Chapter 057: Starting from Exile and Starting the Gold Rush
If the family really were to be divided, the eldest son would be too weak to work in the fields, so wouldn't the entire family's burden fall on him alone?
In the countryside, people like them are the most likely to be bullied. Their eldest son is weak, their daughter is frail, and they only have one person to support the family. Now that they have arrived in Qianzhou, won't they be bullied to death?
Xu Degui woke up suddenly.
He suddenly understood why everyone agreed with Xu Qingying's proposal to split the family that day. It turned out that except for him, most people had their own plans.
But the third branch is obviously weak, so why is Xu Qingying always obsessed with dividing the family?
Xu Degui looked at his eldest daughter and found that she was indescribably strange, yet indescribably elegant.
She seemed like a completely different person from the timid Xu Qingying of the past.
She was just smiling slightly, but there was no smile in her eyes. She walked with her head held high and her chest puffed out, and she spoke and acted without hesitation, and her steps were calm and vigorous.
It has changed, it has really changed.
Xu Qingying naturally noticed the change in Xu Degui's expression and asked, "Father, why are you looking at me like that?"
Xu Degui looked a little embarrassed, but he couldn't bring himself to admit his mistake, so he just avoided the topic and asked, "Um... I heard you're going into the city tomorrow?"
"Yes, I need to buy some raw materials and molds."
"I'll go with you. You're young, so you won't be cheated."
"That would be better."
Xu Qingying agreed with a smile, and the father and daughter understood each other and did not mention the quarrel of the previous two days.
Xu Qingying was very open-minded. Right now, she had a lot of things to do and didn't have the energy to think about anything else. Besides, these matters in the Xu family were trivial matters and not worth spending too much energy on.
So in the evening, everyone went to the post station to rest, and Xu Qingying recruited ten people one after another.
Of course, this includes Li Zhaodi's name.
Xu Qingying looked at the list and suddenly felt dazed.
Was this her first career after traveling through time? A journey from exile to the gold rush?
Xu Qingying held her chin up and smiled slightly. This setting seemed to be quite good.
Who knows, one day she might become as rich as a country?
Of course, she also signed another contract under the witness of the old man of the Fang family.
The content of the contract roughly stated that the soap business belonged to the third wife alone, and that the third wife would be responsible for all future profits and losses.
Xu Qingying was naturally satisfied and agreed to sign without hesitation. She stepped forward, but was stopped by Xu Degui. He gritted his teeth and said to everyone, "I'll sign."
Xu Qingying raised her eyebrows, hesitated for a moment, and then handed the pen to him.
These words also represent Xu Degui's attitude.
Xu Qingying had previously thought that there would be some trouble if Xu Degui disagreed. After all, unmarried children in the Zhou Dynasty had no private property. From a legal point of view, Xu Degui had the right to make any decision on her behalf.
She didn't want someone else to reap the fruits of her hard work.
Xu Deyuan shook his head and sighed, "Good advice is hard to persuade, you damned devil, Third Brother, you are confused. You didn't study much since childhood, and you have no talent for business. You should have lived an honest life. Do you think that you are still in Bianjing City. I raise my hand and say hello, and others will not dare to bother you? Just watch, you listen to others' nonsense and jump in headfirst. Doing business is not that easy-"
Xu Degui hesitated for a moment and felt that what he was signing was not a contract, but a death warrant.
Yes, in the past, when doing business in Bianjing City, everyone treated him with care because of his second brother's face. Those who had no connections and no one above them, holding hundreds of taels of silver, lost everything in Bianjing City.
Can he really do these things without the protection of his second brother?
Xu Degui fell into deep suspicion.
Xu Qingying saw Xu Degui's hesitation and stepped forward. "Father, how about I do it?"
Looking at Xu Qingying's clear and transparent eyes, Xu Degui suddenly woke up, and then his eyes became clear, "No need, I'll do it."
Xu Degui signed his name.
The eldest aunt was also nearby, pulling Xu Qingying aside and saying, "Sixth girl, don't blame me for being cruel. It's just that our family is broke and can't afford to spend money. I still believe in you. You're a capable person. Who knows, you might be able to do something really special with this soap."
After that, she smiled and said, "When you become rich in the future, don't forget to support your uncle's family. You are hiring people, right? Your aunt may not be good at other things, but she is a good hand at housework. It doesn't matter who does this job, you have to take care of your family first."
