The coachman got off the carriage and ran over, bowing to Shen Qing: "Boss Shen, please get in the carriage."
Shen Qing glanced at the carriage with its curtains drawn: "No need to trouble yourself, I'll go back on my own."
"Boss Cheng has official business in Shanghai and cannot take you back. He has instructed me to make sure you arrive in Jiangzhou safely."
Is Cheng Zhiwen not leaving?
Shen Qing was delighted. She handed the leather suitcase to the coachman, lifted her skirt, and stepped onto the carriage.
I lifted the curtain, and sure enough, there was no one there.
She chose a seat in the center, closed her eyes, and let out a long breath, feeling much more relaxed and at ease.
However, this relief lasted less than fifteen minutes before she fell back into anxiety.
This trip to Shanghai was, to put it mildly, fruitless.
She was due to pay the monthly interest in half a month, but she only had ten taels of silver left in her purse.
What other ways are there to raise money?
Does she really have to mortgage the Gao family's house to the creditors? But without the house, where will she live?
In ancient times, being homeless on the streets meant certain death, didn't it?
Shen Qing was once again overwhelmed by the weight of debt.
The fear rose from the bottom up, reaching her heart and throat, as if her internal organs were blocked, unable to go down or exhale.
Shen Qing pressed her chest in discomfort.
The galloping carriage slowly came to a stop, and the driver asked from outside the curtain, "Boss Shen, there's a teahouse up ahead. Shall we stop and have something to eat before continuing our journey?"
Shen Qing snapped out of her daze and swallowed hard. "Okay."
She got up, lifted the curtain, and stepped off the carriage using the footrest on the driver's mat.
The two found a quiet teahouse and sat down.
Shen Qing had no appetite, so he asked the coachman to order some food.
She rested her chin on her hand, gazing at the other merchants' wagons that were also resting there.
The bundles of goods, tied together like large, puffed-up steamed buns, bore deep marks from the ropes.
Shen Qing casually remarked, "That looks like a cart used to haul cotton."
The driver looked over and laughed, "They should be taking it to Yongzhou to make homespun cloth."
"Homemade cloth?" Shen Qing asked in confusion. "Isn't it all about buying imported cloth these days? Why would anyone still buy homemade cloth?"
Homespun cloth is a coarse cotton cloth with a single, dull color and a thick, rough texture.
The driver said, "Homemade cloth is 70% cheaper than imported cloth, so people still buy it, for example, for the servants in their homes, or for street vendors."
Therefore, the lower class bought homespun cloth, the upper class bought silk, and the middle class bought imported cloth.
The market for middle-class people is the largest. If they can be dressed in fabrics that are as cheap as homespun cloth but as high-end as silk, they will flock to it.
Rayon is definitely worth making.
Otherwise, Cheng Zhiwen wouldn't have finally agreed to recommend a foreign businessman to her after hearing that she wanted to produce rayon...
Thinking of this, Shen Qing regained his confidence.
"Madam, can I deposit silver in a Shanghai bank?" the coachman suddenly asked.
Shen Qing snapped out of her daze: "Deposit silver?"
The driver chuckled and lowered his head: "I've saved up some silver and wanted to deposit it in a money exchange, but I heard that banks offer higher interest rates."
Shen Qing recalled the deposit sign he had glanced at at HSBC that morning: "If I remember correctly, HSBC's rate is around 0.3%. It mainly depends on how long you deposit. The longer you deposit, the higher the interest rate will be."
"I'm mainly saving this money for my child's future marriage. I won't need it now, so it's fine to save it for a while."
Shen Qing asked, "How old is your child?"
"The eldest is ten years old, and the second is eight."
Shen Qing smiled and said, "Then you can choose a five-year term. How much do you want to deposit? I'll help you calculate how much silver you can withdraw at the end of the term."
The driver held up five fingers.
"Fifty taels?"
"Five hundred taels..."
Shen Qing did the mental calculations for a few seconds: "If it's five hundred taels, you'll be able to come up with six hundred taels of silver in five years."
The driver rubbed his hands excitedly: "Then I'll have to beg Boss Cheng to deposit it for me!"
Shen Qing suddenly had a jolt and asked, "What if you get eight hundred taels in five years? Would you want to save it?"
The coachman was shocked: "Eight hundred taels? That's two hundred taels more than the bank's interest rate?"
Shen Qing nodded calmly: "Yes. You deposit five hundred taels now, and five years later, I will give you eight hundred taels of silver!"
The driver was overjoyed and hurriedly asked, "Boss Shen, which bank should I deposit my money in?"
Shen Qing pointed to himself: "Deposit five hundred taels with me, and I'll give you eight hundred taels of silver in five years."
The driver hesitated.
Seeing this, Shen Qing quickly advised, "As you probably know, the Gao family is in the silk business, and I am the young mistress of the Gao family. I have a business that can make a lot of money, but I'm still short of funds. I came to Shanghai this time to raise money. Boss Cheng is willing to help me, which means my business is legitimate. You don't need the money urgently, so you can leave it with me, and I'll use it to start a business together. In five years, I'll give you eight hundred taels, with an extra three hundred taels, enough for your son to get married!"
The driver relaxed his brow, seemingly a little tempted.
Shen Qing, seeing this, continued, "You can rest assured that the Gao family's house, shops, and warehouses are all there. I'm not going to abandon a house worth hundreds of thousands of taels just to swindle you out of five hundred taels, am I?"
The driver was now truly relieved and looked at her cautiously: "Then I'll leave the money with you, Boss Shen. Could you give me a receipt?"
"Of course!" Shen Qing patted his chest with a smile, "I have to give you a deposit slip!"
After saying that, he immediately got up and went to the carriage, opened the leather suitcase, took out a few yellowed sheets of Xuan paper and a writing brush, and returned to the teahouse.
He smoothed his brush with some tea and began writing directly on the rice paper.
After she finished writing, she handed the note to the driver with both hands. The driver took it, glanced at it a few times, and raised his eyebrows with delight. He carefully folded the note in half and then in half again, and put it into his purse.
"Boss Shen, my money is deposited in a money exchange in Yongzhou. When we pass through Yongzhou on our way back, I'll go and withdraw it for you right away!"
Shen Qing smiled and said, "Okay!"
The two ate some noodles and continued on their way.
The carriage sped along at high speed, much faster than it had been on the way there, causing Shen Qing's body to sway back and forth.
She didn't feel upset at all; on the contrary, she felt much more at ease.
Now that she has five hundred taels of silver, the monthly interest rate next time will not be a problem. Although she will have to pay back eight hundred taels in five years, she believes that she will be able to make the business successful in these five years!
Now she has an extra month of safe time, which she must make good use of!
And today's events also gave her inspiration.
She could have easily abandoned banks and money shops and turned to personal lending, or rather, accepting personal deposits and offering higher interest rates than money shops.
Making rayon requires more than 50,000 taels of silver. As long as she can find someone to deposit her spare money, then funding for making rayon will not be a problem!
With this thought, Shen Qing felt a renewed sense of hope.
As expected, there's always a way out!
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