Ever since Wei Nian opened up the financial path to the cultural circle, his business as a middleman has been going very smoothly. Moreover, because he often acts as a matchmaker for scholars and introduces them to antique business, Wei Nian always makes money in moderation and is not too greedy. Therefore, he is quite popular among these people.
Professor Wu was first introduced to Chen Xuan at Mr. Wen's salon. He invited Chen Xuan to attend the Peking University campus twice, but it was just talk. Chen Xuan was never invited. Later, they occasionally met at Mr. Wen's salon. Professor Wu and Ms. Chen were quite familiar with each other. Chen Xuan's understanding of Professor Wu was limited to knowing his name and that he was a man who did not keep his word. She did not expect that Wei Nian and Professor Wu had done so many businesses.
Wei Nian asked Chen Xuan to prepare a gift, and Chen Xuan thought about giving Professor Wu a basket of strawberries or something, but Wei Nian stopped her idea. Wei Nian said, "Strawberries are so expensive. Forget it, I got a pair of red lacquered boxes for free the other day, so I can just give him this package."
Chen Xuan had put all the things Wei Nian brought home in. Chen Xuan said, "Those two boxes are old and broken, and one of the locks is missing half. Before giving it away, should we find someone to paint it and put a new lock on it so it looks brand new?"
"You don't understand. These old things should be in tatters. Don't paint them. They will lose their value if you paint them." Wei Nian also asked Wei Yin to go with him. Wei Yin said, "I'm not familiar with Professor Wu."
Wei Nian said, "After all, we met at Mr. Wen's salon. Your second sister-in-law and I went there, so you should also show your face. It won't be strange to see him outside in the future."
Wei Yin went with them.
Most of the guests at Professor Wu's birthday party were from the cultural world. The Wei family even frequented Mr. Wen's salon and were no longer as unfamiliar with the cultural world as before. For example, Professor Chu, whom they knew before, had heard that Wei Yin was already learning French and painting, so he spoke to Wei Yin in French, praising her for being smart and having learned French well.
Of course, maybe they were just being polite. But Wei Nian and Professor Wu's birthday ended with a few more deals.
Compared to Wei Nian's increasing wealth, Chen Xuan even wanted to go to Longfu Temple to burn incense to the God of Wealth.
At that time, she discussed with Wei Yin about placing an advertisement in the newspaper, but it didn't work. To make matters worse, her hats were beautiful, and soon her peers copied them, which made Chen Xuan and Wei Yin very depressed. Wei Yin was especially angry, but she couldn't argue with others. Her family started out as a clothing business. If your family sells the same material, there are other families selling it. Who sells better depends on their own ability.
As a result, the problem of sluggish business was not solved, and now the issue of copied styles has arisen, which is even more frustrating.
By the time July came, the strawberry season would have been over by this time in previous years. But this year was different. The strawberries in Wangfucang's house were planted a little later. Therefore, after the strawberries in his own house were almost sold out, the strawberries in Wangfucang's house were ready to be harvested.
Because strawberries were precious, when the strawberries in Wangfu Cangzhai began to ripen, the third uncle came to inform him. Wei Nian discussed it with his family and moved in with Chen Xuan. The third uncle lived in the west wing, and Chen Xuan and Wei Nian cleaned up the main room and lived there.
Since moving to the Wangfucang house, Wei Nian has been refreshed. The weather is just right, and the house is quiet. With the third uncle, there are only three people. The third uncle is very hardworking. Every day when he has nothing to do, he can sweep the entire alley. Chen Xuan is even more hardworking. Chen Xuan is also very free. Every day she cooks for three people and takes care of Strawberry. Moreover, Chen Xuan found that since she came to Wangfucang Hutong, she has more time to study.
However, Chen Xuan was now worried about the hat shop business. She knew that worrying was useless and she still had to think of a solution. As a result, before she could find a solution to the hat shop business, the strawberries had another problem. Except for the batch that was red before, some strawberries were now even refusing to turn red when they should be.
Now, even Wei Nian was a little anxious, because this was half an acre of strawberries.
Fortunately, Chen Xuan was an experienced strawberry grower. She came up with a solution after two days of watching over the strawberry garden. Chen Xuan immediately moved her and Wei Nian's bedding to the east side room, freeing up the big kang in the main room. Then, she heated the kang, and after testing the temperature, Chen Xuan moved the strawberries from the strawberry garden, one by one, along with the foot-deep soil, to the kang in the main room. This work took her and her third uncle two days.
Even so, it took the strawberries two days to turn red again.
This time, even though the hat shop's business didn't improve, the strawberries made a lot of money. The strawberries have a ripening period of two months, and they were sold from the Ghost Festival to the Mid-Autumn Festival and then to the Double Ninth Festival. After these three festivals, the sales price of half an acre of strawberries alone was more than double the price of the batch of seasonal strawberries at home.
Chen Xuan still gave accounts to Old Master Wei on a monthly basis. After the Double Ninth Festival, the ripening period of the strawberries on the kang was basically over. If there were a few melons and dates, it would be too little to make a business, so it was fine. So, after giving the accounts this time, Chen Xuan and Old Master Wei explained the details of the strawberry account.
Old Master Wei smiled and nodded, "Not bad this time."
