Calculating Cultivation

Chapter 4: Long-Term Investments

I had made a reservation immediately after the guild meeting. In the future, I would have a servant run off and do something like that, but Ting was to stay with me and watch me. Her presence was a sign that my father was watching as I handled things. Without her, I wouldnt be able to get away with everything I was doing.

The Illuminated Moon was owned by the Cloudy Moon sect. Anything with a moon in its name was owned by them. It wasnt owned by a specific cultivator either; it was a sect business, which implied that any incidents would have cultivators show up and wreck face. That was my personal term for them slaughtering anyone that offended them. They were also exempt from city taxes, and everyone viewed it as one of the premier places to have tea and eat.

All of that came with a price. A standard tea service with accompanying food would cost half a teal for two people. It would take me down to four and a half tael from my initial twelve I was given, but I needed to give Kang a lot of face for his support. Inviting him publicly like I had to the Illuminated Moon was a sign I was giving him a lot of respect and thanks in public.

It was aggravating, but it was the game of favors this culture played and when in Rome, be a Roman. I was also waiting for Kang when he showed up, giving him further respect by waiting on him. He smiled at me as our server escorted us to a second-floor private room.

Tea and some small cucumber sandwiches were served and then the server left the room and closed the door. We both sipped our tea in silence. Now was the time for power plays. The ball was in Kangs court, and I would let him make the first move to make a request of me.

Excellent. I have only come here twice before and the tea is always wonderful. Thank you, Ling, for telling me what this old man liked. What do you think of the tea? he asked me.

It has a subtle flavor, but it lingers. I would say a hint of fruit possibly, but I am no expert on tea, I replied. Kang nodded at this.

If only all life was drinking excellent tea with good company. I must thank you for helping young Ling. He left to start on his own, but he was never good with business, Kang said.

Talent shines through regardless. The business aspect I plan to handle, let grandmaster Ling focus on wood carving, I said and Kang nodded.

It isnt easy to manage everything. Some peoples talents lie more heavily in one area than in another. My grandson, for example. He is great at the detail work on toys, but his head is in the clouds. I am old and my son is not a grandmaster, Kang said, and I nodded at this.

I understand. You would want your grandson to stretch his wings for a bit before coming back to the nest. Perhaps with some patents under his name, I replied, and sipped my tea. Kang smiled slightly at this.

Exactly. I could envision him having a small shop of his own and some support to help the business aspect, Kang suggested. I nodded at this since I had been thinking about what deal to offer Kang. Showing face was one thing, but business was business.

We would split equally any patents and the business, I would fund the start-up costs, but have half for ten years. After that time your grandson could chart is own path or return to the nest. I offered. Kang sipped his tea while I picked up a sandwich and nibbled on it. It tasted amazing, but I couldnt afford to be distracted in front of an old fox like this.

Ten years is quite a long time. Perhaps five, Kang suggested.

I considered asking for twenty which is standard, but ten is the lowest I can go. When your grandson leaves, he will take the patents with him and I will have an empty shop. But let us say five years if he doesnt get the title of grandmaster within that time period, I offered. Kang smiled at this.

That sounds like an excellent idea. I am sure he will be quite thrilled.

I will arrange things then for a shop to be purchased. It will be near Lings, I said.

That is fine. As long as it is in the crafting district. I nodded at that.

Then I will have a contract drawn up and we can all sign in under the authority of the Wood Carvers Guild. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity, grandmaster Kang, I said. They offered free contract services and arbitration for the masters.

I should thank you. It is never easy to help my children and apprentices spread their own wings. The competition is quite fierce, as you can tell. I nodded at this and we made small chat while enjoying the tea and sandwiches.

The next day, I purchased the building next to Lings workshop, which had gone under. There was a lot more churn with lower businesses in this part of the crafting district as masters of their trade struggled to get their footing and make their own way in the world.

Master Kang, I greeted the man who was shifting nervously at the Woodcrafters Guild.

Um, yes. Hello. I mean. Young master Yuan. He was fidgeting. I looked at his grandfather, who winced slightly.

