Chapter 1863 People are divided into four types
Manbao was shocked. "Pearl? Does our family have the money for that?"
Zhou Silang smiled and said, "Of course I have. I made a lot of money from the cattle and medicinal herbs last year. I have been keeping it with Lijun."
Manbao frowned, "Why did you think of starting a pearl business?"
It's not good to touch such precious things.
Zhou Silang said, "Bai Wu proposed it. He wanted the two families to work together, but I declined."
He smiled and said, "I know what they're thinking. They just want to use your influence to get in touch with other people in the palace so that they can make this business more solid."
Manbao looked at him suspiciously, "You don't want to take them with you?"
Zhou Silang shook his head. "No, I don't think their family is very kind. They usually drink and eat together, and occasionally help each other with small favors. There's nothing wrong with such deep financial transactions."
Zhou Lijun passed by and paused after hearing this before saying, "Besides, our family is poor. It's too unsafe to get involved in this kind of business with them."
Zhou Silang nodded, "That's right. I'd rather suffer a little than give so much money to others."
Zhou Lijun simply stopped and said to Zhou Man, "Aunt, I don't agree to let Fourth Uncle do the pearl business now. Pearls are too expensive and the risks are too great."
Zhou Silang said quickly, "Do you know how much a bushel of pearls is worth? If they are of good quality, they are almost worth ten carts of goods. The cost of transporting ten carts back and forth is the same as the cost of transporting only one bushel of pearls..."
"But if you encounter danger on the road, only one out of ten cars may return, but you may not be able to bring back any of the pearls you want to take with you."
Zhou Silang laughed and said, "It's obvious you've never been far away. If you were to encounter horse thieves, would they let you escape with a carriage?"
"Pearls are easy to carry. You can run away with them. Even if you can't carry a whole hu of them, if you carry good-quality pearls close to you, you won't lose much if you run back."
Zhou Man raised his eyelids, glanced at Zhou Silang, and asked, "Fourth Brother, how much do you plan to spend on pearls, and how much on medicinal herbs, furs, cattle, and sheep?"
Zhou Silang touched his nose and said, "You know, our family doesn't have much money. The reason I want to exchange it for pearls is, firstly, that they are easy to carry, and secondly, they can bring in a lot of money. So I'm thinking of buying 80% of it as pearls and exchanging the remaining 20% for medicinal herbs."
Manbao refused directly, "I don't agree, you have to do the opposite."
Zhou Silang: "...everyone said that pearls can make a lot of money..."
"Fourth Brother, when it comes to making money, what business in this world is more profitable than gold and copper mines?" Manbao interrupted him, "But do you dare to do it?"
Zhou Silang choked.
Manbao said solemnly, "Besides gold and copper mines, there are also salt, iron, and grain transport. Do you dare to make money from this?"
Zhou Silang said, "What's there to be afraid of?"
Manbao then asked Zhou Lijun, "Have you finished reading the book 'The Richest Man in the Ming Dynasty' that I showed you last time?"
Zhou Lijun immediately perked up and nodded repeatedly, "I've already finished reading it, aunt, and I've even made a lot of annotations. Would you like to help me check if I'm wrong?"
Manbao agreed immediately, "I'll show it to you later. Give the book to Fourth Brother first and let him read it."
Zhou Silang shrank back, swallowed, and asked, "I, I read a book?"
He can recognize quite a few words and can write some basic characters, but he can read...
If he could read, would he need to carry Zhou Lijun, Zhou Lizhong or Zhou Liwei with him wherever he went?
Zhou Lijun had already rushed back into the house and pulled out a book. She held it up like a treasure and gave it to Zhou Silang, saying, "Fourth Uncle, you have to be careful with it. This book is very expensive."
Zhou Silang held the book in his arms, not knowing whether to push it away or put it away.
Manbao said: "When you finish reading this book, you will know why I didn't agree."
She imitated Mr. Zhuang's sigh, then raised her head and said earnestly, "Fourth Brother, I'm doing this for your own good."
Zhou Silang: ...
Although Zhou Lijun, who had been educated, agreed, he couldn't help but remain speechless for a while like his fourth uncle when he saw his aunt was so unfathomable.
She didn't have her aunt's patience, so she revealed the answer directly, "Fourth Uncle, my aunt is doing this to save your life and the lives of our entire family."
Zhou Silang hugged the book tightly and said, "I, I just want to try my hand at the pearl business. Do you really need to scare me like that?"
Bai Shan, who had been reading quietly on the side, suddenly said meaningfully: "Brother Zhou Si, human desires are insatiable, so talents need to be satisfied."
Manbao nodded and said, "In the beginning, our family became poor because of you. The reason we went to the county to sell things was to pay off your debts."
Zhou Silang was so exhausted that he didn't deny the latter point, but as for the former point, how could he tell Manbao that their family was not rich before?
Why did she always assume that his family was rich before he lost the bet?
"When my family started out, we just grew vegetables and made tofu. We never thought about buying a shop in the county town, let alone expanding our business to Yizhou City and other counties and towns," Manbao said. "When you started out reselling wheat seeds, did you ever think about moving to the capital to do business in medicinal herbs?"
"When you brought the medicinal herbs to the capital, did you ever think about doing fur business in the future, or going to the grasslands to sell cattle and buy medicinal herbs?"
Zhou Silang was silent.
Manbao said, "Just like last year, did you ever think about whether you would be in the pearl business this year? So you can't imagine what kind of business you will be in the future."
Zhou Silang couldn't help but mutter, "Of course, we'll just do whatever business makes money."
Seeing Manbao glaring, he was afraid she would bring up gold, copper, salt, and iron again, so he quickly said, "Of course, I'll do whatever business I can get my hands on. If I ever have the ability to do salt and iron business in the future, do you think I would turn this lucrative business away?"
Bai Shan frowned. They had just discussed business matters. He glanced at Zhou Man, who was choking, then put down the book in his hand, stood up from the stone bench and walked over. "Fourth brother, I think there are four types of people in this world. One type only sees the small space, only their own feet, and lives one day at a time, with the simplest wishes."
"The second type can see inside a room, think and consider, and think about the future for themselves and their families. However, they don't know much, so their considerations are not deep."
"The third type is someone who can see the relationship between a county and a prefecture, and think about the country and the livelihood of the people."
"And the fourth type is the saints of all times. Their thoughts and concerns are the entire world. A word they say today may bring blessings to people thousands of years later."
Zhou Silang thought about it and actually felt that what he said was quite right, so he asked excitedly, "Then which type do you think I am?"
"Brother Thursday is the first type."
Zhou Silang: ...
See you at 9pm
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