Chen Xuan had another plan in mind, and discussed it with Grandpa Wei, "Grandpa, I have never grown strawberries before, so I want to give it a try this year. If it works, we will not stop growing strawberries. I have thought about it, and we will keep the kang lit in winter. Strawberries bloom every season, and as long as the temperature is high, they may bloom again during the Chinese New Year, but that will have to be next year. I want to give it a try first to see if it will work. If it works, strawberries in the spring will be more valuable."
Old Master Wei nodded, "Okay, let's do it according to your wishes. For the windows and doors of the house over there, as well as the money for burning charcoal and growing strawberries here, you can keep an account and use it from the public fund. Also, keep an account for your daily expenses in the house over there, and use the money from the public fund as well. But you have to keep the two accounts separate."
Chen Xuan agreed.
Old Master Wei summarized the strawberry accounts of the past few months, and at the end of the month he called Chen Xuan, Wei Nian, Wei Yin, and Wei Shi to come over to talk about the dividend distribution. Old Master Wei said, "In the beginning, it was Ah Yin who bought the seeds, so you have to be credited for your contribution. Last year, the money was small, so we just divided it casually. This year, we have to make a formal rule. So, Ah Yin, you paid for the seeds, and today you will get 10% of the dividends. As long as our family is still doing this strawberry business, you will get 10% of the dividends. As for the remaining 90%, the strawberries have always been grown by the second family, and the strawberry business was run by you, Ah Nian, and here in the public school, so we will each get 30%. What do you think?"
Wei Nian had no objection.
Wei Shi had no objection, as growing strawberries had nothing to do with him. As the eldest son in the family, he wanted to come and observe the family business.
Wei Yin didn't say anything. She only spent one dollar to buy the seeds. In terms of dividends, she had earned many times more. Wei Yin also felt that she had made a profit. Chen Xuan looked at Wei Nian with some uncertainty. Wei Nian knew Chen Xuan best and said directly, "If you have something to say, just say it."
Chen Xuan trained Wei Nian, and now she has her own ideas. Chen Xuan calmed down, her eyes gradually became firm, and she looked at Old Master Wei. She organized her words a little and said what she was thinking, "Grandpa, this is what I think. Although Sister Yin bought the seeds, if it wasn't for Sister Yin's insight and knowing that strawberries are rare, I would not be willing to spend one dollar to buy such a small bag of seeds. This dollar may not seem like much now, but I think it is the beginning of our strawberry planting. I think 30% of the public money is what we deserve. The rest, I, Sister Yin, and Brother Nian, we can divide it equally. Although I can grow strawberries and Brother Nian works hard to run the business, if it weren't for Sister Yin's vision, there would be no business now."
Old Master Wei really treated Chen Xuan differently. Old Master Wei was the head of the family, and he had also forced Wei Nian to marry Chen Xuan. He was not a rigid person. He tapped his pipe and said, "Oh, since the second eldest family said so, you can also tell me what you think."
Of course, Wei Shi still favored his sister more. As for Wei Nian, in the eyes of the Wei family, he was a man who had subdued Chen Xuan. In the eyes of the Wei family, Chen Xuan's words were of course Wei Nian's idea. In fact, Wei Yin was also a sister. Although the Wei family was not very rich, except for Wei Jin, none of them were stingy. Wei Nian would not destroy Chen Xuan's stage. He first said, "What my wife said makes sense."
Wei Shi also said, "Since my second brother's wife said so, that's fine."
Wei Yin was embarrassed. Although she had also started a hat business, she was still shy. Wei Yin waved her hands again and again, "How can this be possible? I just bought a bag of seeds and planted strawberries without any help. How can I take so much money? It's impossible."
Chen Xuan advised her, "You didn't buy it randomly. If you hadn't said that the fruit was worth a lot of money, I wouldn't have taken so much trouble to grow it. Yin, your vision is worth these dividends." At the end of her words, Chen Xuan's expression was almost solemn.
"That won't do. It's a different matter. I didn't put in that much effort, so I can't get that much money."
"Well, since this is a gift from your brother and sister-in-law, you should keep it." Old Master Wei directly attributed this to Wei Nian and Chen Xuan's intention to subsidize Wei Yin. In fact, Old Master Wei's idea was normal. Old Master Wei still emphasized, "When you get married, the dividend will still be 10%. Is there any objection?"
Wei Yin had no objection. She was already shocked by the sudden increase in dividends, and her second brother and his wife had not told her in advance. Now that her father said this, Wei Yin quickly said, "I will listen to you."
Old Master Wei was very pleased. Although he could not compare with the wealthy merchants, he had no worries about food and clothing. He had two sons and two daughters at home. At his age, he was happy to see his children get along well. Although he made a lot of money from the strawberry business, how could he not be happy to see his children get along well and give money to each other. He felt that the wife he had married to Wei Nian was good. It was better for Chen Xuan to say this than for Wei Nian to say it.
Of course, Old Master Wei always believed that this was the idea of his second son, but he asked his second daughter-in-law to say it so that the two sisters-in-law would get along better. But if it was that blind woman, even if you gave her this opportunity, she might still be unhappy about the money. Chen Xuan was different. After all, she was of the same blood as Brother Chen, and she was generous and sensible in her bones.
The author has something to say: ps: The second update is here~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I feel like it would be better if I could update the third update early today~~~~~~~Thank you all for your mines~~~~~~
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