Xue Jiazi

In Jinling City, in a tea house, several scribes were sitting around, watching the two men in the middle criss-crossing on the chessboard. This is a chess they have never seen before. It is simple and fierce. It seems that the two armies are facing each other. The heroism, which makes those young scholars like it very much, seems to be able to arouse the male blood in their hearts, which is quite different from the usual reserved Go.

Speaking of chess, it is quite famous in Jinling now. It is said that it was an old Juren who lost three times in a row with his old friend, and was unwilling to take it out and wanted to make a comeback.It's just an anecdote about Shilin, but this chess has its own charm. After only a few games, the old friend was dragged into the vast ocean of chess, and he gradually became a chess player. I became a fan of chess, so I passed it on to several other old friends. You passed it on, I passed it on. It only took a few months. There are quite a few scholars in Jinling who have learned this chess, and they have learned it before. It is not difficult for Go people to learn this chess, the rules are not complicated, and it is very easy to start, but what is fascinating is that this chess seems to contain the art of war, those who are usually better at the art of war strategy among the six arts of gentlemen It is easier to master this chess.

There are not many games that scholars can usually do, except for those romantic games where talented scholars and beauties spend a lot of money, the rest is nothing more than the scope of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. She is already very good, and she pays great attention to self-cultivation. There is no way, everything needs money!Dizi is the cheapest, and many people learn it. Unfortunately, not everyone has a sense of music. There is no threshold for playing chess. Anyone can work hard and pretend to be gentle, but even the simplest game of Go, such as stone, What kind of wood is it? It takes a lot of thought to make a lookable one. Who makes there are so many chess pieces!If you want to polish it yourself, it can torture you to death!But chess is different!This thing can be made of wood, and there is no need to color it specially, as long as the characters are engraved and painted with cinnabar and black ink, it is so simple and cheap!

Cheap things spread very quickly, even those who can only read a few characters want to play, so it became popular all of a sudden. When three or five people get together, they can get down immediately. In the middle and lower levels of Jinling The spread among the taxis is getting faster and faster, and Xue's shop immediately followed up and began to sell chess, from the cheapest miscellaneous wood chess pieces with fine linen chessboards to expensive chicken wing wood chess pieces, boxwood chessboards, what is that? There are all kinds of them, and the most important thing is, I don’t know why the Xue family is crazy, but the cheapest one is only fifty yuan a pair. Calculate the cost, it is simply not earning a penny.This is great, anyone who can read would like to buy a pair of chess for their home, and even a fake home has a literati game, right?Absolutely improve your own taste and grade.

It's just that no one knows Xue Pan's embarrassing mood at this time!Looking at the account book, that fat face is definitely smiling.

"Okay, whoever said that it's cheap won't make money! Isn't it the cheapest we can still earn fifteen yuan? We sold four hundred pairs this month, which is a profit of six taels of silver. How much money is there in Jinling?" People? How many rich families are there? How many poor families are there? There are always more poor people than rich people in this world. According to my estimate, the cheapest one can sell thousands of copies. Our family There are so many carpenter apprentices, and they don’t need to spend money. As long as they give them a meal, they can do it all in one month. A lot!"

Xue Pan was old-fashioned and sighed, and the corners of the mouth of the shopkeeper of the stationery shop standing next to him twitched, "Master, you can't change your temper of loving money. You only have 60 taels of monthly money, but When do you usually spend money not on the public account?It's true, but it's okay, if this is the case, the Xue family will not have to worry about having no successors in the future.

The shopkeeper probably didn't like Xue Pan's appearance as a money fanatic. Taking out 60 taels was really embarrassing for the Xue family, so he hurriedly continued to talk about the rest.

"Master, look, it's better to buy middle-grade ones. The ones made of oak wood, nanmu, and even camphor are more attractive. They sell more than 200 pairs a month. This one is more profitable. Our price is one tael to five taels of silver. This price is really not high. Each pair can earn half of the profit. After calculating these, there is a profit of more than 500 taels. And the most expensive one is all Some good wooden ones cost 50 taels, 100 taels a pair, and sold more than 30 pairs.”

Originally, I wanted to divert Xue Pan's attention to this luxury item, which was in line with the identity of the Xue family, but unfortunately, what Xue Pan saw was different from him. Xue Pan sighed and said:

"Look, I said, there are only a few rich people here! How much can you sell, right? We have to increase the amount, the larger the amount, the more we earn. Our goal is that even if he can't read, he can I will buy a pair to go home and play chess. If so, the cheapest one can be sold for tens of thousands of pairs. The most important thing is that no one will compete with us for this cheap product, and no one will look at it. In my eyes, I won’t do it. In this way, such a big gap will belong to our Xue family. Think about it, if the poor in all parts of the country buy ours, how much can we sell? How much can you earn?"

