Zhu Hao returned to the shop and went to see Su Xigui with Zhu Niang.
Su Xigui ignored his business and stayed in Anlu to wait for the results of salt drying. As time passed, the first batch of salt gradually took shape, and his heart settled down.
It seems that Zhu Hao did not lie to him.
Come to think of it, if there wasn't really a "secret recipe", how could Zhu Niang, an orphan and a widow, possibly get the snowflake salt to sell to him?
"Boss, Nanjing has been asking for a lot of money lately. Our snowflake salt is in short supply. If we don't get another batch out, I'm afraid our regular customers will go elsewhere."
Before Su Xigui went downstairs to meet Zhu Niang and her son, his subordinates were reporting business matters to him.
Su Xigui spoke with a bit of impatience: "I'm trying to find a way to make salt quickly. Do you think salt is blown by the wind? Since you patronize other stores, you are not a regular customer. Do you not believe that anyone can eat better salt than this? Do you really think that everyone is an emperor and eats tribute salt every day?"
Downstairs compartment.
Su Xigui came in and asked his men to put down a wooden box. When they opened it, they found it was full of land deeds.
"For now, we have only received 400 acres of land. I will have someone take you to see the specific address. All of it is cultivated land that has been cultivated for more than ten years and has tenants... It is connected to a nearby farm, and we are also planning to buy the farm next door. It is only more than 30 miles away from the county town..."
The land that Su Xigui helped buy, according to Zhu Hao's previous requirements, should not be too close to the county town, but also not too far away.
Land close to the county town is generally more expensive, and no one is developing real estate these days. Land outside the city is mainly bought for farming, as long as the land is good. Being close to the county town is nothing more than being able to enter the city in time to escape when bandits and riots occur...
But as long as you are outside the city walls, if bandits are determined to rob you, you cannot stop them at all, and often the government’s levies are more severe than those of the bandits.
Being farther away from the county town was also to avoid being discovered by the Zhu family.
Zhu Niang looked at the field deed and felt a little excited, but she did not reach out to take the wooden box.
Zhu Hao smiled and didn't extend his hand.
Su Xigui looked at Zhu Hao and narrowed his eyes and said, "I know what you are thinking, but you should know the price of land in Anlu. If you change it to Jiangnan, one mu of cultivated land will cost ten taels of silver. Five thousand taels can only buy about five hundred mu of land... Now it's only half of that."
Zhu Hao smiled and said, "How could I not trust Master Su? But this land was bought in the name of Master Su, so it still needs to be transferred to our family's name."
"That's easy." Su Xigui said, "We'll find someone to be a witness today, and finalize the contract. We can plant seeds next spring without delay."
Zhu Hao muttered, "I want to plant some cabbage this winter."
Su Xigui sneered disdainfully: "I can tell you've never been to the fields. Cabbages are planted before the dog days. Planting cabbages in winter... won't even sprout."
Zhu Hao followed suit with a smile: "I want to grow some off-season vegetables, is that not okay? Master Su, you are really nosy."
Zhu Niang hurriedly scolded: "Xiao Hao, you must not be disrespectful to Master Su."
"It's okay, Madam Zhu San. I really appreciate the tone of your son's words. If he can really grow some off-season vegetables, I will buy some from him to try."
Su Xigui himself was not a person who was bound by etiquette, and he had a very pleasant conversation with Zhu Hao.
On the contrary, Zhu Niang seemed redundant, and it seemed that letting her son come alone would have a better effect.
Su Xigui's eyes fell on Zhu Niang: "Madam, I wonder whose name is this purchased land and house registered under?"
Zhu Niang said: "My son is fine."
Su Xigui nodded: "The Third Madam is only thinking about the child, but if it is really registered under his name, the Zhu family will make plans in the future... I'm afraid you can't do it alone and won't be able to resist."
Zhu Niang seemed to have thought about this issue a long time ago, and said firmly: "This is for the child's future. No matter how unreasonable the Zhu family is, they can't ignore the family relationship, right?"
"hehe."
Su Xigui smiled but said nothing .
Zhu Hao reminded him, "Master Su, if you don't tell us, how would the Zhu family know that we bought the land? If they want to rob it, they have to have a legitimate reason, right?"
Su Xigui waved his hand and said, "The things are yours, you can do whatever you want with them. I am just kindly reminding you. If I am offended... Oh, the salt will be collected in a few days. It's a pity that Master Zhu can't go with me."
"No."
Zhu Hao took the wooden box and read the land deeds carefully one by one. He said, "Hurry up and sign the contract. I still have to go back to the palace to study. If the Zhu family really comes to rob me... at worst I can donate the land to the Xingwang Palace. Even if I give it to the tenants... I can't let the Zhu family get it for free!"
Su Xigui raised his thumbs up: "That's why I say you, Master Zhu, are so courageous! If that day comes, I will find a way to keep your land!"
…
…
No notary public was found.
Zhu Hao, Su Xigui and Zhu Niang sat down and signed the contract.
After registering the land with the government, there will be basically no major problem with the ownership of the land, unless one party insists on bringing a lawsuit. However, because there is a contract in black and white, such a lawsuit will be unsuccessful for both parties.
Come out of the inn.
Zhu Niang asked puzzledly: "Xiaohao, Master Su said before that there is a way to keep our land , what does that mean?"