Huang Cui'e said this, but she was thinking in her heart, Xu Qingying didn't even know what soap was, but she dared to hire ten people. She was too bold. What if she couldn't sell all the soap and ended up with nothing? Young people are still too impulsive in doing things.
Fortunately, the contract has been signed now, so if the third house loses money in the future, it can’t be blamed on them.
Xu Qingying knew exactly what Huang Cui'e was thinking.
Most people are unwilling to take risks and just want a stable income.
She couldn't blame anyone.
"Aunt, you're late. The ten places are already full."
Huang Cui'e slapped her thigh and said, "You silly girl, they say good things should be kept within the family, why are you giving away such a good thing?"
"Aunt, my soap business is not stable. It's easy to pay others if I owe them wages, but if I owe wages to my own family, won't I be scolded and criticized every day?"
Huang Cui'e said with a guilty conscience, "We are all family, how could I possibly blame you for a small amount of money?"
Xu Qingying smiled but said nothing.
Huang Cui'e thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case.
What if the soap can't be sold and the owed wages are not paid in time? Can she still ask for the debt with a shameless face even if it means paying it back to her family members?
Isn't this equivalent to working for the third room for nothing?
After figuring this out, Huang Cui'e stopped dwelling on the topic. Instead, she remembered something else and muttered, "I see your father and your eldest brother have both had their shackles removed, and they're in good spirits. But your uncles still have to suffer this. How can you bear it? Besides, you have such a good relationship with Zhao Bantou and the others. Why don't you say something nice to them and ask them to remove the shackles from all the men in our family?"
Xu Qingying thought about it and realized that all the manpower would have to be mobilized in a few days. Zhao Bantou had already agreed to remove all the shackles at that time, but he was afraid of causing unrest among the people, so he had not told anyone about it yet.
Xu Qingying was happy to do a favor and nodded immediately, "Aunt, please wait a minute. I'll talk to the class leader in a few days."
"Hey!" Huang Cui'e immediately became overjoyed and began to flatter her. "Our sixth girl is really capable. Your parents are so lucky to have a daughter as capable as you."
Xu Degui had also put away the deed.
This time he was finally able to straighten his back and walk towards Miao. Miao's eyes were filled with tears as she said angrily, "I thought you only cared about your brother, not me and our three children."
Xu Degui hugged Miao with one hand, looking a little embarrassed. Finally, he sighed deeply, "I was overthinking it. Second brother...it's better not to say it..."
Miao was worried. "Boss, this soap business will belong to the third branch from now on. We have to work hard and make a name for ourselves so that others can see that we can live well even without Second Uncle."
"Yes, let's sit down together as a family tonight and have a good discussion. Let Ying'er explain everything to us so I can have a clearer idea of what's going on. To be honest, my hands were shaking when I signed just now. I've never made up my mind on my own in my life. Who knew it would be such a big scene right away? I was really outmaneuvered by my daughter."
"Don't blame her. She's only doing this for the good of our family." A trace of indignation crossed Miao's face, and she said angrily, "Big Brother and Second Brother are really something. When they divided up our Third House's supplies, they still thought of us as a favor. Now no one is optimistic about soap, that's one thing, but they all avoid us like the plague, as if they want to cut ties with us, as if they're afraid that we'll lose money in the future and blame them. I'm going to bet on this. Our daughter has taken care of everything, and she's so smart, but she's kind enough to help them get rich, but she refuses to help them get rich. Instead, she's afraid that we'll hurt her..."
As Miao spoke, she felt aggrieved and tears began to flow.
Xu Degui helped her calm down, but he also sighed repeatedly, "My second brother... is really..."
Miao frowned slightly. "Speaking of which, there's something I find very strange. Second Uncle has been an official for many years, so he's naturally smarter than the rest of us. Couldn't he see that the escorts are in cahoots with our daughter? Why is he so opposed?"
Xu Degui pursed his lips slightly, his eyes twitching slightly. He was silent for a long moment, as if he was about to speak, before he said, "Second brother...it's not that he can't see...but he pretends to be confused while knowing the truth."
Miao was stunned, "What do you mean?"
There was an inexplicable sadness in Xu Degui's eyes. "Second brother, of course, knows that the soap business can make money... but he also knows that Qingying won't agree to him investing in it. If my second brother is doing well, he will naturally consider loosening up and taking care of his brothers. If he's not doing well, then he won't allow anyone to surpass him."
