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This hot weather will last for another month at most, and then it will gradually cool down. At that time, people's demand for cooling off will not be so strong.

If you want to make money, you have to do it early.

However, no matter how anxious Lin Xiu was, things had to be resolved one by one.

The first thing is to choose a location. The place to sell ice must be near the mansions of those high-ranking officials.

And those people who live on the line of food and clothing, no matter how hot it is, they will not spend money on it.

Secondly, he can't make ice out of thin air like Lingyin, so he needs to choose a place where water is convenient, preferably a mansion with a well...

This idea just flashed in Lin Xiu's mind, and he completely denied it.

The mansions there are all owned by the owner, and the owner's status is noble and respected, so it is impossible to rent it to himself. Even if there are unowned mansions that are vacant, the rent cannot be paid by himself.

Lin Xiu found sadly that even though he already had a way to make money, he couldn't implement it temporarily due to lack of start-up funds.

There is no time to miss this opportunity. At present, it can be said that he has monopolized the ice-making industry by himself. Every day this plan is delayed, his losses will be huge. To the rows of shops on both sides of the street.

This is the living area of ​​the nobles and dignitaries of the royal capital. There are row upon row of shops along the street, brothels, music halls, restaurants and tea shops, and the decoration is extremely gorgeous, and the consumption inside is even more expensive. It is a famous gold-selling cave in the capital.

No matter how much money you have in your pocket, you can spend it all if you walk around this street.

Lin Xiu swept her eyes and walked towards a restaurant.

……

Picking the moon building.

As one of the most famous restaurants in the capital, the Yueyue Tower's business has always been very good, even the dignitaries in the court often patronize here, or in other words, the customers that the Yueyue Tower faces are the dignitaries of the capital.

Ordinary people don't even know where the gate of the Yueyue Tower opens, and even some small dignitaries can't afford to spend here.

But today, it was lunch time, and there was not a single guest in the Yueyue Tower, which was usually full of guests.

Heat was pouring in from all directions, and the waiters in the restaurant lay weakly on the table, their clothes were already wet with sweat, and their voices seemed very weak.

"Hey, when is the weather going to end?"

"It's been half an hour, and there's not a single guest."

"The ice mirror is empty, the building is like a steamer, which guest is willing to sit here and suffer?"

……

While several servants were discussing in low voices, two figures came in from outside.

The person walking in front was a handsome young man, and a strong man followed behind him, who should be his guard.

One of the attendants forced himself to stand up, with a smile on his face, and asked, "What would you like to eat?"

Lin Xiu said straight to the point: "I'm not here to eat, I'm looking for your shopkeeper."

If someone else came to the restaurant and didn't eat, the already upset attendant might have sent him away, but the young man in front of him had an extraordinary bearing, and his clothes were expensive, he looked like an ordinary civilian.

The waiter patiently walked to the back and invited the shopkeeper out.

The shopkeeper of Zhaiyuelou is a middle-aged man, not tall, with a slightly fat body. He came in from behind with some reluctance, cupped his hands at Lin Xiu, and asked, "I don't know your surname, come to Zhaiyuelou What's up?"

Lin Xiu was too lazy to talk nonsense with him, and slowly stretched out her palm, and a layer of ice spread from his palm.

As the ice layer appeared, the surrounding temperature dropped a little bit.

The sudden coolness made the shopkeeper of Zayuelou tremble, and then his mung bean-like eyes lit up, as if he was afraid that Lin Xiu would run away, he grabbed his hand suddenly, and said excitedly: "Young Master, Lou Let's talk!"

On the second floor of the Yueyue Tower, in an accordion.

After ordering the waiter to serve tea, the shopkeeper of Zhaiyuelou looked at Lin Xiu with burning eyes and asked, "Your master's strange art, is it ice..."

