Xia Chunchao was unaware that her sister-in-law suddenly said this, lowered her head and said nothing, and only smiled for a long time: "What's wrong with my sister today?" poured out this grumble. It must be that the mother is strict on weekdays. It's also that I'm not good, and I don't have to say that I don't have these things, and my sister who is upset is not happy. Let's not talk about that. My sister will first accompany me to the shop on Meiliu Street to check the accounts, and when we come back, we will go to Hexiangzhuang to make an appointment for two catties of snacks and go back. "The ladies of the Lu family all like sweets, and this Sister Lu Hong especially loves to eat peach blossom sesame cake in Hexiangzhuang. Xia Chunchao was moved by seeing this sister-in-law, so he used this thing to make her happy.

When Sister Lu Hong saw her say this, she didn't care about counting the elders on the street, so she had to say: "My sister-in-law remembers that my grandmother and mother love to eat that family's crystal moon cakes, and I just want to rely on them to occupy a light." My sister-in-law wants to be a filial daughter-in-law, just say it, don't I still stop it? The two sisters-in-law are used to talking and laughing like this on weekdays, and Xia Chunchao didn't care, so she only told the girl Bao'er to pass the coachman, and then boarded the car hand in hand with Sister Lu Hong.

Now in March, it is the season of going green, the suburbs of Beijing are full of people, the flow of people is like a tide, and the carriage of the Lu family is not fast, so it has to slowly enter the city with the crowd. Because Xia Chunchao wanted to take stock of the accounts in the shop, the coachman got the order, and went straight to Meiliu Street at the city gate.

It turned out that since Xia Chunchao entered the door, he saw that his husband's family was in difficulty, so he negotiated with her husband, took out his own dowry, discounted the capital, and bought a dry goods shop. She was originally from a merchant family, and she has been able to read the inventory since she was a child, and she is extremely smart by nature, and she is good at writing and arithmetic, and it takes no effort to take care of the shop. The hired man, seeing that the master's family was shrewd, naturally did not dare to despise him. Xia Yuanwai cherished her daughter and chose an old and capable person from her shop to recommend her to be the shopkeeper. The people of the Xuan Dynasty were civilized, and the defense of men and women was not as strict as in ancient times, and it was common for civilian women to come out to do some physiological livelihoods, and the world style was not evil. Nowadays, it is a time of peace and prosperity, singing and dancing all around, the restaurant business is very good, and there are a lot of ingredients needed, and the business of the Lu family's dry goods shop is getting better and better. Xia Chunchao has only been in the past two years, and he has already set up some family businesses for the Lu family.

The words were not rapped, and it was said that the Lu family's carriage entered the city but the car was very fast, and in a blink of an eye, it had arrived next to the Lu family's shop on Meiliu Street.

Xia Chunchao's wedding girl Bao'er got out of the car first, turned around and picked up Xia Chunchao, Lu Hong's sister and sister-in-law.

Sister Lu Hong got out of the car, and when she looked up, she saw a vermilion plaque in her eyes, on which she wrote five big characters in the official style: "Lu Family Dry Goods Line". Sister Lu Hong has read books for a few days, and she also knows how to read font calligraphy, so she said: "This character is really well written, strong and powerful, and it seems to be a famous handwriting." It wasn't like this before, and this plaque was newly hung? Xia Chunchao replied: "Years ago, I thought that the old one was a little old, and it was even more unbearable after the wind and snow in the year." It just so happened that a distant relative of my mother's family went to Beijing to take the exam and stayed at home for the time being. Because of his good handwriting, I annoyed him to write these words, chiseled a new plaque, and hung it up at the opening of the New Year. My sister rarely comes to the shop, so naturally I don't know. As he spoke, he walked into the shop with Sister Lu Hong.

The business of the Lu family's dry goods store is very good, and there is an endless stream of customers, and the guys in the shop are busy greeting and weighing the goods to settle the bill, and they have never seen the three masters and servants for a while. Xia Chunchao didn't care either, and walked to find the shopkeeper to talk.

The shopkeeper Xia Ming was sitting behind the counter writing accounts, and when he saw the owner coming in, he hurriedly lost his pen, got up and made a gesture respectfully, and said, "Grandma is coming for a walk today?" After finishing speaking, Fang Cai saluted Sister Lu Hong again: "The girl is also here." At the same time, he ordered the shopkeeper to pour tea. Xia Chunchao saw that there was a lot of chaos in the store, so he stopped being busy and said, "It's not an outsider, so I won't add to this chaos." This year's opening will also be a full season, and I will come here today to look at the accounts; Second, I heard Zhang Fu in the shop say that a new batch of Guangdong fish maw has arrived. Nowadays, there are too many mixed fish on the market, let me take a look at the goods. ”

