After Zheng Haizhu took Li Zhizao and Mrs. Li to Songjiang, he handed Wang Yuesheng the last thousand taels of silver notes he had on hand.
Wang Yuesheng's former mother in Nanjing was actually a thin horse from Yangzhou when she was young.
The way out for raising thin horses in Yangzhou is to serve as concubines for high-status families. Therefore, they are not only trained in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, but also how to manage family finances. A thin horse that can use an abacus and keep a tripod account sells for a higher price.
However, Wang Yuesheng's mother was so beautiful that the wealthy housekeeper who came to buy a skinny horse didn't dare to buy it for fear of taking it back. The master liked it, but his skin would be peeled off by his grandmother.
A good-looking woman who knew how to settle accounts had no choice but to go to the Qinhuai River to make a living. She was promoted from a waiter to a mother in charge. After suffering losses from several accounting offices, she decided to take care of the money in and out by herself.
Among a group of girls named "Yue", only Wang Yuesheng would watch her mother learn accounting in her free time without tickets. Over time, she became proficient in abacus and even filled out the account books.
Thinking about it, Zheng Haizhu thought that for such a clever person, who had already invested tens of thousands of silver in the Song Shi Jian Yi piano as a kind of investment, who else would the financial manager of the firearms shop give her?
Wang Yuesheng happily accepted the order and even took the initiative to ask for help, saying that she could also contribute to the accounting office of Zheng's Insurance Company.
Zheng Haizhu declined, as the latter's position as chief financial officer had been left to Shi Yuelan.
Tang Ayuan and Shi Yuelan were originally Yan Siqi's stewards at the Daishan Saltworks.
Now that Yan Siqi has been recruited by the court, his subordinates can go to the mainland to make arrangements openly, and the Tang couple's son is no longer an ignorant boy. The couple intends to return to the literary hub of Jiangnan to let their son study and be tested as a scholar.
Zheng Haizhu couldn't ask for it.
After all, Zheng Shoukuan was not yet fifteen years old and was too young, and Wu Bondang was in the shadows and could not come forward to take charge. The shipping insurance branch in Zhenjiang really needed a more experienced shopkeeper.
So it was decided that the "young boss" of Songjiang Shipping Insurance Corporation would be Zheng Zhilong, and the shopkeeper would be Uncle Tang from Nanhui. In the Zhenjiang branch, the "young boss" who came forward was Zheng Shoukuan, and the shopkeeper was Tang Ayuan. The accounts on both sides were done by Shi Yuelan.
As the elder of Tang Ayuan and Shi Yuelan, Tang Bo declined at first, saying that the collection of insurance premiums and accounting were done by the same family, and he was afraid that it would not be clear by then.
As a result, Zheng Haizhu said with a smile: "Brother Yan has asked your family to take care of the salt factory and the contacts with important guests for how many years."
These words conveyed trust and affection, and the Tang family felt comfortable, so Uncle Tang urged Tang Ayuan and his wife to follow Zheng Haizhu to work in Zhenjiang.
…
In the living room of the trading company, Zheng Haizhu introduced Tang and Shi to Wu Bangdang.
Since we want to make money and work together, we no longer hide each other's details.
The two parties explained their origins. Wu Bondang did not hate sea travelers like Qi Jin. He told the Tang couple sincerely: "Although Wu wears a veil bought from the Imperial College, he is actually just a rough man. Miss Meng Zheng respects them and helps them." Trading companies chase away flies and mosquitoes.”
Just as he was talking, Zheng Shoukuan's greeting came from outside: "Brother Zhou is here?"
Zheng Haizhu hurriedly made a "silence" gesture to everyone in front of him.
But I heard a man with a Jiangbei accent say: "Have your guys followed the ship boss to see it?"
Zheng Shoukuan said: "I've seen it. The boats on both sides collided quite badly. I've also received the testimony of the boss of the boat."
