By Jia Xiuzhen

On the second day, everyone received the southern soil and objects from Daiyu, and they all thanked each other without mentioning it.Mrs. Jia Muwang can't care about the excitement of their sisters-in-law and sisters at this time. It was the winter solstice that everyone guessed, but it was the four princes who sacrificed to heaven on their behalf. In addition, the five princes sacrificed to Mount Tai alone according to the imperial decree, and honored the old clan. Be more cautious.

Near the end of the year, Mrs. Lao of the Zhang family came to visit Li Wan again, but she was in a hurry.Because the tea sold by Ji Liang to the Sihai Trading Company, together with the dried fungus from Peng Qiaoguan and the woolen fabric from Duan Gao, are only sold in quantity, and the money is brought directly by Zhang.This is also the idea that Ji Liang and the others discussed. He said that the amount of [-]% of the goods sold directly to the English merchants is not small. If the money is settled outside and then brought in by Madam Xu, if there is a trouble, it will be unavoidable. up.It's better for the Zhang family and Li Wan to settle the matter, even if the mansion gets wind of it, they can't do anything halfway.

Today Lao gave Li Wan an account book, which was signed by Ji Liang and several people, and gave a bank note, saying: "I really underestimated you, count it, I'm afraid the three major The silk farm can’t earn so much money in a year.”

Li Wan took out a little, a total of 17 taels, and startled himself, saying: "Did sister give too much? How can there be so much?!"

Laoshi covered his mouth and laughed: "I know you are a fool! This is just the payment for the goods, where is it you earned it? Think about your materials, how much labor has to be discounted. Besides, You don’t need to burn coal to grow fungus in winter? You don’t need money to collect tea flowers and fruits? After deducting it so much, you can figure out how much you have left by then!”

Li Wan knew that his methods were all small and profitable, but he didn't want to say it clearly, so he said, "Ji Liang told me that the receiving price given by the Four Seas Trading Company is the same as that of the foreign merchant. How can this be? You are also in business. , wouldn’t this be helping me for nothing?!”

Lao Shi was even happier, "Oh, my grandma! You said that your confidant was doing the tricks for you, but you turned around and told me. I'm really worried for you! Come on, it's no fun to lie to you as an idiot. Very good. Listen to me, our firm has eaten up all your goods, and we are the only one. If foreign merchants want to get the goods, they must pay a price that we are satisfied with; next, we do business with foreign merchants, and They don’t exchange money, but exchange goods. Selling the exchanged foreign goods is another way to make money. How to order an order, how to eat a certain foreign product as an exclusive, is more particular, and these twists and turns I won't tell you, and you won't understand."

Li Wan was already dumbfounded.Seeing her appearance, Mr. Lao reached out and tapped her forehead, and said, "I'm also a mother, but I still look dumb. Speaking of which, I should really thank you. The materials you gave me are really unique." One copy, which seems to be something that foreigners love, was made a lot of money by our firm. It’s agreed, the more this material, the better. You can use as many people as you can, and our firm will use as much as you want. Eat them all, and the price will not lose you."

Li Wan laughed out loud, "Sister, you look like a big businessman now, how can you still look like a rich lady!"

Lao Shi rolled his eyes and said: "Rare! I never pretended to be Miss Qianjin!" Then he chased after him: "I told you something serious, do you remember? You just don't understand yourself, just take my I told your confidant family members the original words, and they can understand." Li Wan repeated yes.

After taking a few sips of tea, Mr. Lao sighed, "Now the situation outside... I can't tell you in detail. I just want to tell you that our family's business will probably be moved to Guangzhou in the future, and Yangzhou can't be occupied here." It has nothing to do with you, the firm will naturally contact those of you, and you don't need to bother.

There is only one thing, the things have to be transported to Guangzhou, which adds an additional cost. It is reasonable to say that the wool came from those foreigners, and the price will be affected if the guarantee is not complete.Or if someone digs up some letter, it is possible that the person who went to you will pay a high price to dig out the goods, you have to hold me tight!

If it's just for a few dollars, I won't talk about it. This matter will involve a lot of ramifications. You just remember that even if you suffer a little at the beginning, you will always pay it back later.You trust me? "

Li Wan was confused by what he heard, so he just said as he understood: "Sister, don't say anything about loss or loss, I just promise that I will not sell a piece of material or a catty of tea here to others, even if others What's the price!"

Lao Shi looked at her for a while, nodded and said: "It's easy for you, I won't say much, see you later."

Li Wan said: "I'm worried about one thing, really, I don't want people to know about my business, in case someone follows the vine..."

