It was the first time for An Ning and An Dashan to visit this study room. The study room was very elegantly decorated. On a large desk were the four treasures of the study, and on the wall behind the desk were several calligraphy and paintings. An Ning was not sure whether they were authentic, but the calligraphy and paintings were very beautiful. There was a shelf on the side of the study room, on which many books were neatly placed.
An Dashan and An Ning sat down, and An Ning said to Butler An, "Butler An, please sit down and talk too!"
Butler An thanked him and sat down.
An Ning went straight to the point and asked, "How much property do we have left?"
Butler An replied, "There are two shops on East Street and a farm in the suburbs, and nothing else."
Having these properties was already a pleasant surprise, so An Ning was not disappointed. She asked again, "How is the monthly salary of the servants in the mansion distributed?"
Steward An said, "The men in the mansion get two taels of silver a month, and the maids get one and a half taels of silver a month. All of this is deducted from the money earned from the mansion's property."
An Ning asked again: "How much income can these properties generate in a year, and how much does it cost for daily expenses?"
Steward An said, "The mansion doesn't have much property, and can earn about two thousand taels of silver a year. Since the master hasn't been in the mansion before, the expenses are not much. In addition to the daily maintenance expenses of the mansion, plus the food and drink expenses and monthly wages of the servants in the mansion, one thousand taels of silver a year is enough, and there is still about one thousand taels of silver left."
An Ning nodded and said, "What do the two shops in the mansion sell?"
Butler An said: "One sells cloth, and the other sells groceries."
An Ning asked again: "How much difference is there in income compared to other peers?"
Butler An smiled bitterly and said, "The cloth shop doesn't have any good sources of goods, so it can only sell some ordinary cloth. Naturally, the income is not as good as that of other cloth shops, not to mention the groceries, which are all cheap items, so naturally the income is not high."
An Ning thought for a moment and said, "Let's sell the things in these two shops at a low price. I want to change them into grain stores and wine shops in the future."
There is a lot of food in An Ning's space, which is equivalent to a business with no capital. As for wine, An Ning has a method to purify alcohol. An Ning is confident that it can compete with other wines.
Butler An did not dare to question his master's decision. He nodded and said, "Yes, I will arrange it later."
An Ning added: "Take me to the farm in the suburbs tomorrow. I want to plan and build a soybean oil press."
Steward An looked up in shock and said, "So this soybean oil was made by the princess."
An Ning nodded and asked, "Why? Butler An, have you heard of this soybean oil?"
Butler An nodded and said, "More than just having heard of it, soybean oil is very popular in the capital. Now wealthy families are proud to eat dishes cooked with soybean oil."
An Ning didn't understand this and asked, "Then how do you sell this soybean oil?"
Butler An said, "I was curious last time, so I went to ask, but I didn't expect it would cost 150 coins per pound."
An Ning frowned. She planned to sell the soybean oil as a substitute for lard, mainly because of its low price. Unexpectedly, Mr. Lin had a different idea from hers and actually sold the soybean oil as a high-end product. An Ning decided to have a good communication with Mr. Lin next time.
An Ning didn't tell Butler An about her thoughts. She just said, "Butler An, go down and make the arrangements!"
Butler An responded with a "yes" and stepped back.
After Butler An left, An Dashan said, "This Lin family really knows how to do business. The price has more than doubled."
An Ning nodded and said, "I'll have to have a good discussion with Steward Lin next time we meet."
An Dashan didn't say much. He changed the subject and said, "Now that we have come to the capital, should we send a letter to the palace to pay our respects to the emperor?"
An Ning really hadn't thought of this at first. She nodded and said, "Dad is really thoughtful. Let's send a letter tomorrow. We don't know whether the emperor will see us or not!"
An Dashan nodded and said, "Okay."
The next morning, An Ning and An Dashan, led by housekeeper An, came to the farm in the suburbs. It was not yet the season for planting wheat, so the fields were still covered with wheat stubble.
An Ning said to Butler An, "Don't plant the wheat on the farm yet. The wheat seeds I brought will arrive in a few days, and we will plant the new wheat seeds."
Butler An knew how his master was conferred the title, so he was not surprised and said, "Yes, Princess."
The carriage stopped at the gate of a courtyard with two entrances. Butler An went forward and knocked on the door. After a while, a man in his thirties with a dark face opened the door. He saw that it was Butler An and asked quickly, "Butler An, is the master here?"
Butler An nodded and said, "Come over and greet the master."
The man shouted something behind him, and soon, a woman in her thirties came out with four children of different ages. They bowed to An Ning and An Dashan and said, "I pay my respects to the Lord and the Princess."
An Dashan waved his hand and said, "Hurry up and take us in to have a look."
The man stood up with his wife and children, half bent over and led the way. This two-story house was not new, but it did not look shabby, which showed that the people who lived here often repaired it.
An Dashan said to the man, "What's your name?"
The man said, "My Lord, my name is Wu, and everyone calls me Wu Heizi."
An Ning smiled and thought that the name was quite appropriate.
Wu Heizi led a few people to walk around the courtyard and outside the courtyard. Butler An said, "Master, do you think the open space next to the courtyard is big enough? Can we build a farm here?"
An Dashan also saw the open space and said, "It's big enough. We can build a workshop here. When we go back, ask the princess for the blueprint. You can arrange the rest as you see fit."
Butler An nodded and said, "Yes, Master."
A few people went to the fields to take a look. An Ning could tell from the thickness of the straw that the three hundred acres of land were all good farmland, so he asked, "How much grain can this field produce in a year?"
Wu Heizi said: "In a good year, we can produce about 100,000 kilograms of grain. If we encounter a disaster year, the harvest will be reduced."
An Ning nodded. Considering the wheat yield of that era, what Wu Heizi said was not wrong. An Ning asked again, "Do you usually rent out the land or hire people to farm it?"
Wu Heizi said: "They are all rented out."
An Ning ordered: "Starting this year, hire people to plant the land. Each person will be paid fifty cents a day. Also, see if there is any land nearby that you want to sell. No matter how much it is, buy it."
Wu Heizi nodded and said, "Yes, Princess."
An Ning then said to Butler An: "You can also look around the capital to see if there are any fields for sale. If they are suitable, you can buy them all."
Butler An said, "Yes, Princess."
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