Zhu Hao said: "What Su Dongzhu is hinting at is that if my grandmother or my second uncle leads people to seize our land, he can go through the government to help us keep the land. After all, he is the one who sold the land to us, and he may use some... unconventional means. It sounds good, but it's best not to go that far. Su Dongzhu also has selfish motives, so we must be on guard."
Zhu Niang nodded: "That's right, if he asks us to sign a debt contract, we will lose everything."
Zhu Niang smiled and said, "Mother, they spent 10,000 taels of silver to buy a prescription from us, and they also worked hard to help us collect land locally. Even if we need to be on guard, we don't have to guard against them like we would a thief, right?"
Zhu Niang thought about it and agreed.
If Su Xigui really had bad intentions, he could have simply not given the five thousand taels of silver. Why did he have to buy the land first and then plan to take it away?
Zhu Hao said, "Mother, I have to go back to the palace early today... I have already agreed to study with the prince, so I can't spend more time with you and aunt."
Zhu Niang nodded: "It's okay, studying hard is more important than anything else."
"Hey, mother, actually, it's not important whether you study hard or not. The most important thing is to have a good relationship with Prince Xing's Palace... Forget it, I can't explain it to you clearly now, but you will know it later. I have found the trick now, and I am just waiting to make it big with my son." Zhu Hao showed the innocent ambition that is unique to children.
But it made Zhu Niang smile.
…
…
Zhu Hao was not in a hurry to return to the palace.
Instead, take care of your own business.
Yu San informed him long ago that he had found an opera troupe from another place and was willing to sell it directly, and asked Zhu Hao to go over and have a talk.
Since it was a business negotiation, Zhu Hao had to show some sincerity. After noon, he and Yu San went to meet the owner of the opera troupe who was staying at an inn on the outskirts of the city. He was a man in his forties who looked wealthy but a little lonely.
"Brother Hao... I will call you the boss from now on... Speaking of this Mr. Li, they used to be a wealthy family. The opera troupe was originally run by the family, but when their family fell into poverty, they let the troupe go out to make money. But they couldn't make much money after performing here and there, so they wanted to sell it..."
Yu San added a little more information, and soon the two of them met with Boss Li.
Boss Li didn't expect the other party to find a child to talk to him, and was very surprised when he saw Zhu Hao.
"this……"
Boss Li looked unhappy and almost left in anger.
Yu San said: "This is our boss. Although he is young, he has an official background and is very wealthy."
Boss Li showed a disdainful smile on his face.
Are you making fun of me?
A naughty kid with a lot of money?
Was that his own money?
Zhu Hao smiled and said, "Don't listen to the nonsense of the third brother. It's just a small business... Mr. Li, right? Let's talk about the details of the transaction... Although I don't have much money, I took time out to open the theater and asked Manager Yu to help me look after it. Now I want to buy a troupe of my own to perform the plays I wrote."
The troupe leader Li said proudly: "Singing your own play? Ignorance, or arrogance?"
Zhu Hao was not annoyed, and said with a smile: "People from small places should be arrogant and ignorant. Price is the most important thing, isn't it? Shopkeeper Yu, show him the deposit first."
As soon as Zhu Hao finished speaking, Yu San immediately opened the wooden box he had brought.
Inside was a portion of the money Zhu Hao had earned in the past few months, totaling fifty taels.
Boss Li’s eyes widened.
Although he is young, he is very generous... He is much more generous than other people who do business with him.
"How can this be so embarrassing..."
As Boss Li said this, he was about to reach out to take the wooden box.
Yu San shouted, "Master Li, what do you mean by this?"
Boss Li was puzzled: "Didn't you say it was a deposit?"
Yu San said, "That's just a polite way of saying it... Even if it's a deposit, shouldn't you show me the contract first? There should be a contract of sale, right? Is there any problem with the actor's music? Are you pretending that we have never had any contact with the troupe?"
Only then did Boss Li put away his arrogance, picked up a bundle from the side, and when he opened it, he found an oil paper package inside, and inside that was a thick stack of contracts.
"They are all entertainers. Several people in our troupe have signed contracts to sell themselves, but the rest have not. It's equivalent to a long-term labor contract. Most of the women in the troupe have families, so don't worry about their bodies... But if you just want them to accompany you drinking and sing some folk songs, that's not a bad idea. 'Men remember forty long songs, and women remember three thousand short songs.' They each have their own strengths.
"There are sixteen people in total, including the musicians. The longest contract is sixteen years, and the shortest is one year. At that time, they can leave the troupe freely without any restrictions... But if they have no other options, they can renew the contract..."
When Mr. Li said these words, it was as if he was giving away a treasure he had treasured for a long time to others, and there was a lot of reluctance on his face.
To sum up.
There were sixteen people in the troupe, all of them musicians, both men and women, handsome and ugly.
In the Ming Dynasty, musicians were a special group, a kind of low-class people, hereditary, and no one from the noble or the lowly were allowed to marry each other, which meant that men from the musician class could only marry women from the musician class, they had no right to take the imperial examinations, and could only entertain people with music and dance for generations.
The contract of a pretty female actor is the most valuable. This kind of contract stipulates that the actress will only work for the troupe for the next few years. It is equivalent to a long-term contract. It is not a contract of sale, and one cannot use the contract to directly sell the person to a brothel.
It's like selling your art but not your body!
But if there really were powerful people who wanted to listen to singing and playing, and who wanted to seize the beauty of the women in addition to their vocal skills, most of them would not dare to file a complaint with the authorities, and could only suffer in silence.