Chapter 124 Business This time she really wants to leave the kitchen
Song Jin had stayed at Ji Shubai's house for more than one or two days before, and at first he had brought his family with him to stay here. It didn't seem wrong to stay there for a while longer, so he readily agreed.
She was really sleepy.
Ji Shubai accompanied her and walked slowly inside.
"What are your plans for the future?"
"What are you going to do?"
Ji Shubai said: "Now you are more than just a shopkeeper. I see that Master Zhang is very interested in you and invites you to give a class. Why did you refuse just now?"
Song Jin smiled and said, "It's not that I don't want to teach, but I don't have much knowledge. I may be able to handle it once or twice, but if I teach more, I will inevitably be exposed."
"Then you dare to come today?"
Song Jin said, "Aren't you here? As long as the prefect doesn't come, even if you are the boss, who can offend you?"
Ji Shubai laughed after hearing this: "So that's how it is."
Song Jin said that he didn't dare to go, but he was making plans for the future in his heart.
Mrs. Chai was right. If she was content to stay in the kitchen, she would never be able to sit at the table in her life. If she wanted to sit at the table, now was an opportunity, but how should she do it specifically?
As she was thinking, she inevitably didn't pay attention to the road. She stepped on the mud outside the gravel road and slipped. She fell back and then felt a pair of large hands grab her arms and hold her steady.
"Are you okay?"
Song Jin turned to look at Ji Shubai blankly: "It's okay."
She wanted to be busy, but there was nothing.
Song Jin thought that he was too quick and didn't let himself hit him on the chest so that he could take advantage of him, but for now he could only say that he was fine and keep walking forward.
"I think you can think about it carefully after you go back. Maybe I can help you with this matter."
As Ji Shubai was talking, he suddenly noticed that Song Jin had fallen behind. He turned around and walked closer: "What's wrong with you? I see that you are a little absent-minded. Are you too sleepy?"
Song Jin shook his head blankly and took a step forward, but he stepped into the mud again and fell forward.
This time it finally hit Ji Shubai's chest solidly, making a dull thud.
Song Jin lacked experience and hit her nose. Unfortunately, despite all her efforts, she still couldn't feel Ji Shubai's chest muscles.
It was too cold in winter, and Ji Shubai was wearing a goatskin coat. If one's face was pressed against it, one could not feel his chest underneath.
Song Jin moved reluctantly, but still couldn't feel that muscle.
This guy, is his height and face the only thing he can show off? How can he not have pectoral muscles with such broad shoulders?
Song Jin didn't touch any muscles, so he had to raise his face. His eyes were wet with tears and his face was full of disappointment.
Ji Shubai only saw Song Jin rushing towards him. Before he could help the man up, he noticed the head on his chest nodding, then raised itself up while crying, with a sobbing tone in its voice.
"My nose hurts."
"I will send for the medical officer."
Song Jin pulled him back and said, "It's New Year's Day, forget it."
It's embarrassing. I should have done it in the summer.
I planned to take advantage of someone twice, but never got to eat him. How embarrassing.
Covering her nose, Song Jin followed Ji Shubai into a small courtyard. It was bigger than the one she lived in before. There was a large living room at the entrance and a double screen door on the right. The door was open and Song Jin could see the tables and chairs inside.
Ji Shubai gestured to her: "The bed you slept on last year had thin bedding, so please sleep here today."
Song Jin gossiped, "This doesn't look like a makeshift place. Who lives here?"
Ji Shubai smiled and sat on the couch in the middle: "Is this hard to guess?"
Song Jin realized that this was his bedroom.
"Do you mind?"
Ji Shubai wasn't sure whether she was willing to sleep, but Song Jin almost took off his clothes on the spot.
"I don't mind, thank you."
After saying that, he walked in, closed the door, undressed, and got into bed in one go.
Smelling the familiar aroma, Song Jin felt satisfied and secretly sighed that this was a very particular person. He left Ji Shubai alone outside with a frown on his brow.
He couldn't help but touch his chest which was a little painful from being hit, and thought of the two times she arched her back, and laughed dumbly. He heard a noise coming from inside the room, which soon died down. He wanted to ask if the bedding was too thin and if he wanted to add another bed, but he thought she should have taken off her clothes, and it would be inappropriate to knock on the door at this time.