After talking about it, Xue Pan had the momentum to point out Jiangshan, but the shopkeeper was also taken aback when he heard it. He really never thought about it from this aspect.If it is as the old man said, it really makes sense, the income is not much, but the amount is large, and there is no one to compete. In this way, it is true that the Xue family is definitely eating alone, or eating alone without anyone noticing.Counting the number of people in the world, accounts, tens of millions of people, and millions of households, even if only one percent of them buy it, it will be tens of thousands of sales. Even if each pair is ten coins, it will be tens of thousands. Two profit, such a calculation, even the shopkeeper will take a deep breath.The Xue family stationery shop is not without volume, such as paper, it is definitely the bulk of the volume, it is only a profit of more than a thousand taels a year, there is no way it is not a monopoly business, it is Xue's shop that can sell such a volume Open a lot, the limit of wide open.

The steward seemed to see the new Golden Avenue, so happy in his heart!I couldn't help but blushed and said to Xue Pan:

"Master, as expected, such a calculation is very promising."

"That's not true. Waiting for others to find out, we have basically occupied all the territory. We have bought everything that should be bought. A pair of chess pieces may be used by poor people forever, and we will not buy a second pair. In this way , even if others want to grab it, they can’t take it away. If those poor people’s conditions are better and they want to replace it with a new one, okay, after buying our cheap ones, they will naturally get used to it and then sell it in our store. In this way, Others, our family is estimated to be several percent more business than other families."

Xue Pan had a calculating face when he said this, and the manager looked at Xue Pan like this, and couldn't help complaining in his heart:

"Sure enough, dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes give birth to phoenixes, and rats are born to make holes. This old man of the Xue family doesn't need to be taught how to do business, he is born with it! Look at this calculation, even the exchange of things is included.

No matter what the manager thinks, Xue Pan continues to look at the account book happily. His father is not at home these days, and his second uncle is busy with other things, especially the latest parasol project. Apart from Mr. No one cares about him at all, which puts him in a state of herding sheep all of a sudden. Whether he wants to share the worries of the family or he is restless by nature, anyway, he has tossed a lot of things. This chess business Just one of them.There are new tricks here!

"By the way, what I said last time, what happened to the chess tournament?"

Putting down the account book in his hand, Xue Pan looked serious, and asked about other things. Now his family is the biggest, so he should act like a master anyway, right, second uncle?After all, the family has been separated, and some things still need him, the young patriarch, to worry about it!Xue Pan couldn't help but snickered sullenly.

"This matter has already spread the word, and it is precisely because of this that there are so many people who buy chess at once. Otherwise, it would take three to five months for such a new thing to be accepted by so many people. I think It is impossible to become popular without a year or two. Now, just for this competition, many scholars have put down their studies and play chess. Fortunately, this year is the year of the national examination, and there is no big deal here. "

Regarding this competition, the steward also thinks it is a good idea. At least for the sake of the name, the business in the shop is definitely much better, but he still feels a little inappropriate. After all, this thing has been popular for a short time. I don’t know. At that time, how many people will participate and how many people will watch, if the influence is small, people may think that the Xue family's influence is not enough, and the background is too shallow, which will affect the Xue family's reputation in Jinling. It's just that this is the young owner's toss , he can't say no, he can only do his best.

"Well, the timing is good, Wen Wu is the first, and Wu Wu is the second, but there is definitely a winner or loser in chess, let's set the rules, well, in this way, first is the knockout round, divided according to the number of applicants, and screened layer by layer , At the end of the day, ten players will be selected, and there will be a points match. If you win a game, you will get three points, if you draw, you will get one point, and if you lose, you will get no points. In the end, you will be ranked according to the points."

Xue Pan directly moved over the rules of the funeral, not to worry and save effort, but the method that has been tested at the beginning, can definitely arouse people's enthusiasm, and make the game more fair, so as not to let someone's momentary mistakes and complaints affect them fairness.

"This is a good idea. This way the show will be more exciting. How about the lottery master? We should give an explanation. Last time, the old slave said that it is definitely a big lottery, and it is real gold and silver, otherwise it will not be There are so many people buying chess pieces."

