Chapter 908 Grain Storage
On the third day after the Xu family settled down, Xia Zihan took the Xu family and his son to a private school.
The person who opened the private school was an old minister who resigned from the Imperial Academy and stayed at home. His surname was Dong. He was also Xia Shiming's old boss. For the sake of Xia Shiming and Chu Yu, Mr. Dong kept the Xu family and his son here.
However, after the Xu family and his son taught in a private school for half a year, Mr. Dong found that the Xu family and his son were very knowledgeable and knowledgeable, especially Mr. Xu, who was no less talented than him.
And Master Xu, who is dedicated and dedicated to teaching. When he encounters something he doesn’t understand, he will humbly ask him for advice with a book, and he will not pretend to understand like some people who think they are arrogant.
In an instant, Mr. Dong felt that he had picked up two treasures. For this reason, Mr. Dong also specially added the monthly salary of the Xu family and his son.
Mrs. Xu, Xu Wan'er, and several maids and women at home were also busy at home. Xia Zihan took Nuan Xiang to the Xu family and asked Nuan Xiang to give some embroidery work to the Xu family. Several women do.
The embroidery work done by Xu Waner and her daughter is not as exquisite as that of Yushage. In the past, Yushage really looked down on the things they embroidered, but since the emperor advocated frugal living, Yushage began to sell them. I got medium goods, including small items such as handkerchiefs, tent curtains, and door curtains.
Nuanxiang gave these small items to the Xu family's mother and daughter and a few maids to make. In this way, a few women can earn a lot of money in a month, which is almost as much as the Xu family's father and son's monthly salary. .
Therefore, the Xu family's life is much better than in Ningfeng City, and the Xu family and his son do not have to copy their own rare books day and night to sell them.
In the past, in Ningfeng City, the Xu family couldn't even pay their servants a monthly salary. Many of their servants ran away, leaving only a few families with children.
Now, the family earns a combined fifty taels of silver a month, which is enough to cover their expenses in Ningfeng City for nearly a year.
Life was getting better, and the Xu family was very grateful to Xia Zihan. Especially when they saw the severe drought in Jiangnan, they were glad that they had moved out of Jiangnan, and their gratitude to Xia Zihan was even more gushing and flowing.
By July, the eldest prince's body was getting stronger day by day, and he could already sit firmly. When he started babbling, his voice became louder, and he no longer meowed pitifully like a kitten.
The Queen Mother was very happy to see that her eldest grandson was getting well soon. She rewarded Xia Zihan with many good things and often left Xia Zihan to eat with her in the palace.
There is also Concubine Lu. Her gratitude to Xia Zihan is no less than that of the Queen Mother. You must know that whether she can gain a foothold in this harem depends on this son.
In the past, when the eldest prince was in poor health, Concubine Lu would have trouble sleeping and eating day and night, feeling uneasy, fearing that one day the eldest prince would not be able to hold on anymore.
If the eldest prince has any shortcomings, her status will definitely be affected, and she will even be ridiculed, ridiculed, oppressed and bullied by other concubines.
Now, the eldest prince's health is getting better day by day, and his face is getting more rosy and fleshy day by day. Concubine Lu is like a person who was trapped in darkness and suddenly saw the sunshine, she is very happy.
For this reason, Concubine Lu also sent gold, silver, jewelry, silk and satin to Xia Zihan.
Because of this, Concubine Lu and Xia Zihan became good friends. Every time Xia Zihan came into the palace to give medicine to the eldest prince, Concubine Lu would find the right time to come and talk to her.
If the Queen Mother did not keep Xia Zihan to eat, Concubine Lu would keep her to eat. Twice, when they were about to eat, they happened to meet the emperor.
The emperor is here, so he has to stay for dinner.
For the first time, after finishing the meal, the emperor left.
The second time, after dinner, the emperor wanted to escort Xia Zihan out of Concubine Lu's palace in person, but on the way, he pulled Xia Zihan to talk. The implication behind the words was that Xia Zihan was ordered to help him store grain from now on. He would pay the money, but he could store more grain.
The emperor's actual words were, "Recently, I have studied the weather in Dasheng in the past and found that there will be a natural disaster in Dasheng every three to five years. It is either a drought or a flood. Once the people suffer a disaster, it will take three to five years to recover. Things have gotten better, and after every natural disaster, the imperial court has to empty its grain depots. It will take another three to five years to save some food, but when the next natural disaster strikes, the accumulated food will still be emptied. "
"If this cycle continues, no matter how much food the court collects, it will not be enough to be teased by God. I am thinking that as the king of the common people, I must leave a way out for the common people."
The escape route he left for the people was to ask Xia Zihan to help him store food secretly, just in case.
When Xia Zihan heard this, he had a dark look on his face and was not polite to the emperor. He asked him directly, "Your Majesty, God only teases us once when he is unhappy. But if he is happy, he will not be here for ten or twenty years." To tease us once, What should I do with the food I saved? You know, if you keep the food for too long, you won’t be able to keep it. When the time comes, if God doesn’t tease us, you won’t have to buy my food. Then who will I sell the so much food to?”
The corner of the emperor's mouth twitched, and a stone in his throat could not go up or down. After a long time, he glared at Xia Zihan and said, "If nothing happens, that's a good thing, you just sell the grain." , and continue to save in the second year.”
"What if we sell it and a natural disaster strikes again the next year?" Xia Zihan curled her lips and asked again.
She didn't want to contradict the emperor, but what she asked was a realistic question.
When the time comes, if that happens, the emperor asks for food from her, but if he doesn't get it, he won't be able to chop off her head.
She just wanted to do business, but she never thought about becoming a grain storage for the imperial court.
This piece of chicken leg is not that easy to chew.
If people find out, she will be envied, jealous, hated, criticized, and even accused of making money from natural disasters.
The emperor stared at her, feeling very angry.
But he couldn't directly issue an edict on this kind of thing, and he couldn't let people say that he bullied a woman.
Even Chu Jingqi couldn't agree.
He was silent for a moment and then said, "Then you sell half and keep the other half, and the cycle repeats every three years."
For now, this is all we can do.
This year, if Chu Yu's batch of grain hadn't come to the rescue in time, he really didn't know where he would have bought so much grain to appease the millions of people in the south of the Yangtze River.
Jiangnan is a land of plenty, but after experiencing a flood that year, it took less than two years to recover. The grain harvested was limited, and it was not enough to feed millions of people for a month. This batch of grain from Chu Yu helped him. Being so busy can be regarded as saving the lives of millions of people in Jiangnan.
He originally wanted Chu Yu to continue to store food, so that if there was a natural or man-made disaster in Dasheng in the future, he would be able to respond in time.
But what Chu Yu was thinking about was real. She was a businessperson. Although she couldn't make money from the court's natural disasters, she couldn't be allowed to do loss-making business every time.
(End of chapter)