Lin Xiu didn't speak, but just picked up the teacup. The hot steam in the cup quickly turned into a cold air. He took a sip of the iced tea, looked at the shopkeeper of Zhaiyuelou, and said, "I won't talk nonsense. , I would like to borrow a well in your place for use, as for the cost, it is ten taels of silver a day."

The shopkeeper of Jieyue Building narrowed his eyes, and immediately understood what he meant. His eyes flashed, he leaned back, and said with a smile: "It seems that the young master also knows that the weather is hot these days, and the ice source in the capital is in short supply. There is a price but no market, with the young master's ability, it is not difficult to make a lot of money every day, and the price of twelve taels a day may be a bit low."

Lin Xiu raised her eyebrows and asked, "Then how appropriate do you think it is?"

Ten taels of silver is enough for a family of five to live comfortably for a year, and they can still eat meat every few days. His salary for a month in the Qing Dynasty is only eight taels. Is this Caiyue Tower so rich and powerful?

The shopkeeper of Zhaiyuelou smiled slightly and said, "At least 50 taels."

"make a deal!"

Lin Xiu patted the table and said: "As expected of the Moon Tower, you are generous in your actions. Since the shopkeeper is so sincere, I don't need to go to other places."

The shopkeeper of Zhaiyuelou froze for a moment, then frowned, and said, "Young Master, what you mean is that the 50 taels were given to you by Zhaiyuelou?"

Lin Xiu asked back: "Otherwise?"

The shopkeeper of Zhaiyuelou's eyes flashed indistinctly, and then he said with a smile: "My lord, are you joking? If you want to borrow the well from my Zhaiyuelou, do you want us to give you money?"

Lin Xiu didn't even look at him, she just stood up, and said lightly: "Since the shopkeeper is not sincere, then forget it, I think the Piaoxiang Building opposite may be more sincere than you."

Seeing that Lin Xiu was really about to leave, the shopkeeper of Zayuelou hurriedly got up to persuade him to stay: "My lord, stay here, stay here!"

According to a normal person's thinking, if this person borrowed the water well of the Yueyue Building, he should pay the money to the Yueyue Building. The moon-chasing building provided ice, and the profit the moon-chasing building got from it was 5000 taels, 5 taels of silver.

The ice storage in the major ice storages in the capital is running out. I am afraid that only the palace has any ice left. If this person is left behind, the Yueyue Tower is the only restaurant in the capital that can supply ice. At that time, will there be no business?

The shopkeeper just wanted to play dumb, thinking that this young man couldn't understand the pros and cons, but he didn't expect that he was the one who was naive. At this special time, if he pushed this person to his opponent, he would die.

The shopkeeper grabbed Lin Xiu's arm and said, "Ten taels of silver, ten taels of silver, as long as you can supply ice for the Moon-chasing Tower, the Moon-chasing Tower will give you ten taels of silver every day!"

Lin Xiu looked at him with a smile, and said: "The weather is hot these days, and ice sources in the capital are in short supply, and there is no market for the price. With my ability, it is not difficult to make money every day. The price of twelve taels a day may be a bit low. "

He just returned the shopkeeper's words to him intact.

The shopkeeper of Jieyuelou stared blankly at Lin Xiu, wishing he could slap himself twice. Why did he say those two extra words just now?

With a mournful face, he asked, "How much does the Young Master think is appropriate?"

Lin Xiudao: "50 taels."

The shopkeeper looked at him and said sadly, "Master, you are stealing money!"

Lin Xiu was not moved at all, and said, "If the shopkeeper thinks it's too expensive, I'll ask elsewhere."

"Need not!"

The shopkeeper of Zhaiyuelou gritted his teeth and said, "50 taels is 50 taels, but you have to promise me one condition, except that I can't supply ice to other places!"

50 taels, although he is also very heartbroken, but the value that this young man can create for Zayuelou is ten times, a hundred times or even a thousand times that of 50 taels, and he can still calculate this account.

Lin Xiu looked at him and said, "In this case, the price may be higher..."

