Chapter Forty-One: One Thousand Strings of Cash (Part One) – Third Update

When he returned home, Zheng Yanqing shared his idea with Zheng Shian.

“No land?” To people of this era, land is everything. Zheng Shian stared at Yanqing in astonishment, unable to understand what was going on in his head. After finally acquiring so much land, he wanted to give it up?

This was difficult for Zheng Shian to accept.

Yanqing knew persuading Zheng Shian to change his entrenched views on land would not be easy, so he could only approach it indirectly.

“Grandfather, don’t you want to help Grandpa Xiong and the others?”

Zheng Shian nodded, “Yes.”

“How do you plan to help?”

“You’ve made scissors, haven’t you? Just sell them.”

“Sell them? How? Why would people abandon what they’re used to and buy Grandpa Da Hammer’s scissors?”

“Well…” Zheng Shian truly had no answer.

“Yanqing, don’t you have a solution?”

“I do, but the problem is, any solution requires a large sum of money to support it. How much do you have? How much does Grandpa Da Hammer have?”

Zheng Shian was stunned.

He had been the Zheng family’s steward for decades, never worrying about food or shelter, and had never paid attention to his own savings. But after careful calculation, he realized that after so many years serving the Zheng family, he really hadn’t saved much. Altogether, he only had a few dozen strings of coins.

That was only possible after adopting Yanqing, allowing him to save. Without Yanqing, he might not even have a single string of coins. As for Xiong Da Hammer’s household, nearly twenty mouths to feed, they could barely keep themselves fed. It was obviously impossible for them to contribute money.

“No matter how good something is, if nobody knows about it, what use is it?

Grandfather, take the Bingluo Cake Shop for example. I heard that when the couple first started, they offered free tastings for an entire month. Have you ever calculated how much money they spent in that month? If not for that investment, who would have known about the shop’s reputation? So, without money, nothing can be accomplished.”

Zheng Shian fell silent.

Yanqing was right—without money, it really was a huge problem.

“Besides, Grandfather, don’t you want to make Xiong’s business a century-old brand? If you only provide the idea, they’ll share the profit with you. While Grandpa Da Hammer is around, everything is negotiable. But if he’s gone, would they still share it with you? People change. When you and I were sent back to Xingyang, you only hoped for freedom. Now, you’re thinking about becoming a wealthy man.

Can you guarantee Xiong Wei won’t change, Xiong Dahai won’t change, or that Xiong Dahai’s sons and grandsons won’t change?”

Zheng Shian was speechless.

“So what do you suggest?”

“Let’s give up the house and land, and exchange them for real silver.”

Zheng Shian was a bit reluctant. “Such a good house, isn’t it a pity not to keep it?”

“Heh, without land, what use is the house? Besides, it’s right next to the main road, noisy with people coming and going every day. Grandfather, I still need to study—how can I concentrate in such a place?”

“So you mean…”

Zheng Yanqing thought for a moment. “I remember there’s a bamboo grove at the foot of Longmen Mountain, also under the Zheng family’s name.

That land is overlooked, so it shouldn’t be too expensive. I wish to emulate the sages, reading in a thatched cottage amid bamboo—wouldn’t that be elegant? Besides, this way, we can explain to the eldest son and exchange the land and house for real silver. I’ve heard that an acre of good land is twenty strings of coins; for a hundred acres, that’s about a thousand strings.”

It wasn’t that Yanqing couldn’t calculate, but he had to consider whether the Zheng family would actually exchange at twenty strings per acre.

Don’t forget, among those hundred acres, there were thirty acres of exposed fields. In principle, those should be returned to the government. But with a bit of maneuvering, turning them into permanent property wouldn’t be difficult. A thousand strings should be a reasonable figure.

Not so much as to offend the Zheng family, nor too little to hinder Zheng Shian’s entrepreneurship.

Zheng Shian felt a pang of loss, scratching his head and falling into deep thought.

“Grandfather, if we use this house to exchange for the bamboo grove at Longmen Mountain, the eldest son won’t feel he’s getting the short end.”

“Yanqing, tell me honestly, can this really work?”

Yanqing nodded. “Grandfather, I’m eighty percent confident.”

“So how do we proceed?”

Yanqing smiled, laid out paper on the desk, and wrote a seven-character quatrain in Yan style:

“Jade adorned, a towering tree stands,
A thousand strands hang as green silk bands.
Who crafted these fine leaves so small?
February’s spring breeze, sharp as shears.”

“Grandpa Da Hammer made a hundred pairs of scissors, didn’t he?”

Grandfather, take five hundred strings to make the packaging. The box should be made from the finest gold-threaded nanmu wood, lined with the most expensive silk velvet. The box must be elegant and dignified, and this poem should be engraved on it… Tell me, how much would a pair of scissors be worth?”

Zheng Shian opened his mouth, “At least ten strings, surely.”

“Ten strings is just the cost. The starting price should be twenty.”

“Wait, wait—what do you mean by ‘cost’?”

Such a term, so familiar in later times, was utterly baffling to Zheng Shian. Yanqing didn’t want to launch into a lecture on modern economics, so he explained simply: “Cost includes many things. For example, Grandpa Da Hammer spends materials, time, manpower, and everything else needed to make a pair of scissors.

Grandfather, don’t think it’s expensive. Anyone who can afford ten strings for scissors won’t care about paying another ten.”

It sounded plausible.

“But then, how many people can afford them?”

“Grandfather, before, we had no capital, so we started from the bottom. Now we do, so we start from the top. We’ll grade the scissors, and the most expensive ones are sold to the royal family... Heh, as the saying goes, what the high do, the low follow. When the upper classes start using them, the lower classes will naturally follow.

As I said, who doesn’t use scissors? But if even the emperor uses them, Grandfather, you’ll be prosperous...”

Zheng Shian was thoroughly convinced.

“Yes, yes—if even the emperor uses my scissors, who would dare not?”

Yanqing let out a long sigh, gently rubbing his temples.

Perhaps his greatest concern now was this grandfather. He needed to find a way to gradually lessen his attachment to the Zheng family.

Of course, that couldn’t be accomplished overnight.

But first, he had to bolster his confidence. For this, Yanqing even invoked the emperor’s name—but he couldn’t deny the effectiveness of that title. At least now, Zheng Shian’s mind seemed filled with nothing but the emperor.

He could only wonder how the Zheng family would react.

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It’s almost midnight, and a new week is beginning! Old Xin has successfully moved off the new book rankings, but perhaps faces even sterner tests ahead... Next week’s recommendations aren’t looking ideal, so brothers, please offer your support. Old Xin won’t say much else, but will do his best to write this novel well and finish it. If you enjoy “Usurping Tang,” please bring out your recommendations, collections, and clicks!!!!!!!!!!