Chapter 237 Acquired a Head Manager
Fan Huaiqing gestured for Yuan Hongqu to look at the paper below.
Yuan Hongqu flipped to the last page and paused for a moment.
Why bother?
The last piece of paper was a contract of servitude.
Fan Huaiqing sold himself to Yuan Hongqu.
It's still a dead-end contract.
“Fan has made enough money in his life.” Fan Huaiqing’s seemingly honest face revealed a look of relief that Yuan Hongqu couldn’t understand.
"When I was at my poorest, I begged for food at your door on New Year's Eve; when I was at my richest and most powerful, most of the officials in Yangzhou treated me with utmost respect."
Fan Huaiqing was somewhat moved.
"Now everything has returned to square one. I'm still that beggar begging for food at your doorstep. I just don't know if the young lady from the Yuan family will be willing to give me a bite to eat this time?"
"Manager Fan, are you redeeming yourself by doing good deeds?" Yuan Hongqu guessed.
Fan Huaiqing remained silent, which was taken as tacit agreement.
“With your abilities and skills, Prince Xian must have made arrangements for you. If you come here, I’m afraid I’ll offend Prince Xian.” Yuan Hongqu really didn’t dare to take such a powerful figure into her home.
Whether it's a blessing or a curse, who can know?
She knew the fates of the characters already in the book, but she didn't want to get involved with such a seemingly out-of-this-world genius.
Before she knew this was the world of Dream of the Red Chamber, Yuan Hongqu was quite brave. At that time, she was all alone and had no worries.
Later, after learning that this was the world of Dream of the Red Chamber and having raised Daiyu, Yuan Hongqu felt that she began to cherish her life and was not as carefree as before, putting Daiyu first in everything.
After all, I've already lived one life, and this one is a bonus, so I can live it however I want.
But Daiyu didn't. According to the book, she died when she was only a teenager.
Yuan Hongqu felt heartbroken whenever she thought about it.
When Fan Huaiqing came to her door with the indenture, based on Yuan Hongqu's personality before she met Daiyu, she accepted it without hesitation.
The current Yuan Hongqu would not do that.
Fan Huaiqing noticed Yuan Hongqu's hesitation but didn't urge her to make a decision.
"The youngest sister of the Yuan family..."
Yuan Hongqu frowned. "Manager Fan, it's not appropriate for you to address me like that at my age."
"Master!" Fan Huaiqing immediately changed his address.
Yuan Hongqu felt somewhat helpless. Why did Fan Huaiqing, with such great abilities, insist on relying on her?
"That much skill?"
Yuan Hongqu had a sudden inspiration and put away the indenture.
"Since that's the case, you'll be the head manager of the Yuan family. I have a small house not far from here; you can go and familiarize yourself with it another day. As for the ship... take it with you when it's ready to go to sea. As for start-up capital, I'll give you a maximum of one thousand taels of silver. I don't know anything about the rest, so I won't interfere. But after each ship returns, you just need to go to that house once..."
"But you can't tell anyone about anything concerning me, and I don't want anyone to know that you're doing things for me."
Yuan Hongqu thought of the fruits in the space that were somewhat bizarre and outlandish for the present. In the past, she always used the excuse that they were brought by friends from overseas, but in reality, there was no such person. Now that Fan Huaiqing was here, she could fill in this gap.
As for whether Fan Huaiqing would become suspicious, she thought he wouldn't.
Fan Huaiqing's indenture was in her hands, and the master's name on the indenture was hers.
Yuan Hongqu didn't think she could put this big salt smuggler in jail with just a thin contract. However, Fan Huaiqing had revealed a list of corrupt officials because of a bowl of lion's head meatballs, so Yuan Hongqu decided to take a risk.
At worst, she'd only lose a thousand taels of silver, which she could afford!
"Don't worry, boss. No one but you can get a single word out of me," Fan Huaiqing said with a very honest smile.
From then on, Fan Huaiqing began working for Yuan Hongqu.
The ship has now sailed overseas three times. Fan Huaiqing truly deserves to be called a business genius. In these three short trips, the original investment of one thousand taels by Hongqu has multiplied several dozen times.
Even Fan Huaiqing sighed, "If I had known that making money at sea was so easy, I would never have been a salt smuggler!"
He had been to sea before, but only as a tourist; this was his first time doing business seriously.
With Fan Huaiqing's help, the original Hongqu shop produced even more.
There were indeed some people who had doubts before, but once they learned about the ship that went abroad, those doubts were immediately dispelled.
Fan Huaiqing was extremely capable, and what was even more remarkable was that he didn't keep a single tael of the money he earned along the way. Apart from the one thousand taels of start-up capital, he gave the rest to Yuan Hongqu.
At most, he would ask Yuan Hongqu to make him a bowl of lion's head meatballs...
Yesterday's Mid-Autumn Festival banquet in the palace used three kinds of fruit from Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng, and even more fruits and vegetables from E'er Village.
Today they came to the Rongguo Mansion, bringing with them a lot of fresh fruit. Daiyu even peeled a large pomegranate for Grandmother Jia herself.
This pomegranate is the size of an adult man's fist, but its skin is as thin as paper, and the seeds inside are like fine rubies, making them very tempting.
The most wonderful thing is that these pomegranate seeds are not like those in the Rongguo Mansion courtyard, which have large seeds and little flesh. These pomegranate seeds are plump and melt in your mouth, as if they have no seeds at all.
After eating the pomegranate, Grandmother Jia praised it highly and asked where it came from.
Daiyu smiled and said it was produced at the former nanny's estate.
Upon hearing this, Grandmother Jia looked at Lin Daiyu with a questioning gaze, "Had you left the auspicious estate?"
Daiyu nodded, somewhat bewildered. She had cut the pomegranate herself while standing on a ladder.
Although Grandmother Jia was curious about what kind of breed could grow like this, she didn't press the matter further.
Wang Xifeng, however, was somewhat puzzled: When did seedless pomegranates appear in the capital?
In the evening, there was no wind or moon, only a torrential downpour, and the ground was covered in mist.
"The moon was beautiful last night, but I didn't have time to look at it. I thought the moon would be fullest on the sixteenth, so I planned to enjoy it properly tonight. But who knew..." Daiyu looked dejected.
"Granny, we haven't stayed at Rongyue Courtyard for so long, it feels like a lifetime ago."
"Granny, there is no moonlight tonight, so we can only find some comfort in the sound of the rain."
Yuan Hongqu knew that Lin Daiyu's artistic and literary style was showing again.
Lately, Lin Daiyu has not been worried at all, and she has not been sentimental about spring or autumn at all.
Yuan Hongqu almost forgot that the child she raised was no ordinary child; she raised Lin Daiyu.
It's all because of this rain.
In the afternoon, they were still talking about ginseng with great enthusiasm when suddenly a few muffled claps of thunder came from the sky. Before they could react, the muffled claps turned into thunderclaps, and raindrops pounded on the ground. In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the rain was pouring down, and the whole world turned into a huge curtain of rain, with no way to avoid it.
At this point, it was impossible to go back, so Grandmother Jia asked Daiyu to go and sleep with her.
Daiyu declined.
Amber came over holding an umbrella, and it got wet from the rain.
Daiyu preferred to stay in Rongyue Courtyard, since it held memories of her early days in the capital.
"Mr. Yuan, someone has come to visit outside the second gate."
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