Chapter 1344 Ideas
Old Zhou's house was bustling with activity. Of course, all the onlookers had left, leaving only the Zhou family, but it was still very lively.
Zhou Silang had just arrived home and was taking out the New Year's goods he had prepared and showing them to everyone. Fang was sitting next to him, holding her child. When she saw her father-in-law come in, she immediately stood up and picked up the child to make room for him.
Zhou Silang, who had been boasting happily, immediately straightened his face and said respectfully to his father, "Dad, you're back."
Old Zhou said "hmm" and asked, "Have you sold all the things?"
Zhou Silang responded "yes".
Old Zhou asked, "How much money did you make?"
Zhou Silang couldn't help but smile, but he tried hard to suppress it and said, "The total amount of those goods was 3,798 taels."
Old Zhou almost dropped his pipe. He swallowed hard and asked, "So this is a profit..."
Zhou Silang added, "I earned two thousand one hundred and fifty-two taels."
He looked at Zhou Liwei complacently and asked with a smile, "Liwei, am I right?"
Zhou Liwei nodded and showed the account book to his grandfather. "Yes, Grandpa, look, it's all written here."
Old Zhou took a look and didn't recognize most of the words except for a few numbers that looked particularly familiar. He knew that his wife knew more words than he did, so he gave the account book to Qian.
The Qian family didn't recognize many characters. Before, they didn't know a single character. It was only after Manbao went to school and taught the children in the family how to read that they learned to recognize some characters, but they were still clumsy.
Qian was smart and spent more time taking care of the children at home, so she knew more words than Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang.
She looked carefully, but there were still many words she didn't recognize, so she simply skipped over them. Based on the words she knew, she guessed and guessed her way through. She pointed to the total amount of money at the back and counted, "How come there's only 1,895 taels left?"
Old Zhou immediately leaned over to look.
Zhou Liwei said, "I bought tea."
He briefly explained the origin of this business, and they still had a deposit of 1,000 taels of tea from the Hu merchant.
Old Zhou listened for a long time and finally understood. After all the fuss, not a penny of the money they earned went into their pockets, and they had to use it all to buy tea and send it to the capital to give to the foreign merchants?
Since it wasn't real money, Old Zhou sat aside feeling a little disappointed.
Qian, however, looked thoughtful as she held the account book. She looked at Zhou Silang and asked, "So you're going to ship tea to the capital this time?"
"Yes," Zhou Silang said, "Mother, the deal has been negotiated, even the price has been agreed upon. If we can ship three thousand taels of tea to the capital, not counting the travel expenses, we can at least make some money. My three sons and I all work with me, and I pay them all, so the expenses are not that big at all."
Qian frowned, "With just a few of you, some are young, some are young, what if you encounter danger along the way?"
Zhou Silang looked at Man Baole.
Manbao shrank back, leaned back, and asked, "What are you looking at me for?"
Zhou Silang said, "We've already bought a cartload of tea bricks. When Manbao and the others go to the capital, we'll have Lao Wu take them with us. The remaining tea will be enough for another cartload. With so many of us, we can easily guard one cartload. If that doesn't work, I'll try to find a caravan. It will be much safer if we can all travel together."
Tea is not like fur. Fur is not as valuable as tea and takes up space, so Zhou Silang and his companions brought back four carts. But tea is different. If Zhou Silang had not made sure to buy all the tea before Manbao and his companions set off, the four carts he brought back might not have filled up two carts.
Manbao obviously also thought about the empty car and asked, "So, do you plan to return to Beijing with the remaining car empty?"
Zhou Silang glanced at Old Zhou with a guilty conscience and whispered, "I don't dare. How about we borrow some money to fill up the car?"
Old Zhou calmly tapped his pipe and said, "We went to buy a cow today. It was sold by the Jia brothers in Dali Village."
Zhou Silang didn't understand why his father suddenly brought up this matter and looked at him in confusion.
Old Zhou said, "The two brothers gambled and sold their cattle, and even borrowed a lot of money."
When it comes to gambling, Zhou Silang lowers his head and mutters, "I've changed..."
Old Zhou knocked him on the head with his pipe and said, "Have you changed? Borrowing money for business. One cart of tea costs nearly two thousand taels, and you want to borrow money for two carts of tea. This is worse than gambling."
Qian disagreed and nodded, saying, "It's too dangerous. Not to mention the possibility of encountering bandits on the road, even if you're safe, what if it rains? Tea leaves lose their value once they get wet."
Zhou Silang actually just had this idea and was not very determined.
After all, as his mother said, it's too dangerous.
This is different from "borrowing" one thousand taels of goods from the Hu merchant. The former is real money and has no backing, while the latter is goods, and he has a shop behind him to support him.
So when his family objected, he stopped mentioning it.
Feng suddenly thought of something, pushed Zhou Erlang aside, squeezed in, and asked, "Silang, can I exchange silk for tea?"
Everyone looked at Feng.
Feng was timid, but she still whispered, "Isn't that what you said? It's just like here in the countryside, you can spend cloth like money..."
She said, "Since silk is so cheap, why not spend it as money? Just like when we go to the market, a piece of linen can be exchanged for twelve dou of grain, but if we sell it in a shop, we can only get three hundred coins, which is only seven or eight dou of grain..."
Manbao couldn't help but give his second sister-in-law a thumbs up, "Second sister-in-law, you are really amazing."
Seeing her sincere praise, Feng couldn't help but feel happy. She raised her eyebrows at Zhou Erlang and said, "Isn't it right?"
"That's right," Zhou Silang also pondered over it. He said, "Ordinary people can't afford to wear those silks and satins from Manbao. They have to be taken to Yizhou City or other big cities..."
He thought about it and realized that this time he was collecting tea while selling furs, and he was in direct contact with the tea farmers. This time he could go to tea merchants or some wealthy gentry to ask for some tea.
Xiao Qian smiled and said, "Okay, let's eat first, and then we can talk."
Daya had already brought out the food. When Zhou Silang saw her, he took out a box from his arms and said, "Your fifth uncle said that your wedding date has been set. Here, this is a gift from your fourth uncle."
Daya couldn't help but look at her mother.
Zhou Silang stuffed it into her arms and said, "Keep it. You're still being polite to me."
That was true. Daya and Datou were both raised by Zhou Silang and his two younger brothers, so they had a closer relationship. She happily accepted it and said, "Thank you, Fourth Uncle."
Manbao sat down below her mother and asked Zhou Silang, who was sitting diagonally across from her, "Fourth Brother, did you buy any good tea this time?"
"I don't buy fine tea," Zhou Silang said. "A Liudun doesn't specify fine tea. His tribe isn't as particular about tea as Mr. Zhuang. Besides, it's not our turn to buy fine tea."
See you at 6pm
(End of this chapter)
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