Although the year was not good, with the resignation of Zheng Zhilong of the Fujian-Guangdong Maritime Giant Canal, although there were still pirate activities outside the Pearl River Estuary, the situation in Guangzhou has eased much. At the end of the year, Guangzhou, the largest metropolis in the southeast, is bustling again
stand up.
Guangdong has always had warm soil and warm weather. Although China was in the Little Ice Age at this time, and even Leizhou had snowed, coldness was not the norm in the south of the Five Ridges. Once the cold wave passed, the earth's atmosphere continued to warm up, and the earth was already lush with flowers.
The scene of early spring. From rich families to well-off families, this year's New Year is still spent in joy. Starting from New Year's Eve, firecrackers are everywhere in the city, and they become more dense at the fifth watch of New Year's Day.
However, last year, there was a famine in Fujian for consecutive years, and Guangdong was also greatly affected. Famine refugees from outside and local hungry people gathered on the wasteland near several temples with soup kitchens. Hungry people begging for food every day came to the streets and cried.
The sound of hunger is endless. Fortunately, the weather is mild and no bones have frozen to death. However, when the weather is warm, various diseases have also become a lifeline in places where the extremely poor population is concentrated. Every day, people are carried by Baojia everywhere to the killing field outside the city.
.However, this situation is not unique to this year. Everyone is accustomed to it, so it does not hinder the prosperity of this city, let alone the new life of high officials, country officials and wealthy families.
After Xinzheng, there is the annual lantern market. Chengxuan Street to the South Gate is about three or four miles long, and several streets along the road are full of lantern markets. As usual, the lantern market starts from the 14th day of the first lunar month every year and ends on the 10th day of the first lunar month.
At the end of the six days, there was a market during the day and lights at night. In the light market, merchants from all over the country gathered, taking advantage of the opportunity to sell various products. Day and night, there was a constant flow of people shouting and shouting, like a boiling pot.
Like. Many nearby streets and alleys become lively during the Lantern Festival. At night, all kinds of lanterns are hung in front of each store, including those made of burned beads, those made with ink and tapestry, and those with five colors.
Yarn, bright angle, paper, wheat orange and grass. There are even extremely rare Western glass lamps and Australian film lamps. This Australian film lamp only appeared on the market last year. The material is slightly transparent.
The texture is light and soft, and the colors are bright and eye-catching. It has become the new favorite of local dignitaries and wealthy businessmen.
Especially precious lanterns are hung on the colorful buildings on the street for people to watch from a distance. The colorful buildings on the streets face north and south, with rich doors, embroidered doors, painted pillars and carved beams. Most of the ones with curtains on the upper floors are from local people.
For the high-ranking officials and their families, the rent for each colorful building cost dozens of taels of silver per night.
The lanterns stay on all night long, so you can enjoy the lanterns and set off fireworks all night long. There are also many kinds of fireworks, which are amazing. Various bands, various juggling, and performances all night long. In addition, here and there, dragon dance teams, lion dancers,
From dusk to dawn, men and women crowded together all night, and there was a sea of people.
The fourteenth day of the first lunar month was the second day when the lantern market reached its climax. On this morning, there was a good-looking middle-aged man who was close to old age.
Silk robe, wearing a square scarf, with a somewhat melancholy expression between his brows, rode a donkey from the West City to the East City, entered Huifu Street, got off the donkey in front of the gate of Zizhenzhai, and developed
Fee money, slowly walked inside.
This middle-aged man who looks like a businessman, whose real name is Shen Fan, has been an apprentice in a famous jewelry shop in Guangzhou since he was twelve years old. He worked hard for more than 20 years and became the boss. He has worked in this industry all his life and just resigned from his employer last year. , go back to the countryside to buy some farmland - it’s time to enjoy some family happiness when you are over fifty. Unexpectedly, something unexpected happened, and my only beloved grandson got an unknown disease. I spent all my savings to hire famous doctors to get it. There is only one sentence: the cold malaria penetrates into the bones, and there is no cure.
For Old Shopkeeper Shen, this was like a bolt from the blue. He was in great difficulty in having children. He only had one son, who had passed away long ago. This grandson was all his sustenance and hope, but now his life was hanging by a thread. It simply made him despair.