Sitting outside didn't seem to be a good place to go.
Song Jin slept until nearly the morning hour, and when he got dressed and went out, he saw Ji Shubai still sitting in the living room, reading a book in his hands.
"woke up?"
Song Jin's mind was still confused: "Yeah."
"Should we finish eating before leaving, or go back to eat?"
Song Jin looked at the sky, then touched his stomach. He was not hungry at all: "I'll go back and eat."
"Then I'll send a sedan chair to take you there."
The conversation couldn't be more ordinary, like that of old friends who have known each other for a long time.
Song Jin followed Ji Shubai out of the yard, and before getting into the sedan chair, he reminded her: "Don't forget Lihua Street on the Lantern Festival."
"I remember that."
When it was getting dark, Song Jin returned to the food shop in high spirits, but even more energetic were the group of people guarding the shop.
In the afternoon, the Chai family sent a lot of gifts.
That afternoon, the shop was a little quiet, and everyone had nothing to do, so they sat around and talked. Suddenly, Manager Song came with a group of young servants in blue clothes, each carrying a load on their shoulders. After they arrived, they parked their things in the shop without saying a word.
Manager Song sent a message, saying that this was a gift from his wife to Shopkeeper Lu, and asked Old Lu to accept it on his behalf, and also left a message:
"If you have any questions in the future, Shopkeeper Lu, please feel free to ask."
They had never seen Manager Song so polite before. They bowed their heads and thanked him. After the others left, they looked inside and found that there were fine silk fabrics and high-grade tea. They couldn't help but think that something unusual must have happened to Song Jin today. So they wanted to wait for her to come back and ask her about it. As a result, they waited until dark.
"Why did you stay at the Ji family for so long today? What happened?"
"Yeah, what happened between you and Master Ji?"
"Shopkeeper, aren't you at Lord Ji's house? Why did the Chai family send so many gifts? What happened between you and Lord Ji?"
......
Song Jin looked at the baskets of gifts and couldn't help but think that Chai Heng was also at the table today. Mrs. Chai must have done this with Chai Heng's instructions. Then she thought of Ji Shubai's proposal to her and Mrs. Chai's promise.
She needs to think about the future.
"Mrs. Chai appreciates me and wants to do business with me, and do big business."
Song Jin threw down a sentence and ran straight into his bedroom without caring how many questions everyone had.
Not long after, Dujuan and Chunyun brought in the satins in batches and piled them all on the bed.
The colorful and red colors are dazzling.
Song Jin stared at the gifts in a daze, thinking silently in his mind.
This time the gifts were different from the previous ones, and the gifts from the Chai family were definitely not given randomly.
Once upon a time, Song Jin went to work as a kitchen servant in the Chai family. Because she had to perform tea art for the Imperial Censor, Chai Heng disliked her shabby clothes and so made her a set of cloth clothes.
Later, she got to know Ji Shubai and went to help in the kitchen at the Ji family. The Chai family was always very generous in rewarding her.
The last time she made a small splash, Madam Chai gave her silver and clothes so that she wouldn't be shabby today.
But what was sent now was a lot of silk and high-quality tea, which were not suitable for a cook to enjoy, especially the satin. No one would wear silk clothes while cooking.
She thought, this time she was really going to leave the kitchen.
"Do you have any ideas?" Dujuan sat beside her and asked her softly.
There must be a reason why the Chai family gave such a generous gift.
Song Jin came back to his senses and smiled: "I do want to do business with Madam Chai, but I haven't decided what to do yet."
"Are we doing business with Mrs. Chai?"
"Um."
Du Juan thought for a moment and said, "The Chai family has a lot of business. I heard they also do overseas business. Every year they ship goods to Siam. Large ships go through the Taihu Lake. When they come back, the ships are even heavier. The goods inside are either silver, spices or jewelry. I heard they are sold at very high prices."
Song Jin thought of opening the Longqing Port, which would have to enter the sea from Yuegang, Zhangzhou, but he heard that not everyone could do this business. You need a permit, which is limited. Whoever gets this permit will get rich.