Miao clutched her chest, instantly understanding what was happening. She lowered her voice and said, "You're saying that Second Uncle knew the soap business was profitable, but still didn't allow others to invest. He was afraid that if we made enough money, we'd surpass him."
"I just heard him trying to get the other families to sign a contract with us, telling us to be responsible for our own profits and losses, saying our soap business would never succeed. He even lied to them, saying that doing business while in exile was illegal, and that all the money earned would be taken away by Zhao Bantou and his men. The other families have always followed his lead, but after he's intimidated them like that, who would dare to follow us?"
Miao was shocked. "How could Second Uncle do this? How could he do something so detrimental to others and not benefit himself? Could it be that even if he has money, he won't allow others to make money?"
"If the brothers all become successful, how will he manage the family? Who will still listen to his orders?" Xu Degui felt sad when he talked about this, his eyes slightly red. "He wasn't like this before, how did he become like this now? Bihe, when he forced me to express my opinion that day, I knew he wanted to alienate Ying'er and me, but... I felt that we are family and close relatives, so why did we have to make such an ugly scene? Plus, Ying'er was a bit aggressive that day, so I thought I would save some face for my second brother..."
Miao comforted him, "Forget it. Everyone has their own destiny. As for Second Uncle... forget it. Let's not talk about it. Let's just focus on the things at hand. We must help our daughter to support the soap business—"
"Oh!" Xu Degui responded. Although he was still feeling resentful in his heart, he was finally diverted by Miao's words.
Yes, once the cost of soap is invested, we have to hurry up and get to work. A full fifteen taels of silver, all invested in water, this is their last blood and sweat.
Once you arrive in Qianzhou, your food, clothing, housing, transportation, birth, old age, sickness and death may all depend on this one-time business.
Xu Degui forced himself not to think about these things and just focus on the soap.
The next day, Xu Qingying started dividing the work early.
All the people were divided into two groups. One group did not enter the city, but was directly led by the escorts along the road outside the city, and finally waited on the official road out of the city.
Another group of people followed Xu Qingying into the city.
This was the first time Xu Qingying had entered the city since she traveled through time. Although she had the impression that the original owner often went out to play in Bianjing City, she had never seen it with her own eyes.
It turns out that we shouldn’t have too high expectations for ancient cities.
First, each person had to pay a two-cent entrance tax to enter the city. The city gate was small, far less magnificent than the later simulated ones. The street layout was a typical northern style, square, with clear directions of east, south, west and north.
As Xu Qingying observed, she thought that the production level of the Zhou Dynasty seemed to be even lower than that of the Song Dynasty. Most of the people wore coarse linen clothes, and they were skinny, with haggard faces and numb expressions.
That must be because he is hungry.
When a person is hungry, the body's heat will first be used to maintain basic body functions, then to provide heat to the limbs to resist the cold, and finally to the brain.
This is why when people are hungry, their brains naturally stop functioning, as if they have become dull. This is reflected in lifeless eyes, slow speech, and inability to think.
Zhao Bantou paid the head fee and saw that everyone on the road was looking at the people behind him. Knowing that the people behind him were too conspicuous, he pulled Xu Qingying and whispered, "Xu Liu, aren't we being too conspicuous? What if we get discovered? Why don't we ask Madam Xu to change her clothes?"
Xu Qingying turned her head and saw that Lian was wearing a dark red jacket today, her hair was combed meticulously, with a transparent emerald green jade hairpin inserted diagonally on her head, a Hainan pearl necklace hung around her neck, each pearl rounder than the other, and a blood-red agate bracelet on her wrist. She looked very noble and attracted the attention of passers-by.
Xu Qingying also brought a few more, all of them were girls.
Zhao Bantou could see that these people were carefully selected by Xu Qingying. They were all good-looking young ladies or maids who had seen the world before.
These girls have one thing in common: they are honest people, and their closest relatives are left in the exile team. According to Xu Qingying, this is to prevent this group of people from escaping.
If there are really people who are so foolish as to be fugitives, at least their parents are still in their hands, which is somewhat of a weak point.
Zhao Bantou was inexplicably shocked by Xu Qingying's methods. She used slaps and candies to immediately subdue these girls.
Not to mention, these girls were covered in dust and dirt before, but now they just washed their faces, tidied themselves up temporarily, and found some decent clothes in the exile team to put on, their whole aura instantly changed.
She looks just like a maidservant in a wealthy family.
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