Shen Qing carefully thought things through.

The products sold in the shop generally have a profit margin of around 30% to 50%.

This means that even the cheapest ink brush would cost at least 80 or 90 wen for the cost price.

Since they were just starting, aiming for a high-end, luxurious route wouldn’t work, but even for the lowest quality brushes, the selling price could still be set at 80 wen!

Pig hair was of little use, practically worthless, but it was sturdy. It wasn’t the main material used for brushes—common materials were sheep hair, rabbit hair, and weasel hair.

She couldn’t get weasel hair, but she could probably find sheep and rabbit hair in the city.

Once she bought the hair, it couldn’t be used directly. It needed to have the oil removed from the roots, which could be done by soaking it in either plant ash water or lime water.

Shen Qing didn’t know the difference between the two, but she decided to try both and see which worked better.

Ash water was easy to obtain, but lime water required her to buy some lime.

For the brush handles, she planned to use bamboo segments. Xingcheng was in a flat region with a colder climate.

There were no thick bamboo stalks, but thin bamboo was available—she had seen bundles of it in the firewood room, which the villagers used for burning.

All it took was some labor to chop and bring it back.

Shen Qing now thought that anything she didn’t need to spend money on was a good thing!

She still needed to buy sheep and rabbit hair, lime, and thread to tie the brush heads tightly to prevent them from coming loose when inserted into the bamboo handle.

She would also need to buy combs for the hair and scissors for brush trimming. If she didn’t find them today, she could get them in the next couple of days when she went to the city.

Since she had already bought quite a bit today, it wouldn’t be wise to buy more, as it would be too much to carry for two people.

It would be nice to have a cart, whether a handcart or a wheelbarrow, something that could carry a lot and save effort.

But wait—hold on.

She hadn’t even started earning money yet, and her savings were pitifully low.

It was better to spend money wisely and focus on essentials, rather than waste it on big-ticket items right now!

Jiang Xiangnan saw that his mother came out empty-handed and asked, “Mom, why didn’t you buy anything? Did you not have enough money today?”

Shen Qing shook her head, excitedly replying, “No, I just went to look, didn’t plan to buy anything. Let’s go, Lao San, let’s work a bit harder today and go buy the hair material!”

The hair had to soak for 5 to 7 days, so it wouldn’t delay her work to buy the other things later.

But if she could buy the hair today, she could start production sooner.

After all, money could be earned once the brushes were sold!

For a family in urgent need of money, it was hard to resist the opportunity to make some income. How could she not be eager to get started?

This was their first time trying this, and there were bound to be a lot of issues along the way.

They might need to adjust things several times, which could waste time.

The sooner she could get things ready, the better.

Jiang Xiangnan felt a little lost, wondering how his mother had gone in one direction and come out with a plan to buy hair materials.

But he trusted her, so whatever she said was fine!

“Alright, let’s go. It’s not hard!”

If his mother hadn’t brought the fourth child, it meant she trusted him to carry things, and honestly, it wasn’t heavy at all.

It was nothing compared to the loads they carried when they first came here. Even if the two buckets were full, he would still be happy to carry them!

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Shen Qing quickly found the place that sold hair materials.

Sheep and rabbit hair were different from pig hair.

Pig skin was edible, but pig hair was mostly useless—after being boiled in hot water, the butcher would scrape it off. The only use for it was in fertilizer.

On the other hand, sheep and rabbit hair were dense and warm, often sold together with leather as high-quality materials for warm clothing.

Shen Qing didn’t need whole pieces of material—those were expensive.

She only selected the scraps and the leftover fibers. Even the loose hair that had been brushed off was worth collecting.

In the end, she filled up a basket, but couldn’t fit any more, spending about one and a half taels of silver.

On the way back, she also bought some thread. At the place selling thread, there were embroidery scissors and combs for brushing the hair—Shen Qing couldn’t pass up the chance to buy them. She spent another tael and a bit more.

Next door was a sugar shop, so she didn’t have to go searching for one. She bought two pounds of brown sugar for over 300 wen. Everything else was fine, but she was surprised by the cost of the sugar. No wonder sugar was considered a luxury!

Once everything was settled, Shen Qing counted their family’s total savings—less than six taels, to be precise, just over five taels and some change.

They were already poor, and now they were even poorer.

Fortunately, the balance in the shopping mall had surpassed 1,000 yuan, with 1,345 yuan available. At least they wouldn’t go hungry.

By the time the sun reached its peak, Shen Qing guessed it was around noon.

She had originally planned to buy some buns to fill their stomachs, but Jiang Xiangnan refused.

“It’s only seven or eight miles. We’ll be home soon, and Da Sao must have left food for us. No need to waste money.”

He had thought that his mother was coming back with fish and yellow eel, maybe to buy something nice to eat on the way.

But after seeing the hair and thread materials, he started to guess what was really going on.

Besides, they had eaten dumplings made with white flour last night and this morning.

There was still pig head and lard in the water bucket.

Dinner would surely be good. How could his mother waste money when the family needed it?

Shen Qing, still thinking about making soap and brushes when they got back, didn’t try to persuade him.

The two quickened their pace, eager to get home.

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Xingcheng’s terrain was flat, with no hills or valleys in sight.

Shen Qing had arrived with the morning mist and hadn’t paid much attention to her surroundings, preoccupied with her thoughts.

Now, on the return trip, though still hurrying, she found herself more relaxed, as she had found two potential sources of income.

She started to observe more closely and realized why the water disaster had caused so many casualties in Xingcheng.

The disaster wasn’t just caused by heavy rain, but by the bursting of the riverbanks.

There had been hundreds of breaches over the years, each time the banks were reinforced and raised higher.

After many years of repairs, the riverbanks had become taller than the entire city’s terrain!

The relentless rain poured down, and the water level rose quickly, causing the rivers to flood the entire city.

Homes and livestock were swept away, and many lives were lost. Even those who survived had to flee.

Qili Village, near Xingcheng, was located in a safer area because of the natural landscape.

There were no casualties in the village during the flood, but their homes had collapsed due to the prolonged rain, and all their crops had been destroyed.

On the road to escape, the villagers helped each other, as they were from the same place.

But as food supplies dwindled and the journey stretched on, people’s opinions began to diverge, leading to disputes.

Eventually, they split up, and families scattered, making them easy prey for other refugees.

Shen Qing worried about their journey and realized that a group of about a dozen people wouldn’t be enough for their family.

They would need to find some strong, reliable companions to travel with—people who weren’t too greedy or difficult to deal with but who also had some financial backing.

Sigh, it’s hard. It’s so hard.