After the opera ended, Grandpa Gao was still not satisfied and started talking at the table: "This opera is right! A family must be united to make our family stronger!"
He was the eldest and richest member of the family, and everyone respected his authority and echoed his sentiments.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Shen Qing picked up the wine pot, stood up, walked to his side, and poured him a cup of wine.
"Uncle, you know what happened to our family before..." She pretended to be sad, "Master and... are both gone... Now only my mother and I are left."
Grandpa Gao, being soft-hearted, turned around and comforted her, saying, "Niece-in-law, just tell us what's wrong, and we'll all help! The second son left in a hurry without saying a word, but I will definitely take care of his family!"
Everyone nodded and said, "Yes."
Having built up the atmosphere to a satisfactory level, Shen Qing seized the opportunity and said, "Our family still owes Master Zhao 100,000 taels of silver..."
She paused deliberately at this point.
Everyone assumed she was going to borrow 100,000 taels from them to pay off her debts, so they immediately started coughing, turning their heads away, or eating, pretending they hadn't heard anything!
They were all thinking: "Borrowing money to start a business might be something I'd consider. But borrowing money to pay off debts is a sure thing—I'll never get it back!"
Nobody wants to throw away their hard-earned money, not even relatives!
Grandpa Gao also looked troubled and declined, saying, "I know your difficulties... but I just happened to put all my money into other businesses a few days ago, and I can't raise the money to help you pay off your debts right away..."
Shen Qing smiled coldly to himself.
They say all the right things, like "Just tell me if you have any problems, I'll definitely help." But when it comes to money, they become all inconvenient.
If these people had helped earlier, the Gao family wouldn't have had to mortgage their only house to borrow money from loan sharks.
She composed herself, trying her best to appear pitiful, and said with her eyes lowered, "It's not that I'm asking everyone to help my family pay off our debts..."
When everyone heard that it wasn't about borrowing money, they all breathed a sigh of relief and were willing to listen to her again.
"Given our family's current situation, I have to find a way to earn money to pay off my debts and support my family." Shen Qing looked at Grandpa Gao. "I want to start a business. Can everyone help me, help my family?"
Grandpa Gao hurriedly replied, "Of course! I'm very pleased that you have the determination to support the second branch of the family, niece-in-law!"
Do you want me to teach you how to do business? Of course, no problem.
As long as we don't ask him for money, everything else is negotiable.
The others chimed in, "Great! We may not have much else, but we do have some experience in doing business!"
Shen Qing then took out a piece of light gold silk from her purse, held it by the corners with both hands, and let it hang down.
As she moved her hands, the light gold silk shone with dazzling brilliance.
Grandpa Gao asked in confusion, "Isn't this our family's silk? If you want to do silk business, niece-in-law, just go to the shop."
Shen Qing smiled and shook his head: "No, I don't want to do silk business. The silk business is not good now because of the impact of foreign cloth. I want to do other business."
Everyone looked at her curiously.
She continued to wave the silk in her hand: "The reason why foreign cloth can impact silk is because it is cheap, durable, and brightly colored, but it has a rough feel and can only be used for outerwear. If there were a material that has both the quality and price of foreign cloth and the feel of silk, it would definitely be able to take back the market that foreign cloth had taken away."
Grandpa Gao frowned and remained silent, lost in thought.
The other relatives were discussing it quietly.
"There's no way such material exists!" Master Gao suddenly appeared out of nowhere and questioned Shen Qing, "Do you even know how much a pound of raw silk costs?"
Shen Qing sensed the hostility.
She wasn't angry. Her goal today was to get the richest man, Grandpa Gao, to invest in rayon, not to argue with this shifty-eyed, greedy third son of the Gao family who wanted to take advantage of the second wife's family.
Shen Qing ignored the man and continued to discuss with Grandpa Gao: "Uncle, the material I'm talking about isn't made of raw silk, so it's naturally not as expensive as raw silk."
"What's that?" Grandpa Gao was even more confused.
The crowd whispered among themselves, all curious about the origins of this miraculous material that Shen Qing had mentioned.
Shen Qingchao beckoned to Chunju, who immediately brought over a tray.
"This is the raw material for rayon."
Everyone crowded around, took a closer look at the items on the tray, and burst out laughing.
Grandpa Gao looked at Shen Qing with disappointment and concluded that this young niece-in-law had gone mad because she had lost her husband.
He was still giving Shen Qing face and didn't say anything, but Third Master Gao was different. He pointed at Shen Qing's nose and cursed, "Are you crazy? How can you make silk from these things?"
Shen Qing gently brushed his hand away, picked up a small piece of wood from the tray, and said to everyone, "Wood, reeds, peanuts, soybeans, these plants that are readily available and easy to obtain contain natural polymers that can be used to extract the cellulose needed to weave rayon."
No one could understand what she was saying.
They were all uncivilized people from the Qing Dynasty who had no idea what "natural polymers" or "cellulose" were.
Shen Qing swayed a reed gently: "That means—I can get the raw materials for making rayon from these cheap things. That's it."
Everyone looked incredulous.
Shen Qing looked at Grandpa Gao and asked directly, "Uncle, I have a business opportunity for you. Would you like to join me? If you invest 50,000 taels, I'm confident that you can double your investment in two years, turning 50,000 taels into 100,000 taels!"
Grandpa Gao raised his eyebrows and carefully examined her.
He wasn't considering the veracity of her words, but rather wondering—how did this niece-in-law change so much?
In the past, he had a petty and timid demeanor, and would blush and avoid his elders when he saw them.
Today, I was drinking, discussing business, and seeking investment with a group of elders without any shyness, which makes me seem unlike an ordinary woman.
Shen Qing naturally couldn't guess what he was thinking.
She desperately wanted his money and had to continue lobbying.
“Uncle, if you have some spare money, why don’t you join me in this business? You’ve seen how booming the imported cloth market was; all those merchants who switched to selling imported cloth made a fortune. And now, we’ve found a material that’s even better and cheaper than imported cloth. We should seize this market as soon as possible!”
When she mentioned foreign cloth, Grandpa Gao narrowed his eyes.
When foreign cloth first arrived in Jiangzhou, only one merchant was selling it, but it was extremely popular. Upon seeing this, he immediately informed his second brother, telling him to stop the silk business and switch to selling foreign cloth.
But the second brother was stubborn and insisted on continuing the silk business, which ultimately led to his downfall.
He was very optimistic about foreign cloth, and the market proved him right.
Right now, if there really is a silk fabric that is cheaper and better than foreign cloth, then it is indeed possible to make money.
The idea was good, but coming from a woman, he felt the business was inappropriate, especially since his niece-in-law was illiterate.
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