No one knew exactly what had happened at the Zhou family's cloth shop. Before Huaqin could explain, Zhou Ziqiong rushed back in a hurry.
Jing Zhe originally wanted to follow along, but Chen Jiannan had already come up to report on his work, so he had no choice but to stay.
"The newspapers are all ready?"
Since Chen Jiannan was in charge of the newspaper project, Jing Zhe didn't know the specifics of how far things had progressed. So when he heard Chen Jiannan say that the newspaper would be published tomorrow, he quickly asked about it.
Chen Jiannan nodded and said, "Yes, sections like entertainment and current events were prepared in advance. We started printing them from day one. As for the lifestyle section, we've already written it and are printing it these past two days. If we work overtime tonight, it will definitely be printed by tomorrow morning!"
For convenience, when Chen Jiannan left Jingzhou, he not only brought many members with him, but also printing tools and other equipment, so all the work progressed quickly.
"Thank you for your hard work. I'll throw you a celebration banquet once the newspaper is published!"
Chen Jiannan waved his hand and laughed, "What's so hard about it? It's all what we should do! It's thanks to the president that today's opening ceremony was a great success, and everyone's curiosity has been piqued!"
After saying that, he asked curiously, "President, are we really going to repeat this 'Havoc in the Dragon Palace' performance these next two days, as you said before? I'm afraid everyone won't be satisfied!"
It turned out that, according to Jing Zhe's instructions, the newspaper's performances would be a repetition of the previous play for the next few days.
Jing Zhe shook his head and smiled: "We definitely have to repeat the performance. If we perform all the plays at once, who will buy our newspaper? To perform the real Havoc in the Dragon Palace, we'll have to wait until the newspaper is published!"
Chen Jiannan nodded after listening.
At this moment, the newspaper actresses—that is, the courtesans—came up.
"President Jing, did you watch the play just now?"
"President Jing, how was the performance just now?"
"President Jing, are you satisfied with our performance just now?"
"President Jing, could we act out a story from Dream of the Red Chamber?"
"..."
At this moment, the actors were filled with trepidation.
They agreed to act in the monkey story because Jing Zhe wanted to see their performance through the monkey story before deciding who would act in the Dream of the Red Chamber story, so they worked very hard.
"Great, excellent! You can tell from the reactions of the audience in the hall that you performed wonderfully! You were just a little nervous, but you'll get better with a few more performances! Judging from your performance today, you'll definitely be able to act out the Dream of the Red Chamber story!"
"Oh~"
The women cheered and jumped for joy, their eyes shining with a different kind of light.
They didn't realize it while they were acting, but after the performance, hearing the cheers from the audience, they felt a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that they had never experienced before.
It feels so good to be recognized!
These courtesans now really enjoy their performance job. If Chen Jiannan hadn't told them in advance to stop there, they would have kept performing!
Jing Zhe praised them a few more times, and the women left reluctantly, their words filled with excitement and satisfaction.
At this moment, Zhang Xiaoyu also came up.
"My husband is so thoughtful, integrating Wenxiangju with the newspaper office. From today onwards, I'm afraid many people will come to Wenxiangju to eat in order to watch the play, and Wenxiangju's business will rise along with the newspaper office!"
Jing Zhe smiled and nodded, saying, "Now we can launch some monthly subscription programs!"
"Monthly subscription plan?"
Chen Jiannan and Zhang Xiaoyu both asked curiously.
Jing Zhe nodded and then began to speak.
It's called a monthly subscription program, but it's really just a marketing tactic. For example, a ticket to see a play at the newspaper office costs fifty wen (a unit of currency), and two plays a day cost one liang (another unit of currency). They can offer a monthly subscription, so a ticket that would normally cost thirty liang can be sold for twenty liang.
Moreover, Wenxiangju and the newspaper are connected. People who have bought monthly passes for the newspaper can get a free jin of liquor at Wenxiangju. Customers who spend different amounts at Wenxiangju can get different newspaper tickets. In this way, the newspaper and Wenxiangju support each other and will surely achieve a good result!
After listening, Zhang Xiaoyu nodded repeatedly, her eyes filled with admiration. She thought to herself that if her husband wanted to, the title of the number one merchant in Anguo would definitely be his. However, he didn't seem to care!
After listening to Jing Zhe's instructions, Chen Jiannan went downstairs to take charge of the newspaper's work. At this moment, Zhang Xiaoyu asked, "Husband, when I went upstairs just now, I saw Sixth Sister running downstairs with Huaqin. She seemed to be in a hurry. What happened?"
Jing Zhe nodded and said, "Huaqin just said that something happened at the Zhou family's cloth shop. I was just about to go and take a look. Xiaoyu, would you like to come along?"
Zhang Xiaoyu shook her head and said, "No, I still need to look after Wenxiang Residence. Husband, you should go and take a look!"
"good!"
Jing Zhe agreed and walked out of Wenxiangju.
...
Before long, Jing Zhe arrived at the gate of the Zhou family's cloth shop—which was only separated from the Zhou residence by a wall.
However, compared to yesterday's quietness, there were significantly more people outside Zhou's Cloth Shop today.
Before Jing Zhe even got close, he heard a commotion.
"Boss Zhou, the payment for this goods has been overdue for more than a month. We absolutely cannot delay any longer today!"
"Yes, Mr. Zhou, if you don't pay soon, we're all going to go under!"
"If Boss Zhou doesn't pay us today, we're not leaving your fabric shop!"
"..."
The room was noisy and chaotic, and there were quite a few people gathered outside, so Jing Zhe couldn't squeeze in.
After listening outside for a while, he roughly understood that Zhou's cloth shop had bought raw materials from someone else but hadn't paid for them, and now someone was coming to collect the debt.
"Didn't we already agree on everything? The raw material costs were to be paid in advance after three months. It's only been a little over a month since we settled the accounts for the first three months. Why are you asking for money again? Besides, with a Zhou Family Fabric Shop as big as mine, would I need to delay paying you?"
It was Zhou Gui who spoke, and his voice sounded somewhat indignant.
"Boss Zhou, our small business can't compare to your Zhou Family Cloth Shop, it's huge!"
"Boss Zhou himself said, 'Your Zhou family's cloth shop is so big, why are you still delaying payment for our goods?'"
"Yes, settle the payment today!"
"..."
Zhou Gui was clearly angry. After a while, he said, "Don't you guys have any sense of rules? I already said that before, all payments were held for three months before being settled. It's only been one month, and you're already asking me to settle the payment in full?"
The person on the other end laughed immediately upon hearing this.
"Boss Zhou, things are different now! We've heard that Zhou Family Cloth Shop doesn't have much money left. If we don't settle now, what will we do in three months when Zhou Family Cloth Shop is gone?"
"..."
————
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