Traveling to Daliang Kingdom starts from falling into the water

Chapter 1082 A Slap?

Gu Wenxuan found it amusing. To say that he had made such a big deal that even Zhao Laosan couldn't come up with the cash to pay would be to seriously underestimate Zhao Laosan.

Extend a slap?

Break off three fingers.

Twenty thousand taels of silver?
That's not much either.

Even though the couple started late and spent money everywhere, even if they don't use the workshops now and just pool their funds, they still have 20,000 taels of silver.

Besides, with so many businesses under his belt, it's impossible for Master Zhao not to have hidden silver. For Master Zhao, 20,000 taels of silver is just 2,000 gold coins—a piece of cake.

The only reason is that they're too familiar with each other to negotiate a price. Zhou Banxia reached out and pressed down his right hand. "Did Dad say how much capital he invested?"

“Of course there is. I asked my father how much silver he needed, and he told me that he had invested five thousand taels of silver, and Master Ma had invested ten thousand taels, which together amounted to exactly twenty thousand taels.”

"..." Zhou Banxia rolled her eyes speechlessly, "You're really something, you don't want your hand anymore, I thought Master Zhao couldn't come up with 20,000 taels of silver."

"Huh?" Gu Wenxuan looked shocked. "Didn't you stop me from demonstrating because you understood it? I wanted to tell you how my father managed to scrape together five thousand taels of silver."

Pack!
Install it again!

The Oscars still owe you an Oscar!
"Ouch, that hurts, honey."

"Still playing?"

"Haha, you figured it out?" Gu Wenxuan quickly got back to the point, otherwise, he would explode. "Dad dumped out the goods that hadn't been shipped yet."

Zhou Banxia thought so too. Her father-in-law went on a long trip last year, and besides the money he brought back, he also brought back some nice things.

The high-quality furs alone, if you're not in a rush to get the money, can fetch a high price if you find a suitable buyer, not to mention the ginseng.

"It was during your postpartum period that Uncle Zhao came to Dad and said that his second brother was in a hurry to find a better fur coat to save time, and asked him to ask Dad if he had any sable fur.

When his father heard that it was an emergency, and the weather was indeed getting warmer and it was hard to find, he immediately packed up all the remaining fine furs for Uncle Zhao without saying a word.

Father was very polite and let Zhao Laosan give the price. However, it wasn't until half a month ago that the manager came to pick up the goods and handed the silver notes to Father.

Fine, it's impossible to take the things without paying. Besides, Uncle Zhao has said many times that he'll pay for his second brother's things first, and then make up the difference later.

The problem is that our father said to let Zhao Laosan decide how to pay, and the silver notes sent over there were exactly the same price as the market price in the first half of last year.

What's the market like in the first half of the year? What's the market like in the second half? Who's out of their mind to wear a fur coat in this sweltering heat? Do you think fur coats are the same price as they are in winter?
Although Uncle Zhao later said that his second brother had told his nephew before leaving, and that his nephew was naive and misunderstood, the whole thing was still a very ugly thing to do.

Do you think our family is short of a few thousand taels of silver? If his father hadn't said it was for an emergency, our father would never have let it sit until spring to sell it to his father!

"Who do they look down on? Whether it's the eldest son of the third branch of the Zhao family making decisions on his own, or someone instigating it, I was so angry I laughed tonight. How can there be such a fool!"

He's not very smart. It's better to let such a son go back to Zhao Family Village and collect rent. At least he won't offend anyone.

"Drink water, drink water, don't be angry, why bother arguing with a fool?" Zhou Banxia quickly poured water and handed over tea, then couldn't help but burst out laughing.

That's hilarious. "Do you think they'll feel like their business is getting a good deal from us by buying goods from us, and we're not going to rush to please them, instead sharing our goods with other people?"

"So that's why you deliberately try to disgust people?" Gu Wenxuan took over the conversation, shaking his head. "No matter how naive you are, how could you not know who's behind you and who my husband is?"

Even if he were extremely ignorant, with his uncle holding an official position in the court, how could he not know that the Gao family had connections in the soap workshop? And even if he were completely uninformed, how could he not know the Gao family's status?

"Yes, that doesn't make sense. In my opinion, it's more likely that the other party feels that our father and his father are so close that there's no need for formalities, and that talking about money would hurt feelings."

The other party isn't stupid; perhaps no one understood his father's deeper meaning, or they misunderstood something at the moment. It's unlikely that they intentionally wanted to annoy people.

As the story unfolds further, it turns out that the three branches of the family didn't only have one legitimate son; they had many illegitimate sons. Who knows if one of those illegitimate sons was intentionally trying to trip him up?

There must be some hidden story that even Uncle Zhao doesn't know, otherwise the other party would not discuss things with his wife, and there is also the wife's biological mother.

Even the most muddle-headed wife has a list of gifts exchanged between the family and other families. A quick glance at it will tell you how our two families usually exchange gifts.

Besides, although Master Zhao had many concubines, it was still his principal wife who managed the household affairs. Coming from a merchant family, she should have some ability; at the very least, she should be able to keep accounts.

That is!

It is said that what attracted Master Zhao back then was his wife's skill in calculating, and even though she was not particularly beautiful, he still insisted on marrying the merchant's daughter.

As for why he took a concubine later, it's more accurate to say that he shared Zhao's hardships rather than being lustful. The timing of his first concubine was quite coincidental.

Just a few days before Old Master Zhao and his wife set off for the capital to berate their eldest son, the Zhao family's long-standing rule that a man could only take a concubine to continue the family line if he had no sons forty years was broken by the first person to do so.

This brotherly affection is so touching. I wonder, if the brothers are so respectful to each other, what about the elder brother?

This person's headband is a bad choice.

The younger brother should be humble and yielding to the older brother. If you don't teach him a lesson, he will follow your example. Even the illegitimate son dares to covet the eldest son!

"External accounts are handled by men, while internal accounts are handled by women. Master Zhao may not let his wife interfere now, but his wife has absolute control over the internal accounts."

With such a mother, and hearing that she wasn't particularly rebellious, surely Master Zhao wouldn't tell her that he didn't need to consult her?

So, while the other party handled the matter undignifiedly, it's more likely that Master Zhao is frequently away from home, and his wife and children have disloyal servants.

Gu Wenxuan agreed with his wife's speculation—it was definitely an internal strife, a power struggle among the three wives and concubines of the Zhao family, which had affected his father.

But isn't it also a kind of stupidity? He didn't even have any sense of vigilance, so he deserved to fall into the trap. "I always felt that Zhao Laosan, the eldest son, was not even as good as the legendary only son of the Wu family."

As for the remaining illegitimate sons, whether they are pretending to be clever or truly clever, if they want to take this opportunity to put down their legitimate brothers, their IQ is not high either.

"Does our dislike of their eldest brother mean we'll treat him better? My father used this incident to tell me directly that the sons of their third branch are difficult to deal with."

Zhou Banxia nodded slowly and sighed, "That's why they say the crown prince is chosen according to the so-called 'establishing the eldest son of the legitimate wife, not the most virtuous, and establishing the son of the noble, not the eldest.'"

The primogeniture system can at least guarantee the smooth continuation of the family and reduce major hidden dangers and internal struggles during the transfer of power and interests.

Few women raised their illegitimate son, the Second Master Gao, in the same way as Madam Gao, but this was based on the premise that Master Gao's position as the eldest legitimate son was rock-solid.