Like his peers born in the late 20th century, Chen Ke has also participated in many entrepreneurial activities. In the face of one failure after another, Chen Ke had to summarize the reasons. One of the key results he came up with was that the number of people in the organization who were engaged in production had to be as high as possible. This dyeing is also a new commercial attempt. As a funder and key worker, Chen Ke not only personally participates in all the work, but also observes his current companions.

Hua Xiongmao, as a Manchu martial artist, really has the quality to be worthy of the title of lifter. Moving cloth, burning fire, and drying, as long as Chen Ke personally instructed and personally led the team, Hua Xiongmao worked tirelessly and hard. As a university graduate majoring in chemistry, You Gou fully demonstrated the characteristics of chemistry. He is active in thinking, strong in creativity, and extremely obedient to all kinds of "chemical experiment" disciplines. In terms of temperature control, time control, and test data recording of dyed fabrics, the performance of the swim is excellent.

Originally, Chen Ke's positioning for this transaction was cheap and massive. Discolored fabrics and cheap foreign dyes have pushed down the cost of this batch of cloth to a level beyond the reach of ordinary dyeing cloth shops. Chen Ke, Hua Xiongmao, You Wei, and Zhou Yuanxiao, these four people are all working without pay, and the low labor cost is unimaginable for other dyeing industries. Through the information that everyone inadvertently revealed during the chat, Chen Ke determined that the education level of the four workers, including himself, was also a level that ordinary Chinese could not reach in their lifetime in China in 1905.

Maybe we really have the legendary "Eight Kings"? In the past few days, Chen Ke, as the project leader, has arranged the work according to the characteristics of each person, and the other three "colleagues" with high status and education have no conflict. Everyone devariated the cloth and dyed it at the same time. You Mu is a girl, who arrives at 8 o'clock in the morning and leaves at 5 o'clock in the evening. The other three people arranged shifts, and the workshop did not stop working 24 hours a day. In less than three days, the forty pieces of cloth were dyed.

After the cloth is dyed, it has to be cleaned, Zhou Yuanxiao's craftsmanship is really good, and the discoloration of the cloth after washing is not serious. Zhou Yuanxiao doesn't like to talk, except when he has to speak, Zhou Yuanxiao doesn't say a word except for work at other times. How could such a master fall into such a situation, Chen Ke felt very puzzled.

At noon on the third day, Chen Ke sent Hua Xiongmao back to his residence and asked Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin to meet. At noon on the fourth day, Chen Ke and Hua Xiongmao returned to their residence, and Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin were already waiting for the two of them in Xu Xilin's house. Hua Xiongmao put a piece of cloth on the table in front of Xu Xilin, which startled Xu Xilin.

"That's what you call Nabu?" Xu Xilin patted the cloth with his hand, and it felt okay. I pulled out the head of the cloth several feet long and looked at the light, and the dark blue fabric felt thinner and smoother than ordinary coarse cloth, but it was much thinner. But the color is by no means comparable to that of homespun cloth. The dark blue color is very uniform, which is very suitable for summer clothes.

As a woman, Qiu Jin has more research on cloth, and after she looked at the cloth, she said with a smile. "Bosun, the cloth made by Wen Qing is really impressive."

"Brother Bosun, I said last time that I wanted the help of friends who had business in Shanghai to sell the cloth. This time, I took this freshly dyed horse, just to let Brother Bosun look at it and see the real thing. Chen Ke finally has his own product, and even his voice is much clearer.

"Of course I'm going to help with that." Xu Xilin replied. Chen Ke could see that Xu Xilin was not interested in buying and selling cloth.

"I've been busy dyeing cloth lately, how is Brother Bosun busy in Shanghai?"

"It's hard to put into words." Xu Xilin just sighed after saying this, his face was full of depression, far less energetic than Chen Ke and Hua Xiongmao.

Lunch was very dull, Qiu Jin was silent, and Xu Xilin ate with his head bored. Chen Ke and Hua Xiongmao didn't dare to say anything more. After starting the dyeing business, Chen Ke didn't think about any revolution at all. Revolution is not for starvation, a revolutionary who can starve himself to death is absolutely unqualified. After eating, Chen Ke and Hua Xiongmao got up to say goodbye.

As soon as he went out, Chen Ke wanted to go shopping on the streets with dense cloth shops. When he was shopping a few days ago, Chen Ke went there specifically. In order to find a buyer after dyeing the cloth.

