Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Huarong Lane, east of Shenjing City.

Recently, a small courtyard with a single entrance in the middle of the alley has just changed its owner. A young woman and her maid moved into the new house.

The girl was about seventeen or eighteen years old, in the prime of her life, beautiful and charming, with a graceful figure and alluring demeanor, attracting a lot of attention.

Although this woman seldom went out, neighbors occasionally heard her speak with a Datong accent, so they thought she must have come from Datong.

Anyone who likes to go to places of entertainment knows that Datong women are quite famous. The fact that the new owner of the house is so beautiful and charming is probably proof of this.

Beautiful women easily arouse men's fantasies, so all kinds of rumors appeared in Huarong Lane.

Some said that this woman was a popular singer, some said that she was the new wife of a wealthy businessman, and some even said that she was the concubine of a nobleman.

After the woman moved into the courtyard, a nobleman often came to visit. Every time he came, he was dressed in fine clothes and rode a horse, accompanied by wealthy servants, and looked very impressive.

There were some knowledgeable people walking around in the streets who recognized that this man was the son of the Duke of Qi and an official in the Five Military Commanders' Office, with a very prominent status.

The rumor that this woman was the concubine of a noble relative was thus confirmed.

Several thugs who used to roam the streets were quite attracted by the beauty of this woman, but when they heard that this beautiful flower had someone else, they immediately backed away and dared not provoke her.

It has always been said that if the people quarrel with the officials, they will die. Even the ruffians and thugs know this. Moreover, this man is from the Duke of Qi's Mansion, so he should not be provoked.

Fortunately, although this woman was someone else's concubine, she behaved well and usually never left the house. The maids were the ones who went in and out to buy things.

Occasionally a relative would come to visit, said to be the woman's brother, and the neighbors were used to it.

----

One day, the maid received instructions from the woman and was about to go out to buy rouge when she suddenly met someone delivering a letter to the door.

The maid took the envelope and brought it into the room and handed it to her daughter. The girl opened the envelope and looked at it, her expression slightly moved.

She said, "It's a letter from the clothing store on the north side of the street. They don't have enough fabric for the yellow satin embroidered jacket I made last time.

We have to wait for the new goods to arrive before we can make it. I am afraid it will be delayed for three or four days. I can return two coins of silver as compensation."

The woman then said to the maid, "Xiao Yun, didn't you say last time that I was not feeling well? Go out and buy some rouge today and come home to visit me.

It can be considered as showing filial piety. There is no need to rush back, just go home before dark."

Xiaoyun was very happy to hear this and said, "Miss, I made extra food this morning, so the food for dinner is ready. You can just add some water and steam it and eat it."

The woman smiled after hearing that and told Xiaoyun to go home without worry. As soon as the maid left, the woman's face turned serious and she looked at the letter in her hand, her pretty face flushed.

She went into the house and waited for the meal when she heard a soft knock on the courtyard door. The sound was not too conspicuous, but the woman heard it clearly.

With a charming smile on her face, she walked out of the house lightly, took a look through the crack in the door, and then opened the door with a smile on her face.

----

When she saw Duan Chunjiang come in with a smile, she brushed off the dust from the corner of his clothes and said with a smile, "You are so brave to come here in broad daylight."

Duan Chunjiang smiled and said, "I noticed when I entered the alley that no one saw me come in. Hui Niang, why isn't Xiaoyun at home?"

Hui Niang smiled and said, "I just sent her home to see me. She will not be back until dark."

Duan Chunjiang smiled meaningfully and said, "It seems that you are also very courageous."

As he said this, he began to act bluntly and put his arms around Hui Niang's slender waist, but Hui Niang slapped him and he twisted his waist to break free.

He laughed and said, "You short-lived, black-hearted thing, you tricked me from Datong to Shenjing. When I saw the prosperity and wealth here, I was really happy for a few days.

I wanted to be your husband and wife for a few more days, but I didn't expect you to be so cruel and give me to Chen Ruichang. You are such a piece of shit."

Duan Chunjiang said with a smile: "Chen Ruichang is the son of the Duke of Qi. He is young, rich, and powerful. How could he humiliate you?"

