In the Wuxu Hall, twenty-one chairs are arranged in order.
On the yellow wood four-legged tables next to each chair, there is a beech seat plaque. The seat plaque is exquisitely made, and the gold-plated regular script engraved nameplates are neatly arranged in a line horizontally and vertically. There are five armchairs in front of the hall, and every ten steps there is a tall young girl in a maroon jacket standing next to them.
Boss Qiang and Xianjin came together, and seeing the scene, they didn't dare to go in for a long time.
"Very scared." Boss Qiang leaned towards Xianjin and said alertly, "It feels like they are chasing me to pay the huge membership fee."
Xianjin: ...Boss Qiang really has the intuition of a small animal.
Xianjin walked into the main hall. There were already people sitting on the two rows of chairs. The five armchairs at the top were not inscribed with names but with clans: Chen, Heng, Bai, Yun, and Liu.
Xianjin stood where he was, narrowing his eyes slightly.
Boss Qiang was illiterate, so he sat down at the invitation of his colleagues. When he saw Xianjin was still standing, he shouted, "Hurry up and sit down!"
Xianjin looked around and finally found his name at the end of the seat.
Xianjin sneered and said nothing, then walked towards the end with calm eyes.
The boss of a paper shop I know is a simple-minded person. He started to complain, "Why are you sitting here?"
There were also the sounds of people talking to each other in groups of three or four, looking back and forth from the seat at the top to Xianjin who was sitting down, and talking with their heads together, "...Yes, yes, they came out from Chen's house..."
“I don’t know what I’m doing now!”
"It seems like I bought a small workshop - maybe I have to start all over again!"
"I haven't heard that she has made any big moves recently!"
"Haha, I told you, what can a little girl accomplish? She just relied on the Chen family's influence! Now that the Chen family is no longer supporting her, her true colors are revealed! She is just an ordinary little girl!"
After all, those who said bad things were a minority. Most people heard these voices and unconsciously retorted, "Oh! You really are the type who eats with a bowl in your hand and curses when you put it down! If it weren't for this ordinary little girl, would we be able to make tribute paper!?"
"My family's buddy who went to Gongzhiying came back and said that Manager He is really capable."
"You can't call it a lack of generosity, right? Didn't you take down the printing paper for books in Shandong these days?"
"Yes, yes, Lao Niu, Lao Yang, Lao Zhu... several of them got the orders and made a lot of money!"
The voices were fragmented, like the rustling sounds of the audience below the stage, savoring and commenting on the performance. Although Xianjin was now sitting in the audience, he was still a person on the stage. The positive and negative, the upside and the downside, these voices seemed to have nothing to do with Xianjin.
The young shopkeeper He remained seated as steady as a rock, his eyes fixed like nails on the Chen family's chair.
The extras are finished, and the main character appears.
The Heng, Bai, Yun and Liu families took their seats in turn, but the Chen family's seat remained vacant.
Aunt Zhong, who was standing behind Xianjin, narrowed her eyes and bent over: "Do you want to go check it out?"
Xianjin shook his head slightly, "She will come."
While Xianjin was talking to Aunt Zhong, the four families of Heng, Bai, Yun and Liu had finished their greetings and socializing. Henglian, with his hands on his knees and a smile on his face, spoke first: "Today's meeting is the first meeting after our great event of Xuan paper. It's the perfect time for spring seedlings to sprout and swallows to return to their nests. It's a good time for everything to grow and renew!"
"Clap, clap, clap——" the sound of clapping.
Xianjin placed his right hand casually on the side table, his face slightly tilted, without moving.
Heng Lian was very satisfied with the applause. He raised his hands and pressed them down. His eyes were gentle and elegant, and the Buddhist beads hanging on his right hand were very eye-catching.
Boss Qiang poked his head out and rolled his eyes. "Pretend! Pretend! Pretend! Pretend to be a scholar businessman! Why do these men start to rely on cultured people as soon as they achieve a little success?"
Xianjin came over and said, "You are really putting justice before personal interests."
He killed all the men, including himself, with a hammer.
Heng Lian's voice was gentle and steady, a bit like the popular uncle circle dish in later generations. "Today, I came here to discuss two things with you: First, to agree on the rules of procedure of our Xuancheng Chamber of Commerce--"
Boss Qiang was horrified: "As expected, they are going to collect membership fees!"
"I, Hengjia, have roughly drawn up twelve rules, which I would like to read out here for you all to listen carefully."
The first nine articles overlap with the industry regulations originally proposed by Xianjin, and most of them are to restrict the business of chamber of commerce members and stipulate the rights and interests of members.
The last three are interesting.
——"Article 10, standardizes the membership qualifications of Xuancheng Paper Industry Chamber of Commerce. Applicants must fill out a name card and report the annual turnover, paper industry scope, raw material sources, and bulk sales destinations. Applicants must be reviewed."
"Article 11: If any item is unanimously approved by the Chamber of Commerce members, any of the five major parties who have objections cannot implement it; if the Chamber of Commerce members unanimously vote against it, the five major parties can unanimously agree and it can be implemented."
"Article 12. These rules may be revised at any time by the president and the five major groups."
After reading the twelve points, Xianjin narrowed his eyes unconsciously.
Very...Chamber of Commerce.
Especially Article 11, which blatantly protects class interests, and even... has a bit of the veto power of the "Five Permanent Members" - the interests of the five major parties must be maintained, and once the interests of the five major parties are violated, no one will be able to eat from this pot of rice!
Heng Lian put down the scroll with a smile, "Do you have any comments after listening to this?"
Xianjin looked around and saw that everyone present looked normal and had no objection. A few merchants gathered together and chatted absentmindedly, and it was obvious that they knew all this long ago.
Several small merchants wanted to speak, but Heng Lian glanced at them and ignored them with a smile, "All five of them have agreed to this rule of procedure. It will become increasingly difficult to enter the Xuancheng Paper Industry Chamber of Commerce in the future. You should have tasted the sweetness these days: only paper merchants from the Xuancheng Paper Industry Chamber of Commerce can hang up the big red plaque of tribute Xuan paper, right? How is your business these days? How is your profit? Do you have many customers? I don't need to bring it up on the table, right?"
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!
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