Chapter 495 Natural Blind Box
"Things are valuable because they are rare. Only VIP customers of our pearl stall can get black pearls after making reservations."
Since black pearls are uncommon, they should be marketed by taking advantage of their rarity.
Otherwise, if the Lian family’s own pearl shop is so famous, why would people come to Ju Fu to buy pearls?
Other daily necessities can gain customers' favor by offering low prices, but pearls, which are spiritual needs, are not easy to engage in price wars, so naturally an unusual marketing route has to be taken.
Tong Huaqiong taught Lian Hengruo a lesson on what VIP and customization are.
Lian Hengruo understood immediately and quickly proposed a limited sale, and a certain number of ordinary pearls must be purchased to qualify for the purchase of black pearls...
Wow, under Tong Huaqiong's guidance, Lian Hengruo has surpassed his teacher and learned hunger marketing.
Tong Huaqiong feels that this is not enough, as hunger marketing can easily cause people to develop a rebellious mentality over time.
Other marketing methods are also needed.
Tong Huaqiong thought of the blind boxes of later generations, which captured people's gambling mentality and made people enjoy drawing blind boxes.
Pearl oysters are the most natural blind boxes.
Normally, when customers buy pearls, they are ready-made pearls taken out of clams. If customers were allowed to select the clams and open them themselves, wouldn’t that give them a stronger sense of participation?
If black pearl clams are mixed in, it will be like a blind box where you have to rely entirely on luck to open it. Wouldn't it be even more difficult to stimulate people's desire to buy?
Tong Huaqiong explained the black pearl blind box to Lian Hengruo in plain language, and Lian Hengruo's eyes lit up.
Lian Hengruo clapped his hands in admiration, saying that Aunt Tong was able to establish Jufulai's foothold in Pingchuan in such a short period of time, thanks to her endless money-making ideas.
She was still too inexperienced and couldn't think of various ways to run her business.
Not only that, Tong Huaqiong also suggested doing more publicity on Pingchuan weddings, such as one pearl is one heart, choose pearl when getting married.
Lian Hengruo said, "I plan to open the pearl stall the day after tomorrow. Aunt Tong, I will think about the business methods you mentioned and come up with some rules."
The pearl stall has been arranged according to Tong Huaqiong's requirements, which not only highlights the characteristics of Jufulai, but also retains the style that Lian Hengruo wants.
Both parties were very satisfied, so opening the business two days later was not a problem at all.
After talking about business, Tong Huaqiong still hadn't forgotten to eat melons, so she asked, "Gu Ruinian didn't give you any trouble these two days, did he?"
Lian Hengruo laughed contemptuously and said, "He's just a toad who wants swan meat. I asked someone to keep an eye on him. He has been circling around my house for the past few days, but he hasn't done anything out of the ordinary."
Tong Huaqiong said: "Even so, you can't take it lightly."
Tong Huaqiong always felt that Gu Ruinian had a backup plan, so she asked Nie Xiaofeng to keep a close eye on him.
The reason why he didn't alert the enemy was that he wanted Gu Ruinian to reveal all his tricks.
Lian Hengruo said, "I will pay attention. I don't know why he targeted me, thinking that I am a smart and easy-to-deceive daughter."
Tong Huaqiong's guess was correct. Lian Hengruo probably had forgotten about the marriage discussion with Gu Ruinian.
What Tong Huaqiong couldn't understand was that a girl from the Lian family, even if she was born out of wedlock, would have no trouble finding a husband, so why did she choose to arrange a marriage for a poor country boy with an uncertain future?
Thinking of this, Tong Huaqiong wanted to know what Lian Hengruo was thinking, so she asked directly: "I heard that you discussed marriage with Gu Ruinian? After all, you are the daughter of the Lian family, how could you discuss marriage with Gu Ruinian, who is penniless in the countryside?"
