As the candlelight flickered, Fan Yan leaned on the bed and quietly thought about every detail of the rise of the Fan family. Since his father started to embark on the road of business, he has been following him to make Guangde bigger and bigger. It's them, father and son.
What was Fan Ru doing at that time? Studying behind closed doors, reading the Four Books and Five Classics. According to his father, the eldest son has to inherit the family business, and it is best for him to obtain a meritorious degree, so that he can be famous. As for the second child in the family, let him go into business, make more money, and then support his elder brother to obtain fame.
It's a pity that my brother is a fool who is too stupid to study. He has not made any progress in his studies when he reaches the stage of being elected. All he wants to do all day long is to use the money his brother earns to buy a house and land. And he spent money like water to make friends with the powerful in the capital, hoping to restore the status of the royal merchant in the family.
Not only that, when he became the head of the family, he became even more willful and insisted on dressing up his family like a heirloom of poems and books. He did not obey all kinds of strict rules and kept them all on his own. I copied it again, even worse.
In the past, Fan Qian endured for the sake of the family's interests, but this year the eldest brother went even harder and forced his favorite concubine to death, and now he even extended his evil hand to Huniu.
"It's unbearable. I didn't renew my relationship because of Hu Niu and my mother. Now the first wife's position is vacant. They are my darlings! You killed Hu Niu's mother, and now you still want to Are you using 110,000 silver to blackmail me? Isn’t it just that you don’t keep public accounts? I don’t care..."
Thinking of this, Fan Yan punched the bed hard, and he even said what was in his heart, "The worst we can do is separate the family, the worst we can do is start everything over again..."
Just as he was talking, suddenly a low sigh came from the window, "Oh...if Shopkeeper Fan had realized this long ago, why would he be like this!"
"Who?" Fan Yan sat up at that moment, and then the door opened and a familiar face came in.
"Mr. Xiao!" Fan Qian shouted at that time, so scared that Xiao Letian covered his mouth. "My old shopkeeper, do you want to kill me? I haven't even grown out my pigtails. You can recruit people from the government..."
Shopkeeper Fan became excited at that time and kept coughing. Xiao Letian quickly supported him and patted his back gently: "Old shopkeeper, there is no need to say more. I already know the situation. I am here this time to solve the problem in front of the old shopkeeper." It's a crisis. But... I want to ask Shopkeeper Fan, how brave are you? How much courage do you have?"
Fan Qian coughed for a while and looked at Xiao Letian with a red face, "Mr. Xiao, what do you mean?"
"The meaning is very simple. I have a set of riches that I want to give away, but it requires a very courageous businessman to take them. If the old shopkeeper doesn't even dare to split the family, I'm afraid you won't be able to get this set of riches!"
"How big is wealth?" As soon as he talked about business, Shopkeeper Fan recovered from his illness.
"How old? Haha, big enough that foreigners are polite in front of you, big enough that you can sit down with the foreign government to discuss business, big enough that even the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not dare to kill you..." Xiao Letian almost He said this through gritted teeth. At that time, Fan Jian was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat.
"Family separation? Foreigners? Imperial court? My mother, sir, are you kidding me?" Fan Qian was obviously frightened by Xiao Letian's tone.
Let alone foreigners and the imperial court, separation of families was considered dishonorable and even treasonous in ancient ethics. Updated for the first time In late Qing society, families could not be separated unless absolutely necessary. Only when they were too poor to survive, or the family was too large, would someone consider dividing the family.
If Fan Yan proposes to separate the family now, let alone how much property he can get, he will be drowned by the spit of people from all over the country. Moreover, countless partners, also known as partners, will also re-examine Fan. Damn this person. They may even sever the cooperative relationship because they think you are unfaithful and unfilial.
To put it bluntly, once a family is separated, the consequences will be more serious than peeling off the skin. What shopkeeper Fan said just now was actually just the angry words of an illness. Unexpectedly, Xiao Letian actually heard it.
"Shopkeeper Fan, let me tell you the truth. This wealth is too big. I don't want to give any of it to your brother. Moreover, this wealth needs to be kept strictly confidential. The fewer people who know about it, the better..." said this, Xiao Letian suddenly took out a big black bag from his arms and poured the contents on the bed.
Fan Yan's eyes widened at that time. The good guy's bed was full of Dongzhu, all of which were top-quality Dongzhu, as well as large pieces of jadeite and suet-fat jade. Fan Jian's family also runs a pawnshop business. His vision is no less than that of a high-ranking official. He estimated in his mind that this bag of treasures is worth at least thirty thousand taels.
"Mr. Xiao, what do you mean by this?" Fan Qian quickly collected the Dongzhu that was rolling around on the bed one by one. Touching the warm feeling, the old man felt a little trembling in his heart. This roundness coupled with such a big one , it has almost caught up with the standards used by Wang Jue Chaozhu. If this was sent to Beijing... the old man couldn't even imagine how popular it would be.
"I brought out five bags of such treasures today. I think it's enough for you to escape this difficulty?" Xiao Letian looked at Fan Jian with a smile, as if he knew that this old man would not be able to escape from his hands even if he beat him to death. Update as soon as possible
There is still a trace of morbidity in Fan Jian now. As a top professional businessman in the Qing Dynasty, he has absolute professional qualities. At this time, the old man regained his usual business shrewdness. He stood up and stood on the ground and bowed deeply to Xiao Letian.
