The night was cold, the sea of stars was calm, and the crescent moon hung high in the sky.
It was the 29th of December, one day before the new year, but many people were destined to be unable to sleep tonight. The people of Lu Zhou were waiting for the last day of the new year to arrive. They were looking forward to it, but they were also a little nervous. This new year was different from the past.
The people had a new home and a new life. They hoped that the new year would come soon. At that time, they would have to say goodbye to some things and welcome some new things.
The people of the Yellow River Shipping Company had not seen Zhang Zhong yet, but they were not in a hurry. Everything would have to wait until after the new year. This new year had a different feeling for them, especially for the boatmen on the ships. They had never spent the new year elsewhere.
Some of them were homesick, while others were in a special mood. Those owners might be used to wandering outside, especially those who had developed their family business bit by bit. When they were young, they ran businesses even during the new year in order to earn more money.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan did not really care where they spent the new year. In the past, the two of them often could not spend the new year with their families. Wang Juan naturally had to work overtime when she had to. As for Zhang Xiaobao, he did not have a family even if he wanted to spend the new year with his family.
Many things for the new year had been arranged long ago. Now, he just had to look at the arrangements for Ulei County. He could not care about other places.
"Another spring has come, and we are one year older. Well, it's a nominal age. I wonder how the villagers in Sanshui County will spend this year. It's 30, and it's the darkest time. Perhaps they will light up many torches?"
Wang Juan looked at the plan for the new year and suddenly thought of Sanshui County. The two of them had deep feelings for that place. Fortunately, they were still spending the new year with their family. Otherwise, the two of them would feel lonely.
"Who cares how they spend the new year? Judging from the news sent over last time, they are developing well. They won't lack anything for the new year. Forget it, don't think about it."
After being reminded by Wang Juan, Zhang Xiaobao also thought of the matter over there. Although he said not to think about it, his eyes were looking at the crescent moon in the sky, as if using it as a mirror, he wanted to see the silhouettes of the villagers.
Wang Juan knew that Zhang Xiaobao did not want to make a happy New Year uncomfortable. She nodded and said, "Well, I don't want to think about it. I don't know how the people in the surrounding prefectures spend their New Year. I think they lack a lot of things. Forget it, I don't want to think about it. We have to go on."
"Why are you mentioning other people again? Think positively. After the new year, the people can continue to work hard. This is the home that they built with their own hands. The new year will have a new atmosphere. Perhaps we will still be here at this time next year, or perhaps we will have left this place and gone somewhere else."
Zhang Xiaobao really did not know how the imperial court would arrange for his father's place. When everything was almost done, it was time for his father to leave. Thinking of leaving, Zhang Xiaobao said to Wang Juan again, "After the new year, we will focus on the people we need to focus on.
"After the new year, we'll have to shift the focus of our arrangements to the future development of the Chamber of Commerce and the docks. We still need to do the basic construction, but we need to focus on something. Otherwise, when the basic construction here is done, we won't have the things ready by the time the imperial court is ready to change people. That will be terrible."
"Yes, we need to focus on the things here first. Continue the construction of the seawall, and slow down the other aspects." Wang Juan also thought of this point. Until now, there was a lot of goods overstocked, but without the money to sell them, those goods could not be considered as recouping the investment of the past few days.
The people's wages were paid by themselves. The money for food was paid by themselves. The money for the houses was also paid by themselves. Although those goods were actually earned back, they were not sold after all.
When the two of them thought of money, they began to plan for next year. First, they had to let the people help them do the work here. Fortunately, after the disaster, the rent tax would not be collected until the second half of next year. Before that, as long as the imperial court did not see the new rent tax, they would not be in a hurry to get rid of Zhang Zhong.
*****
In fact, the people in the provinces around Lu Zhou were doing very well now. After all, the officials in their provinces wanted to learn from Zhang Zhong. They exploited the officials in their provinces through various means, forcing these merchants to compromise with the various chambers of commerce on Lu Zhou's side.
This really worked. As long as the merchants used Lu Zhou's chamber of commerce as an excuse, the local officials could not do anything to them. They all knew who was behind Lu Zhou's chamber of commerce.
Fortunately, they had gotten a lot of benefits from the previous action. Even if it was not easy to take money from the merchants in the future, they had earned enough this time. In the name of doing things for the people, they did take out a small part of the money to give to the people, but they kept most of the money for themselves.
A small portion was for those who stayed behind. To the commoners, this small portion was not small. At the very least, it was enough for them to live comfortably for a month. This made them look forward to the arrival of the new year even more, so that they could forget about the old year and start a new life.
