The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 24 Baochai Doesn't Want to Farm
The back garden of Ningguo Mansion is called Huifang Garden. It runs from south to north, through the entire mansion, separating the Ning and Rong mansions.

This garden covers a large area, probably about a hundred acres, with dense rockery and pavilions everywhere.

Baochai led Zhan Twenty-four into the garden and walked north along the stream. When they reached a deserted place, she whispered,
"Master Zhan, is it true that the other members of my Xue family cannot be rescued?"

Zhan Ershisi stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes lingering on the beautiful scenery around him, and answered casually:
"That may not be entirely true. If they are willing to give up their vast fortune, they can certainly save the lives of their entire family."

After hearing this, Baochai fell silent. Her own clansmen naturally knew the situation clearly. If they were really willing to give up those worldly possessions, they would never send a weak woman like her to the palace in exchange for a chance.

The two walked forward in silence for a while, and Baochai spoke again:

"Thinking of how diligently our Xue family has worked over the years, we have never slacked off on our duties in the palace and have always completed them well. Even if we have no credit, we should be credited for our hard work."

"It's not my Xue family's fault that I lost money. It's really unfair to put all the blame on my family!"

Zhan Ershisi couldn't help laughing after hearing this and said sarcastically:
"Are you planning to reason with the court?"

"No matter what era, the one with the bigger fist is the one with the bigger fist!"

"When your family used the status of the imperial merchant to gain benefits, did you ever reason with those small merchants?"

"Since your family didn't reason with you then, then naturally, no one else needs to reason with you now."

"Those who believe in the law of the jungle think they are the ones who eat meat, but they forget that times have changed and sooner or later they will become fish on the chopping board."

"If your family really doesn't want to be turned into meat, then you should focus on climbing up."

"But as far as I know, your Xue family has never produced a juren. Can we blame the injustice of the world for this?"

"If you don't work hard enough, you can't blame others!"

Zhan Ershisi originally had some kind of original filter for Xue Baochai, but after getting to know her for a long time, he naturally discovered that she was just an ordinary woman in this world. Even if she was smart, she would eventually be limited by the times, and she could not even be considered a heroine.

The two of them walked in silence all the way to the north gate, passed the Linshui Pavilion, and arrived at the back door.

Zhan Ershisi saw the figure of the Ningguo Mansion servant appearing in front of him, so he stopped where he was and bowed to Baochai, saying:
"I'm leaving through the back door now. Please go back and tell Brother Zhen that I'll visit you another day."

Baochai also bowed, and after watching Master Zhan leave, she returned to the front hall, where she was teased by the girls again. After she dealt with it with a blushing face, her worries increased.

The imperial court has always been unreasonable. Although Mr. Zhan said that if his family made meritorious services, they could be spared from death, but when the imperial court made the Xue family the imperial merchants, it also promised to make the Xue family rich and prosperous!
Can we still trust the words of the court?
What should we do if the imperial court turns against us again in the future?
Continue to accept your fate?
Besides, if I only save my life but lose my wealth, will I have to farm in the future?
She and her mother had never even worked in the fields, so how could they live in poverty?

Her mother and brother are both ignorant. Relying on them is no different from leaving everything to fate. What the future of this family will be like in the end, I'm afraid it will depend on her own careful planning.

In this era, what can women rely on to change their own destiny? Almost the only way is to marry a good husband!

But now her identity is tied to this Master Zhan, so it is impossible for her to change her fate by getting married.

Therefore, Baochai easily came to the conclusion that if she wanted to preserve the wealth and prosperity of her family, she could only rely on Mr. Zhan!
But during these few meetings, she could clearly feel that Mr. Zhan had no interest in her in that aspect.

Could it be that... I should take the initiative to seduce him?
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In the next few days, Zhan Ershi focused on the business every day. Only after he had accumulated tens of thousands of honeycomb coals and several thousand small stoves, did he contact Manager Shi and prepare to start the formal sale.

Selling honeycomb coal is not like other businesses where you just sit in the store and wait for customers to come. Instead, you need special guys to do the sales.

After all, this thing is new, no one has seen it before, and no one knows whether it is useful or not.

Even in the capital, ordinary families don't have much money, so they have to be thrifty in their lives and spend every penny carefully. They will be more cautious when seeing new and unfamiliar things.

Zhan Ershisi gave them an idea and organized a promotion of free trials for the opening of the business. As long as they bought a small stove, they would get a few pieces of honeycomb coal for free to try out.

The reason why the small stove is not given away for free is purely because the cost is too high. They are afraid that there will be too many people coming to get a bargain, who only come for the stove and don't even burn the honeycomb coal after taking it back.

Although the small stove costs money to buy, it is not expensive, only ten cents at cost.

It is hard to say whether this honeycomb coal is easy to use, but the small stove is made of iron. Even if it doesn't work after you buy it, you can ask a blacksmith to make it into a sickle, kitchen knife, etc. It's not a waste of ten cents.

He also offered a reward to all the coal sellers through Manager Shi, giving them ten cents for each stove they sold.

It was sold for ten cents, and all the proceeds were given to the guys, which was like giving them the small stove for free.

For promotion, of course you have to spend a lot of money!
Giving commissions to salesmen has always been a good idea. The Shi family's clerk used to get a fixed monthly salary for selling coal, but now he has even quit his job for the sake of this outside business. Whoever comes to sell coal will actively promote the small stove and honeycomb coal.

In order to let the public see the benefits of honeycomb coal more intuitively, Zhan 24 also placed several small stoves at the door of each coal selling point, burning honeycomb coal day and night. The public can intuitively see whether the honeycomb coal is easy to use, whether it is hot enough, and how long it can burn.

Apart from anything else, many people will be attracted here just to come and warm themselves by the fire or to watch the fun.

And whenever someone comes to see it, those guys who want to earn commission will enthusiastically introduce it to the market.

With a physical object as a reference, the sales effect is indeed much better than empty talk.

But this is a new thing after all. On the first day of official sales, only more than a hundred stoves were sold, and not a single piece of honeycomb coal was sold. All of them were free gifts that people gave away to try first.

Zhan Ershisi was not in a hurry. The honeycomb coal business was a long-term business, and the winter in the capital was long!
Thanks to "Book Friend 20240411162740061" for the reward of 100 coins!
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(End of this chapter)