Li Changan didn't just want to open a tea shop out of curiosity. She had carefully analyzed and investigated it.
Thanks to his family background, Li Changan was able to find the best batch of tea today in Concubine Wu Hui's palace. It tasted very weird. Without salt and pepper, it tasted like gnawing grass. With salt and pepper, it tasted like grass. Pepper-flavored grass paste.
She also specifically asked Concubine Wu Hui what was good about drinking tea. Concubine Wu Hui told her that it refreshed her mind and she felt refreshed after eating it. Then she asked Concubine Wu Hui that tea was so good and why she didn’t like tea. Concubine Wu Hui said to her that children should be left alone. many.
Li Changan understood that tea is a symbol of status, because the best things in the world must be in the palace, so even if the emperor and his concubines do not like tea, the best tea in the world must be in the palace. This is A status symbol.
This means that there is still a blank space in the high-end market for tea.
Looking at the production side, the current tea soup method is to mash the tea leaves and then sift. The sifted tea powder can be poured into the furnace to make tea. It is as thick as porridge. It is called "tea soup" because you will be full after eating one bowl. "Eating tea", three pounds of tea leaves can produce one pound of tea soup.
There is a lot of room for improvement on the production side, but there is a gap in the market on the consumer side. Her current status makes it easy to access the high-end market. Tea is still a hugely profitable industry in Datang.
Li Changan analyzed it carefully and felt that selling tea was like money falling from the sky. As long as she grasped the core production technology, she could earn the first pot of gold to develop her power.
"Teacher, don't worry. I'll give you a technical shareholding. How about 20% of the shares? It's not that I can't bear to give you more. The main reason is that I have to give some of the remaining shares to Li Longji and Wu Huifei. I also have to buy a shop and hire people. This We will definitely expand our operations in a few years, and there will be plenty of places to spend money." Li Changan explained to Shen Chu in a ramble.
Shen Chu glanced at Li Changan and snorted: "You don't have to leave me any shares."
"well?"
The charcoal basin had been burning for half an hour, and the room in the study had become warm. Shen Chu pulled the charcoal basin with the tongs a few times and spoke softly.
"I don't love money."
Li Changan subconsciously wanted to think about how there could be people in the world who didn't love money, but her eyes fell on Shen Chu's coarse cloth robe with the cuffs turned white, and she watched him pulling at the old charcoal basin that was obviously old. The white smoke coming out of the low-quality charcoal carried a strong smell of dust, which all revealed Shen Chu's poor situation, and his mood suddenly became complicated.
Shen Chu likes to drink tea, and the tea he drinks is ordinary tea leaves fried by himself. He likes to drink, and the wine he drinks is fruit wine and rice wine brewed by himself.
Even seeking an official position is just a means to him, not an end. When he was an official, he just felt that the people of Tang Dynasty were pitiful. He wanted to do something, so he needed to become an official with real power.
How strange that there is such a person in this world, and that her teacher is such a person.
Shen Chu ignored Li Changan's strange look. He just chuckled: "What use can the money do in my hands? You have promised me that I can get money from you at any time when I need it. This is enough for me. No matter how much money is piled up in the warehouse, it will only attract people's attention. It would be better for you to use it to do something more useful."
He felt that he was still self-aware. He couldn't make or spend money beyond what he knew. He should leave the mundane matters of making and spending money to Li Chang'an. She was good at these.
"You'd better not just say nice things. If you want to make money, make it quickly." Shen Chu stretched out his finger and gave Li Changan a brain-shattering blow before speaking politely.
"Jade-faced Mengchang will go to the streets tomorrow to find out which heroes are in dire straits and need my help. If I can't come up with the money then, I will make all the heroes laugh."
Hearing this, Li Changan raised his head proudly, took off the embroidered bag hanging from his waist, opened his mouth, and dumped the contents on the table.
I saw golden nuggets spread on the table, at least twenty taels of gold.
He reached out and divided the small pile of gold into two small piles. Li Changan pushed one of the piles in front of Shen Chu.
"These ten taels of gold are the practical funds I approved for the teacher. I plan to use the other money to buy a shop in the East Market to sell tea."