The ones who were really unhappy were Cao Herui and his two companions. After Cao Herui's introduction, the other two would be in charge of the fertilizer next year with him. It was not that they could not stand the smell. At most, they could just endure it for a while. The main thing was that they had not achieved their goal.
They only hoped that after the matter of the fertilizer was settled, Zhang Zhong would put them in an important position. At that time, they would be able to obtain the cement recipe. Although they said that they didn't owe Zhang Zhong money, they still owed money to the Ning family in Qinzhou. That was always a problem.
Most of the people of the Yellow River Shipping Company had left the ship, leaving only a few guards on the ship. The rest of the people had gone to the provincial capital. Usually, this place was not very busy, so there would be fewer people on the streets. But now, most of the people did not have to do anything. They were busy preparing for the new year.
As such, the night of the 29th of December became lively. Those who were doing business did not plan to sleep at night. They wanted to sell something properly. Needless to say, there really were people who lived nearby who came out at night to take a stroll.
No matter what, it was still winter. Coupled with the low temperature at night, the commoners wore more clothes when they came out. With the wages they had earned these days, they wanted to buy some things that the officials did not give out and decorate their homes properly.
There were also many people sitting in the small restaurant. They were all waiting for the new year to come. They could not sleep at all, so they could only find a few familiar people to drink. These people were naturally the men in their families. They sat around a table and drank the wine that they were usually reluctant to buy. They talked about the events of the past year.
The owners of the Yellow River Shipping Company could not sleep either. They chose to live in the Sea Clouds Restaurant. Although it was called a restaurant, it was actually a comprehensive place.
At this time, Between the Clouds and the Water was very quiet. It seemed that there were no other guests except for the people of the Yellow River Shipping Company. It was not an important traffic road in the capital, nor was it a political, economic, and cultural center. Usually, the businessmen who could come here would go home early to prepare for the new year. Who would stay here until next year?
Because of this, the sea and clouds seemed to have quieted down. The owners of the Yellow River Boat Line couldn't possibly chat with the boatmen openly. Since they knew these people, they didn't have much to say. Seeing that the street below was brightly lit, they couldn't help but suggest that they go to the street to take a look.
A group of people walked out of the Sea Cloud House and strolled around on this night before the thirtieth. Listening to the noise in the pub and looking at the local people who were also too excited to sleep, they suddenly felt like they were strolling around the night market in Chang 'an.
From time to time, they would hear a voice praising Zhang Zhong from somewhere. They were already used to hearing this.
"Sun Dongjia, what are you looking at?" When the group of people walked slowly, one of the owners saw Sun Dongjia stopping to look from time to time and asked.
"I'm looking at whether they usually use those furs or not. If they use a lot, it means that they are not short of furs here. Then the leftovers we brought can be sold at a slightly lower price. If they don't use furs here at all, then it's hard to say."
Sun Dongjia looked and answered the owner's question. The people around them also heard and were stunned. The smart ones immediately understood. If it was the former situation, it meant that the people here still used furs. Although the price of those leftovers would be much lower, there were still people who used them.
If it was the latter, there were only two possibilities. First, the people here liked to use furs, but they did not, so the goods they brought were valuable. Second, no one here wanted to use furs at all. This was what they were most afraid of. If that was the case, they could not sell the goods they brought. Even if they gave them to others for free, no one would want to buy them.
As the group of people thought this, their eyes began to imitate Boss Sun's actions. They carefully stared at the side, wanting to know if the local people liked to use fur.
As they looked and walked, the group of people stopped. The reason was that they saw a shop. The shop's door was also open. Occasionally, people would go in and look around, but they might not necessarily buy anything. Facing the door, there was a counter, and there was a person who should be a clerk.
At this time, the clerk was holding his chin with both hands and his eyes were narrowed. He looked like he could fall asleep at any time.
"Let's go in and take a look." One of the owners saw a shop that specialized in selling furs and called out to the others. They walked in first, and the others followed behind.
When they arrived at the shop, they did not expect the clerk to be happy to welcome them. The clerk still narrowed his eyes, but he did not continue to pay attention to them after glancing at them a few times.
The group of people looked in the shop. The two owners saw a complete wolf skin at the same time. They looked at each other and one of them asked the clerk, "How much is this skin?"
"20 copper coins." The clerk Weiwei looked up and saw the person who asked the question pointing at the wolf skin. He listlessly replied.
"20 copper coins? How can it be so cheap? " The person who asked the question couldn't believe it. If they bought it in the capital, it would cost at least 30 copper coins, but the current price was a bit too much for them to bear.
