Chapter 42: Money-Making Opportunities
Sunrise and sunset, going out early and returning late, half a month passed quickly, and Ji Zheng had almost learned about the country's basic official system and national conditions.
At the same time, the story of Journey to the West became popular throughout the town. Whenever Ji Zheng told stories, the seats were always full, and it even developed to the point where seats had to be snatched up.
The shopkeeper was also smart. He immediately expanded the space on the first floor and also came up with marketing methods such as VIP seats and seat reservations.
Of course, there is an additional charge for seat reservations, and VIP seats require a certain price to be paid once. Yes, that's right, just once.
When Ji Zheng found out, he was impressed that he was indeed a businessman.
But what made him happy was that his salary increased a lot, and the shopkeeper gave him many special benefits in order to hold on to this swinging cash cow.
For example, he was given a special lounge, separate meals and clothes, and a new mask was customized for him.
Of course, the shopkeeper was also smart. While raising his salary, he also raised the wages of other storytellers by half, and from time to time he would order leftover cakes and the like for them.
Therefore, the other storytellers had no jealousy towards Ji Zheng at all. Instead, they all admired Ji Zheng very much.
For this point, Ji Zheng had to admire the manager of Xiangxianglou again. He was really resourceful. His actions completely dispelled the calculations among his colleagues caused by jealousy.
During this period, apart from spending a lot of money on buying pastries for Ji and An every day, I didn't spend much else.
As a result, I saved three or four taels of silver in just half a month.
But Ji Zheng's ambition does not stop there.
Now the time has come for him to start paving the way for his next step.
“Brother!”
At the entrance of the academy, Li Wencheng waved at Ji Zheng from a distance, with a silly and bright smile on his face.
As early as the fourth day after Ji Zheng came to the academy, he met Li Wencheng and others. Li Wencheng was very happy at that time.
From then on, he would come to see Ji Zheng whenever he had time in the academy. Although Ji Zheng felt very annoyed sometimes, thanks to Li Wencheng's simplicity and good interpersonal relationships, he made many friends and learned more information.
Moreover, he came to see her every day, which led to Lu Qin, who followed him most of the time, also coming, so the relationship between the three of them improved rapidly.
Now Ji Zheng can also talk to Lu Qin.
Ji Zheng walked a few steps closer to them, and Li Wencheng said again: "Brother, tomorrow is a day off, why don't we go to listen to the book together later?"
Listening to books? Ji Zheng doesn't have time for that, he has to tell stories.
"No, I have something to do." Ji Zheng refused.
"Okay." Li Wencheng did not persuade him anymore. He had invited Ji Zheng several times before, but Ji Zheng refused every time. Now he was just asking casually.
The three of them walked out together. Li Wencheng shook the fan in his hand vigorously and complained, "What a rotten weather! It's so hot that it melts everyone." The strands of hair on his temples were soaked with sweat and stuck tightly to his skin.
After saying that, he glanced at Lu Qin standing beside him and found that there was no sweat on his face. He suddenly reached out and wiped Lu Qin's face and found that it was very dry and there was no sweat at all. He immediately exclaimed: "You haven't changed at all. How come you don't sweat at all? I wish I had your physique."
Not only was there envy in his tone, but longing was also evident in his eyes and on his cheeks.
Lu Qin didn't say anything, but glanced meaningfully at the hand that Li Wencheng had touched his face.
"Brother, are you hot?" Li Wencheng turned around and asked Ji Zheng.
"It's hot. Looks like summer is coming." Ji Zheng replied. The weather has been getting hotter recently. His baby and An have no appetite for meals recently. Ji Zheng is very worried.
What made him even more worried was that Hean complained about the heat at night and refused to let him hold her while she slept!
"Yes, the most annoying season is summer." Li Wencheng also said, then looked up at the halo above his head and sighed, "Why is it so hot!"
Lu Qin, who was standing by, suddenly said, "I have ice at home. Come to my house and sleep tonight."
"Ah - Lu Qin, you are so nice! I am so blessed to have a friend like you in my previous life!" As he said this, he put his arm around Lu Qin's shoulders and looked at him with sparkling eyes.
Lu Qin pulled Li Wencheng's arm down in disgust, took two steps away from him, and spat out two words: "It's hot."
Looking at Lu Qin's slightly flushed face and ears, Li Wencheng sighed. It seems that the temperature today is really high. Even Lu Qin, a thousand-year-old iceberg, has red face and ears.
Hearing Lu Qin mention ice, Ji Zheng's eyes lit up and he clapped his hands. Yes, isn't there still ice?
He had done this experiment in the laboratory before, using saltpeter to make ice. He would do it when he got home at night so that he could hold it and sleep peacefully.
Thinking of this, Ji Zheng's mouth couldn't help but rise. He felt relaxed and comfortable, and even felt that the weather was not so hot.
However, at this time, a silly voice interrupted, "Brother, why are you grinning like an idiot? I'm afraid you are sick from the heat."
The tone was so innocent, and even his face showed a hint of worry.
Ji Zheng: “…”
He was angry, but he couldn't vent his anger when he saw the stupid look on his face.
