After Murong Xuan purchased the materials, Lu Xingshi began experimenting with papermaking. When he produced the first sheet of paper, which looked like an utter rotten mess, he actually activated a papermaking ability. Lu Xingshi immediately maxed it out.
With constant improvements and refinements afterward, he finally managed to produce white paper after a month.
Both its quality and appearance far surpassed the paper on the market, and its cost was extremely low as well. After comparing it with market prices, Murong Xuan did not know how he was supposed to squander the family fortune into ruin.
However, Lu Xingshi did not intend to sell only paper. He also planned to sell books and establish an automated production line, which meant he needed a power source.
At first, he had indeed thought of the Steam Engine, but then he remembered there were no coal mines nearby. In the end, he could only settle for the waterwheel.
Next came the industrial park. Lu Xingshi intended to keep the entire upstream and downstream industrial chain in his own hands, preventing anyone from choking off his resources.
So the first thing was to buy, buy, buy—Bamboo Plantations, Production and Manufacturing Zones, and so on.
As for storefronts, forget that. Lu Xingshi did not intend to enter the retail business. Instead, he planned to operate through a manufacturing-factory and franchise-chain model.
It was like becoming the dealer at the table. Only he would get to grab others by the throat; no one would be able to grab his! At this point, Murong Xuan was beginning to lose track of Lu Xingshi's methods. Once he calculated it out, the initial expenditures were terrifyingly huge.
"If we sell the books and paper to the major merchant guilds, won't we be giving away a huge sum for