Niao Ni
Chapter 348 The Gentleman's Way to Wealth
The Third Prince sternly ordered those old nannies and eunuchs who had rushed over from the palace to stay in the mansion. He swaggered out of the mansion with Shi Chanli and a few guards. Watching their little master disappear at the gate, the eunuchs and nannies trembled with fear. They thought that since Director Fan Xian wasn't here, the sky had immediately fallen. They couldn't help but secretly pray for Director Fan Xian to return quickly, but little did they know that it was actually Fan Xian who wanted to use the Third Prince's identity to suppress others.
The Third Prince rarely had such an opportunity to travel, so of course, he wasn't in a hurry. The group changed their clothes, disguised as wealthy young masters on an outing. Shi Chanli was rather terrified to be assigned the role of the elder brother. The Third Prince was naturally the younger brother. Sitting in the carriage, they circled around Suzhou city, admiring some beautiful scenery and crowding on the lake to look at a few pleasure boats. The Third Prince's interest finally waned.
"The weather is too cold, and the girls are wearing too much, so how can one see their charm?" The young master, exuding an air of nobility, frowned. "First, choose a good location. I also have to put some thought into the business Fan Xian wants to do, otherwise, if he says you're just taking me around aimlessly, I'm afraid he'll get angry."
Shi Chanli thought to himself, "This is what you should have done long ago."
The problem of choosing a location was easily solved. Anyway, they just plunged into the most bustling area of Suzhou city, desperately searching for the liveliest street amidst the bustle. After looking around, they found that many brothels had opened, a well-developed area. So, they decided on a general direction.
Then, in this large area, they looked at the buildings with the cleanest facades, whichever looked grand. This group simply set their sights on a restaurant that occupied the best location on the street, a luxurious three-story building, spacious and with courtyard walls visible in the back, occupying a huge area.
The Third Prince waved his small hand: "Don't bother looking anymore. I think this location is the best."
Shi Chanli felt a surge of delight in his heart. He had been managing Baoyuelou in Kyoto for some time, but he had never imagined that choosing a location with a prince would be so straightforward. With money and power, things could be done so neatly.
But standing in front of the restaurant, he still had some reservations. He said softly, "This place is too conspicuous. I think there must be a background behind it."
The Third Prince was stunned and asked, "In this world, whose background is greater than mine?"
Shi Chanli opened his mouth wide and couldn't say a word for a long time. He forcibly swallowed the mouthful of blood down, and said ingratiatingly, "What if… the governor-general's office has a share, or the governor's family? Although Your Highness doesn't care, you should still give these officials some face."
The Third Prince was young, but he wasn't stupid. When he thought that this was indeed the case, and Governor-General Xue Qing was not someone he could easily offend. Moreover, they had traveled all the way from Kyoto, and they were going to take away the face of the officials of Jiangnan at the very beginning. He was afraid that this matter would not look good.
But looking at the location of this restaurant, the more he looked at it, the more he liked it. He frowned and thought for a long time, and said, "We have to ask. If we let go of this treasure land, Fan Xian won't feel bad, but I will feel bad for many days."
This group had been standing outside the restaurant for a while, only paying attention to the layout and blocking the entrance. They weren't eating, just smelling the fragrance. Although Suzhou city was a mixture of all kinds of people, there was no such thing. This group was pointing and whispering in front of the restaurant, which immediately attracted the attention of people on the street. However, seeing that the other party was well-dressed and the guards were strong and powerful, not like people from the *jianghu*, the merchants on the street restrained their gossiping hearts.
Only the shopkeeper of the restaurant had no choice but to come out, putting on a professional smile and asked, "Everyone, would you like to come in and try our restaurant's signature dishes? Our Bamboo Garden Pavilion, along with Jiangnan Residence, is known as the Second Best Restaurant in Suzhou, and we do have some good food."
He saw that these people in front of the restaurant seemed to be from out of town, and their identities should be extraordinary, so he responded carefully. The Bamboo Garden Pavilion had its own background, but as a businessman, he naturally had a clever mind, only talking about business, and there was no hint of blaming the other party for blocking the entrance in his words.
