Chapter 88 Chapter 88 Returning to Hometown to Renovate the Shop
In previous years, I only went back to the old house in the countryside. Later, I brought my grandmother and the ancestral tablets to Bian Jing. I haven't been to the city for many years.
Baozhu and Aman sat in the carriage. The further north they went, the colder it got. It started snowing before they entered the city, and by the time they got there, the snow was up to their ankles. Along the street, except for the shops that were still open, there were no street vendors.
The couple first found a clean inn to stay in, and after they had a rest, they would talk about going to the shop tomorrow.
The Pei family has nine shops, six of which are located in Pingyang County. He hasn't been back for many years, and not much has changed in this small county. The last time Pei Yanqing sorted out the family's property was when he passed the imperial examination. At that time, Manager Wu treated him without expecting anything in return. He collected all the savings he had worked hard for half a lifetime, as well as the rent from the shops, in advance from each store and asked him to make connections in Bianjing.
Without family background and connections, one may never make it in his entire life. If one can use the popularity of passing the imperial examination this year to find connections, his future may be smoother.
He was not very old when his parents passed away, and those who were in charge were considered half-elders. Now that his life is better, it is not as pure as before.
Baozhu did not tell him that this might not be that simple, but let him figure it out for himself.
Pei Yanqing found the place according to the title deed. The shop had been repainted and tidied up. Baozhu looked at the account book and asked Aman to go in and ask the shopkeeper if the numbers matched.
She and Pei Yanqing went to ask the current rent prices of several similar-sized shops next door.
Pei's mother's family was in the spice business, and they had only one daughter, Pei Yanqing, in their old age. Before the old couple passed away, they gave all the shops in the family to their only daughter. When the business was good, the spice business was ranked among the best in the state capital. Since Pei Yanqing's parents passed away, the business has plummeted and the shops could no longer be sustained. Manager Wu found a way to rent out the shops with great difficulty, and the collection of rent and the daily management of the shops were also handed over to Manager Wu.
Baozhu went to ask several nearby shops about the current rent collection, but these people were very wary and thought they were trying to steal her business. They were hesitant and refused to tell her the truth, but Baozhu probably had an idea in mind.
The Pei family's shops were all located in good locations, but the account book showed that only one shop earned five strings of cash per month, or sixty strings of cash per year.
Seeing that these people refused to speak, Baozhu had no choice but to change the shop and ask what kind of shop she could rent nearby for five strings of cash a month. The shopkeeper looked at her like she was stupid and asked, "Five strings of cash?"
Seeing Baozhu nod, the shopkeeper sneered, "It doesn't cost money to set up a shack outside the city to do business."
Although it was ironic, Baozhu knew that the price was too low and it was impossible to rent a shop with five strings of cash.
A-man also came over. She went through all the six shops. Two of them were run by the shop owners who rented the shops and were doing business normally. As for the other four shops, the owners were vague or didn't know anything about them.
The shop with the best location was selling spices. She found out that the owner was a young man named Zhou.
"But he is only the nominal manager. There must be someone who is really in charge behind him." Aman was sure.
Baozhu looked around one by one and found that two shops were still doing spice business. Thinking of this, Baozhu went to the spice shop on this street to find out the current rental price of the shop.
"Madam, are you looking to rent a shop on Rongtai Street?" The housekeeper saw Baozhu pointing to the area near the city center and the government office on the map. He also saw that she was well-dressed, wearing a material not available elsewhere in the city, so he thought she was a big customer. "The front section of Rongtai Street would cost nearly thirty strings of cash a month, the middle section would cost a little over twenty strings of cash, and the narrower ones further out would cost around ten strings of cash."
Baozhu nodded thoughtfully. "I just went there and saw a spice shop in a nice location. I wonder how much the monthly rent would be for a shop like that?"
Fang Ya smiled and shook his head. "That shop isn't rented out. The business of a Mr. Pei, the first person in Pingyang County to pass the imperial examination in the past decade or so, is now managed by his family. They do business with the wealthy families in the city."