Lao Shi nodded slowly and said: "If there were no such things outside... it would be relatively clean, but now... I am afraid there is something to inquire about. When I go back, I will talk to our master, and in exchange for his confidant to contact your buddy, In this way, there will be fewer people who know the source of the goods. This is just something I can do on my side, and you have to do it yourself on the other side, don’t let anything slip through your eyes, and you will inevitably be found.”

Li Wan nodded.Laoshi said again: "It's going to be two years later, let's see when the time comes, if you earn enough money, just accept the deal; if you still want to make money, whoever gets the power at that time, you can take the deal with you If you go for refuge, it probably won't be too much of a loss to you."

When Li Wan heard the words "Who gets the power", remembering that the fourth and fifth princes are in the limelight now, but the tenth prince who is attached to the second wife of the Zhang family is following the seventh prince, so he has some understanding of what Lao Shi said earlier.I endured it, but I didn't hold back, and asked: "This...how is it related to making money?"

Lao Shi smiled wryly and said: "How can it be irrelevant? Only by gathering people can you become powerful, and what can you do without money? Especially, when the status is similar, money is very important. Hey, don't talk about these people, Even today, there is still a shortage of money, if not for the shortage of money, the fighting in the west would have been finished long ago, so why would it take so long."

Li Wan had a half-knowledge, only knew that even the emperor and the prince had no money and were short of money, thinking about it made it even more unbelievable, so he didn't ask further questions, and said, "Then how can the foreign businessman make another profit? Why don't we just ship our stuff to foreigners and sell them! Wouldn't it be better to take the stuff from foreigners at a lower price?

Nowadays, we only rely on some foreign businessmen. They probably know what sells well to foreigners, but they may not know what other things sell well to us.Always robbing in a circle, how much can be robbed, it is better to earn money from other places, I am afraid it will be better. "

What Li Wan said was just a half-sentence that came to his mind from books such as "Fox Talks About Mortals" and "Journey to the Mortal Realm" that he had read in Zhujie.

Lao Shi was surprised when he heard this, what kind of person she was, naturally she could not be compared with Li Wan, who was just talking on paper.After thinking about it for a while, he glanced at Li Wan, shook his head and said, "You really dare to think..." He couldn't help laughing again, and said, "Strange Taoists often say that they are stupid and bold, or it may be true."

Li Wan knew that he was just talking nonsense, and he didn't take it seriously, so he stopped talking. He just arrested Lao Shi and asked her what she saw and heard in Guangzhou that year.

Lao Shi was already absent-minded, and after a few words to deal with her, he patted her hand and said: "Your nonsense, but I thought about something, so I was in a hurry to go back to discuss with our master. Remember me and you As for the shipment, you have collected the money. It is all Hengtong Bank’s. It doesn’t matter how long you keep it. Don’t rush to cash it out unless you have a safe place to collect it.

You people in this mansion... tsk tsk, in short, don't show off your wealth. As for your people, don't worry, I will pinch all the thread ends, and I will never let anyone touch you, a big pumpkin! "While talking, he got up. Li Wan was grateful for her carefulness, so he responded to her incessantly. The two met only for a cup or two of tea, and Laoshi went away in a hurry.

After seeing off Laoshi, Li Wan sat in his room in a daze. From the fungus in winter last year to the end of the year, including the fungus and tea leaves, he got nearly 30 taels of silver for flowers, wool and tea. Acquisition is a big deal, but compared with the finished product, it is worthless. Even including the money to buy Zhuangzi to build a house and hire people, the cost is less than 5 taels.

In particular, the woolen materials that have been purchased are not counted as woolen materials that have not yet been woven, and the goods shipped have not yet reached [-]% of the inventory.Calculated back and forth like this, a millionaire is just around the corner.Li Wan remembered that when Mrs. Wang talked about the Xue family a few days ago, she casually mentioned that the family was rich in millions, and now she has become as pearls as earth and gold as iron?Although in the pearl world, where is it, pearls are earth, gold or iron, and they are all used to ballast the cabin to make kitchen scraps.

But this is the money earned from living outside this world that at first seemed to force their orphans and widowed mothers into a corner. Li Wan felt ridiculous at one moment, and fearful at another.Flipping through it for a while, he put the banknote together with the payment from Ji Liang and Englishmen brought by Mrs. Xu several times before, took a red sandalwood-wrapped brocade box and put it in the Xiezhi ring. .

As soon as I cleaned it up, I called Mrs. Wang outside, and brought Suyun and others.After entering the room, Mrs. Wang was sitting on the kang, and Jin Chuan'er was holding a beauty paddle to knock her legs. After Li Wan saluted, she let her sit on the chair underneath.Asked: "Just now the wife of Zhang's family came to look for you again?" Li Wan hurriedly got up and it should be.

Mrs. Wang asked again: "But what's the matter?"

