Chapter 4 The Secret Recipe
In Qian Yuan's mind, it was just an ordinary prescription. The reason was very simple. In the next ten or decades, this secret prescription could be published!
But in this era, a secret recipe is a family heirloom that can be circulated in the minds of merchants.
Speaking of Songjiang Qian family, it is not small. Qian Yuan's great-grandfather was Qian Fu, the top scholar in Hongzhi for three years, and his legitimate uncle Qian Zheng was also a Jinshi on both lists. However, Qian Yuan did not think that these were enough to stop the other party's snooping eyes and eager to try.
It is clearly written in history books that the accumulation of capital is often accompanied by blood and tears. Nowadays, the maritime trade in the southeast coastal areas is booming, and there are signs of capitalism. Those merchants dare to do anything for the sake of their interests. Zhu Wan's death a few years ago is proof of this.
However, Qian Yuan did not intend to cry or bleed.
In the next five days, Jin Hong, the target person, became more and more suspicious. The reason was very simple. In these five days, there were no other spies except for the Jin family who sent someone to stare at the house.
My father's friend during his lifetime was close and had business dealings, but he sent someone to watch Qian Yuan's every move in private. What does this mean?
It can only mean that Jin Hong has a ghost in his heart.
But Qian Yuan knew that there was another reason, that is, Jin Hong had not succeeded yet.
On the tenth day of coming to Hangzhou, a big pot was set up in the backyard, with a red slurry in the pot. Zhang San and others looked at Qian Yuan with awe-inspiring eyes.
Although I have watched it several times, Zhang San still finds it difficult to understand how Young Master Yuan did it.
After operating it several times, Qian Yuan was too lazy to do it anymore. Nunu said that Zhang San would take out some fine charcoal-like things from the package under his feet and throw it into the pot. Soon the red slurry quickly clarified and became transparent.
"Add the fire, add the fire!" Zhang San shouted loudly. Soon, the transparent slurry was boiled and dried up, and a layer of snow-white powder was precipitated on the top.
Qian Yuan picked up the copper spoon and picked up a little, hesitated and turned his head to stuff it into Zhang San's mouth, "How is it?"
"Sweet, so sweet!" Zhang San smacked his lips, "I ate foreign candy once a few years ago, which is sweeter than the best foreign candy."
Qian Yuan was not very satisfied and frowned and muttered, "It's not white enough. After all, it's homemade activated carbon and cannot be produced in large quantities... It's not as fast as the decolorization of yellow mud water."
Two months ago, Qian Yuan had repeatedly tried it. He used the ordinary brown sugar he bought as raw material and used activated carbon or yellow mud water to decolorize. The two methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. The former is fast in purifying, but the purity is not high enough, and the process of making activated carbon is also very cumbersome, and the latter is more concise and fast, easy to spread, but it is also easy to be learned by others.
Well, Qian Yuan has already inquired about it, and I don’t know if Song Yingxing was born, but at least the book “The Book of Heavenly Works” has not been published. The method of pouring sugar in yellow mud should be just a secret of some workshops. Now, tree ash is generally used to purify white sugar in the Ming Dynasty, and only brown sugar is sold in ordinary stores.
He looked down at the account book and compared the records. Qian Yuan confirmed that Jin Hong did not succeed because the prices of foreign sugar and brown sugar in Hangzhou City had basically not fluctuated in the past three months.
You should know that Susonghang area is not a intensive planting place for sugarcane. If Jin Hong succeeds, considering the cost and capital circulation speed, he will not be able to make brown sugar by himself and then decolorize foreign sugar. Like Qian Yuan, he should buy brown sugar directly to decolorize, and it will not have no impact on the price of brown sugar.
The next day, the shop reopened, but no longer sold cotton cloth, but sold foreign candy. In just two days, the stock of foreign candy was sold out.
Foreign sugar is very expensive in China and is in short supply. Only Guangzhou has a certain amount of exports, while brown sugar is cheap. The net profit of the shop exceeds 600%, which is spread to half of Hangzhou City for a time.
The tree will naturally attract wind, and there will be a lot of eyes and ears near the shop soon, but Qian Yuan unexpectedly learned that the spy sent by the Jin family disappeared.
Yes, the spies should have sent out to confirm whether Qian Yuan had the secret recipe. Now that he knows, of course there is no need to work harder.
Qian Yuan thought in his mind that his father and brother were killed on his way back to Ningbo from the Zhoushan Islands, which also shows that Jin Hong is not able to kill, set fire and grab secret recipes in Hangzhou. So what would he do?
In addition, before leaving, my father solemnly told his family to keep it strictly and not to disclose it to outsiders. Moreover, it was sold in small batches when shipped. The volume was not large, but it was distributed in Jiaxing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shaoxing and Ningbo, and the price of sugar was not much.
Then how did Jin Hong know that this secret recipe exists?
Although I don’t know how Jin Hong knew, I can be sure that he knew, but how would this guy take advantage of it?
Qian Yuan frowned and thought carefully. He was the leader of the Songjiang Prefecture Court's case, and his second uncle was the two-ranked Jinshi Huizhou magistrate. As long as he didn't leave Hangzhou City and was not alone, what could Jin Hong do with him?
However, what you want to do, you need to be as soon as possible... Qian Yuanyou sighed, I am very short of money now.
It is not a small amount of money to buy a house in Hangzhou City. The house I live in is still rented, and there are only two entry points in front and back, which is too narrow. The surroundings are merchants, which also affects my future study.
Although he was timid last year and did not dare to take the provincial examination, Qian Yuan knew very well that no matter what he wanted to do in the future, the status of a juren or even a jinshi would be twice the result with half the effort.
Fortunately, I went through time and did not clear the original owner's memory, and later I slowly recovered when I was recuperating... Qian Yuan was also sighing secretly while glad, and was also affected by the original owner's emotions. Otherwise, he, a cost-conscious stakeholder, would never have been in Hangzhou.
After all, after a few months of getting along with each other, plus more than ten years of memory, Qian Yuan regards his family as his real family, avenges his father and brother, and fights for his mother and sister in the upcoming chaos. This is his responsibility and obligation.
In the study, Qian Yuan leaned on the back of the chair and stared at the candlelight that jumped from time to time, repeatedly thinking in his mind... Is there any possibility of completing his efforts?
Chapter completed!