Chapter 197 Everyone's Acting, They Want to Build a School

Ever since the head of the Stinky Feet Patrol investigated the privately printed books, these logs have become a major worry for them.

Their raids seemed fair, but in Shanghai's society of personal connections, those with powerful backers were just going through the motions. Only the books that no one had backing were the real extra money they could earn, and even then, they still had to pay tribute to their superiors. As the saying goes: the money of the wealthy and powerful is returned in full, while the money of the common people is split three to seven, with the top leader taking seven-tenths.

Is it unfair? Of course it is.

I won't do it again. Hurting someone by 700 while losing 300 yourself? Impossible!

This boss is certainly very greedy, but comparisons are inevitable. Compared to those old men who didn't even understand basic human nature, this one who knows to pay subordinates for their work and is willing to share the profits is already top-tier.

Their salary for this position is fixed. If they really lived on their monthly paycheck, it wouldn't be enough to support a family, let alone buy clothes and shoes. Remember that guy from college who thought he could live off his salary and not have anyone else to support? I ran into him last time. His shoes were old, and his clothes were patched up a lot...

"Cheap? If it's any cheaper, I'd rather have it pulped. Either pay up and take the books away now, or get the hell out of here!"

The leader of the smelly-footed patrol was lamenting their difficult survival when he heard that Shi Yuan was still trying to lower the price, and he immediately became unhappy.

They really messed up this time. They thought they had made a fortune when they saw Xiaoyu's work—this author's books, even handwritten copies, were easy to sell. If they sold a batch of these books smoothly, they could give some to their superiors and make new clothes for every family's children.

Who knew that these publishers were out of their minds? They left so many completed books unprinted and only printed the latest unfinished works. They were so happy when they dragged the books back, but they were so stupid when they saw that the books were incomplete. They didn't want to sell them as scrap, but they couldn't find any idiots to sell them at full price. They took up so much space and it was painful to look at.

But these troubles are all internal matters for them, and outsiders don't know about them. Moreover, they have already given a relatively low price for this batch of books. If they push it down further... something similar has happened before. That businessman is as shrewd as a monkey when it comes to money. He could tell from the moment they backed down that the books wouldn't sell well, and in the end, he almost made them pay a price that made them want to vomit blood. Now he wants to make them suffer a second time.

The boss was betting that the price reduction proposed by this young woman from out of town was just a test, and that a firmer stance would actually close the deal. More importantly, not many people knew that this young woman had come here, so even if they couldn't get the money, the people below wouldn't know that such an opportunity existed. Therefore, in order to make the deal happen, he spoke even more forcefully.

"It's just a matter of one sentence: are you going to buy it or not?"

The boss frowned as he looked at Shi Yuan. The little girl was intimidated by him, but it seemed that the budget was not enough. Her brows furrowed for a long time before she hesitantly nodded, which made the seemingly indifferent boss secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

Finally, this hot potato has been thrown away.

The price was acceptable, and the next step was to exchange money for goods. To prevent Shi Yuan from backing out halfway, the boss called over a lot of haulers to transport the books in one trip. Of course, Shi Yuan paid the hauling fee.

This decision was correct, because the little girl hesitated to speak shortly after paying. If the boss hadn't acted decisively, he would have had to return some of the money. But now that the goods were out of the warehouse, they couldn't be returned or exchanged. The boss praised himself in his heart, but didn't dare to stay any longer and ran away with the money in a flash.

Shi Yuan's worried and regretful expression lasted until all the books were moved to her rented place, and she returned to her room after paying the bill, at which point the expression disappeared, and a bright smile appeared on her face.

"We should have managed to keep it a secret, right?"

Shi Yuan muttered to herself in a low voice, her words full of self-affirmation regarding her acting skills—she deliberately lowered the price, partly to genuinely try and see if she could reduce costs, and partly out of an understanding of human nature.

If a vendor asks for ten copper coins for something and a customer agrees immediately, will the vendor be happy? No, the vendor will only feel like he lost out. But if the customer uses a series of tricks, such as lowering the price, finding fault, or pretending to leave, and then reluctantly takes out ten copper coins, the vendor will feel really clever and happily send the customer away.

The same applies to Shi Yuan's business dealings with Stinky Foot Patrol. If Shi Yuan readily agrees, Stinky Foot Patrol will inevitably feel that he has lost out. However, if he tries to lower the price and gets scared, and then hesitates to pay and then regrets it, after going through this series of processes, Stinky Foot Patrol will only think that Shi Yuan has indeed made a foolish decision, and there is little possibility that he will cause trouble later.

She got her hands on the diaries without any trouble and didn't stay in Shanghai for long. That same day, she found a driver to take the books all the way to the dock and boarded a ship to return home overnight. Those fellow townsmen who came to Shanghai to seek their fortune because of the diaries' popularity had already started printing their own books. If she hadn't gotten her hands on these ready-made books, even if she had made connections in advance, she might not have been able to get the books back first.