My grandson has some troubles, but he is a master woodcarver. Make no mistake about that. His grandson nodded. Master Kang was probably autistic or had another issue like this. Ling had mentioned nothing, and I hadnt seen him at the vote. They had scammed me. I had to control my face to not show my anger.

No wonder why he didnt ask for his grandson to come to tea with us. I will not go back on my word, but I trust I have the support of both you and your son, I told grandmaster Kang directly, staring up at the older man.

We are grateful for your help in this matter, he replied. The grandson would not inherit the main workshop. They probably had a second or third son lined up. This was to shuffle off the useless child somewhere else and out of the line of inheritance while saving face and not making a scandal.

I had no doubt they would say that Master Kang here wanted to spread his own wings, but everyone would know that he was mentally handicapped. Well, as long as he could carve wood and make toys, then I would not complain. That time limit was probably just a distraction to make me accept and not ask more questions.

Grandmaster Kang was indeed a fox, but he clearly loved his grandson. He wouldnt go to this much trouble if he didnt love him. It would be a massive headache for me, but I would deal with it. It was the cost of getting my foot in the door in the wood carving business.

We went into the guild, and the contract was soon signed. Grandfather Kang assigned a servant to help move his grandsons things and get him settled for the first ten days. After that, he would be my responsibility and hiring a servant would be as well.

I sat in the workshop that had been set up for Master Kang, the grandson, while I watched him carve a doll. So, Master Kang, what can you do other than dolls? I asked.

Dolls are the best, he replied, and I winced. He was calmer while carving, so I let him carve while I spoke, even if it was incredibly rude of him.

What about chess sets? I asked him.

Boring.

Toy swords?

Dont like them. I wanted to cry. I couldnt beat him or mistreat him since if his grandfather heard about it, there would be hell to pay. Every woodcrafter was probably laughing at me right now. I left the workshop and the servant grandmaster Kang sent was there, giving me a knowing look.

You managed him for his grandfather? I asked the servant.

Yes, young master Yuan. I see to his day-to-day needs and that he is focused on wood carving.

Is he normally this bad? I asked.

Today is a good day. He was just stressed from signing the contract and this new place, but he will settle in quickly.

How much are you paid by his grandfather? I asked.

Twelve bronze a day, young master, he said.

Twelve? That seems high.

No one will do it for less. And he can have tantrums that need to be dealt with. This just kept getting worse and worse.

Do his dolls sell? I asked.

Some. The toy shop in the commercial district will keep some of his dolls on their shelf. He is keeping the same contract and I handle it.

I basically need to hire you to run this shop and him, I replied with a sigh and the servant bowed.

If that pleases you, young master Yuan.

Yes, it does. Alright, twelve bronze a day and you can stay here. I then explained how the business would be run and that he was to write on a slate board with a piece of chalk the sales and expenses each day and I would review them and record them.

Thankfully, there wasnt any issue with that. I spent the next day going around with the servant to confirm everything he had said, and there were no lies. The problem was that Master Kang only wanted to make dolls. They were very good dolls, but they were just dolls.

I confronted Ling about the situation as well. Why didnt you tell me?

I I wanted to be a grandmaster and needed Kangs support, Ling said.

I am stuck with his grandson. While he makes excellent dolls, he cant make anything else. There is not a market for dolls. Ling winced as I berated him. I would have said yes, but I dont enjoy being tricked or not informed. If it happens again, I will cut my support and sell my half of the patents. Lings eyes went wide at that.

If I sold them to another woodcarver, they could undercut him. As the sole woodcarver listed, he had a tremendous advantage. Also, if I left, his business would suffer massively. I would lose a lot of money when it collapsed, but I would wash my hands of him and move on.

A thousand apologies! he quickly kowtowed to me.

I dont care for apologies, only actions. I want the rocking chairs ready, and a high-end fancy reclining chair made, and no more hiding things, I ordered him. With Ling chastised, I returned to the compound.