"Isn't the shop rented out?"
Fang Ya shook his head repeatedly. "That piece of land can make money just lying there, so why would they be willing to rent it out? It's officially run by an outsider, but in reality it's managed by the Pei family, and the owner's surname is Pei."
Seeing his confident look, Baozhu understood, "Since the shop has an owner, forget it. I'll take another look."
Fang Ya was polite. He had seen many people there and the couple looked very generous, not someone who was short of money. Even if they did not rent the shop today, he would still politely send them away and did not get angry because of the failure of this business deal.
Pei Yanqing wasn't stupid; he naturally believed everything Baozhu had told him. He just assumed that Manager Wu had simply gotten a little greedy after having an easy life in recent years. It wasn't until he carefully examined the account Baozhu handed him that he finally felt at peace.
He only needed to do a mental calculation to know how much the difference was in the accounts reported by Manager Wu every year. In the past, he only regarded those managers as half-elders, but he didn't expect to be deceived until now.
Baozhu saw that he was a little devastated. Perhaps he had realized all this in his heart for a long time, but just didn't want to think about it too much. He had never been loved by his elders since he was a child, and he didn't want to expose other people's big show, as if he could get a little comfort from it.
"Human nature is inherently selfish. Once you have your own family, you naturally focus on it. Money is a minor issue. I just hope you don't use your name to do anything harmful to the world."
"I always remember that Manager Wu is not such a person--" Pei Yanqing's voice trembled a little. It turned out that his past concerns were all fake.
Baozhu stood behind him, her hand gently caressing his back, and she tilted her umbrella towards him. "Let's go to the shop, and I'll ask for justice with you."
Although he looked calm, he was indeed hurt by these people. Thinking of the friendship they had held for so many years, he had to soften his heart, but Baozhu refused to see him being bullied.
Snowflakes fluttered down. Pei Yanqing looked at Baozhu with red eyes for a long time. Finally, he held her hand and smiled. "I didn't have such thoughts before, but now that someone truly loves me, it's not hard to let go of those false feelings."
He took the umbrella from Baozhu, tilted it towards her, put his arm around her shoulders, and the couple walked towards Rongtai Street together.
The sky and the earth are all white, except for this road, which has traces of deep and shallow marks left on it.
The Pei family has a total of nine shops, six of which are located on Rongtai Street, and three large shops are in the provincial capital. I definitely won’t be going to the provincial capital for the time being, so I just want to get to know the roads in Pingyang County first.
As we entered the shop, the clerk who was dozing behind the counter shivered in the cold wind and then began to greet us, "We have all kinds of spices in our store. You can look at them as much as you want, but you can't touch them with your hands."
First, they respect the shirt and then the person. The waiter saw that the man was well dressed and naturally did not dare to be arrogant. A'man, who had just come in to inquire, curled her lips at the waiter unhappily. When the waiter saw her, he knew that she was the person brought by these two people and pretended that the previous meeting had never happened.
Baozhu ignored him and asked him to call out the manager of the store.
The clerk shook his head with a bitter expression, "It's just unfortunate. It's cold and snowing, so the shop is quiet. The owner has gone home first."
"I'm not looking for your Manager Zhou, I'm looking for Manager Wu."
The waiter thought it was someone looking for trouble and gulped down his saliva in fear. "We don't have a Manager Wu... Manager Wu in our store. We only have Manager Zhou."
Pei Yanqing, with his dark face and tall stature, stared at him until his legs and feet felt weak. In the end, he didn't dare to speak. He stammered and called another clerk to watch the shop first, and then he stammered, "I... I'll go call our shopkeeper. You two wait a moment."
After saying that, he ran out.
Aman brought stools for them to sit on first. The silence in the store was a bit eerie. Someone who came to buy chili peppers on a cold day saw the situation, stuck his head in to take a look, and then left.
