The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 26: Disloyalty

After figuring it out, Fengjie came to find Jia Zhen.

Of course, she also knew that the Zhan family, the Xue family, the Ningguo Mansion, and the Baoling Marquis Mansion were doing business together.

In Zhan Ershi's view, he was the one who made all the families rich together, but in Feng Ji's eyes, she thought that the Zhan family was getting rich by relying on the Ningguo Mansion.

Since the Zhan family relies on the Ningguo Mansion, they must have something to ask of Jia Zhen. It would be more appropriate for him to pass on the message than for her, a woman, to do so.

Feng Ji and Jia Zhen have been playing together since they were young and have a close relationship, like brother and sister. So even though Jia Zhen did not even let go of his own daughter-in-law, and Wang Xifeng was also very beautiful, the two of them did not have any private feelings.

It is for this reason that when Feng Ji came to Jia Zhen for help, she was not worried at all about being rejected.

With this thought in mind, she passed through the corner gate and arrived at the East Palace.

The two families lived next to each other, and when they came over, they were seen by the people from the East Palace, who hurriedly came to greet them with a smile.

"How come Second Madam is free to come here today?"

"Is Brother Zhen at home? I need to talk to him about something."

"The master is resting in the backyard."

"Okay, then I'll go straight over there, you don't have to follow me."

Fengjie waved her handkerchief and passed by like a gust of wind. The people in the East Palace knew her temper and since they were all family members, they did not stop her and went on with their work.

Feng Ji had no problems all the way and arrived at the back house smoothly. As soon as she entered the door, she saw Jia Zhen playing with a vase. She covered her mouth with a handkerchief and started to giggle.

"Hey, where did Brother Zhen get this good stuff again?"

When Jia Zhen turned around, he saw Sister Feng coming in. His eyes lit up, and he put the vase down with a smile and sat down at the table.

"This is something I've had my eyes on for a long time, but I didn't have the money at the time, so I never bought it. Now that I have some spare money, I can't bear to miss it."

He sat down at the table, called for someone to serve tea to Fengjie, and asked with a smile:

"Why did you come to my place today, elder sister?"

Wang Xifeng sat sideways on the round stool, smiled, raised her eyebrows, and said with a smile:
"It looks like Brother Zhen has made a lot of money from the honeycomb briquettes business recently?"

When Jia Zhen heard this, he burst into laughter.

He felt very proud.

Although the day for dividing the profits of this business has not yet been set, the trend of making money has already begun to emerge.

As the saying goes, good wine needs no bush. This good stuff will sell well sooner or later.

Poor people are very good at living and are always thrifty. They know very well which type of coal is the most economical after using it themselves.

As word of mouth spread among the poor people who had used honeycomb coal, the reputation of honeycomb coal spread throughout the capital, and more and more people came to buy coal.

Seeing this, Zhan 24 announced the end of the promotion. The small stove was 50 cents each and honeycomb coal was 1 cent per piece. No bargaining!

This time, those who got the advantage first were very happy. They showed off to everyone they met that they had good vision and had gained dozens of cents for nothing.

Although the later generations were unwilling, they had no choice. After all, this thing was a unique business and there was no other place to buy it. As for finding a blacksmith to build a furnace or something, no blacksmith dared to take the job!

This business belongs to the powerful and wealthy, who dares to provoke it?

It would be fine if I had more money, but a small stove only sells for fifty cents. How much money can I make by making one?
Nowadays, blacksmiths' families are not poor, so there is no need to make yourself uncomfortable for a few cents.

Is it worth it?
After word of mouth was established, the subsequent business became easier. There was no need to send people to promote the product door to door in the city. All the family needed to do was put the product at Shi's coal sales outlets throughout the city, and when others came to buy honeycomb coal, they would sell the small stoves at the same time.

The business was getting better day by day, and the copper coins were collected like water. Every night when the business closed, the copper coins had to be loaded onto the cart in baskets.

Although Jia Zhen did not know how to do business, he had been to the scene several times and was deeply impressed by the baskets of copper coins. He knew that he would make a fortune this time.

Moreover, honeycomb coal is a stable source of income. With this income every month, I may not be short of money in the future. So even though I haven't received the money yet, I have already started spending lavishly again.

Seeing Jia Zhen smiling happily, Feng Ji felt quite envious.

She is now the housekeeper and is very familiar with the income and expenditure of the Rongguo Mansion. They often live beyond their means and have to rely on their original savings to make ends meet. They urgently need to find a new source of income.

But she and her aunt tried every possible way and still couldn't find a way to increase the income, so they thought of taking advantage of her relatives from her mother's side.

As it turned out, Brother Zhen was lucky. He could stay at home and money came from the sky. He was blessed with wealth.

However, when he thought that after this marriage was broken up, the Xue family's wealth would sooner or later belong to the Jia family, his heart suddenly became hot.

At that time, she would take half for herself and the other half for the government. No, it would be better to split it 80-20. Since she had put in the effort, she should get the lion's share.

With her own little plan in mind, Sister Feng smiled and started a conversation.

"This business was started by Mr. Zhan, right?"

"Is it true?" Jia Zhen smiled when he mentioned Zhan Ershisi. "This brother Zhan is really a genius in business. Who would have thought that the mixture of yellow mud, coal powder and sawdust could actually burn, and burn quite well!"

"The coal powder is worthless, and the yellow mud is even free. Even if we sell it for one penny a piece, we will still make a lot of money."

"Although the month is not over yet and it is not time to divide the money, but I looked at the coal sales account and found that more than 200,000 pieces of honeycomb briquettes have been sold this month."

Jia Zhen waved his fingers, his eyebrows dancing with joy.

"This is because the honeycomb briquettes we made are not enough. Otherwise, we could sell at least one million pieces of honeycomb briquettes, which would be an income of thousands of taels of silver."

"This is just the beginning. We will sell more and more in the future. Three to five thousand taels a month is not a problem."

These words made Fengjie feel sad.

"This business is entirely supported by the Ningguo Mansion, otherwise Master Zhan wouldn't be able to do it. Brother Zhen, you should take the lion's share, right?"

Jia Zhen's face turned red when he heard this. He couldn't say that he hadn't done anything and was just taking the money for nothing, so he could only say awkwardly:

"They are all relatives, so there is no need to divide it too finely. Just divide it equally among the four families."

Sister Feng curled her lips and said meaningfully:
"Aunt Xue is my aunt, so she's our relative. But I don't know this Zhan, so how can she be considered a relative?"

(End of this chapter)