Chapter 87 Mortgage Loan: Li Yang's Business - Selling the Dragon Pearl...
In the sweltering heat of summer, the days are so quiet that only the sound of flowing water from the sparse paulownia trees can be heard.
The Miaoxiang Tea House was bustling with customers. Since the plaque with the Emperor's personal calligraphy was hung up, tea drinkers who came from far and wide had been coming to visit. The sound of abacus beads clicking and clattering could be heard from a corner of the counter.
Li Yang casually crossed his legs in the armchair, swinging them back and forth. He rested his arms on the armrests, stretching his shoulders and back. In one hand, he held a white jade plate full of peanuts, chewing as he glanced at Fang Yuan, who was calculating the accounts. "Yuan Yuan, how's it going? How much silver is in the account?"
Fang Yuan stared down at the ledger, her hands moving the abacus beads non-stop. Her brows were furrowed, a stark contrast to the relaxed demeanor of her friend beside her. "I know business has been good lately, but it's only been a few days. You're taking away such a large sum of money all at once. We can't go on without a steady flow of cash in the accounts. Let me do the math again."
The plate of peanuts was empty. Li Yang placed the plate on the table, patted the peanut skins off his hands, straightened his posture, and said, "So what exactly do you mean? This flower shop is fully booked lately, how could there be no money in the account?"
Snap—
Fang Yuan stopped counting the abacus beads, carefully checked the amount in the ledger, added a new entry, closed the ledger, and turned to look at Li Yang: "I can only give you one hundred taels."
"What? One hundred taels? What can one hundred taels do? Grandma, are you sure you didn't make a mistake?" Li Yang jumped up, walked to her side, snatched the account book, and began to examine it closely.
Fang Yuan let her go see for herself, and sighed, "The business of this shop has indeed increased a lot since His Majesty's southern tour. However, you only know how big the hole was in the flower shop before. I paid off the previous loan and interest the day before yesterday with the profit. The remaining amount also needs to be used to pay off the loan that is due next. Right now, I can only give you one hundred taels."
After reviewing the accounts, it was indeed as Fang Yuan had said: once the loan was paid off, there would be very little left in the shop; even a hundred taels would be enough to drain the account. However, this hundred taels was far from the amount she needed. Li Yang frowned and remained silent, feeling somewhat anxious.
Seeing her friend's anxiety, Fang Yuan couldn't bear it and said, "If all else fails, I'll think of another way." As she spoke, she spread out the account book. "This loan is still a long way off. Can you move it to five hundred taels?"
Five hundred taels is far from enough.
Looking into his friend's eyes, Li Yang slowly shook his head. "Yuanyuan, the amount of tea I need to buy this time is quite large. I'm afraid it will take two thousand taels of silver to make things a little more comfortable."
Two thousand taels was far beyond the funds Fang Yuan could afford. She gritted her teeth and said, "How about we ask your General Manager Chen?"
"I'll think of something else," Li Yang said, only that one sentence.
Fang Yuan then understood that she didn't want to rely on Chen Junbo to solve everything, "What other solutions do you have?"
Li Yang opened the ledger and looked through it carefully again.
The reason she was spending such a large sum of money was because she had discussed with Madam Zhang the matter of selling Kuilongzhu to the capital. Now it was March, the time when tea mountains were opening for business, and this was her first time going into the mountains to buy tea. Two thousand taels of silver was the smallest amount she could get after deducting some of the money.
This situation is really frustrating.
This is the first time we've worked with Madam Zhang, and we absolutely must get off to a good start. It can't fall apart, especially since Chen Junbo is involved.
"Zhaozhao, don't be stubborn about the money. Chen Junbai isn't short of a few coins. If you're a young lady and don't ask him, where are you going to get so much money?" Fang Yuan wanted to persuade her again.
Li Yang quickly comforted her, "Don't worry, what can I do? If there's really no other way, I'll just go back and beg Chen Junbo."
If there's really no other way...
