Chapter 22 The First Tuition Payment
Wang Han did not say anything else, but just said goodbye to Su Luo solemnly. Su Luo waved his hand at the dock for half an hour until it was dark and he could no longer be seen. Then he went home humming a little tune in satisfaction.
Her home is now in Zhuxian Town, a blue brick house with two courtyards. Although it is not big, Su has decorated it delicately and warmly. Su is still working at Li Fuhu's house, but she doesn't live there anymore. Since she doesn't want to give up her job, Su Luo is too lazy to insist. After all, everyone has different pursuits. Like Su Luo, the goal she has set for herself now is to live a good life.
In fact, if she succeeded in this transaction, even if she was not so unscrupulous, she could still achieve her goal by doubling or tripling the money. So she did not really want to put Wang Han's proposal into action, but just secretly fantasized about it. 20,000 taels of silver, 12 million RMB, was enough to win the lottery three times.
What? The third time you win is 15 million? You don’t pay taxes? Tsk!
Speaking of paying taxes, Su Luo was about to be happy again. It was really good to be a businessman in the Ming Dynasty. She used to pay great attention to this issue. After all, we are good citizens hundreds of years later. We can't evade taxes and discredit time travelers when we return to ancient times, right? Who wants to consult Bao Zixing and find out that the court paid the most attention to agricultural taxes four hundred years ago. Farmers worked very hard and had to pay taxes even for farming. As for merchants, except for the salt merchants who sounded like bad people, the rest of the industries were just going through the motions. The city tax was one in thirty, that is, one-thirtieth. Compared with hundreds of years later, it was quite generous, but it was made a mere formality. It can be seen from this that agriculture was valued more than commerce in ancient times.
It's not that we don't pay, but no one collects it, so who can we blame? So Su Luo evaded the tax with a clear conscience and walked into the house with YY all the way.
Su Luo was really surprised to see Zhou Chongwen at home. She had suggested that Zhou Chongwen stop making trouble every day and just live in her house, but he rejected her sternly, saying something about the distinction between men and women. Su Luo was depressed. If he stayed, he would be living with Su Yi, so who was he guarding against?
When Su Yi saw Su Luo coming in, he ran over quickly, poured her a glass of water, and showed her his homework for the day. Ever since Su Luo found treasure and improved the living conditions of his family, this kid has placed his sister on a pedestal, and his eyes are full of stars when he looks at Su Luo.
Su Yi was not perfunctory. No matter whether he could understand the classical Chinese written on the paper or not, he just read it carefully. At the end, he touched Su Yi's head and gave him an appreciative smile. The boy was like he had won the lottery and went to show off his homework.
Su Luo sat opposite Zhou Chongwen, drinking cup after cup of tea without saying a word. She still remembered the cold face he gave her when he left, and she still held a grudge.
Zhou Chongwen didn't say anything either. The two of them just sat there staring at each other. At this time, Su came in with a tray containing two side dishes and a plate of buns.
Su Luo cheered. She had developed a special liking for buns recently and couldn't enjoy every meal without buns. She immediately grabbed one and took a bite. Su smiled dotingly, then softly blamed her for not washing her hands. She went out to get a towel and washed Su Luo's hands.
Su Luo obediently enjoyed the warmth of family affection, and her awkwardness towards Zhou Chongwen also eased a lot. She asked him why he didn't go back to the village.
Zhou Chongwen didn't say anything. He glanced at Su. Su hesitated for a moment and said, "Luo'er, I heard from Mr. Zhou that you used all the silver to store grain?"
Su Luo's face suddenly sank, and she put down her chopsticks with a "pop" and stared at Zhou Chongwen coldly. How shameless! If you don't agree, then don't agree, but you came to her house to seek allies. Yes, she also knew that it was not good to make a fortune by taking advantage of natural disasters, but if she didn't go, someone else would naturally go. Besides, she only planned to double or triple the price, while Wang Han asked for twenty times. In comparison, she was extremely honest and could not be ranked in the list of profiteers who harmed the people.
Zhou Chongwen had an expressionless face, looking back at Su Luo calmly, and then said in his voice that could be compared to a CCTV anchor: "A gentleman loves money, but he gets it in a proper way."
