In the 22nd year of Qianlong's reign, the imperial court abolished the Ningbo Trade Port, and Guangzhou became China's only port for foreign trade. The Guangzhou Thirteen Banks were established as a trade organization composed of 13 chambers of commerce to coordinate trade affairs with overseas countries.
The Thirteenth Bank purchased large quantities of tea, vegetables, ceramics, silk, silverware and other goods from the mainland, and resold them to Europe through Dutch merchants, making huge profits that could rival those of other countries.
Seeing the Thirteenth Bank monopolizing overseas trade and bringing gold and silver back home year after year, the other merchants who could only share some of the money or simply couldn't see or touch it were naturally unwilling to do so. .
Although the sentence "capitalists will take desperate risks if they have 50% profit; if they have 100% profit, they will dare to trample all laws in the world; if they have 300% profit, they will dare to risk the gallows" The famous conclusion "Danger!" has not yet come out, but these businesses have already taken the initiative and consciously implemented it.
As a result, various smuggling trades have become popular, and they have become more and more popular despite repeated prohibitions.
With the rapid expansion of overt and covert commerce, the city of Guangzhou is extremely prosperous.
At that time, a Japanese businessman who came to trade made the following record: "There are many merchant ships outside the ocean, the streets are bustling with people, there are many Western-style buildings, and there is an endless stream of merchants. Looking at our country's Nagasaki, the trade is less than half of the thirteen industries, which is really enviable It’s evil.”
On one of the most prosperous streets in Guangzhou, in a prime location, there is a cloth shop called "Detai Village". It was opened by Fang De, a well-known wealthy businessman in the province. It sells silks and satins from all over the country. It has a spacious shop and a complete range of goods.
Fang Shiyu came to the front of the store and looked inside. He saw his mother, Miao Cuihua, wearing a pair of disc sunglasses, leaning against the counter and sitting on a high stool. She used her left arm as support, lightly held her cheek with her left hand, and curled up. The rather concave and convex shape remained motionless, causing several customers to pay no attention to the salesman selling goods, and their eyes would fly to her from time to time.
"Mom, isn't dad in the store?"
With this powerful shout, Miao Cuihua tilted her body, her arm supporting the counter slipped, and she fell onto the counter. Her forehead hit the countertop with a loud "thunk" sound.
Miao Cuihua rubbed her forehead with one hand, took off her sunglasses with the other, looked at the door with a pair of sleepy eyes without focus, and murmured: "Is it thundering? Then quickly put away the cloth outside..."
It turned out that just now she had fallen asleep holding on to her posture.
Fang Shiyu laughed loudly, ran to the counter in a few steps, put his face in front of his mother and said, "Mom, you are so awesome, you can actually fall asleep like this?"
"It turns out that you brat is causing trouble!" Miao Cuihua also woke up completely at this time. She casually struck a blow on her son's head and shouted, "You are very courageous. Brother De wants you to study peacefully at home, but you actually Dare you sneak out!"
"If I was sneaking away, would I still dare to come here?" Fang Shiyu was very proud, taking out a letter from his arms and holding it up in front of his mother, "Someone just came home to deliver this letter, indicating that it must be given to dad to open. I was just afraid it was a business matter, so I sent it over in person... Isn't dad in the store?"
"He went to discuss business with someone earlier. I learned a good-looking posture from a foreign woman who came to buy cloth, and then she prepared it for him to see. But when I fell asleep, he didn't come back."
Miao Cuihua said angrily, and at the same time grabbed the letter and opened it.
Fang Shiyu said hurriedly: "Mom, this letter is written to dad. The sender has repeatedly promised that he must open it personally."
Miao Cuihua didn't care: "It's just some business matters. I'll check it out first so as not to delay him..."
She suddenly paused in the middle of her words, her face became extremely ugly, and her beautiful eyes almost burst out of fire as she stared at the letter.
Fang Shiyu didn't know why and asked, "Mom, what are you..."
"Go inside and talk!" Miao Cuihua, with a livid face, held the letter in one hand and held Fang Shiyu in the other.
Fang Shiyu became more and more confused: "Mom, what's wrong with you?"
Miao Cuihua fiercely threw the letter on the table and shouted: "That damn Fang De has a wild woman outside!"
Fang Shiyu was very surprised. When he hurriedly picked up the letter and read it, he saw that there were only a few words on it: "Boss Fang, please come to the 'Chen Ji Dyeing House' in the east of the city to meet you tonight." There was no name on the signature, only one. Marking in the shape of a five-petal flower.
He said blankly: "Dad is a cloth seller, so it's not surprising that he met the dyeing workshop? Mom, how did you think that some wild woman was here?"
Miao Cuihua sneered: "The fabrics of our 'Detai Village' have always been dyed by the province's leading 'Zhang Ji Dyeing House'. I have never heard of 'Chen Ji', so it is obvious that he is not worthy of recognition." Xiao Dye, how can you be qualified to do business with us? Besides, do you have a business appointment in the middle of the night? The most important thing is that these words are written coquettishly and coquettishly, plus the last painting Hua, at first glance, it was written by a vixen!"
When Fang Shiyu looked at those two lines of characters again, even though he was only slightly literate in calligraphy, he could barely discern a hint of elegance in the handwriting. Sure enough, it seemed to be written by a woman. As for "twisting" and "coquettish", it was a deeper level. Its charm cannot be distinguished by his eyesight.
He didn't expect that a letter he sent could cause changes in the family. Even though he had always been so arrogant, he couldn't help but worry about gains and losses at this moment, so he tentatively asked with a little trepidation: "Mom, look at this How should things be handled?"
Miao Cuihua first poured a cup of herbal tea into her mouth, but it could not cool down the anger in her heart at all. With one move of her fingers, she crushed a tea cup into pieces and gritted her teeth and said, "Just give this letter to me as if nothing happened." That bastard. I'm going to go to Chen Ji Dyeing House tonight to see what kind of vixen he is, who has the guts to steal a man from me!"
Fang Shiyu looked at the fine powder falling from his mother's fingers and silently prayed for his father who didn't know that the "adultery" had been exposed. As for the fate of the "vixen", he didn't dare to think about it.
Not long after, Fang De came back from outside, and when he saw Fang Shiyu, he naturally asked about it.
Under the terrifying gaze of her mother, Fang Shiyu didn't dare to trick anyone, so she could only send the letter honestly.
Fang De's face changed slightly after reading it, but he put the letter away without saying anything.
The family of three were looking after the business in the store for a while, and Fang De suddenly said to his wife: "Cuihua, I remembered that there are still some accounts that need to be sorted out, so I will stay in the store tonight. You and Shiyu go home first, and you have to eat. No need to wait for me."
A cold light flashed in Miao Cuihua's eyes, she put on a nonchalant expression on her face, and said with a smile: "That's fine, but Master, you are too 'hard'."
Fang De did not doubt that he was there, and just nodded with a smile, but did not hear the last word "hard work", which was actually said by his wife through gritted teeth.
