six-fingered peasant girl

Chapter 226 Unannounced Visit ([-])

Su Liu's master and servants rested in the inn for a day, and then carefully read the information Song Fei sent, and considered how to proceed.

But every big family will cultivate competent people and confidantes. The real young lady of the family will even prepare for it from birth, and will accompany her when she grows up. Loyalty and reliability are self-evident.

Ning Guang was no exception. Leaving aside the general manager who was in charge of the General's Mansion for him, Su Liu's hand couldn't reach the General's Mansion either. Of course, she wouldn't reach out.

But what Ning Guang gave is different. These days, whoever owns the land deed and house deed belongs to him, and the government only recognizes that piece of deed paper, and a thin piece of deed paper is authority.

Therefore, these things belong to her, Su Liu, and she is more qualified to take over and handle them than anyone else.What?If you don't accept it, you can go to the right owner, who is willing to give it away, so don't you have to give someone else what you want?

Of course, Su Liu will not show off her power. She is relying on Ning Guang now. Although she is far away, this person is still there, and the people around her are still a little scrupulous. If something happens to Ning Guang, will these things be guarded To live is really a problem.

Therefore, Su Liu desperately wants to find some bigger backers. Her biggest potential enemy in Shangjing is actually not anyone, but Ning Guang's parents, the entire Guangning Hou Mansion!

Just think about it, although Ning Guang's things belong to him, he is not married yet. If there is any accident, it will be from the Guangning Hou's mansion. Can you not hate things from the government?

With the contacts in the Guangning Marquis Mansion, it would be as simple as a sneeze to kill a little peasant girl like her.

Su Liu cherished her life very much. Without the greatest support, she would never go head-to-head with the Guangning Hou Mansion.

The person who took care of the business store and other things for Ning Guang was one of his personal guards who retired from the army, named Ping Jing. He retired because one arm was broken during the war. His mind was not simple, so he arranged him to be the chief manager by his side, in charge of foreign affairs.

Ping Jing is only in his thirties, has no special hobbies, the only thing is good wine, and he is still alone.

There are four or five Zhuangzi, big and small, in Ningguang, six shops in Beijing, and one secret shop, and that small gambling house is also the most profitable.There are six shops, two of which are rented out, with an annual rent of 800 taels, and the others are teahouses, whose business is extremely poor, as if they are about to close down, and two of them are selling cloth and incense powder, barely making ends meet. Opening a restaurant also feels like closing the door.

As for the industries in other places, they are considered chains, but there are no account books, and Su Liu doesn't know whether they are making money or not.

All in all, when she saw the properties in Shangjing, she was very worried. This is obviously the rhythm of taking over the mess. To bring these shops back to life, some big moves must be made.

Su Liu decided to make an unannounced visit first, and asked the inn to arrange a guide to help, so Su Liu took the two maids and Mrs. Cui out in her own carriage.

Shangjing is far bigger than imagined, and it is divided into several districts. The royal family and nobles are concentrated in Dongcheng, where princes and princesses or princes and grandchildren live in the mansion, and two streets away, there are nobles from aristocratic families. , Ordinary civilians dare not go there, lest they collide with nobles and lose their wealth and lives.

The one who led the way for Su Liu and the others was a boy who was a special errand runner in the inn. He was very clever and talkative, and along the way introduced Su Liu and the others which family it was, and which family the lion with the height of two people was.From which rouge and gouache are the most popular among ladies and nobles, to which clothes and jewelry are the latest and fastest, what styles are popular now, and which places have the best food, I talked endlessly.

Shuang Ning saw Su Liu smiling sweetly, listening carefully, and asked: "Little boy, do you know where our Great General's Mansion is?"

"Great general? Which general? This sister, there are many nobles in the capital, and there are several generals. I don't know which one my sister is talking about?" Very clever.

Shuang Ning was choked, a little embarrassed, Su Liu pursed her lips and smiled when she saw it.

"It's the one who was recalled by the emperor just now, General Zhenwei." Xueluo couldn't bear Shuang Ning's embarrassment, covered her mouth and sniggered, and opened her mouth to relieve herself.

"Oh. It's the mansion of General Zhenwei." The little boy said ah, lifted up the corner of the car curtain, looked around a few times and said, "No, that's it, it's the general's mansion bestowed by the emperor. Duke Zhou's mansion."

"Girl, look quickly."

Shuang Ning hurriedly raised the curtain of the car, motioning for Su Liu to look out, Su Liu gave her a look, but couldn't help but look out.

The two mighty stone lions in front of the gate stretched their teeth and claws. Unlike the gates of other people's houses, the door of Ning Guang's house seemed to have just been repainted, but it was black, translucent and very solemn.On the tall plaque, there is also gold paint on a black background, which prominently says General Ning's Mansion. There is a wall around the outside, and the exquisiteness inside can't be seen, only the glazed roof can be vaguely seen, one after another.