Hui Niang smiled and said, "His status is indeed precious, and being his concubine is respectable."

Hui Niang glanced at Duan Chunjiang and saw that a hint of displeasure appeared on his face after hearing her words.

She couldn't help feeling proud in her heart and said, "But he is just a young boy, his hair hasn't even grown out yet, how can he be as interesting as you, a dead ghost.

You are a heartless thing. You said you were helping Chen Ruichang to find a mistress, but you sneaked in whenever you had the chance, and you slept with me many times.

Chen Ruichang is so unlucky to have a friend like you.

He was willing to spend money on me. This house alone cost him more than a thousand taels.

I spend at least a hundred taels of silver every month, and the children of noble families are all suckers."

Duan Chunjiang said with a smile: "A few thousand taels of silver is nothing. As long as I can finish the task at hand, you can ask for as much silver as you want."

Hui Niang laughed at him and said, "You are just a grain seller, but you are so arrogant. You don't even care about a thousand taels of silver. You men just love to brag."

Duan Chunjiang smiled and said without arguing, "Women have long hair but short knowledge. You will know whether what I said is true or not in the future.

Did you find out anything from Chen Ruichang about the matter I asked you to find out? "

Hui Niang raised her eyebrows and said, "I thought you came to see me specially, but it turns out you came to get information. You are such a heartless person."

Duan Chunjiang said with a smile: "I came here to get information and also to see you. Since you sent Xiaoyun away, I can't just sit there idle."

As he said this, he picked up Hui Niang and walked quickly into the inner room. Hui Niang smiled and patted his chest, which was useful.

After a while, sounds of quarreling and fighting could be heard from the room. Hui Niang's laughter was like a silver bell, and there was a commotion. Some people were as angry as a running bull, while others moaned like an oriole.

----

After meal time, the room returned to peace. Hui Niang leaned on Duan Chunjiang, her pretty face flushed like a rosy cloud, looking particularly charming and attractive.

Lazy Infinity said: "I have thought about it. Although Shenjing is prosperous, it is not as stable as my hometown in Datong.

These young masters of noble families are fickle, so how can they have long-lasting friendship? I am not a three-year-old child, so I can't count on this."

Duan Chunjiang said, "Since you want to go back, I will take you back with me after I finish my big business. It's boring to stay in Shenjing."

Hui Niang smiled and said, “You can’t try to fool me with this. If you take me back, you can do whatever you want to me.

Don't you want to know about Chen Ruichang? I followed your method to secretly ask him about it, but he seemed very cautious and didn't mention a word about his official business.

It was just that when he left this morning, I saw him off to the door. Perhaps he had been in the north for quite some time, so he did talk to me. "

Duan Chunjiang's eyes lit up and he asked, "What did he say?"

Hui Niang said, “He said that last time he passed by Hongshu Market, he saw an old gold jewelry store, and the red gold phoenix hairpins inside were very exquisite.

It is said that the shop owner learned the craft from the Oros people in his early years. The style of the phoenix hairpin is not even available in Kyoto. He also said that he would definitely buy one for me when he comes back.

After hearing this, Duan Chunjiang's heart felt like beating a drum and he was indescribably excited. The name of Mangrove Collection seemed to echo in his mind.

According to Hui Niang, Chen Ruichang stopped at Hongshuji last time, and it must have been the place where he passed by while transporting grain.

Baotunli, Yaoshanyi and Hongshuji are the three places where the food supply routes of the Great Zhou army are passed.

As long as we connect these three places, we can figure out a lot of information we want to know.

----

Rongguo Mansion, Lixiangyuan.

There was a pile of account books on the round table in the main hall. Xue Pan was flipping through one of them, frowning and looking bitter.

A woman in her thirties next to him was explaining the important items in the account book to him.

This woman was the accountant of the Xue family's main branch. Her maiden name was Jiang, and she was a widow from the Xue family's side branch.

Because Mrs. Jiang could read and write, which was rare among women, and she was also prudent and careful in her work and had no children, she was highly valued by Aunt Xue.

