Mr. Six, our shop was blocked again today. Even if we called the police, we didn’t chase them away. They didn’t disperse until it was almost dark, and they quickly made a few orders."
"But the people who are familiar with us no longer come to our store to buy slaves. They all go to Master Zheng's store to buy them. In order to open the business, it can only be 10% cheaper than Master Zheng's store. But even so, the business is still expensive.
Not as prosperous as Mr. Zheng." A man who looked like a clerk stood in front of Xiao Zhuo, with sweat on his forehead and a slightly trembling voice.
"I know, remember to keep a clear account. Then, since the business is not good these days, you will close the business first and wait until I let you open again."
"Okay, I don't have any other instructions, please step back." Xiao Zhuo's expression was very calm and his voice was very steady. His expression did not change at all after hearing these words, he just said softly.
"But Mr. Six, the money we have made from business in the past ten days is not enough to cover the expenses of the store, and you have ordered us to close the business. If we stay closed like this for a month or two, I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain when the accounts are settled at the end of the year."
The guy said.
"Explain? To whom? The clan leader?" Xiao Zhuo snorted coldly: "He also knows the reason for this, so he dares to ask for an explanation?"
"But Mr. Six, this..." Before he could finish his words, Xiao Zhuo interrupted: "You don't have to say anything, just go down."
"Master Six," the guy called again, but after taking a look at Xiao Zhuo's expression, he could only sigh and retreat.
After the waiter left the room, Xiao Yong walked in and said to Xiao Zhuo: "Dad, shopkeeper Zhang said that business is not doing well again?"
"Yeah." Xiao Zhuo agreed casually.
"This is all my son's fault." Xiao Yong said with great self-blame.
"How can it be said that this is your fault?" Xiao Zhuo said immediately: "It is obvious that some people in the imperial court are stubborn and do not want to see good businessmen, so they use such despicable methods."
After saying this, he showed a fierce look on his face and said: "These people pretend to be court officials, but they are worse than local ruffians!"
No wonder Xiao Zhuo was so angry with the officials in the court. It turned out that the civil servants in the court not only reported to Yunxi to stop the marriage, but also took action against the Xiao family. So far, the Xiao family's only business in the capital was selling slaves.
, mainly slaves from Southeast Asia, supplemented by slaves from the Ming Dynasty, and the slave trade was condemned by the public opinion of the Ming Dynasty, so some officials ordered some young and passionate scholars, mainly scholars, to go to the Xiao family's shop
Stand in front of the demonstration.
Although scholars, except for those who studied in the Imperial College, are not very valuable, and their devaluation is even greater in the capital, there are many scholars who gather together and no one dares to bully them casually, not to mention that the Xiao family is now at the forefront of public opinion.
, and dared not do anything but send someone to call the police.
But many of the policemen in the capital are disabled people who have retired from the army. Although they have retired from the army, their children and grandchildren are still eating in the guardhouses, so they will naturally be influenced by military commanders. Although military commanders are not as bold as civilian officials, they dare to give orders.
If you come to the Prince Consort's shop to cause trouble, you can still be a little slack on matters related to the Xiao family. When you see the people sent by the Xiao family, you will start a fight, and you can delay it as long as you can.
Even if they were finally called upon, the police would not dare to act rashly when they saw a bunch of scholars gathered together. At this time, they did nothing but sat in the front and back yards of Xiao's shop, eating snacks and drinking from Xiao's shop.
They drank tea from the Xiao family and waited for the scholars to disperse before leaving. But the Xiao family had to thank the police in the end.
On the one hand, the income was much less, and on the other hand, the output was too much. Naturally, the Xiao family's business could not make ends meet and suffered a loss.
"This is because some officials in the court are too shameless and have nothing to do with you." Xiao Zhuo said again.
"But, dad, things have to be solved. Our family has suffered too much loss if it continues like this." Xiao Yong said. Of course he also knew that what Xiao Zhuo said was right, but the problem now is that they used the scholar who blocked the door and the people behind it.
There is nothing the officials can do. They don't even know who the officials are behind the scenes. It is not an option to continue like this.
"How to solve it?" Xiao Zhuo said to him: "Let's give money to those who block the door one by one? If we do this, in two days all the scholars in the capital will come to block our door. It's not as good as now."
"Negotiate with the civil servants who instigated them? Isn't it because the civil servants behind them don't dare to show up because they are afraid that His Majesty will know that they can't afford to eat? How can we let our family know?"
"Now we can only delay! We can wait until they lose interest. Your father and I have just told shopkeeper Zhang to close the business."
"Of course, I asked him to close his business not just because someone blocked the door and made it difficult to do business. In the past few days, we exchanged marriage certificates, checked our birth dates, and went to the palace to have a drink with His Majesty. You are already a confirmed consort.
!"
"Our family is originally a businessman, so His Majesty should not be afraid of our family doing business; but selling slaves does have a bad reputation, and it is not good for your reputation. I think our family will let the business of selling slaves out and will not do this business in the future.
Okay, let's do other business."
"This, if we give up this business, our family will suffer a huge loss." Xiao Yong was surprised. Their family made huge profits by selling slaves in the capital, accounting for 20% of the entire family's net profit for the year. The loss would be too great if they gave up this business.