The big talk has gone out, but I don't know anything about the specifics, and it's difficult to manage things!At any rate, sir, can you give me an accurate word?A lot of people have come to ask, he can hardly stop him, if he is not attractive enough, he may be smashed.

As soon as Xue Pan heard the prize, he immediately sat upright, and even took a sip from the teacup beside him, what did you say?Fengdu, he only knows that he is thirsty, Fengdu should run and rest first, anyway, he doesn't expect to drink tea to make him ugly, as for snow water, rain water, spring water, he is more concerned about it. I don't care, he understands this arty style, he will never learn it in his life, and he has given up on it long ago, and practicality comes first.This is in line with Xue Pan's own style!

"Of course it's real gold and real silver. That's the face of our Xue family. But it shouldn't be too vulgar, otherwise our family will lose a good reputation among scholars in the future. So, first name, 100 taels of silver, new books of the Four Books and Five Classics One set, one set of Five Classics Annotations, this is 200 taels after all, it is definitely a big prize. No, plus a set of high-quality pens, inks, papers and inkstones, that’s all three things, those humble scholars will go crazy, haha, That’s how Xianyu turned around. All the things for the scientific examination are ready, not to mention, even the money for the exam. Well, let’s say to the outside world that our family uses chess games to help students in the scientific examination. What a good name Head, No. 2, it is 50 taels of silver, the book remains the same, the pen, ink, paper and inkstone is medium, No. 3 is 30 taels of silver, the same as the book, the pen, ink, paper and inkstone is of the lower class, and it just needs to be stuck in the minimum standard of the scientific examination. In addition, the fourth and the tenth can't be ignored, anyway, they are capable, and each will give a consolation prize of ten taels of silver, and the lowest set of pen, ink, paper and inkstone will be the one. What do you think?"

Xue Pan's eyes lit up again. Every time he did this, he felt that he had a sense of accomplishment, and this time was no exception. He could even feel that his family's status among scholars had improved after this incident, and what was more important Unfortunately, he thought of another point.There is such a first session, what will happen next?Second?The third?Maybe, the Xue family can take advantage of this kind of thing to slowly change other people's impression of the Xue family's royal merchants in Jinling, and squeeze in among the scholars!

What else?The steward has already nodded again and again, this is definitely good!The reputation is good, the prize is good, no matter how you look at it, it looks like a flourishing age of literati. It is estimated that after this, the Xue family will have an absolute good reputation in the Jinling area. Now even the steward feels that this chess game will definitely be popular.

Of course, what he thought was different from what Xue Pan had in mind. What he thought was that he could occupy more than half of the entire chess market at once, and when other families started selling chess, the Xue family had already captured most of the people who could buy chess. Come here, how much can this sell?It's true that he took the first step to seize the opportunity, that is, my uncle has a good vision, and he valued it as soon as chess came out, and he gave such a method.This year's dividend!It is definitely very rich. (He doesn't know, this is caused by his uncle who can't play Go well. If he knows, I'm afraid he can only roll his eyes.)

Everyone thought of a better future, but now there is still a big problem, that is, this kind of competition is equivalent to a gathering of literati, so it should be communicated with the local magistrate Yamen. This can be a stable prefect in Jinling, and most of the officials like Tongzhi have a good relationship with Xue's family. Xue Pan is young, so it is not very appropriate to come forward. Father Xue has not come back yet, so after discussing with the steward, Xue Pan felt that This kind of thing probably requires Xue Cheng, the second uncle, to come forward. Since the second uncle is required to come forward, it is necessary to tell the second uncle about his plan, so after reading the account book and discussing the details, Xue Pan is in a hurry He's going out again, he's going to his second uncle's house.

Why is your second uncle not living at his house?It's very simple, Xue Xun was caught when he went out, and there was only Xue Pan, a seven-year-old child who was the head of the house, and it would not be suitable for the second uncle to live in his house, so they avoided suspicion and returned to their own home, fortunately not far away In addition, Xue Biao is also preparing to open the door at Xue Pan's house, so in the end, every morning when Xue Cheng goes out, Xue Cheng's wife and children are transferred to Xue Pan's house, and at night, Xue Cheng comes to pick him up. When people go home, it's the same as going to and from work.

It’s just that Xue Pan was so busy with this big plan, so excited, he seemed to have forgotten something. Didn’t he just step out a few steps, and then suddenly remembered the voice of Mr.

"Why don't you study? This lunch break has passed, do you still want to be lazy?"

Didn’t he just forget, he forgot, his current homework is like a curse, and he has no free time at all. Today, the time to talk about things with the manager is to spare his own lunch break, sacrificing him It's time for a nap!