After the two walked out for a while, Hua Xiongmao said: "Wen Qing, I actually have a friend who is in the cloth business in Shanghai, if Wen Qing doesn't mind, see if he can buy these cloths." ”

Chen Ke looked at Hua Xiongmao in surprise, "Why didn't Zhenglan say it earlier?" ”

Hua Xiongmao smiled confidently, "At that time, you hadn't dyed the cloth yet, how could I say this?" I don't know what you and my aunt and uncle are talking about. Now the cloth is dyed. I see that you are counting on my brother-in-law to deal with this matter, but I'm afraid it's useless. And Wen Qing, you never ask me, and how do you let me recommend myself. ”

"That man can eat so much cloth? I will sell a piece of cloth for at least one or two and a half pieces of silver. Chen Ke said.

"Let's go meet him now." Hua Xiongmao said confidently.

Chen Ke and Hua Xiongmao went together to meet the friend who was in the cloth business. He was originally from Wenzhou, and the cloth business was quite large. After looking at Chen Ke's cloth and negotiating the purchase price of one or two or six yuan per horse, the man bought all the cloth. Knowing that Chen Ke would still ship, the Wenzhou businessman said that he would also buy them all. The only request made by the Wenzhou merchants was that they specified 100 pieces of red cloth.

The cloth in Zhou Yuanxiao's dyeing workshop has been completely emptied, and there are 62 taels of silver on the table, and Chen Ke, Hua Xiongmao, You Wei, and Zhou Yuanxiao each occupy one side of the table. Chen Ke has always believed that his brothers are settling accounts. After receiving the first money, it is indeed necessary to have a good talk.

"Brother Zhou, you've worked hard for the past few days. Last time, we agreed to dye 1,200 pieces of cloth in your workshop, and give you 30 taels for the use of your workshop. I remember that correctly. Chen Ke said with a smile.

The past few days have been very hard work, half of Zhou Yuanxiao is tired, and the other half seems to be indifferent to this matter, he replied listlessly, "That's right." ”

However, You Wei listened to Chen Ke's words, his slender brows furrowed, and Danfeng's eyes flickered, but You Wei didn't say anything.

"Before, I didn't know Brother Zhou's craftsmanship, but after seeing Brother Zhou's craftsmanship, I want to ask, Brother Zhou, how much money are you going to charge for each piece of cloth." Chen Ke then asked.

"Just look at it." Zhou Yuanxiao still had a listless look.

"That's not right, giving one penny of silver is also giving, and giving five coins of silver is also giving, Brother Zhou always has an attitude." Chen Ke's expression became serious. Next, he wants a large number of dyed cloth, if he can't satisfy Zhou Yuanxiao, he will move a little, Chen Ke can't bear the loss.

Zhou Yuanxiao raised his eyes and looked at Chen Ke, he smiled bitterly, "This Brother Chen is worried about me doing something." I, Zhou Yuanxiao, just returned to Shanghai and wanted to open a dyeing factory, and in the end, I always had seven or eight thousand taels of silver. Now only the ancestral workshop remains. I see that Brother Chen and this Brother Hua are both from rich families, but they never feel that they have lost their identities when they work as workers. I was very impressed. And when I was in danger, You Yu helped me a lot. The people she introduced, I naturally have to do my best. It doesn't matter how much money I want. It's just that you can't afford to lose it. ”

Hearing this, You Yu grabbed Zhou Yuanxiao's wrist and said loudly: "Brother Zhou, I introduced this list to you just to cheer you up." Your craftsmanship is so good, how can you have a day to recover your family business. It doesn't matter how I make money, I won't lose myself. Brother Zhou, it's not right for you to do this. ”

Zhou Yuanxiao shook his head, but stopped talking.

In the face of such a situation, Hua Xiongmao was quite moved by the righteousness of his friends, but Chen Ke did not show the slightest sign of being moved, Chen Ke did not do this in the early years, but the result of failure had already cooled Chen Ke's blood, he said seriously: "Brother Ming, Miss You, since Brother Zhou said so, you also give Brother Zhou some face." How do you decide? ”

You Yu listened to Chen Ke's words, looked at Zhou Yuanxiao, who was depressed, and then said: "If I say, you have to give Brother Zhou six dollars of silver for each piece of cloth." ”

Hearing the lion speak, Hua Xiongmao's brows furrowed, and Chen Ke shook his head, "This is not good. Let's not talk about the six pennies. Miss You, in addition to the money you gave to Brother Zhou, how much are you going to want? ”

Hearing Chen Ke Chen Ke denying himself, You Yu said angrily: "I don't want any points, okay?" ”

"That's not going to work. Absolutely not. Chen Ke immediately denied You Wei's angry words.

