A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 143 Pretending to be seen by others

Li Yi wished he would never have anything to do with the Du family again.
But she also had to think about Shi Niang. Even though Guo treated her so cruelly, she still fantasized that her grandmother would calm down.

In the afternoon, the opening drum of the East Market sounded.
Wu Yi took Cun Li, Xiao Shisan and Liu Heizi to the East Market to purchase return gifts.

"We can't miss the big goose, and we have to lead the sheep."

It seems that when Tang Dynasty women returned to their parents' home, they had to bring a big goose with them. I don't know why it was so particular, but they just followed suit.

The few of them went on a big shopping spree. They bought two live geese, two roast geese, two chickens, two ducks, and two sheep.

Of course, wine is also necessary, so two jars of millet and yellow wine were prepared.

I bought two boxes of various pastries, including zongzi cake, osmanthus cake, lotus root candy, plum blossom cake, and tanghua rice cake.

Finally, he bought two baskets of Hu Bing, which he could use as a reward for his servants.

Xiao Shisan couldn't help but ask, "Why bother trying to please someone who's not interested?"

"Haha, you're being frank. It's not for me, but because Shi Niang is still thinking about me."

"Ah Lang, do you dare to make a bet with me? If you leave today with high hopes, you will return disappointed, and probably even be turned away."

Li Yi smiled and said, "I'm not going to bet with you on this. I feel the same way, but I have to go on this trip."

"Then why did you spend so much money on these?"

"Maybe I'll bring it back later, and we can eat it ourselves."

Xiao Shisan was extremely impressed by Li Yi's mentality. "Ah Lang, you're really open-minded. You can't tell you're sixteen years old from this. If it were any other young man, he would have turned hostile long ago."

Li Yi thought to himself, I have lived two lives, how can I be as young and energetic as a young man?

“Many things are done for others to see, not for our own good.”

After shopping, Li Yi went to the three shops he had rented a few days ago to check out the new buildings.
The shop is small and not in one place.

A shop was rented in the medicine market, which was full of medicines. There were Chinese patent medicines, medicinal materials, various drinks, facial medicines, lip balms, bath beans, clothes incense, etc. Medicinal materials, medicines and spices were not separated and were all sold together.

Some shops are very large, with a whole row of shops connected together, while others only have a storefront that is only ten feet wide.

The shop in the medicine market that Li Yi rented was only ten feet wide in the front, but deep and long, with a small courtyard in the back. He would sell soap here in the future, and later he might also research mosquito coils, floral water and other things. After all, since he already had persimmon wine, it shouldn't be a big problem to process some alcohol to make floral water.

Cunli introduced the current progress of the shop to Li Yi.

It just needs some simple renovation, including installing counters and containers. The workshop at the back also needs some changes, and dormitories need to be built for the future owners and their employees to live in.

"Have you started recruiting yet?"

"We are already recruiting,"

"We must carefully select them. They must be experienced and honest. Since you are the head shopkeeper, we will first recruit a deputy head shopkeeper and two assistants. We will also recruit a few obedient apprentices and train them slowly."

The soap is temporarily processed in the mansion and then brought here for sale to prevent the secret recipe from being leaked.

Li Yi now entered the East and West Markets of Chang'an, and he also found that his background was indeed insufficient. When he hired people, he had no one he could trust.
It is not easy to recruit a manager at short notice, or even a second or third manager or a clerk.

The shopkeepers and assistants in other shops were all trained by themselves, and few of them would easily change jobs, especially experienced shopkeepers.
Li Yi could only think of ways to offer higher wages to poach people.

Another shop is on the wine street. Although the imperial court banned butchering and selling, wine was still sold. However, most of these wines were government brewed, with very few privately brewed ones, and the prices were very high. Yeast, vinegar, etc. were also sold here.

Li Yi's shop here will be bigger. He will sell persimmon wine in the front and make wine in the back.

Now he has sent people to various places to purchase persimmons and started the initial processing.

"If it's hard to recruit people, then we can just train some shopkeepers ourselves. If we can't recruit clerks, then we can go directly to the disaster victims outside the city and buy some people back." Xiao Shisan suggested.

There are so many people starving to death outside,
You can buy someone by paying a small amount of money, and then work as a clerk in the shop, where you can use him more conveniently and with greater assurance.

"That's fine." Li Yi nodded. "We can also look carefully among the disaster victims. If there are any people who used to do business, whether they were shopkeepers, clerks, or even peddlers themselves, we can hire some of them or buy from them."

"We have to hurry up to harvest the persimmons. If we don't have enough manpower, we can outsource it to others so they can earn some money and we don't have to go to the countryside to harvest them."

Li Yi hopes to harvest the persimmons as early as possible so that they can ferment quickly and he can start making wine.

Fortunately, there are actually no specific requirements for persimmons used for making wine. Hard or soft, good or bad, they can all be used after processing, and they can be harvested continuously.

Li Yi, who had no one to rely on, could only make Li Cunli the chief manager. He thought that maybe he could also invite Luo Er and Luo San to Chang'an, or ask the two wealthy brothers of Luo Er's family to come to Chang'an to help.
Let each of the two brothers manage a bean curd skin shop.
He bought three shops in Chang'an and two other cities, including a wine shop, a soap shop, and a bean curd stick shop.
When no one is using it, it is better to use cooked food than raw food.

