CHAPTER 317: CHAPTER 300: PROFIT SHARING

Zheng Yuanfeng saw Yu Xiaolian pouting and staring at him, and he felt a bit guilty.

The two recipe books Yu Xiaolian provided indeed helped him earn quite a bit of money, but the more he earned, the more he spent.

Just opening stores along the way cost him a few hundred thousand taels.

That’s why he came up with a trick to fool Yu Xiaolian.

Not entirely fooling, the silver notes are genuine, and you can withdraw money with them, but only one note can be taken at a time, and only once a month.

No choice, withdrawing too much would overwhelm the Money Shop in Zheng City.

As for the ones in his hands, he still had a use for them.

Anyhow, seeing Yu Xiaolian looking so cheerful, she didn’t seem to lack money, so he thought of temporarily borrowing her money for circulation.

This is called borrowing a chicken to lay eggs, Zheng Yuanfeng thought.

After learning about the special function of this special silver note, Yu Xiaolian gave Zheng Yuanfeng a glare, "I’m short of literate shopkeepers here, where can I find someone to lend to you?"

As she spoke, she kept the silver note safe, thinking that since Sun Manjin and the others go to Zheng City every half month, she’d have them exchange it for silver.

It’s not that she didn’t trust Zheng Yuanfeng, but she knew that during the turmoil among the Princes, the Money Shops in various towns stopped mutual savings and exchanges.

So, now Yu Xiaolian only kept a small portion of the silver notes, most of them were exchanged for gold and silver ingots.

That day at the gambling house, she only bet three thousand taels because she only had three thousand taels in silver notes, the rest were heavy silver ingots, which she didn’t want to take out in front of Sun Mancang, plus those things were bulky and bothersome to move around, which Yu Xiaolian was unwilling to do.

"Dear sister, when I started from Linzhou, I brought about twenty people, but by the time I reached Luocheng, I was left as a one-man army. Without soldiers or weapons, how can I possibly fight?

Don’t you want to continue sharing the profits?" Zheng Yuanfeng started poking at Yu Xiaolian’s weak spot.

Yu Xiaolian’s weak spot = money.

Yu Xiaolian smacked her lips, "I really don’t have anyone to use by my side, I’m using relatives from my mom’s side of the family, the older ones are illiterate, and I’m still training the young ones."

Among the adult men, only two can read—Sun Manjin and Sun Manyin.

However, she still needed these two!

Zheng Yuanfeng mercilessly mocked Yu Xiaolian, "You’re cultivating some really close confidants, they’re all relatives?"

Yu Xiaolian rolled her eyes at Zheng Yuanfeng, "Supporting others is the same as supporting my relatives, they’re very poor. If I don’t help them, when will they ever make it?

Besides, my workshop and the like have secret recipes, I can’t trust outsiders."

Zheng Yuanfeng tried to persuade Yu Xiaolian with some old-fashioned ideas, "You’re being too cautious, what if your relatives desert you, wouldn’t you be left with no one?

Or do you have their indenture contracts?"

Yu Xiaolian shook her head, "I don’t have indenture contracts, but I trust them, they won’t betray me."

Zheng Yuanfeng sighed helplessly, "Relatives are often the least trustworthy, I’d rather believe in indenture contracts.

If someone dares to have a different mind, I’d beat them to death with a club.

And if a relative makes a mistake, what can you do? You can’t beat or scold them, and if they make a mistake, you have to forgive them unconditionally, how frustrating!"

Yu Xiaolian fell silent.

She thought there was some truth to Zheng Yuanfeng’s words.

"So, dear brother, what should I do?" Yu Xiaolian asked.

Zheng Yuanfeng chuckled, "I didn’t mean anything, since you don’t even have anyone to lend me, I have no opinion."

Yu Xiaolian rolled her eyes at Zheng Yuanfeng again, "What do you need to borrow someone for?"

