Yi Anguo thought about it and realized she had a point. Did his wife truly need a university diploma to work? Even if she didn't work, he could easily provide for her.

"Even so, learning a bit more is always good for her. Although she doesn't need a diploma to find a good job, having one is still better than not. After all, she's still young, so there's no need to rush," he said.

Li Sisi said, somewhat unhappily, "You two aren't in a hurry at all, while I'm the only one worrying. It's like that old saying: 'The emperor isn't worried, but the eunuchs are worried sick.'"

"Mommy! Eunuchs are men, but you're a woman. How can you be a eunuch?" Yi Xinyi asked, not understanding.

When Yi Anguo heard his daughter's question, he couldn't help but burst out laughing. Li Sisi glared at the father-daughter duo and said, "You two are determined to anger me to death, aren't you?"

「...」

Yi Anguo arrived at his mahogany furniture factory. Perhaps because he had been in the business for many years, he felt a strong affinity for it, even though the factory was the smallest of all his companies in terms of scale, staff, and assets.

Yi Xiaolin and Yi Xiaoman were both at the factory. Yi Xiaolin had already moved his wife and children to live in Shenzhen. Yi Xiaoman's wife had also recently given birth to their son.

Meanwhile, Yi Anguo had temporarily stopped acquiring most types of mahogany, planning to wait for the financial crisis next year when prices would dive. For now, acquisitions were limited to Small-leaf Rosewood and Big-leaf Rosewood, as these two types of wood were not expected to be affected by the crisis. In fact, their prices were projected to rise significantly instead of fall.

The factory's production scale wasn't large. Although several new buildings had been constructed, they were all single-story structures with roofs of corrugated iron, mostly used to store various types of mahogany.

The entire factory staff numbered only one to two hundred people. While not large for a mahogany furniture factory, this wasn't small either; it could at least be considered medium-sized. Despite the small staff, the output of mahogany furniture was anything but small.

Relying on his personal connections to find buyers was certainly not enough, so Yi Anguo had opened several specialty mahogany furniture stores in the city center and in the districts outside the former special economic zone. He had also developed several sales channels in other provinces.

The real estate market was booming, which meant the furniture market was also doing well. The mahogany furniture they produced was essentially guaranteed to sell.

Even though the prices at Yi Anguo's specialty stores were not cheap, the high-quality craftsmanship and excellent designs meant people were still willing to pay a premium.

The best-selling items were always the ones affordable to the general public—standard mahogany furniture. This included items made from African Hedgehog Rosewood, Burmese Rosewood, and Red Sandalwood. Next were pieces made from Huanghuali and Large Red Sourwood, which were more expensive and attracted fewer buyers, to say nothing of the even pricier Small-leaf Rosewood.

The majority of furniture produced in Yi Anguo's factory was made from Burmese Rosewood and African Hedgehog Rosewood. Their prices were affordable, but the profits were still substantial. Production of items from other types of mahogany was more limited, as many were made-to-order.

Yi Anguo's purpose for visiting today was the recent surge in orders, which the factory's current production capacity simply could not handle. But with so much business and so many orders coming from their various specialty stores, they couldn't just turn them away.

Furthermore, it wasn't just the stores' orders that had increased; the sales channels in other provinces also reported strong sales and were requesting more inventory.

Supply could no longer meet demand, and the factory's mahogany furniture was now in short supply.

"We can barely keep up with all the individual custom orders, and on top of that, we have a flood of standard-sized orders. Why don't we just stop accepting the custom jobs? They're a huge hassle, and the craftsmen don't want to do them. Even if we offer double the pay, they're not interested. It's not as profitable for them as working on bulk orders," Yi Xiaoman explained.

"When customers come to us for custom-made furniture and are willing to pay a high price, it shows their trust in us. How could we possibly refuse their orders?" Yi Anguo said, glancing at Yi Xiaoman. "Besides, how do you know a customer is only ordering that one custom piece? They might be buying many standard items from us as well, but this one particular piece needs to be specially made. If you reject their custom order, do you think they'll still buy their other furniture from you?"

"This is especially true for the stores we operate ourselves. As long as a customer places an order, we must accept it unconditionally. We just need to apply the standard markup."

"The problem is, we simply can't produce them fast enough! There are too many of these special custom orders, and the craftsmen are reluctant to take them on. Every time, I have to force the assignments on them and practically beg them before they'll reluctantly accept," Yi Xiaoman said, frustrated.

His main job was now to track orders and manage intake, but the orders kept piling up in huge stacks. There were only so many craftsmen, and even when he shamelessly begged them, he was finding it difficult to get all the work assigned.

"It's only natural for the craftsmen to want to earn more money," Yi Anguo said. "How about this? From now on, for single-piece custom orders, increase their pay by an additional fifty percent. For instance, if the piece rate for a cabinet made in a batch is one hundred sixty yuan, and the normal rate for a single custom order is three hundred twenty yuan, just raise their pay for that piece to four hundred. I don't believe they'll refuse to do the work then."

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