The shopkeeper of Jieyuelou said: "I am willing to pay five times the market price!"

Lin Xiu smiled slightly, nodded and said, "Happy cooperation..."

Chapter 17

Picking the Moon Tower, the backyard.

The Yueyue Building is located in the center of the capital, covering a very large area. In addition to the main building facing the street, there are gardens, rockeries, ponds, pavilions, and some individual small pavilions behind it.

Lin Xiu stood in front of a well, several barrels of well water were placed under her feet, and the waiters from the Moon-chasing Building kept bringing water up.

Because the weather was too hot, under the sun, the well water soon lost its coolness.

Lin Xiu washed her hands, and then put her palms on the water in the bucket.

After bursts of cold air emanated from the barrel, the water surface began to freeze rapidly.

Soon, the whole bucket of well water was frozen into one piece.

The shopkeeper of Jieyue Tower watched this scene, and couldn't suppress the excitement in his heart.

This summer is extremely hot. It is not an exaggeration to say that ice is more expensive than gold. The ice cubes used to cool off the heat are expensive and hard to find. As long as this person is kept, one can imagine their business in the next period of time what will happen.

For Zhaiyuelou, this is not just a matter of profit.

When other restaurants are like steaming baskets, Moon Picking Tower is the only summer resort. It can please those noble people, and it will be of great benefit to Moon Picking Tower in the future.

Compared with these, a few tens of hundreds of taels of silver are nothing.

Lin Xiu froze several buckets of water one after another, then sat aside to rest, waiting for the power to recover. Although it is much easier to directly freeze the water, but the more times, it is not a small consumption.

It's not that he has never thought of using other ideas, such as using the principle that saltpeter dissolves in water to absorb heat, but first of all, this method of ice-making is not efficient, the output is extremely low, and it is easy to be imitated by others, directly using the ability, not only It is more convenient and efficient.

And this method, except for Lingyin, no one wants to copy it.

At this time, a waiter from the Yueyue Building had already chiseled out the ice cubes in the bucket and put them in the ice mirror.

Bingjian is a cooling tool for rich people in Wangdu. It is a square object similar in shape to a tripod. There are small holes on the four sides and the bottom. Just put ice cubes in, and the cold air will escape from the holes. Room circulation.

In later generations, even in summer, ice is worthless.

But Daxia is the same as in ancient China. There is no summer ice-making technology here. All ice cubes are stored in ice cellars in winter. In summer, they have actually melted and consumed a lot. One piece is less than one piece, and the price Naturally, it is expensive. It is not too much to say that ice is as expensive as gold. The average family can't afford it, including the former Lin family.

Therefore, even if ice cubes were not in such a short supply in previous years, the price of a piece of ice cubes about the size of a bucket would generally be around one tael of silver, which would cost a family of five a month if they had meat for their meals.

For this bucket of ice, Lin Xiu sold the Yueyue Building for five taels of silver, which was five times the usual ice price, but Lin Xiu believed that the Yueyue Building would definitely not lose money, and would even earn more than him. Yuelou took advantage.

However, Lin Xiu didn't care about these things. There was endless money to be made. Directly cooperating with Zayuelou would save most of his troubles, and naturally he would also lose some benefits. He was already mentally prepared for this.

An hour later, Sun Dali walked out with Lin Xiu from the Moon Building with a wooden box in his arms.

Lin Xiu's face was pale, his footsteps were weak, and he looked like his body had been hollowed out. The truth was that his body had indeed been hollowed out. Although it would not take much energy to freeze a bucket of water, fifty buckets of water could be frozen within an hour. Now he can't squeeze out a drop of energy from his body.

But the gains are also huge.

In the box that Sun Dali was carrying, there were twelve silver ingots, a total of thirty.

In addition to the fixed 50 taels per day, Lin Xiu earned 300 taels of silver in one hour, which is like making a lot of money every day. With a little saving, it is enough for the family's expenses for several years.