It's just that he wanted to talk to his second uncle earlier, Xue Pan couldn't help but turn around, and turned to the husband with a pitiful face, pouted, twisted his fingers, and said childishly:

"Master, I'm sorry, it's the student's fault, I forgot the time, but, master, can the student ask for leave? There is something at home that needs the second uncle to come forward, and the student wants to see the second uncle."

Compared with the previous one in front of the steward, these are definitely two people. It was the first time that the steward saw such a young master, and the boss opened his mouth for a while, his jaw almost couldn't close, and his eyes almost popped out. Fortunately, His reaction was not too slow, he immediately lowered his head, stood aside, and started to install wooden stakes. If he could scare his young master, who was a bit lawless and pretended to be an adult all day long, into such a state, he was definitely a master, a master, a master!He doesn't want to be implicated, he is in charge, and he has no part to speak, right?

The master came slowly from the chasing corridor on one side, his eyes swept lightly at the person in charge, and immediately recognized that it was the shopkeeper of Hanmozhai, the largest stationery shop in Jinling, and he knew what it was with a slight turn of his heart Hey, it’s not been a day or two since he’s tossing about chess for Xue Pan. Expanding their impression among literati!

To be honest, he still has some support for Xue Pan's method. Since he has taught Xue Pan, he naturally hopes that this child will have a place in the imperial examination in the future, and hope that he can be accepted by other literati. Unfortunately, Xue Pan Pan's family background as an imperial merchant has become the child's biggest burden. Now that there is a way to alleviate it, can he not care?

Now that he knew what was going on, based on his mind of having been a teacher for so many years, he knew what they were looking for Xue Cheng for. It wasn't because of his scheming, nor because of his insight into people's hearts, but because of his professional instinct, master. If you don't have the ability to figure out people's hearts, you will definitely not be able to work in the Yamen for long.But even though he thought about what Xue Pan was going to do, he still didn't intend to let him go. He just walked over and patted Xue Pan on the head lightly, and then said very unhurriedly:

"What are you doing in such a hurry? Have you forgotten what I taught you? The most taboo thing in life is impatience. You have to think twice before acting. This is the most important thing, as long as you get used to it. Think about it, watch more, and slowly you will understand what it means to slow things down. As far as your temperament is concerned, if you don’t work hard and learn to be patient, you won’t know what troubles you will cause in the future!”

Having said that, seeing Xue Pan listening silently, his face gradually calmed down, but still a little confused, the master couldn't help but continue to mention him and said:

"You want to see your second uncle, but you forgot that your second uncle will definitely come to the house to pick up your second aunt and younger brother at dinner time every day. Wouldn't it be good for you to talk to him then? You go at this time, How do you know if he is busy? How do you know that he will have the time to listen to you as soon as you go? You go at this time, that is to say, how much does he value? Can he do it for you immediately? You Are you sure that there is no flaw in what you just thought? Can you be sure that everything you have to do is handled properly? "

Xue Pan was also a little dumbfounded by such a series of questions from the master. After thinking about it carefully, it really makes sense. Xue Cheng is so busy with the parasol matter now that he went to return it by himself. It's really possible that it wasn't the time, and it was even possible that he went to the Dong's house by himself, but he went to the West's house again. I'm afraid that he will have to spend a lot of time looking for someone, so it's better to wait for the second uncle to come. The most important thing What's more, it's not difficult to ask the second uncle to do something. Even if it's not a business matter, but a private matter, the second uncle will not refuse, but if it's not possible to give a gift to someone, why should the second uncle do it?Shouldn't this be prepared by yourself?I really didn't prepare these!It was indeed an omission, and the last point is that I should think about it myself. After talking about this matter with my second uncle, how can my second uncle talk to the magistrate if necessary!Whether it's the reason or the scene, I have to make preparations, and I even need to make a unified statement. In the future, I can't say that the stationery shop will be needed in the chess competition. I really still have a lot of things to think about!

Thinking of this, Xue Pan didn't know his husband's painstaking efforts, he immediately bowed to his master very cautiously, and then said very sincerely:

“Students follow the teachings carefully.”

Having said that, Xue Pan turned his head again, and said to the steward:

"You go first and come back tomorrow."

After saying this sentence, regardless of what the steward thought, he turned around and followed his master to the study.Going to his afternoon class, not to mention how things are going, the corners of the Master's mouth curled up slightly at this time: You can teach a child!

The author has something to say: Hahaha, for full attendance, go!