Zhenniang: The Three of Us (Twenty-Nine)
"When I first arrived in another city, I faced many difficulties. I wanted to make a living by writing, but I was rejected."
"After a year of stalemate, savings dwindled, and nothing was accomplished."
"I felt ashamed to go home, and standing on the bridge, I almost wanted to shoot myself."
Zhang Ying: ……
Zhao Zhenniang: ...
"I gave you a gun... not so you could do this..."
"Haha," Lan Shuyan laughed, "It's just a thought, how could I actually take this dead end?"
"I walked down from the bridge, deciding to give it one last try; if it didn't work out, I would go home."
"Even if I sell myself to you, I definitely have to pay you back."
"If you owe money, you'll go to hell, and you won't find peace in your next life either."
Zhao Zhenniang: ...
I could sense Lan Shuyan's stubbornness when I was with her before, and now I don't know what to say.
Fortunately, she seems to be doing well now. Zhang Ying asked incredulously, "So you gave up your studies and joined the army?"
Lan Shuyan enjoyed the shocked looks from the two of them, but she shouldn't pretend in front of her friends.
"No, that's not it. I enrolled in a political training program, which was supposed to be open to women. I was desperate, so I just signed up."
"That was the first special training class that didn't ban the admission of women. The competition was fierce. Our school was a bit behind the schools in the south, so we didn't think we could get in."
"I never expected that after overcoming so many obstacles, I would be the last one standing."
"I later learned from my teacher that I was the only one in that year's political science students who was admitted without any pre-selection. She thought I was exceptionally talented and admitted me as an extra student."
"At first, I worked with my teacher in the government building, translating diplomatic documents for government officials. Later, because I was good at speaking, I worked part-time as a diplomatic translator."
"The person I serve is a very, very important person, who has achieved some success."
"But the reason I was able to be sent here as a special envoy is because of you."
Zhang Ying and Zhao Zhenniang looked at each other in bewilderment: "Because of us?"
Lan Shuyan drawled, "Yes, because of you. You probably don't know how famous you are outside, do you?"
When it comes to Heian-kyo, the most famous thing is not a certain warlord or politician, but its incredible business alliance.
As the merchant alliance of Ping'an City expands its reach, its goods are becoming increasingly well-known.
The new government launched a nationwide revolution and naturally wanted to seize national power, but the north was too far away to intervene.
When Lan Shuyan mentioned her past relationship with Zhao and Zhang, the people above were overjoyed.
She was specially appointed as the special agent to handle matters in Ping'an City, in order to consolidate the power of this large merchant group that was quietly growing in the north.
Before they knew it, the three of them had reached the age of thirty. They had experienced a lot and were no longer the particularly young, naive, and impulsive honest boys they once were, who could understand things with just a little guidance.
Zhao Zhenniang and Zhang Ying exchanged a glance, then looked at Lan Shuyan and slowly smiled: "So, how does Specialist Lan intend to handle the affairs of Ping'an City?"
Lan Shuyan: ...
She was clearly closer to everyone back then, not to mention Zhang Ying, whom she met first.
Although Zhao Zhenniang spent more time with Zhang Ying, Lan Shuyan was inexplicably confident that she was more favored by Boss Zhao.
After so many years apart, it's clear that their friendship has grown even stronger, and she's now expected to join forces with them to fight against a common enemy.
My heart was bubbling with sourness, but I didn't know who I should be souring towards. I closed my eyes and said, "I'm a diplomat, what do I know about political affairs? You guys draft a set of rules first, and I'll see if I can approve it."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Zhenniang and Zhang Ying grinned from ear to ear. What was the difference between this and a teacher handing a pen to a student and letting the student grade their own paper?
They each took a point, and the two of them almost figured out how to grade the papers.
But Zhang Ying, as the first person to know Lan Shuyan, certainly knows her well enough.
He stepped forward, took Lan Shuyan's arm with one hand and Zhao Zhenniang's arm with the other, and said in a serious tone.
"But none of that matters. Before we get down to business, there's something even more important we need to do."
"That's a big celebration for Miss Lan's triumphant return home! We missed you so much while you were gone!"
Lan Shuyan couldn't help but exclaim, "Really?"
...
Lan Shuyan didn't believe a single word of Zhang Ying's nonsense. They were having such a great time here, it would be strange if they even thought of her.
While she was enjoying herself in the south, she rarely thought about home...
But no matter what, the reunion was a happy one, and the three of them went back to the past and had a blast in the city.
Lan Shuyan was utterly shocked as she watched the pedal tricycles passing by on the street.
This scene is not found in major southern cities. The rickshaws that used to be there have all been replaced by these more labor-saving pedal tricycles, and half of them are pedaled by women with big feet.
Zhang Ying smiled as she watched Lan Shuyan, a city dweller returning to his hometown: "The Chinese Businessmen Alliance has a bicycle factory that produces bicycles. The bicycles running in the city now are all made by the Chinese Businessmen Bicycle Factory."
Two-wheeled bicycles are actually more convenient to ride, but they are very expensive and can only be afforded by the middle class or above.