In the early stage, we first bought goods from Luojiabao workshop and sold them in Chang'an shop. We also gradually recruited people to start working here. There are many kinds of soy products, such as tofu, bean curd sheets, bean curd sheets, bean curd skin, dried tofu, fermented tofu, and even bean sprouts, all of which can be sold.

I don't expect much profit.

But opening a shop should still be profitable. At least while making some money, you can also support a shop assistant, and even get more orders for the Luojiabao workshop, which will allow the workshop to hire more people.

If you support a lot of people, you can gradually cultivate some useful people, and even make many people depend on Li Yi for food and clothing, then Li Yi's influence will be great.

"Heizi, when you have time, go back to Luojiabao and ask your second uncle, third uncle, and your second uncle's brothers, Dafu and Dagui, to come to Chang'an. I want to discuss with them whether the two tofu skin shops in the East and West Markets can be managed by Dafu and Dagui respectively."

Liu Heizi said with a smile, "They would definitely be willing to be the shopkeeper. The glamorous world of Chang'an is definitely better than herding cows in the countryside."

For ordinary people, they don't care about such things as doing business or menial jobs. After all, everyone is still struggling to make ends meet. Whether it's farming, working as a farmhand or a tenant, or carrying wood in the mountains in their spare time, or selling tofu, they just want to make some money to support their wives and children.
Li Yi took the things he had bought home. Shi Niang had already dressed up and it was obvious that she was still looking forward to returning home to visit her parents.

"I've called a carriage for you. Let's go."

"I can ride a horse, too."

"It's more comfortable to ride in a carriage. We will have to buy one later."

Li Yi now has seven horses, but no carriage.

"Alang has emptied out our family savings in order to marry me. You should be more frugal." Shi Niang felt a little guilty. Two million yuan could only buy so many carriages.

"Spend when you need to. Don't worry, I, Alang, am very good at making money. I just went to see three shops in the East Market. They are almost finished with renovations and will be open for business soon. Then they will have a constant source of income."

When the two of them went out, Shi Niang was very touched when she saw the many gifts Li Yi bought for his parents-in-law.

Shi Niang brought Hong Xiao with her.

Li Yize still called Xiao Shisan and Liu Heizi, and asked Agui to drive the car, so there were six people in the group.

Soon we arrived at the Du residence in Anminfang.

Shi Niang got out of the car and looked at Du's house a little nervously.

Li Yi stepped forward and took her hand, "Let's go."

The gatekeeper was still the old man who came to pick up the bride that day.

"Shi Niang and her husband are returning home to visit their parents. Please inform the old lady." Li Yi said, handing over a string of money. The old man took the money and said lightly, "Wait."

Li Yi didn't care and stood there holding Shi Niang's hand.

Shi Niang felt guilty, "I have wronged A Lang."

"It doesn't matter."

I waited for a long time, but no one came.

A meal's time has passed,
The old servant came back and said, "The old lady is not feeling well and doesn't want to see guests. You can go back."

Shi Niang was extremely angry, her eyes red as she said, "Even if I'm a married daughter, can't I return home in three days? I want to see Grandpa."

"Shi Niang, please don't embarrass this old slave. Let's go back."

Du Shiniang was so angry that tears streamed down her face. She wanted to just force her way in, but Li Yi held her back. "It seems the old lady is still angry. Come visit her another day."

"Thirteen, take down the gifts."

The old servant said, "Take the gifts back with you. The old lady said she won't accept gifts when she sees guests."

"Okay, let's come back another day."

Li Yi helped the tearful Shi Niang onto the carriage and headed home.

Watching them walk away,

The old servant turned around and went to the inner door to report to a female steward.
The female steward nodded and turned to the central hall.

"Madam, Shi Niang and his wife have gone back."

"Hmph," Guo snorted coldly.

Du San's wife couldn't help but say, "Mother, Shi Niang is your sweetheart. Whether she likes it or not, she's already married. You're coming home to visit her parents today, but you won't even let her in. It must be very heartbreaking for her."

"I will just pretend that I don't have this granddaughter. From now on, as long as I am still here, the Du family will not allow her to enter the house with that Tian Sheer, nor will they allow the Du family to visit her at Tian Sheer's house."

"Why are you so angry, old lady?"

"Unless I die, I will never forgive her, and that unfilial grandson in the East Courtyard," Guo was so angry that she picked up her crutch and kept pounding the ground.

Du San's wife didn't dare to persuade him anymore.

"Mother, these past few days, many relatives and some old friends have come to ask about Shi Niang's marriage. They have heard the news of Shi Niang's marriage and thought it was a rumor.

Come and ask about the situation."

Guo's face was as gloomy as water.

"Mother, they are all very surprised that Shi Niang is getting married. Why didn't we give any news about it and didn't invite them?"

"Shut up, and don't mention anything about Shi Niang and Tian She'er anymore."

Guo shouted angrily, interrupting Du San's wife.

"I will just pretend that I don't have that granddaughter. No."

(End of this chapter)