Chapter 36: Plagiarism

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

By looking at Mu Jingzhe’s notebook, Shao Nan also noticed the changes in the five siblings.

In the past, they used to be skinny, dirty, and clad in old clothing. However, during this period, they ate well and got to wear nice clothes. They also didn’t have much to worry about. All of them had gained weight and even grown taller.

In the past, Little Bei hadn’t been in good health and used to always get sick. After Mu Jingzhe started taking care of them, she never got sick again and she bounced around every day. She also stopped following her brothers and even had a little friend of her own now. In combination with her ruddy complexion, she looked like an entirely different person.

Xiao Wu used to follow them like a shadow. In the past, he had been timid and quiet, but he was much bolder now.

He no longer shrank his body or lowered his head. Instead, he frequently raised his head and looked outside with sparkling eyes at Mu Jingzhe.

He didn’t know how to speak yet, but he was slowly relying on Mu Jingzhe and no longer followed his older siblings around.

Xiao Wu was also mischievous. He would scare the chickens, which were getting bigger and bigger. Occasionally, he would imitate Mu Jingzhe and cover their eyes, silently letting them guess who he was. If they guessed correctly, he would let them go.

This family had been silently changing because of Mu Jingzhe.

She had never promised them anything, nor had she asked them to call her mother. It was as if she would leave at any time, but all this while, she’d silently supported them.

She protected them from both the wind and rain.

The family lived harmoniously. Every time Young Uncle came back, his eyes would sparkle.

Thanks to the bicycle, he went home increasingly more often. Like them, he couldn’t help but gaze at Mu Jingzhe and enjoy her cooking.

Shao Nan felt that he had blended in, but sometimes, he felt like he had been watching coldly from the sidelines.

Shao Nan stopped coldly watching from the sidelines, however, after Mu Jingzhe took them to conduct a small experiment.

He liked nature and miraculous phenomena and he yearned for the scientific experiments that Mu Jingzhe had mentioned.

Mu Jingzhe looked at Shao Nan’s shining eyes and felt immense pressure.

He was indeed a genius, a future scientific researcher. One could begin to see the signs even at his young age.

However, given their current financial condition, what she could teach him and give him was limited.

Mu Jingzhe felt that she had to continue working hard when she saw Shao Nan’s hungry gaze. Only then could she show Shao Nan more and impart more knowledge to him.

Indeed, taking care of five children was no joke, especially when all five children were outstanding.

She had heard that scientific research was expensive.

Mu Jingzhe felt a headache when she saw Shao Nan, but she felt better when she saw Shao Dong.

Fortunately, Shao Dong would earn tons of money in the future and would be able to support his younger siblings so they could do things that they liked.

However, Shao Dong was still too young now, so she had to shoulder this responsibility for now.

She just had to… persist a bit longer.

Mu Jingzhe couldn’t stop thinking about earning money.

The production of her accessories had also entered a stable period, and the workers were creating new designs based on the materials she procured. In addition, her four workers were getting increasingly more familiar with the process. Because they had sped up, she didn’t hire more people in the end.

There was nothing the villagers could do about it.

Among the four of them, Li Tao was the last to join the team. However, she was the fastest and the one with the deftest hands. Although she was married, her husband wasn’t very reliable. Now that she was able to earn some money on her own, she was much more vibrant than before.

She had a biological sister, Li Fang, who also wanted to work there. However, her hands weren’t very deft, and she didn’t have much talent, so she could only give up.

Still, she was bold enough to come up with a different approach. She came to talk with Mu Jingzhe about the possibility of getting goods from her.

“I’m just going to take some simple, cheap ones and set up a stall at the market to sell them. I’ve taken a look around. The accessories sold by the stalls in town aren’t nearly as pretty or exquisite as yours, and they’re not cheap either. I think I’ll get good sales if I sell your stuff there.”

Li Fang finished speaking without stopping, then looked at Mu Jingzhe nervously.

Mu Jingzhe nodded. “Sure.”

She felt that Li Fang was quite bold and resolute.

Some of the accessories she made were high-quality and expensive, while others were simple, cheap designs. Naturally, they could be sold in bulk.

Li Fang took a small batch of goods to try them out.

In the end, just as she had expected, they sold very well.

Hence, she started working furiously and continuously replenished the stock each time she finished selling the ones on hand.

Mu Jingzhe also learned which designs were the bestselling ones based on the stock Li Fang replenished, and she would make adjustments accordingly.

Business was roaring, and Li Fang’s success gave others hope.

Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao couldn’t help but look for her. She said that she also wanted to take some goods from her to sell them. Furthermore, she shamelessly asked if she could just take the goods from her first, then pay her back after she sold them since they were relatives.

Mu Jingzhe immediately rejected her suggestion.

“No, Li Fang is already selling them nearby. You will have to lower the price for the same design. I won’t supply that design to anyone else.”

Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao felt that Mu Jingzhe was still unappreciative, even though she had spoken humbly to her. She was furious, and when she recalled what had happened before, she couldn’t help but spit.

“Who doesn’t know how to do this? You think I care for those hair ornaments of yours? Let me tell you something. I came to look for you because I think highly of you and wanted to give you business. You’ll regret it in the future.”

After Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao left, Mu Jingzhe asked around and found out that there were people in the village who were looking to make hair ornaments and sell them.

Duplication was the fastest shortcut. Since Mu Jingzhe had succeeded, the most quick-thinking villagers naturally wanted to emulate her success.

Everyone secretly tried it out, and there were indeed some people who succeeded. For example, they could replicate the early designs Mu Jingzhe had made using scraped cloth.

After successfully making the replicas, they felt that it was not much. At that moment, their confidence soared and they also wanted to grab a share of the market to earn money.

At first, it was fine. However, true difficulties surfaced soon.

If they sold the products cheaply on the market, they could sell them but they wouldn’t be able to make much money, if any. Those who tried selling them in a big city like Mu Jingzhe didn’t have any success either.

Even when someone finally successfully poached one of Mu Jingzhe’s workers to help him, it still wasn’t enough.

They couldn’t find as many good fabrics as Mu Jingzhe. Left with no choice but to substitute them with lousier fabrics, they realized that their end products were nowhere as good as the ones made by Mu Jingzhe.

Li Zhaodi and the children were furious that one of the workers had been poached, but Mu Jingzhe was very calm. The result was just what she had expected.

“Like I said, there’s no need to be anxious. They might think it’s easy, but they have no idea that there’s so much more to it than meets the eye.”

Everyone felt that making hair ornaments was simple as long as one knew how to make them. However, they knew nothing about things like design and color combination.

With a lack of solid foundation, they could only imitate the superficial aspects of the products. Plus, they didn’t have a keen sensitivity to color either, so how could their products compare to hers?

The same applied to bracelets and necklaces. Mu Jingzhe made it seem easy because she had learned how to do it before.

Although the villagers failed, it still served as a warning for Mu Jingzhe.

Just because the people in the village had failed didn’t mean that people elsewhere would also fail. Soon, more products would come in, and the ones she made wouldn’t be irreplaceable.

Mu Jingzhe spent some time coming up with a new plan.

“In the future, we’ll mainly focus on these few products. Take a look and learn. Before these products enter the market, none of you are to leak any relevant information. You guys have also pressed your thumbprints, so you can’t be careless.”

The previous lesson inspired Mu Jingzhe to come up with a work contract.

“We know.”

Seeing that they all understood, Mu Jingzhe took out the new samples.

The moment they were taken out, they caused a commotion.