At the east gate of the county city, Zhou Changlin and his three sons waited at the gate early in the morning.
"Father, didn't the person here say that the people sent from the capital won't arrive until noon? Why are we here so early?"
Zhou Changlin's youngest son Zhou Dewu said with a yawn.
He ordered three girls at Jiaofangsi last night, soaked in a large bathtub until dawn, and then went to bed early in the morning. However, Zhou Changlin sent someone to pull him out of bed early in the morning and asked him to come to the city gate to hold him up.
Da Yang et al.
Now he can hardly even open his eyes.
The second son standing aside also looked drowsy.
He didn't go to Jiaofangsi, but went to Xiaoxiang Pavilion, where he ordered more girls than his brother. When Zhou Changlin sent someone to look for him, he was still in the bathtub.
"You can just mess around. When I die, I think you can still mess around for a few more days!"
When Zhou Changlin saw the two of them, he became extremely angry.
Last night, he received a notice that the Zhou family in the capital sent a young master named Zhou Wenyuan to Guangyuan. He would arrive in Guangyuan at about noon the next day and ask him to receive him.
Zhou Changlin was extremely concerned about the affairs of the Zhou family in the capital. He told his son several times not to mess around at night and to come together the next day to greet the young master in the capital.
Who knew that when he turned around, both sons ran away to the brothel.
Only one eldest son is left at home.
Thinking of this, Zhou Changlin turned his head and glanced at his eldest son.
Then he sighed again.
The eldest son didn't like going to brothels, so he didn't doze off at this time.
He was holding a leg of lamb and chewing it until his mouth was full of oil. He had no time to listen to what other people were saying.
"My family is unfortunate!"
Zhou Changlin couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness.
When he was young, the Zhou family in Guangyuan was just one of the many branches of the Zhou family in the capital, and was almost forgotten by the Zhou family in the capital.
However, through his hard work, he gradually managed the Zhou family in Guangyuan into the largest cloth merchant in Guangyuan, and reconnected with the Zhou family in Beijing, which can be said to be very powerful.
But his sons are more useless than the other.
The eldest son is born stupid and knows how to eat all day long. He is less than 1.6 meters tall but weighs more than 200 kilograms and is still growing. He may stay like this for the rest of his life.
The second son is also a standard playboy. He has more than ten wives and concubines at home and goes to a brothel every day.
So when the third child was born, he named him Zhou Dewu, hoping that he would be a smart man.
It turns out that the third child is smart, but he never puts his mind to good use. He is either visiting brothels or getting into trouble all day long, which is even less worrying than the second child.
It was precisely because his three sons failed to live up to expectations that Zhou Changlin supported his nephew to serve as a master in Jinchuan. However, the bandits trained by his nephew provoked Jin Feng, and his nephew was killed by Jin Feng.
Zhou Changlin had long been dissatisfied with Master Zhou. When he learned that Jin Feng was a noble, he even gave up the idea of revenge and did not send anyone to investigate in detail.
Until now, he didn't know the real reason why Jin Feng killed Master Zhou. It was actually because of the spinning wheel.
Later, Jin Feng toughened the county guard in the county seat, and Zhou Changlin was thankful more than once for his decision not to provoke Jin Feng.
The three of them stood guard at the city gate all morning, and waited until almost noon when they saw a carriage approaching from a distance, escorted by servants.
On the lantern hanging next to the carriage, there is a big Chinese character Zhou written on it.
"Get up quickly, Mr. Wenyuan is here!"
Zhou Changlin kicked his son awake from his nap, arranged his clothes and went to meet him.
The people in the carriage saw Zhou Changlin and asked the coachman to stop the carriage.
A tall white-faced scholar with red lips and white teeth opened the carriage curtain and got out:
"Uncle Chang Lin, I haven't seen you for several years, but you still look as charming as ever."
After all, they are traceable clansmen. According to the seniority, Zhou Changlin is indeed a generation older than Zhou Wenyuan.
But Zhou Wenyuan's father is the chief steward of the Zhou family in the capital. Although his name is similar to that of the housekeeper, he is a direct descendant of the Zhou family in the capital.