If one step is slow, one step will be slow. Shi Yuan will never allow himself to fall behind when he clearly has the advantage!

After rushing back to his hometown day and night, Shi Yuan spread the word about the authentic logbook. Most of the books quickly turned into silver dollars. He didn't keep the remaining few, but lowered the price slightly, and a wholesaler from a neighboring province happily took them over.

Once the logbooks were sold out and the share of the profits was quietly sent over, Shi Yuan finally had some free time. Then he received an invitation to a banquet, and the attendees were all familiar faces: the six-person group from the first book sale.

"I don't plan to do this business a third time."

Shi Yuan did not refuse to attend the banquet, but she declined everyone's request to continue participating. The first bite of the most profitable meat had already been eaten up, and what followed was a fierce battle with increasingly thinner profits, or even the possibility of losing money. She had already earned enough money this time and did not intend to continue participating.

Actually, it's not impossible to continue making big money. Nowadays, travel is slow and news doesn't spread quickly. The situation in the neighboring province is similar to theirs. Not many people have even tasted the first bite of crab meat yet. But competition in one's hometown will give each other some face. Who knows what will happen in other places?

"So what are your plans next...?"

A young woman tentatively asked, "Although following Shi Yuan is busy and tiring, the money is guaranteed. I got on Shi Yuan's ship the first time I did business. At that time, I didn't understand the meaning of earning money just by working. I've tried doing some small businesses recently and I've come to realize how valuable Shi Yuan is. As long as it doesn't sound too unreliable and Shi Yuan doesn't mind, I plan to continue following him."

"I'm planning to build a primary school."

Shi Yuan did not hide her plans. After working hard for so many years, she finally caught a chance. Now that her parents and she had saved enough for their retirement, she wanted to do something she had been planning for a long time.

"A school? Like a private academy?"

The two honest men, who were usually the listeners, spoke up this time, and Shi Yuan knew why: they had children of school age in their family.

Information spread at this time was both fast and slow. Girls' schools in Shanghai had been established for a long time, but in his hometown, private schools were still the main form of education. In more remote areas, farmers even thought that it was still the Qing Dynasty.

"The primary school I plan to build is quite different from the usual ones."

Shi Yuan had no intention of misleading the children. Since the two of them had made money, their children would definitely want to continue their education, perhaps even go to university, which didn't align with the school's goals. However, this argument clearly wouldn't convince the parents, so she thought for a moment and offered another suitable reason.

"I plan to build the school in Shanghai, not here."

This decision was not made on a whim. Shi Yuan admitted that her hometown was not bad, but her gender was not an advantage. Although she did not have any connections in Shanghai who could help her, at least they would not hinder her from doing things.

"I feel more at ease when I have my child by my side."

Shi Yuan turned to look at the two honest men. This time, they didn't say anything, but just nodded silently.

While the story of Mencius' mother moving three times to find the right environment for her son's education is deeply ingrained in people's minds, the matter of education requires comprehensive consideration. Shanghai is not just a short distance from Fujian. As the saying goes, "He who travels a thousand miles must gather provisions for three months." Moving across provinces not only involves the time and expenses incurred on the journey, but also raises questions about future financial resources. Those who are not short of money look down on a few taels of silver, while only those who have experienced poverty know that money can alleviate all kinds of worries.

Moreover, they still have some connections and influence in their hometown, so finding a good school isn't difficult, but all of that is lost once they go to Shanghai... In short, giving up everything stable in their hometown to make a living in Shanghai is an extremely unwise thing to do.

"There's no need for partnerships. I didn't actually intend to make money from establishing this school."

Shi Yuan was speaking from the heart. The sworn brothers in their hometown were famous, but the reason why men paired up was because the cost of getting married was high. The source of this high cost was the artificially controlled scarcity of women: "If one family has a daughter, a hundred families will seek her; if a hundred families have a daughter, one family will keep her!"

Shi Yuan was one of the very few women who survived and lived a good life, but most of her daughters were not so lucky. They died by the roadside, in the river, on the ridges of the fields, in the mountains and forests... and many more did not even have the chance to be born, turning into a pool of blood in the womb.

What she wanted to establish wasn't strictly a school: girls aged five or six, or even older, could only learn to read and do arithmetic, and they had to earn their own food and drink—Shi Yuan would find some jobs for them to do, and the money she received would be used to support the girls' expenses.

This method was actually learned from those part-time work and part-time study schools and orphanages. In fact, for these girls, going to the Chen family's orphanage and going abroad when they grow up would be the best option. But there are just too many abandoned girls in this world. The Chen family only takes in a new batch after sending one batch away.