Great Imperial Merchant

In the past few days of renovating the new home, Yang Zhongyuan and Cheng Weizhe didn't run around much. They were mostly sitting in the bedroom in the east wing of Xia's house, discussing over and over again the dishes and tea products of the shop in the future.

Cheng Weizhe has been studying the issue of tea quality with Han Shiqian for a long time. As far as Quzhou is concerned, Chongling Xueya is the most famous one, but now the best one making Chongling Xueya is Nancha Gujia, they are determined to do it One's own tea cakes cannot follow the old path of the predecessors.

Nancha's Gu family has a history of a hundred years in Quzhou. If it weren't for the fact that the imperial concubine had been intermittent, they would have been as famous as the Xia family long ago.

This family of tea merchants, known as Confucian merchants, will become their biggest opponent in the future.

Cheng Weizhe had already inquired about the Gu family's affairs clearly before he came. The current head of the Gu family is named Gu Hanting, and the Gu family has been in his hands all the time. It has neither fallen nor skyrocketed.

Han Shiqian didn't meet him, but he met his father. His comment to Cheng Weizhe at that time was only "the golden mean".

Confucius said: "The golden mean is a virtue, and it is so perfect! The people rarely last long." And Zhu Xi's commentary said: "The golden mean is impartial, and there is nothing wrong with it. The ordinary principles are the natural destiny, and the subtle ones Extreme."

This principle seems simple, but it is actually the most difficult. It is rare for the old Patriarch of the Gu family to receive such a high evaluation from Han Shiqian.

Except for Xueya, which is not suitable for developing new tea cakes, there are only Weilu and Mianxiang from Lingnan, Yinye and Huailu from Huai'an, and Shaluohong from Lingxi.Except for black tea, these types of tea are sweet. If you make tea cakes, you can neutralize them with black tea or black tea to even out a different taste.

After the business at home and the shop is finished, and the marriage is of a suitable size and taken care of, Cheng Weizhe and Han Shiqian will go to the surrounding counties and towns to find tea gardens.

They will never be able to go up just by opening a restaurant.Only by developing your own tea can you touch the golden signboard of Huangshang.

There are so many restaurants and teahouses in Daliang, how many of them are imperial merchants?Only these two words represent the most absolute quality.

After all the furniture was placed in the main house, Cen Zhiqing got a reply from Ren Ya, saying that there were two shops for sale.

Yang Zhongyuan and Cheng Weizhe stopped what they were doing, changed their outfits together, and took Cen Zhiqing to meet Ren Ya.

The area of ​​Quzhou is almost double that of Danluo. Apart from Baozhu Street, there are also Zuixiang Street, Wanshan Street, Fenxia Lane and Fengxian Lane in the whole North City.Because it is close to the Mingchun River, there is also the beautiful Qingzhi Garden in the North City for the people in the city to go out and think.

In Nancheng, most of them are residential buildings, and of course there are also commercial streets, which are called Nianhong.The commercial street in Nancheng is not as prosperous as Beicheng, probably because there are more people, so the business is also very good, but most of them are relatively ordinary.

The place to meet Ren Ya is directly in the main hall of their new home.

It hasn't been renovated yet, but it looks relatively new, that is, the furniture hasn't been bought yet, and the old ones are only used for a few days.

Ren Ya is a middle-aged man in his thirties, he looks smiling and seems to be a good-natured person.Even if it was such a big matter as the change of owner of the Jiang family, he didn't show any surprise, as if he knew it a long time ago.

Seeing that Cheng Weizhe and Yang Zhongyuan were young, they still had faces, and they sold them by their elders before they came up. He just smiled and said: "Both owners, Quzhou seems to have a lot of shops, but [-]% of them are for rent. You don't want one with a small area, I have been picking it for several days, and finally I picked two places."

Yang Zhongyuan also smiled: "It's time to work."

His teeth were sharp, so he took out two scrolls from his sleeve, and shook off the first one first: "Please look, this building is the largest one. The store has three floors. It used to be a restaurant. Yes, half of the first floor is a kitchen, the second floor is a spacious hall, and the third floor is all private rooms. There is also a backyard and a grocery room at the back, both in size and structure. "

After he finished speaking, seeing Yang Zhongyuan and Cheng Weizhe looking at the scroll silently, he paused and added: "If the two of you want to do other jobs, it's easy to change. I can find a good mason, you're satisfied. "

His picture showed the exterior of the pavement and the structure inside, which looked really big and luxurious, but Yang Zhongyuan thought about it carefully, but felt that there was no similar building on Baozhu Street.He and Cheng Weizhe went there for many days and visited almost all the shops that could be entered, but this one really didn't exist.

Cheng Weizhe glanced at Yang Zhongyuan and immediately knew what he was thinking: "Boss Li, this shop is not on Baozhu Street."

Renya Li was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "You two are really sharp-eyed, you can tell a thing or two just by looking at the picture. Yes, this shop is not on Baozhu Street, but it is also in a famous commercial street in Quzhou. I don't know where it is in Nancheng. Have you two on Nianhong Street been there?"

When Yang Zhongyuan heard it, he immediately understood: "We only went there once, the south is not as good as the north."

