The daily struggles of divorced women in ancient times

Xia Mianwan took a walk outside and had an idea in mind that if he wanted to run a large grocery store successfully in Xiyang, he had to stock up on some high-quality and low-priced life-related items.

You can have nice jewelry and the like, but they don’t need to be expensive, they just need to be nice and cheap.

Xia Mianwan wanted to send someone to the countryside to collect the goods, just like Xiaowu's donkey cart business before, but she hadn't thought of a suitable candidate yet. The people Pei Yanxu would assign to her were all martial artists with strong martial arts skills, but they didn't know how to do business. What could this accomplish?

I need Xiaowu so much, Xia Mianwan sighed.

"Madam, Madam Liu sent a message saying that the wife of Magistrate Cen wants to see you." Rumeng lifted the curtain and came in to answer.

Xia Mianwan waved her hand and said, "I understand. Just ask her to bring it over tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am." Rumeng received the order and went out to reply.

There are many kidnappers in Xiyang, and the public security is not very good. However, in order to stimulate domestic demand these days, Pei Yanxu ordered the government to take the lead in hiring beggars and some hooligans in the city who have not worshipped the docks, and divided them into more than a dozen teams. They were asked to monitor the public security in the city in different areas, and the teams had to compete with each other, and the top three teams would be awarded more silver, and the rest of the teams would be awarded much less. The captains of the teams were people from the government.

Since its implementation, there are fewer idle people on the streets of Xiyang and public security has improved a lot.

These idle men had some money in their hands and were willing to go to the streets to buy some food. The government did not provide meals, so the snack stalls in Xiyang did better business.

Pei Yanxu's method gave Xia Mianwan some inspiration. In fact, she could hire some local people to go to the countryside to collect goods and do business. She just needed to send one of her own to manage the team, just like Pei Yanxu did.

After Xia Mianwan picked up the pen and made a note on the paper, he deleted and wrote a few more words.

After working for a long time, Xia Mianwan felt a little exhausted. She looked up and saw that it was already late at night and Pei Yanxu had not returned yet. Xia Mianwan got up and walked to the door. She looked up and saw the sky full of stars. It turned out that the night sky in Xiyang was so beautiful.

Xia Mianwan pinched her neck and shook her head.

Ruzhu came out of the kitchen carrying some snacks and said with a smile, "Madam, are you done with your work? Come and try the food Xuanxue asked the kitchen to prepare. It is all made according to the recipes that Madam used when she was in Yanzhou."

"it is good."

……

When Zhang Xiuxiu, the eldest sister-in-law of Cen, came to the Pei Mansion again, she no longer had the arrogance she had before. She followed Madam Liu cautiously, fearing that Madam Pei, who did not play by the rules, would not let her in.

Xia Mianwan met the two men in the flower hall. This time, Xia Mianwan was smiling.

After Chai'er served the tea, Madam Liu said, "Madam Pei, your tea is so fragrant."

Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "If you like to drink, take some back."

Zhang Xiuxiu took a sip of tea and said, "Mrs. Pei, I heard that you are going to open a shop. The last time, that person was ignorant. Don't take it to heart."

Xia Mianwan looked at Zhang Xiuxiu with a half-smile and asked, "Oh? Last time it was the agent who didn't know better... I thought it was Master Cen who didn't know better."

Zhang Xiuxiu didn't dare to be arrogant and stood up to salute. "Madam Pei, what happened that day was because my Erlang was ignorant. My husband was busy with the affairs of the government and didn't know anything about it. After he came back and found out about the stupid things Erlang did, he gave him a good beating. Madam, Erlang has been spoiled by his parents since he was a child. Please don't bear grudges. You can choose the shops on East Street and West Street. Just tell me which one you like."

Xia Mianwan covered her mouth and laughed, "Look at what Madam Cen said. If you don't know, you might think I'm bullying you by taking advantage of my power."

Zhang Xiuxiu hurriedly said, "Mrs. Pei, the Cen family definitely doesn't have that intention."

Xia Mianwan stopped when she saw that things were going well, and waved her hand to let Zhang Xiuxiu sit down with a smile, "Mrs. Cen, don't be nervous, I'm just kidding. I really want to open a shop, and it would be great if you have one. Then I'll calculate the rent based on the market price, and you won't pay less by a penny."

Zhang Xiuxiu said, "Look at what you said. Just take whichever one you like. No need to talk about the price."

Xia Mianwan said: "That won't work. Even brothers have to settle accounts clearly. The rent will be calculated according to the market price."

Seeing that Xia Mianwan was really going to pay according to the market price, Zhang Xiuxiu nodded in agreement.

Zhang Xiuxiu came with some silver to give to the Pei family, but since Madam Liu refused to leave, she couldn't give it to the Pei family in front of them. After drinking some tea, she still didn't get the chance to give the silver, so she said, "Madam Pei, it's getting late today, and I still have some chores to do at home. I have to leave now. We didn't know each other until we fought. I'll visit you alone next time."

Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "In that case, I won't keep you here. Madam Liu and I still have something to discuss."

After Zhang Xiuxiu left, Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "Madam Liu, I really need your help with something."

"I wonder what's the matter, madam?" asked Mrs. Liu.

Pei Yanxu has already started a pilot project in Qingtian County. County Magistrate Li and County Assistant Secretary Liu have been given important positions, and Madam Liu has become even closer to Xia Mianwan.

Xia Mianwan said: "You also know that I am going to open a shop. I need some reliable locals to help me drive the donkey cart to the village and the mountain to collect goods, and also bring some of our things to sell. However, they only accept silver or copper coins, and no barter.

This is a countermeasure that Xia Mianwan has been thinking about for a long time. The mountain people here are different from the residents of Yanzhou. If they can barter, the copper coins will not realize their value as currency in the end. Only when a virtuous cycle is formed, more and more transactions will be made with coins, and the villagers and mountain people will give up the inconvenient trading method of bartering. As long as life at the foot of the mountain is convenient enough, it can also attract mountain people to live down the mountain.

This cannot be changed overnight, it needs to be done subtly.

This is also the market's choice.

Mrs. Liu thought about it and agreed, "How many people do you plan to hire, Madam?"

Xia Mianwan said: "I will prepare ten donkey carts first, with three people on each cart. However, this is only part of the team. When the shop opens, we will need about fifty more people. These people can be men or women, as long as they are capable."

Mrs. Liu was very surprised, she thought that Xia Mianwan wanted a man.

"Madam Liu, the workshop and academy I opened in the capital only recruit women," Xia Mianwan explained.

"Only recruit women?" Mrs. Liu was even more surprised. This... women are not as good at doing things as men, so why did Xia Mianwan only recruit women?

Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "Yes, but we can't do that. It doesn't matter if you are a man or a woman, as long as you are capable. We won't treat them unfairly. We will pay them according to the type of work they do, regardless of gender."

"Okay, Madam Pei, if we offer wages, there will be a lot of people willing to work," said Madam Liu.