The guy was gone for a long time before returning, followed by a man wearing a dog-skin hat, about thirty years old, not tall, with a pair of bright eyes. He bowed and greeted before entering the door. Seeing that he didn't know these two people, he became even more confused. He just asked calmly,
"May I ask what you two are doing?"
"Where is your Manager Wu?"
The clerk looked innocent, perhaps truly unaware. "Boss, these two won't leave. They insist on looking for some Manager Wu. We've been running this shop for decades, and we've never heard of a Manager Wu."
When he said this, the shopkeeper Zhou's expression changed several times. Before he could say anything, he saw Baozhu glance at Aman. Aman straightened his chest and raised his head, took out the shop's title deed and slapped it on the counter.
Shopkeeper Zhou was speechless, then smiled and said, "So you two are talking about Manager Wu. The original lease for this shop was signed with Manager Wu. The rent was five taels of silver per year, and the lease was for thirty years."
Ah Man spoke at the right moment, "Please take out the lease contract and show it to my wife."
Manager Zhou searched for a long time before he found a yellowed lease and handed it to Pei Yanqing. Pei Yanqing's face turned cold at the first sight of it. The date on the lease was just a few days after Pei Yanqing's parents passed away.
What's more, the shop has been doing spice business all these years. He had seen the business of the shop before and thought that the shop was related to the spice business. But it turned out that he knew all the businessmen who had cooperated with Pei's mother in business back then, so he had a way to purchase goods. The spice business had been doing in the local area for many years, and he had customers and some people had connections. Naturally, for Manager Yu Wu, the spice business was more profitable.
With only five strings of cash a month, the Pei family's business became the Wu family's. Because of that touch of tenderness, he never wanted to think too much about it, but now that he saw it from this perspective, there was nothing he didn't understand.
When my parents passed away and my grandmother fell seriously ill, no one had the energy to manage the family business. A few months later, Wu Rong came to report that several shops were no longer doing business and people were causing trouble every day. My grandmother's heart was all on him at that time, and she only hoped that he could make a name for himself. These businesses were still her daughter-in-law's business, so she didn't want to interfere. So she agreed to Wu Rong's words and rented out all the shops at a low price.
At that time, Wu Rongke only said that he signed a three-year lease, but no one cared about it later, and this low-price lease continued for three years until today.
These things simply cannot withstand scrutiny. In the past, Pei Yanqing just didn't want to think about them. But now, what is there to be unclear about? Just looking at Shopkeeper Zhou, he almost thinks he can be cleared of all charges.
"I heard that Manager Wu had found a wife for me in the city. The girl had no relatives and only had a young nephew to rely on for support."
Shopkeeper Zhou's face changed again and again. Pei Yanqing's voice was flat and there was clearly no threat in his words, but he was so frightened that he was shaking in his heart. His heart was weak and he was exposed to many flaws.
"Go and call the man over, and tell him I called him."
Shopkeeper Zhou felt relieved and wiped the sweat from his forehead as soon as he went out.
The Pei family was shattered, yet this steward Wu was still sucking blood and expanding his family. Baozhu found it quite ironic. When Pei Yanqing passed the imperial examination, this steward Wu acted very pleased and brought over a dozen taels of silver in his tattered purse.
Later, Wu Rong begged for mercy for his son, saying that the child had some talent in studying. Pei Yanqing did not object, and said that he had worked hard over the years, so it would be better to give him some money so that they could escape from slavery and start some small business to live a stable life. Wu Rong came to Bian Jing to find him a few days later, and knelt down and kowtowed, refusing to be released. In the past, Pei's mother treated him with great kindness and vowed to guard his property until he was old. Pei Yanqing trusted him even more from then on, and even asked his classmates in the academy to help him, but it turned out that all this was done for show.
Apart from the breakfast meal, Baozhu had not eaten anything yet. She was not in a hurry and went to the noodle shop next door to eat a bowl of noodles each. After filling her stomach, she returned to the spice shop.