Li Wan was puzzled, could it be that the matter of making money by himself was known?But there is always no reason not to ask yourself, and besides, it is not wrong to use your own dowry to earn money, right? One line was puzzled, and one line replied: "It's not a big deal, but it's possible to go on a long trip again, come and tell me One sound."

Mrs. Wang nodded and said: "We women and Taoists don't understand what's going on outside. It's just that it's chaotic now, and we haven't had much contact with each other. It's better to stay far away. It will be tiring to provoke suspicion." Li Wan answered hurriedly. yes.

When Mrs. Wang saw Li Wan, she would just agree blankly, but she couldn't see anything. She felt a little depressed, and said: "The Zhang family was originally in charge of the Lifan Court, but the second room of the Zhang family was sent away a few years ago." You are in charge of the customs, and now you are dealing with our mansion, what can I ask you?"

Li Wan replied: "Instead, she told me some new things when she went to Guangzhou with Ren, but she never asked about things in the mansion."

Mrs. Wang became more and more annoyed when she heard this, she waved Jin Chuan'er back out, stretched out her finger and rubbed her forehead, and said: "That's fine, I'm just asking you for nothing. You are the ones who usually come and go in the mansion. I know, secondly, I am also afraid that you are young, and you will be coaxed to say something. Since you have nothing to do, you can just gossip. Go, I have to chant scriptures these few days, and I don’t need to come over to serve you. " After hearing this, Li Wan answered yes, and then went after another ceremony.

When I went back, I learned all the words from Nanny Chang and the others, and they turned pale with anger, but Li Wan smiled but didn't care.Mother Chang looked at her, feeling distressed and angry at the same time, and said, "Grandma is so generous! I have never seen a mother-in-law like this before. She said that the widowed daughter-in-law is being lazy, so she is not afraid to do a favor." of!"

Li Wan hurriedly asked Biyue to rub her chest for Nanny Chang, and said to herself, "Manny doesn't know, I was just thinking about the good thing that I broke someone a few days ago, so why didn't there be any noise. Today is a good day." I was waiting for the thunder, and I feel at ease in my heart."

After hearing this, Nanny Chang became even angrier: "I said grandma, this lady is trying to find faults in different ways. It's okay, it's okay because you really save trouble! It's not easy for her to wait until today. Ah! Why is there so much chaos outside to avoid suspicion? What are they doing to please the chief executive and the eunuch in the palace?! The second room of the Zhang family is in charge of the customs and will not go to the people who come and go in the house. No more? Then what is it to kill and set fire for a little girl?!"

Li Wan hurriedly said to Biyue: "Biyue, please work harder, you see that I am anxious for you, Suyun quickly serve you tea!" Then he said to Changmao: "What are you in a hurry for? How much do you say? Just say a few words. I can figure it out, what else can I do now besides say a few words?

Years ago, I mentioned to the old lady that I wanted to reduce my annual bill, but the old lady refuted it. To be honest, I really look down on those few silver coins now.I'm not taking the annual regulations, I'm taking the decency of the mansion.

Brother Lang is in good health now, and he can study well; everyone in our house is easy and quiet; Madam Xu is making a lot of money outside; sentence?She said as much as she liked, it didn't matter if there was anything, it wouldn't hurt the skin anyway.

With my current status, she can't do it anymore, abuse widowed daughter-in-law... Once this unkind reputation comes out, will the big girl's future be worse?Is Baoyu's daughter-in-law still married? "

Nanny Chang was speechless, and Nanny Yan laughed out loud, "I can't tell it on weekdays, but I never thought that our eldest grandma would not lose to the second grandma when she opened her mouth. It is also grandma's blessing that grandma can see through this."

After hearing this, Nanny Chang also smiled slightly, "It's because I don't have enough energy to cultivate!"

Yan Momo smiled and said: "You really feel sorry for Grandma. This matter, if Xu Momo heard about it, it would be lively. With Xu Momo's protection of Grandma, she is rich and powerful now, so it can't be said Just throw money at people!"

Speaking of money, Li Wan regained his energy and said with a smile, "Madam, do you know how much money we have earned this year? We..."

"Hold on!" Mother Chang stopped her, and said, "It's good that grandma knows this matter well. Firstly, when you come to this mansion, there are too many ears on the wall, and secondly, there are too many people who know about it. Anyone who makes a few comments or slips up is troublesome."

Yan Momo also said: "That's exactly the case, this grandma just needs to know it herself. For us, as long as there are a few red envelopes at the end of the year, we will be satisfied!" Suyun Biyue nodded repeatedly and said yes.Li Wan knew that what they said was reasonable, so he had no choice but to give up, counting the silver by himself was really no fun.