The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 18 I Really Want You to Be My Brother-in-Law
"Haha...Brother Zhan, I was just thinking about you this morning and you came over. It turns out that you and I are in sync!"

Zhan Ershisi had only sat in the living room for a while when Jia Zhen came in from outside, laughing.

Zhan Ershi hurriedly stood up, bowed, and said with a smile:
"Brother Zhen and I hit it off right away, so it's only natural that we have such a rapport."

He glanced behind Jia Zhen and didn't see the beautiful woman he wanted to see, so Zhan Twenty-four felt a little unhappy.

He spoke so nicely, but he didn't even introduce his sister-in-law to me. How outrageous!

I'll have to let Xiaojiu come to Ningguo Mansion more often. We brothers should be good friends!

The two of them exchanged some pleasantries, then sat down and chatted for a while about love and romance. Then, when the atmosphere became heated, Zhan Ershisi explained his purpose.

"Brother Zhen, I am going to Beijing this time to do some business in the capital."

"But I also understand that the existing businesses in the capital have been divided up by the various powerful families. It's not something you can do just because you want to."

"I now have a new business that I didn't have before. I should be able to make some money. I'm thinking that I'll have to share some of the profits with the dignitaries in Beijing anyway, so why not just bring Brother Zhen along and we can do this together."

"I wonder what Brother Zhen thinks?"

As soon as he heard about making money, Jia Zhen immediately became interested.

"Brother, you have found the right person!"

"My Ningguo Mansion is also a top-ranked one in the capital. Apart from the royal family and several princes, other noble families will also give some face to my Jia family."

"If your business is a partnership with my Ningguo Mansion, I can guarantee that it will be smooth sailing and no one will interfere!"

"That's great!" Zhan Ershisi slapped his thigh, "I knew that this kind of good thing should be done together with Brother Zhen!"

"By the way, could you please tell me, Brother Zhen, which powerful family has monopolized the coal business in the capital?"

"I'm afraid my business will have some impact on coal sales, so I'm thinking of giving away some of my shares to avoid causing dissatisfaction among others."

When Jia Zhen heard this, he frowned.

He is extremely greedy by nature, and is obsessed with money. It's fine to let him make money, but asking him to give the money away would be like cutting his flesh!
"The coal and charcoal businesses in Beijing have always been separated."

"Charcoal is more expensive, and it is the business of the Beijing Wang family. Coal, on the other hand, produces a lot of smoke when burned, and has always been a commodity of the market. My family doesn't even look down on it, and it is monopolized by the Shi family."

"All the coal shipped to Beijing and the charcoal produced by burning must pass through these two companies, otherwise the business will not be able to continue!"

"That's great!" Zhan Ershi slapped his thigh, "Isn't the Shi family the in-laws of Brother Zhen's family? I remember that the old lady of the West Mansion is from the Shi family. This is definitely one of our own!"

"Well... among the twelve branches of the Shi family in the capital, only the Baolinghou branch can be considered our own family... Tsk, how much profit can your business make in a year, my dear brother?" Jia Zhen suddenly changed the subject and asked.

Just by looking at Jia Zhen's distressed expression, Zhan 24 knew that if the income was very high, Jia Zhen might risk offending the historians and take the business for himself.

That won't work!

"Brother Zhen, I can't tell you exactly how much business we can achieve in a year before we officially start."

"But we really can't get around the Shi family, because this business requires the purchase of a large amount of coal powder. If we don't bring the Shi family in, they will cut off our raw materials, which will be terrible!"

Hearing this, Jia Zhen suddenly woke up and asked:
"Brother, you haven't told me what kind of business this is. Why does it have to be coal powder? Can't we use other firewood or something like that?" "It really can't be done." Zhan Ershisi explained: "When I was in my hometown, I got a secret recipe that can mix yellow mud with coal powder, sawdust and the like to make a kind of honeycomb coal."

"This thing can only be made of coal powder, nothing else can be used."

"I had someone bring a few pieces over, and Brother Zhen knew it as soon as he saw it."

Jia Zhen asked Lai Sheng to fetch the honeycomb coal and the coal stove from the carriage. When he took the black honeycomb coal in his hand, he knew at a glance that it was indeed pressed from coal powder.

"Neither carbon powder nor firewood works?" Jia Zhen asked, stroking his beard and frowning.

"Neither of them will work." Zhan Ershi shook his head. "They are not fire-resistant and the cost is too high."

"This stuff is mainly sold to the poor. A piece of honeycomb coal costs only one penny, but it can burn for an hour."

"This thing is low-cost, ignites quickly, can burn for a long time, has strong firepower, is smokeless, odorless and non-toxic. When paired with a special small stove, it is easy to carry and safe. I'm sure many ordinary families will like it."

"One penny a piece? How much money can you make from this?" Jia Zhen threw the honeycomb coal away and his interest dropped greatly.

"The main thing is the quantity." Zhan Ershisi began to calculate the bill for him. "Winter is coming. A family of four or five can't just use this small stove, right?"

"They need to burn at least ten or eight pieces of honeycomb coal every day for cooking, boiling water and heating, right?"

"Let's reduce the figures. The heating cost for this family is ten coins a day, which means three hundred coins a month."

"Three hundred coins per household per month is indeed not much, and ordinary families can afford it, but there are so many poor people!"

"There must be more than a million civilians in and around the capital. If we exclude those outside the city and only count those inside the capital, there must be more than a hundred thousand households, right?"

"We don't expect every household to buy our honeycomb briquettes, so let's count a little less, say 10,000 households. Is that about right?"

"Ten thousand households equals three million coins, which equals three thousand strings of cash, and it has to be enough strings of cash!"

"Hiss..." After hearing Zhan Ershisi's calculation, Jia Zhen took a deep breath, "You have an income of more than three thousand taels of silver a month?"

"It's more than that!" Zhan Ershi continued to calculate, "This is the least. If it's less than guan, then the four thousand taels of silver will not be enough."

Normally, one string of copper coins was equivalent to one thousand wen, which could be exchanged for one tael of silver. But in reality, who would have so many coins in one string? Six or seven hundred wen was considered a great fortune.

"Also, if our thing works well, there will be more than 10,000 households, and that means more money!"

Seeing Jia Zhen's face flushed and his eyes rolling around, clearly he was moved, Zhan Ershisi continued:

"According to my idea, my Zhan family will provide the secret recipe and money, the Xue family will provide the manpower and the store, and the Shi family will provide the materials and sales channels. Brother Zhen doesn't have to provide anything, and then the four of us will each hold 25% of the shares. How do you think?"

When Jia Zhen heard that his family only had 25% of the shares, he immediately became unhappy.

This extra 25% of shares would bring him an extra 1,000 taels of income every month. How could he not be tempted?

The Zhan family and the Shi family are irreplaceable, so he wanted to kick the Xue family out, but the Xue and Zhan families are in-laws and have provided manpower and shops, so he couldn't say this.

After he lowered his head and thought for a long time, he could only sigh and said with great regret:
"Alas, it's a pity that you are already engaged, otherwise I would have married my sister to you and made you my brother-in-law!"

Thanks to book friends “Y木神”, “小说成$魔”, “安”, “白山老药”, and “小二黑哥” for rewarding 100 coins!
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(End of this chapter)