Any merchant like them would be very depressed when they heard this price. Either they would be cheaper so that they could bring it back to the capital to sell, or they would be more expensive so that the fur scraps on the ship could be sold for a good price. But now, this price was neither high nor low, so they couldn't transport it back. The profit was too little.
At the same time, the furs on the ship couldn't be sold at a good price.
"Clerk, let me ask you something. Do many people come to your shop to buy furs?" At this time, the other owner could only pin his hopes on the people here being interested in furs.
"It's okay. It's not a lot, but it's not a little either. Some people sell it back home to make something. After all, there are many toolkits. A layer of skin is more convenient." The clerk didn't care why these people asked such questions and answered while dozing off.
The other owners nodded one after another, indicating that they understood. At this time, Sun Dongjia suddenly asked, "Clerk, how much do you sell the fish glue here?"
"We don't sell fish glue here. If you want to buy it, continue to walk east. After walking a hundred steps, you will see the grocery store. They sell fish glue there."
When the shop assistant saw that they were only asking but not buying, he simply stopped staring at them. He thought that these people with decent clothes wouldn't steal the furs in the shop. After saying that, he buried his head in his arms that were resting on the counter and turned his head to the side, only looking at the entrance.
Seeing the clerk like this, they didn't continue to ask. One by one, they walked out of the store and headed to the place that the clerk had just mentioned.
"How much is the fish glue?" Finally, they found the place. A group of people walked in and looked around. They saw a jar on the side with a piece of paper on it with the words "fish glue" written on it. One person asked.
"That? That big jar costs three hundred coins. It will be cheaper if you buy more. " There were also two clerks here. There was one more person than the previous place. It seemed that the store was too busy, so they found an extra clerk.
Hearing the clerk's answer, the owners were stunned. One thousand three hundred coins for a jar of fish glue? It was too expensive. The clerk said that it was a big jar, but this jar could only hold about ten catties of fish glue. Didn't that mean that one catty of fish glue would cost one hundred and thirty coins?
Expensive, it wasn't just expensive, it was unbearably expensive. The person who asked the question just now continued, "Didn't you say that it's very convenient to fish because it's near here? Of course, the fish glue should be cheaper. Otherwise, who would buy it? "
The clerk obviously didn't expect that these people would ask such a question. Seeing that they asked, he could only answer, "It's true that you can fish, but it's not that easy to boil fish glue. How much glue can be made from a fish's body? This price is not expensive. If you don't believe me, you can go to other places and see how much other places are selling for. "
At this point, the owners knew that they were in trouble. It didn't matter if the fur was cheaper, but the fish glue was too expensive. They couldn't bear it. If they followed the original plan, not only would they not make money, they would also lose a lot of money.
One by one, the owners were stunned at the moment, including Owner Sun. When they came, they dreamed of making a fortune. They only heard that the fish here were easy to catch, and that there were so many that they couldn't even count them. They never thought that the fish gelatin here would be so expensive.
The good mood of waiting for the New Year disappeared in an instant, leaving only blankness.
"What should we do? What should we do? Do we have to ship the leftovers of the fur back? I don't think anyone will buy it even if we ship it back. "One of the owners looked at the jar of fish glue and muttered to himself.
His grumbling made those who didn't know what to do even more anxious. It was as if the sky was falling down on them.
"We'll talk about it when we get back. Let's go somewhere else first." Sun Dongjia was the biggest owner. At this time, he was still calm. Seeing that the others' eyes were not right, he quickly slapped them one by one to wake them up.
The group also knew that it was useless to sigh now. They only hoped that the shop assistant was lying to them. They would know when they went somewhere else.
With expectations in their hearts, they left the grocery store and continued to stroll on the street. Actually, it was not correct to say that they were strolling. They wanted to find another grocery store to ask, so they quickened their steps and looked around. When they saw that it was not a grocery store, they immediately walked away.
After midnight, everyone returned to the Sea Cloud Pavilion. Their complexions were very unsightly. They entered a room and looked at each other. No one spoke.
"What are you afraid of? Isn't it just a little different from the plan? At most, we can change the method. Think about it, don't worry. "Sun Dongjia saw that everyone was listless and comforted them.
"Method? What method is there? The plan was written clearly, and there were some countermeasures, but those methods all required the price of the fish glue to be lowered first. Who came up with those ideas? They can't be used at all? Huh? Who came up with that idea? "
At this time, one of the owners was about to collapse. There was no other way. Before he came, he had bought a lot of leftovers of the fur at a high price. Who would have thought that they couldn't do according to the plan at all?
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