Lian Hengruo thought for a moment, blushing, and said, "To put it bluntly, my greatest contribution to the Lian family is to pave the way for the Lian family through marriage. The ones I like dislike me because I am a concubine, and I look down on those who don't dislike me. Later, I thought that if I married a family of equal status, I would just be like the eldest lady in the family, taking care of the husband and children, and I would have to be on guard against the man taking concubines. It would be meaningless to spend half my life in the inner house. It's better to find a family of a small family, so that I don't have to serve my parents-in-law, and they don't interfere with me leaving the inner house."
It’s similar to what Tong Huaqiong thought.
Lian Hengruo's ambition is not to live in the inner house, and she does not want to live a life of taking care of her husband and children. However, she has to get married in this era. In order to break the deadlock, she thinks of finding a husband from a small family.
It is best to be a scholar, as scholars are more sensible.
"As for Gu Ruinian, to be honest, it was Matchmaker Wang who found him everywhere. I didn't choose him on my own initiative, so I had no impression of him before."
Even now she has no impression of Gu Ruinian.
All the well-known scholars from humble families in Pingchuan County were gathered together by matchmaker Wang.
After Gu Ruinian failed the imperial examination, matchmaker Wang was the first one to kill him.
Gu Ruinian was unwilling to give up, so he asked Wang the matchmaker to pass a note to Lian Hengruo asking for a meeting. Wang the matchmaker did pass the note to Lian Hengruo for the sake of the silver.
But Lian Hengruo just threw it away and didn't take it seriously at all.
Tong Huaqiong said: "So that's how it is."
Lian Heng wanted to marry someone from a small family. Her idea was good, but the reality was often unsatisfactory.
Who says that small families will let women show up in public? In fact, the requirements for women are even more stringent. They have to give birth to sons, serve their parents-in-law, and may even be beaten by their husbands.
Some small families feel mixed feelings of inferiority and arrogance when faced with a daughter-in-law from a higher social class, which makes them more likely to make vicious calculations.
Tong Huaqiong then shared her understanding of small families.
They also used cases of daughters-in-law in Qinghewan being bullied by their husbands' families as evidence.
Lian Hengruo said, "Aunt Tong, I've been thinking about this for the past few days. Marrying into a small family won't help me get out of my predicament, so I'd better focus on my pearl business. Only by holding the Lian family's money and business in my hands can I make a difference."
She came to this conclusion after careful consideration after Gu Ruinian appeared.
Gu Ruinian did not harm her, but reminded her that her plan of finding a husband from a small family might not work.
What should she do if that person is someone like Gu Ruinian, who deliberately approaches her, uses her, plots against her, and takes her life and dowry while she is weak after giving birth?
Isn't this just giving someone a wedding dress for nothing? What's the difference between this and making wedding dresses for several brothers in the Lian family?
From then on, I gave up the idea of getting married.
Women have to get married unless they become nuns. Lian Hengruo is worried and wants to take things one step at a time.
Tong Huaqiong was pleased to see that Lian Hengruo understood her marriage so clearly, but she also felt sad for her. Under the pressure from the Lian family, it was impossible for the second young lady of the Lian family not to get married. Although she was now involved in the Lian family's pearl business, she was under attack from all sides.
The life of a rich lady is not as free and easy as the life of a country widow.
In the past, she lamented why she didn't travel back in time to become a lady from a wealthy family. If she really did travel back in time, her degree of freedom would not necessarily be greater than that of a country widow.
Lian Hengruo suddenly smiled awkwardly and said, "At the beginning, the matchmaker mentioned your youngest son to me. She told me that you are a difficult mother-in-law to get along with, and that your younger brother-in-law's son is a good match."
Lian Hengruo couldn't help laughing when he thought of this incident.
In the eyes of outsiders, Aunt Tong's personality is indeed difficult to deal with, overbearing and difficult to deal with, but if she didn't have such a personality, she would be taken advantage of in the business world.
Even her name, "Second Miss", is similar to Tong Da Jiao in the minds of outsiders.
She didn't mind at all, and she presumably didn't mind either, otherwise how could she and Aunt Tong get along so well and do business together?
Tong Huaqiong didn't expect that Gu Jingzhe was also on Lian Hengruo's marriage list.
It has to be said that this fate, after many twists and turns, finally fell on her and Miss Lian Er.