usatvline Chapter 38 The Old House
Chapter 38 The Old House
After leaving the Wenchao Pavilion, Shao Shuyi returned to the Qingqi Shop.
I practiced archery as usual on the 20th. Including this time, I've learned archery for two more days this month. I've mastered the basic movements, and all that's left is to consolidate them and practice repeatedly to form muscle memory.
On the 25th, the entire store held a general accounting. The work was actually quite easy, because no blueware had been sold throughout August, and there were no other accounts besides daily expenses.
Shao Shuyi, Yu Yuan, and the newly arrived Song You from the warehouse finished the inventory in half a day.
On the last day of August, Shao Shuyi did not practice archery. Instead, he and Zheng Fan traveled by car to the Zheng family's old residence west of Yantietang.
"The new guy, Liang Tai, is pretty good, but he's quiet and a real taciturn fellow." Inside the carriage, Zheng Fan leaned back without any regard for his image and laughed. "Yu Yuan is also good; he's meticulous, hardworking, and keeps accounts flawlessly. Little Tiger, you have a good eye for people."
"It's just a matter of using people's strengths," Shao Shuyi said. "Yu Yuan can't be a ship manager, a broker, or a martial artist; this is the only thing he's suited for. Liang Tai is similar; he's not good at social skills, honest and shy, but he practices martial arts diligently and is very obedient. He's more than qualified to be a guard and martial arts instructor. As for Zhang Neng, he has a wide circle of friends, and the people he knows are a mixed bag. He's not really suitable to be a guard; he's likely to collude with bandits."
"That's a good saying, 'Utilize people's strengths'," Zheng Fan glanced at Shao Shuyi and asked, "What are your strengths?"
"I am grateful and I can make money for my employer," Shao Shuyi said matter-of-factly.
Zheng Fan laughed heartily. After laughing, he nudged Shao Shuyi with his elbow and said, "On the way back to Liujiagang, I made a special detour to the Shen residence. Tsk tsk, your contract is already in Rongfu's hands. It was delivered by Shen Fu's second daughter. I took a look, and it's really well written."
"You flatter me, sir," Shao Shuyi said modestly.
To be honest, I'm still a little proud of myself. Before I transmigrated, I did countless things for my boss, like buying tender documents, writing tender documents, submitting bids, and signing contracts. I knew all about disclaimers, force majeure events, and various accounting and profit-sharing regulations.
In the Yuan Dynasty, business transactions often involved verbal agreements, entirely dependent on the parties' trustworthiness. Even when contracts were drawn up, the terms were often vague, leaving considerable room for maneuver. In case of disputes, arbitration heavily relied on guarantors—who were typically prominent figures in the business world or highly respected local individuals.
Shao Shuyi clearly outlined the rights, responsibilities, and interests of both parties, even including how to sell and collect payments after the ship returns, how many days it takes to settle profits, and how much the penalty would be for each day of delay.
The comprehensiveness of the terms and the meticulousness of the details are truly remarkable.
However, while Zheng Fan praised him, he was still somewhat worried. He said, "I only wanted to make a 40% or 50% profit, but you negotiated it to 60% and even drew up that contract. Fortunately, Rongfu doesn't mind and appreciates you quite a bit, otherwise it would have looked bad and made me seem petty."
"Sirs, you can talk about face and the big picture; leave the details to me," Shao Shuyi said with a smile. "I don't care about face; I only care about the benefits for my employer."
Zheng Fan laughed again, saying that what he said was true.
When he discussed business with Shen Rong, he only talked about the general outline and finalized the direction. As for the specific profit-sharing ratio, whether it was 40% or 50%, he couldn't bring himself to argue with others; that would be too embarrassing and shameful.
If Shao Shuyi can secure more benefits for the Zheng family, that would be ideal; such a person is useful anywhere.
Moreover—he also has his advantages.
"You just mentioned the daughter of Lord Wan San..." Shao Shuyi observed Zheng Fan's expression and, seeing that he was in a good mood, asked.