Shi Chanli was stunned, smiled gently and said, "I'm really sorry, I was just distracted. Don't blame me, shopkeeper."
The shopkeeper quickly said that the guest was too polite. The Third Prince was impatient with such slow progress and said, "Let's go in and talk." He led the group into the restaurant and added, "Shopkeeper, arrange a quiet room. I have some things to ask."
The shopkeeper was stunned, thinking, "Your elder brother hasn't spoken yet, why is the younger one speaking first?" Shi Chanli coughed twice to cover it up and followed into the restaurant.
Before everyone had settled down in a room on the floor, the shopkeeper personally came into the room to greet them. The Third Prince didn't waste any words and directly asked, "Shopkeeper, do you want to sell this restaurant?"
The shopkeeper was quite surprised today, secretly thinking that this young master's tone was really not small. But in this life, he had dealt with countless difficult things. He smiled respectfully and said, "Young master, this restaurant's business is good right now, and the owner doesn't seem to have any intention of selling it."
"May I ask the owner's surname?" Shi Chanli asked gently, secretly complaining that His Highness was too impatient.
The shopkeeper replied neither humbly nor arrogantly, "The owner's surname is Qian."
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After the shopkeeper left, Shi Chanli frowned and said, "Coming to Suzhou for the first time, we can't figure out the relationships here at all. We don't even know who this Qian is."
The Third Prince stood up, pushed open the window in the private room, and couldn't help but be stunned. He seemed to have seen something strange.
Shi Chanli was suspicious and walked behind him to look out the window. He couldn't help but be stunned on the spot for a moment.
Outside the window was the back garden of the Bamboo Garden Pavilion. There was a calm lake in the garden. Although the lake was not wide, it was quiet and secluded. The courtyard walls separated it from the bustling city. The lawn in the courtyard was not yet green, but one could imagine the beautiful scenery in the spring.
"It's so similar..."
The two of them exclaimed at the same time. Here, "similar" of course, refers to the layout behind this building being extremely similar to the layout of Baoyuelou in Kyoto. Especially on those lawns, if some quiet courtyards were built, it was feared that it would become twins with Baoyuelou in Kyoto.
Looking at the back garden of the Bamboo Garden Pavilion, the two managers of Baoyuelou, both the former and the current, were moved, greatly moved – this building must be bought!
"Buy it!"
The Third Prince and Shi Chanli opened their mouths at the same time with great tacit understanding, then chuckled. The rest was simple. After returning, they would find a way to inquire about the background of this Bamboo Garden Pavilion. They only hoped that the other party's background was not too strong. If it involved officials at too high a level, things would be more troublesome.
The Third Prince was young, but he didn't know where so many sighs came from: "If Fan Sizhe was in this place, he would probably file a lawsuit with the owner of this restaurant, pointing at the other party's nose and scolding them for shamelessly plagiarizing his design."
Shi Chanli thought that the Second Young Master Fan was indeed this kind of temperament and couldn't help but chuckle.
"What are you laughing at?" The Third Prince glared at him. "My second cousin is even more cunning than my older cousin… of course, neither of them are good people. They played a trick of 'shedding the golden cicada's shell', bullied me for being young, and cheated my shares. Don't forget, you also had a hand in this!"
Shi Chanli dared not answer timidly.
The group had a meal in the private room and greatly praised the cooking skills of the restaurant, and the Third Prince even had the idea of bringing over the original chef.
After the meal, just as everyone was about to leave, they found the shopkeeper hurriedly walking into the private room, bowing again with a face full of sweat, wiping the sweat, and saying in a soft voice: "These guests, about buying the building, can we discuss it again?"
The Third Prince's group was very strange. This building was obviously doing extremely well in business, and when they asked before, the other party obviously had a defensive attitude, so why did their attitude suddenly change so much at this time?
Shi Chanli tentatively asked, "Shopkeeper, what does this mean?"
