The next day, An Ying went to Batou Street early in the morning, shopping from the street to the end of the street. He also bought bamboo chairs, baskets, baskets and other things that were useful for home in a bamboo shop, and asked the waiter to deliver them to new rentals. Go to the house. When it was almost time, she slowly walked to a street stall and asked for a bowl of noodles. She chatted with the lady at the stall for a while, and soon the lady brought the noodle soup. The soup base was snow-white pork bone soup, with spinach, tofu and dried fish in it. An Ying even drank the soup cleanly. An Ying thought for a while and then walked to Hongshengji. There happened to be a little maid standing at the door of the shop. It was the fireworks that day. She was wearing a blue blouse and a yellow skirt. Although the fabric was a little faded, it was still very conspicuous for the little girl. As soon as Yanhua saw her, she ran over with a smile, "Miss An, you are here to see Madam today. I will take you there. Madam is free right now."
"Have your wives been busy for a while so early?" An Ying asked in surprise. Generally, ladies see guests after midnight. Even the wives of merchants have to wash up, dress up, eat, and arrange servant work before they can be free. , this time is around 3 o'clock, when most wives are arranging work, how come Mrs. Shen is free at this time.
"Yes, we all listen to the madam's instructions in the lobby at midnight. Who did the work well today and the previous ten days, and who did the wrong work, the madam has to talk about it. But it only lasts for a quarter of an hour. At this moment, Madam has just finished her breakfast and is resting."
When An Ying entered the back room, Mrs. Shen was looking at the account book. When An Ying came in, she put down the book and said, "Yanhua, go to the kitchen and ask Sister-in-law Wang to make a bowl of sweet tea."
After Yanhua happily agreed and almost trotted all the way to the kitchen, Mrs. Shen smiled and shook her head and said, "Every time the kitchen makes sweet tea, I make more sweet tea in case I need it again. Yanhua's favorite is sweet tea."
An Ying also smiled and said, "Fireworks here are really special. The other maids, women, and stewards who came in and met you that day were all cautious in their words and deeds. It can be seen that they have been carefully trained. These fireworks Very out of touch, probably still young.”
"You speak very sophisticatedly at such a young age. That firework is no more than a year or two younger than you." Mrs. Shen took a sip of tea and said with a smile, "Why do you still come to me for anything today?"
"When I went back yesterday, I happened to rent a house, but there was no furniture. When I entered the yard yesterday, I saw that you happened to be doing a carpentry business here, and I wanted to ask if there were any cheap and useful furniture that I could buy. My husband and I Servants, I’m afraid they’ve been tricked into buying this kind of thing.”
"Do you even know about this wood shop?" Mrs. Shen looked at An Ying with interest and said, "I probably didn't have a chance to see the account book yesterday."
An Ying saw that Mrs. Shen didn't look calm, but looked excited. She thought it was a bet, so she said in detail: "Before I entered your shop yesterday, I sat down in the satin shop diagonally opposite. After a while, I saw several middle-aged men, who should be shopkeepers or accountants, coming out of your shop one after another. The others are not sure. I saw this shopkeeper of the woodware shop a few days ago, the Tan Ji Woodware Shop on Gaosheng Street. There are many tea shops there, so I don’t have to walk two blocks just to have tea here, and I also have a baggage with me, which should be an account book.”
"I didn't expect you, a little girl, to be so thoughtful. Maybe the shopkeeper comes here to buy some silk and satin, and come here to have tea. The silk shops that sell southern goods in the capital are better here in Batou Street." Madam smiled and drank the tea soup. She was not in a hurry to deny it and seemed very satisfied.
"Most of the people here are women. On this section of the street, there are either cloth shops or cosmetics shops, and there are always women coming and going. Even if you walk further, there are also soy sauce shops and bamboo utensil shops. There are many women. I sat for a while in the silk and satin shop diagonally across the street and heard that the shopkeeper of Tan Ji comes to your place for tea every month. He does buy silk and satin occasionally, but after all, the shopkeeper of a woodware shop is not rich yet. Isn’t it too eye-catching to buy silk every month? I heard something about the Shen family last night, and I thought it might be the shop below you."
"Have you heard about something about the Shen family?" Mrs. Shen put down the tea cup with a smile, "What about the Shen family made you connect such unrelated things."
"That's all I heard. It used to be that half of the street belonged to the Shen family. The biggest business was the original Shen family bank, which was now changed to Hengsheng bank. Later, the second master of the Shen family ruined the business. , just one shop after another was sold."
"Many people know this." Mrs. Shen said.
"Everyone knows this, but you probably don't know how to run a bank business. It would take a few months to build an old store that has been in business for decades like that. It can't be done without insiders." An Ying said quietly.
Mrs. Shen straightened up immediately, her two jasper earrings swinging back and forth. She stared at An Ying and said quietly: "How old are you? Do you know how a banker does business?"
"I just know that the old bank, which has been running for at least several decades, is running smoothly and has enough cash. There should be no mistakes in identifying the seals of several shopkeepers. I heard that the big shopkeeper in Mingzhou stole the second master's seal. Mobilized the cash of all branches in Southeast Prefecture. For such a big matter, the storekeepers of each branch did not communicate with the boss, so they just transported the money? Not to mention further places, Qiantang Prefecture is only here. If we are two days away and we send someone over to inform us, this kind of thing will not happen."
"Oh, then how did you know that you didn't inform me? Maybe the second master knows." Mrs. Shen relaxed, and her body that was tense just now leaned against the side of the chair, touching the beads on her wrist.
"I asked about it, and I also looked at the Yamen's records of Mr. Shen's lawsuit back then. According to the system set by the Shen Family Bank, the shopkeeper can make his own decision when allocating cash of less than one thousand taels. If it is more than one thousand taels, it is up to three thousand. If the amount is less than two thousand taels, the owner's private seal is required. For arrangements of more than three thousand taels, in addition to the private seal, a note signed by the owner and other shareholders is also required.
There were originally thirty-two Shen family banks in Southeast Prefecture. The cash dispatch that time was different for each branch, but after careful inspection, I was very familiar with the situation of each branch. The Mingzhou branch is the largest store. Before going to sea, you have to go to the bank to borrow money, and it is common for thousands of taels to come in and out. Business in Yuezhou is not booming, and most people are engaged in farming. Therefore, the Yuezhou branch only has a few hundred taels of silver in and out all year round, and the dispatch of the Yuezhou branch happens to be 800 taels of silver. Not to mention other things, this is not something someone familiar with can't arrange such a thorough plan.
Mr. Shen's confession mentioned that no shopkeeper told him about the money allocation. In fact, as long as more than one shopkeeper talks to the owner about the allocation of money, this matter will not be done. But none of the shopkeepers went to tell the owner. Every shopkeeper followed the bank's rules and sent out the money after checking the dispatch receipt and the owner's private seal. The process was all done according to the rules, and there was no fault at all. But when it comes to doing business, there is no such thing as just following the rules.
So I think this insider is not one person, but the entire Shen Family Bank in Southeast Prefecture. "
