Chapter 247 Borrowing Money
Yusha Pavilion's business has been booming recently than before the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The Chrysanthemum Appreciation Banquet at the Second Prince's Mansion invited all the most expensive ladies in the capital to attend. It was a rare opportunity for the noble ladies to grow in appearance. The most important thing for the girls in this circle was money, not to mention the former Second Princess. Intentionally or unintentionally, she revealed that this chrysanthemum appreciation banquet was not just a simple chrysanthemum appreciation banquet, but she also intended to show the young prince, Ao Tianchen, his concubine.
The most beautiful man in the capital, Ao Tianchen, was getting engaged and wanted to see his wife in person. This news was like a bomb dropped in the aristocratic circles. As a result, all the noble ladies spent a lot of money to start a new life. When I reached my feet, I was busy buying a set of gorgeous and expensive clothes and jewelry.
Yusha Pavilion happened to have a batch of new styles of autumn clothes, and they were snapped up by the ladies as soon as they came out.
Qi Mei was soft on the cashier, so she kept her embroiderer up all night and rushed to make another batch within three days, raising the price by 20%. Before they could be put on the shelves, they were snapped up.
Qi Mei's eyes narrowed with joy.
Cuiyuxuan also took the opportunity to reopen and brought out a large number of new styles of jewelry, each piece of which was unique, exquisite and gorgeous.
On the first day of opening, all the jewelry on the counter was sold out in less than an hour. The ladies who arrived late did not buy anything, and in the end they could only return empty-handed.
They wanted to use their power to suppress others and force Cuiyuxuan to sell jewelry again, but for the sake of safety, Cuiyuxuan assigned thirty guards this time to strictly guard the Cuiyuxuan shop.
Not to mention, Capt. Li was very unwilling because the last case was not solved. After Cuiyuxuan opened, he sent twenty officers to stay at Cuiyuxuan day and night.
And he himself would go to Cuiyuxuan from time to time.
Seeing these official servants here, no matter how coquettish and arrogant the ladies are, and want to do whatever they want, they don't dare to risk their reputations easily.
Especially at the critical moment when Ao Tianchen is about to choose the little princess, they will not be stupid enough to do anything embarrassing to tarnish their reputation.
His reputation was ruined, let alone Ao Tianchen, even any noble young master would not marry a notorious noble girl.
There was also the man behind the scenes who was causing trouble for Cuiyu Xuan. When he saw that the shopkeeper of Cuiyu Xuan had cramps in his cashier's hand on the first day of opening, the man looked at that person and his heart was filled with jealousy, envy and hatred, but Capt. Li was guarding the shop. Here, even if he wanted to do something bad, he didn't dare to do it easily.
In this way, Cuiyuxuan opened for six consecutive days and made up for the little loss before the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Xia Ziqing took the 50,000 taels of silver that Yusha Pavilion and Cuiyu Xuan had earned in the past few days, and with happy eyebrows, she told Chu Cong, "Take it to the head of the farm and ask him to buy all this year's new cotton."
< br>
Now in early September, the people in Jiangnan have begun to panic, but the officials below are suppressing it. There has been no news from the capital, but some merchants traveling from north to south are cunning and well-informed, and have secretly begun to purchase large quantities of grain, resulting in The price of food is rising steadily.
She has almost bought enough grain, so she doesn't want to follow the tide, but it's time to harvest new cotton this month.
This year's floods in the south of the Yangtze River have caused all the crops to be soaked in the ground and there is no harvest. However, the north near the capital has not been much affected. The north is the rich cotton production area of the Dasheng Dynasty. Although the production will be reduced due to heavy rains, the three seasons in previous years Two-thirds of the harvest is still available.
This year is a cold winter. In the twelfth lunar month, when the temperature is low, the tears shed by those who go out will instantly turn into ice. At that time, the price of cotton will rise sharply, from 25 cents per catty to 40 cents per catty.
When war broke out in the northwest, a number of soldiers froze to death. Because there was a shortage of soldiers and horses, and because of the cold weather, the troops could not be recruited in time. When the Tatars invaded, the troops were insufficient and Shuimu City was lost.
Later, the Second Prince's Mansion led troops there. In order to raise cotton for military jackets, the imperial court bought up all the cotton in several nearby big cities. As a result, the price of cotton suddenly reached 100 cents per catty, and there was no cotton on the market. Gotta sell.
This was the official price under the strict control of the imperial court. On the black market, the price of cotton once soared to one tael of silver per pound.
And she knew these things because Cui's mother wanted to buy cotton to make herself a new cotton-padded jacket to wear during the New Year. Unexpectedly, she searched all over the capital and couldn't buy cotton. Later, she found it on the black market, and it cost her one tael of silver. Jin, it was so expensive that Cui’s mother hesitated for a long time, but still couldn’t bear to buy it.
In the end, it was her grandmother who gave Cui's mother a new cotton-padded jacket to wear.
This year, she knew the secret and bought a batch of cotton when it first came down. By then, she would definitely make a profit.
Xia Zihan couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth when he thought that the more than 200,000 taels of grain that Tianzhuangtou had purchased recently would soon turn into 500,000 to 600,000 taels of silver.
As for the Xia family, Xia Ziqing was very happy to know that she could also participate in the chrysanthemum appreciation banquet at the Second Prince's Mansion.
But after she was happy, she started to worry about the clothes and jewelry she would wear that day.