The head of the family is willing to hand over the entire family to him, which is enough to show his trust in him. The status of the Zhou family in the capital is much higher than that of Zhou Changlin, a side branch.
Zhou Changlin did not dare to put on his uncle's airs, and said with a smile: "Young Master Wenyuan has been working hard all the way, so he must be hungry early. I have prepared a small amount of wine in the city for you to wash away the wind and dust. I also hope that you will not dislike it and try our most famous Qili Xiang in Guangyuan."
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"Thank you, Uncle Chang Lin. However, my nephew comes to Guangyuan this time and has a mission. There is no need to drink. It is more important to do business first."
Zhou Wenyuan smiled and waved his hand.
"Business?" Zhou Changlin's heart moved: "I am considered a bit thin in Guangyuan. If I can be of any help, Mr. Wenyuan will just give you my instructions."
"Speaking of this matter, I really need to trouble Uncle Chang Lin."
Zhou Wenyuan said: "To be honest with Uncle Chang Lin, I came here just for the soap that uncle sent to the capital."
"Soap?" Zhou Changlin frowned slightly.
"Yes," Zhou Wenyuan said, "Uncle Chang Lin, you don't know that the aunts and sisters in the house robbed all the soaps you sent, and there were still a lot of them that they didn't grab. So they pestered my father to ask for them, and the capital looked for them again.
Without soap, my father has no choice but to ask his nephew to trouble Uncle Lin."
Every year he sends countless gifts to the Zhou family in the capital, but the Zhou family in the capital never expresses any expression, as if they have not received them.
So when Zhou Changlin heard that the soap was liked by the female relatives of the Zhou family in the capital, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, but the next second, his brows furrowed.
Not all children from rich families are playboys. Zhou Wenyuan has studied with his father since he was a child. No matter how he speaks, treats others, or observes their emotions, he is completely incomparable to the three sons of Zhou Changlin.
Seeing Zhou Changlin's expression of embarrassment, he asked with concern: "Uncle Changlin, what's wrong?"
"Mr. Wenyuan, you don't know something. Soap is also very popular in Guangyuan, but now it's completely out of stock."
Zhou Changlin said helplessly.
As a qualified businessman, Zhou Changlin is still very sensitive to business, and he has been paying more attention to soap recently.
Nowadays, soap is completely popular, and it can even be sold for ten taels of silver a piece on the black market, but it has a price but no market, and few people sell it.
"Out of stock?" Zhou Wenyuan also frowned when he heard this: "What should I do?"
Zhou Changlin knew that Zhou Wenyuan's implication was to ask him to find a way, but he really didn't have any good ideas at the moment.
If it were other merchants, with the power of the Zhou family, they could still force them to take out their inventory.
But everyone in the county didn't know that Tang Xiaobei was from Jin Feng. He didn't want to offend Jin Feng unless he had to.
It is very important to please the Zhou family in the capital, but he is usually very filial and the Zhou family will not embarrass him too much because of this matter.
But it's not necessary to provoke Jin Feng, after all, he is a madman who even dares to be tough with the county guard.
Zhou Wenyuan roughly guessed what Zhou Changlin was thinking by looking at Zhou Changlin's expression. He didn't ask directly, but said in a casual manner:
"Uncle Chang Lin, you are in Guangyuan, but you may not know that this year the annual tribute paid by the imperial court to party members has increased by another 10%."
"What?"
When Zhou Changlin heard this, his eyes suddenly widened.
Ordinary people would probably cry for father and mother when they heard about the increase in annual tribute, but Zhou Changlin was overjoyed.
Because a large part of the annual tribute is cloth, the increase in annual tribute means that he can get more business this year!
This is also the reason why the ministers of the DPRK and China agreed to increase the annual tribute from the party members.
Anyway, you don’t have to pay for it and you can still make a fortune from it, so why not?
As for the life and death of the people, what does it have to do with them?
"Don't worry, Mr. Wenyuan, I'll go find Miss Xiaobei right away and I'll definitely get the soap!"