I don't know where Shopkeeper Zhou found Wu Rong. His clothes were disheveled and he wanted to kneel down when he saw Pei Yanqing. This time, Pei Yanqing did not stop him.
"I used to call you Uncle Wu, treating you like a half-elder. What should I call you from now on?"
Wu Rong was sweating profusely in the freezing weather. He then listened to him ask, "Last year, I asked you to sell a few shops and lands to buy a house in Bianjing. I wonder if these properties are now owned by the Wu family."
The little kid who hugged his legs and cried heart-wrenchingly back then has grown up, and a single look from him can scare his legs limp. He has been accumulating wealth over the years, and was a little scared at first, but the longer time passed, the less he felt, as if all those properties were his. Seeing Pei Yanqing's trust in him, he was even more fearless. It's not that he hadn't thought about something happening, but he thought that with his position in Pei Yanqing's heart, he would not do anything to him even if something happened.
"I..." Wu Rong slapped himself hard, "I deserve to die - I'm sorry, brother, I was blinded by greed..."
"Brother Yan..."
He called him as he did before, trying to find a crack in Pei Yanqing's cold and hard expression, but unfortunately he could only see the growing disgust.
"After all, past relationships don't last long. For the sake of our past friendship, Manager Wu, please take your family and leave the city. From now on, you will have no further ties with the Pei family." Baozhu paused. "The Pei family can return your indenture and provide you with some travel expenses."
If he left here, all his business over the years would be in vain. No! He would not leave, as he had not yet spent all the money he had earned.
Wu Rong raised his red head from kowtow and looked at Baozhu with hatred in his eyes. He felt that this incident must have happened because of this woman's talkativeness. Seeing Baozhu wanted to look at him, he immediately started kowtow again and pretended to be stupid. Apart from crying and apologizing, he could not utter a word.
Pei Yanqing looked at Baozhu's back. She gave Wu Rong a chance on his behalf, but this man did not cherish it.
Baozhu turned around and took his hand, "Forget it, the things left behind by your parents and them are your thoughts, not his."
After she finished speaking, Pei Yanqing suddenly understood. He pulled Baozhu and turned around and left without looking back. A'man snorted coldly behind him and followed him.
Shopkeeper Zhou pulled up the man who was kneeling on the ground like a stray dog. The man had been kneeling for so long that he could no longer stand steadily. Before Shopkeeper Zhou could get closer to say something to him, a slap landed hard on his face.
After Wu Rong vented the anger in his heart and calmed down, he limped out of the door.
He was still pondering in his mind what Baozhu meant by "forget it". He would return all the business from the shops. As long as he returned it, according to his brother's personality, he would definitely not blame him.
Definitely.
At first he thought that this matter was over, but the more he thought about it while lying in bed at night, the more anxious he became. He suddenly got up in the middle of the night, asked the servants to clean up the house, and asked the doorman to go to the academy to call back his son who was studying there. Then he began to pack up his gold and silver jewelry.
His scalp began to tingle. He didn't know what Yan Ge'er did when he was an official, but he knew from the look in his eyes today that he must be trying to kill an official. Just looking at that look made him feel scared. How could such a person let him go?
Wu Rong didn't expect it to come so soon. It was cold at that time of year, and he was unwilling to travel a long distance no matter how much money he paid for a carriage. He was planning to take his family out of the city in his carriage first, but he didn't expect to be blocked at home by a group of yamen runners.
Stealing the master's property and plotting to take over the master's property...
No matter which charge it was, it was not a light one. Pei Yanqing and Baozhu followed the yamen runners and watched the Wu family members being taken away one by one. Even the Pei family did not live a luxurious life with servants at their beck and call, but Wu Rong acted like a tycoon.
A few days after this incident, the yamen runners came to report that Wu Rong had bought a house in the city to support a mistress. Fortunately, Manager Wu was afraid of being caught borrowing money from the Pei family and making money for himself, so he didn't dare to cause any trouble, fearing that Pei Yanqing would find out. Therefore, he didn't do anything harmful under the name of the Pei family.