The man said angrily: "Really? Who is willing to be involved in this matter? Repairing the boat is a lot of money. However, not all of our boss's goods were overturned in the canal."
Zheng Shoukuan shook his head helplessly: "Then we have dug through a dozen sacks, which is almost a hundred taels of silver. Brother Zhou, your boss is in the medicinal materials business. If the owner of the goods last time is like that, he is very good at making cotton cloth, and he is also good at making cotton cloth." If you can fish it out, you can calculate its residual value."
The man surnamed Zhou said with a flattering smile: "Little boss Zheng, you have to think this way, although it is medicinal materials, fortunately there are only some northern medicinal materials such as Qi Baizhi and Qi Ai. If they are expensive products from Nanyang, Not to mention a dozen sacks, one small sack costs only a hundred taels of silver."
When Zheng Shoukuan saw the man talking, he looked directly at the small wooden box guarded by the two clerks in the store. Then he took out a document with the seal of the trading company and pushed it in front of the man: "After you press your fingerprint, you can take the money." Let’s go, eight spindles of twelve, three spindles of five, a total of ninety-five taels.”
The man complied, happily picked up the wooden box, met his two companions who were standing outside, and walked away.
Zheng Shoukuan lifted the curtain and walked in. He first asked Wu Bond, "Brother Wu, have you seen this person's face clearly?"
Wu Bondang nodded: "Well, our people nearby must have seen clearly and will follow them."
Tang Ayuan and Shi Yuelan, who were present here, looked at Zheng Haizhu inquiringly.
Zheng Haizhu said calmly: "After arriving in Zhenjiang, Shou Kuan told me about this list. The owner of the goods is collecting medicinal materials in Nanjing. This person is called Zhou Hu, who claims to be the owner's brother-in-law. He went to Suzhou to deliver goods. He came to buy from us on the recommendation of his peers. Shoukuan went there personally to pay the premium, inspect the goods at the dock, and check the seaworthiness of the ship. There was no problem at that time. However, on the Bingyin section, he collided with another ship and turned over a lot of medicinal materials on the river. inside."
Tang Ayuan didn't understand and asked: "What is the Bingyin flight segment?"
Wu Bangdang said: "That's what Miss Zheng meant. Our people have been taking boats in groups in the past few months to get familiar with the waterway from Zhenjiang to Suzhou and then to Songjiang. The Tiangan records whether the waterway is dangerous and prone to accidents, and the Earthly Branches indicate whether the waterway is usually crowded. Shou Kuan, show the picture we drew to Shopkeeper Tang."
After taking the picture, Zheng Shoukuan pointed to a river bend south of Zhenjiang: "The hydrological conditions of the Bingyin section are not bad, but there are many ships. When Zhou Hu came with the ship boss to report the accident, he said that the collision occurred in the early hours of the morning, in broad daylight. . We immediately inquired with other boat owners, and they did see collisions and bag drops. However, after I looked at the boats, I found that the bow of one boat hit the side string of the other boat. Looking closely at the damage to the two boats, the wood was obviously larger than the The other pieces are about to rot, but the tenons are quite new. The wood of other ship planks is very strong, but the tenons are old."
Zheng Haizhu took over the conversation and said to the Tang couple: "So, we suspect that Zhou Hu colluded with the boat owner to defraud compensation. Although the two boat owners could share the benefits, they still wanted to save money for repairing the boat, so they temporarily replaced it with rotten ship planks. Mr. Wu is a man of good water, so he went to the bottom of the river and opened the sack. It was full of grass and wadding. Just now I looked at Zhou Hu's appearance through the curtain, picked up the silver and left without weighing it carefully. Count it clearly. Obviously, in his eyes, this amount of money is just a windfall, and he doesn’t care if it’s just a few taels short. I guess the original medicinal materials have been resold by him.”
Tang Ayuan suddenly realized it and said with emotion: "This business is indeed easy to be defrauded."