Su Luo stood up suddenly and said, "Go talk to anyone who wants to be a gentleman. There are so many unscrupulous businessmen in the market, but you only teach me a lesson! What right do you have to teach me a lesson? If you have time, take care of your own business first! I won't eat anymore!" The last sentence was directed at Su.
Su Luo went back to her room angrily. Su's face was full of anxiety. She gestured to Su Yi, and Su Yi dropped his bowl and followed Su Luo into the room.
"Sister." Su Yi handed over a bun he had picked up.
Su Luo took it, took a bite with hatred, chewed it with great vigor, and asked incoherently: "Xiao Yi, do you think it's wrong to make money?"
Su Yi pursed his lips and said, "That's right."
Su Luo was about to nod, but Su Yi said, "But all dishonest merchants deserve to die, like Xiangji."
Su Luo choked on the bun in his mouth. Su Yi continued, "Brother Zhou said you want to raise the price of rice by twenty times, then... that's a profiteer."
Su Luo cursed Zhou Chongwen in her heart for tarnishing her image without clarifying her intentions. She hurriedly explained to Su Yi that she did not have such a grand goal. Increasing the goal by twenty times was something that a real profiteer said, not her.
Su Yi breathed a sigh of relief, patted his chest, and immediately ran out to explain the situation to Zhou Chongwen and Su. Su Luo leaned over the door and listened for a while. Although Zhou Si was still not very satisfied with her intention to double the grain price, he at least retracted his clumsy attitude and reflected to Su that he was too arbitrary. Before leaving, he asked Su Yi to apologize to Su Luo on his behalf.
Su Luo decided to reserve the right to pursue legal action, but some people were ungrateful and went to persuade him the next day that doubling the price was actually cheating people of their hard-earned money, and it was no different in essence from increasing the price twenty times. People are already short of money, so how can raise the price?
Su Luo gnashed his teeth in hatred and asked the man what he said. Zhou Si said, "Since the grain has been delivered and cannot be returned, why not follow the original plan and bring spring and good news to the people in the disaster area without changing the grain price."
Su Luo blinked, gave up resistance and nodded. Zhou Si was relieved and left with a sense of accomplishment, leaving Su Luo rolling her eyes. She should deal with this guy first. When the grain is delivered to the land, she can sell it for a certain price. Of course, she can't cheat the working people too much, but she can't let her not even get back her capital, right? Sell at the original price? You pay for the shipping?
In this way, Su Luo finally got the understanding of his family and the support of Zhou Si, and waited for the remaining goods to arrive at ease. About one-third of the granary of about 400 square meters was piled up. Su Luo went to check it every day, and then found a place where no one was around to laugh secretly , and couldn't help fantasizing about how he would launch a second wave of business offensive after he had 2,000 or 3,000 taels. By then, two would become four, four would become eight, eight would become sixteen...
Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes. Before long, she started laughing less and less. It was already mid-April, and Wang Han had been gone for a month without any news.
An accident? Su Luo felt that she shouldn't be so unlucky. Bao Zixing was even more anxious than she was. The smile on his round face was getting less and less, and he didn't even want to run the bun shop. Sometimes Su Luo couldn't bear it and would persuade him, comforting him that he was probably delayed on the way. After persuading him, she also became worried. It was the end of April, and if Wang Han didn't come back, she would have no time to transport grain to sell.
What hit her even harder was yet to come. On a dark and windy night, Bao Zixing disappeared, leaving a letter saying that he was going south to look for someone. It was unknown what the truth was. After all, eight hundred taels was not a small sum for poor peasants like them. Maybe he would find Wang Han and the two of them would split it up. It was all uncertain.
Su Luo was a little depressed, and even more depressed were Su and Su Yi. The mother and daughter accompanied Su Luo carefully every day, fearing that she would have something to worry about. Zhou Chongwen went to Su Luo's house eight times a day. When he came, he told her some inspirational stories about how one's talents will be useful in this life and that even if one loses all his money, he will make it back. He also said that as long as we work diligently, one day we will have the opportunity to benefit the people and serve the motherland.
Su Luo didn't really listen to these. She pondered for two days and understood a truth: any subject requires tuition, especially business. Fortunately, she didn't spend much money to pay the tuition.
Under the worried gaze of her younger brother Zhou Chongwen, Su Luo stretched lazily and pulled the corner of his mouth, "What are you doing? Are you so dejected? Don't we still have 500 shi of grain?"