Ren Yali nodded, and immediately lifted the picture below to the top: "You are really knowledgeable. Why don't you take a look at this shop? This one is on Baozhu Street. The area is only [-]% of the one just now, which is quite small. It used to be a shoe and hosiery store, so the first floor is full of counters, the second floor is the warehouse and the place where the guys work, and the third floor is a bit narrow, just an attic, and has been empty."

This time, he saw that Yang Zhongyuan and Cheng Weizhe were looking at it very seriously, so he said a few more words: "This shop is better than the one just now. The backyard is very spacious, and there is a row of side rooms at the back. There are three rooms in total. There are wells and The open-air kitchen is easy to live in.”

It sounds like he and Cheng Weizhe are going to build a restaurant. In fact, the first one is the best. It is spacious and grand, and there is no need to modify it. It can just be decorated and moved new tables and chairs, but the location is not ideal.Opening a shop in Quzhou, who doesn't want to open in Baozhu Street?They came all the way here, what's the point of running to Nianhong Street.

Yang Zhongyuan and Cheng Weizhe looked at each other for a moment, the purpose of the two of them has always been very clear, they just want to start from scratch on Baozhu Street, but the shop on Nianhong Street looks really good.

Cheng Weizhe saw that Yang Zhongyuan was in a dilemma, so he asked Renya Li: "Boss Li, I want to know the prices of these two shops." After hearing this, Boss Li took out another thread-bound book from his arms, opened it for a long time, and then said: : "For a larger shop, the owner's asking price is 5000 taels, including the kitchen utensils and all the tables and chairs in the shop. He doesn't want it anymore. Whether you use it or not, it's all included in the shop price."

5000 taels, almost catching up with the price of their new home whose area is several times that of the shop. It seems that the shop in Quzhou is really not cheap.

"What about this one?" Yang Zhongyuan clicked on the picture above.

Boss Li didn't need to read the book now, just smiled and said: "The owner's asking price for this shop is 800 taels, and he will remove all the belongings in it, so what you bought is an empty shop."

This smaller shop is 800 taels more expensive than the previous one. You must know that many ordinary people work hard all their lives and may not be able to earn so much money, let alone spend it all at once.

Cheng Weizhe took a breath, and said hesitantly, "Why is it so much more expensive? Obviously, this shop is smaller."

Boss Li saw that they seemed a little dissatisfied, and immediately said: "Oh, you two, you also know that the shop on Baozhu Street is making money every day, and the extra 800 taels can't be earned back in a month or two. Yes, the business is sure to be booming. Take a look, you two, the location of this shop is also good, just on the left near the middle of the street, which is the most prosperous place on Baozhu Street."

Yang Zhongyuan looked at the picture carefully, and sure enough, he saw that the location of the shop was just on the left side of the middle of the well, next to the central word, and the location was indeed quite good.But the location is so good, why should the owner sell it?

Both Yang Zhongyuan and Cheng Weizhe were puzzled. The house they live in is very easy to buy, as long as the structure and materials are good, but the paving is different.All aspects of it can involve whether you can make money in the future.If they can't make money, they will lose money if they spend so much money to buy it.

"Boss Li, since you said this shop is so good, why did the previous owner sell it?" Yang Zhongyuan simply asked.

Boss Li has been in dental practice for more than ten years, so he naturally knows what to say and what not to say, so he said, "You two are the right person to ask. I am very familiar with the whole streets and alleys of Quzhou. The original owner of this shop is a bit unlucky. Their family has only been a shoe and hosiery shop, but unexpectedly opened a Chu's Cloth Shop next to it a few years ago. I think you all know about the family business. They are imperial merchants every year, and their cloth is naturally top-notch. Since the opening of Chu’s cloth shop, most of the customers come first to their house. The business has to be done, and after all these years of dying, I finally decided that it is better to sell it for some real money."

Yang Zhongyuan shook his head after hearing this: "This master is too stupid. If you change a job to make a living, don't you just do it the same?"

This time Boss Li didn't answer, but Cheng Weizhe said thoughtfully: "Perhaps, they don't want to change. After all, it's a business that has been done for generations. In the first two years, they thought that they could barely maintain it. Later, they wanted to change the family. It was found that there was no money, and the wages of the clerks and the cost of the fabrics were all there, and they would not make it if they didn’t sell it.”

"Oh my boss, I don't know how to do business. I just inquired about why they want to sell their house. Now that you say it like that, I'm completely enlightened."

After hearing this, Yang Zhongyuan felt that what Cheng Weizhe said made sense, he was a straightforward person who refused to give up.According to his personality, if the business of the shop is not good, he must try his best to improve and improve, so that he can slowly find a new way out, instead of delaying it day by day, and finally selling it if it fails.

If it is next to Chu's Cloth Village, then the location should actually be very good.The Chu family has been an imperial merchant for nearly 300 years, and they are elected together with the Song family almost every year, and there will be no mistakes at all.The paving they choose is always the best.

Yang Zhongyuan slowly recalled the relationship between the current head of the Chu family and Emperor Ruijia, his eyes flickered, and he said: "I want to know, what are the shops next to these two houses?"