The shopkeeper chuckled twice and said, "The owner heard about this matter before and thought that business has not been as good as in previous years. Since there are distinguished guests offering a price, it is better to let it go. I only hope that the distinguished guests can give a suitable price. Also… I hope that after the transfer, the distinguished guests can manage this building well."
Shi Chanli became even stranger and was about to ask something, but the Third Prince preemptively said with a smile: "That's natural. We are also business people, of course, we will do this building well, but you said a suitable price before, I don't know what price is more suitable?"
The private room suddenly became quiet.
The shopkeeper's eyes stayed for a while, thinking that this young master was asking him to offer a price? But the owner hadn't given any instructions, so how could he offer a price? Judging from the owner's meaning, he must be planning to give it away for free, but the other party didn't seem to notice… wanted him to offer a price?
The sweat on his forehead was getting faster and faster, his face was flushed, it seemed that this early spring weather had turned into the heat of summer. After holding back for a long time, the shopkeeper finally mustered up the courage and stretched out four fingers!
Shi Chanli was stunned, and the guards in the room were stunned again, thinking, "40,000 taels? Even if the lion's head here is famous, it wouldn't be this exorbitant!"
Seeing that the other party didn't respond, the shopkeeper was even more afraid and quickly retracted three fingers, leaving only his index finger pitifully pointing up.
Shi Chanli almost spat blood again. This price was really strange. He didn't have to speak, and it instantly changed from 40,000 taels to 10,000 taels. After thinking about it, he felt that the price was actually not bad and nodded: "10,000 taels of silver is not much… but…"
The shopkeeper's legs softened, and he almost cried out, saying, "This gentleman, you're wrong, you're wrong."
Shi Chanli asked in surprise: "What's wrong?"
"It's… 1,000 taels," the shopkeeper barely squeezed out a naive smile. "Not 10,000 taels."
Shi Chanli swallowed back his third mouthful of blood today. Before he could say anything, the Third Prince had already said, "Bring the contract." Looking at his expression, he seemed confident.
The shopkeeper seemed to have been prepared for this and immediately went out to invite a middleman recognized by the government to come in and start writing the contract. When it came to writing the amount of the sale, the Third Prince said with a sweet smile, "16,000 taels, I won't take advantage of you. I'll give you 20% more silver because I think your owner is probably not very willing to sell. This 20% of the silver is for him to buy medicine for his injuries."
Although the Third Prince was wearing civilian clothes today, he naturally revealed an air of nobility. Although the shopkeeper was very surprised, he didn't dare to say anything. After writing the contract, both parties pressed their fingerprints and agreed to pay the silver at the silver shop tomorrow.
Carefully sending this group of people out of the restaurant, the shopkeeper breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the cold sweat on his forehead a little fearfully, calmed his mind, and then walked to the third floor, entered a quiet room, and handed the contract in his arms to a young man.
This young man's face was upright, and his eyes were gentle and energetic. It was Ming Lan Shi, the young master of the Ming family, who had appeared in the West Lake restaurant in Hangzhou.
He took the contract and glanced at it, a trace of hatred and disappointment flashed in his eyes, and he slapped it over! With a loud bang, the shopkeeper covered his cheeks and looked at the young master timidly, not knowing where he had done wrong.
"Useless thing!" Ming Lan Shi was angry in his heart, but his face was still gentle, and his words revealed a chill, "I asked you to give away the money, but you couldn't give it away!"
Today, it was also a coincidence. After the family meeting, Ming Lan Shi had been staying in Suzhou. Suddenly, he heard the shopkeeper say that someone wanted to buy the building. Hearing the description of the other party's appearance, the successor of the Ming family vaguely guessed a little. Later, the waiter overheard the name Fan Sizhe, and he immediately confirmed the other party's identity, reacting quickly and preparing to give the Bamboo Garden Pavilion away with both hands…
Unexpectedly, the other party didn't take any advantage at all, 16,000 taels of silver, which was not a small amount!
This amount not only didn't take advantage of the Ming family, but it was also higher than the price in the market, but how could the Ming family be short of this little money? Ming Lan Shi was full of thoughts about taking advantage of the fact that the Third Prince didn't know who the owner of the Bamboo Garden Pavilion was, so he preemptively gave the building away, even if it was a cheap sale.
