20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 684 Family Business Progress
As soon as Bei Feng entered the entrance, Song Ma hurried over to greet him, took his handbag, and asked respectfully, "Fourth Master is back. Do you want to sit down and rest for a while, or do you want to eat now?"

"Let's eat. What time is it?" Zhao Zhengbei pointed at his watch. "Didn't I tell you to eat on time? If I come back late, you can just heat up the leftovers!"

Song Ma smiled and said, "That won't work. Madam has specifically instructed that the Fourth Master is in the process of recuperating, so you have to do everything."

"Eat, eat!" Zhao Zhengbei urged.

Mother Song did not dare to delay and immediately called Yingzi upstairs to invite Hu Xiaoyan and others to the restaurant for dinner.

When Hai Xinnian heard this, the boy was not stupid and he immediately realized that his fourth uncle had a special status in the Jiang family. Seeing that the other party was wearing a military uniform, he couldn't help but become solemn. So he followed Dongfeng and quickly walked to the entrance.

Just as he was about to bow, he saw Zhao Zhengbei take off his cap, stretch out his hand, and asked with a smile: "Is it Hai Xinnian?"

shake hands?

Hai Xinnian was stunned for a moment, and after a while, he came to his senses, nodded quickly, and replied with full energy: "Yes!"

Zhao Zhengbei held his nephew's hand, shook it vigorously, and said with the same vigor: "Hello!"

"Uh...hello, Fourth Uncle!"

Although Hai Xinnian responded promptly, he always seemed a little uncomfortable.

He instinctively felt that his fourth uncle was somewhat different from the other people in this house.

Zhao Zhengbei looked at Xinnian, then raised his eyelids and smiled at Dongfeng: "Brother Dong, this boy is quite energetic."

Zhang Zhengdong nodded, and his evaluation of this boy was simple: "An honest man."

As he was talking, Zhao Guoyan came out from the living room. When he saw Beifeng, he nodded and asked, "How is your injury? Is it better?"

"Wow, Lao Zhao, we haven't seen each other for a long time!" Zhao Zhengbei asked with a smile, "When did you two come?"

"Just arrived. I heard from my boss that you were injured. I was on a business trip to Kuanchengzi a few days ago and didn't have time to visit you in the hospital. Are you all right?"

"It's all right now. Look at me now. Apart from being afraid of stretching, I don't have any other problems."

"You are still relying on your youth to get better quickly!" Zhao Guoyan turned around and reminded, "Xin Nian, this is your fourth uncle, he is very straight-forward, and he is the most promising officer in the camp!"

"Come on, stop making fun of me!" Zhao Zhengbei quickly declined, and then said, "Come on, let's eat first, and then we can talk at the table!"

After washing their hands, everyone crowded into the restaurant, chatting and laughing. While the nanny and servants were serving the food, they sat down and chatted with each other.

After a while, Xu Ruqing, Sister Hua and Jiang Chengye came downstairs one after another.

Everyone was very interested in Beifeng's situation at the Military Academy, so they asked him a few more questions.

Zhao Zhengbei seemed a little resistant, and waved his hands, saying, "Oh, don't mention it. I don't know what the sorting office was thinking. They actually hired a bunch of ghosts..."

At this point, Bei Feng paused, suddenly remembering that Xu Ruqing was still sitting there, and immediately changed his words in a hurry, mumbling a few words, and said nonsense: "We invited a bunch of nerds who have never been to the battlefield to teach us how to fight. Isn't this just empty talk!"

No one commented, and then asked, "How long do you have to study?"

"It's fast. I'll just study for one term, and it will be almost done in three or two months." Zhao Zhengbei said, "My situation is quite special. I was forced to drop out of school. This time I went back to retake the course, which just meant reading more lecture notes and just being able to cheat on the exam. In addition, I was forced to read for two hours every day, which was said to improve the cultural quality of the individual soldiers."

"Mandatory reading?" Everyone laughed. "What do you read?"

"As long as it's in the school reading room, newspapers, magazines, hardcover books, anything you want to read is fine, provincial government documents, international situations, war cases, and those random pictorials. Anyway, as long as you read it, it's fine. There are no too many requirements."

Zhao Zhengbei made a few self-deprecating remarks, which caused everyone to laugh.

