After several days of running around, he had indeed gotten to know many silkworm farmers and learned a lot about silkworm raising. Farmers would raise several batches of silkworms in a year, but at this moment, they were in an awkward period where spring silkworms had already spun their cocoons, while summer silkworms had not yet done so. Once silkworms spin their cocoons, they must be sold before they emerge as moths, so at this time, they would have to wait at least half a month before any cocoon production.
Xu Hanren would inquire and purchase wherever there were weaving workshops, but most of these small workshops were mainly weaving cloth. Even if they occasionally had raw silk, they might not be willing to sell everything to him. Xu Hanren had no choice but to raise prices, and after running around for many days, he had only collected a dozen catties, which was far from the three hundred catties goal.
On this day, he returned to the mansion exhausted after dark. Yin Yiniang came out to meet him: “Hanren, you’ve been leaving early and returning late these past few days. Wouldn’t it be better to let Abao and the others scout around first, and then you go once they find something?”
Xu Hanren shook his head: “Mother, the madam said we cannot rely on others. If I let Abao and the others scout first, my elder and second brothers have many more people under them. I would have no chance of winning.”
Yin Yiniang spoke with some resentment: “The madam proposed this competition, clearly favoring her biological son. They’ve been in the silk business for so long – wouldn’t they know better about where to collect silk? They’ll definitely collect three hundred catties of raw silk before you!”
Xu Hanren had doubts, but the madam’s words from that day still rang in his ears.
She had said, “If you are determined, opportunities will always exist. But if you give up after a small setback, even if opportunities are right in front of you, you might not see them.”
Xu Hanren decided to continue trusting the madam. After all, what did he have to lose even if he lost this time? He might as well try his best, so that when opportunity comes, he could see it.