His main purpose, of course, was to please the other party, and if the other party didn't recognize this small favor in the future… sending this contract to Kyoto would be evidence that Fan Xian and the Third Prince were relying on their power to forcibly buy folk industries, and in the future, it would be easy to find a reason for the Princess to file a lawsuit in front of the Emperor!
Unexpectedly, the young Third Prince refused to take this advantage… could it be that the rumors in Kyoto were false, and this prince was not as greedy and cunning as rumored?
Ming Lan Shi fell into deep thought, and once again discovered that the people that his family had to face this time were really difficult to figure out. After closing his eyes and thinking for a long time, he softly ordered: "Lord Fan's mind is very simple, he wants to open a brothel… pass down the order, no brothel is allowed to sell girls to them, no matter how high the price is!"
The shopkeeper responded, then smiled bitterly and said: "Young master, but only our own girls are not sold… there are quite a few people in Suzhou city who do this business, those people are definitely not willing to offend Lord Fan."
"Do they have good girls in their hands?" Ming Lan Shi said with a smile: "Good girls are all in the hands of our Yuan Dajia… let them go buy them, some leftovers, how can they attract customers."
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A carriage left the Bamboo Garden Pavilion, and the merchants around did not know that the Ming family had suffered a silent loss, and this most famous restaurant in Suzhou was about to change hands tomorrow. Although Shi Chanli had little experience in shady matters, he finally woke up at this time and frowned and said, "Your Highness, it seems that your identity has been known by the other party."
A trace of annoyance flashed across the Third Prince's childish face: "Those people are quite smart."
Shi Chanli thought for a while and couldn't help but ask: "Your Highness, the price you offered before was 1,000 taels, why…"
"Why do I have to increase the price myself?" The Third Prince sneered: "Showing unusual courtesy is either for robbery or seduction. Guessing my identity, they can't wait to offer this building with both hands… what about the future? What they ask for is probably not as simple as this building. When people put on a smiling face, of course, we can't slap them in the face, but there's no need to put our faces up and be intimate with them… How many people in this world are qualified to make friends with me?"
Shi Chanli shook his head and said: "I don't know who the owner behind that building is, but they really know how to seize the opportunity."
The Third Prince said: "Regardless of who the other party is, wanting me to take advantage of him must be someone who wants to take advantage of me. You must remember this matter, and don't take advantage of others indiscriminately when you go out in the future, be careful of causing trouble for Fan Xian."
Shi Chanli really admired the little prince in front of him, praising: "Your Highness's words are simple, but the reasoning is extremely profound."
The Third Prince scolded in a childish voice: "Don't flatter me. It's not easy to dress up as a commoner, but I was seen through. I'm really unhappy."
Shi Chanli thought that you, a little kid, had to buy a building as soon as you entered the building. How could you hide your identity with this kind of tone? He also thought that the prince in front of him was so young, and he was able to resist taking advantage of tens of thousands of taels of silver. It seemed that his cunning nature when he was making Baoyuelou was very different. A trace of doubt flashed in his eyes.
Not knowing if the Third Prince saw his expression, he continued: "Fan Xian said a sentence, whenever I take advantage of the people of this world, I will eventually be taken advantage of the imperial court by the people of this world, and I… if I let the imperial court be taken advantage of, then I am a big fool who is willing to pay for others to spend."
Shi Chanli was silent, secretly worrying about his *menshi*. As a prince, he had established such thoughts, that was naturally telling this prince, the interests of the imperial court… will be your own interests in the future, so what does this mean?
The Crown Prince is still in power!
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Not noticing the fear in Shi Chanli's heart, the Third Prince smiled slightly shyly and said: "The teacher said that a gentleman loves money, but he obtains it in a proper way, and the wealth of the emperor is hidden in the world, so why take it?"
Shi Chanli swallowed back the fourth mouthful of blood that had injured him today, staring at the green pennants that kept passing by outside the car window, suppressing the hidden fear in his heart, pretending that he had never heard this sentence at all.