Before I knew it, the food was on the table.

After waiting for a long time, Hu Xiaoyan still didn't come down. She was worried about her, so she asked Yingzi to go upstairs to ask about the situation.

Soon, Yingzi came back and said, "Madam has a headache today. She said there is no need to wait. She and the eldest daughter will have a private meal in the room later."

"Why do you have a headache again?" Zhao Zhengbei stood up immediately, "I'll go upstairs and take a look!"

Yingzi quickly dissuaded him, "Madam said, don't worry, it's nothing serious. When I went upstairs just now, she was still talking to the eldest lady in the study!"

After hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhao Guoyan murmured, "With the recent change of seasons, it's easy to catch a cold, but he was fine just now. It's not a good thing to keep it like this. Let Doctor Jia come and take a look someday?"

At this time, Xu Ruqing suddenly took over the conversation, sighed softly, and said: "It's useless to invite him. Xiao Jia has come so many times, but he can't see anything every time. Xiao Yan always has a headache. In the final analysis, it's actually tired. She suffered from hardship, cold, and suffering when she was a child. After all, she is a girl, and she has some underlying diseases. Don't cherish it."

Everyone was silent.

This is indeed the case. Hu Xiaoyan looks relaxed and leisurely all day long. She just sits in the study, flipping through the account books, planning the expenses of each room, and coordinating the businesses everywhere. Although there is no swordplay, every stroke of the pen is the result of painstaking effort.

As the saying goes: It is better to be strong inside than outside!

It is not easy to maintain a family and business. Hu Xiaoyan has made an indispensable contribution to the prosperity of the Jiang family today.

At this point, Sister Hua couldn't help but sigh: "With so much business now, we should have hired a housekeeper to help with the worries a long time ago."

Zhang Zhengdong shook his head and said in a low voice: "My eldest brother also mentioned this, but my sister-in-law disagreed."

"Alas, my sister-in-law is too careful. She is always afraid that someone under her will cheat her." Zhao Zhengbei sighed, "In fact, as far as I am concerned, 'the cook does not steal, the crops will not be harvested'. Every accountant in a family is a little greedy, as long as it is not excessive. Why do you have to make yourself so tired?"

Hearing this, Xu Ruqing couldn't help but ask back: "Do you really think that Xiaoyan didn't hire a housekeeper because she was afraid that someone would take her money?"

"What else?" Everyone was surprised.

"I've raised you in vain. None of you understand her!" Xu Ruqing gently scolded, and then raised his hand to say, "Okay, hurry up and eat. I'll go up to see her later!"

Everyone was terrified and silent for a long time before they began to use their chopsticks cautiously.

Xu Ruqing was full of energy tonight. As he ate, he couldn't help asking a few more questions, saying, "Recently, I've seen a lot of telegrams from home. Are you planning some new business? A few days ago, I heard some noises. Are you planning to start a sand and gravel factory?"

Zhang Zhengdong weighed it in his mind for a moment, and finally nodded and said, "Yes, I plan to set up a small factory to process aggregates."

"Is it going well?"

"Shun, don't worry, the mining permit has been obtained. From now on, we just need to follow the procedures and nothing will go wrong."

Zhao Guoyan remembered what his sister-in-law had said just now, and asked, "If we want to run a gravel factory, do we plan to lease the land?"

"That's what I thought at first, but in recent days, Nanfeng went to the surrounding area to take a look and changed his mind." Zhang Zhengdong said, "There are too few mines around Fengtian. Even if there are, they have long been occupied by ghosts... and others. If we take care of the mines, including labor, materials, transportation, etc., my sister-in-law thinks the cost is too high and not cost-effective."

Zhao Zhengbei nodded and said, "There are not many decent mountains around Fengtian. If you want to mine aggregate, you still have to go to Haicheng, Fushun and Benxi."

"So what are the plans now?" Xu Ruqing asked.

Zhang Zhengdong thought about it and realized that he had not encountered any trouble. He said with relief, "Last time Nanfeng sent a telegram, I heard that he had obtained a license from the government to mine river sand. The license is valid for one year, and it will be renewed depending on the situation. The sand will be mined in Shenshui, south of the city. It is close and convenient for us to take care of it."

