A powerful minister of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 130 The whole city is boiling (Part )
Yan Shu thought about it.

The story written by Song Shier is attractive, and the lottery is also attractive.

Maybe you can achieve success in both literature and business!
With a smile in his eyes, Yan Shu glanced at the fast-moving crowd and Song Shou's solemn expression.

I finally found my jade pendant!

Given Yan Shu's current financial resources, it wouldn't cost much to buy a similar jade pendant.

The newly carved one can only be used to see if the material of the jade pendant is good, but if it was won from a bet with Song Shou.

That means something completely different.

Every time I drink tea or wine with Song Shou, I can take it out and play with it for a while, chatting about some yin and yang, which is so enjoyable.

Song Shou felt the slight smile on Yan Shu's lips, and he said stubbornly:

"Don't worry, it's just a novelty. Everyone spends a few cents to see the excitement. It may not be the same the next day."

"Ah, yes, yes."

Yan Shu did not refute it, as facts would speak louder than words.

It is not only officials like Yan Shu who come to join in the fun today.

President Zhao also came to join in the fun. He was shocked to see Yan Shu openly walk into the store to buy lottery tickets.

How could the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture be so partial to a country scholar?
Why!

President Zhao couldn't figure it out, but he could predict that Song Xuan's business could make money.

I just don’t know how long I can do it!
Yan Shu came to Yingtian Prefecture because he lost his temper and beat people. Who knows when he will return to the central government?

The last time the court dealt with the Dou Chou incident, it sent the prime minister to investigate.

President Zhao held the lottery ticket in his hand. The material of this little gadget was similar to that of Jiaozi, but its design was somewhat complicated, which prevented most clumsy counterfeiters from making it.

"Let's take a look first."

Chairman Zhao has been in business for many years and is able to control the local top-earning industries, so he naturally has a keen understanding.

Song Xuan was able to exploit this loophole because he had the support of Yan Shu, the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture. If he wanted to do it himself, he would probably need to find more people.

Gu Zimo, the magistrate of Yingtian Prefecture, was also mixed in the crowd. He held a small lottery ticket in his hand and was too lazy to read the story written by Song Xuan.

A monkey popping out of a stone is just nonsense.

Gu Zimo could be sure that the lottery organized by Song Xuan did not violate the laws of the Song Dynasty.

If you want to make trouble for Song Xuan through legal means, it probably won't work.

"Straight bitch!"

"There must be a master behind this boy!"

Gu Zimo immediately placed his suspicion on Yan Shu.

This person had been in the central government for a long time and often gave advice to Emperor Zhenzong. He also paid great attention to confidentiality and was deeply trusted by the emperor.

In addition to the incident involving his own mentor, Yan Shu was too biased.

Yan Shu directly reported the matter to the emperor and made it public, otherwise his mentor would not have been in such an unfavorable position.

Gu Zimo wanted to defeat Song Xuan, but found that it was not that easy.

Because he discovered that the prosecutor Zhang Kang was not Song Xuan’s real protector, but the prefect Yan Shu was!
Even though Gu Zimo felt that his mentor's second son, Dou Han, was a useless troublemaker who bullied others every day, he was also sensible and never dared to make trouble with families with higher official positions than his father. As a result, he had been safe and sound all these years.

Who would have thought that simply provoking the son of an ordinary citizen would actually backfire and kill his father.

No matter what, my mentor is dead and I have no intention of arguing about right or wrong.

"Song Twelve, just wait for me! Don't let me seize the opportunity, or I will kill you!"

The news that you can win a prize of one thousand coins by spending two coins broke out immediately.

More than half of the 20,000 copies of the first chapter of Journey to the West that Song Xuan had prepared were directly consumed.

As soon as the hour of Xu arrives, the door is closed immediately.

Even though Tao Hong spoke a lot today, his voice became hoarse.

He San and the others hardly sat down to rest for long, and their legs were numb from standing. Even when eating, they took turns to eat.

"eat first."

Song Xuan had already booked a table to celebrate the successful start of the business.

As for counting money, let’s talk about it after we have had enough rest after dinner.

"Master, the batch of brochures prepared for tomorrow will probably be sold out. We still have two days left to sell them."

He San was used to it.

It’s too early to get off work at the hour of Xu. Let’s do it after dinner.

