The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 22 Visiting Ningguo Mansion

After arriving at the store, the store owner came out hurriedly to greet us.

"Meet Master Zhan."

"Manager Lin, you're welcome. I'm here this time because I need you to find someone to print out something."

Although they are all shopkeepers of the Xue family, not all of them were sent by the Xue family from Jinling. Most of them were recruited locally.

Shopkeeper Lin is a native of Beijing. The shop assistants in the front shop and the blacksmith in the back are all locals.

This shop is doing well. The most popular items sold are actually various iron farm tools, or knives, scissors, pots and pans.

There is no huge profit, but in the long run, the business is not bad.

What really makes the most money is actually making some things tailor-made for those powerful and wealthy people, such as flashy long swords and the like.

But these things generally require fine steel, are time-consuming and labor-intensive, and cannot be mass-produced.

Shopkeeper Lin thought that Zhan Ershi wanted something similar, so he smiled and nodded, saying:
"Master Zhan, rest assured. I will personally supervise the master chef and use the best steel to make it beautiful for you!"

Zhan Ershisi smiled and waved his hand to stop him:
"Don't use good steel. Just use the cheapest iron sheet and simply surround it to make a shell."

"I prepared this for the honeycomb briquettes business. I'm selling it to the poor, so it can't be too expensive."

"Make more samples. When your business expands in the future, you will definitely receive orders."

Shopkeeper Lin suddenly realized what was going on and became even more eager.

How could he not know about the huge fanfare surrounding the opening of the new store?

Although he didn't go to the scene and was still uncertain about the future prospects of this business, at least the order he got was not fake.

It doesn’t matter whether you lose money or not, as long as I make money.

"no problem!"

"Please come in and sit for a while. I'll ask the chef from the backyard to come over and listen to your instructions in person. Just tell him what you want."

Zhan Ershisi entered the shop and sat in the back hall. A moment later, Shopkeeper Lin came over with a blacksmith, bowed respectfully and asked about his needs.

Zhan Ershisi was not good at professional drawing, so he brought some freshly made honeycomb coal as an example. He gestured and talked for a long time, then asked the blacksmith to go back to the backyard to make a sample. He then revised the sample several times until it finally looked very similar to the small stove in his memory.

"How much does it cost to make one of your things?"

"The outer shell is made of scraps of broken iron sheets, and the grate and the cover are made of wrought iron. It doesn't cost much. If you make a lot of them, a small furnace will only cost ten cents."

"Okay, the lower the cost, the better." Zhan Ershi nodded with satisfaction, "When the time comes, we will sell it at a unified price of fifty coins, so even poor families should be able to afford it."

"So, we'll produce a thousand of them first to test the waters, and then make them of uniform size, and sell them together with honeycomb briquettes."

"When honeycomb coal is fully available in the capital, it will be mass-produced and he will make a lot of money."

"I have some other things here that are similar to this one, all of which are used to match honeycomb briquettes. You can take a look and see if you can make them." After Zhan Ershisi finalized the small stove, he made some other things and asked the blacksmith to try to make them first. However, he would not put them into mass production for the time being. Instead, he would withhold them and wait until honeycomb briquettes became popular in the future.

This small stove doesn't require any technical skills and anyone can make it, but from now on only the Zhan family can sell it!
This is the charm of monopoly!

The small furnace and some related accessories are just appetizers used to make money. The later traditional steelmaking methods will be the focus in the future.

But that is at least after you get the shop, and after it is built, you have to offer it up immediately in exchange for credit. If you are quick, you will get what you pay for, while if you are slow, you may lose your life.

Zhan Ershisi made the templates for everything he wanted, and then asked Manager Lin to put everything away so that he could concentrate on making the small stove.

Because they were all Xue family shops, Zhan 24 never paid any deposit and just kept the debt on the account, determined to get something for nothing.

Although Shopkeeper Lin was quite unhappy, he was just a shopkeeper. Even the young master had no objection. What could he say?
I had no choice but to do as I was told!
After leaving the iron shop, it was still early, but Zhan Ershisi was not the kind of worker who would work himself into a dog!

So, go home from get off work!

It was not convenient for him to go directly into the Jia Mansion in broad daylight, so he simply took a few small stoves and dozens of honeycomb coals, and went to Ningguo Mansion to visit openly, hoping to see how Baochai's friends were doing.

Madam Rong of the Ningguo Mansion is known as the most beautiful woman in Dream of the Red Chamber. Even Xiangling's beauty is only "somewhat similar to the character of Madam Rong in our East Mansion."

Zhan Ershisi had already appreciated Xiangling's beauty and treated her like a treasure, loving her every night. But Qin Keqing, whose beauty was even more beautiful than Xiangling, made him even more envious.

However, Jia Zhen was unaware of Zhan Ershi's evil ambitions and was still intoxicated by the big promise he had made. He was very interested in this in-law and when he heard that Zhan Ershi was coming, he asked his son Jia Rong to greet him personally.

Jia Rong is also a spoiled good-for-nothing. He is lustful and has sex with both men and women, but he is also cowardly and incompetent.

He also knew from his father that Zhan Ershisi was helping his family get rich, and he also heard from Xifu about the generosity of the Xue family. He was extremely envious of the wealthy style of these business families who treated money as if it were nothing. This greeting was absolutely sincere and not fake at all.

When Jia Rong left the mansion and saw Zhan 24, he bowed to the ground in front of him.

"My nephew Jia Rong, nice to meet your uncle."

It was also the first time that Zhan Ershisi met Jia Rong. He saw that the young man had a good appearance and it was no exaggeration to call him a pretty boy. It was a pity that he was a little thin and did not have the heroic spirit of a young man. Instead, he behaved in a feminine manner, like a sissy.

But it’s better this way. If this guy is really a macho man, Qin Keqing won’t have any chance with Zhan Ershisi!
"Haha...it turns out to be my nephew Rong. It's our first meeting, so I didn't prepare anything. It's just a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it."

Zhan Ershisi walked forward with a smile on his face and helped Jia Rong up. He touched a piece of white jade in his arms, not knowing whose stolen property it was, and stuffed it into Jia Rong's hand.

Jia Rong also grew up among a pile of antiques and jades. As soon as he touched it, he knew it was a good thing, worth at least one hundred or eighty taels. He took it in haste with surprise and smiled even more happily.

"My master has been talking about my uncle these days, and he often teaches me to learn from him. I just regret that we have never met. Today I finally have the honor to meet my uncle. I hope my uncle will give me more advice and care in the future."

Seeing the future victim take the initiative to ask, Zhan Ershisi naturally smiled happily and praised casually:
"My dear nephew, you are well-mannered and well-spoken, just like the old Ningguo. You will become a great man in the future. I am just a businessman, how dare I give you advice? We should become closer in the future."

After exchanging a few polite words, the two men walked hand in hand into the yard. The people behind Zhan Ershisi unloaded the small stove and honeycomb coal, followed closely behind the two men, and carried them inside.

They walked through the courtyard and entered the ceremonial gate. In front of them was the warm room. Just as they were about to go in, an old man suddenly jumped out from the side. He was drunk and staggered out. He stared at Zhan Ershisi and his group and shouted vaguely:
"Who is this villain who dares to enter Ningguo Mansion and cause chaos?"

Thanks to book friends “Single Taoist Priest”, “Gu Long”, and “Lin Yufeng Xiao” for rewarding 100 coins!
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(End of this chapter)