"Oh? You mean her?" Zheng Fan sat up straight and said, "Then I'll tell you about the inside story of the Shen family that I've been working on recently."
Shao Shuyi pretended to listen attentively.
Zheng Fan cleared his throat and said, "Shen Wansan's father, Shen You, was originally from Wucheng, Huzhou. Later, he moved to Dongcai Village in Changzhou County. He loved the fertile paddy fields there and settled down. At that time, the Shen family was not wealthy, and Shen You still had to lead his children to carry manure and fertilize the fields. But it was precisely because of this that he accumulated a lot of wealth."
He had four sons. His eldest and second sons died young. His third son was Shen Fu (Shen Wansan), and his fourth son was Shen Gui (Shen Wansi).
The Shen family truly rose to prominence thanks to Wan San, who used the wealth accumulated by his ancestors to buy land and reclaim wasteland, gradually expanding his fortune. He was also skilled in business, with restaurants, pawnshops, and grain shops scattered throughout the area, and he used the profits to buy more land.
Today, the Shen family relies mainly on three things: 'fields,' 'inns,' and 'foreign trade,' which complement each other, making them arguably the wealthiest family in Jiangnan.
Shao Shuyi was somewhat surprised to hear this.
From this perspective, even if Shen Wansan's father's generation had some money, they couldn't be considered a high-ranking family; at most, they were just wealthy small landlords.
Simply put, Shen You's generation completed their initial capital accumulation and earned their first pot of gold.
Shen Wansan used his first pot of gold to expand his farmland and run businesses, bringing the Shen family to another level—to put it bluntly, to a level that did not originally belong to the Shen family.
Shen Wansan was truly a business genius!
However, on the other hand, this development speed is too fast. It's so fast that the Shen family, apart from being wealthy, hasn't had time to accumulate resources in politics, culture, and other areas, and their family foundation is somewhat shallow.
"Shen Fu had three sons and three daughters," Zheng Fan continued. "His eldest son was Rongfu, named Shen Rong; his second son was Wang; and his third son was Mao."
Shao Shuyi pondered silently.
The three brothers of Shen Wansan were named Shen Fu and Shen Gui, and his three sons were named Shen Rong, Shen Wang, and Shen Mao. These names are really down-to-earth.
"None of the three daughters have been heard of by their maiden names. The eldest daughter married Song Tong, a commander of a thousand households; the second daughter married Lu Zhonghe, whom you have met; and the third daughter is still young and has not yet married. It is said that she will marry into a scholarly family like the second daughter, or perhaps she will be adopted into a family by marriage."
In recent years, the Shen family has particularly enjoyed associating with scholars. Scholars passing through Suzhou would invariably be invited to stay for a period of time at great expense, and would be presented with generous gifts upon departure. Even scholars of little renown who were truly in dire need could receive assistance simply by asking for help when passing by the Shen residence.
The descendants of the Shen family, regardless of gender, are all well-versed in music, chess, calligraphy, painting, and classical texts. Even Shen Fu himself is always reading, and Shen Gui is also learning to paint, and I've heard he's quite skilled.
Shao Shuyi understood immediately; it was the basic operation of nouveau riche.
The Shen family already has enough wealth; what they lack now are two things: political resources and cultural resources, and these two are often inseparable.
That's really ruthless!
It's one thing for the younger generation of the Shen family to be interested in academics and skills; they're young and can learn. But what are Shen Wansan and Shen Wansi doing? You two are old enough to be so competitive!
To be honest, their execution is really strong, no wonder they succeeded.
"This time, you've really outmaneuvered Lu Zhonghe." As Shao Shuyi pondered, Zheng Fan said with a grin, "After hearing about this, the Third Dormitory also wants to meet you and hear your views on trade with foreign countries. It's a rare opportunity, don't miss it."
"Thank you for the reminder," Shao Shuyi said sincerely, cupping his hands in a respectful gesture.
"It's nothing," Zheng Fan said, then closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.
The two didn't say anything more, and the car quickly fell silent.