"Why?"

Chen Kezhengse said: "I don't care how Brother Zhou failed before, what we do now can only be done according to the current thing." When we buy and sell together, the accounts are even. Brother Zhou provided a workshop and led us to dye cloth, so naturally we can't lose Brother Zhou. Miss You, you, me, and this Hua brother, work together, and we will also share our benefits. Accounting is to work more and get more, and not to work hard. And your algorithm itself is not right, we have to count the money from dyeing the cloth, not the money from selling. Although this sounds bad, if you can't settle accounts like this, you will always lose money in business. ”

After listening to Chen Ke's words, You Mu was silent. It was Zhou Yuanxiao, who was still listless at first, and after listening to Chen Ke's last sentence, he suddenly raised his head and stared at Chen Ke with sharp eyes. "Then Mr. Chen took out a charter for penny and listened to it." Zhou Yuanxiao asked.

"This is the first time we have cooperated, let's not talk nonsense about how much money we can make in the future, we can't make money now, where is there any future to speak of. We're just four of us. I took out six coins of silver for each piece of cloth, Brother Zhou had three coins and five coins, You Wei and I had one penny each, and Brother Hua had five cents of silver. Chen Ke said his plan.

"Oh, you've earned the bulk of it." You Yu said mockingly.

"I'm paying for cloth and dye. Miss You, you have wronged me by saying this. ”

You Yu looked at Zhou Yuanxiao, Chen Ke also looked at Zhou Yuanxiao, Zhou Yuanxiao thought for a moment and nodded, "I think it's okay." Chen Xian's division makes sense. ”

After finalizing this matter, Chen Ke also stated that the current 62 taels of silver will not be divided first, and all of them will be used to buy cloth and dyes. Everyone is not short of food money, and everyone feels acceptable after hearing this.

Coming out of Zhou Yuanxiao, Hua Xiongmao said with a smile: "I didn't expect that I can earn 50 yuan for a piece of cloth now, and I can earn the money for this day's meal." ”

"Zhenglan thinks it's a loss? I was about to tell you that for the five coins of silver that you can earn by selling a piece of cloth, I will give Zhenglan one penny. Please rest assured that Zhenglan is here. ”

"Wen Qing, I don't mean that, I just think why you want to win over the two of them."

"Those two are of great use, everyone has worked together, more than that."

In response to such an affirmative reply, Hua Xiongmao could only shake his head and remain silent.

With the money, Chen Ke bought back another hundred pieces of cloth. The workshop continues to be in full swing. With the experience of the last time, I dyed the 100 pieces of cloth in four days. Among the 100 pieces of cloth, there are 80 pieces of blue cloth and 20 pieces of red cloth.

I sold the cloth, and gave everyone the money that should have been shared with the forty pieces of cloth last time. Chen Ke announced a day off, these days of work is quite hard, everyone needs to rest. After all, You Wei is a girl, and her body is not as good as that of three men. She offered to hire two workers.

Chen Ke firmly opposed this suggestion. The reason is very simple, if you hire workers, the higher the wages, the less everyone earns. The wages are low, and the workers will not give you a good job. For the links with the largest output, handling and drying, Chen Ke's suggestion is very simple, use small machinery to solve it.

Hearing this, You Yu ridiculed Chen Ke for spending more money on this plan, but Zhou Yuanxiao remained silent. Hua Xiongmao didn't know anything about machinery and wanted to support Chen Ke, but he didn't know what to say. Chen Ke immediately announced the adjournment of the meeting. Everyone was tired and too lazy to entangle with Chen Ke about this matter, since no one was willing to take it seriously, everyone scattered.

Back at his residence, Chen Ke slept all day like Hua Xiongmao's dead dog.

The next day, Chen Ke took the carpenter back to Zhou Yuanxiao's workshop, where Zhou Yuanxiao and You Yu were already waiting. Zhou Yuanxiao's courtyard had ten square wooden beams, and Chen Ke had already observed them for a long time. Chen Ke asked the carpenter to nail several rows of slides to the relatively smooth wooden beams, and then got pulleys that could be pulled. After the carpenter left, Chen Ke and everyone made more than a dozen pulley sets. This small set of machinery can easily lift cloth and bamboo poles for drying. You can also freely drag the position of the bamboo pole.

