Chapter 1138: Steal His Business
The moment Li Daoxuan appeared, Gao Yiye's spirits visibly soared by 320%; the smile on her face instantly became much more innocent and carefree.
Because with the Heavenly Lord present, Gao Yiye was no longer the person of the highest status; she could appropriately shed the constraints of her position and return to her free-spirited, true self.
"Heavenly Lord!" Gao Yiye, her face blooming like a flower, immediately bounded over and took Li Daoxuan's arm.
When a young woman held his arm, a man always felt a subtle thrill. "What are you ladies researching?"
Gao Yiye explained, "We heard that duck and goose feathers and down could make very warm clothes, so we're experimenting. But no matter what we try, they're not warm enough."
Li Daoxuan chuckled, "That's because you're stuffing 'too many feathers and too little down' into the clothes."
The women looked at him, perplexed.
Li Daoxuan continued, "Down is the key to warmth; feathers should only make up a very small portion. If there are too many feathers, not only will it not keep you warm, it'll also be pokey. Come on, shake it all out. Let's re-stuff them. This time, use ninety percent down and only ten percent feathers."
The women quickly followed his instructions, readjusting the ratio as Li Daoxuan suggested, adding a large amount of goose down and only a small quantity of feathers.
However...
The problem of the down shifting around inside the clothing remained. With even a slight movement, the goose down would migrate, leaving that area cold and uninsulated.
The women looked at each other, a little embarrassed. "It's still not quite right."
Li Daoxuan smiled, "This is simple to fix. First, stuff the down into the clothes and spread it evenly. Then, use a needle and thread to stitch the garment into many small squares. That way, the down won't slide around; no matter how much it shifts, it'll be trapped within those small squares."
Hearing this, the women suddenly had an "aha!" moment. "Oh, so it can be done that way! The Heavenly Lord is truly worthy of his title, to think of such a thing!"
With the highest guidance, what could be simpler?
Third Aunt Gao, the top tailor in Gao Family Village, took out her needle and thread. With swift movements, she quickly stitched many small grids onto the garment, trapping all the goose feathers and down within the tiny squares.
Then, Gao Yiye grabbed the collar of the coat and shook it out.
With a rustle, a down jacket appeared before everyone, just like that.
Its design philosophy was essentially the same as modern down jackets, except its outer layer was made of cotton fabric, unlike the smooth chemical materials used in contemporary versions.
Later down jackets use synthetic materials like polyester for waterproofing, to prevent the down from getting wet and losing its insulating properties.
But Gao Family Village's chemical industry was still far from that stage, so waterproofing wasn't a consideration. They would make do with cotton fabric; for such expensive clothing, people wouldn't dare let it get wet anyway—they simply wouldn't wear it on rainy days.
Li Daoxuan was quite pleased with the down jacket and said with a smile, "All right, this garment is now sorted. All you ladies, put in some extra effort and strive to mass-produce it as soon as possible."
The young women immediately began discussing their plan.
The operation would be simple from here: Chun Hong's textile factory would provide the "shells" for the down jackets, the chicken farm would supply the "fillings," and then Third Aunt Gao would open a down jacket manufacturing factory to integrate the raw materials from both sources and produce the finished garments.
Third Aunt Gao was brimming with excitement: "My son earns a lot of money drawing comic books, and I plan to use that money to invest in setting up this factory, hehe. I'll go back and mull this over right away. Many thanks, Heavenly Lord."
Li Daoxuan smiled. "Keep up the good work! Deal a heavy blow to the 'Handsome Enough to Bubble' wool sweaters, hahaha."
"The goose and duck feathers are sorted," the female factory manager said pitifully. "But what about chicken feathers? They're not warm. Are they really all destined to become feather dusters?"
Li Daoxuan smiled, "You need to open your mind! Chicken feathers can be used for many things: pillow stuffing, mattress pads, vests, military sleeping bags... Speaking of which, the militia's military sleeping bags are quite in short supply, aren't they?"
The factory manager was overjoyed. "Understood! Thank you for your guidance, Heavenly Lord. I'll go discuss it with Factory Manager Chun. The two female entrepreneurs huddled together, whispering and planning all sorts of things. Since the Heavenly Lord specifically mentioned military sleeping bags, the two women naturally focused their considerations in that direction."
With the Heavenly Lord's personal endorsement, they certainly wouldn't have to worry about product sales; the Gao Family Village Militia would simply take all of them. The key was to ensure the quality was good, so their own soldiers wouldn't be neglected.
A few days later...
Gaojia News was about to begin.
Every time Gaojia News started, a commercial for the "Warm and Sleepy" wool sweater would play for a few minutes. The common folk were long sick of it, so much so that they didn't even want to watch it anymore.
They could even recite the advertising slogans backward.
Then, the screen lit up...
The audience knew that Chen Yuanyuan would soon appear, saying that classic line: "Wearing this wool sweater makes me so warm I feel sleepy."
Sure enough, the screen brightened, and the first thing everyone saw was Chen Yuanyuan again.
But the clothes Chen Yuanyuan was wearing had changed!
It was no longer a wool sweater, but a strange, puffy, voluminous cotton jacket that made her look bloated, wrapped up like a ball.
The audience was instantly dumbfounded. Several people who had been about to recite the slogan along with the screen found their mouths frozen.
Chen Yuanyuan parted her crimson lips slightly and smiled, "Third Aunt Gao Brand Down Jacket, a world of difference in warmth."
Then the scene shifted, and the renowned writer, Gao Sanwa—oh, no, he had now changed his pen name to Gao Family Third Young Master—appeared on screen. He was wearing a down jacket, hunched over a desk, drawing comic books. He looked up at the camera and smiled, "Warmth allows me to concentrate and create even better works."
The scene shifted again, showing Gao Zhengjing, with her clean little face, standing next to her mother, Xing Honglang, who smiled, "Warmth keeps Gao Zhengjing from having a runny nose."
The scene shifted once more, revealing the Saintess Gao Yiye, bouncing around in her down jacket. "Warmth! Oh, it's making me sweat!"
Finally, the camera flashed, showing the Village Chief of Gao Family Village, grinning at the camera. "I'll try one on."
"Wow!" The audience collectively clamored.
Third Aunt Gao's commercial was incredible!
Just those few seconds of footage featured several important figures. This was no longer a matter that could be solved by simply throwing money at advertising; which of these figures was short on money? Hundreds of taels of silver wouldn't even convince them to appear in a commercial.
No amount of money would necessarily make these important figures budge.
But now, they had all stepped forward to endorse this down jacket.
"Buy one, go buy one immediately! If you're too slow, they'll be gone!" The Prince of Fu, in front of his "Divine Mirror," was the first to leap up. "Go snatch them!"
The eunuch behind him shouted, "Your Highness, with your figure, you'll need custom tailoring! Even if you go quickly, you won't get one!"
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