People like them usually continue to work for a while even after dark, not to mention that it’s not dark yet today!
Song Xuan looked at He San and the other two:
"Work until midnight tonight. Within two hours, you'll get one penny for gluing five booklets. The more you do, the more money you'll get. The only requirement is that they're not too messy."

Upon hearing this, He San didn't even bother to swallow the food in his mouth and nodded in agreement.

It was Jiang Da who asked:

"Master Song, my wife and daughter can do this little job of pasting booklets. Can you let them come too? Ten booklets for one penny is fine."

Song Xuan naturally didn't want to overwork his men with such small tasks.

They have followed me loyally for so many years, and we should eat meat and drink soup together.

He San and Zhao Si immediately stared at Song Xuan nervously.

Because their wives and daughters can also do this kind of money-making work.

Song Xuan took a bite of his food and said, "It's too late tonight. Let them come with you tomorrow morning. When it's time to get off work, let them leave."

"You know, we are all grown men here, and we will get married in the future. We can't let the reputation of your wives and daughters be damaged."

Song Xuan's words were very tactful. After all, Jiang Da's wife and daughter were prostitutes, and he didn't want to cause any misunderstanding.

"Thank you, Master Song." Jiang Da hurriedly thanked him.

Song Xuan looked at He San and Zhao Si who were hesitant to speak, and also spoke:
"You can bring your wives and daughters. If you come early tomorrow morning, go to the bathroom and wash up first."

Instead, He San smiled and said, "Thank you, Master Song. My mother learned that Twelve Lang asked us to be respectable and clean in the shop, so she bought some soap beans and asked the whole family to take a bath to prevent lice from crawling on me and tainting Twelve Lang's business."

"Oh?"

Song Xuan had some impression of the old lady of the He San family, but he never thought she would be so decisive, so he smiled:

"The old lady is so insightful. If there are more jobs in the future, your wife and daughter can bring some paper home in a basket after work and teach the old lady how to work. They can earn some money to supplement the family income."

He San was overjoyed and thanked him quickly.

Song Xuan took Zhang Fangping and a few of his close associates to count the money and to summarize and reconcile the accounts with the ticket stubs.

Two hours later, the exhausted He Sansan accepted the red envelope and some cloth handed to him by the shopkeeper Tao Hong.

The last time Song Xuan went to these three families, he knew that they lacked clothes. The old ladies and their daughters-in-law shared a pair of pants, and when the daughters-in-law went out, the old ladies had to sit on the bed.

He San knelt down to Tao Hong again. He really didn't expect that the master could be so considerate.

"The young master asked me to prepare these. It's too late, so please don't make a noise. The young master has gone to bed long ago after reviewing his lessons."

He San and his two companions went home together, their faces filled with smiles.

In all these years, I have never seen a master treat people like this!

By late at night, all three children had fallen asleep.

Old Mrs. He was still sitting there, not sleeping, but waiting for her son to come home.

She knew that today was the first day that Young Master Song's shop was open, so he would definitely be busy for a long time.

After all, the monthly salary was enough for him, so it was normal for him to come home late. The wooden board was opened, then closed again.

When they arrived at the door, He San shouted and his wife went to open the door.

"mother."

He San quickly handed over the cloth as if he were presenting a treasure, saying it was a reward from the young master.

He San tried to take credit by saying that his mother was behind him giving him advice, allowing him to stand out in front of the other two.

The old lady smiled when she heard this.

He San then talked about the bonus for working overtime tonight, and how he could bring his wife and daughter to work together tomorrow.

In the evening, when my wife and daughter came back, they would bring some paper and teach my mother to do the work.

Hearing this, He San's mother and daughter-in-law's eyes lit up.

After all, the old lady is knowledgeable:
"Don't rush to agree. Is Young Master Song's business really that good?"

"Although our family wants to make money, we can't all rely on Young Master Song and ruin his business."

"Mom, don't worry. Countless people came to buy chapters of Young Master Song's novels today. I've been standing at the counter all day and my legs are numb."

"Business is booming, which is why Young Master Song is confident in hiring us."

"That's good."

Only then did Mrs. He feel relieved.

The next morning, He San took his wife and daughter to the Twelve Bookstore. After entering the backyard, he began to wash up.

When the dogs saw strangers coming, they started howling for a while.

After being scolded for a while, he turned off the engine.

Two days later, the group was very busy, but fortunately they were able to complete the task satisfactorily.

Women are especially attentive. Although they are paid by piecework, no one cheats or tries to be cunning. Everyone cherishes this hard-earned opportunity to make money.