So the Chinese Business Alliance opened several more car rental shops, encouraging people to rent these pedal tricycles as taxis.
A pedal tricycle may look bigger than a two-wheeled vehicle, but it's actually simpler to manufacture because triangles are stable.
These vehicles were comfortable and respectable to ride in, allowed for higher fares, and were easy to pedal. They quickly replaced rickshaws, both for customers and for drivers.
Strangers who came to Ping'an City on business and saw new things also started buying pedal tricycles from Huashang Motorcycle Factory.
"You wouldn't believe it, would you? When we were students, we used to protest that rickshaws were inhumane, but nobody listened. Now, things have improved on their own."
Lan Shuyan was indeed pleasantly surprised. Seeing the pedal tricycle parked by the roadside, she waved and asked to try it out.
The woman pedaling the bicycle came over happily and quoted her a price: one silver dollar.
Lan Shuyan: ...
Prices here are pretty high...
Zhang Ying and Zhao Zhenniang exchanged a glance and smiled, "It's not that prices are high, it's that our labor is precious!"
Because the factories of the Chinese Business Alliance are jointly participated in and benefited from by all the wealthy merchants in the region.
All the old industries in the entire region opened their doors wide to the Chinese Merchants Alliance, and even bandits switched to escorting goods, letting the Chinese Merchants Alliance's convoy pass through whenever they saw it.
When an industry reaches this level of monopoly, workers' wages are usually reduced to very low levels. However, because Zhao Zhenniang was the one in charge, she forbade the exploitation of workers, whether it was their wages or their physical labor.
Thanks to the presence of the second sister, the factories of the Chinese Business Alliance have achieved leading technology in certain aspects, resulting in a significant increase in production capacity.
However, complete industrialization requires the progress of all industries. Optimizing only a few parts cannot drive the progress of the entire environment. Jian Yu'an is just a person, not a god. She cannot be proficient in every industry.
Given the huge technological gap, it has become an accepted fact that the approach of compressing manpower to barely catch up with the systematic industrial systems of foreigners has become the norm.
If we don't reduce labor costs, it will be such a huge expense. How can we compete with foreigners?
Zhao Zhenniang, who came from the lower class, strongly disapproved of this kind of thing, but she wanted to refute it and didn't know how. Fortunately, her third aunt supported her.
"Have you ever thought about what businessmen need most?"
When faced with this question, Zhao Zhenniang and the members of the merchant alliance below all had the same question: "What is it?"
Ye Xiqing then revealed the well-known answer: "They are consumers."
Technological advancements and the rise of capitalism have transformed society into a highly efficient machine.
The food that was once insufficient to meet demand is now being produced in large quantities by large agricultural machinery, to the point that there is no more food for everyone.
The clothes that were once insufficient were produced day and night by large looms until everyone could no longer wear them.
However, things don't have value just because they're produced; they only have value if there's demand for them.
If everyone is driven to the brink of starvation, who are they going to sell all those massive amounts of supplies to?
Everyone fell silent, and the business alliance members below did not understand.
The money earned is used to pay workers' wages, and the workers' wages are used to buy products. In the end, it's just money being transferred from one hand to the other. So what's the profit in that?
They became great merchants because they had capital, not because they had insight. That's why they asked this question, but Zhao Zhenniang didn't; she had already figured out where the profit lay.
People get hungry every day, but grains ripen every year!
As long as there will always be people who go hungry, there will always be people who buy food, and food will always be cooked, so there will always be a profit to be made.
It goes on and on, endlessly.
Wealth is like flowing water; as long as you don't cut off the source and build a dam, how can you not make money?
The business alliance below did not entirely agree with Zhao Zhenniang's approach, but Zhao Zhenniang held real power in the alliance. She really did go undercover every day to investigate the implementation of policies at the grassroots level.
After several rounds of back and forth, all the factories under the Chinese Business Alliance had no choice but to follow her orders. After all, it was uncertain who would get the money the factories earned. If Zhao Zhenniang found out that they were outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant, she could really remove the factory manager from office.
Zhang Ying followed suit, going to the grassroots level every day to supervise the implementation of the new labor law, establishing a worker-peasant alliance, and forcing all the big merchants and landlords to raise the wages of workers and tenants.
Those who disagreed waited to see the downsides of this, but they were disappointed because Ye Xiqing, as a latecomer to capitalism, could stand at the end of history and view the entire process of the development and collapse of capitalism.
What capitalism needs most is consumers.
Zhao Zhenniang's factory strictly enforced the labor law issued by Zhang Ying's side, implementing an eight-hour workday and overtime system.
There are 24 hours in a day. The machines of that era were very primitive. Once they were turned on, they could not be stopped. They needed to work day and night, so three shifts worked in shifts.
The two shifts work at night, rotating every four hours. Employee dormitories are built near the factory so that workers can take a nap in between to clear their heads.
Night shift workers must also be paid double wages.
Compared to the bonded laborers who got up at cockcrow and worked from dawn till dusk, eating porridge and pickled vegetables, the cost was probably more than ten times higher.
