Chapter 1452 Losing the Bet
Manbao knew nothing about this. She had been doing very well in the circle of ladies in Beijing recently, and even Zhou Lijun was very happy with her.
It is spring, the season when flowers begin to bloom, and among all the flowers, the most famous in the capital is the peony.
Manbao entered the palace with an armful of peonies, and his reputation spread throughout the capital. Within two days, first the Liu family's wife sent Liu Huan to Zhou Man's house to select a multi-colored peony, and then the Li family's wife sent someone to select a Yaohuang...
In fact, compared to buying individual branches of flowers, they would rather buy potted flowers.
However, because of the previous experience, Manbao did not dare to sell to them and was only willing to sell squid.
For this reason, Zhou Lijun temporarily handed over the restaurant's payment collection to Zhou Lichong, and she ran back to take care of Manbao's flower and tree business.
I don’t know where my sister-in-law found the flower farm, but she and Bai Shan always managed to buy good flowers from outside.
She was responsible for leading the servants from each household who came to the store to select flower branches.
For those who particularly want to buy potted flowers, she said, "Famous-quality peonies like these would cost at least a hundred taels per pot outside. You only enjoy them once a year. How many flowers from a pot of peonies can you wear in your hair?"
She said, "It's better to buy flower branches. The most expensive flower is only five taels, and the cheapest can be bought for two taels. How much can young ladies spend just to change flowers every day? Besides, they have to be taken care of after buying them, and there's no guarantee that they will grow to their original color."
After seeing what happened to the mutant chrysanthemums that her sister-in-law brought back, she felt that she didn't dare to sell them either. One must be trustworthy in doing business. What would it mean if she sold a pot of flowers and people could only keep them for a year?
As for those who suggested the flowers were too expensive, she responded, "My aunt takes great care in growing flowers. Every pot of them is a famous brand, some of which I've never even seen before. If I were to walk around the banquet hall with a famous brand in my hair, the flowers would set me off, and the girls would surely stare at me. Is a few taels of silver too much?"
She said, "You know, if it's a potted flower, you might not be able to buy it even if you spend hundreds or even thousands of taels."
Those who can choose flowers on behalf of their masters all understand their masters' thoughts very well. The reason why they come to the Zhou family to purchase flowers is to look beautiful and outshine others, right?
So even if they say it’s too expensive, they will still buy it.
However, their words and actions reminded Zhou Lijun. She said to Manbao, "Aunt, we can't always agree to your request. We can't sell too many flowers, otherwise the streets will be full of famous brands and we won't be able to sell them at a high price. We have to do this business again next year."
If she could earn the same amount of money from selling ten flowers as from selling one, she would of course be willing to sell one flower.
So, whenever someone came to ask for flowers, Zhou Lijun wouldn't sell them to everyone. He would always refuse twice, saying they didn't have any today, or that the color you wanted wasn't there yet, or that they hadn't bloomed yet, so you had to wait two more days...
Anyway, there is no reason she can't find.
Manbao thought that she would offend people by doing this and that they would be reluctant to buy from her again, but in the end she became even more popular.
More people came to ask for favors. Even Mr. Zhuang looked at Zhou Lijun in surprise, and then said to several disciples: "I didn't expect that our courtyard could produce a female Tao Zhu."
Zhou Lijun, who had little education, was writing down his flower sales account book stroke by stroke. Upon hearing this, he looked up and asked curiously, "Who is Tao Zhu?"
Bai Erlang said, "Don't you know Tao Zhu? Tao Zhu Gong, Fan Li, was a famous figure in the Chu State during the Spring and Autumn Period. He was said to be very powerful, becoming a wealthy man three times and giving it all away three times."
Bai Erlang paused, glanced at Zhou Lijun suspiciously, then turned to Mr. Zhuang and said, "Sir, are you exaggerating?"
Manbao was displeased when he saw him belittling his niece. He pushed him and said, "You shouldn't say that. Lijun should be saying that."
Bai Shan, who was standing by, placed an article in front of her and said, "This is my article. The doctors in the school have reviewed it."
Manbao looked down and was shocked. "Why did they all get A's?"
Bai Shan said proudly, "I've already told you that my article will be approved. Look at the seal on the back."
Manbao turned to the end and looked at the rows of "Excellent" characters and seals, and was speechless for a long time.
Bai Shan had written this article twenty days ago. The reason why he gave it to Manbao now was because he wanted her to admit defeat sincerely so that she wouldn't find any excuses to refuse to admit defeat.
After he wrote the article, he first presented it to Mr. Zhuang.
Mr. Zhuang was very satisfied after reading it and gave him an excellent grade.
Bai Shan asked Mr. Zhuang to write the word "excellent" at the end of the article.
At that time, Mr. Zhuang took a look at him and probably knew about the bet between him and Manbao, so he wrote it down for him. Perhaps to increase its credibility, he also stamped it with a private seal.
When Bai Shan saw it, he felt like he had opened the door to a new world. When he took it to the school to show the doctor, he asked him to write down his evaluation and then stamp it.
The doctor, who was originally reluctant to follow the rules, was happy to put his private seal on him when he heard that he had made a bet with someone and this was a certificate of achievement.
Not only that, the doctor was also very diligent in helping Bai Shan find several doctors, and they all circulated and evaluated the work together.
Finally, the article was passed from the Imperial College to the Imperial University, and then to the Four-Gate Academy. It is said that it was also passed to the Law School and the Mathematical School. After a circle, it fell into the hands of Kong Jijiu.
Kong Jijiu carefully read it for two days, then he also wrote an "excellent" on it and pressed his personal seal.
So at this moment, Manbao couldn't find any reason to refute it, after all, there were a row of red seals on the back.
So she had no time to deal with Bai Erlang and asked unconvincedly, "Why?"
She took the article to Mr. Zhuang and asked, "Sir, have you ever thought about the consequences of abandoning farming?"
Mr. Zhuang smiled and said, "Farming isn't something that can be abandoned so easily. Besides, this is just an article, and we'll only read it. If he convinces us, we'll give him an excellent review. If you're not convinced, you can write an article to refute him."
Bai Shan stood beside her and turned to ask her, "Are you going to write an article to refute me?"
Manbao: ...How can she be free now?
But she still refused to accept it, so she nodded vigorously, "Refute!"
"Then go ahead and write it," Bai Shan said, "but our bet was whether my article would pass. Now the gentlemen have not only passed it, but also given it an excellent grade. Even if you write an article to refute my article, that's another matter. You have to admit defeat."
Zhou Lixue asked Bai Erlang curiously, "What did my aunt and the others bet on?"
Bai Jilang shook his head, "I don't know, I'm not interested."
Bai Shan had already asked Man Bao with a smile, "I have a day off the day after tomorrow. How about we go there the day after tomorrow?"
He said, "After a while, the peach blossoms in the mountains will all be in bloom."
Manbao nodded: "Okay, then the day after tomorrow."
Although she was very unconvinced, she considered herself a person who would accept defeat.
See you at 8pm
(End of this chapter)
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