"Doing business can be regarded as a hobby." The Third Prince said with a smile: "Old Shi, your courage is too small compared to my two cousins, you are not a material for doing business."
Shi Chanli moved his body, letting the slightly damp clothes on his back breathe, and replied with a wry smile: "Your Highness is right."
The Third Prince stopped the carriage and said, "The money shop is here, you go to do business, I will go back to the mansion first."
A trace of cunning flashed across the child's face, not knowing what he was pleased with.
Watching the departing carriage, Shi Chanli breathed a sigh of relief, told the two guards who were following him to wait outside, tidied up his clothes slightly, and walked to the branch of the Taiping Money Shop.
Not far behind him, the Zhaoshang Money Shop, which had been newly opened for several months, although the door was deserted, but it revealed an atmosphere of a new noble, the brand-new green cloth of the pennant seemed to be mocking Shi Chanli's pedantry and ignorance.
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Chickens lay double yolks, eat half first. Not to mention what new and surprising things Shi Chanli will encounter in the money shop, just say that far away from Suzhou city, outside the jurisdiction of the Inner Treasury Transport Department, that huge convoy carrying hundreds of people is now moving forward with difficulty in the cold early spring rain.
The Inner Treasury Transport Department is different from the Salt and Tea Departments. First of all, there are more affairs, greater profits, and it is the only Transport Department in the three departments that occupies the actual land. The Inner Treasury produces a series of factories and workshops, which require a large area of land. Since the imperial court delineated a piece of land in northern Fujian many years ago, it has gradually become a special zone, the area of which is even larger than a small state, and its status is very special.
Because of the concern that the manufacturing technology of the Inner Treasury will flow abroad, the Qing Kingdom imperial court has really spared no expense in the security work of the Inner Treasury. The Qing Kingdom has carried out a completely closed management of the Inner Treasury jurisdiction. A total of five blockade lines have been set up. The outermost line is the local state army and navy of Jiangnan. The four lines inside are set up by the Qing Kingdom military and the Supervisory Council, monitoring each other, like a multi-layered fruit juice cake.
As for the outward transportation line, in addition to the strict supervision on the surface, I don't know how many hidden spies have been sprinkled in. Countless eyes, whether on the surface or in the dark, are staring at the Cui family, the Ming family, or other agent giant merchants.
Even though the Qing Kingdom has spent so much effort, it still can't stop the greedy eyes of other countries. In the past few decades, the Inner Treasury has had countless incidents, and the Qing Kingdom has paid a very heavy price for it. First of all, the garrison and defense need to cost a lot of silver every year, and secondly, in the past few decades, more than a thousand lives have been lost for the prosperity of the Qing Kingdom - the struggle to steal information and counter-commercial espionage is particularly bloody in this world!
This war seems to have no end, and the Supervisory Council is the organization that has paid the most in this war. I don't know how many undercover agents have died in the dark, but fortunately, it has ensured that the Inner Treasury is still safe until today.
The former director of the Fourth Bureau, Yan Ruohai, and the brother of Qin Heng, the current Kyoto garrison commander, Qin Shan, were the direct principals in arranging the defense work at the beginning. The two once boasted that with the defense force of the Inner Treasury, except for the Grand Masters who can still do nothing about it, even mosquitoes with a touch of perfume cannot fly out.
The convoy is undergoing the final inspection. Fan Xian lifted the curtain and looked at the hydraulic pivot by the river in the distance, his eyes slightly narrowed. Although it was only some initial and crude industry, the demand for power could not be separated from water.
A chill appeared in his narrowed eyes. Without turning around, he said gently: "I brought you in for my own safety. I don't want you to go to the workshops to see the excitement. If you are discovered, you should know how serious the consequences are. Even if you are a super strong person of the ninth rank, you may not be able to escape the pursuit of the forces here… and although my injuries have only healed by half, I will personally take action."
Behind him, Haitang, disguised as a maid, smiled and glanced at the Miss Sisi beside her, without saying anything.
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(Want monthly tickets, want monthly tickets, want monthly tickets, want monthly tickets: p)