Money usually weighs six pounds and four taels, so it is obviously unrealistic to carry a large amount of copper coins with you. Although Kaiyuan Tongbao and silk are now the most circulated currencies in the Tang Dynasty, gold is valuable in any dynasty. According to today's market, One tael of gold can be exchanged for eight thousand coins, which is eight strings, and ten taels of gold can be exchanged for eighty strings, or eighty thousand coins.
Now in the prosperous age of Kaiyuan, a bucket of rice costs only thirteen cash, and eighty thousand yuan is enough for Shen Chu to help the poor people for a period of time.
I just don’t know if she will have enough money to buy a few acres of tea trees after buying the shop. The current climate is humid and warm, and tea trees are also grown near Chang'an. However, the quality is not as good as that in the south, but it is enough for making ordinary tea. The Tang Dynasty people's love for drinking tea was originally sparked by monks. Temples in Chang'an, large and small, all have special fields for planting tea trees. She should be able to buy a few acres if she goes around.
After the first batch of tea leaves is sold, she can afford to hire people to open a tea factory in the Jiangnan area to make tea. After all, the transportation conditions at this time are not good, and fresh tea leaves cannot be transported to Chang'an. They must go to the origin of the raw materials. To make tea, the fresh tea leaves were made into dried and stored tea leaves before being transported to Chang'an, the most prosperous commercial center of the Tang Dynasty, for sale.
Li Changan said goodbye to Shen Chu and planned to visit her pastry shop before returning to the palace. It was already mid-December and the Chinese New Year was approaching, so she couldn't stay outside the palace for too long.
When he reached the courtyard gate, Shen Chu suddenly called out to Li Changan.
He took out a red envelope from his arms and handed it to Li Changan. He hesitated for a moment before squeezing out three words through his teeth.
"New Year's money."
Li Changan stupidly accepted the red envelope. The red envelope was not too heavy. After all, Shen Chu was a poor scholar who couldn't even afford a new sheepskin coat.
But this is lucky money! This is the first time she has received lucky money from her elders since she was five years old!
Shen Chu lowered his head and glanced at Li Changan, then quickly looked away: "In the Tang Dynasty, there was no custom of giving lucky money to children. It was not until the Song Dynasty that there was a custom of giving lucky money to children."
It seemed like he was explaining why he gave Li Changan lucky money, or he was simply giving her popular science and history knowledge.
Li Changan was moved to tears and hugged Shen Chu's waist.
"Teacher, I will definitely flatter my father and pave a bright future for you! I will definitely let you become the imperial censor in five years and the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty in seven years!"
Shen Chu:......
Not really.
But before Shen Chu could say anything more, Li Changan had already turned around and climbed onto the carriage. Looking at the carriage gradually going away, the expression on Shen Chu's face became more and more sad.
If this trend continues, will he be arranged by Li Changan to go from despising Yang Guozhong to becoming Yang Guozhong?
Li Changan is very mobile. After returning to Changqing Hall, she quickly picked up a pen and paper and wrote a plan to find Concubine Wu Hui.
At the end of the year, there were many people in the Changqing Hall. Besides her, there was another small group of people in the main hall where Concubine Wu Hui was, including men and women. Most of them were holding thin books and waiting for Concubine Wu Hui to ask.
Concubine Wu Hui was looking through an account book. At the end of the year, she would also have to calculate her income this year.
However, compared to Li Changan's single income, Wu Huifei's income composition is much more complicated. Concubine Wu Hui would be busy for a while just counting the salary of the palace concubine, the farms and land in her hands, the profits of various shops, and the filial piety of her officials.
Fortunately, Concubine Wu Hui had been doing these things for many years and was very skilled, so she was not in a hurry. She just looked through the booklet slowly and slowly. Occasionally, if she felt something was wrong, she would ask her attendants to take careful notes with an abacus and pen and paper. Next, if there is something unclear, just ask the people waiting in the hall directly.
After just watching for a whole day, Concubine Wu Hui could not help but look tired. When she raised her head, she saw Li Changan who was peering in at the palace door. She simply put down the book in her hand and waved these people to go back today and tomorrow. Continue again.