With all the supplies needed, the second shop with a servant, and the time until the sale, I was down to two taels I could freely spend. I took the time to find an artist and make a sales sign advertising Lings shop and a rocking chair outside his shop.

After that, I had Lings new apprentice woodcarver etch the image and letters out into a block of wood for printing. I purchased a bunch of paper and stamped out a couple hundred flyers. I then arranged for some food carts to show up and a couple of entertainers as well on the street.

I had the servant managing Master Kang set up a doll store, with fabric choices people could pick out, and had him make Master Kang make cultivator action dolls. They werent figures; they were dolls, since he made nothing but dolls. I would not get any toy patents out of him, and I now knew why there had been so many iterations on doll patents.

I insisted on little wooden weapons, equipment, mystical creatures, and there was slow and steady progress being made as Master Kang expanded the available doll collection. The frustrating part was that I couldnt just sell his dolls in Lings store. He needed his own store to retain the title of master, and that was a non-starter.

His grandfather had checked back after ten days and was quite happy with how things were arranged. He had confirmed as much that another grandson was in line to inherit his workshop. Grandmaster Kangs son, Master Kangs father, wanted nothing to do with his son. There had apparently been a lot of fights in the past, according to Ling. That was why grandmaster Kang was handling everything instead of the boys father.

Basically, I would have him for the rest of his life making dolls as long as we kept him happy and content. I was losing money unfortunately with the cost of a servant, the building, and feeding master Kang, but the doll income made it a trickle, thankfully. That sneaky grandfather locking me into ten years, not letting me out for that long. He probably wanted me to ask for more, but didnt want to give the situation away. That old fox.

Well, it was the cost of doing business and after getting Ling off the ground and getting some cashflow; I had some ideas about what to do about the doll shop. Hire a poor apprentice, give him a place to live, and have him invent my ideas, but put them under Master Kangs name.

Since if the apprentice got a patent, he would be a master and I couldnt have two masters working in the same shop. It would be unfair to the apprentice wood carver, but I was not about to open another toy shop.

The morning of, I had arranged for several criers to shout out about the rocking chair and pass out the fliers. There was an entire service dedicated to advertising in the streets. They would shout out ads and hand out fliers if you gave them copies.

A picture on the flyer instead of just text was novel, but it generated hype about a chair with a curved bottom. With the apprentice helping him, Ling had got forty-four rocking chairs done in a month and a high end reclining chair.

The second model he had would be for people to test out and for the public. The high-end model was priced at two taels after thinking about. It had fine leather cushions. Forty of the rocking chairs would be for sale. We clearly labeled another four as testing models.

I would price the first forty at 40 bronze coins at a discount, and then any advance orders would cost 60 bronze coins, which would be the standard price. I had a sign made up explaining this, which included free delivery in the city. Ting recruited a couple more servants from the compound to help manage sales and the crowd.

Ling had also been working non-stop to make up for pissing me off and had finished several folding tables. We had several set up and a demonstration area to show people how easy they were. I would price them at 120 bronze coins, which was above the price of a regular table that came in at 80 bronze coins. They would make about the same after the cost of the hinges. No early customer discounts on that item.

I also had a couple of tables set up with dolls with various heroic cultivator outfits and creatures. They were expensive, but they were also colorful and would catch childrens eyes. The street vendors and performers were happy to show up as well.

Such things as long as they werent a regular occurrence and not on a main road were allowed by the city. But I had to pay extra to have a couple of guards stationed nearby. Extra costs brought my reserves down to a single tael when the event finally occurred.

Everything was in order and people began trickling in from nearby, then further across the city to check out the chairs. I wanted clear demonstration models and sale models, so people might just buy one to skip the line that was quickly forming.

Soon, the sales started happening. I had Ting go around and pay several older people a couple of copper coins discretely to talk about how much they loved the rocking chair for their joints. Since they were old, they could get away with talking loudly and people would respect them. Some of them even gave me a smile and wink when they looked at me.