"Mr. Xiao saved the entire caravan at the mountain temple. It is said that we all owe you an unfinished favor. Now you have to help the old man and me through this difficulty. To be honest, I am scared... Sir, you still Lift the lid happily, there is no way you can guess this stuffy gourd underneath..."
Xiao Letian accepted Fan Yan's gift carelessly. The wealth he was about to give him was too great. Even if he was his future father-in-law, he still had to distinguish priorities. This was the principle of business negotiation. Please come to more and faster chapters. Fan Jian gave me a salute, which already admitted that he was already at a disadvantage in this negotiation.
"Old shopkeeper, don't be like this, it's broken, it's broken..." Xiao Letianfei waited until his waist was bent at ninety degrees, and then he helped him.
"Shopkeeper Fan, please be patient for a moment and help me take a look at this thing." After speaking, Wu Chang took out a stack of paper from his arms and took out the first ten chapters of the novel he wrote, Prince Enrique. The adventure chapters.
Fan Yan took the draft in surprise, but the old man's hands began to shake after just reading the beginning: "Sir...Sir, tell me, is this pure fantasy? Or is it all true?"
Xiao Letian tapped the armrest of the Grand Master's chair with his fingers, and said in a very disgusting manner, "The real history, this is what really happened in the countries of the Europa continent. I just described it using the technique of storytelling novels. In fact, I also wanted to let billions of people People at the bottom of the Qing Dynasty can know the details of foreigners!"
"Why are foreigners so strong? Why are we so weak? When we were just living our lives, how did those people living overseas live? What were they studying? What were they doing? Why could they do it again and again? Overthrow our Qing Dynasty to the ground? These answers are all explained in the book..."
"Even the nastiness between foreigners is recorded here. Who has enmity with whom? Who has grudges with whom? Who is closer to whom in terms of cultural heritage, and even which country's women are the most beautiful are recorded here. Hahaha , to put it bluntly, this is even exposing the foreigners’ background..."
Xiao Letian is confident. He firmly believes that the Qing Dynasty cannot refuse the bait he throws out. In the late Qing Dynasty, no one among the literati and officials, including more enlightened businessmen, wanted to know the details of the foreigners. Please come to more and faster chapters. As early as when Lin Zexu was suppressing opium in Humen, he commissioned his friend Wei Yuan to compile information and write a book introducing overseas countries in detail. This was the famous "Hai Guo Tu Zhi" in the late Qing Dynasty.
But after all, Wei Yuan has never been to the West. He only passively translated some Western works. In the process of writing the book, it was inevitable that he would add some of his own subjective guesses or mistakes in translation. What's even more terrible is that Wei Yuan is a scholar who came out of Confucian soil. He put forward the slogan of "Learning from the barbarians to develop skills to control the barbarians".
Let's take a look. In fact, this idea has the same origin as the theory of "Chinese learning as the body and Western learning as the application" later proposed by Zhang Zhidong. Chinese literati's rejection of the Western world has almost been burned into their bones.
"Old shopkeeper, I can tell you clearly that once this book appears, the world will never be confused again. From now on, any enlightened person who wants to understand the West must read this book of mine." Bow down under my door wall, hehehe..." Xiao Letian's laughter was so cold that Fan Jian even got goosebumps when he heard it.
"Hahaha, because there is no other person who can write a more comprehensive, more specific, and more practical article than me. I am the founder of those who studied Western learning in the Qing Dynasty..."
With a bang, Shopkeeper Fan knocked over all the cups on the coffee table. His hands were trembling and his face turned yellow. He knew that Xiao Letian was not bragging. If this book was really what he said, then Xiao Letian being an ancestor of Western learning was really not bragging. Others are not convinced? Even if you are not convinced, write one!
"Establish a sect? Sir, you want to establish a sect!" Fan Qian felt that his knees were weak. Although he hated rotten scholars like his brother, he respected the great sages who could establish a sect from the bottom of his heart. In ancient times, the public's admiration for top literati could be described as fanaticism.
Xiao Letian straightened the tea cup and smiled slightly, "I am writing a book, but the printing work is too cumbersome..."
"It's mine, it's mine! I don't know how to repay sir's kindness. Now if I can put in a little effort, I will do it beautifully for you even if I die of exhaustion..." Fan Liang I feel like I am about to float. I support a great writer who founded a sect. I may leave a mark in the history books in the future.
Xiao Letian nodded, "This is the first thing, and the second thing has to do with money. The jewelry I brought today is actually a disguised return of the 110,000 silver to you, the shopkeeper. I want to thank you With his skills in business for many years, it shouldn’t be difficult to fill this small hole with these jewelry..." Xiao Letian clapped his hands, and a big man in night clothes walked past the door, holding the remaining jewelry in his arms.
When it came to doing business, Fan Qian became energetic at the time. "This little jewelery given by Mr. can be turned into at least 150,000 cash in my hands. My friends and relatives in the capital can just scrape it together." I can collect all the money. I can even use treasures to hand over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs directly. Anyway, treasures are more useful to them than silver..."
"That's good, that's good. After this batch of jewelry is sold, I will have new jewelry to hand over to you. I need the contacts of the old shopkeeper to turn these treasures into cash, and it is best to break the silver... note Come on, I don’t want gold or silver notes, I want scattered silver that my eyes can see and my hands can touch..."
Shopkeeper Fan was confused at the time. He didn't know what kind of medicine Xiao Letian was selling in the gourd. Just when he wanted to ask carefully, there was a gentle knocking sound on the window lattice.
"Mr. Xiao, something happened, you must leave immediately... Erliang Shaoguo Restaurant has been surrounded by people from the Yamen..."
