Chapter 82

"Boss Song, all the goods are ready this time. Please take a closer look."

"I trust Mr. Zhang to do things for me. If there are new products in the future, please notify me as soon as possible and I will come to pick them up then."

Zhang Fangyuan smiled and said, "Okay."

Song Yong waved his hand, and the waiter carried several bundles of cloth down from the carriage: "These are the latest goods from Suzhou. Boss Zhang, please take a look."

"I don't know much about fabrics, and I can't tell what the latest patterns and embroidery designs are, so I'll take them all down and take them back for my family to choose." Zhang Fangyuan lifted a corner of the bundle of fabric and picked it up with his fingers. It was much smoother than ordinary fabrics. He only looked at the quality and didn't care much about the pattern. Since it was from Suzhou, it would naturally not go bad.

The family hasn't made many clothes in the past two years as everyone is frugal. However, Zhang Fangyuan thinks that since life is better than before, then food, clothing, housing and transportation must keep up. It's not about showing off, but making money to make himself more comfortable.

"Da Fu, Dun Zi, you two take the cloth to the warehouse."

Originally, Zhang Fangyuan had only hired one clerk, named Dafu. Their shop was not big, and one clerk was more than enough to look after the shop. However, he also had to go to the restaurant to order tooth powder and deliver the goods to the shop, and the clerk in the shop could not leave. After weighing the matter, Zhang Fangyuan hired another one, who was mainly responsible for loading and delivering goods, etc., so that he had more than enough manpower.

He was also much more relaxed and hardly had to deal with shop matters. Of course, occasionally when there was a big order or someone came to discuss business, the clerk would come to the village to deliver the message, and Zhang Fangyuan would come to the city in person to handle it.

After Song Yong got the goods, he did not leave in a hurry, but asked his men to deliver the goods to the destination first. After leaving Siyang, he didn't know when he would come back. Even if he came soon, it would be this autumn to deliver the cloth. The two of them were business friends who could get along well, so they went to the teahouse to have a drink together.

"Suzhou has a large population, with loud drums and music, people coming and going, and merchants shoulder to shoulder. It is the favorite place for businessmen." The two sat by the railing: "Boss Zhang's things are the favorite of precious people. Why don't you go to Suzhou to do business? It's not my suggestion, it's not an exaggeration to say that Suzhou City is full of gold."

Zhang Fangyuan took a sip of tea after hearing this and said, "I am fascinated by what Boss Song said. Although my business looks OK, I started as a farmer after all. My foundation is not strong enough and I am not suitable to do business in other places."

Although this place is not very far from Suzhou, it still takes three or two days to travel half the way, and six or seven days to go back and forth. If business is delayed, it will take at least three or two months to return. With a young child at home, how can I bear to let him go on a long journey?

Song Yong didn't force it, just treating it as a casual chat. He knew in his heart that Zhang Fangyuan would most likely not do business there, so this was actually a good thing for him.

It seems that traveling for business can make some money, but the bitterness behind it is only understood by those who have experienced it. If it weren't for his ancestors' traveling business, which opened up channels to many major provinces and capitals across the country and also established many relationships, how could he be so famous in various places today and have such a smooth business.

Although they can get local special foods and cloths, rare birds and animals, and precious treasures from local places and sell them to another place, not only can they sell them on the go, but the things available here are not available elsewhere, so they can be sold at a very high price. It is simply an exorbitant price.

This may seem so to outsiders, but in reality, if you carry goods to various counties and provinces, you have to pay a high business tax.

Some merchants deliberately took detours to save on customs duties. If they were lucky, they would reach their destination in a few days. If they were unlucky, they would encounter bandits who would rob them of all their goods. Not only would they lose money, but they might even lose their lives.

The Song family has been doing business for many years and is familiar with the ways of various places. Their ancestors stepped into many traps to build their current business. Therefore, they can naturally invite anyone to do business, but only a handful of them can succeed.

However, Zhang Fangyuan is obviously a man with a plan in mind, and he is not likely to be fooled easily: "What Boss Zhang said is true, but Siyang is also a place with a large population and prosperity among many county towns. Although it is not as good as Suzhou, there is still plenty of business to do."

Zhang Fangyuan laughed and said, "We short-sighted people have no choice but to defend our small territory."

"That's not right, Boss Zhang is a very perceptive person."

The two laughed out loud, and Zhang Fangyuan said, "Please tell me, Boss Song, the goods in the pawnshop can be sold at a high price in Suzhou. I want to buy some expensive new goods, but I am worried that people in the city will not be willing to spend the money."

"If you want something good, you don't have to worry. There are many people in Suzhou who are interested in it."

Zhang Fangyuan heard this and said, "If that's true, when Boss Song comes to Siyang in the fall, please take care of your business."

"It would be even better if it's new goods." Song Yong said, "There are many wealthy businessmen in Suzhou City. Even valuable items from ordinary places can be sold very easily in Suzhou." What's more, he has plenty of ways.

Zhang Fangyuan felt relieved after having this idea in his mind. The shop had not yet put incense chips on sale because the production process was complicated and the materials used were expensive, the cost investment was huge, and the selling price would naturally be very high. He was just afraid that no one would buy it and he would be stuck with the money.

