Chapter 223: Losing Money to Gain Prominence
Zhao Yulin's sister-in-law sat next to him and said, "You just wanted to earn a few more taels of silver. Now you have given away all the extra money and you are about to have no money to eat."
He laughed when he heard it. How come he couldn't even make ends meet? Haha, is it that serious?
He said that if it didn't work out, then just sell the two stores, because keeping them would be a loss.
But Zhao Yuqing couldn't bear to let go. Every shop was carefully selected by him. How could they collapse in his hands?
Zhao Yulin asked his brother to go out of town and have a meal at the dock to eat firewood chicken and drink wine.
Zhao Yuqing immediately perked up, and the group went out of the city and came to the dock. When his eldest brother entered the store, he shouted, "Third Young Master is back, Third Young Master, come and eat firewood chicken."
Zhao Yulin was completely speechless. His elder brother actually used him as a living advertisement for his business.
He looked at the many diners in the yard and became a little confused. He asked his brother if he was lying to him.
Business is good, very good.
Zhao Yuqing said unhappily that right now the business of the firewood chicken at the wharf was still good, while all the other shops were out of business.
Zhao Yulin found that most of the diners were sitting around the stove watching the chef working, and he had an idea. Why were there still diners ordering firewood chicken?
I think everyone stayed here because they watched the chef operate the restaurant and thought it was impossible for this shop to cheat and they could eat there without worry.
His sister-in-law came over and called for them to take their seats, and the two of them went in, sat down and started drinking.
Zhao Yulin pointed at the diners who were still waiting to eat and expressed his idea. He asked him to sell a few shops and use the money he earned to renovate the kitchen. After the renovation, diners could watch the chef work on the spot, and everyone could see the quality of the ingredients clearly at a glance. If he insisted on running the business with integrity, diners would definitely come back.
Zhao Yuqing felt helpless and asked him to borrow some silver to make ends meet. He went to Si Niang to borrow money, but Si Niang said that the Shenwei Army had too much expenses and she had no spare money.
Zhao Yulin spread his hands and said that Si Niang couldn't do anything, so what else could he do? The Zhao family didn't ask him to pay a penny for the expenses, so it was unreasonable to ask Si Niang to help out.
Zhao Yuqing was speechless, but his sister-in-law thought that what Zhao Yulin said made sense. Seeing that this firewood chicken restaurant cooked the dishes in front of the diners, the price remained the same but the number of diners did not decrease. However, other stores kept lowering the prices and had no customers even though they were selling at a discount.
Zhao Yulin told him that this was called the "Eat delicious food, cook it on the spot" glamorous kitchen action. If you really do this, it will definitely work.
Seeing the booming business of firewood chicken, the sister-in-law thought it made sense and began to encourage Zhao Yuqing to give it a try.
Zhao Yulin didn't want to waste any more time, so he said goodbye to his brother and sister-in-law and crossed the river. As soon as he stood on the dock, he heard a muffled rumbling sound in the distance . He raised his head and looked towards the Guigu direction of Cuiping Mountain. A huge fireball appeared above the forest and disappeared in an instant.
People around began to talk about it. Some said it was Guigu spitting ghost fire, and some said it was because the weather was too hot and God was irritable, so he asked the Thunder God to thunder and it was going to rain.
However, Zhao Yulin had a bad feeling and suspected that an accident had occurred during a military experiment.
When he got home, his mother, eldest aunt and second aunt were all there. They kept asking him why he had married a new wife and why he didn't bring her home to see her.
He said there were a lot of things to do, and Zhidi was pregnant again, so he made a special trip to send the new bride back to her parents' home to rest and take care of the pregnancy.
Second Lady praised him for doting on his wife and arranging everything properly, unlike the master who didn't care about their lives. The three old women smiled and invited them to the restaurant for dinner.
Zhao Yulin had just finished dinner and sat down in the study when Lao Lu and Chen Xian hurried in.
Lao Lu told him that there was an accident in the hot air balloon experiment. The small charcoal stove suddenly exploded and ignited the balloon cover. Two special soldiers who were testing the balloon in the hanging basket fell to their deaths.
Zhao Yulin was stunned after hearing this.
Lao Lu told him that Shunfeng was controlling all the people participating in the experiment, and anyone who could come into contact with the hot air balloon had to undergo strict scrutiny.
He had a hunch that it must be the enemy causing sabotage.
Zhao Yulin nodded and told them: The inspection should not use torture on the craftsmen, otherwise it would chill the hearts of these craftsmen. He estimated that there were no problems in the design and production stages, and the focus might be on the test operation.
After Lao Lu and Chen Xian left with heavy hearts, the scene of the balloon burning and exploding kept appearing in Zhao Yulin's mind, and he felt that the dark hands of the hostile forces were dancing wildly in front of him.
He couldn't fall asleep for a long time and began to re-examine Guigu.
At present, nearly 100,000 people have moved into the small Cuiping Mountain, which is equivalent to the population of a Wang County in the Song Dynasty. The personnel structure is complex and the security inspection is large, so omissions are inevitable.
And Guigu is just around the corner. As a highly confidential military unit of the Shenwei Army, its security is bound to be greatly impacted.
Guiguzi wants to test some new weapons and new things. The explosion is powerful and the sound travels far, so accidents are inevitable. The people of Cuiping Mountain will misunderstand them as monsters and manifestations of gods. If there are too many of these mythological legends, it will encourage superstition among the people.
