Wu Yang, smiled: “My mother-in-law was a famous embroiderer in her youth. I learned all my skills from her. Even the prefect’s wife sends people to buy her embroidery now!”

Lin Yuchan’s heart jumped, asking softly: “How much can you sell them for?”

You don’t know until you ask, and asking was shocking.

Individual embroiderers like Wu Li and Wu Yang, following wealthy families’ orders to do embroidery work and selling by piece, could only get a few wen, or at most ten-plus wen per small piece.

This was already for embroiderers with some reputation and experience. For younger ones with slower hands, their embroidery was only good enough for home use, with no compensation.

Compared to them, that “Magic Hands Qin” who painted export tea cans was practically making money lying down.

After all, women’s main responsibilities were managing households and raising children; earning money through needlework was secondary. When household affairs were numerous, embroidery had to be postponed, making production efficiency very unstable.

Or perhaps originally productive embroiderers suddenly got married, had children, or went to care for elderly, leaving wealthy families’ stylish embroidery supply cut off, which was also annoying.

So though this embroidery was exquisite, it couldn’t sell for high prices.

Wu Li and Wu Yang, two widows with few household burdens, could build a reputation only through years of diligent work.

Lin Yuchan felt like she’d suddenly discovered a new world. Pointing at the embroidery pattern, she asked: “Two aunties, could I pay you to do paintings?”

The two women were stunned, repeatedly declining, saying they only knew embroidery, not painting. The embroidery patterns were just casual sketches. As for painting supplies like oils and brushes, they’d never even touched them.

Lin Yuchan thought, but you have the skills!

She diligently boiled water, efficiently brewed tea for the two women, and earnestly consulted:

“If I arranged for someone to teach you to use brushes and paints, asking you to paint patterns on tinplate cans, paying by piece, one can…”

She quickly calculated.

“One qualified finished can, I could pay you five wen. How about it?”

Four thousand jin of tea, if canned by jin, would be four thousand cans; five wen per can would only be twenty thousand wen, sixteen taels of silver.

Even with packaging specification changes, like half-jin per can or two jin per box, the difference wouldn’t be too large. This money was completely within her budget.

That “Magic Hands Qin” charged by day, one silver dollar per day, plus buying him a meal.

For these four thousand cans, he alone would need ages to paint.

The Wu family mother and daughter-in-law looked at each other.

“Su family young lady, are you serious? Painting to this standard, you’d pay?”

Painting was much easier than embroidery. Skilled hands could paint dozens per day. Say forty pieces, one day would be two hundred wen – much faster money than embroidery!

They instinctively didn’t believe it.

The failed scholars writing letters on the street only earned this much daily, right? And they were illiterate women!

Lin Yuchan smiled: “This can of tea is earnest money. Two aunties can consider it for a whole day. I’ll ask you again tomorrow.”