It must be noted that the effect of this set of things is much lower than the drying position of the previous manual operation of the cloth, and the drying effect is worse. Fortunately, the work intensity has been greatly reduced, and the efficiency has been increased several times. The most important thing is that it cost no more than two taels of silver in total. The price of hiring two workers is much higher than this point indicated. After seeing this set of things made by Chen Ke, Zhou Yuanxiao was quite interested, and she was silent, but she didn't have any objections. Hua Xiongmao has been doing the heaviest physical work with Chen Ke, and this set of things has helped him the most, and Hua Xiongmao has applauded continuously.

Although Zhou Yuanxiao's workshop is not small, this time there are almost 400 pieces of cloth, and the space for drying cloth is still limited. Only 50 pieces of cloth were dyed, and the entire space in the workshop was occupied by hanging cloth.

"Hey, you put the cloth a little bit deeper!" You Yu shouted to Hua Xiongmao.

"If you get closer, you'll touch a piece. Didn't Wen Qing say that you should pay attention to that volatilization speed? Hua Xiongmao raised his head and said while pulling the rope.

"What volatilization, that's called evaporation!" You Wei didn't even have the strength to laugh at Hua Xiongmao, she explained very seriously.

The use of small machinery brought about a problem that Chen Ke did not expect, the arrangement of the technological process. In the past, it was Zhou Yuanxiao who was in charge of drying the cloth. This time, the amount of cloth is large, and after the use of pulley blocks, the labor intensity is reduced and the efficiency is improved. In terms of how to make more efficient use of space, You Gu showed great interest. Chen Ke is a layman in this regard, and Zhou Yuanxiao has no better way. So You and Hua Xiongmao, who had learned a lot of new knowledge in the course of labor, began a new discussion.

Chen Ke ignored the new discussion, pulled the rope and hoisted a piece of cloth out of the vat. This is the last piece of cloth that needs to be dried. Zhou Yuanxiao dragged the rope that moved laterally and dragged the cloth to the cleaning sink. Chen Ke loosened some ropes, and Zhou Yuanxiao untied the knots that bound him. What used to take a lot of effort from three people can now be done in a few minutes by two people.

Enduring the soreness of his arms, Chen Ke worked hard to wash the cloth. It would be nice if there was a washing machine, although he knew that this idea was stupid, but Chen Ke still couldn't help but hope for it.

The improvement of the production process means the improvement of labor efficiency. With the same amount of physical exertion, more labor can now be done. But this required a more efficient contingent of workers, and it took three days to dye forty pieces of cloth the other day. On average, when there are about ten pieces of cloth a day, Chen Ke feels quite relaxed. Later, with twenty-five pieces of cloth a day, Chen Ke felt that he was working at full capacity. Now that 50 pieces of cloth have been made in 36 hours, Chen Ke has become numb.

Fortunately, he drank his own blood, and Chen Ke finally realized the term "sweatshop". If you work in another factory, you have to work day and night for the benefit of the capitalists, and you have to ensure the quality of the products. Chen Ke estimated that he had already joined the workers' movement.

Zhou Yuanxiao also washed the cloth together without saying a word, and like Chen Ke, his face was pale and his eyes were black. With the help of You Wei, in terms of washing cloth, a large amount of data summarized what strength can be optimized. Chen Ke and Zhou Yuanxiao's "professionalism" exerted enough power, although close to the level of exhaustion, the two still did their best to ensure the quality of work. If this were replaced by ordinary workers, Chen Ke would not have believed the quality of their products at all.

As a self-proclaimed materialist, Chen Ke never thought there was anything wrong with the capitalists' use of machines to produce, which led to mass unemployment of workers. Compared to machines, workers are really unreliable. This painstaking dyeing work has proved this once and for all. Not to mention the workers, Chen Ke couldn't believe the average quality of work as a funder. The four people in the dyeing workshop all have high-level quality and have enough enthusiasm for their work. These four people work together, and they dare not guarantee that they will do things, and they use workers, and the efficiency and quality definitely do not make Chen Ke optimistic.

While thinking wildly, Chen Ke's hands and feet were still sharp, and the cloth was cleaned quickly. You Wei and Hua Xiongmao adjusted the space left for the last piece of cloth and came over to help. Finally, when I finished drying, I hung the cloth to dry. Four people sat around the table rubbing their sore necks and arms.

Everyone was tired, and no one spoke, so they rested quietly. You Yu took a pillow from home, and for the first few days she complained that the pillow was smelling of smoked and dyed cloth, but now she didn't care about the idea at all, so she put the pillow on the table, and fell asleep on it.

