Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1284: Chapter 422: Ji Jiang’s Predicament, True Sibling Affection, the Head-Slasher Strikes Again

The ninth year of Great Xia, the first day of March, just at dawn

Hongmen South City, Zeng’s Summer Clothing Workshop

During the dawn market break, Ji Jiang, after tidying up and closing the door, immediately took a jar filled with silver taels and walked to the back, to the quiet room.

"Ding ding ding..."

As soon as she sat down on the chair in the quiet room, Ji Jiang poured out all the scattered silver taels from the jar onto the table, then took out a small scale and began weighing and measuring them one by one.

As the weighing work approached its end, Ji Jiang’s brow furrowed more deeply, and only when it was finished did she let out a slight sigh, her face full of worry.

"Deducting the cost of goods and then taking out thirty percent for commercial tax, the total profit for February is 8,920 taels, only 580 more than January."

The current exchange rate between the Great Xia Camp Supply Department’s contribution value and silver is basically fixed at 1 to 10, which means 1 tael of silver equals 10 contribution points.

Earning 8,920 taels a month translates to 89,200 contribution points.

When this Xia Clothing Workshop was first auctioned, Zeng Rou invested the majority, while Ji Jiang only put in a quarter of the money. But since she was usually the one managing it, the shop’s income was split equally between the two.

Calculating this way, she earned 44,600 points in February, which is a considerable income in Great Xia. At least 70% of the Cold Resistance Level members in the Hunting Team couldn’t earn this much.

Considering that those in the Hunting Team have to brave the frost each night to hunt Cold Beasts in the Snow Forest, often getting injured and even risking their lives, while she just has to stay in the shop to welcome and see off customers, this income is even more valuable.

Unfortunately, it’s hard for people to be satisfied. The first reaction after getting something is usually not contentment, but a desire for more.

Ji Jiang is in this situation now.

"The shop opened on August 20 last year, and the net income for the four months of that year was 12,820, 13,720, 14,220, and 15,270, showing a constant upward trend. But after the new year, it couldn’t continue, with January’s profit directly halving to 8,340 taels. This month, if not for acquiring some Beishuo Silk Cloth and Blood Jade Fox Fur and making a batch of new-style summer clothes to attract new customers, there wouldn’t have been any increase. I estimate the total profit wouldn’t even reach 7,000 taels."

After calculating in her mind for a while, Ji Jiang’s brow tightened further, her face even more troubled.

"There are now more and more shops selling summer clothes in South City, totaling nearly fifty. The competition is starting to intensify; and after the new year, the city is still unstable, the number of newcomers is clearly decreasing, so the rapid decline in profits is also normal. But these problems, I can’t solve. To reverse the decline in profits, I can only think of ways, like last month, by addressing the issue of supply sources..."

Of all the shops in South City at present, more than 95% are operated by people from Great Xia, and the supply channels for these Great Xia shops are without exception from the four workshops managed by the Xia City Craftsmen Department: forging, alchemy, summer clothing, and woodworking.

This leads to a problem: any similar shops sell extremely homogeneous materials. In simple terms, the products are pretty much the same.

Given that the products are identical, naturally everyone, when sourcing from the Camp Supply Department, wants to choose the most popular types of materials.

For example, over 50 shops selling summer clothes all source from the Xia Clothing Workshop. After several months of exploration, everyone knows which types of summer clothes sell well, which have high profits, and which don’t sell well. So, when sourcing, they all pick the good ones.

But in doing so, the Xia Clothing Workshop is not pleased.

All summer clothes are sewn from various grades of raw materials. According to the materials’ preciousness, the final summer clothing products are naturally divided into low-end, mid-range, high-end, and top-tier four levels.

The resources of Great Xia are not infinite, and since they must first meet the needs of Xia City, what’s available for sale each month is already limited. To balance sales, naturally, they choose portions from each of the four categories.

Everyone only wanting one type is definitely not feasible, and given that the Hongmen business is still booming, the Xia Clothing Workshop directly set a rule: all sources must be mixed with four types. Additionally, as current production is limited and demand at Hongmen is greater than supply, the source quota for over 50 shops each month is directly divided equally by total volume.

Actually, the intention of the Camp Supply Department is apparent to everyone: to reduce competition between similar shops, the types and amounts of goods sold by everyone are the same, and as current summer clothing is in short supply, generally, the stores will be cleared out by the end of each month. So unless someone is willing to cut prices and sacrifice profits, business for everyone is roughly the same, and earnings are, too.

But as there are policies above, there are methods below. Since the Camp Supply Department can’t produce so many summer clothes, and the demand from newcomers at Hongmen is still large, the shops below naturally need to find more sources. It just so happens that at Hongmen, you can not only sell but also buy, so the more flexible shops begin to acquire other fabric-weaving raw materials and then make clothes themselves to sell outside.

The Hongmen Supply Department has long known about the situation and hasn’t imposed any blockage, as long as shops can pay the 30% profit each month on time.

Of course, this involves the issue of costs and technology, and this relies on the skills of each shop.

Ji Jiang’s talent in clothing is undoubtedly high. She was one of the earliest Clothing Makers at the Xia Clothing Workshop. Combined with her keen sense of fashion trends and a unique eye for updating and improving clothing styles, of the 50-plus shops selling summer clothes on this street, you could say that if she claims second place, no one dares claim first.