A moment later, a figure entered the main room.

Short and round-faced, her appearance and attire were identical to Hong Qiuyan’s, except for a black mole on her right cheek, which distinguished them.

These two sisters were twins.

Before Su Yujin could even sigh, Hong Qiuyue spoke first, “This loom is the bread and butter of my family. It’s not for sale; you should leave.”

Undeterred by the rejection, Su Yujin smiled broadly. “Miss Yue, why don’t you hear what price I can offer?”

“No matter how much you offer, it’s a fixed amount; it will eventually run out. But this loom is different. As long as we have it, it will earn us money, and we’ll always have money to spend,” Hong Qiuyue said solemnly. “We’re not those spendthrift women who sell their savings for short-term gains, so don’t even think about it!”

Hong Qiuyan nodded in agreement. “My sister is right. We modified this loom together. It now earns us three taels of silver a month, forty taels a year. It’s enough to support our family of four, pay for our grandmother’s medicine, and even save money for my younger brother’s future marriage.”

“Forty taels of silver a year, that’s four hundred taels in ten years. At our age, we sisters can weave for another forty years without a problem; that’s sixteen hundred taels of silver. If this loom is passed down to another generation, it can earn our whole family two or three thousand taels of silver.”

“If Miss Su can offer two or three thousand taels of silver to buy this loom, ensuring we’ll be well-off for the rest of our lives, we might consider it. If Miss Su can’t, then this business is off.”

Two or three thousand taels of silver…

From buying the shop to opening, Huibinlou only spent a little over two thousand taels of silver. The estate managed by Niuzhuangtou didn’t cost much more.

But both of these brought Su Yujin substantial returns every year.

Although the improved loom was a decent business opportunity and could yield considerable profits if done well, spending two or three thousand taels just to buy one, plus other investments, made the investment far too large, and the potential returns insufficient to cover such a high risk.

Su Yujin pondered for a moment, then smiled. “I certainly won’t spend two thousand taels to buy the looms you two possess.”

As expected.

Hong Qiuyan and Hong Qiuyue exchanged a glance and curtsied to Su Yujin. “In that case, Miss Su, please return…”

“However, that doesn’t mean I can’t let you two earn that much silver,” Su Yujin interrupted them.

The two sisters looked at each other in bewilderment upon hearing this.

“What do you mean by that, Miss Su? Didn’t you say you were unwilling to spend so much money to buy the loom? Why are you saying it will make us earn so much silver?”

“Please let me explain in detail.” Su Yujin cleared her throat and said slowly, “I will buy this loom to open a weaving workshop. I won’t spend that much money to buy the loom, but I will pay one hundred taels of silver every year as an exclusive usage fee for the loom.”

“While I pay the fee and have exclusive use of the equipment, I will make new looms based on the styles of your looms. Your looms cannot be sold, rented, or leased to anyone else, but you can continue to weave and sell cloth, continuing to earn three taels of silver per month, which will still amount to nearly forty taels of silver per year.”

“In this way, in addition to the forty taels of silver per year, you can also receive an extra one hundred taels of silver from me every year. In ten years, that’s one thousand taels, and in thirty years, it’s three thousand taels. As long as my weaving workshop keeps operating, you can keep earning money. In the long run, if my weaving workshop runs for one hundred or two hundred years, you can earn ten thousand or twenty thousand taels of silver. Isn’t that a great deal?”

The two sisters exchanged glances, and Hong Qiuyue frowned and asked, “You just said that you bought these looms to open a weaving workshop. Once your weaving workshop becomes successful, won’t my family’s business be unable to continue?”

“This is the second point I wanted to make,” Su Yujin said. “A normal business takes several years from preparation to reaching a certain scale and making money. We can sign a hundred-year agreement for this loom. The exclusive usage fee I’ll give you in the first year will be one hundred taels per year, and from the second year onwards, it will be one hundred and fifty taels per year, which is ten taels more than what you usually earn.”

“If my weaving workshop fails and I don’t renew the exclusive usage fee for the loom, you can authorize someone else to use it next year, so it won’t stop you from making money. However, if you want to transfer it to someone else in the middle, you will have to bear all the losses of our weaving workshop and pay us an additional one hundred years’ worth of exclusive usage fees as a penalty for breach of contract.”

“In this way, you can still make money continuously, and life will be easier. You will still have a loom to weave cloth yourself, so you don’t have to worry about running out of money. What do you think?”

As for Su Yujin herself, she can initially obtain the technology to improve the loom at a relatively low cost, greatly reducing the investment cost.

Moreover, this model, while appearing to be a rental, was almost equivalent to a buyout. As long as the liability for breach of contract was clearly stipulated, there was virtually no risk of technology leakage.

The sisters Hong Qiuyan and Hong Qiuyue exchanged glances again, then huddled together to calculate for a while.

Literally speaking, it was indeed a way to continuously generate income; one hundred taels of silver per year would certainly be more than enough for their family to live comfortably.

Furthermore, the two of them could continue weaving cloth to earn additional money to supplement their household income, so they wouldn’t be idle all day.

However…

Hong Qiuyue asked somewhat uneasily, “Miss Su, can you really afford one hundred taels of silver per year?”

One hundred taels of silver was, in her view, not a small sum, especially for so many years.

“Of course,” Su Yujin nodded. “If you don’t believe me, the hundred taels can be delivered tomorrow. However, this is on the condition that I confirm your looms are indeed efficient and easy to use before we can do business.”

“As long as the goods are good, money is no problem. To be honest, the Huibinlou restaurant in this county town is my property.”

“I see, no wonder you’re so wealthy.” Hong Qiuyan grinned.

She was asking for a hundred-year agreement without considering whether the weaving workshop would be successful!

Huibinlou was renowned in Qinghe, and the two sisters felt even more reassured upon hearing this, having no more doubts. They simply led Su Yujin into the east wing to see the looms.

What they saw surprised even Su Yujin.

Author’s Note: (The next chapter will describe the improved looms.) The technology is purely fictional, based on Huang Daopo’s improvements to looms and spinning machines, with some fictional elements. Please do not take it too seriously. Thank you~)

(End of Chapter)

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