The quality of river sand is far superior to that of dry sand. It is an indispensable material for building buildings and bridges today. As long as you have it, you will never have trouble finding buyers.

Fengtian was expanding day by day, the north and south markets were becoming more prosperous, various factories were springing up one after another, and the market demand was huge. Therefore, in recent years, there have always been scoundrels who took advantage of the dark night to secretly go to the submerged water to steal and mine, and although they didn't make a fortune, they also made a lot of money.

If the Jiang family wants to set up a factory, relying solely on illegal mining is naturally not a long-term solution, and they must comply with provincial government regulations.

It is true that stealing river sand poses great hidden dangers, but if a place wants to develop, it is impossible not to use the resources at hand. After weighing the pros and cons, river sand still needs to be mined.

This business is actually simple. It is nothing more than digging some silt from the bottom of the riverbed, separating it into fine sand and coarse sand through steps such as washing, screening, and drying. The sand is then clearly marked with a price and transported to various construction sites. It cannot be said to be a profitable business without any investment, but it can also be called a highly profitable business.

Wang Zhengnan found a piece of vacant land for the Jiang family, just southeast of the provincial capital, less than five miles away from Shenshui, where he planned to build a wall and a factory to accommodate both processing and storage.

Now that the river sand was available, Nanfeng visited the areas surrounding the provincial capital one after another, negotiating with local bosses on behalf of the Jiang family, purchasing stone aggregates, transporting them back to Fengtian, processing them and selling them.

According to Nanfeng's original idea, the Jiang family should invest in importing Western equipment, such as jaw, rotary, and impact crushers, to improve efficiency. However, after inquiring, they found that those equipment were incredibly expensive. Not only did they require daily maintenance, but they also needed to consume "kerosene" to start them up. If they bought them, they would work for nothing in the first year, and it would be good enough if they could make a profit.

This is no wonder. Even in Europe, lithotripsy is far from being popular.

Hu Xiaoyan disagreed. Since she could do it manually, she was unwilling to spend a lot of money to purchase equipment. She would only add machines and buy equipment if the sand and gravel plant had a surplus.

So they used the ancient method and prepared to build a blast furnace in the sand and gravel factory to burn the stones, and then poured cold water on it to crush the stones artificially.

During this period, Li Zhengxi also made a statement online on behalf of the Jiang family: Those who steal river sand in Shenshui, if they have goods in the future, they should ask the Jiang family first. If the Jiang family refuses to accept them, they can ask elsewhere.

As for the other owners of sand and gravel factories, if they are sons of officials, I will give you some room first; if you are just a commoner and still want to compete with the Jiang family, you should prepare a few coffins at home first.

Xifeng was the leader of the Xiaoheyan area, and the small river in Xiaoheyan was a tributary of Shenshui. Naturally, what he said carried some weight.

In this way, with both civil and military skills, and being able to handle both black and white matters, the business of this sand and gravel factory will naturally flourish.

There was no fighting and no major noise, and they were just making a fortune in silence.

Zhang Zhengdong briefly mentioned a few words and then stopped talking. He turned to comfort Xu Ruqing and said, "Don't worry, everything is fine at home. My brother just sent a telegram yesterday and will be back soon."

Xu Ruqing nodded, but said, "That's good, but our family is already so well off, why bother with all this? You can't make enough money, be content with what you have. If you ruin your health, it won't be worth it to make more money."

Everyone would say this, but the problem is that Jiang and Hu are only in their thirties, in the prime of their lives, and the word "contentment" is not in their minds at all.

There is enough behind you and you forget to pull back; there is no way ahead and you want to turn back.

It is easier said than done.

Wasn’t “Chuan’erhong” greedy when he was young?
It’s just that Xu Ruqing is not greedy.

She also knew that she was now an elder enjoying a comfortable life in the Jiang family, and it was not convenient for her to persuade her nephew and niece-in-law about their plans. Therefore, she stopped talking and stood up slowly, saying, "I am old, and my mental and physical strength are not enough. You guys eat slowly, I'll go upstairs to see Xiaoyan."

Everyone stood up with a rumble, stood with their hands hanging down, and said respectfully, "Take care, old man!"

After Xu Ruqing left, everyone sat down again, drank tea, and chatted for a while. Before they knew it, it was already dark outside the window, so they left reluctantly.