After everyone inside and outside the palace bowed and left, Concubine Wu Hui waved to Li Changan to come over.
"What are you doing poking around there?"
Li Changan walked to Concubine Wu Hui in three steps at a time, but instead of throwing himself into Concubine Wu Hui's arms as usual, he stood solemnly in front of Concubine Wu Hui.
"Auntie, I have a great idea to make money." Li Changan tried to make himself look more reliable.
It's a pity that no matter what a five-year-old child does, she can't make a thirty-nine-year-old adult think she is reliable.
Concubine Wu Hui covered her mouth and chuckled twice from between her fingers. She was obviously amused by Li Changan's appearance as a little adult.
"I'm very serious." Li Changan put several plans he had written into Wu Huifei's hands.
"Now is not the time for the tea trees to sprout, so I can't bring out the finished product for my mother to taste for the time being. But when the tea trees sprout in February next year, I can find someone to fry and knead the tea leaves. Then my mother will have a new version of tea." How delicious it tastes. By then everyone in the Tang Dynasty will buy our tea, and we will have endless money to spend!"
To attract investment, you must brag about the prospects. Don’t worry about how likely it is to be realized. Only by bragging about the good prospects can investors be willing to invest.
After listening to Li Changan's boasting, Concubine Wu Hui became a little interested in her "earth-shaking" big deal. She picked up the plan that Li Changan gave her.
"This character..." Concubine Wu Hui looked at the ink characters of different sizes. A closer look showed that the writing was not irregular. The characters with more strokes were larger, and the characters with fewer strokes were smaller. When they were picked out individually, they were horizontal and vertical. Straight, but no character at all, just writing the words correctly.
"If taught by a famous teacher, An Niang's calligraphy will definitely improve greatly." Naturally, Concubine Wu Hui would not speak as straightforwardly as Shen Chu.
She knows the art of speaking.
People with high emotional intelligence will say that they will definitely make great progress, while people with low emotional intelligence will say that the writing is really ugly.
"Are you going to find me a teacher?" Li Changan climbed up the pole. She also felt that she should really practice calligraphy. Now at the age of five, her handwriting is as good as a dog's gnawing. In a few years it will be unreasonable for her to still be so ugly when writing.
Concubine Wu Hui smiled: "You are only five years old. Don't worry about literacy. It's pretty good to be able to recognize all the characters at this age... But if you really like it, it's not a bad idea to learn it in advance. After the New Year, I will give it to you from the Hongwen Museum. Just find a teacher to teach you."
Hongwen Hall can be regarded as the Royal Academy of the Tang Dynasty, and most of the royal family's children will study here. Even though the student atmosphere has not been very good in the past few years, and the students there are all the children of the royal family or top dignitaries, the teachers teaching in Hongwen Hall dare not take care of it, so in the past few years, Li Longji ordered that the students in Hongwen Hall must also follow the Imperial College student regulations. Examination, but because almost no Hongwenguan students need to take the imperial examination, the number of scriptures is reduced by half.
It's just that according to convention, the children who study in Hongwen Hall are all fourteen years old and above. Li Changan's five-year-old age is really too young. Therefore, Concubine Wu Hui only planned to choose a calligrapher with better calligraphy and let him teach Li Changan for a period of time. She did not plan to let Li Changan enroll in school now.
Let’s put this aside in advance and wait until after the new year.
Concubine Wu Hui looked through the plan Li Changan gave her. At first she just flipped through it, but later she became fascinated. Although she couldn't understand some words, she could guess them based on the context.
"You have a good idea." Wu Huifei finished reading the plan and looked up at Li Changan, who was nervously pinching the corners of his sleeves. "It's just that I haven't seen the new tea you mentioned, and I don't know if it is as good as you said. It’s a hundred times more delicious than tea soup.”
"But since it only requires fifty pounds, it doesn't hurt to invest it once." Concubine Wu Hui didn't care much about whether the business could succeed. She was happy that Li Changan could write such a clear plan by himself.
Could it be that after giving birth to several ignorant and stupid children, she was finally going to have a daughter as smart as herself?