Half an hour later, the carriage stopped in front of the Zheng family's old residence. After announcing their arrival, someone quickly led them inside.
When Shao Shuyi first visited the Zheng family's old residence, he couldn't help but take a few more glances at it.
The main gate of the Zheng residence is located in the southeast of the entire courtyard. After entering, there is a hall space with walls on all four sides and three doors in front and on the left.
The door directly in front of us was wide open, and we could vaguely see the servants busily sweeping the floor.
The first door on the left was also gently opened, and a servant invited Shao Shuyi to wait in the back-facing room. The so-called "back-facing room" is a house facing south with no windows on the street. It is generally used as a guest room or servant's residence. It appeared in the Song and Yuan Dynasties and became widely popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Zheng Fan winked at Shao Shuyi and said with a smile, "I'm going to find San She first. You wait here patiently and don't wander off."
"Yes," Shao Shuyi replied with a bow.
After Zheng Fan left, Shao Shuyi casually surveyed his surroundings.
He didn't really understand it, but he could vaguely tell that the Zheng family was quite powerful. At least the carvings on the pillars, eaves, and gates were nice, though the style was a bit rough, but the knife work was quite exquisite.
Besides wood carvings, there are also stone carvings and oil paintings, making the overall cost quite high.
The room with the back seat has a lot of furniture, such as tables, chairs, benches, basin stands, and tea tables.
Whether a family is rich or not depends on whether the owner is willing to invest in "useless" things. Shao Shuyi discovered that the legs of these furniture pieces have many novel shapes, such as outward-curving hoof feet, inward-curving hoof feet, floral feet, and beaded feet, etc. - it is hard to say about the latter two, but the hoof feet definitely have the influence of the Mongols.
The furniture itself is decorated with many patterns, such as clouds, plants, and animals. The carving is excellent and the lacquer used is also quite good. Except for the lack of gold and silver jewelry decorations, everything has been done to the extreme.
On the wall in the center of the back room hangs a traditional Chinese ink painting. The theme is "Deer and Crane in Spring," which has the auspicious meaning of longevity. The deer in the painting is also a homophone for "prosperity," symbolizing the arrival of good fortune, prosperity, and longevity.
This should be the kind of style Zheng Yonghe likes.
The main office of the Grand Canal Administration was located in Suzhou City, but there was a branch office in Taicang and a thousand-household office in Chongming, Kunshan. Naturally, officials needed to handle affairs nearby, so the four deputy commanders took turns to be stationed there for a year.
Zheng Yonghe was in Shanghai last year and moved to Taicang this year—in fact, he spent most of his time recuperating.
"Please have some tea, guest." Just as Shao Shuyi was looking around at the furnishings in the room, a maid brought over tea and snacks and said softly.
"Thank you for your trouble." Shao Shuyi stood up and bowed to express his gratitude.
"This is Jade-Ground Tea," the maid reminded her. "These are crispy pastries; guests can enjoy them while they're hot."
Shao Shuyi glanced at it and asked, "What is Jade-Ground Tea?"
The maid was slightly taken aback, but quickly explained, "The tea made by mixing the finest Zisun tea with Sumen fried rice and grinding it in a jade basin is called Jade Mill Tea."
Shao Shuyi said, "I see." Actually, he wanted to ask what "Sumen fried rice" was, but he was worried that people would think he was a country bumpkin, so he kept quiet.
The maidservant quickly withdrew.
Shao Shuyi sat comfortably in his chair, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and noticed that it probably contained milk powder, spices, and sugar; overall, the taste was quite good. The crispy pastry was a pale yellow treat, soft, sweet, and chewy—also quite delicious.
With milk tea and desserts galore, Shao Shuyi felt as if he had returned to the modern world.
Of course, he knew he didn't.
He knew all too well that if he wanted to enjoy these satisfying teas regularly, he would have to climb the social ladder and gain higher status, wealth, and even power.
Halfway through the tea and snacks, a servant came running up and invited Shao Shuyi to the main hall for a meeting.