“Granny, what’s the matter?”

“Yeah, something’s up.”

Then Grandma Zhou said that she felt it was a pity to see chicken, duck, and goose feathers being thrown out every day.

She remembered that Su Qingyu had asked her family to help make down jackets and thought about the shuttlecocks she had made for her grandson. She wondered if they could be used for something else—it would be a shame to throw them away.

Su Qingyu was stunned after hearing this. It was the first time she looked at the waste thrown out.

She made the leftovers into stewed food and sold them, which could earn her some money in a day.

For shuttlecocks, the feathers and coils on the ball could be made into a simple version, but the ball head… Su Qingmei couldn’t find a suitable elastic material.

Last time, she saw Aunt Zhou’s youngest son locked up at home helping with chores. He was a bit timid, and she saw him hiding in the door alone, watching the children playing in the alley, with envy in his eyes. Su Qingyu felt a little distressed when she saw him, so she made a shuttlecock for him to play with.

As for the racket, it didn’t have to be a specialized one—wooden planks could be used to hit the shuttlecock back and forth. A simplified version could be made easily. However, the shuttlecock’s head lacked elasticity, which significantly reduced its bounce and overall performance.

It was okay to make it for children to play with, but it was not okay to make it to sell. There were many exquisite children’s toys in this era that Su Qingyu had never seen, and she didn’t want to bother thinking about an area she was not familiar with.

The hard feathers of geese could be used to make feather pens. They had been popular in Europe for a thousand years, which showed that there was a market for them. But Su Qingyu didn’t plan to use them. Charcoal pencils were good, and you didn’t have to carry ink with you.

As for down jackets, the production process was complicated and the cost was not low. If you sold too little, you would lose money. If she sold them too high, no one would buy them, and even rich people might not be willing to buy them.

You could save the fluff and make a few for your family.

The one she made for Lu Bocheng was actually a bit weird, but at least the fur wouldn’t stick out. Time was tight, so she only cared about keeping warm and didn’t consider other aspects.

As for chicken feathers, they could be used to make dusters and keys. Lu Ji Grocery Store had chicken feather dusters, which cost three or five cents a piece. You needed to collect several feathers to make one, which was not labor-intensive enough.

Eh, she seemed to be a little bloated? This was not good.

After thinking for a while, he said, “Grandma Zhou, we don’t have time to take care of these. If you think it’s a pity, pick out the good ones and put them away. We can use the down to make clothes. As for the chicken feathers, we can clean them up and see if we can make them into dusters. But these jobs are too trivial…”

“It’s not trivial, it’s not trivial. Grandma can do it. It won’t affect the work in the store. You don’t know how envious we were of Bocheng’s down jacket. My little grandson even said that if he had such a down jacket in winter, he could go out and play.”

“Okay, then you’ll have to work harder, Granny.”

“It’s not hard, not hard at all.” After saying that, Grandma Zhou happily went about her business.

The corners of her mouth rose. It was great to have such a job, which was sheltered from the wind and rain, and she could bring home so much money every month to supplement the family expenses. She could save more money to marry her grandson.

The old woman’s face was full of joy.

By the end of the month, the store was gradually back on track, and the daily gross profit was stable at around 400-500 taels. Su Qingyu was very satisfied.

There were not many people in the store that morning, so Su Qingyu patrolled the store to check the goods.

While checking, Xiao Qingyang and Xiao Qingxing ran in breathlessly: “Sister, there are several vegetable shops in this town! There’s one on the next street, one on the South Street, and one on the North Street! They’re bigger than ours.

“Also, our second gū also opened a store next to her oil shop! The shelves are exactly the same as ours! My brother and I went to see it secretly!”

Xiao Qingxing said angrily.

“Ah, Second gū also opened a shop?” Su Qingliu heard the voice and ran in from the backyard.

“Yes, that’s right. The Second Gū is so mean! It’s fine if someone else opens a business, but she is our Second Gū and she wants to steal our business!”

Su Qingmei listened quietly, and her hand movements gradually slowed down.

She thought someone would imitate her, but she didn’t expect it to happen so soon. Her shop had not even been open for a month.