The day of the lottery draw finally arrived, and many people holding lottery tickets gathered at the Twelve Bookstores early in the morning.

Tao Hong invited everyone in, opened all the windows at the same time, and randomly invited a spectator to come and pull the bellows, but the person had to be blindfolded and just focus on pulling hard.

Such an experiential viewing mode, coupled with the numbers being blown out loud, immediately made some people scream with excitement, while others felt dejected.

By giving a number, some people are eliminated.

Instead, someone shouted, "Let me be the next one to pull it, and I must do this and that."

Tao Hong naturally did not refuse, and pointed to a person and asked his brother to blindfold himself. He pushed the ball back in, pulled it for a while to mess up the order, and then led it again.

Song Xuan and Zhang Fangping stood behind the counter to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble, while the others tried their best to maintain order at the scene.

"Brother Twelve, it looks like the crowd is very excited."

"I was also very excited when I redeemed the prize."

Song Xuan certainly understood this enthusiasm. Even though many people could not see any return on their investment, they still plunged into it.

Wait until the third person blows out the number.

"Eight six four."

Tao Hong directly hung these three numbers on the plaque: "Does anyone match the numbers?"

Many people were talking about it because they were not the lucky ones.

After all, the prize draw is held on site, under the watchful eyes of the public, so it is difficult to tell any inside information.

“I won!”

“I won!”

A beggar yelled and rushed out from the crowd, clutching his lottery ticket tightly, letting him see:
"is not it?"

Tao Hong took a glance and bowed with a smile:

"Sir, congratulations, please follow me."

He put away the lottery ticket, took out a coin from under the counter, and handed it to the beggar himself:

"Sir, please order a little."

"Hahaha." The beggar grabbed it and stuffed it into his arms:
"No need to order, I trust you."

Someone caught up with me and asked, what did you think of this number?

The beggar knew everything and told everyone what he was thinking at the time, and everyone nodded in agreement.

The news that two cents can be worth a thousand cents has once again been discussed on the streets and alleys through today's on-site observation.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the market culture was extremely developed. Storytellers could be found in brothels, taverns, teahouses, and even on the streets and alleys. They made a living by telling stories.

Mr. Cao, the storyteller from Qinglou, was drinking tea and waiting for his performance time.

He was not interested in Song Xuan's lottery, but he took a look at the story of the stone monkey and thought it was great. It was a pity that there was only one chapter. He heard that it was written by Song Shier himself.

Mr. Cao wanted to talk about it, but there is no such thing as property rights now.

As long as he bought his book and memorized it, he could start talking about it and at the same time give a nod to Song Twelve.

It's always a win-win situation.

"Hey, the first prize of Song Twelve's lottery was actually won by a beggar. Two cents was exchanged for a thousand cents. Isn't this like picking it up for free?"

Mr. Cao naturally had excellent hearing. He listened to the discussions below and said the winning numbers.

Then Cao Dajia quickly opened the booklet he had bought and took out the lottery ticket inside.

The numbers 864 were clearly printed on it.

He stood up immediately. Although the money was not much, he wanted this good luck.

"Mr. Cao, it's your turn soon. Did you mess around in the young lady's bed last night?"

The shopkeeper had known Mr. Cao for a long time. Seeing that he was in a daze, he came over to tease him.

"Boss, I won!" Mr. Cao handed the lottery ticket to him.

"Did you win the lottery from Twelve Lang's shop?"

The shopkeeper's face was also full of surprise.

"I just thought Twelve Lang's story was well-written, so I wanted to buy it and read it myself. I just picked a random number."

"Okay, okay, you deserve good luck."

The shopkeeper naturally looked down on this, but who wouldn't be happy to get something for free?

"What are you standing there for? Go and exchange it."

"But I'll be on stage soon."

"Hey, this news is more interesting than your storytelling. By then, more people will come to our Qinglou. You go ahead and I'll announce the news."

"Hey, hey, hey, I'll listen to the shopkeeper."

Mr. Cao held his lottery ticket and rushed to Song Twelve's shop.

When the people who were waiting to listen to the book heard that the shopkeeper was Mr. Cao who had won the prize and might be back later, the whole audience was excited.

The discussion among the crowd naturally became louder.

The shopkeeper of Qinglou had a smile on his face. This Song Twelve is really my lucky star!
I invited him to dinner last time, but he never showed up. How can this be okay?

(End of this chapter)