CHAPTER 772: CHAPTER 772: A NEW VENTURE

"The reason sounds reasonable, but:" you can have Grandpa Qin hide it for you."

Qin San Lang said, "When grandpa was young, he didn’t care much about these things. Now that he’s old, he has to teach Qiu Lang and Feng Jin skills, as well as manage the blacksmithing. To have him manage these assets for me would be too hard on him."

After listening, Gu Jinli felt that if she continued to have Elder Qin help Qin San Lang manage these assets, she would be disrespectful to the elderly and become an evil person.

She, illuminated by the torch, looked at the various land deeds and silver notes inside: "If you let me hide it, what will you do when you need money?"

Qin San Lang laughed: "I can come back and ask Xiao Yu for it."

His tone was very natural, as if she always managed his money and he often asked her for silver to spend.

Gu Jinli looked up, saw Qin San Lang’s smiling face, and squinted her eyes to ask: "Are you trying to trick me?"

Trick?

Qin San Lang tilted his head, indicating he didn’t understand: "I just want to have you hide the money I’ve earned."

Hearing this made Gu Jinli’s face a bit hot.

"Alright then, I’ll help you hide it first. If you need money, just ask me for it." Gu Jinli took the box, looked at the silver notes inside, and exclaimed, "How are you so rich?"

There were at least a hundred 100-tael silver notes inside, along with more than a dozen land deeds for manors and shops, quite a lot indeed.

"I never realized, you’re actually quite wealthy." Gu Jinli frowned and asked, "You’re buying manors and shops, supporting You An and a bunch of others, and the annual expenses must be substantial. On Danian’s Day, you even gave the Luo Family 5000 taels of silver to invest in the escort agency. According to your family’s share of the profits, you shouldn’t have so much money."

Gu Jinli grabbed his clothes with one hand and demanded: "Tell me honestly, do you have some other business going on outside?"

There must be, otherwise how could Qin San Lang have saved so much money?

Qin San Lang didn’t deny it, "You An and the others take some private jobs on the side, to practice and earn money. When merchants pass by here, I occasionally invest in their ventures, letting them sell goods. It’s a business where buying and selling goods from the north and south can make a lot of profit."

He then mentioned another significant venture: "Do you know where the Huai River flows to?"

Gu Jinli replied, "Into the East Sea."

Qin San Lang nodded, "Yes, exactly the East Sea. And the sea water from the East Sea will flow back, so there are places in the Huai River where pearl oysters can be found. Many families who are struggling and are good swimmers will risk diving down to search for pearls."

"In the early years when I purchased You An and others, through their descriptions, I learned of a village where the villagers would go pearl diving. However, they didn’t have good boats, and many people would drown halfway. Even if they found pearl oysters, due to the heavy storms, their small boats couldn’t withstand, and in the end, both people and pearl oysters would end up in the water."

"After knowing this, I saw it as a good business opportunity, so I bought them two better boats and would send those skilled in martial arts, including You An and others, to accompany them on their trips, making a deal with them to split the pearls found fifty-fifty."

Gu Jinli was astonished: "You’re doing this kind of business? How did you come up with this idea?"

Qin San Lang smiled, "My maternal grandmother likes pearls, so I specifically asked others about pearl diving. My mother, having often heard about it from her, would occasionally mention the water town folks diving for pearl oysters and extracting pearls."

"So that’s it, pearl diving indeed makes quite a profit. If you find a good pearl, it could solve financial worries for a lifetime." Gu Jinli was quite envious, wondering why she hadn’t thought of this business herself.

Hmm, it must be because she loves silver more than pearls.

Qin San Lang laughed, indeed this business allowed him to earn quite a lot of silver, but he still felt the silver was not enough; knowing how much Xiao Yu loved money, he needed to earn more to support her.

He asked again, "Does Xiao Yu like pearls?"

Gu Jinli honestly replied, "I like rubies, they are valuable."

So, she likes rubies, alright, he got it.

Gu Jinli instructed him, "Be careful with your pearl hunting, make sure the government doesn’t find out."

Pearls are very valuable, if the government found out that he bought a boat and partnered with others to hunt for pearls, he would be doomed.

Qin San Lang nodded, "Mhm, don’t worry, You An and the others are very cautious, and the village’s location is very concealed, ordinary people wouldn’t go there."

After listening, Gu Jinli felt relieved and asked, "Do you have to leave before dawn tomorrow? Can’t you stay for a few more days?"

She came out to meet him tonight because he was going to the Military Office tomorrow.

Being a soldier is really troublesome, one can’t even properly celebrate the New Year.

Hearing her words, Qin San Lang knew she was reluctant to let him go, and feeling warmth in his heart, he said to her, "If I go and get busy early now, I’ll be able to come back and celebrate the Lantern Festival with you all."

He also needed to sort out the matters of the past three months early, so he could come back for her birthday.

This year was her coming of age, her fifteenth birthday, and he would accompany her no matter what.

Gu Jinli said, "Then I’ll wake up early tomorrow morning to send you off and prepare some delicious food for you."

Qin San Lang was very happy, although she had already come out to see him tonight, he would be even happier if she could come to send him off; but he said, "That would be too hard on you."

Gu Jinli waved her hand, smiling casually, "What’s hard about it? It’s just waking up two hours earlier. After sending you off, I can go back to sleep."

Qin San Lang nodded, it seemed like she had always been accommodating to him... Xiao Yu was so good to him!

Qin San Lang was very moved, looking at the young girl in front of him, he really wanted to hug her, but just as he moved closer, she had already packed up the box, saying, "It’s getting late, I’m going back to sleep."

After speaking, she jumped onto her family’s wall with the box in her arms, standing on the wall she asked him, "I made it up in one go this time, impressive, right?"

This was in reference to the last time when she was dressed too heavily and couldn’t jump up the wall at once.

Qin San Lang looked at his arm stretched halfway, feeling a bit regretful but smiled at her, saying, "Mhm, Xiao Yu is very impressive."

"Hey," Gu Jinli laughed joyfully, waving at him, and with a thud, she jumped from the wall into the courtyard and left.

But the sound of her footsteps only lasted a moment before stopping; Qin San Lang felt a bit worried and listened closely, hearing Brother Cheng’s voice, "Second Sister, you finally came back. If you hadn’t come back, eldest brother would have gotten angry. Big brother says, why can’t those who grow cabbage be more conscious and always go towards other people’s pigs? It’s very hard for him to look after the vegetable field, and it’s hard for me too."

The first day of Danian was the nineteenth birthday of the eldest brother and sister. On the evening of the first day, Brother Luo Wu also came to see elder sister. Usually, elder sister wouldn’t appear, but this time she did and even accepted the gift from Brother Luo Wu, returning home happily.

And he and the eldest brother, fearing elder sister would suffer a loss, quietly followed and endured the cold wind below their own wall for 30 minutes before returning.