"Oh, what loss do you care about! As long as you become the consort and are liked by His Majesty, it will be of more use to our family than anything else! And, I'm thinking about it, Your Majesty may not like our family to continue the slave trade.
"
"You think, the imperial court has royal guards and governors, what doesn't your majesty know? He must know what happens in our family. If your majesty feels something is wrong, he can solve our family's problems with a cough, but he doesn't take any action. It shows that your majesty has no regard for us.
The family is not satisfied with the slave trade."
"So for you, I have to give up this business. Your father and I have already thought about it. Let it be given to the Zheng faction. From now on, he will be the only one in the capital to sell slaves from Southeast Asia, so he will definitely be willing. Moreover, he will be useful in other businesses.
We don't have to keep the prices very low since we are in the same place. We won't lose money with the goods we have on hand."
"Will the clan leader be willing?" Xiao Yong asked again.
"Although the patriarch is worried that our family will take away the position of patriarch, he is not stupid. He knows what is good for our family and will agree to it. Even if he is not willing, when I talked to him, I told him that it was the emperor who hinted like this.
Yes, does he still dare to disobey the emperor? Or he can go to His Majesty and ask if he means this?" Xiao Zhuo said with a smile.
"Besides, our family may not be able to run a business that earns more than selling slaves in the future!" He added: "Your Majesty gave the steel factories and workshops that originally belonged to the Ministry of Works and the Internal Affairs Bureau to the nobles and let them run them.
, the imperial court bought it from them."
"This is the steel industry, the most profitable and profitable steel industry. If our family can and is allowed to join this industry, then we don't know how much money we can make. Why should we care about the money we make from selling slaves?"
"This is unlikely." Xiao Yong got rid of his worries about his family's heavy losses and turned to thinking about how much money he could make in the steel industry.
"Okay, this is not what you have to think about. What you have to think about is whether you can pass the exam next year." Xiao Zhuo immediately changed the subject. He just mentioned this to Xiao Yong just to ease his mind.
I don't really want him to think about his business; now that the purpose of relief has been achieved, of course I can't continue to talk about this topic.
"I've been asking about it these days, and it's not necessarily more difficult than the provincial examination. The more important thing about the general examination is the policy and theory. As long as the classics and meanings don't make the marking officer look down on it, policy and theory are the most important."
"The reason why many people say that it is harder to take the exam is that firstly, many of the people who say this are nerds who are obsessed with reading. Secondly, no one can guess what His Majesty is thinking. No one knows what kind of questions His Majesty will give.
.
But this is actually a good thing for Xiao Yong, who has relatively poor knowledge of classics. No matter how bad Xiao Yong's classic knowledge is, he is still a person who passed the exam. As long as he does not violate the intention of the person who asked the question, he will have no problem getting a passing score.
; As for the policy topic, he will have an advantage over the average person.
"Your father and I have sent people to dig out all the Di newspapers from the Yamen since the first year of Jianye and send them to our home. From now on, you will study these Di newspapers carefully and study His Majesty's thoughts, especially
Starting from the beginning of this year, I have started to publish newspapers in Di, wondering what topics His Majesty will write. I hope that I will be successful."
"As long as you can pass the exam, and His Majesty will personally mark the exam, you don't have to worry too much. You are the consort after all, and it won't look good if Your Majesty ranks you too low. But your own essays can't be too bad, otherwise the Emperor will
It's hard to raise your ranking even if you want to."
"So during this period, except for matters related to the wedding that you must come forward, don't go out at other times. Just study the newspaper at home."
"Don't go out? Dad, there's no need to do that, right? Besides, it's better to discuss with others and study the newspaper."
"Silly boy! You don't even think about what is going on in our family now! If you go out and are seen by those civil servants who are dissatisfied with our family, and instruct the scholars who block the door to come and block you, why are you still walking on the street?
?Not to mention that they will definitely scold you, how can you feel better? So you should stay at home honestly and don't go out at will. If you want to discuss with others, invite people who are compatible with you to your home."
"Hey, when did these people stop paying attention to our family? Do they have to wait until we get married to gradually eliminate them? This time is too long." Xiao Yong couldn't help but sigh.
Xiao Zhuo was about to comfort him a few more words when suddenly there was a "dong dong dong" knock on the door, and someone shouted "Sixth Master".
"What happened?" Xiao Zhuo asked quickly, walking over and opening the door. He didn't do business at night, so he wouldn't be disturbed unless something very important happened. What happened?
"Sixth Master, the palace has sent someone to convey His Majesty's instructions." Outside the door, the fat man said immediately after saluting.
"What did His Majesty say when he spoke? Where is the person who came to deliver the message?"
"The person who delivered the oracle has gone back and said he was just passing on a message."
"I said two things in total. The first one was to ask the Sixth Master to come to the palace tomorrow and give him any instructions. The second one was to ask the Thirteenth Young Master not to worry about the pressure on himself and his family. They won't have any thoughts tomorrow.
Attention."
"What exactly is your Majesty going to do?" Xiao Zhuo was surprised and subconsciously muttered to himself. The matter of betrothal to the consort is such a big deal, what could be more attractive than this matter?
"The person who came to deliver the oral message said that if the master asks, he will say that it is related to next year's examination." (To be continued)