After all, Pei Yanqing is now the chief official in the yamen. He has been there for a long time and naturally understands the law. He only said that according to the laws of this dynasty, the confiscated property will be returned to the master's family, and only the illegal income will be confiscated by the government. The main culprit will be tattooed and exiled 3,000 miles away, the accomplice will be tattooed and exiled 2,000 miles away, and the rest will serve three years of hard labor.
Manager Zhou was also arrested. Two of the six shops on Rongtai Street were rented out, two of which were engaged in rice business, and the rest were engaged in spice business. In the absence of the manager, the shop assistants were in a panic.
Baozhu was very good at dealing with these things. Regardless of the shop, she would gather all the clerks and accountants together for an assessment. She would first explain that whoever passed the assessment would be the general manager of these shops. She also appointed two deputy managers. The general manager would receive five strings of cash a month, and the deputy manager would receive three strings of cash a month.
This is the advantage of a small place. Five strings of cash is nothing in Bianjing City, but here, it is enough for these guys to show off their skills.
The assessment is also simple. All matters in the store, from sweeping and cleaning to purchasing and accounting, must be compared. The one with the highest score can become the manager.
After three days of comparison, the chief manager was finally a very careful accountant from a grain and oil shop. The two deputy managers were: one was a clerk from another spice shop, who was more lively and had many ideas; the other was also a clerk from a grain and oil shop, who was down-to-earth and meticulous in his work.
After promoting these three, naturally, some of the people who passed the assessment were no longer suitable to stay in the shop. After dismissing four unreliable employees, he said to the remaining employees, "If you have good connections, please recommend someone to work in the shop. First, we will prioritize relatives of our own employees."
As soon as this was said, the guys immediately went back to inform the others that nowadays, let alone finding a stable job, even finding a job that pays is not easy. There is a shop on the front street that only provides three meals a day for work, but still many people go there.
New guys naturally have to be assessed, but basically they all pass. After all, it is the boss who recruits people. If they introduce unreliable people, they will not only be accused of being unreliable. What's more, the boss said that if they perform well in the future, they will get a red envelope at the end of the year. There are assessments for managers and deputy managers every year. If they pass, they will continue the assessment next year. If they don't pass, they will still select those with good performance from among them for assessment. If they pass, they may become managers or deputy managers!
Baozhu set revenue targets for the four shops. If the targets were achieved this year, the employees in all the shops would receive an extra month's wages.
This will make it even more difficult to recommend unreliable people to work in the shop. If they bring trouble to the shop, they will lose a month's red envelope during the Chinese New Year and will be ridiculed by those who have received the red envelope.
After this matter was done, Pei Yanqing hadn't come back to visit for a long time. Baozhu was quite interested in his hometown. Before leaving, she told both families that she wanted to go back to her hometown in Hedong. The New Year was coming soon, and she would definitely not be able to go back before the New Year after staying here for so long. The two of them decided to go back to the old house to celebrate the New Year. This year was the first year of their marriage, and they should kowtow to the deceased.
I haven't been back for a long time, and only two people are left to guard the old house. The old house is in Qingshan Village outside the city, nestled in the mountains and beside the water. The village not far away is full of people with the surname Pei, with a few foreign surnames mixed in occasionally.
There weren't many outsiders; most of them were descendants of the Pei family. The clan school was also in the village. It was built by a relative who was an official in Beijing. It was here that Pei Yanqing first learned his lessons as a child. As they walked, Pei Yanqing pointed out the books to Baozhu.
Baozhu asked him where he played as a child, but he couldn't answer. Baozhu then remembered that when he was a child, he was afraid to study and couldn't run around and play.
"But there is a small stream there. In summer, I often go to the stream to read." Pei Yanqing pointed in the direction, and the next moment Baozhu saw the stream covered with snow.
After crossing the bridge, we rode for a while before arriving at a rather grand house.
This is where the difference between people lies. Even if Pei Yanqing and Grandma Pei are not at home, the house is still kept spotless.