Everyone had a good time at the small scale festival and the chairs quickly sold and by mid-day we were out. We quickly took pre-orders. I had instructed the servant manning the pre-orders to set a time frame of one month for the first twenty chairs, and then the next month for the next twenty, and so on.

If people wanted to cut in line. They could pay a fee of five bronze coins to be moved to the front of the line. If they paid in advance, they would get free shipping or they could pay for the chair when they picked it up themselves.

That was the trick I used to get the pre-orders going. Once the day was over, and I tallied up the receipts, my eyes went wide. I knew we were doing brisk business, but rocking chairs and their cheap price were a tremendous hit.

There had even been two custom orders for the reclining chairs as well. Ling nearly broke down into tears at the success of the event. We had sold all forty initial chairs for 1,600 bronze coins and had 215 pre-orders, with over half of them paying up front to get free delivery.

In a single day, I had made around twelve tael worth of money. We split four between Ling and me, while I set aside the rest to run the business and make the chairs. I told him to recruit another apprentice or two and prioritize the customers who had purchased reclining chairs, then the customers who wanted a rush order for their rocking chairs.

Talking with Ling, we discussed outsourcing some of the work to other woodcrafters, but decided against that. Instead, he was to recruit apprentices and have them each do one portion of making rocking chairs, and I helped him arrange his workshop into sections.

The apprentices would switch jobs every week to learn and keep them engaged, but by focusing on a single task for that week, they would ensure that the quality and productivity were high. Grandmaster Ling would inspect things, train them, build the reclining chairs, and make sure things ran smoothly.

I had even hired a servant that Ting recommended managing the front of the store and the accounting book and orders. He was the second son of one servant at the compound, and this was giving him an opportunity. I actually took the time to interview him, since I needed competent managers.

You have worked here for your entire life? I asked the young man.

Yes, young master Yuan. I started as a cleaner, then as a gardener.

You know your numbers and letters? I asked.

My mother, who serves the 2nd Concubine, made sure I learned.

I have two concerns. The first is my family drama. I know my father hasnt named a successor. I dont want to be dragged into that mess. You may report to him and if anyone else pays you, let me know and report to them as well. The young man nodded.

But no stealing. I will audit things. If you make a mistake, tell me. I will not fire you or get mad. But if you cover up a mistake, and don't tell me, I will get upset, you understand? I asked.

Yes, young master Yuan.

You will handle the business aspect of my wood carving business. Making sales, ensuring deliveries goes smoothly, recording all financial transactions, and reporting any problems. Your salary will be ten bronze coins and five percent of the profits I earn, minus that ten bronze coin minimum. His eyes went wide at that.

That I would get a percentage? he asked, and I nodded.

Yes. I believe in rewarding hard work. So, if you sell more, you make more money. If things run smoothly and we make a profit, you make more money. Consider it an incentive to do well at your job.

Thank you, young master Yuan. He was seated down, but bowed his head until it was touching the table.

I expect diligent work and record keeping. Dont make things difficult for grandmaster Ling. If he has problems, help him. Your job is to let him carve while you handle the business.

That handled things on my end in terms of handling the hiring. I had two managers now and two shops. I had their employment contracts written and had each of my direct workers sign them. While I would win by virtue of my name, I wanted things clearly written out, so there was no confusion and finger pointing later on.

Also, it would help me standardize things. The manager for Master Kang didnt want a share of the profits, just a regular salary. He wasnt willing to take a pay cut. It was fine, but in the future, I liked my percentage idea.

It would only be for five percent of my share of the profits, so two and a half percent of the total profits and half that for sales. But I wanted motivated employees and salespeople. Not people just punching in a clock and punching out. That would increase my profits even with a five percent loss.

Also, their loyalty would ensure there was no sabotage. I was the seventh son, but my success had servants and guards looking at me. Even some of my siblings were taking notice of me since they invited me to tea. I was seen as someone important, since I had my own revenue streams.

I had also ordered Ling to make a rocking chair of the highest quality and detail to gift to my father. There was a family dinner once every three months with all the siblings and concubines and people of high stand in his employ. I had noted my siblings had given him gifts in the past to earn favor. I had a twist this time to keep myself in his good graces.