When the Ming Dynasty was first established, Shen Wansan made his fortune through overseas trade and became the richest man in the Ming Dynasty. However, the richest people often end up in a bad way.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was Shen Wansan, and in the Qing Dynasty, there was Hu Xueyan. Once you become the richest man, you can't keep a low profile or not take sides. You are simply a moving target, and everyone wants to take a bite from you. This is why wealthy businessmen always like to build schools and sponsor candidates to take exams in Beijing.
If the bet is successful and a high-ranking official is elected, it is equivalent to investing in advance. Officials and businessmen are one and they can protect peace together.
Song Jin thought that the reason why Chai Heng had such a huge fortune was closely related to his brother in Beijing. Now there was also Ji Shubai in Suzhou, and he himself was a juren, so his blood relationship must be very deep.
If she wanted to find a partner, there was no one more suitable than the Chai family.
Just what to do?
This question troubled Song Jin all night.
If she were to give lectures, her knowledge of astronomy and geography would not be enough to sustain her for long, and there would be a risk of her identity being exposed.
Selling chestnuts, preserved eggs, mosquito coils and milk tea will be physical work in the future, which is no longer suitable for her. What else can she do?
English.
Song Jin thought about it all night and finally came up with an answer that surprised him.
Traveling back to Ming Dynasty to teach English is both absurd and reasonable.
If she remembered correctly, Matteo Ricci would arrive in Macau this year and begin to learn Chinese. In the future, more Westerners would come to China, and the Chinese would go west, and the spread of Western learning to the East would begin.
With a large number of Western books entering China, translation and reading has become a difficult task. What if she starts training English in advance?
Song Jin kept boasting that he was a genius.
She studied English a lot for her work, and her knowledge base is much richer than the fact that the earth is round. Maybe she can even become a diplomat in the future.
When she thought of this, Song Jin became extremely excited and wished that day would come immediately. She wanted to go to the Chai family to find Mrs. Chai and she had even thought of her students.
Baobao.
Just need to be tamed.
Song Jin did not sleep all night. She got up and washed at dawn, and asked Du Juan to help her comb her hair. She put on the women's dress that Ji Shu gave her, and added a sachet. Meng Qi called a sedan chair for her, and she went to the Chai family with Meng Qi.
Mrs. Chai did not expect that after being polite to her yesterday, she would come to the hall today. She did not neglect her but came out to meet her with a smile on her face.
"Manager Lu looks a little different today." She was referring to Song Jin's outfit. It was the first time she saw her wearing women's T-shirt.
Song Jin smiled and said, "Because I want to discuss some different business with my wife today."
"Oh, what business?" Mrs. Chai did not take it seriously, but she felt that this person was too impatient.
“I want to teach foreign languages to Bao Bao.”
Song Jin explained to her.
Nowadays, overseas business is getting bigger and bigger, and language barriers are a problem. I also heard that overseas missionaries have been trying to enter China. If they come, they will not come empty-handed. Foreign languages will become a rare thing, and whoever understands them will be the most powerful.
Mrs. Chai was a little reluctant to agree. After all, the court already had interpreters who were specifically responsible for translation, and there were not so many foreigners coming at the moment. What was the point of learning this thing?
Song Jin explained that more and more people from the Ming Dynasty were going abroad to do business, so didn't the people from outside want to come in? Besides, the silk business had always had many overseas buyers, and how many people could understand what the green-eyed curly-haired man was saying in private?
I also heard that the Chai family had a ship going out to sea. Besides bringing back gems and spices, couldn't they also bring back some books? When a group of young ladies sat together, everyone else knew poetry and songs, but Bao Bao was the only one who could talk about Western literature. Not only among the young ladies, but even on the streets of Suzhou, she would probably be the only one who could do it.
When Mrs. Chai heard this, her hand that was fiddling with the tea lid stopped.
She did not like reading and was not good at writing poetry. Before she got married, she was often laughed at by other girls for not having enough ink in her belly to absorb into the ink of a brush. Fortunately, Chai Heng did not plan to find a wife with great literary talent, so he did not mind this.
But her bodyguard...
"How are you going to prove you can?"
Mrs. Chai was moved.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
