Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 71 Profit Distribution
The woman's words clearly suppressed the momentum of the surrounding clansmen.

It's ultimately their fault for making such a fuss, and they're genuinely afraid of escalating the situation to the authorities. Xie Yuyan is capable of anything.

The couple were looking for an opportunity to escape.

"What are you all doing?" a deep voice came, and Madam Yu walked slowly in carrying a lantern. "Hurry up and go to the main room. Madam is waiting to see today's accounts."

Upon hearing Madam Yu's words, the men and women in charge of the accounts all responded and walked towards the courtyard of the third house.

Mother Yu's eyes swept across the faces of the Yang clan members: "Is there anything else? It's so cold, you should go back and settle in as soon as possible, or you'll catch a cold."

Seeing their mother's face, the clansmen didn't stop them from spitting out a "pui" as soon as she turned and walked away: "She's just a slave girl. Those who betray their masters will never have a good end."

Mother Yu smiled slightly, knowing better than ever what the future held for her.

……

Xie Yuyan sat in the room, listening to several stewards report on the accounts.

"Hot water sells best in the south wing, followed by the west wing and the east wing, while the north wing sells less."

"I can't say for sure, tomorrow will be just as good," said the steward's wife of the second wing in the north. "Quite a few people came to order water this afternoon."

Xie Yuyan nodded: "Keep an eye out these next two days, see if anyone is selling contracts with deposits."

Those who haven't paid a deposit, upon discovering this is a good deal, will try to buy the contract from others. Also, those who buy fewer contracts will try to collect some to keep in hand.

The water shop has released so many deposit contracts. You can roughly calculate how much cheap hot water these contracts can buy and how much money they can make.

The steward's wife couldn't help but say, "I've thought of that too, but I don't know how much money they'll spend to buy it."

Another woman said, "The more prosperous the water shop becomes in the future, the more valuable the contract will be."

"If I had known, I should have asked my nephew to buy some too, at least it would be a way to make a living."

As everyone was discussing, Xie Yuyan looked at Mother Yu.

Mother Yu nodded and turned to go into the inner room to retrieve a stack of documents.

Xie Yuyan said, "These are all deposit contracts, calculating the interest that the water shop will pay to everyone for the first time."

The men and women all showed expressions of surprise.

Xie Yuyan said, "Since it's interest, it's not free. One contract costs one string of silver, which will be deducted from the earnings. Moreover, the contract cannot be sold within one year."

"This contract will only be issued once, and there will be no more in the future. If anyone doesn't want it, I can give it to them for one string of cash."

The old lady made it very clear: these are all the documents. The better the hot water sells, the more valuable the documents will be. It would be foolish to ask for money instead of documents.

“The amount of money each person brings is different,” Xie Yuyan said. “The documents are also issued according to the amount, with a maximum of ten and a minimum of five. The same applies to the distribution of profits in the future. Thirty percent will be kept in the public treasury and managed by the person in charge, and the rest will be calculated and distributed to everyone.”

"Let's finish the accounts tonight so we can check them later."

It's so late and we can't go home, but everyone is just happy.

Why? This is such a great thing! In the past, even when doing business within the clan, profits wouldn't be distributed so quickly.

The old lady's words reassured them, making them understand that the water shop was closely related to them, so they would naturally work even harder.

Xie Yuyan turned and walked out of the house, and the men and women immediately got to work.

“Our lady is different from all the others before her.”

Several people nodded in agreement.

No one knows better than the members of the collateral branches of the clan how much they suffer in the clan. Now that the eldest daughter-in-law has come, things are different. Although they are still made to do chores, at least she will not hide anything and everything will be out in the open.

……

Back in the inner room, Xie Yuyan looked at Zhang Shi and said, "After you've settled the accounts, keep those ten contracts."

Zhang hurriedly waved her hand, saying, "We didn't take any money, so you should keep it."

Where did Xie Yuyan get the money? To put it bluntly, it was He's small storeroom that paid for it.

“Mother also has her own plans,” Xie Yuyan said. “Perhaps in the future, the water shop will be handed over to Mother to manage.”

Zhang panicked immediately: "How could I... manage these things... No, no..." Xie Yuyan smiled and said, "When business gets bigger in the future, how could Mother not help?"

“Then I will definitely help,” Zhang said, “but… I won’t get involved in these matters.”

Xie Yuyan said, "Mother used to manage the household affairs, so she can definitely learn it if she pays attention."

Zhang felt a lump in her throat. Back then, when the third branch of the family fell, she could only watch helplessly. Now, with Yu Yan's help, she felt that the things that had been taken away were being taken back little by little.

After saying this, Xie Yuyan looked at Madam Yu and said, "Let's calculate how much money we have left. We need to spend it all in the next two days."

Providing a contract has another advantage: it saves her money for her to use.

This money could not be raised from the Yang clan.

In other words, it cannot be known to outsiders.

Mother Yu dared not delay and withdrew.

Xie Yuyan picked up the account book for the lotus root charcoal in front of him and looked at it carefully. Tomorrow would be another lively day.

……

News of making money always spreads very quickly.

Those clansmen who had not gotten the answer were still unwilling to give up, so they simply stayed in the ancestral home and went to check on the condition of the three courtyards from time to time.

"The lights are still on. How many accounts do we need to reconcile?"

"Looks like it'll take all night."

"How much money will this make?"

The less they knew, the more curious they became, as if a hand was scratching at their heart. Only when the lights in the third room went out did the people who had been gathering information go back to rest.

But just as she was drifting off to sleep, someone knocked on the door to deliver a message.

"The managers of the water shop have gone out. Should we go with them now so we can accurately calculate how much water they sell each day?"

You went to open the shop before dawn?
"No rush," someone rolled over and closed their eyes again, "It'll be a while before they start selling water anyway."

"But... I overheard the managers talking about what kind of goods they're going to open the gates to receive."

Receiving goods? Is there anything else about the water shop that they haven't found out?

As the group stood there in a daze, someone else brought news: "You should go and see quickly, something seems to have happened in Yong'an Ward, and a lot of people are gathered at the entrance of the ward."

……

Madam He sat in her study, looking haggard. On the table were accounts, which her subordinates had kept an eye on the water sellers and roughly calculated how much money they could earn in a day.

A deposit contract allows you to buy sixty buckets of water every day for only thirty coins. If all sixty buckets of water are sold, each bucket will fetch two coins, totaling one hundred and twenty coins, resulting in an immediate profit of ninety coins.

No wonder so many people carry water to the streets and alleys to sell.

If things continue like this, the water shop's business will only get better and better.

As long as the water shop can actually make money.

Even now, Madam He still believes that Xie Yuyan is playing tricks. She thinks the water shop isn't profitable and that she's just creating a stir to gain the trust of more people in the clan.

What is the secret behind this? If she can see through it, she can completely suppress Xie Yuyan's arrogance, and there will still be room for maneuver.

"Second Madam," the steward hurried in, "the Third Household...the Third Household...sent lotus root charcoal to Yong'an Ward."

"What?" Mrs. He didn't understand at first.

The stewardess said, "Two cartloads of lotus root charcoal have been brought over from outside the city, and everyone in Yong'an Ward is rushing to buy them!"

Madam He's eyes widened. She hadn't even figured out what was going on with the water shop, and now they were selling lotus root charcoal? In her haste, she stood up, but then felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.

He struggled to steady herself, and the steward's voice came again: "We've found out what the third branch of the family was doing last night. They were distributing profits to all the clansmen who were in the water shop business."

(End of this chapter)