Su Xiaoqi took it and praised Zhao Xiaozhu, "You are truly skillful and handy."
She had only gestured and explained it to her earlier.
She hadn't held out much hope.
Yet, the other girl had made something identical to modern sanitary napkins.
Made of white fine cotton cloth, it felt delicate and soft to the touch, filled with cotton.
Fearing leakage during heavy flow, Su Xiaoqi had also asked her to add a layer of waterproof soft oil paper beneath the cotton.
Su Xiaoqi's surprise infected Zhao Xiaozhu.
She touched it and asked, "Sister Xiaoqi, can this really be used as a menstrual pad?"
Su Xiaoqi replied with full confidence, "We'll know once we try it."
The shape was perfect; the main thing now was to see if it could absorb.
She quietly took one and changed into it. While not as soft and thin as modern ones, it was undeniably much more effective than the grass and ash she had used before.
After trying it, the results were good.
Su Xiaoqi found Zhao Xiaozhu and asked her to use all the cotton and fine cotton cloth she had brought back.
It was estimated that about thirty could be made.
Su Xiaoqi planned to keep ten for herself and distribute the rest to Zhao Xiaozhu and Shen Xiaomei.
She also taught them how to use them. Both girls listened with surprise and shyness, their faces turning red as ripe apples.
Su Xiaoqi smiled, suppressing her lips, and comforted them, saying they were all girls and shouldn't be shy.
She even patted her chest and guaranteed that once they used these menstrual pads, they would never want to use grass and ash again.
As it turned out, this was true.
The two girls' periods arrived two days after Su Xiaoqi's ended.
They used the new menstrual pads as Su Xiaoqi had instructed, and the effect was truly remarkable.
Su Xiaoqi chuckled as she watched their shy feedback on the user experience.
However, considering how quickly they were being used, Su Xiaoqi took the opportunity to deliver fish to the city and bought more cotton at Li Ji's ready-made clothing shop.
The cloth used was the fine cotton cloth stocked by the shop she had purchased.
Zhao Xiaozhu was busy from dawn till dusk.
It took ten days to complete a hundred menstrual pads, and she also managed to make a set of clothes for everyone in her family using three bolts of cloth.
When Su Xiaoqi calculated the costs, three bolts of fine cotton cloth only cost seven hundred and fifty wen, but they yielded clothes worth sixteen hundred wen.
Of course, excluding labor, it was already very cheap.
In addition to this, Su Xiaoqi also gave Zhao Xiaozhu a bolt of silk.
She asked her to try making two sets of clothes according to the measurements of Old Madam Yu and Zhao.
By this point, four bolts of cloth from her purchased shop had been used.
However, as she had not found a suitable person to manage the shop, it had been delayed from opening.
She had only managed to sneak in on the following day while delivering fish and stocked a large quantity of rice and flour.
With no one to be found, Su Xiaoqi had to seek the help of a matchmaker.
She asked him to introduce a shopkeeper.
The matchmaker quickly found her a forty-year-old shopkeeper named Zhao Dayou.
He had previously worked as a shopkeeper in a grain store.
But during the famine, after the store sold its grain at a high price, he was dismissed.
He was now idle at home, living off his savings, and was anxious.
Su Xiaoqi's shop was a good opportunity for him.
The two parties agreed on a time to meet at Su Xiaoqi's shop on the first day of the fifth month.
Su Xiaoqi took advantage of Shen Yun's trip to the county school to slip away quietly.
Zhao Dayou, standing before her, was thin, his face weathered by time, but he wore a smiling expression.
Knowing that Su Xiaoqi was his future patron, he greeted her very warmly:
"Greetings, Miss Su."
Su Xiaoqi did not correct his address.
She had opened this shop precisely because she did not want people to know, and she was happy for him to misunderstand.
"Shopkeeper Zhao," she said lightly.
Zhao Dayou quickly bowed, assuming an attitude of serious attentiveness.