However, somehow, the news of his grandson's illness was actually known to shopkeeper Sun Kecheng. Shopkeeper Sun was quite familiar with the jewelry and toys business because of his business relationship with the escort agency. A young man who called himself Guo Yi was introduced by him. Appeared in front of him, claiming that he could save his beloved grandson's life, on the condition that he would serve as the shopkeeper of Zizhenzhai, which was being built. For a well-known Shen Fan, joining another family was a taboo in the industry, but He has already retired and has nothing to do with his original employer. If he leaves the mountain to find another job, the most he will do is to have some material opinions from his colleagues behind his back. Although this young man looks strange, he has good looks and decent manners. He should not be anything. He was a rooster and a dog thief. Although he felt a little strange in his heart, he still agreed at the time. After all, compared with his grandson's life, what did his false reputation mean? So he treated Guo Yi as a dead horse. The grandson took the medicine. However, a miracle did happen. After swallowing some mysterious white pills with water according to the method given by Guo Yi for several days, his grandson's condition improved significantly. Overwhelmed with surprise, he asked the doctor to check his grandson's pulse. , was told that there was no serious problem and he just needed to rest. According to the agreement, as soon as the lamp market came down, Shen Fan fulfilled the agreement and officially joined Zizhenzhai's sect.
But this Zizhenzhai is also very strange. Shopkeeper Shen got some information from colleagues in the industry, saying that this shop has been open for less than a month. It seems to specialize in the business of housekeepers. The entrance to the shop is strictly guarded, and everyone has no idea about the joints. It was very serious. Some colleagues in the industry advised him that the owner of this store has a close relationship with the Gao family, and he may not have a serious background. It is not clear which sea hero's backend the trouble is.
Saying this made Shopkeeper Shen murmur in his heart. But then he thought about Sun Kecheng, who was always known for his maturity and reliability. He would never introduce his boss to him randomly. So he decided to go to Qiwei Escort Bureau first and take a look - and touch it by the way. Get to know the new owner.
Sun Kecheng didn't hold back at all. He told all about Guo Yi's origins. He was just an Australian maritime merchant who had some strange goods in his hands. He wanted to come to the Ming Dynasty to develop and make money. As for what kind of strange goods there were, Shen Fan didn't know. He also knew that all kinds of Australian exotic goods sold in the Gao family's shop were probably produced by Guo Yi. This was really beyond his expectation. At first, he only thought that he was a rich man from other provinces, but when he thought of Guangzhou, He came to a piece of Feng Shui treasure land to earn some votes, and it turned out that he had some good stuff. Shopkeeper Shen knew that the so-called Australian products were not only extremely exquisite, but also almost impossible for outsiders to imitate - his original employer had invited him back to study the market together. There are all kinds of Australian exotic goods. Skilled craftsmen in jewelry shops say that if they just imitate the appearance and structure, they can be almost the same, but some of the materials are unknown.
Shen Fan originally knew everything about being the shopkeeper of Zizhenzhai. He knew that they were the outflow place for Australian goods, and as he had been working on rare treasures all his life, his curiosity aroused, so he decided to take over as the shopkeeper. Today, he is busy visiting peers and customers, initially establishing business relationships with Zizhenzhai.
When the two boys in front of the door saw the shopkeeper coming, they hurriedly threw away their brooms and came over to greet him and give him a hand to help him.
"Is the proprietor here?"
"I'm talking to the mighty shopkeeper Sun in the accounting room at the back." A young boy inside answered respectfully. This is Gao Di, a son of Guo Dong's family. He is very smart. Shen Fan knew that Gao Di and his family were all in the house. As an errand, he is a so-called caring family member. Although he is just a young boy, he is very much used by Dong Guo's family in private. He is also responsible for the contact with the Qiwei Escort Bureau.
In fact, Gao Di is not just being reused right now. Shen Fan never imagined that this young man who was still like a child would now be one of Guo Yi's main eyes and ears.
During the time when Wen Desi left, in addition to practicing martial arts in the escort agency and collecting the market information of various goods every day, he also continued to collect information about Gao Ji's family through the friends he met when he was playing in the Gao family. He was scheming and knew that Shopkeeper Wen and the Gao family were inseparable and were wary of each other. Later Shopkeeper Xiao came and looked at the materials he collected. Shopkeeper Xiao smiled and said nothing, was noncommittal, but rewarded him with money - which made him happy. I worked for several days, not for the money, but for my work to be recognized.
After Shopkeeper Xiao left, Shopkeeper Guo came. Gao Qing and Gao Fian were very puzzled by the frequent replacements of Australian maritime merchants and were a little uncomfortable with it. However, Gao Di somewhat understood that Shopkeeper Wen, this Australian is not There are two of them, but a group of people. Shopkeeper Wen and Shopkeeper Xiao are just the leaders. Their family is not the slaves of any other family, but the minions of the Australians.
For this reason, he has become more active recently. Under Guo Yi's instructions, Gao Di, in addition to being a waiter and learning how to handle the work in the shop, also continues intelligence activities every day. He has now developed from his original childhood friend He had three or four subordinates, each of whom could get two hundred cents from him every month - this money was spent from the activity funds that Wen Desi had previously stipulated to give him one tael of silver per month. Guo Yi believed that there was an intelligence The leader must not only be good at collecting intelligence, but also must have good management skills, including managing his subordinates and finances. Therefore, Gao Di will not be given more fees.