After much thought, Zhao Yulin decided that Guigu moved to a deeper area with less people.
Many people tossed and turned that night.
Shunzhidi and her grandmother Madam Shun from Renhuai Fort were whispering on the bed.
Madam Shun asked her why the Third Young Master didn't take her back to Cuiping Mountain. Shouldn't she go back after getting married?
Shunzhidi told her grandmother that her brother didn't have so many etiquette in his mind. He said that she was pregnant and needed to exercise appropriately but not too much, otherwise the baby in her belly would be lost.
Mrs. Shun complained a little: "The Third Young Master has many women and is very experienced, so what he said makes sense. But since she is a married woman, she should always follow her husband."
Shunzhidi told her grandmother that her brother was busy and couldn't stay by her side all day, and she was already very satisfied with her brother's behavior. The little woman squinted her eyes and dozed off happily.
Madam Shun exclaimed in admiration: You are really a little girl from the mountains. You are content with the small Renhuai Fort. The third young master will be the emperor in the future, and we will be the imperial concubine. How can we not stay by the young master's side ?
Shunzhidi was surprised and asked her grandmother carefully in a low voice how she knew it, and told her not to talk nonsense.
Madam Shun said that the young master asked us old people to look after Zhidi and help her. In the future, the country should be like Renhuai Fort, where the older generation should retire to enjoy their old age and watch the young people do the work.
If the Third Young Master says so, doesn't that mean he will dominate the court? How can he do that without ascending the throne?
Shunzhidi was so surprised that she didn't move.
Seeing that she didn't respond, the old lady asked the girl if she was stupid.
Shunzhidi bit her finger and answered her woodenly: My brother said that as long as a person is willing to learn and dare to do things, opportunities are always not far away. She just wanted to do a good job in her hometown, and turned around to pat her grandmother and said, "Go to sleep, go to sleep, you have been busy all day."
The next day, Zhao Yulin went to see Chen Xian, the chief steward of Guigu. Several stewards of Guigu were all depressed and gloomy. He encouraged everyone and said that the hot air balloon incident was definitely not a technical problem.
Because the hot air balloon has already been launched and tested repeatedly, this test is a test before the equipment is finalized. Such problems are most likely caused by enemy sabotage, with the aim of preventing our new weapons from being deployed and used.
Everyone found the topic of security and began to discuss it. They all agreed with Zhao Yulin's idea of moving Guigu to a more remote and quiet place for construction.
Chen Xian said that we who are engaged in scientific research do not need to stay in such a prosperous place. We can concentrate on thinking more when we are calm. After this relocation, we are also called Guigu. The people of Cuiping Mountain always say that Guigu is haunted and call us old ghosts.
Several master chefs could not help but laugh. They knew best that most of the strange phenomena that occurred in the Ghost Valley of Cuiping Mountain were caused by these geniuses. The common people were right, it was these geniuses who were causing trouble.
Zhao Yulin said that the next time they move, they will change the name to Hongmeng Valley, which means the beginning of heaven and earth, and the time when wisdom will be used to create wonders to protect the peace of China.
The old masters were happy and nodded in agreement, and the atmosphere gradually became relaxed.
When everyone was discussing firearms, they learned that the soldiers were still very dissatisfied with the range and shooting accuracy of the bullets. However, the manufacture of the crossbow had become a piece of cake. After continuous improvements in materials, the newly manufactured crossbow had high accuracy, long range, and its weight was constantly decreasing. The soldiers liked it more and more, and the old masters even gave up the idea of developing muskets.
Zhao Yulin knew that this was because the machinery and tools had not yet advanced enough, so he advised them not to be anxious and never give up.
You must be kidding. The 800 million bars in his hand are god-level equipment that were only available eight hundred years later.
How to do it at this time.
However, Chen Xian told him that he had already made bullets for the 800 million bars, and the results of their experiments were close to the real ones brought by the military advisor.
Zhao Yulin understood what Chen Xian meant. He took advantage of the opportunity to dip the tea in water and draw a rifle on the table. He explained to the masters the technical terms such as caliber, rifling, trajectory and airtightness that were only invented in later generations.
The old masters stopped the conversation immediately after hearing just two sentences, and called for the servants to bring paper and pen, and then shouted tremblingly: "Third Young Master, please continue."
Zhao Yulin was speechless when he saw the serious expressions on the faces of these elderly people. He took a sip of tea and started to teach them...
Finally, Zhao Yulin reminded them: the better the tools and the higher the precision of the spare parts, the better the quality of the products.
When they got back, Duan Xiaolin said they were leaving, and the whole family went to eat at the Beggar's Chicken restaurant by the Jinsha River. After his eldest brother took over, there were indeed fewer diners. A group of children, big and small, came in and ran around, and it felt like the whole yard was filled with his children.
Zhao Yulin felt a little emotional. He was not even thirty years old yet, but he already had so many children.
Although Duan Xiaolin did not achieve his goal, he still got the equipment for 5,000 people and could go back to report to his father, who happily treated him to a drink.
Zhao Yulin advised him to go back and advise his father, the emperor, that the Dali Kingdom was not rich and could not only focus on military affairs and ignore the lives of the people. Only when the people lived and worked in peace and contentment could they gather a strong force to develop the military.
His sister nodded continuously as she listened, saying that the people of Dali were suffering and that it was time to do more for them.
