Li Changzhou returned to the Marshal's Mansion and asked Liu De about it.
"Have you ever seen a monster?"
"No." Liu De shook his head. "Although the martial arts school has these records, they are just supernatural tales. There are people all over the world now, and there are rumors of monsters everywhere, but no one has actually seen one yet. Second Master, don't listen to the nonsense of those servants."
Li Changzhou nodded: "Go and prepare the peonies. I won't be going out this afternoon, so you don't need to follow me."
"yes."
"Oh, right." Li Changzhou, who had been thinking, remembered something else.
Liu De stopped and waited for his instructions.
"Go and invite five doctors over, pay them enough money, and let them treat the people at the door for free."
"yes."
Li Changzhou didn't go to the backyard; it was too dangerous. Commander Li had taken his fiery third concubine and his sixteen- or seventeen-year-old seventh concubine to the military camp, but a bunch of wives remained at the commander's mansion, including the dancer.
Li Biwei's younger sister has gone to school.
Li Changzhou first sent someone to summon his future father-in-law, Lin Ziwen, and then went to the treasure trove of the Marshal's mansion to inspect the treasures that Marshal Li had looted, including medicinal herbs such as ginseng, musk, toad venom, and benzoin.
He thought he would deliver it to Miss Yang that evening.
Before I had even finished reading a little over half of it, a servant came to announce that Lin Ziwen had arrived.
Upon entering the living room, Lin Ziwen quickly stood up.
"Sit down." Li Changzhou waved his hand and walked to the head of the table. "Uncle Lin, I've asked you to come here today because I want to do business with you."
"Business?" Lin Ziwen was taken aback.
“Well, I originally didn’t plan to enter the financial world anytime soon, but I found that you can’t do anything without money,” Li Changzhou said.
"Changzhou, are you going to ask me for a loan?"
Loan... Li Changzhou pondered this word—why should he use his own money to pay salaries and build dormitories? He could easily take out loans from various banks and then slowly pay off the money with the profits from renting out the houses and the canteen.
The key question is whether these banks are willing to lend.
If I had military power, there would be no problem. The key is that I don't have it. I have a backer—General Li—but there's a layer between us, which makes a big difference.
Let's put it aside for now.
“It’s not a loan.” The thought had only crossed his mind in an instant. Li Changzhou replied, “I need to find jobs for the workers. Once the workers have money, they will definitely save it. These depositors may be small, but they are very important.”
The First Minister of the Ming Dynasty
Lin Ziwen understood what was going on, quickly weighed the pros and cons, and determined that this was a good thing.
He immediately said, "Changzhou, don't worry, let these people deposit their money in Lin's Bank. I'll give them the highest interest rate."
“Uncle misunderstood me,” Li Changzhou waved his hand. “I will invest in buying shares of Lin’s Bank. It doesn’t have to be a lot, just enough to make decisions. From now on, Lin’s Bank will be renamed ‘Workers’ Bank,’ and I will vouch for its profits and losses.”
Lin Ziwen frowned immediately and lowered his head without saying a word.
“I won’t force you, Uncle,” Li Changzhou said. “If you don’t want to, I can open my own bank. It’s just more troublesome. I’ll have to start from scratch with staff and addresses.”
Li Changzhou gave him time to think.
After a long while, Lin Ziwen spoke up: "Nephew Changzhou, Lin's Bank is the culmination of my life's work, and I'm afraid I cannot agree to your request."
"It's nothing, it's nothing." Li Changzhou smiled and stood up, and Lin Ziwen also stood up.
"Uncle, you don't need to worry about this. By the way, I'm hosting a peony charity ball on May 3rd. Please make sure you come."
"Okay, definitely! I'll be going now."
Li Changzhou gestured for him to enter.
After Lin Ziwen left, Li Changzhou rang the doorbell and called in a servant named Wang Dehai.
"Second Master," Wang Dehai bowed.
“You drive my car, pick the busiest time, go to Lin’s Bank and withdraw the one million I’ve deposited. Then find a newspaper and report this event, saying, ‘I have prepared one million in cash to pay the workers’ wages and open a bank.’”
"Yes!" Wang Dehai accepted the order and left.
Li Changzhou didn't have time to slowly work on a bank, so he could only do some less-than-humane things. He didn't know what the fate of the Lin family bank was in history.
After these matters were discussed, workers began carrying loads of peonies into the Marshal's Mansion. Liu De was very meticulous; all the peonies were about to bloom, so they would be in full bloom by May 3rd.
Li Changzhou had an idea and instructed his servants to cut down all the peonies that were already in full bloom in the mansion and send them to the guests along with the invitations.
He also specially found Xiaoling, a thirteen-year-old girl, and let her not have to do any work, but ride in the mansion's car to the pear garden to deliver messages.
The recipients, Sun Xiaoyun, Chunhuang, and others, need no introduction...
"Xiaoling, listen to me. When you get to the pear orchard, secretly find a lady named Yang Qinglan and give her this best peony and this bundle. Don't let anyone else know, understand?"
"Understood, young master."
"Okay, go ahead. If you do a good job, I'll give you 20 yuan when you come back."
"Really?" Xiaoling's eyes lit up immediately.
Li Changzhou took out five silver dollars from his pocket, placed them in her small hand, and said with a smile, "I'll give you the remaining fifteen dollars when we get back."
Xiaoling immediately smiled so hard her eyes crinkled.
Twenty yuan is a lot of money, and twenty silver dollars is even more—that's silver, more valuable than all sorts of random banknotes.
"Young master, just you wait and see!" Xiaoling skipped and hopped out of the house.
Lin Mansion.
After Lin Ziwen returned, he did not mention Li Changzhou's plan to invest in the bank. These concerns were not something his family needed to know.
The people at the Lin Mansion are now immersed in a wonderful atmosphere of hope for the future, with the Lin Bank saved and Miss Lin about to marry Master Li.
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