Facts have proved that Gao Di, who is only fifteen in the Chinese New Year, is quite talented at certain things. Now not only does Guo Yi know everything about the Gao family's actions, but Guo Yi can also hear the rumors in Haopan Street and even the streets of Guangzhou in a timely manner. know.
Guo Yi's next goal is to establish a rudimentary intelligence and trade network throughout Guangdong Province. Currently, he relies on the Qiwei Escort Agency. Under his planning and financial support, shopkeeper Sun has expanded the scale of the Qiwei Escort Agency. Various industries have been set up in the province's main land and water docks, traffic arteries and commodity distribution centers, and they have purchased farms, opened inns, and car dealerships. Sun Kecheng was both happy and worried. What he was happy about was that the countryside was now dilapidated and dilapidated, and his disciples, disciples, and fellow villagers Yi couldn't survive in the countryside, and many people defected to him. Shopkeeper Guo asked him to set up a large foreign cabinet, which solved the problem of eating for these people. What worries him is that he has never seen anyone doing business like this. The first store has no name. Knowing whether he could make money, the second and third stores opened one after another, and with this momentum, he was afraid that all of Guangdong would have to put up shop names. The money spent made him tremble with fear - just for the layout of Leizhou, he spent all the money before and after. After paying one thousand taels of silver, shopkeeper Guo repeatedly ordered: buy as much land as possible, farmsteads and pressing mills. With all this trouble, shopkeeper Wen's family would not be able to make ends meet even if they had gold and silver.
He had been muttering to himself for several days. As soon as the New Year was over, he rushed to discuss with Guo Yi whether to slow down the pace of expansion.
Shen Fan walked through the front yard and the main hall, and passed through a moon cave door guarded by bodyguards. Inside was a fresh and elegant small courtyard. There were three main rooms in the courtyard, which were the accounting rooms of Zizhenzhai. The long windows were all open. I saw Dongzhu Guo and shopkeeper Sun talking among them. Sun Kecheng looked sad and nodded repeatedly. Shen Fan, who had been a waiter for more than 20 years, slowed down and coughed lightly.
When Boss Guo saw him coming, he got busy to greet him. Shopkeeper Sun also got up and said goodbye when he saw him coming back.
Shen Fan reported to him one by one the status of his visits to customers and colleagues in the past few days. Logically speaking, such business issues do not need to be reported to the proprietor, but Zizhenzhai is very different from other stores. First, Shen Fan arrived Now he doesn't know what the store plans to sell. The only thing he can do is to visit the big merchants in the city with the store's name cards and brochures.
"Proprietor, this is the list of people I want to visit Qi Zhe." Shen Fan took out a zhe from his sleeve and handed it to Guo Yi. Guo Yi has now completely transformed into the Ming Dynasty style, even growing his hair into a bun.
Opening the folder casually, there were many names written in regular small letters on the plum red paper, column by column. There were also notes in small characters next to it, such as the proprietor of Bai Xian Lou, the staff of the Governor's Yamen, the shopkeeper of Chen Ji Liang Store, Gong Xingdian’s boss was Zhao Jinshi from Panyu, the Ma Xiang eunuch from Nanhai... they were either rich or noble, or they were the housekeeper of a wealthy family, the concubine of a high official, etc. At a quick glance, there were always eighty or ninety So many homes.
"So many?" Guo Yi was a little surprised, because Shen Fan had told him that most of the people he was going to post discounts on were the top and second largest households in the city. The amount of money spent on jewelry and toys every year was so much less. Ten thousand, more than hundreds of thousands, hundreds of thousands.
"Going back to the proprietor, these are the biggest ones, and there are some smaller ones that I haven't visited yet." Colgate brought tea and hand towels. Shen Fan took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead, "Yes. That’s what happened in the past few days, but there’s just one thing I need to ask for permission from my boss.”
"Say it."
"What the owner sells are all priceless treasures and toys. We are doing so many large businesses at the same time. Is there any problem with capital turnover?"
Since Zizhenzhai is engaged in the home business, it must follow the practices of the home business. According to the rules, such wealthy families do not pay cash when purchasing jewelry. They only give discounts in the jewelry store. Whatever you like, you will get the discount. You can pick up the goods after registering and stamping them. Checkout takes place during the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and New Year's Eve every year.
As a result, the cost requirements for the store are very high. Jewelry and toys are no better than others, and they cost thousands of dollars. Even if you have a lot of capital, it is difficult to have so many customers at the same time. Shen Fan is afraid of this overseas People who don't understand the key and are always greedy for more and seek greater success will end up in total failure in the future.