Su Xiaoqi told him he didn't need to be like that.
If he stayed at her shop, as long as he worked diligently, he wouldn't need to adhere to such formalities.
Zhao Dayou agreed verbally but still dared not relax.
After all, in this season, finding work, especially a respectable position like a shopkeeper, was not easy.
He wanted to cherish it.
Su Xiaoqi made a general inquiry into his family background.
His family was simple; his wife had passed away early, and he had raised their two daughters alone.
They were now married with children of their own.
But their lives were not going well, and he, an old man, had to subsidize them.
Su Xiaoqi secretly marveled, no wonder he looked older than fifty at forty.
After talking for a while, she felt he was reasonably reliable.
She decided to give him a chance to try.
Next, she introduced the shop's situation.
First, she wanted to rename the shop and asked him to order a sign.
"The name will be 'Supermarket'."
"Supermarket? What does that mean?" Zhao Dayou wondered if he had been a shopkeeper for over ten years, but he had never heard of such a name.
Su Xiaoqi, however, had no intention of explaining at this moment, only saying:
"There are not many rules here. The first is to do more and speak less in front of me."
Su Xiaoqi decided to curb Zhao Dayou's curiosity immediately.
Otherwise, he would have a lot of questions, and she had no intention of explaining.
Moreover, she couldn't explain.
Zhao Dayou looked at Su Xiaoqi.
The female proprietor before him looked no older than fifteen or sixteen, with a very young face, yet she acted and spoke with her own set of rules.
She was a person with strong opinions.
Just as he was appraising Su Xiaoqi, her sharp gaze swept over him.
Her eyes were clear and bright, making him feel as if his whole being had become transparent, his innermost thoughts laid bare.
He was startled and agreed immediately.
Su Xiaoqi said word by word, "The first rule is to guard the shop well, keep accurate accounts of income and expenditure, and check the accounts every two days."
"The second rule is that to be a shopkeeper here, you must be enthusiastic, not judge people by their appearance, and customers are gods."
Zhao Dayou agreed to each point.
Then Su Xiaoqi told him about his remuneration.
He could have two days off per month, a salary of five strings of cash monthly, and two liters of rice.
Zhao Dayou's eyes widened in surprise, and he stammered, "Pro... Proprietor, this, this, is too much."
When he worked at the previous grain store, his monthly salary was at most three strings of cash.
There were no rest days, let alone rice allowances.
"So you must work hard; the benefits will only improve in the future," Su Xiaoqi interrupted him calmly.
She also discussed shop layout and consigned cloth.
And she required him to keep accounts according to her instructions.
She did not want to look at the troublesome ancient ledgers.
She taught Zhao Dayou the modern accounting method of double-entry bookkeeping.
Every day, how much inventory came in, how much was sold, and at what price was clear at a glance.
Zhao Dayou looked at Su Xiaoqi with a mixture of surprise and respect.
This young female proprietor was truly remarkable.
He was determined to put in twelve percent of his effort to work well and not let the proprietor down.
In addition, Su Xiaoqi required them to sign an employment contract, with both signing their names and affixing their red thumbprints, with the matchmaker as a witness.
Once everything was settled, Su Xiaoqi asked him to start work the next day and open the shop the day after.
First, the sign needed to be made, while she prepared two price posters for rice and flour.
One large one was to be posted at the entrance, and a smaller one on the shelves.
Su Xiaoqi set the prices the same as Chen Ji's grain shop: rice at 20 wen per liter.
Fine flour at 15 wen per catty.
However, due to the grand opening special offer, there were discounts for both.
For every five liters of rice purchased, a fish would be given away, and for every five catties of flour purchased, a fish would also be given away.
Zhao Dayou looked at the thing Su Xiaoqi had written, called a 'poster,' and expressed his confusion.
Why would a grain store give away fish?
However, he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut, firmly remembering Su Xiaoqi's rule of speaking less and doing more.
Su Xiaoqi smiled, very pleased with his discretion.