The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 35 Master Zhen is short of money

Master Zhen has been very depressed these days.

First, he spent half a day trying to get 25% of the honeycomb coal shares, but in the end he got nothing.

Next, he thought about putting pressure on that Zhan guy in private to complete the task his elder sister asked him to do and vent his anger at the same time. However, it happened that something happened to the Xue family and that Zhan guy was running around to help, so he didn't want to speak up at this time.

Not many days later, when it was time to settle the accounts and distribute dividends, he discovered that something was wrong with last month's dividends.

Last month, we sold more than one million pieces of honeycomb briquettes, but the dividend was only more than one hundred taels.

I asked someone to check the accounts, and found that the various miscellaneous fees were too high!
It costs money to buy Xue’s small stove!

Buying Shijia’s coal powder also costs money!

The Xue family’s wages are too high!
What the hell?

Those guys in the Shi family actually ask for a commission when they sell things?

Who indulged them in this bad habit?
Upon asking, it turned out that it was that bastard named Zhan who made the decision!
Also, I actually paid taxes!

I, Master Jia, have never heard of what tax is since I was a child!
Moreover, I have never delivered it before!

Not a penny!
There’s actually a venue fee!

That broken place is a bit more spacious, right? You can make honeycomb coal anywhere else. There's no need to go there, right?

Jia Zhen was very dissatisfied, so he went to find the Shi family. However, they said that these things had already been done by Mr. Zhan before the handover, and they were helpless.

However, historians also said that these inappropriate aspects will be corrected in the future.

But this month's profit is just this much.

Jia Zhen came out of the Shi family angrily, hating the bastard named Zhan even more.

It was because this guy wanted to take revenge that he deliberately wasted all the money before leaving. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had such little profit this month.

The people from the Shi family are so hateful. After they got the shares from that kid named Zhan, they pretended to be magnanimous and let him use the money to do favors!

Motherfucker!
The money he used to do favors included a share for his master Zhen!

Jia Zhen muttered to himself as he rode his horse, letting the reins run freely as he strolled down the street, wondering where he could get some money to spend.

Originally he thought he would earn three to five hundred taels of silver every month, so he started to spend lavishly, buying antiques and paintings, and inviting his friends out for drinks, and soon he overspent.

As a result, the dividends are now too little and he is suddenly short of money.

No matter which dynasty it is, entertainment costs money.

Expensive things are not necessarily fun, but the more fun something is, the more expensive it must be!

Now that he had no money, Jia Zhen had no money to entertain himself, and he didn’t know where to go for a moment.

While I was strolling around, I suddenly saw a group of people gathered in front of me. I didn't know what they were doing, so I went over curiously.

He sat high on his horse, dressed in gorgeous clothes, and it was obvious that he was not someone to be trifled with. Others hurriedly made way for fear of bruising the nobleman's horse hoof and being unable to afford the compensation.

As soon as the crowd dispersed, Jia Zhen saw a small stall there. The two-foot-high stove was emitting heat to the surroundings, and waves of tempting aroma wafted out from it.

A few idle men around were squatting by the stove, warming themselves by the fire, holding a golden piece of food in their hands and devouring it voraciously.

Jia Zhen had also eaten and seen it before. After taking a closer look, he realized that it was sweet potato, which was brought from foreign countries.

He had eaten boiled sweet potatoes a few times and felt that they were just average. Why did the roasted sweet potatoes today seem more tempting?
The unique aroma, combined with the golden color, made him swallow his saliva.

"Hey, how do you sell that thing?"

"Sweet potatoes are one penny each, and chestnuts are ten pennies each."

"So cheap? Then give me a sweet potato." Jia Zhen said, and reached into his sleeves. After searching for a long time, he found only some loose change, not a single copper coin.

He didn't know that the sweet potato seller was actually Zhan Ershi's man. Zhan Ershi wanted to build an intelligence network, so he transferred some idle people from the mountains to Beijing, gave them money to buy their own ovens, sweet potatoes and corn, and then assigned them to set up mobile stalls in different locations in Beijing.