Seeing Pei Yanqing coming back, the old doorman recognized him at once, and his eyes instantly turned red. Another old woman, who was also a bit old, squinted her eyes and looked at him again and again.
"Is Brother Yan back?"
They are all old, and the journey to Bian Jing is long. The world outside is vast and the sky is big. Her brother is capable, and she thinks she only has a few years left to live. She is afraid that she will never see him again in this life.
The old woman who was a little blind saw Baozhu and wanted to greet her. Baozhu and Pei Yanqing supported her on both sides. The old woman's voice was choked with sobs, and she kept praising Baozhu in many ways.
As soon as they came back and informed, Baozhu and Pei Yanqing went to burn incense and add dust to the deceased's body before even unloading the things from the carriage. When they came back, they saw that the old lady who cleaned the house had already made the bed. The quilt was often dried in the sun and was fluffy and soft.
This mansion is magnificent, but it is not very popular. It is already the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, but the house is still quiet. Apart from two window grilles, there is no sign of the New Year.
Thinking of returning to the old house to celebrate the New Year, before returning from the city, he looked for a few shops that were still open and bought a lot of peach charms, window decorations, New Year pictures, etc. Pei Yanqing knew that the old doorman loved wine, so he specially bought a few jars of good wine. Even if they left after the New Year, these wines would still be enough for him to drink for a long time.
A lot of food and snacks were also bought. Baozhu went to the kitchen and saw that there were only meat and vegetables for ancestor worship, nothing else.
Pei Yanqing unloaded the things from the carriage one by one. Baozhu looked through everything but didn't see any fish. The old lady who was sweeping the floor took off her apron and was about to go out to buy some, but Pei Yanqing stopped her.
"No, I'll take my wife to the river to see if I can catch a few."
Pei Yanqing looked confident, and Baozhu was also eager to try it out. The two walked along the stream for about a quarter of an hour before they reached the river where the stream merged. The ice was already frozen solid at this time of year. In addition to those who were fishing by breaking ice on the river, there were also children skating on ice skates. It was the end of the year and it was the slack season for farmers, so everyone came out to play.
Someone recognized Pei Yanqing, and many people came over to greet him and invited him to their home for dinner in the evening. As for the maids and aunts, they all gathered around Baozhu and praised her like a flower.
Pei Yanqing hadn't been back for a long time, so he naturally wanted to eat at home today. He politely declined the invitation from the villagers and took Baozhu to a less crowded ice surface to start chiseling ice.
He made a solemn promise, but in the end, he couldn't even break the ice without help. Baozhu was about to laugh at him when someone brought fish. "Just came back, try to see if the fish at home is more delicious than the fish in Bianjing."
The villagers were very hospitable. One family gave two fish, another family gave two pieces of tofu, and another family gave a handful of coriander. By the evening, the kitchen was full of vegetables. The mother-in-law who used to send vegetables to clean the house always refused to accept them. Even if she accepted them, she would ask for more expensive gifts in return. Over time, no one sent vegetables anymore. This time when Pei Yanqing came back, there was really no vegetables at home, so she accepted the vegetables people sent.
After receiving them, he began to prepare return gifts one by one.
Baozhu's hands were red from the cold outside, and since there were no outsiders at home, Pei Yanqing huddled with her and stretched out his hands to warm them under the stove. The two elderly people left in the old house rarely left the house all year round, and with no one at home, they were even less willing to bother cooking.
"Maybe I'll be back next year. Grandma, please prepare some more delicious dishes for next year."
In the evening, there were meat, fish, chicken and duck on the table. Each of the four people poured a glass of wine and drank it after raising their glasses. The wine here was very strong. It tasted extremely spicy when it first took a sip, and only after tasting it did they feel a slight sweetness on the tip of their tongue.
The matter with the shop in the city has been resolved, but there is still the matter in the village. It is not easy to settle the accounts during the year, so Baozhu is thinking of settling this matter tomorrow, the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month.
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