She just wanted to see if she could make the flower shop business work on her own, and she wanted to solve the problem of the two thousand taels of silver herself.
-
During the sweltering summer, the scorching sun baked the blue brick ground as if it were on fire.
As soon as Li Yang entered the money exchange, someone greeted him.
Upon receiving the message, Master Qian waited in the shop early. When he saw Li Yang, he rushed over and said, "Young Madam Chen, this way." Since it was inconvenient for the two to discuss matters alone in a private room, they found a table in a partitioned area of the shop and half-hidden it with a bamboo curtain.
When Mr. Qian learned that it was the young mistress of the Chen family who was coming, although he did not know why, he treated Li Yang as an honored guest because his bank's branches in various places had all received business from the Chen family's salt business. He said politely, "Young mistress Chen, what brings you here today?"
Li Yang got straight to the point: "Boss Qian, I'm here today because of a loan from the East Market Flower Bureau, oh, which is now Miaoxiang Tea House."
Boss Qian summoned the relevant accounts, glanced at them, and said, "It's just a thousand taels of silver, Madam Chen need not worry about it." He smiled, but inwardly he felt annoyed. The young mistress of the Chen family was just like Madam Chen.
In previous years, when Madam Chen was in charge, she would often come to the money shop to "discuss" loans, and every time Chen Junbo would secretly have the accounts balanced. This young lady had only been in charge for a few days, and she already wanted to take crooked paths. Thinking this, his face turned cold.
Seeing this, Li Yang knew that the other party had misunderstood her and thought that she had come to renege on her debt. This Mr. Qian probably hadn't even looked at the account books properly. She nodded and smiled, "Mr. Qian has misunderstood." She paused and bit her lip, "To be honest, Mr. Qian, my teahouse is in urgent need of working capital. The amount is exactly two thousand taels of silver, so I came to Mr. Qian for help."
Seeing that she spoke politely, Boss Qian's expression improved. But no matter how polite he was, he was still there to "discuss" the loan. He wondered what had possessed this young master Chen. His mother and his concubine had both fallen for money. He was determined to have a good talk with the young master about today's events and make him open his eyes. "I wonder what Mrs. Chen's intentions are?"
"Boss Qian, the shopkeeper paid off the principal and interest at the money exchange the day before yesterday. I would like to borrow another two thousand taels today, but the teahouse business is just starting out and I am really short of money. I would like to ask Boss Qian to be more lenient on the interest." Li Yang gritted his teeth and explained his intentions.
Is it paid off?
Mr. Qian then opened the ledger again for a closer look. Sure enough, the second page recorded the date 'reconciliation'. Since it wasn't about owing money and not paying it back, then it meant they were negotiating a business deal. His face suddenly brightened. "Easy, easy. Since Mrs. Chen has come to our shop in person, the interest rate is certainly negotiable."
After seeing the customer out, Boss Qian turned back to the counter, wrote a letter, and beckoned to the waiter, "Take this letter to Chen Family Salt Shop and personally deliver it to Young Master Chen."
He had no intention of doing business with his wife behind Young Master Chen's back. Although his wife was indeed honest, the Chen family salt shop was the foundation of his money shops all over the country.
-
The wheels rumbled, and Li Yang sat in the carriage, his eyes vacant as he watched the scenery flash by outside the window.
She held in her hand the two thousand taels of silver notes she had just received from the money exchange. The money exchanger had kindly converted them into various denominations of silver notes and ingots for her. With this money, the matter of the 'Kuilong Pearl' going to the capital was now on track.
As for... she lowered her eyes to look at her right index finger, the red mud mark on the fingertip was the proof that she had just pressed the mortgage flower bureau.
Only by mortgaging the tea shop can silver be raised to purchase tea. Once the Kui Long Zhu tea is processed and sold to recoup funds, the shop can be redeemed.
Mr. Qian was very polite and gave her a one-year term with a 3% interest rate, a very low rate that is almost unheard of in the market. In the end, this was all thanks to Chen Junbai.
