The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 19: The one who is beaten is the one who has no eyes
It's easy to get things done with someone in the capital, and with Jia Zhen, the local boss, taking the lead, the new shop opened quickly.

On the opening day, people from the Shi family also came.

However, the Shi family now has two marquises, Marquis Baoling and Marquis Zhongjing, and the coal selling business is shared by all twelve branches of the Shi family.

Since it was a favor, he would definitely give it to whoever was close to him, so Jia Zhen gave the business to Baoling Hou Shi Nai.

Today, the four kings and eight dukes are all on the decline. Not only have their titles been downgraded, but even their family wealth is no longer enough.

In the Daqing Dynasty, new nobles with merits emerge every year, squeezing the wealth and status of various powerful families. The Baoling Marquis Mansion is not much different from the current Ning and Rong Mansions. There are countless parasites in both. Although the income is huge, the expenses are even greater, and there have been signs of decline for a long time.

Now that Zhan Ershisi has provided them with a new source of income, Baoling Hou should certainly pay attention to it.

But the problem is that Jia Zhen has always been unreliable, and Shi Nai doesn't trust him at all.

If someone said that Jia Zhen was just eating, drinking and having fun, Shi Nai would believe it, but if someone said that he was doing serious business, Shi Nai would not believe it!

In Shi Nai's opinion, it was most likely that this nephew had a wild idea on impulse and started a business. It would be strange if he could make money in the end!

So in the end, when the business opened, Shi Nai did not come and only sent the housekeeper.

The housekeeper Shi was very polite and bowed repeatedly to apologize to Jia Zhen and Zhan Ershisi.

"My master should have come in person, but he is on duty today and has his duties to attend to, so he cannot come. I have to let this humble servant come. I hope the two masters will forgive me."

"In a few days, when my master is on vacation, I will send you a letter and invite you two masters to come to my house for a while."

If he didn't come, then he didn't come. Zhan Ershisi hasn't set his sights on Shi Xiangyun yet. This time he's purely here to do business and make money. As long as the Shi family doesn't make things difficult for him, there will be no problem.

"Mr. Shi, you are too polite. The court affairs are more important. We will bring gifts and visit the Marquis' Mansion in a few days."

After some polite words, the matter was forgotten.

A noble man does not do menial work; all formal business activities are done by the shop assistants.

Zhan Ershisi, Jia Zhen and others only needed to take the lead in setting off firecrackers, entertaining guests, and announcing to the public who owned the business, and they would have completed the opening of the business.

With the support of Ningguo Mansion and Baolinghou Mansion, all the guests were very respectful and spoke various words of congratulations and blessings, making both sides of the party very happy.

After eating and drinking, Zhan Nianshisi sent all the guests to the carriage one by one and said goodbye to them reluctantly. This was considered as officially leaving a name in the capital, but it was still unclear whether they could continue their relationship.

After Jia Zhen and Manager Shi had left, Xue Zhong came over and said to Xue Pan half jokingly and half complainingly:

"Young Master, we can actually do this business on our own. There's really no need to invite these two gentlemen to come over and share the profits."

"Although this coal business is exclusive to the Shi family, I just took a closer look and found that this honeycomb briquettes are not made of lump coal, but coal powder."

"You two are noble people, but you may not know that in the coal yard, coal dust is worthless and cannot be sold at all. It is swept together and thrown away."

"We can just buy their coal powder. It won't cost much. They will even thank us!"

"As for Master Zhen...haha, let me say something presumptuous. He is more likely to cause trouble than help. If something really happens, we can't count on him at all."

"It's a complete waste to give him so many shares!"

He seemed to be complaining to Xue Pan, but in fact he was speaking to Zhan Ersi. Zhan Ersi did not want any of the original shopkeepers or clerks for this new shop. He only selected the lowest-ranking people from the Xue family's various shops. The specific managers were all the people Zhan Ersi brought down from the mountains.

Xue Zhong had been a shopkeeper for many years and had a good business sense. He saw that such a profitable business was run by people from the Zhan family, without a single member of the Xue family, and he couldn't get involved. Of course he felt uncomfortable.

He didn't know what the relationship between Zhan Ershisi and Xue Pan was, and he had no idea why his young master listened to Master Zhan in everything. So he complained a few words under the pretext of business, thinking that even if he made Master Zhan unhappy, he couldn't get angry.

After all, as the shopkeeper of the Xue family, there should be no problem for him to speak for the interests of the Xue family, right?

But who would have thought that Zhan Ershisi didn't need to do anything at all, Xue Pan became furious and slapped him in the face.

"You blind dog slave!"

"My brother-in-law made a decision, how can a dog like you question it!"

"Just follow my brother-in-law's instructions. Why are you talking so much nonsense?"

Xue Zhongping was slapped in the face for no reason. He covered his face and looked at his young master in disbelief, unable to figure out where he had made the mistake.

His head was buzzing, but he still had to bow his head and admit his mistake and apologize.

"Young Master, I was wrong!"

"I'm not questioning Master Zhan's orders. I'm just thinking about helping Master Zhan and the Young Master make more money. I really have no other intentions!"

His little trick could only fool Xue Pan for a while. Zhan Ershisi saw through it clearly, but it was not the time to touch him yet, so he smiled and comforted him:
"Shopkeeper Xue also means well. Wenlong doesn't need to be angry."

"But Shopkeeper Xue is too concerned and forgets that we have dozens of employees making honeycomb coal. The formula is hard to keep secret. If we make money in the future, I'm afraid the Shi family will follow suit."

"They have more coal and more sales channels. We definitely can't compete with them."

"As for Brother Zhen, they are our in-laws, so don't talk about the two families."

When we become like-minded people in the future, they will be our relatives!

Shopkeeper Xue thought that the Xue family was also a royal merchant, not an unknown person. He disagreed with Zhan Ershisi's statement, but he had no choice but to nod and smile:
"Mr. Zhan has a far-sighted vision, and I am short-sighted."

Zhan Ershi patted his shoulder and said:
"The reason why I let my family take charge of this business is not because my Zhan family wants to do anything, but mainly because they have mastered the formula and it is more convenient for them to lead everyone to do the work."

"And Manager Xue, you are very busy here, and I am afraid that you will be distracted here and delay your business in the store."

"It seems that last time when we were drinking, I heard you say that there will be another batch of spices delivered next month. That stuff is very valuable, and there can't be any mistakes."

Manager Xue didn't believe a word of Zhan 24's excuse, but he was helpless as his young master was turning his elbow outward. What else could he do? He had to go along with Zhan 24's words and change the subject.

"Master Zhan and Young Master, rest assured, I will personally go out of the city to the dock to inspect this batch of spices. I will only deliver them after I have inspected them correctly. I will definitely not be cheated."

"That's good. We can trust Manager Xue to do the job."

After Zhan Ershisi praised Xue Zhong without any sincerity, he took Xue Pan out of the house and went straight back to his mansion. He waited for the batch of spices to arrive and then began a major internal purge.

(End of this chapter)