Chapter 192
192
The news that Lord Cheng funded the Du family to expand the sugar factory spread. It was said that Lord Cheng also gave the Du family a recipe for making white sugar. Although they had never eaten white sugar, they heard that the white sugar was as fine and white as snow, and its price was comparable to gold.
Cheng Yeran wanted to laugh after hearing these rumors. How could white sugar be priced the same as gold? Even if that price was set, it would not be sold.
But the wider the spread, the better. Just think of it as giving sugar for free.
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They were all wondering what the Du family had done to earn the favor of Lord Cheng. Did they give money? Or is there someone missing?
They thought of Du Fengchen's appearance. He was one of the most handsome men in the city and was also talented. It was said that he lived in the yamen after becoming a constable. Could it be that Lord Cheng kept him as his mistress? Lord Cheng actually liked this kind of woman. It was a pity that they didn't have a handsome son of their own and could not offer their own son to the yamen like Old Du did?
If there is no one, then spend more money and focus on giving gifts.
When Lord Lin was in power, he would hold a birthday party every year, and also ask them to give gifts on various festivals. It would cost tens of thousands of taels each time, and in a year he would have to give more than 100,000 or 200,000 taels.
Although the amount of money they paid was a lot, they had no choice but to accept their fate since they had paid it to ensure their safety. Otherwise, they would be like those merchants who were unwilling to curry favor with Magistrate Lin and were raided by Magistrate Lin using various means. They would not only die but also lose their money.
If they give money to Lord Cheng now, they might even get a prescription from him, which would not only ensure their safety but also make them rich, which would make them even happier.
Everybody put in a lot of effort, and everyone contributed 50,000 or 60,000 taels of silver. Some even gave more than 100,000 taels of silver.
Cheng Yeran didn't expect that they would bring so many gifts. He thought that a gift of several hundred taels would be good enough for each person, and then he would choose suitable candidates to support from among these people. He didn't expect that they would give so much gift money.
A lot of people came this time, including businessmen from the city and several county towns. The threshold is not high, as long as you open a restaurant you can come here. Of course, those who run small restaurants or set up small stalls don’t need to come and join in the fun.
There are four top-level businessmen. In addition to Lao Du who runs a sugar factory, there are Lao Chen who runs a sand factory, Lao Li who runs a brick factory, and Lao Liu who runs a dyeing workshop.
These are the four major families in the city. The rest of the merchants earn far less than them, but they also gave red envelopes of several thousand taels.
When they entered, they paid their gifts at the door. Someone wrote the gifts on a piece of red paper. This is the custom here. Cheng Yeran calculated that the total amount was more than 300,000 taels.
Cheng Yeran set up seven or eight tables in the yard, all of which were full of people. He, Shen Yuntang and Cheng Zhao sat at the main table.
Although Cheng Zhao is still a child, Cheng Yeran brought him here because he wanted him to see more of the world from a young age.
Before the meal started, Cheng Yeran said, "Let me say a few words first."
Cheng Zhao immediately sat up straight like a little adult, and his several little servants also sat up straight.
The merchants who came here saw the five children on the main seat and thought that those children were Cheng Yeran’s children. They then secretly looked at Shen Yuntang next to them. Shen Yuntang was really fertile.
The wife in their family lost her figure and became old and tired after giving birth. However, Shen Yuntang still looked so young and beautiful with a good figure. It seemed that she took a lot of expensive supplements on a daily basis. Officials are rich.
They turned their eyes to Cheng Yeran again, hoping that Cheng Yeran could give them some benefits.
But then I thought, could Lord Cheng still have four or five prescriptions in his hand? It's good enough to have some sugar. I guess they were called here just to receive red envelopes.
However, they did not regret giving the red envelopes just now. They just regarded it as spending money to buy peace. They kept a good impression in front of Lord Cheng, and hoped that Lord Cheng would not embarrass them in the future.
In the past, when Lord Lin invited them over for dinner, he would also give long speeches, which were all useless nonsense. They sounded nice but were of no use.
They were all prepared to daydream and wait for the applause after the event, but then they heard Cheng Yeran talking about building not just one school, but three.
What is the purpose of building so many schools? Make money?
In the past, Lord Lin increased taxes in order to make money. Now, Lord Cheng is making money by building schools?
It seems that they need to donate money to build the school. So they should donate the money. What else can they do? Their lives are in the hands of the officials. Are they trying to kill themselves by going against Lord Cheng?
In the past, there was a merchant in the city who was richer than all of them. He was also stubborn and refused to bribe Lord Lin. Lord Lin then found an excuse to confiscate his property.
But now they regret having given too many red envelopes just now. They just gave big red envelopes, and now they are asked to donate money again. It seems that they will have to bleed heavily today.
Cheng Yeran said to the bosses of the brick factory and the sand factory, "We will use your bricks and sand for the school. I heard you have workers who can help build the house? The school will be directly contracted to you two."
When they heard this, Cheng Yeran meant that they didn't need to pay money, but they had to provide manpower and resources.
The two were just feeling the pain when they heard Cheng Yeran say, "Write down how much materials and labor costs were used and go to the government office to claim reimbursement."
