North and South groceries

Since the wooden track between the western capital Chang'an and the eastern capital Luoyang was opened, the transportation between Chang'an and Luoyang has become very convenient.

It is seven or eight hundred miles from Chang'an to Luoyang. In the past, the gentlemen of Chang'an City drove to Luoyang. When the road conditions and weather were relatively good, it would probably take ten days and a half months to travel.

If you take your family to Luoyang for a short stay, the journey will be slow. If there is a little rain, it is not uncommon to spend a whole month on the road.

After the wooden track is completed, it usually takes seven or eight days to get there from Chang'an to Luoyang in a wooden carriage.

If you change horses halfway, it is said that you can arrive in three or four days at the earliest, which is not easy. After all, there are other carriages ahead, so there is no need to think about overtaking.

People are generally satisfied with the speed and comfort of this wooden carriage.

Two or three people ride in a carriage. Generally, no heavy objects are placed on the carriage. In addition, most of the road is flat, and the horses are not tired from running.

Sitting on this wooden carriage, the journey is smooth and comfortable. For those who have long been accustomed to the bumpy journey, this is simply a fairy-like travel experience.

They can even set up a small table in the car to eat wine, get some good wine and food from the previous station, and eat all the way to the next station.

This was completely impossible before the appearance of cement roads and wooden rail carriages. Whoever dared to do this on the carriage would end up with [-]% of the wine and food all over his body, and the remaining [-]% ​​was probably due to his extraordinary martial arts. The carriage is not stable, it all depends on the steady hand.

When the peony flowers in Luoyang were in full bloom earlier, many female relatives from Chang'an City took a wooden carriage to Luoyang to enjoy the flowers.

Recently, many people came to Chang'an City from Luoyang, especially those young people who couldn't stay at home, and they often came to Chang'an City in groups to play.

There are also those who go to Chang’an City to eat iced cold melons. A bowl of cool and sweet iced drinks only costs two to three yuan, and a big and sweet cold melon only costs three to four yuan. Said, it's almost like not wanting money.

There are also those who like to go shopping for groceries in the north and south. Some people go in early in the morning and don't come out until before the curfew. It's like using the supermarket as a playground.

There are two favorite places in Nanbei Grocery, one is the dessert area on the first floor, and the other is the Yanerfei area on the second floor.

"...Look at this rubber wheel, this cushion, tsk tsk!"

"What kind of leather is this cushion?"

"Wolf skin?"

"Look at the springs under here..."

"This car is so well done!"

"The wood used for this body is good, strong, and not heavy to lift."

"Look at the iron plate on it."

"The connection is all set, I saw it early in the morning."

"Earlier, the clerk said that this car can change speed."

"Why don't you call him over and ask?"

"Don't don't, let's take a look for ourselves, and we don't have money to buy."

"..."

"You really don't want to buy it?"

"I'm so shy, if I buy this car, I won't have the money to take the wooden carriage when I go back."

"Me too, me too, this time when I come out, Ye Niang will give me a total of the usual money, plus the little money I saved before..."

"..."

Not far away, a few clerks looked here from time to time. These young gentlemen had said earlier that they wanted to go shopping by themselves and would not let them follow, so the clerk let them go.

Listening to them talking at this time, it seems that they don't have enough money to buy the latest Yan Erfei, which is not surprising, even if they come from a good family, they don't spend a lot of money, those who are really rich , either they hold the real power in the family, or they are born to be favored by thousands of people. After all, such people are still a minority.

This time, the latest Yan Erfei is priced at nearly two guan. Many young men have come and gone, and have come and seen it several times, but they just have no money to buy it.

Today, these young gentlemen from Luoyang seem to be in the same situation. They visited once two days ago, and they came again today.

"...I went to my uncle's house yesterday."

"Your uncle and your aunt have reconciled."

"Li is Li. I still have correspondence with his son. I went to his house yesterday. He bought this bike a few days ago. I asked him to lend me a ride."

"how is it going?!!"