Because of the Feng Yuan case, Xue Pan faked his death to escape and could no longer show up in Jinling, so Aunt Xue moved to Shenjing with her son and daughter.

Although part of the Xue family's business in Jinling was moved to Shenjing, most of the old business is still in Jinling.

In particular, the Xue family's signature time-honored brand Ziyun Pavilion, all of its businesses are still operating in Jinling.

All these businesses in Jinling were managed by some of the Xue family's concubines' younger brothers or long-time shop managers.

These people exchange letters with Shenjing every month, reporting the business performance of the shops in the previous month so that Aunt Xue and her son can manage the current business situation in Jinling.

Aunt Xue trusted the maid from the Jiang family, who would inspect the accounts of various shops in Jinling every month and inquire about their business transactions.

Mrs. Jiang would come to the capital once every six months to report to Aunt Xue and Xue Pan the details of the business accounts in various parts of Nanjing.

Aunt Xue would compare the reports from letters from various stores in Jinling with the results from Mrs. Jiang's daily inspections of the accounts to identify business omissions in the stores in Jinling.

At that time, Xue Baochai's father was a prominent son of the Xue family. He was strategic, thoughtful and shrewd, and an outstanding business talent.

Aunt Xue was just a lady in the boudoir before she got married. After she got married, she learned the way of business from her husband and was quite capable in managing the family business.

Her method of managing business remotely is quite thorough and can be considered a feasible means of managing business in other places.

However, the two places are thousands of miles apart after all. No matter how good the business management method is, it is not as convenient as being in Jinling City.

Moreover, the method is dead, but the human heart is alive.

In the past few years, Aunt Xue and her family have been living in the capital, managing the business in Nanjing, and have found it increasingly alienated and difficult.

Although Xue Baochai is very intelligent, she is a girl after all and will eventually marry a woman. Xue Pan will inherit the Xue family business. Although Aunt Xue knows that this is just forcing her to do something, she has only one good son and has no other choice.

When Xue Baochai reached the age of 15, Aunt Xue became more and more anxious, and for the past six months she had been urging Xue Pan to familiarize himself with the family business.

A few days ago, because Xue Pan was tinkering with the Duan family grain store business, he hung out with Duan Qingjiang and Chen Ruichang every day.

During this period they had done business with the Tongwenguan, and Chen Ruichang happened to be on a business trip north, so Xue Pan was left alone for a while.

Just then, Mrs. Jiang came from Nanjing to settle accounts. Aunt Xue naturally locked the door, captured her son's able-bodied man, and made him listen to Mrs. Jiang's settlement.

But Xue Pan was a lazy and careless playboy who spent his time eating, drinking, and having fun, and had no time to do anything. How could he do such a delicate task as checking the accounts?

After just flipping through a few pages of the account book, he felt dizzy. After listening to Mrs. Jiang's words about the accounts, he felt his stomach churning and was extremely irritable.

Judging from their behavior and appearance, Baoyu's study of the Four Books and Five Classics is quite similar to that of the cousins, who are just as useless as him.

----

Xue Pan endured the nagging of Mrs. Jiang and finally could not bear it anymore, so he dropped the account book and ran into the inner room.

Seeing her mother talking to her sister, she couldn't help but complain, "Mom, why do you have to torment your son like this? You know I get a headache just by looking at the accounts.

My sister has been good at accounting since she was young. I am really troubled that my son, a novice, has to do it instead of her, who is an experienced person. "

Aunt Xue scolded, "You are such a troublesome evildoer! Your sister is a girl and will get married and raise children.

Can I keep looking at the account books for you for the rest of my life? You are the only man in the eldest house. If you don't do this, who will?

This kind of thing may be unfamiliar at first, but if you are patient and do it a few times, you will gradually become proficient. No one is born knowing how to do business, so you should show some courage to me."

Xue Pan shouted, "Mom, my son has a headache from looking at the account book. I want to take a rest for a while, so I'll let my sister help me look after it first.

My sister is smarter than me, can read accounts better than me, and knows the twists and turns of business.