Zheng Haizhu smiled: "Which line of business is easy to make money? Which pond doesn't have a bastard? Just catch it. There will definitely be more in the future. You guys can learn the ropes slowly. As for Zhou Hu, he will continue to be a helper to Mr. Wu."
Wu Bondang stood up and cupped his hands: "I'll take the first step."
…
At night, although the city of Zhenjiang is not as gorgeous and prosperous as Nanjing and Yangzhou, it is still lively and lively.
Zhou Hu walked out of the crowded gambling house with a hint of resentment.
A few years ago, his brother-in-law, a drug dealer, took him with him to do business.
The brother-in-law was of a very upright nature and did not engage in prostitution or gambling, so he was kept under strict control.
This time, my sister was giving birth, and my brother-in-law was watching at home in Nanjing. The sale of medicinal materials worth hundreds of taels was left to Zhou Hu alone with two assistants.
When they arrived in Zhenjiang, two ship bosses told Zhou Hu that a new Zheng's shipping insurance company had opened in the city. It was known as a dental company, but in fact it could make money.
Zhou Hu listened to the boss's idea and marveled that this was nothing. After putting in a little trouble and putting on a show, he could get dozens of taels of silver, which was obviously a leg of lamb.
He was immediately moved, and went to Zheng's Merchant to pay a premium of five taels of silver, inspect the goods, and sign the deed. After the ship was shipped, he turned to a hidden river bank and asked two clerks to replace the medicinal materials with thatch.
After continuing to drive to many parts of the ship, they staged a collision scene with the ship boss's accomplices. The sacks filled with thatch piled on one side of the ship fell into the water and sank to the bottom in full view of everyone.
When I went to settle the claim, the young boss of the trading company, who had no hair on his lips, was so stupid that he kept saying, "We are based on integrity and we should pay all the compensation, but we need to investigate first." The result was that I saw it. The ship, after asking the witnesses who came and went, still honestly handed over the money with both hands.
According to the previous agreement, the captain of the ship received twenty taels each, the waiter received ten taels each, and he took thirty-five taels.
For Zhou Hu, who had only two taels of silver, it was a huge sum of money.
The two guys were hot-blooded and had not even married yet. They took the money and went to Yingying Yanyan's place.
Zhou Hu, who had been married for several years, had no interest in visiting brothels, but entered a gambling house without hesitation.
It seems that the cheater ran out of luck, and Zhou Hu gave out ten taels of silver in most of an hour. He was angry and panicked, and quickly got off the gambling table.
Just a few steps out of the casino, a man wearing a green turban came up to him and said, "Sir, are you having fun?"
Zhou Hu knew that in the south of the Yangtze River, people who dressed like this were either a turtle man in a brothel or a pimp for a wandering warbler.
He said angrily: "Get out."
The green-turbaned man with a Shandong accent smiled more flatteringly, followed behind and bowed: "Do you want to change your luck to another casino? Listen to me, the best way to change your luck is to see someone famous." .”
Zhou Hu was stunned: "Why do you see such a thing?"
The green-turbaned man passed Zhou Hu, jogged a few steps, and yelled "Hey" in a low voice.
From the shadow of the eaves in front, a woman with hunched shoulders flashed out, looking shivering and frightened.
The green turban pulled her over, took off the hood of his wind robe, and said with a smile: "Master, this is a young boy, he is sixteen this year. If you open a bag, you will see a fortune. The custodian's luck tomorrow will be so red that it will make the banker cry."
Zhou Hu understood now and was a little moved.
"How old do you think she is? Sixteen? How come she looks eighteen or nineteen!" Zhou Hu pretended to be disgusted.
The green turban considerately said: "I'm just changing my luck, why spend more unjust money? This kind of money is only one or two silver. A country girl who used to farm the land and was exposed to the wind and sun, how can she compare with the beauty of the red shopkeepers in the flower house?" , but it’s a little bit cheaper than them. Look, he has big eyes and a good figure, and he actually looks pretty good.”