But in any case, it also means that three more shifts of workers can afford sesame oil and buy funds from the Chinese Business Alliance.
Now that they could afford sesame oil, they naturally stopped eating coarse food every day, and the grains and various non-staple foods of the Chinese Merchants Alliance found a market.
If there's meat in the meal, and the students talk about supporting domestic products, then I'll support domestic products. If the Chinese Businessmen Alliance is opening a textile factory, then I'll buy Chinese Businessmen's textiles.
Intellectuals used to be disgusted by the sight of people pulling carts by hand, but now they don't have to be anymore. Caravan dealerships rent pedal tricycles from the Chinese Businessmen's Alliance, so they don't have to struggle to pull them anymore.
Since it was inconvenient to ride a bicycle on the main dirt road, they sourced stones from the Huashang Union Quarry to pave the road.
If rich people are so wealthy that they want to build mansions to compete with each other, then we should encourage them to do so. Competing is a virtue. You can get your cement, glass, and bricks from me.
All these activities provided numerous job opportunities. With Zhao Jiabao setting an example by renting out properties, surrounding landlords followed suit, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and the working class also earned money.
When people at the bottom of society have money, they naturally start to consume more in higher-end areas, beginning with basic necessities like food and fuel, then moving on to more advanced items like transportation and household tools, and finally, larger purchases like real estate, followed by financial investments.
The products of the Chinese Business Alliance haven't even reached the stage of being sold far and wide yet; most of them can be consumed at home, bringing prosperity to all industries and sectors.
In the end, even Zhao Zhenniang herself was a little surprised: she made money and then gave money to others, and she could make money by giving money. It was the same money circulating from head to toe. How could it be that if there was a fixed amount of money, it could be circulated forever?
Zhao Zhenniang's understanding impressed Ye Xiqing. Indeed, money, in its essence, is just a tool for counting and circulation.
When ancient people first used seashells to refer to goods, they did not value the seashells themselves, but rather chose something easily circulated as an equivalent for the sake of convenient transactions.
In theory, once everyone's supply, demand, and production capacity reach their limits, an infinite cycle can indeed be achieved as long as a fixed amount of currency circulates.
Why has a single medium of exchange caused so much suffering for everyone for thousands of years?
That is indeed the most pressing issue for Zhao Zhenniang to study at this stage.
Because of this, don't expect to find cheap labor in Ping An City. Taxis in Ping An City start at 50 cents.
They didn't accept any random coins, only proper copper and silver dollars, hence the nickname "Little Concession".
Those who can afford to take a taxi won't be stingy with a single silver dollar. Lan Shuyan didn't think this one silver dollar was a lot; she was just too surprised by this change.
After understanding the market rates and realizing that she wasn't being ripped off, Lan Shuyan generously paid for the three people's fare and even gave each of them a two-cent tip.
Upon receiving the tip, the cyclist beamed with joy, the wheels rumbling on the cobblestone road as he enjoyed the scenery along the way.
My hometown, which I haven't been back to for several years, has changed so much.
...
Lan Shuyan happily played around with her friends, thinking they would take her to see a movie, but instead they took her to see a movie being filmed.
With economic development, it is only natural to develop the film industry.
The Song family mansion was too big, and after it was seized, few people could afford to bid for it at auction. Zhao Zhenniang could afford it, but she was too lazy to take it over. She wanted to build her own Zhao Family Fortress.
The Song residence was assigned to the Economic Bureau and used as a tourist attraction and film studio, charging entrance fees and site fees.
Not only film companies from Ping An City come here to shoot, but also from other places. It is the most famous film and television base in the surrounding provinces and is very profitable.
Previously, standing at the gates of the Song family, he suffered great humiliation.
Standing here again, watching tourists come and go at the Song residence, Lan Shuyan almost burst out laughing.
In his excitement, he took out fourteen silver dollars and treated Zhao Zhenniang and Zhang Ying to a meal.
Song Residence is not only a tourist attraction and film and television base business, but also a place where many businesses have seen the business opportunities and run restaurants serving local cuisine. Many famous Shandong cuisine chefs have come here to contract the canteen.
Lan Shuyan had a great time; nothing made her happier.
Not only did she get a promotion as soon as she came back, but her ex-boyfriend, who had humiliated her so much, also went bankrupt. Hahaha!
It wasn't until the very end of the banquet that Lan Shuyan remembered to take back the group photo that belonged to her eight years ago and to take a new one.
Lan Shuyan left before she could pick up the group photo. The three of them had originally planned to write something under the photo, but nothing came of it. Now they can finally pick up their pens again.
The mindset of that time has passed, and the three grown-up children can't recall any witty remarks. They look at each other and say, "Maybe we should just record it as it is."
The three agreed wholeheartedly, each retrieved their own photos, and formally documented the experience.
[Photo taken in 1920 by Zhang Ying, Zhao Zhenniang, and Lan Shuyan; reunited in 1928.]
[Let us remember this moment, and may our friendship endure.]
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