Qin Yao hoisted the box onto her shoulder and smiled as she refused: "Thank you, General, for your kindness, but I am currently not interested in going to the Capital City."

This answer was expected, and Mu Ling wasn’t disappointed. He smiled at Qin Yao, "Remember to come find me when you feel like going."

Qin Yao nodded, "Certainly."

The two arrived at the entrance of the official residence, and a female soldier brought the carriage over. Qin Yao placed the wooden box onto it, clapped her hands, and the task was done.

Wang Jin carried his pitifully small luggage into the carriage, poked his head out of the window, and solemnly cupped his hands towards Qin Yao: "Fate willing, we will meet again!"

Qin Yao nodded, sincerely wishing the two well, "Safe travels."

Mu Ling curled his lips into a smile, waved, and the group gradually went away.

Qin Yao stood at the residence entrance, watching them leave for a while, then returned to her room to continue her sleep.

Without any burden, the sleep in the latter half of the night was exceptionally comfortable.

When morning came, Qin Yao checked out and left, driving her own carriage straight to the Fulong Trading Company’s branch with the Lady’s Box.

Qiu Yan had already known about her arrival in the city, after all, the ’officials candied haw-skit’ at the city gate that day was a scene that shocked the entire city, making it hard not to know.

The new version of the Lady’s Box had been greatly improved by the R&D team members compared to the initial version.

In terms of style, materials, or the detailed compartments inside, there was a qualitative enhancement.

The box body was made of sturdier yet lighter expensive wood, the inner box was entirely covered with custom light pink checkered fabric, the handle was changed to a leather surface, and the lock was made from carefully selected light-colored jade stones for uniformity.

The lacquer was applied in seven layers, creating a crystal clear appearance, and the painted patterns on the box surface were replaced with inlay, adding a sense of luxury.

The most exquisite part was the box design, moving away from the conventional square shape to a horizontal box design.

This finished product presented as a fine art piece, pleasing to the eye.

Qiu Yan took the cotton gloves handed to him by Qin Yao and put them on before carefully feeling the finesse of the box body.

These surface elements were common luxurious features, but what astonished Qiu Yan was the pink checkered inner lining.

If he was not mistaken, the checkered designs included hand-embroidered floral letters.

Yet the letters were a bit strange, resembling Sanskrit, or perhaps Arabic numerals from the Western Regions, which he couldn’t recognize.

Qin Yao proactively explained: "This is the brand logo, designed with the capital Q from the designer Qiao Yun’s name and the lowercase q from my name Qin, known as the Double Q Mark."

Saying so, seeing Qiu Yan’s eyes full of confusion and wanting to ask about uppercase and lowercase letters, Qin Yao hurriedly raised her hand to stop:

"Whether letters or not isn’t important, the Boss just needs to know that our Lady’s Box’s logo is hard to replicate. Our R&D members have also applied some exclusive anti-counterfeiting measures inside."

Firstly, the embroidery thread contained a dyeing mineral unique to the Zijing Mansion area, which couldn’t be mass-produced elsewhere.

Secondly, the Double Q logo, each Lady’s Box’s inner lining will have nine Double Qs using different embroidery techniques, with the distribution method corresponding to each Lady’s Box’s unique number, greatly enhancing recognizability.

Finally, genuine products will be exclusively sold directly by the Fulong Trading Company, with no other branches.

These measures could handle at least ninety percent of the market’s woodworking shops.

As for the remaining ten percent, it would depend on consumer loyalty to resolve.

"We need to establish this brand and deepen its connection with the Fulong Trading Company, then search ancient books for historical anecdotes to associate it with, creating a high-end classic product from all angles..."

Qin Yao spoke a long piece without knowing how much Qiu Yan understood, anyway, whatever was unclear could be discussed in detail later. The urgent matter was whether this business should proceed or not.

Qin Yao drank all the cool tea in the cup in one go, wiped her mouth with bravado, and raised an eyebrow to ask:

"Has the Boss thought it through? If you have, I think we can make a decision today."

Qiu Yan was a bit excited. He hadn’t felt such passionate eagerness to indulge in a great venture since he took over the family business at eighteen.

Unfortunately, surviving to preserve the ancestral business in turbulent times had already exhausted all efforts.

Now finally recognized by a high figure, the entire trading company could break through, becoming the top trading company in the Zijing Mansion.

But to stabilize its status, real skills had to be shown.

Looking at the beautiful Lady’s Box before him, Qiu Yan felt a strong intuition that it couldn’t be missed.

He raised his eyes to look at Qin Yao, his voice deep, "We will do it, and we will do it to the biggest and best!"

Qin Yao raised her palm, and Qiu Yan joined it with a clap, making a crisp sound. The deal was thus reached, and they exchanged smiles excitedly.

Qiu Yan asked, "What is the pricing?"

As he thought, since there was already a fixed cooperation model previously, it should be the same this time as well.

Even if modified, it shouldn’t be too far off.

Unexpectedly, Qin Yao said: "I will decide the price, make the goods, and pay you for your distribution channels."

She directly set a price, "Giving a ten percent commission of the total sales to Fulong Trading Company, increasing the charge for every thousand Lady’s Boxes sold to your company by a fraction, capping at thirty percent."

Seeing Qiu Yan’s brow furrowing tighter, Qin Yao added, "The pricing for a single Lady’s Box is one hundred taels of silver, so my offer is actually best for your company."

Otherwise, even if the Fulong Trading Company emptied its base, it couldn’t afford to order a thousand Lady’s Boxes. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

According to Qin Yao’s calculation, for every Lady’s Box Fulong Trading Company sold, it could earn at least ten taels of silver, and at most thirty taels of silver.

Compared to the original order-based delivery model, the new plan was evidently more stable, plus the complete set of marketing plans Qin Yao offered, it was a surefire profitable deal.

Moreover, conversely, binding the Lady’s Box deeply with the Fulong Trading Company posed an enormous risk of monopoly for the stationery manufacturers.

Of course, Qin Yao’s goals extended far beyond this.

This was merely the first step in her plan.

When the stationery factory’s initial funds accumulate to a certain level, acquiring the entire Fulong Trading Company would be the optimal solution.

However, it was premature to discuss such things now. This, after all, was her strategic planning done habitually for the long term, and how long this business could last remained unseen.

Given the current situation of both parties, the Fulong Trading Company was by far the largest client.

The plan she offered was to seek maximum benefits for the stationery factory, so she didn’t mind leaving Fulong Trading Company with the impression of a ’readily devourable’ and innocent facade.

Listening to the high price of one hundred taels, Qiu Yan felt shocked, then fell into contemplation.

Apart from the outrageous pricing of one hundred taels, the more he thought, the more he felt that this profit distribution plan offered more advantages than disadvantages for the Fulong Trading Company.

Therefore, he couldn’t figure out why Qin Yao wanted to do it this way, always feeling there was deceit involved.

Qin Yao wouldn’t let him ponder too long, stood up, slightly impatiently asked: "Boss, give a definitive answer, I’m tired, planning to go find an inn to rest."

"I’ve been busy running errands with Lord Imperial Censor these recent days, exhausted." Qin Yao pretended to be weary as she rubbed her temples.