Zheng Yuanfeng replied, "I’ve leased two shops in the west of the city, one for a Money Shop and the other for a pawnshop.

But I currently have no one available, it seems unlikely they’ll open in the first year.

Do you really have no one to lend me?"

She had initially thought Zheng Yuanfeng was opening a restaurant or a teahouse, in which case it would be possible to send Sun Manyin to help out.

When Yu Xiaolian heard Zheng Yuanfeng wanted to open a Money Shop and pawnshop, she immediately shook her head like a rattle.

These two shops both involved money and required daily handling of money, sometimes even large sums, and she didn’t have anyone trustworthy.

If she misjudged, wouldn’t she be screwing over Zheng Yuanfeng?

She would also lose credibility with Zheng Yuanfeng.

"Dear brother, are you teasing me? You’re opening a Money Shop and pawnshop, of course, you should use your own people!" Yu Xiaolian rolled her eyes at Zheng Yuanfeng for a third time.

Zheng Yuanfeng sighed, "I knew I couldn’t rely on you, never mind, I’ll write to my cousin and have him send someone over."

"Where’s Yuanye now?" Yu Xiaolian’s eyes lit up.

Zheng Yuanye’s martial arts skills were outstanding, and he once single-handedly defeated the powerful Pan Family thugs, an incident Yu Xiaolian remembered vividly.

Zheng Yuanfeng smiled, "Cousin returned to the Capital last spring, and is now the Vice Commander of the Forbidden Army."

Yu Xiaolian was dumbfounded. Wasn’t Zheng Yuanye the shopkeeper of Zuixiang Building? How did he suddenly become the Vice Commander of the Forbidden Army?

Zheng Yuanfeng noticed Yu Xiaolian’s shock and explained, "The Pan Family was arrogant and powerful then, and that’s why my cousin came over to assist me."

Then his cousin, along with his good buddy Fu Qing, completely wiped the Pan Family off the face of the earth.

Yu Xiaolian frowned, feeling that Zheng Yuanfeng never told the truth, being honest and trustworthy wasn’t his strong suit, unlike Zheng Yuanye.

In fact, she had learned about Zheng Langzhong being a former Imperial Physician from Zheng Yuanye, as Zheng Yuanfeng, despite his talkativeness, never spoke a word of something he shouldn’t.

"Tsk tsk..." Yu Xiaolian praised with her mouth, but in her heart, she was constantly grumbling.

Zheng Yuanfeng appeared gentle and harmless, but he was full of nonsense, never telling the truth.

Now Yu Xiaolian was seriously worried about her thirty-eight thousand taels. This person had money to open a pawnshop and a Money Shop but arranged for her to receive installment payments, the more Yu Xiaolian thought about it, the more frustrated she became.

She was initially considering inviting him for a meal, but now, it seemed unnecessary, she feared that during the meal, she might not resist the urge to punch him.

When she gave him the two recipe books, they had agreed on a seventy-thirty split of the restaurant’s income, now Zheng Yuanfeng’s misappropriation of funds was infringing on her interests, humph!

But on second thought, they neither funded nor put effort into Zuixiang Building, they only contributed two recipe books without much worry, yet they earned over thirty thousand taels in two years, where could one find such a good deal?

Yu Xiaolian comforted herself with this thought and let it go.

Even though Yu Xiaolian didn’t plan to arrange a meal for Zheng Yuanfeng, it didn’t mean Zheng Yuanfeng didn’t intend to freeload a meal, after chatting for a while, Zheng Yuanfeng mentioned he hadn’t eaten lunch after working all morning, and he was hungry!

Yu Xiaolian sighed helplessly, "Come over to my house later to eat then!"

Zheng Yuanfeng chuckled, "I want to eat hot pot."

Ever since Yu Xiaolian left Yangcheng, the hot pot business at Zuixiang Building had declined significantly, as they lacked chili peppers and spicy hot pot base, which only a small portion of people liked, while most preferred to order spicy hot pots.