I looked for a long time but couldn't figure it out. If that happens, it will affect the family business, which will be terrible."

Xue Pan muttered something to himself while backing away, and disappeared in a moment.

Aunt Xue couldn't help sighing when she saw this, and Baochai advised her, "Brother has been willing to stay at home these few days, and at least he still cares about the family business.

Mom can't push her too hard. My brother has always been lazy. Even if he wants to concentrate, he has to take it slowly. It can't be done overnight.

Aunt Jiang cannot stay in the capital for too long. She has to go back to look after the business in Jinling and cannot be delayed for too long.

I'd better go and look at the account book. If I find anything wrong, I can explain it to Aunt Jiang.

Afterwards, I explained each item to my brother, which counted as him looking through the account book. After a few rounds of this, my brother would probably understand it by heart.”

----

Aunt Xue thought this made sense. She saw her daughter enter the main room and begin to look through the account book carefully. After reading every few pages, she would ask Mrs. Jiang.

There were some things that Mrs. Jiang could answer, but there were some strange things in the accounts that even Mrs. Jiang found difficult to understand.

Whenever she encountered such a bottleneck, Baochai would check the related accounts, take out the letters from various stores and proofread them, and she would be able to roughly deduce the problem.

Aunt Xue saw that her daughter was calm and focused, without any sign of impatience. She could see the clues just by flipping through the accounts and asked Mrs. Jiang questions from time to time.

Aunt Xue sighed slightly in her heart. When her master was in charge of the accounts at home, he behaved and acted in exactly the same manner as her daughter.

The daughter has been carefully taught by her master since she was young, and she has really inherited her master's legacy, but unfortunately she was born a girl.

If my Baochai were a man, I wouldn't have to worry so much.

Aunt Xue went in and out of the main room several times until the sun began to set. She saw that her daughter had already read most of the account book and did not seem too tired.

Mrs. Jiang's face turned pale, as if she was very tired. Baochai asked her too many questions about the account books, and she racked her brains to answer them.

However, she was only responsible for checking the account books on a daily basis. She didn't know the daily business income and expenditure of various shops in Jinling, and she didn't know the practical details. She had been stumped by her own daughter several times.

Baochai sent Mrs. Jiang to rest, then stood up and wanted to stretch her waist, but felt it was a little indecent, so she just reached out and patted her slender waist a few times.

He said, "Mom, I have read most of the account book. I will spend another half day tomorrow to finish reading it inside and out."

----

Aunt Xue asked, "I saw you asked Mrs. Jiang a lot of questions just now. Is there something wrong with the accounts in Nanjing?"

Baochai frowned slightly, shook her head and said, "I can't see any major problems in the accounts, but I have read the letters from the stores in Jinling every month in detail.

I have some idea about the profitability of each store.

My mother is also very clear that the family business has been much worse in recent years than when my father was still alive.

Ever since his father's death, Jinling Zhen's family has been making great efforts in the business world, earning themselves the reputation of Zhen Half City and exerting considerable pressure on Xue's business.

Since our family moved to the capital, it has become less convenient to manage our family business than in Nanjing, and our business has declined further.

But this year, the Zhen family was convicted and their property was searched. All their shops and businesses in Jinling were confiscated by the government, and even the whereabouts of the third Miss Zhen were unknown.

The Zhen family's business failed, leaving a large space in the Jinling Shopping Mall. Two months ago, my mother told me that now is the right time and it is profitable.

My mother also wrote back to all the stores in Jinling, asking them to stock up and sell the goods in time, and try to take up the gap left by the Zhen family's confiscation.

My daughter had carefully estimated the business of each store and found that the profits in the past two months should be more than 30% better than at the beginning of the year. If this continued, the Xue family's business would most likely return to its former glory.

But when I checked the accounts today, although the business of each store has improved a lot, the profit has only increased by 20% compared to the beginning of the year. There is still a slight shortfall and there is some difference from the original expectation.

Just now, the daughter asked Aunt Jiang a lot of questions, but she usually just checks the accounts, and she is not very clear about the daily trading of each store.