Chen Ke also rested on the table, half-asleep and half-awake, what kind of revolution, saving the country, he had already flown to nowhere. There was only one thought left in Chen Ke's mind. It takes a day for this large batch of cloth to dry, and colleagues including myself need to rest for a day.

I don't know if I'm asleep or not, and I don't know how long it has been, but Chen Ke heard someone shouting outside the door, "Is there anyone inside?" "It's in the local dialect of Shanghai.

There was no one in the courtyard, and the people outside shouted again, and then there was a knock on the door. This kind of harassment in his sleep was the most annoying, Chen Ke sat up, and saw Hua Xiongmao sleeping in a daze, looking up with sleepy eyes. Zhou Yuanxiao, who was opposite Chen Ke, had also sat up, and his face became gloomy when he heard this voice. She also heard the voice, and she turned her head slightly like a cat, put her face into the pillow, and blocked her ears with her upper arms, and continued to sleep.

Chen Ke dragged Hua Xiongmao, and the three men went to the door together, Chen Ke rubbed his face with his hands, sobered up for a while, and then opened the door.

Outside the door are two people, one tall and one short, the short one looks like Shanghai himself, in his 40s, not tall, and thin. Chen Ke, Hua Xiongmao, and Zhou Yuanxiao took their eyes off the short man, and then moved upwards at the same time. The tall man, who looked to be no more than 30 years old, stood on the bluestone steps of the doorway, his head almost pressed against the doorbeam. In addition to his tower-like height, he is also particularly strong, and his broad shoulders almost block the courtyard gate. Chen Ke looked up at this person and secretly estimated that he was 1.95 meters tall and weighed at least 190. The man had the kind of chubby face that is characteristic of the stout. This chubby face has a look that seems to be smiling but not smiling, looking at everyone condescendingly, and quite majestic.

"Who's the boss?" The short one asked.

Hearing the voice, everyone moved their eyes back to the short man, and Chen Ke suddenly had an inexplicable association, if the short man had a rope around his neck, and one end of the rope was held in the hand of the tall man, it would be a standard strong brown bear leading a monkey.

Chen Ke and Zhou Yuanxiao took a step at the same time, "I am the boss." Chen Ke said first.

"This boss, I want to talk to you about business." The short one said.

"We don't have much business to talk about here. Please come back, both of you. Chen Ke flatly rejected the other party. Dealing with hooligans must not give them any chance. Once you invite them in the door, it's sure to be tangled. Thinking of this, Chen Ke stepped forward again and blocked the door, "There's really no business to talk to you about." ”

The short man saw Chen Ke directly blocking the door, and he was in a hurry, he shouted a few words in the local dialect, but the speed of speech was fast, and the local accent was very heavy, Chen Ke didn't understand what he was talking about at all.

"I don't understand what you're saying, let's go back quickly." Chen Ke said.

"You'll understand what I'm saying." The tall one suddenly said in a Hebei accent.

Chen Ke was stunned, he just used Mandarin, and it was really inappropriate to say that he couldn't understand the tall Hebei dialect. Chen Ke had no choice but to reply: "What does this brother have to say?" ”

"I just want to make a fortune with my brother. Seeing that the dyeing and cloth business of Brother Tai is thriving, and now that the world is so chaotic, Brother Tai does not want to find a few people to help protect it. In case there is a fire or a bad guy comes to cause trouble. It must be better to have someone to help, isn't it? When the tall man spoke, he didn't have the air he was looking at at at all, and he said threatening words in his mouth, but his expression looked very sincere. Just listening to the tone of that tone, it was simply a friend's sincere concern.

This also met the protection money. Chen Ke thought helplessly. The struggle is absolutely unyielding, Chen Ke replied: "We can deal with it ourselves, so we won't bother the two of us." ”

Without waiting for the two to speak, Hua Xiongmao behind Chen Ke suddenly said a few incisions, and the two people opposite were stunned. Hua Xiongmao walked up to the two and communicated with the two in black for a while. The two men arched their hands towards Hua Xiongmao and turned to leave.

"It's heaven and earth." Hua Xiongmao said.

"What do they want?" Chen Ke is more concerned about this.

"Over there, please have some tea together tomorrow. I think I'll be able to get over it with a gift money. Hua Xiongmao's face was completely sleepy, and he said, "There is no need to give anything else, just give them a horse for this cloth, and a few taels of silver can be appeased." But we have to hurry up and do this cloth dyeing thing. ”