"This bike is very light to ride. I was walking on flat ground. At that time, I just thought that I was going downhill. Turning around and coming back, or downhill. I could go far away with a light kick. That's called briskness. That's called Yan Erfei, compared with this car, the one we used to ride is a broomstick."

"Wow!!!" The rest of the young men were all very excited.

The two North-South groceries employees in charge of the Yanerfei area were staying not far away at this time. After hearing what they said, they walked over here: "If the gentlemen are not sure for a while, It’s an idea, you can also go downstairs and try the car first.”

"Can you still try?"

"Of course, just ride around in the open space in front of the shop downstairs, it won't hinder anything."

"Then try it?"

"Go! Go! Go."

As a result, after this trial, they could no longer part with each other. In the end, several people took out all their money, pooled their money, and bought one each.

After leaving the North and South groceries, they discussed: "Stay back in the guest house, return a few guest rooms, there is not much money left, I have to save some money."

"Don't go to those too expensive restaurants these days."

"If not, let's go to sister's restaurant."

"Just now I saw that there are a lot of braised cold dishes on the first floor of Nanbei Groceries, and the prices are affordable."

"You don't need to think about the wooden carriage, just go back by yourself."

"We'll go back in two or three days. Don't buy those things that are too heavy."

"But I really want to take a cold melon home."

"Then you can buy a cold melon."

"..."

So more than ten days later, a certain old man in Luoyang City saw his own son flying back home in a Yan'er.

There was also a basket tied to the back seat of the car, and in the basket was a big, round cold melon. It was said that this melon was bought from the north and south groceries, and it only cost four Wen, which is very cheap.

And the price of melons in Luoyang City this summer is only twenty or thirty yuan for a cold melon...

As the saying goes, teenagers in the second year of middle school have a lot of fun. Carrying a watermelon from Chang'an City back to Luoyang is not outrageous, at most it's a little stunned.

Earlier, there was a little lady from Luoyang who went to Chang'an to play, and bought cream cakes from North and South groceries a few times, and then she was going to stay in Chang'an city and refused to leave, and she insisted on marrying the cake maker. It's been a joke for a while.

Now when the grown-ups get together, what they like to talk about most is what happened to so-and-so's young lady, and it's probably all related to that wooden track.

Since the wooden track was opened, the distance between Chang'an and Luoyang seems to have become very close all of a sudden.

When Luo Siniang sent this letter, the aunt had just finished her work in Suzhou and came to Luoyang City to check the operation of the new store.

The person who carried the letter for Si Niang was a merchant from Lishi who was about to go south. After he arrived in Luoyang City, he heard that Aunt Luo was in Luoyang right now, so he sent the letter to her.

The aunt read Si Niang's proposal in the letter, and she was quite moved. In addition, she happened to have nothing to do during this period of time, so the two of them packed up and hired a wooden carriage. Went to Chang'an City.

This is the first time for Mrs. Luo to ride a wooden rail carriage. In the past, she only heard people talk about its comfort and speed.

Traveling in summer should be sweltering and hot, but sitting in this wooden carriage is indescribably refreshing and comfortable.

The inside of the car is stable and comfortable, and what is passing by outside the car window are large tracts of farmland slopes, forests and mountain streams, and a magnificent river. Rows of trackers by the river are pulling big boats, and nearby farmers are driving ox carts slowly. Walking on the cement road not far away.

Sitting in the speeding wooden carriage, Aunt Luo felt her heart pounding, and this thought flashed through her mind again and again:

If she doesn't step up her pace, she will be left far behind by this rapidly developing society.

A few days later, Aunt Luo and the others arrived in Chang'an. She first visited Baifu, and then planned to open a branch with Siniang.

Together, they met with several ladies who were interested in investing, and after several days of negotiation, they quickly finalized plans for three new stores, which were located in Tongguan, Bianzhou and Yangzhou.

This time, the families of the three women who cooperated with Auntie’s restaurant also have some influence in these three places. Aunt Luo didn’t want to take advantage of their families, as long as they can do business peacefully. .