She wondered if he would be angry if he knew she had secretly mortgaged the flower shop for a loan. A sudden flush rose to her face as she recalled the other day when he held a book in one hand and gently stroked her body with the other. If it weren't for her period suddenly starting, the two of them would…
Shaking his head, Li Yang banished the images of beautiful women from the picture books.
Let's keep it from him for now. We'll tell him after she's settled things with the Dragon Pearl. For some reason, even though Chen Junbo personally handed these businesses over to her, she always felt that he didn't think she could do them well. Every time he talked about it, it was in a tone of coaxing a child.
After she made a fuss several times, he finally stopped interfering with the flower shop's affairs, but he never asked how well she was managing it, as if he was just leaving the flower shop to her to pass the time.
Li Yang stuffed the silver note in his hand into his sleeve pocket, wiped the ink off his fingertips with a handkerchief, and then stuffed it into his sleeve pocket as well.
In short, this time, she will definitely make the teahouse a resounding success and impress him.
The person she wanted to prove something to was currently in the salt village.
-
Inside the salt estate's accounting office, Chen Junbo was discussing recent accounts with the accountant.
Bi Fang handed him the letter, saying, "Young Master, Boss Qian sent someone to deliver a letter. The young mistress went to the money shop today."
Chen Junbo glanced at it sideways, frowned, took the letter, and read it carefully.
"Young Master, may we go to the flower shop?" Bi Fang asked, thinking himself clever.
"Did you manage to transfer the betrothal gifts to the young mistress's name last time?"
Bi Fang was taken aback: "Huh? Oh, oh, the estate and shops are all under the young mistress's name."
Chen Junbo glanced at the other party and asked, "Do the managers of those estates and shops know that the monthly wages should belong to the young mistress's private property? Was the thousand taels of silver in the betrothal gifts given to the young mistress?"
“This…” Bi Fang felt a chill run down his spine. He had assumed that the young master was just trying to make the young mistress happy by giving her these gifts, and he hadn’t yet informed the various estates and shops about this turn of events… As for the silver…
Chen Junbai tossed the letter in his hand to the pen holder, his eyes cold. "How much is the young mistress's monthly allowance?"
Bi Fang hunched his shoulders, "Young Master..." When the young mistress first entered the manor, he had asked her for permission many times without success, and then, he forgot about it...
“Look,” Chen Junbo said coldly, pointing his chin at the letter on the ground, his words as sharp as ice, “Look, the young mistress of the Chen family, my wife Chen Junbo, has been driven to desperation by two thousand taels of silver and has come to the money shop for help. This is the good deed you’ve done. Bifang, you’ve really made me look good in town.”
Bi Fang hurriedly picked up the letter from the ground: "Young Madam Chen mortgaged the flower shop for a loan of two thousand taels of silver..." This flower shop was worth far more than two thousand taels of silver. Young Madam Chen was really... He felt annoyed and pursed his lips. "Young Master, I, I will go and take care of it right away."
"Are you handing her the silver now to let her know that I know she's taking out loans outside?"
Chen Junbo turned and left without even glancing at him.
This... Shouldn't the young master know about the young mistress's loan? It was clearly the young mistress who caused trouble by secretly borrowing money from an outside bank, so how did this debt end up being attributed to him? Why doesn't the young master want the young mistress to know that he has received a message from the bank?
Bi Fang was completely baffled and resentful, so he blamed the young mistress for everything. Why did Director Hua have to borrow money when he could be doing a perfectly good job? If she needed money, she should have just gone to him or the young master. Instead, she made him get scolded by the young master.
Feeling indignant, he dared not slack off any longer. After a moment's thought, he informed all the managers and shopkeepers about the affairs of the estate and shops. As for the money, he thought for a moment and then placed the banknotes on Chen Junbai's desk.
The more you do, the more mistakes you make. You two should resolve your own issues.
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