It was no joke that if he kicked me out or didnt allow me to borrow his authority, I would be finished. Everything I had accomplished was thanks to him. So I needed to give my father some face as they put it, or respect.

Ting had also reported she had received several bribes from my siblings servants for information about me. She let me know, and I was happy to let them gather information. She had also informed me about the general situation in my family.

Right now, my mother Yuan Wen, the fourth concubine, was on the outs since my father had taken a fifth concubine recently. The three oldest sons were in fierce competition to be named heir. My eldest brother, Yuan Yun, the only son of the deceased first concubine, was involved in procuring supplies for my fathers business.

He would have been the heir apparent and his position rock steady, but my third eldest brother was the son of my fathers main wife, who was still alive. Yuan Liang was involved in handling interactions with the sect, since his mother was the daughter of a cultivator. His standing was quite high enough to put him in contention.

Then there was my fourth brother, Yuan Niu. He had gone into farming and had made quite a bit of money selling meat. He had done so well apparently that most of the family viewed him as a contender for being named heir to my father.

The eldest brother was only in his mid-twenties and my father was in his late forties. But it was expected he would declare an heir and hand over the reins to his business in the next ten years and retire. That was what his father had done before him. I had several uncles and extended family scattered about.

That was why the family dinner was a big deal for them. If they invited you, you were in good standing. If you werent, then you were on the outs, and everyone looked down on you.

Until this point, they had attached my position to my mothers position in the household, which was the same for my second, fifth, and sixth brothers and the daughters of Yuan Chen. They had not succeeded at anything, and the older they got, the more their prospects dimmed.

But I was the youngest son, a genius, and had succeeded at my small little business. Giving a gift to my father would make me a contender for the position of heir. While I wasnt planning to compete for it, I would sell my non-involvement for favorable terms to all three competitors.

At least, that was the hope. Tensions were high and there was the occasional act of sabotage. That was one reason I needed to be careful. If someone could drag me down, they would drag me down. Until I left for the sect, I would have to rely on my fathers backing.

It was complicated and headache inducing, which was why I tried to ignore all the lesser petty drama that cropped up and stayed out of it as best as I could manage. Having tea and answering polite and not so polite questions about myself and my business was the bare minimum. I couldnt just hunker down like a turtle. That would only invite more trouble.

But I couldnt be aggressive, since that would also invite trouble. Portraying myself as a young genius, making some spending money for his cultivation, was the angle I wanted to take. The fact I didnt need money for cultivation was a non-issue. While becoming a cultivator would allow me considerable say and power, I had not reached that point yet. It was still early, and I was a high value, high-risk piece that people werent sure about yet.

That was why I had tea so people could feel me out and understand my character. The move at the upcoming family dinner would have people take me seriously and also back off. But anything could happen.

I had seen family members banished from the family at these dinners. It was a time for maximum drama and maneuvering to move up the hierarchy for the next dinner.

A day before the family dinner, a letter came for me informing me I was to sit at my fathers right side during the dinner. That was the place of honor. He clearly knew everything I had planned. Ting had all but confirmed that since she passed on all the details of my activities.

That was the main rule. While we might jockey for position, if anyone did anything to jeopardize the family or Yuan Chen, they would be punished and possibly banished. That was what happened to my second brother that no one talked about.

Ting had whispered to me he had killed a person in an argument, and they were one of my fathers workers. So they had banished him from the compound. He had a small apartment and a job, but it was a huge downgrade in quality of life and he would no longer have my fathers protection. Once you were banished, you lost your family name.

Many people would kind of joke that they would rather kill themselves to regain their honor than let something like that happen. So, while the competition was fierce, everyone was very careful not to take things too far.

I was being chucked into the deep end of family politics now. I would need to make sure everything was prepared, and I got the latest information on any drama and what topics to avoid.

It was going to be incredibly stressful, but hopefully I would manage and not make a fool of myself.

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