After she came to her senses, she saw Su Qingliu was anxious to go to the second Gū’s shop, so she pulled her back and asked her to look after the shop. She then took the twins out of the shop.

There were four vegetable shops in the town, and their decorations were almost exactly the same as her shop. Even the shelves were made in the same way. She wondered if they were made by the same carpenter.

The display on the shelf was also imitated from her home, with the meat tied up and packed in small portions, and divided into good and bad grades, and the meat was also sold in pieces.

Many people were watching the fun in the four stores. To attract customers, each store followed her example and held various activities, such as giving away vegetables when buying meat, giving away eggs when buying fruit, etc.

Two shops like hers were located in residential areas and two were located on prosperous streets. For example, her second Gū’s shop was located on the prosperous street, next to her oil shop. The shop was quite big, and there were promotions, the prices of vegetables were cheap, and many people squeezed in.

Su Qingyu remembered that there was a noodle shop next to the oil shop, and it was doing pretty good business. How did her second Gū convince the other party to take over the shop?

Su Qingmei did not enter her second Gū’s shop, but stood on the street, watching the crowds of people pushing in. She could also hear her second Gū’s voice happily soliciting customers.

Overnight, four similar shops opened in the town.

This caught Su Qingyu off guard.

On the way back to her shop, she was thinking of countermeasures. Seeing that she didn’t say anything, the two little ones followed her quietly, pursed their lips, had stern faces, and pulled her to the left and right angrily.

She returned to the shop and stayed there until the afternoon. Seeing that there were not many people in the shop, Su Qingyu thought for a moment, took the silver, and went to the home of the shop owner, Old Man Xie.

And brought the twins along.

“Why did you come to my house? Are you worried that I would run away as a customer, so you came to try to keep me?” Old man Xie said jokingly.

“I’m here to send you money.” Su Qingyu said with a smile.

“Are you really sending money? It seems that your shop has made a lot of money recently. No wonder several convenience food shops opened up in the town overnight.”

After the old servant of the Xie family took the purse, he turned around and went back to his room to put it away without counting it.

Old Man Xie couldn’t help laughing when he saw his grandson and the twins staring at each other. Seeing the light in his grandson’s eyes, he pushed him and said, “Go play with your brother and sister.”

Seeing the twins looking at her, Su Qingyu nodded: “Go ahead, have fun, and don’t fight.”

“Yeah.” Several children responded and walked away hand in hand.

“I’ve seen you before.” said the young master Xie Qiyou.

“Ah, when?”

“On the day you first arrived.”

“Ah, so early! But we just met you…”

“How old are you? My sister and I are six.”

“I am seven.”

“Then you are older than us.”

“Then you have to call me gēgē!”

The children turned the corner of the house and disappeared while talking.

Old man Xie felt comforted when he saw his grandson become lively after seeing people of his own age.

He glanced at Su Qingyu and said, “Don’t worry, even if you open more vegetable shops, my servant will only buy from yours and won’t delay your family from making money.”

Su Qingyu came here to attract regular customers and pay back the money. Unexpectedly, before she could finish her words, the other party spoke first, which made Su Qingyu very grateful.

As for Old Man Xie, firstly, he saw that Su Qingyu was an honest businessperson and admired her. Secondly, he was very satisfied with the products and services in her store. No matter how well others imitated her, they could not imitate her essence, so he was unwilling to exchange for a few cents.

“Thank you, sir. We will deliver it to you if it is inconvenient for you in the future. Just tell us what you want to eat and we will find it for you.”

“That’s great. But my old servant is willing to go out for a stroll in the morning. When he doesn’t want to move, you can come to my door.”

“Okay, sure.”

After talking to him for a while, Su Qingyu also realized that he was a wise old man. There was no generation gap between the two of them in their communication and it was very pleasant.

When it was time to leave, the three children had a better time playing together and were reluctant to part. Old Man Xie saw that his grandson rarely had like-minded children to play with, so he left the two little ones behind.

Su Qingyu had no choice but to go back to the shop alone.

(End of this chapter)