The two made some agreement before saying goodbye and leaving.

After Zhang Fangyuan came out of the teahouse, he didn't rush back, but went to the children's shop.

Last night, the couple had a discussion while resting. Now that their family business is considered big in the village, they still want two more people to help manage the family. It’s not that they are greedy for pleasure or want someone to serve them, but it’s because of the tea shed.

The village had built a large and spacious house, which was supposed to be a place for people to live and enjoy themselves. It would not be appropriate to let Zhang Shiyue and Xiao'e rest there every day just to guard the tea shed.

Previously, it was not appropriate for a woman to live there with a child, but life was hard at that time and there were too many things that farmers could not consider carefully for their livelihood. Now that life has improved so much, there is no need to take such risks.

Another reason is that the tea stall has been open for quite a while, and there are more and more people coming to the village recently, so they are afraid that some good and bad people may have bad intentions. Also, if people know who is guarding the night, they will be restless.

The county government had already collected the head tax for the first half of the year in their village. Song Yong took a large amount of goods and pocketed a large sum of silver, which was just enough to buy two slaves.

In fact, he mentioned it after Ruijin and Ruili were born. Xu He did not agree immediately, but it was indeed inconvenient to raise the children alone later.

Although the two children are not as noisy as ordinary children, and their aunt and uncle are helping them, there are two of them after all. When the children are well-behaved, you can have time to do other things, but when they are noisy, it is not easy for one person to comfort two children.

Xu He agreed to this, but the couple tacitly agreed to wait a little longer.

After all, it's better to avoid the head tax for one year than to avoid it for one year. It's better to go through the tax payment procedures after the tax payment period has passed. The head tax for slaves is twice as high as that for ordinary people.

There have not been any major disasters in recent years. Although there were some rainstorms last year, it was not a series of disasters after all, so ordinary people would not sell their children, and the business of the children's business would not be very good.

"Brother, are you looking to buy local people or people from other places? We have them all in our business."

"It doesn't matter if you're from outside or local area, as long as you're healthy and of the right age."

The boy immediately brought two slaves to Zhang Fangyuan, a man and a boy. The older man looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old, and the younger boy was about fifteen or sixteen.

"They are all healthy." The boy let the slave open his mouth on his own: "Big brother, please take a look, there is no problem with the quality of the teeth."

The people in the trade were all skinny, so Zhang Fangyuan pointed at their physiques and saw that the man was tall and broad-boned, with an honest look. The boy also looked smart, so he asked, "What's the price?"

The boy knew that he was interested, so he waved his hand to let the slave go first, and said to Zhang Fangyuan: "Slaves are not cheap these days. If you want both, I can give you a fair price, fifteen taels is enough."

Zhang Fangyuan frowned and said, "Even horses are priced like this."

"Oh, big brother, in this peaceful and prosperous time, it's hard to buy slaves, and it's hard to do business in our business. How about this, I'll give you a tael."

Zhang Fangyuan was indifferent and said, "Ten taels. If you can sell it, I'll buy it. If you can't, I'll give up."

"Oh, how can you bargain like this, big brother? How can I sell it at this price?"

Zhang Fangyuan said, "You have difficulties, and so do I. Let's discuss the price. I won't force you to buy or sell. If we can't come to an agreement, I can look elsewhere."

"No, no." The boy hurriedly stopped them: "You two, come and meet the master of the boss family, and you will have a place to go in the future."

The two slaves came over again and respectfully called the man "Master".

As the boy led Zhang Fangyuan through the formalities, he said, "Big brother is really good at bargaining, which is rare. I really want to be your friend, otherwise I really wouldn't want to take this price. Look at those two, they are both top-notch goods. If it were someone else, I would have asked for sixteen or seventeen taels."

Blow, just keep blowing.

Zhang Fangyuan turned a deaf ear to him. These guys from the city were all very eloquent.

After paying the money, Zhang Fangyuan led his people back to the shop and asked the two people to stay there first. He took some small things and went to the government office to handle the formalities with the documents given by the boy.

The people in the yamen are the most snobbish. If you don't bring some gifts with you, they will always find ways to make things difficult for you. But if you take the gifts, they will do things very quickly.

Later, Zhang Fangyuan returned to the house with two servants.

Someone happened to be picking up a pile of cloth. When he returned to the village, the villagers craned their necks to look at the person Zhang Fangyuan was pulling back, thinking that he was a clerk from a shop in the city who had come to pick up the goods. No one thought of him as a slave, and Zhang Fangyuan saved himself a lot of trouble.

"You really brought it back so soon?"

Xu He was drying beans in the yard. He heard the sound of a carriage and went out to see what was happening. He saw Zhang Fangyuan bringing two people back.

"This is my husband. From now on, I will listen to him when doing things at home."

Zhang Fangyuan pointed at Xu He and introduced him, and the two servants also called him respectfully.

At first I was surprised why the boss was taking people to the countryside, and I was a little confused as to why a village family bought slaves. Only when I arrived at the village did I realize that they were rich landlords.

Slaves have no power to choose their masters and can only accept their fate. However, seeing that the environment in the Zhang family is not much worse than in the city, they can't help but feel relieved.

"Take them to see the house so they can start working as soon as possible."