There is one piece of clothing, which is the dress that Xia Zihan gave her when they first met. I heard that it is this year's new style and the embroidery is very good, even better than her clothes.
Xia Ziqing decided to wear that one.
But what about jewelry?
She thought for a while, then went to Mrs. Xu and expressed her intention, "Second Aunt, it is also an honor for our Xia family that I can go to the Second Prince's Mansion to participate in the Chrysanthemum Appreciation Banquet. But if I wear only a few pieces of jewelry, I really can't attend." The table is also embarrassing for our Xia family. Otherwise, second aunt will lend me three hundred taels of silver to buy jewelry, and then ask my mother to return it to you after I return to Jiangning."
Her mother once said that the second aunt looked generous and well-adjusted, but in reality she was a stingy and petty person. If she openly asked the second aunt for money to buy jewelry, the second aunt would definitely not give it to her. She would simply give it to her. He said borrowing it. If Mrs. Xu doesn't lend it, then she has something to say.
Sure enough, Ms. Xu had a look of embarrassment on her face, "The ten thousand taels of silver last time were all used by your second uncle to buy a house. I am not a family member now, and I am not in charge of the money in the house. Who cares? You can ask Who wants it?”
He actually blamed the matter on an aunt.
How could she, the eldest daughter of the Xia family, borrow money from her second uncle's aunt?
If word spread, wouldn't she become a joke?
Not even as good as a humble aunt.
Xia Ziqing's face turned dark and she looked at Mrs. Xu gloomily, "Second Aunt, although Aunt Zhang is in charge of the house, how much salary does Second Uncle get per month? Aren't most of the family's expenses in Second Aunt's hands?"
"Oh, big girl, you can't say this nonsense. Your second uncle has never given me any money. If you don't believe me, go and ask." Instead, he took away the ten thousand taels of silver she had.
She almost vomited to death.
That was because she planned to stay and buy a dowry for Ying'er.
Xia Ziqing's expression was not good-looking, and she pulled her hair out, "It's only three hundred taels of silver. Second Aunt, I'll borrow it from you. Just tell me whether you want to borrow it or not."
Instead of wasting words by talking to her, Xia Ziqing came straight to her side and twitched the corners of Xu's mouth angrily, "I only have thirty taels of silver a month. I don't even have enough money on weekdays. Where did I get three hundred taels?" I’ll lend you the money.”
"Don't even think about it. This large group of people were stuck in that small town for more than ten days for food and accommodation. They didn't need to spend money on anything. The thousand taels of silver your grandmother gave me for chewing was not enough for this trip. He also gave me more than one hundred taels of personal money.”
The one thousand taels of silver was given to Mrs. Xu by Mrs. Xia in front of Xia Ziqing and Xia Zilan, saying that they could chew it on the road.
And when Xia Ziqing scolded Xu for being stingy, she actually wanted to use the money. She didn't believe it when Xu said that it was all gone.
She opened her eyes wide and looked in disbelief, "Second Aunt, that small town is only more than a hundred miles away from the capital, and the cost is not high. You can rent a two-story house for us all to live in. Half a We only spent five taels of silver a month on rent, and we also had money for food and drink. The second aunt actually said that she spent less than 10 taels of silver even after counting the food, drinks and food on the road. More than a thousand taels of silver, it’s incredible.”
Treat her as a fool and easy to trick.
Her abacus was rattling, and her mind was as clear as a mirror as to how much money the second aunt had left.
The money was given by her grandmother to everyone, not to the second aunt alone. Since there was a lot of money, of course it had to be shared equally by everyone. The second aunt wanted to bribe all the money without saying a word, but that wouldn't work.
"Second Aunt, if you don't want to lend me some money, fine, then I'll borrow it from my second uncle. Although my second uncle's salary is not much, I can always have three hundred taels of silver."
"Besides, my niece has spoken. Even if she doesn't have it, my second uncle will go outside and borrow it for me."
Xia Ziqing said, turned around and left.
Mrs. Xu hurriedly pulled her and said hurriedly, "Girl, you came to the capital to find a good husband, but you didn't come to cause trouble to your second uncle."
He even used her marriage to pressure her.
Xia Ziqing stared at her with red eyes and said, "Why have I caused trouble to my second uncle? It's obviously my second aunt who doesn't want to lend me money."
"I really have no money." Mrs. Xu was so angry that she wanted to stamp her feet. She thought of the jewelry on Xia Zihan's head. Each piece was so precious that she was jealous and envious.
She was planning from the bottom of her heart and said to Xia Ziqing, "Your second sister has so many good jewelry. Go and borrow a set from her. There is no need to buy any."
Xia Ziqing was stunned.
Seeing Mrs. Xu's attitude, I wanted to take some money from her hands to buy jewelry, but I'm afraid that even if my second uncle comes, I won't be able to do it.
Why don't you really ask your second sister to borrow it?
In order to be able to show her face at the chrysanthemum appreciation banquet, in order to find a good husband-in-law, well, she would give it a try.
Xia Ziqing bit her lip and said, "If the second sister doesn't lend me the jewelry, then I will go directly to the second uncle to borrow it. If the second uncle doesn't have it, I will tell the story about my grandmother giving the second aunt a thousand taels of silver to chew on." .”
When the time comes, I don’t believe that Mrs. Xu is still indifferent.
(End of chapter)