In fact, there is no need to guess, Su Liu also knows how big it is inside, and such a big mansion must have a lot of expenses. She began to vaguely understand why Ning Guang, as a second-rank official, is so poor, with only 10 taels in cash. Silver, I'm afraid they have all filled this big hole.

"Let's go."

Su Liu was suddenly a little listless, lacking in interest, resting her chin on one hand, and began to think hard, if she took over all of Ning Guang's business, how would she be able to operate and make money.

Shuang Ning and Xueluo didn't understand what happened to her all of a sudden, why they were unhappy when they saw the General's Mansion, they looked at each other, Xueluo winked, and they had a tacit understanding not to bother her.

And the little boy is also used to seeing his facial expressions, so he sat on the side very quietly at the moment, no longer talking non-stop.

After walking for a quarter of an hour, the carriage finally stopped. The little boy took a look and said that the teahouse they were going to came to had arrived.

"Actually, if you want to drink tea and listen to opera, there are several teahouses in Shangjing that are very good. This teahouse is really..." the little boy said hesitantly.

Su Liu smiled faintly, "Let's just take a look."

The little boy jumped out of the car without saying a word, Xueluo and the others were also preparing to get out of the car, while Granny Cui took out a curtain and wanted to put it on for Su Liu.

"This, don't you need it?" Su Liu let out an uh.

"Girl, do as the Romans do, the girl has reached the age of Ji, and she is betrothed, what if she meets some abrupt disciple?" Cui Granny said earnestly: "Besides, this is Shangjing. came to live here."

The meaning of these words is that Su Liu will marry here in the future, if something happens now, it will be bad for people to recognize her in the future.

Su Liu also knew that a woman's reputation was very important, so she was a little embarrassed, took the curtain over, asked two maids to help put it on, and then got out of the car.

The teahouse in Ningguang is called Green Bamboo Garden, the name is elegant, but from the outside, the layout is far from matching the name, the black doors and windows are lifeless, and they still look very old.

Su Liu was not in a hurry to go in, but just took a look outside, the location of the Green Bamboo Garden is not difficult to find, it is also facing the main road, opposite is a shop selling books, and there is also a shop selling the Four Treasures of the Study. , it should be because there are many literati, and the business is not so bad, but looking in from here, there are no customers inside.

Walking slowly into the teahouse, there is only a few tables inside, and there are two people who look like scholars talking about the current situation.

The freedom of speech in the Daqi Dynasty was regarded as open, and literati and scholars would not be imprisoned for discussing political affairs outside, unlike in modern times, where more sensitive politics dare not speak out easily.

In addition to letting people chat and drink tea here, the teahouse also sells tea. As soon as you enter the door, you can see a row of shelves with various tea leaves on them.There were two or three waiters in the store, two were chatting with their teeth chattered, one nodded and dozed off, and the shopkeeper didn't know where he was.

Seeing Su Liu and the others coming in, the two who had gritted their teeth stood up immediately, and pushed the dozing little one, and the three came up courteously.

"Miss, do you want to drink tea or buy tea?" Xiao Erjia asked Su Liu with a special wink, and quickly sized up several people, even the two little girls next to him also looked at people unabashedly.

Su Liu frowned slightly, turned her head slightly, Xueluo asked if there was a private room, the waiter immediately said yes, and led a few people up to the second floor.

The private room is nice to say, it’s just a room with a few ink paintings and large characters and a table. Compared with the hall downstairs, it’s nothing special. Oh, the special thing is that tea is very expensive.

"So expensive!"

When Shuang Ning heard that the price for a pot of West Lake Longjing was actually 50 taels of silver, she couldn't help but let out a soft cry.

Her voice was not loud, but it was enough for the leading Xiao Er to hear her, and her face immediately changed, her enthusiasm dropped a few points, and she said calmly: "It's not too expensive, girl, go and inquire about it. It’s more than ten times the money for places like Yipin Teahouse! Our Green Bamboo Garden is considered fair.”

Being despised, Shuang Ning blushed, lowered her head and kept silent.

No wonder the business is so poor. First of all, the service attitude makes people dissatisfied. Su Liu shook her head secretly, and said coldly: "Since Yipin Tea House costs 500 taels for a West Lake Longjing, there is a reason why it is expensive. First of all, their The service is naturally top-notch, you get what you pay for, does Green Bamboo Garden have 500 taels of service? Regardless of other things, just look at your service, I suspect that 50 taels is too high."

The little girl was choked back by Su Liu, suffocated, her expression changed a few times, she stared at Su Liu, as if looking for a rebuttal, and after a long time, she choked out a sentence: "Is the girl here to drink tea or to find fault? No Please go out for tea."

"What kind of price and what kind of service do you buy? Sure enough, 50 taels for your service attitude is really high!" Su Liu sneered: "No wonder the business of this teahouse is so poor. The top person is here, if I am the shopkeeper, I will be the first to fire you."

This last sentence actually had a bit of sternness, the little girl was shocked on the spot and didn't know what to say.

(End of this chapter)