Jia Lu through the Red Chamber

After that, shopkeeper Wang said mysteriously, "Girl, this is still a room for ordinary embroiderers. Our most expensive embroiderers don't stay here. They have separate rooms and better lighting."

Jia Lu took a look at the hollowed-out curtain wall and the two thick pillars outside. Obviously, the hollowed-out curtain wall couldn't bear the load, so the two pillars added, this is probably the best lighting that can be achieved in ancient times, and there will be more What better not?

Thinking of this, shopkeeper Wang walked through the second courtyard, and behind the second courtyard was a small attic. Before entering, Jia Lu was shocked and speechless.

"God, is this all made of glass?"

It turns out that this small attic is not big, and there are only three or four rooms in total, but the windows of these rooms are made of glass. You must know that in this era, glass cannot be produced by itself, and all of them are bought from overseas. Even wealthy families dare not use glass as a window. It is usually an ornament or something. For example, the full-length mirror in Baoyu House that can reflect a whole body is already very enviable. Here, it is possible to make windows extravagantly. up?

"That's right. These are miscellaneous glass, the color is cloudy, and most people look down on them, so the cost is lower." Shopkeeper Wang replied.

"No matter how low the cost is, it's still glass. How did you get it?" Jia Lu asked.

"This, this, I can't answer, these are all sent by the master to pretend." Shopkeeper Wang replied ambiguously.

Jia Lu looked at Nanny Li and Nanny Qian, and Nanny Li shook her head. She always followed the girl in the inner courtyard, and she was not very clear about the things outside the Ning Mansion.

Qian Momo smiled, she had already received Jia Jing's order, if the girl wants to know anything, she can tell her, said,

"Miss, do you know what our family relies on for income?"

Jia Lu thought for a while, she often saw Wang Xifeng's family when she was in Rongfu, so she knew something about it, and replied,

"People like us probably have a few incomes. One is the man's salary and the silver that the nobles get every year. This is also the most serious income. There are also three festivals and two ceremonies of filial piety, but these alone are enough. It is not enough to support one's own people, but the servants of hundreds of people in the royal family.

So the real big ones should be the farms and shops in various places, like the Fuguixiuzhuang here, like the Heishantou Zhuangzi at home, because businessmen are cheap, it is not easy to buy shops arbitrarily, so more It is to buy land and form a grain farm, which is the biggest income of our family. "

Qian Momo smiled and said, "Miss, you are wrong. Our family's biggest income is not the farm. The weather has not been good for the past two years, and life in the village has not been easy. Our family has been losing money for several years. Rented, but now it is just to maintain the balance of income and expenditure, so that the farmers can live a little better, so there is no income."

He asked again, "Miss, do you know that there are people in our family involved in overseas business?"

Jia Lu thinks of the rich colonists in the Age of Discovery, doesn't it?

"Could it be that our maritime merchants have earned a lot of money? Didn't they say that our family's soldiers who fought in the war were all landlubbers, and none of them knew how to swim? Although they earned a lot, the risk was also high, and they sank a few times. Ship? It’s because of this that they want to pull the Rongfu to do it together, but they won’t do it.”

Qian Momo replied, "Young lady is right. In the first two years, not to mention making money, she lost a lot. However, with the insistence of the old man, even if she lost money, she must continue. In this way, after three or four years , there are more people who know how to swim, and the sailors at the helm of the Wang family who are already very good at water are even more powerful, and now they can earn tens of thousands of taels of silver by going out to sea."

Jia Lu pointed her ears, "Wang family, which Wang family?"

"Which Wang's family is there? The wife next door and Lian's second grandmother's natal family. Their family was in charge of overseas businessmen in the early years. There should not be too many people who know water."

"How did our family get involved with the Wang family?" Jia Lu was a little anxious. The Wang family, as the leader of the four major families, the prince abducted the position and power, but died for no reason in the end. Respecting the old man is not a rebirth ?How could she still be close to him?

Mother Qian didn't know Jia Lu's anxiety, so she replied,

"The master of the Wang family is the inspector of the nine provinces. He runs outside all year round. There is no other man in the family except Wang Ren. Wang Ren is young and ignorant. After a few years, the family's property has been consumed for nothing. So I think With his own in-laws.

Originally, I wanted the Rong Mansion to take over. After all, two generations of aunts and grandmothers were in the Rong Mansion, but the old lady seemed to be frightened by our family's losses in the past two years, and the second master didn't like it very much, so she refused.

As for the Xue family, orphans and widows are useless. It just so happened that our family wanted to participate, so we took over the power of the Wang family and let the Wang family take a stake in it. We just need to share dividends in the future. "

Jia Lu knew that there might be something else going on when she heard this, but she was only from a girl's family, and now she could see clearly that no matter how favored she was in Rongning Second Mansion, these matters related to the future of the family If she won't tell her, she can only drift with the big ship of the family.

She also felt a little bit of the grief and helplessness of Jia Tanchun in the Red Mansion when he was managing the house, even though Jia Lu was not an ambitious person, at this moment there was also a moment of "any man can go out, if he needs to go out, set up another A career" thought.

"Forget it, mother, go ahead!"

Qian Momo smiled and said, "After that, there is nothing to talk about. After going out to sea, I bought and sold a lot of popular clocks, watches, glass, spices, etc., and earned a lot of money. People in Kyoto still love flowers and plants. Our family went to sea Some people also collected a lot of miscellaneous plants, such as June persimmon and so on."

Hearing this, Jia Lu regained her spirits and asked, "Where are these things placed?"

Qian Momo said, "I remember that the servants seem to have been placed in a village in the suburbs, and they will be taken care of by old farmers."

Jia Lu took this matter to heart when she heard it. She heard that the weather had been bad for several years, and there was a severe drought in Shanxi before. She knew that several high-yielding grains were mostly imported from overseas, so there might be some There are two that can be used, and you must inquire about them when you get home.

But now the important thing is the matter of the embroidery village. Jia Lu took another look at the small attic and said,

"Can I go in and have a look?"

Shopkeeper Wang hurriedly said, "Naturally, girls are welcome."

Jia Lu walked around the small attic and saw the embroiderers tailoring the clothes one by one, embroidering and stitching, so she didn't want to disturb her, so she left again.

After that, Jia Lu wanted to take a look at the account book of the embroidery shop, so shopkeeper Wang invited Jia Lu to take a seat in the front room on the second floor, waited a while, and went out to get the account book by herself.

The accountant of Fugui Embroidery Village is the nephew of shopkeeper Wang. He followed shopkeeper Wang all the way, and saw the young girl from the main family. He wanted to fool him, so he said,

"Uncle, which account book should we take?"

Shopkeeper Wang scolded him, "Call the shopkeeper, I'm afraid others won't know our relationship!"