What’s more important is that after Li Wencheng said this, Lu Qin, who always had a paralyzed face, smiled. Although the smile was fleeting, Ji Zheng still caught it.
Ji Zheng repeated several times in his mind, "Don't bother with a fool." His anger subsided a lot, and he replied, "It's nothing. I just thought of a way to cool down."
Li Wencheng became interested after hearing this. "What method?"
Lu Qin on the side also looked over.
Ji Zheng looked at them with some confusion. "Didn't you just say that? Use ice."
"Use ice!" Li Wencheng raised his voice, but when Ji Zheng gave him a glare, he immediately lowered his voice and said in amazement, "Brother, I didn't realize you were so rich!"
As soon as these words came out, Ji Zheng immediately realized something and asked hesitantly: "Is ice... expensive?"
Now it was Li Wencheng's turn to be silent. "A block of ice that is one inch high and one inch long costs fifty cents."
One inch here is 3.3 centimeters.
With this conversion, the price of this ice is indeed expensive, it can be said to be sky-high.
"Why is it so expensive?" Ji Zheng didn't understand.
"Of course it's rare!" Li Wencheng jumped up to explain, and he couldn't believe that Ji Zheng didn't know this common sense. "Ice can only be obtained in winter every year, and it takes a huge amount of manpower and money."
Now, it was Ji Zheng's turn to be silent. In fact, his recipe for making money had never included saltpeter for making ice.
The many people and things he saw here made him realize that the ancients were actually very smart. He even had no idea how some of the things were made.
In his mind, making ice with saltpeter was a very simple and easy-to-discover principle, so he always thought that the people here already knew how to make ice with saltpeter. After all, the printing technology here was very advanced.
I didn't expect...
"Besides digging ice and storing it in winter, is there no other way to obtain ice?" Ji Zheng asked again.
Li Wencheng kept fanning himself. "No, it has always been like this, so ice is very expensive! And it's so hot this early in the year, I guess the people up there don't have enough ice."
Since ice is so precious, wouldn't he be able to make a fortune?
His gaze shifted to Lu Qin, "Lu Qin, do you have a lot of ice?"
"You want it?" Lu Qin frowned. He didn't have much ice. His father was just a county magistrate. The ice came from some wealthy businessmen in the county.
"No." Ji Zheng shook his head. He knew how to make the ice himself. He just wanted to get some information.
Ji Zheng suggested: "It's still early today, let's find a place to talk."
"Okay, okay!" Li Wencheng was the first to agree.
Although Lu Qin didn't say anything, Li Wencheng agreed, so it could be considered as his agreement.
The town is not big, and the only place with a private room where we can discuss things is Xiangxianglou.
The three of them asked for a private room on the second floor.
Although it was a chat among three people, Ji Zheng actually just wanted to chat with Lu Qin.
"Now that Lu Qin's provincial examination is over this year, it's time for the promotion and transfer of major officials, right?" Ji Zheng asked.
Lu Qin nodded.
"Your father has been the county magistrate for seven or eight years, right? Hasn't he ever thought of moving up a level?"
Lu Qin frowned. His father was naturally thinking that he had been managing this county for such a long time, and although the weather was good and the people were happy and prosperous, there was really nothing particularly outstanding in his political achievements.
If you want to get promoted, you probably have to wait another ten years.
Judging from Lu Qin's expression and considering the official promotion system of this dynasty, Ji Zheng guessed something.
"I have a plan now. It may not necessarily help your father get promoted, but it will definitely help him improve his political achievements. At least it will reduce the time it takes to get promoted."
Ji Zheng said this in a low voice with a serious expression on his face.
When Li Wencheng heard Ji Zheng's words, all the water he had just drunk suddenly sprayed out, and coincidentally, all sprayed on Lu Qin who was sitting opposite him.
In an instant, the room became cold, and the expression on Lu Qin's face was as cold as ice.
"Sorry! Sorry! Lu Qin, I was wrong! I didn't mean it!" Li Wencheng's heart skipped a beat and he quickly got up and crawled to Lu Qin's side, wiping Lu Qin's face with his sleeve. Lu Qin was a germaphobe!
While wiping it, he said something nice, "Brother Qin, I was wrong. I really didn't mean it. Brother Qin, please forgive me this time!"
Lu Qin was sprayed over such a large area that Li Wencheng wanted to crawl all over Lu Qin. Ji Zheng watched their movements and felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong.
"Brother Qin, I really know I was wrong!" Pleading words came out of Li Wencheng's mouth continuously.
His voice was a little unclear with a crying tone, if you didn't listen carefully you would think he was calling his lover...
Thinking of this, Lu Qin's body froze, and he quickly reached out to stop Li Wencheng's hand from wiping his lips, "It's okay."
After saying that, he realized that Li Wencheng had fallen on him. The distance was too close...
"Stay away from me, it's hot." Lu Qin's tone was rarely emotional. As he spoke, he stood up and shook Li Wencheng off his body, then found a place to sit down at a certain distance from Li Wencheng.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