This is the advantage of different magicians. Even if most capable people don't join the imperial court and use their own abilities, they can become rich and rich, and have no worries about food and clothing for a lifetime.

Sun Dali hugged the suitcase, and smirked as he walked: "300 taels of silver, if only I could do this every day..."

Lin Xiu shook her head. It is impossible to do this every day. The weather will turn cold soon. Such days will not last long, and the money will be lost every day. And this winter, the big Xia dignitaries who have suffered losses, as well as the royal capital The major stores in the country will definitely hoard ice in retaliation. By next summer, the price of ice will inevitably drop sharply. By then, it will not be so easy to make money through ice making.

When Lin Xiu and Sun Dali returned home, they happened to see A Yue walking outside with a brocade box in her arms. Lin Xiu asked, "Sister A Yue, where are you going?"

Ah Yue followed Mrs. Ping'an very early on, and she was a few years older than Lin Xiu. When she saw Lin Xiu, she stopped and said, "Mrs. asked me to pawn these things, and exchange some money for subsidies." Household."

Lin Xiu walked over, opened the brocade box and looked, and found some jewelry inside, including jade bracelets, gold hairpins, earrings and the like.

At this time, Mrs. Ping'an came out and said with a smile: "Xiu'er is back, it's hot outside, you should stay at home these few days, it's best not to go out."

Lin Xiu noticed that the jade bracelet on her hand was gone, and the golden hairpin on her head was also replaced by a wooden hairpin.

Lin Xiu said to Ah Yue: "Put these jewelry back first."

Zhou Yun stepped forward and said, "It's useless to keep these things. It's better to pawn them first to supplement the family."

Lin Xiu smiled and said, "Mother, don't worry about Yinzi, Dali..."

Sun Dali walked forward with a smile, and opened the box in his arms. Under the sun, the neatly arranged silver ingots made Zhou Yun a little dizzy in panic.

The silver was probably several hundred taels. She looked at Lin Xiu in shock and asked, "Xiuer, where did the silver come from? You can't do anything bad..."

Although the Lin family is in decline, they are still among the rich and powerful. The clerks of the Qing Dynasty are also officials in the court. If they want to get money, there are countless ways, but none of them is the right way.

Lin Xiu knew what she was worried about, and comforted her, "Mother, don't worry, I earned the money myself, if you don't believe me, ask Dali."

Sun Dali immediately said: "Madam, I testify that this is really earned by the young master!"

Zhou Yun didn't believe it for the first time, and said, "Don't collude to deceive me, what can Xiu'er do to earn so much money in such a short world?"

Lin Xiu had no choice but to explain in detail: "Mom, have you forgotten that I have awakened the ability of strange magic, the weather is so hot these days, it is hard to find ice in the capital, I just use my own ability, I helped the Yueyue Building make a lot of ice, this is the reward they gave me."

After finally convincing her, Zhou Yun looked at the rows of silver ingots in the box, and said in disbelief, "But, but this is too much..."

Lin Xiu smiled and said, "Don't worry, mother, every money I earn is clean. From now on, you and dad can enjoy life at home."

Afterwards, he said to Ah Yue: "Sister Ah Yue, wait until it's cooler outside, you and your mother go out for a walk, her jewelry has been worn for a long time, and it's time to get a new batch of jewelry."

Ah Yue's eyes bent into crescent moons, and said, "Good sir."

Zhou Yun was a little depressed. She looked at Lin Xiu guiltily and said, "Xiu'er, it's because your parents are incompetent that they let you do these things with different skills..."

In any dynasty, magicians are noble existences, and will be supported by the court or various forces. Very few magicians will lower their status to do such lowly things for money.

Lin Xiu held her hand, and said indifferently: "Mother, where have you been talking about, making money with your own ability is not shabby at all, you put away the money first, and there will be more and more in the future... ..."

……

A trace of cold air leaked from the ice mirror, making the whole room extra cool.