Song Ma and others came over to clean up the dishes. Zhao Guoyan stood up and said goodbye to everyone.

Before leaving, she specifically instructed: "New Year, get up early tomorrow, I will take you to make clothes."

Hai Xinnian responded casually.

Zhao Zhengbei said with a smile: "Aren't you going to see your uncle Zhao off?"

Hai Xinnian hesitated for a moment, although he was a little reluctant, but since his fourth uncle had reminded him, he had no choice but to follow him out and sent Zhao Guoyan to the gate of the mansion.

When I turned around again, I saw that it was already completely dark. The lights in the Jiang family mansion were on, and the sky was dotted with stars. It was like a dream and it seemed a little unrealistic.

I opened the door, walked through the entrance hall, and was about to go back to my room to rest, when I glanced out of the corner of my eye and found that my fourth uncle was sitting on the sofa, looking through something in the light of the floor lamp.

Zhao Zhengbei noticed something, so he looked up and asked, "Huh? What's wrong? Can't you find your room?"

"I can find it, I can find it!" Hai Xinnian smiled foolishly but did not move. He seemed to want to ask something but was afraid to say too much.

"What's up?"

Hai Xinnian hesitated for a moment, but he couldn't resist his curiosity and asked, "Fourth Uncle, what are you looking at?"

"This?" Zhao Zhengbei raised the booklet in his hand and shook it gently. "This is the handout distributed in the Military Academy. Do you want to take a look? If you want to take a look, come over here!"

Hai Xinnian was very happy. He hurried forward, took the handout handed to him by Beifeng, looked at the cover, and muttered to himself: "...A classic battle of the European Army..."

"A classic European Army battle!"

"Haha, Fourth Uncle, I don't know many words."

"Nothing, eight characters, you know six, that's pretty good." Zhao Zhengbei said with a smile, "When I was your age, I only knew a dozen characters in total, and that was only after I saw a lot of signs on the street."

Hai Xinnian flipped through the lecture notes and paused for a moment on the battle command map. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Fourth Uncle, have you ever fought in a war?"

"What do you mean? I am wearing this dress for nothing, right?"

"That's not what I meant... Fourth Uncle, you're pretty awesome!"

"Why, you want to be a soldier too?"

"No, I just think your clothes look handsome. The officers and soldiers I saw at home didn't stand at attention like you."

"How about I let you try it on?" Zhao Zhengbei joked.

Hai Xinnian didn't dare to ask for anything, and quickly refused: "No, no, no, I'm just curious, just take a look, my father used to be a militiaman, so he should be a soldier too, right?"

"As long as you can fight, you are a soldier."

"They were just small fights, nothing compared to you."

"So what is your father doing now?" Zhao Zhengbei asked.

Hai Xinnian said: "My father is leading an armed team now, and so are my brothers. Sometimes we are short of manpower, so I have to join in to make up the numbers!"

Zhao Zhengbei nodded, then leaned back on the sofa and said, "Your father was a member of the militia and also led an armed team. He must be quite remarkable!"

"My father has done a lot of things, including being a militiaman, hunting, and working in the armed forces. I heard from my eldest brother that he even used to hang out with bandits!" Hai Xinnian counted on his fingers.

"Good fellow, your father is a knife-wielding man!" Zhao Zhengbei laughed, "No wonder I heard that all of you Hai family members are full of martial virtues!"

"Well, the armed team of my village association has mobilized all the people from every village, and at most there are only about 200 people, which is nothing."

"You can't say that. Just because there are too many people doesn't mean it's a war. Three people make a group. Without rules, no matter how many people there are, it can only be a fight at best." Zhao Zhengbei suddenly turned around and looked at Hai Xinnian. "Your father and brother are both in the armed forces, so you should be no worse, right? Have you ever touched a gun?"

"Of course I have, a homemade rifle!" Hai Xinnian gestured, "I used to go hunting in the mountains with my second brother and killed pheasants. He didn't lend me his good rifle, otherwise I would be more accurate than him!"

Hearing this, Zhao Zhengbei couldn't help but laugh and said, "Oh, you're quite boastful. How about we find a place to practice when we're free someday?"

(End of this chapter)