In this way, on the one hand, a simple intelligence network can be established, and on the other hand, the money previously obtained from the Xue family can be successfully circulated and turned into clean money.

However, these people usually do not contact each other. They just focus on their own small business. When there is information to be passed on, they just go directly to the Zhan family's grain store to buy sweet potatoes and corn.

This man knew Jia Zhen and knew he could not afford to offend him, so he took the sweet potato out of the oven with a smile, wrapped it in clean corn leaves, and handed it over.

"If you like it, you can take it and try it. It's only a penny anyway, and it's not worth much."

Jia Zhen was displeased when he heard this. He glared at her and cursed:

"Do you think the master is a freeloader?"

"Since the master has no copper coins, I will give you this money and the extra money will be your reward!"

After saying that, he first threw the change into the man's arms, and then took the sweet potato.

"Be careful, it's a little hot!"

Jia Zhen took the sweet potato in his hands and was immediately scalded. He flipped it from his left hand to his right hand and then back again, making a "hissing" sound with his mouth and blowing on it, but it was of no use.

A group of idle men burst into laughter. The sweet potato seller was kind and quickly picked up a wooden bowl, poured out the water in it, handed it to Jia Zhen, and took the sweet potatoes, thus helping Jia Zhen out of his predicament.

Jia Zhen rubbed his fingers to his mouth and blew hard a few times before taking the bowl and scolding:

"Since there is a bowl, why didn't you bring it over earlier!"

The sweet potato seller hurriedly bowed and apologized:

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it was my negligence."

"This bowl was originally for selling hot water, but I just forgot to remember it for a moment."

"Where are the chopsticks? Why don't you bring them here quickly?"

Jia Zhen's words immediately caused a burst of laughter from the people around him, but when Jia Zhen glared at them, these people immediately became obedient, retracted their heads, and continued to eat sweet potatoes obediently, not daring to cause trouble again.

"Sir, the sweet potatoes we sell here are sold to ordinary people. Everyone just eats them with their hands. We don't have chopsticks."

"How about you take this sweet potato home and enjoy it slowly?"

"By the way, since you gave me silver, I will give you a bag of chestnuts."

The sweet potato seller was very skillful. He made a small cloth bag, scooped dozens of hot chestnuts into it, and handed it to Jia Zhen again.

Jia Zhen took the hot cloth bag, hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not leave. Instead, he spurred his horse and went around to the side of the road, waiting for the sweet potatoes to cool down a little before tasting them.

If it tastes good, he would buy ten or eight more and take them back to give to the people in the house as snacks, and let his beloved daughter-in-law also have a taste.

If it doesn't taste good, just throw it away.

Seeing Jia Zhen walk away, the others rushed over again, some to warm themselves by the fire, some to buy snacks.

Jia Zhen watched coldly from the side and found that this man's business was actually very good. As long as the sweet potatoes and chestnuts were roasted, they would be sold out immediately without any delay.

He clearly saw that there was a large bamboo basket under the man's feet, and the sweet potatoes in it were almost empty. Roughly speaking, at least one or two hundred sweet potatoes had been sold.

It’s not even noon yet. If this is only half a day’s volume, then his business... seems to be quite profitable!

Because they were far away, Jia Zhen was able to carefully examine the sweet potato stall and saw that the stove was clearly burning honeycomb coal, but the stove was much larger than the small stove sold by the guy named Zhan.

When I saw honeycomb briquettes, I thought of the man named Zhan, and I felt unhappy and lost my appetite!
Then he saw the address written on the oven. It looked very familiar. After thinking about it carefully, he remembered that this was clearly the Xue family's property.

Only then did he suddenly understand what was going on.

Motherfucker!
This damn stove was probably made by that guy named Zhan!
Thanks to book friends “The Great Emperor of the Universe, Amperla Starman”, “White Night Feather” and “Rainy Night Priest” for rewarding 100 coins!
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(End of this chapter)