But by looking through the accounts before and after, we can roughly figure out the reason.

The shop owners in Jinling are all veterans, but the purchase prices of many goods have not reached the lowest level, and all kinds of losses are slightly more than in previous years.

Moreover, the prices of the goods were somewhat low, so although the stores were doing a booming business in the past few months, Yinliu's profits were not as high as expected.

I have only roughly inferred these things, because I have not been in Jinling for many years and I am not very clear about the market prices there. "

Aunt Xue felt uneasy after hearing this and said, "All the shops in Jinling are run by old shopkeepers, and they were all cultivated by your father himself.

Even those who hold important positions in various stores are all younger brothers from the side rooms of my family. I have watched many of them grow up since they were young.

These people are experienced businessmen, and they would not make mistakes such as unstable prices. However, the morals of the world are declining, and everyone is slacking off. "

Baochai sighed, “Although all the shops in Jinling employ the elderly in our family, our family’s influence has weakened since my father passed away.

Our family has moved to the capital for many years. Over time, the shop owners and clerks in the stores in Jinling have naturally become less cautious.

The most fickle thing in this world is the human heart. It is not surprising that these people are lazy in their daily business.

My daughter is worried that if you are lazy now, corruption will inevitably arise in a few years, and then business in Jinling will become even more difficult."

Aunt Xue sighed and said, "Your brother committed the murder of Feng Yuan. Jia Yucun did something to make him fake his death and get away with it. There are many implications involved.

Although Feng Yuan is dead, there are still many relatives in the Feng family. If your brother goes back to Jinling, he will definitely be reported, and Jia Yucun will be implicated.

The risk is too great, so he must not go back. Besides, even if your brother returns to Jinling, he can't do anything big."

Aunt Xue glanced at her daughter and sighed in her heart. It would be a good thing for her daughter to return to Jinling, but she had someone in her heart that she couldn't let go of, so she probably didn't want to go back.

Besides, it is not a long-term solution for a girl to run a business.

----

Baochai said, "Mother, I received a letter from Baoqin a few days ago. She said that my second uncle returned to Jinling from the capital, and not long after that he went on a long journey again.

Because Second Aunt has been in poor health in the past two years, this time Brother Ke and Baoqin did not go out with Second Uncle. They both stayed in Jinling to take care of their parents.

The Tad brothers are quite talented, honest, and hardworking. They have traveled around the country with their uncle since they were young and have more experience than ordinary people.

Mom, why don't you write a letter to Second Aunt and ask Brother Ta to help look after the Jinling business. He is your nephew and you can trust him."

Aunt Xue said, "That's a good idea. Although Ke'er is younger and has less experience than the old shopkeeper, I trust his character and work.

I will write a letter later and ask Mrs. Jiang to take it back to Nanjing. At least it will give us an extra pair of eyes watching over the business.

In fact, I have thought about this for a long time. Your second uncle and his family are all in Jinling. It would be most appropriate to let your second uncle help run the business.

When your second uncle was young, he was taught by your father personally. He has traveled all over the country over the years and is very knowledgeable.

As long as he is willing to manage the business of the first wife, it will be enough to keep the old servants in the family in line. I would be willing to give some of the profits from the business of the first wife to the second wife.

But your second uncle's whereabouts are erratic and he is only in Jinling for a few days a year. Even if I want to do so, it is difficult for me to do so.

Your second uncle is also a man over 40. After running around over the years, he has earned a considerable fortune, which is enough for his two children to live on for a lifetime.

He should have lived a peaceful life in Jinling a long time ago, but he has been busy outside for so many years. I don’t know what he is trying to achieve.”

Baochai said: "Since mother has such intention, it is a good thing, so there is no need to be too anxious.

Baoqin will be of marriageable age next year. She is engaged to Master Mei, the Hanlin scholar. She will most likely be sent to the capital to marry her, at the earliest in the winter of next year or at the latest in the spring of the year after.

Second uncle will definitely come over as well. When the time comes, mother and second uncle will discuss this matter carefully and we will definitely be able to achieve our wish..." (End of this chapter)