"Reimbursement?" Can they still get money from the government? This, this is not a dream, right?
"If I don't reimburse you, do I have to pay for it?" Cheng Yeran said with a smile, "It can be considered as your contribution. You donated a lot of money just now. When the time comes, I will erect a monument at the school gate with your names on it."
Donate money? What they just gave was a red envelope, how did it become a donation?
They were still confused when they heard Cheng Yeran mention what these three schools were doing.
"One school is a government-run school. It has nursery classes and adult classes. The nursery class is for children as old as my child, and the adult class is for students who have reached the level of scholar or above." Cheng Yeran had just received a teacher from the capital two days ago. The two of them chatted for a while and found out that the teacher was very knowledgeable and it would be a waste for him to only teach children.
Cheng Yeran was planning to let him be the dean, but he couldn't be too tired. After teaching the children on weekdays, he would give two open classes a week and train other teachers.
The merchants below nodded, but did not take it seriously. Their children could not take the imperial examination, so it had nothing to do with them. The fact that more students passed the examination was considered the achievement of Lord Cheng.
Cheng Yeran talked about the second school: "This second school is specially designed to select talents for the government. As long as you can successfully complete the study, you will have the opportunity to work in the government. Both girls and boys can come here to study and have the opportunity to work in the government in the future. Even if you don't work in the government, you can stay in the school and work."
Cheng Yeran was going to add more departments in the government office. In the future, there would be a great shortage of manpower and talent training would be urgently needed. However, in order to get more people to send their children here, he said that the number of places was limited, so that they would have a sense of crisis and would be anxious to send their children to school. "As donors, your children will be given priority in school. Each of your families will be given three places. They can be your own children or nephews and nieces. If you want to send more than three children to school, you must take a unified exam."
When they heard that they could work in the government, they were all excited. Once they entered the government, their status would be different. Their own children could not pass the imperial examinations to become officials, but working in the government would be just as glorious and prestigious.
But why did Lord Cheng specifically mention that boys and girls can also go to school? And they also said that they could get jobs in government offices after graduation? This is totally against the rules. How can a girl work in the government?
Could it be that Lord Cheng has other intentions? Is there another meaning to working in the government?
They looked at Cheng Yeran secretly. They had heard before that Cheng Yeran had no concubines and only one husband.
Could it be that Lord Cheng wants to pick some beauties from the city for his own enjoyment? Since his husband doesn't allow him to take a concubine, he cheats in the government office under other pretexts?
With their status, it would be considered marrying up for their children to become Cheng Yeran's concubine. According to Lord Cheng, their children cannot enter the Cheng family's backyard, but it would be good if they could get an official position in the government.
While Cheng Yeran was speaking, they were already recalling in their minds which of their brothers or daughters were pretty and smart, and would send them to school when the time came.
Cheng Yeran didn't know what they were thinking, and was afraid that they would not send their daughters and sons to school, so he emphasized, "Everyone who has daughters and sons, try to send them to school."
After hearing what Cheng Yeran said, they thought that Lord Cheng was really impatient and it seemed that he was too depressed.
They are all men and think they understand Lord Cheng's thoughts. Even if they have such a handsome husband at home, they will go out and find a few more to change their taste.
Cheng Yeran mentioned the third school: "For this third school, I plan to cooperate with my husband's factory."
"Cooperation?" The people below came back to their senses and turned their eyes to Shen Yuntang.
Shen Yuntang continued after Cheng Yeran said, "I plan to open a clothing factory in the city. Employees must go to school for training before entering the factory. The training is divided into three subjects: design, embroidery, and sewing machine technology."
"In addition to the garment factory, I plan to cooperate with Mr. Liu's dyeing workshop for fabrics. We will provide the dyes, and you can
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The dyeing workshop dyes the fabrics needed by the garment factory. "Shen Yuntang looked at Boss Liu.
When Boss Liu was mentioned, he was stunned for a moment. Like Boss Du before, he was a little confused and didn't understand what he meant.
Shen Yuntang took out a few pieces of fabric and said, "The colors of our fabrics are unique. I hope to cooperate with your dyeing workshop. Does Boss Liu have any objection?"
"No problem!" Boss Liu recognized the colors of the fabrics at a glance. These were the most popular fabric colors in Beijing. He didn't expect that they were dyed by Shen Yuntang. Now Shen Yuntang even wanted to give him the dye. What a great thing!
The dyes were bought from the future. This world does not have so many colors yet, and they cannot be researched out. Shen Yuntang originally wanted to open his own dyeing workshop, but when he heard Cheng Yeran mention supporting local merchants, he thought of a way to cooperate.
"Your dyeing workshop also needs to be expanded, and our family will invest in it. Just like what Boss Du asked, you need to recruit more local people as employees, and the salary cannot be lower than the level I set. Employees must also have holidays and welfare benefits. If you agree to all of these, then you can decide whether to cooperate with us." Cheng Yeran wanted to standardize the welfare benefits of local workers and not let them be exploited by these businessmen.
Boss Liu thought that since Lao Du had agreed to Mr. Cheng's conditions, it meant that this was a good deal, so he nodded quickly, "I agree to whatever Mr. Cheng says."
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