In order to ensure the interests of both parties, the details of the cooperation are also listed in more detail. Aunt Luo has opened two branches in Wu County and Luoyang respectively, and she is familiar with the housing prices and land prices on both sides of the canal, so before the cooperation, she will give each branch a specific price. Give an approximate amount.

At the beginning, she was worried that these ladies would think the amount was too large, but all of them said that the shop should be chosen well, and don't be stingy with money. They hope that the shop they invest in should be opened as large and grand as possible.

And the feedback given to them by the sister's restaurant is half of the profit every month. Only the month at the end of the year, which is the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, will give them an extra half, and the profit will be calculated as [-]%.

According to the current operating conditions of Sister’s Food Shop, they can normally pay back their capital in five to ten years. Another guarantee Aunt Luo gave them is that if they can’t pay back their capital within 15 years, they have the right to take back the shop. This is also clearly stated in the cooperation contract between the two parties.

If the cooperation between the two parties goes well, they can keep receiving the bonus from Sister's Food Shop for a period of 50 years.

In addition, when the dividends they received from Sister's Restaurant reached twice the original investment amount, the store will be owned by Ajie's Restaurant, and Ajie's Restaurant will arrange special personnel to pay attention to and handle the ownership of these shops. question.

These ladies all expressed their satisfaction with the details of the cooperation, and readily took out the money, and said that they could give more if it was not enough.

A business that can pay back its capital in five to ten years, but the other party is willing to give them 50 years of dividends, and even a minimum guarantee. Although there are factors that their family is relatively influential in the local area, this is really a deal Pretty good deal, isn't it?

In fact, in addition to these three new cooperative stores, Aunt Luo also plans to open several new stores in Hedong Road, namely in Linfen, Xicheng, Taiyuan, and Dinghu. These new stores do not cooperate with others.

In addition, the original sister’s food shop in Chang’an City is located in Guangde Square next to the West Market. From the north-south direction, it is relatively north. The south of the city has also developed very well in recent years. Open another branch.

The house prices and land prices in Chang'an City are very expensive at present, especially after the wooden track leading to Luoyang is built, many families from Luoyang want to resettle property in Chang'an, which directly raises the house price in Chang'an.

Aunt Luo doesn't have much money now, and she doesn't want to borrow money from others this time. Instead, Luo uses another method of raising funds that Luo told her before, and she plans to try it this time.

Or according to the calculation method of giving investors half of the profit, divide the required principal into [-] shares, and directly raise funds in the form of sales.

First of all, these shares are mainly sold in Nanbei Grocery and Ajie’s restaurant, as well as Luo Siniang’s friends, the female family members of the Bai family and Ma’s family, and some other people who got the news in time, most of them are women.

Although the shops in Chang'an City are expensive, after being divided into [-] shares, each share is not much money, and many female family members of wealthy families can afford it. It is not a lot of money to buy a share or two shares for fun. There is no burden, and I can collect some dividends every month in the future, so I have more money on hand.

It's a pity that there were only [-] shares, and within a day or two after the news came out, they were all sold out. Those who got the news just hesitated for a while, and asked later, and they were gone.

"You said, what kind of shares in Mrs. Luo's new shop are really gone now?" On this day, a certain young lady had just returned home, and her mother came looking for her.

"Not long ago, two or three days ago," replied her daughter.

"Why is it gone so soon..." Her mother muttered.

"As soon as I heard the news that day, I asked someone to come back and ask, my grandma bought it, but you didn't buy it." Her daughter pouted and complained.

"What is your grandma's background, and how much dowry she has in her hand? I don't have that much money."

"Then you come to ask me again now, what can I do?"

"How much did you buy?"

"I can have some money, I scraped it together, and I bought five shares."

"You share with me two shares, I will give you some more money and silk, last time my piece of fabric, you said you wanted it, and I gave you all of it."

"My grandma bought twenty shares, why don't you discuss with her?"

"Then she refuses."

"...That's all, I'll give you a share."

"Two shares."

"That won't work."

"And that hairpin you saw last time..."

"Give it to me too?"

"Two shares."

"……OK then."