Zhou Hu stretched out his hand to lift up the woman's chin and took a look at it under the moonlight. She was covered in thick powder, bright rouge, a birthmark from the corner of her forehead to her eyebrows, and a pair of bright eyes, which was pretty good-looking.
But this kind of wandering bird of unknown origin, as a foreigner, he was afraid of being jumped by the immortal, and even more afraid of being robbed of his wealth, so he said coldly: "I will not go to a low-class brothel."
"That's natural. Do you have an inn where you can rest? She can follow me."
…
Mu Zaohua followed Zhou Hu into the inn near the Confucian Temple.
Four months ago, she was a tracker by the canal. In order not to starve to death, she worked as a mule and horse as a human being.
After Miss Zheng recruited them, Mr. Wu became someone they often saw.
Mr. Wu taught them how to read and fight in close quarters, and also taught them how to track, spy, deceive and escape pursuit. He called them intelligence agents, and they would follow him and Miss Zheng to do some interesting things in the future.
Among the trackers, Digu said he was more knowledgeable than he was a spy, but everyone was happy to do so. The identity of a spy, in their view, means getting rid of the miserable life of the grassroots and working as a follower for the powerful.
Of course Mu Zaohua also wanted to perform well, not only to stay and take care of the job, but also to gain Wu Bondang's recognition.
When Mr. Wu asked the intelligence agents to act out the scene of a shipwreck to promote the reputation of the insurance company, Mu Zaohua didn't get her turn and felt uncomfortable for a while.
This time, Mr. Wu finally assigned her a job, and she was determined to get it.
Mu Zaohua has experienced running away from home, cannibalism, and competing for fiber-stretching territory. At the age of eighteen, she has two strong arms and is not afraid of men like Zhou Hu, who are neither tall nor strong.
She followed Zhou Hu into the room under the unconcerned gaze of a night guard at the inn.
When Zhou Hu tore off her coat and was about to press her on the couch, Mu Zaohua suddenly stretched out her right arm and punched Zhou Hu on the chest. Then she jumped up, turned over, and punched Zhou Hu on the chest. Knees restrained the back of Zhou Hu's neck, making his entire face suffocate in the quilt, and his screams were silenced.
Mu Zaohua took out a hemp rope from her arms, tied Zhou Hu's hands, took out a piece of cloth and stuffed his mouth, then got off the bed and went to turn over his robe.
There were only two large pieces of silver left over from gambling in the bag, and no paper.
Following Mr. Wu's instructions, Mu Zaohua began to search for Zhou Hu's luggage in the house.
She finally found the complicated banknotes that Mr. Wu had taught them to recognize.
Two hundred taels, eighty taels.
Mu Zaohua chuckled and turned Zhou Hu over: "Your boat of medicinal materials was worth three hundred taels. How could you drop dozens of packages and get almost three hundred taels of silver?"
Zhou Hu said "woo woo" and his eyes were horrified.
Mu Zaohua took out a piece of paper with a few lines of ink written on it.
She didn't know much about reading, and the paper was read to her by Mr. Wu. The content was very simple, and it was Zhou Hu's tone of voice admitting to cheating on the insurance company.
Mu Zaohua took out the rouge box, took Zhou Hu's finger, and put her fingerprints on the paper.
Then he said calmly: "Our boss asked, did the boss of the ship teach you to do evil? Our boss will always do business in Zhenjiang from now on, and we must severely punish the boss of the ship who encouraged the cargo owners to cheat money, so we have to ask the magistrate to punish him severely. If you can testify Their punishment will definitely be much lighter."
Zhou Hu's face was full of panic. He was stunned for a moment and nodded desperately.
Seeing his cowardly look, Mu Zaohua couldn't help but think of Mr. Wu's words: "This kind of person is not a ruthless character. In fact, Miss Zheng can also detain him in the trading company for questioning, but in that case, you will have one less time to follow and set up a trap." , an exercise in intimidation.”