When Xia Ming heard this, he hurriedly invited Xia Chunchao into the account room, personally brought out the account book since this season, and invited Xia Chunchao to take a look. Xia Chunchao's inventory is very old-fashioned, and he has ten lines at a glance, but he has already looked at the March account books after a while. nodded immediately and said: "This profit and loss record is indeed good, looking at the flow of water, the business in this March is better than the previous year." He smiled again: "It's still your shopkeeper Xia's good management and good management." ”

That Xia Ming hurriedly laughed and said: "Grandma praised it falsely, it is grandma's daily teachings, we pay the most attention to the word faith and righteousness in doing business in our shop, and there is no shortage of catties and shorts, and shoddy things." The two merchants that my grandmother talked about a few years ago sent the goods in excellent condition. Grandma was also prescient, and told me to stock up a few years ago. Sure enough, before the New Year's Festival, each family bought out all the dry goods stores in order to do New Year's goods. After the New Year, the canal could not be frozen for a while, the goods from the south could not come, and there was not much inventory left in other houses. These major restaurants and restaurants are going to open for business, but they can't wait for a day, and they see that it is not easy to buy elsewhere, so they all come to us, and this business is naturally good. Those old customers also said that we have good and sufficient goods here, and they are reliable and tight. ”

Xia Chunchao smiled lightly and said: "Doing business is like this, not being more careful than others, how can you make money?" Then he asked, "Have you done what I commanded?" Xia Ming knew why she was asking, and hurriedly replied: "The little ones all remember grandma's orders, and they don't dare to sit on the ground and raise prices." ”

Xia Chunchao bowed his head and said: "That's good, it's just a temporary shortage of goods in Beijing, and those restaurants are our big customers." If we raise prices indiscriminately for the sake of temporary profits, it will inevitably make people say that we are taking advantage of people's danger and lust for profit. There are seven dry goods shops in this Beijing alone, not counting those who carry the burden of going to Beijing to sell goods, if you offend these people, you will push the business into the hands of others. Xia Ming hurriedly said yes, Xia Chunchao asked some trivial things, and then went to the warehouse to see the goods.

That Sister Lu Hong didn't know this, and she was tired of listening to the two of them talk about business for a long time here. Seeing that my sister-in-law was going to the warehouse again, I knew that I couldn't finish it for a while, so I said, "Sister-in-law, you are busy here, I'll go next door to take a look." Xia Chunchao knew that she was also bored here, so he said: "You go first, I'll go over later." If you want to buy something, just write it down in the shop's account. Sister Lu Hong answered and stepped out of the door.

At that moment, Xia Chunchao followed Xia Ming to the warehouse. Because of the busy business at the moment, the men went back and forth to pick up the goods, and the door of the warehouse was never locked, and only two warehouse keepers guarded it. Seeing the arrival of the two, they hurriedly bowed.

Xia Ming led Xia Chunchao into the warehouse, and personally pointed out all kinds of goods to Xia Chunchao, and took the Guangdong fish maw that the two of them said before.

Xia Chunchao took the goods, took a look, and saw that the length of the fish maw palm, the width was not more than an inch, the flesh was very thick, the color was golden, and he held up the window to shine, only to see the faint light translucent. She looked at it, handed the fish maw back, and said with a smile: "This is a good product, I was still at home when I was a child, and my father met with a few merchants from Guangdong, and also sold fish maw for a while, so I have seen it." Nowadays, on the market, it is rare to see such a good glue. Where did Shopkeeper Xia buy the goods from? ”

Xia Ming replied: "A few years ago, there was a Cantonese businessman who originally came to Beijing to sell goods. I didn't want to enter Beijing but was entangled by a group of idle ruffians, and the town was nostalgic for fireworks, and I squandered all the money I brought with me. The man saw that he had no money, so he naturally dispersed in a hurry. The merchant saw that in the new year, not only could not do business, but even the entanglement to go home was gone, so he had to sell the dry goods he brought at a low price and make up enough money to return to his hometown. The shopkeeper of the inn where this guy stays has some friendship with the small one. The little one heard the news and hurriedly went over to see the goods and negotiate the price. After the small ones went, when they saw these fish maw, they knew that they were good goods, so they stayed. The merchant was in a hurry to go home, and the price was very loose, so it was easy to negotiate. Rao is so, I heard that this merchant should still have some good goods such as scallops and bird's nests. It's just a step late, and someone bought it first. It is these fish maw, and the total is only about fifty catties. ”

Xia Chunchao heard this, and said unconsciously: "In this way, this person is very good. Someone inquired, if he goes to Beijing again, talk to him, and if there is good goods and the price is right, we will accept it. That Xia Ming hurriedly agreed: "Grandma commands, the little one knows." ”

Xia Chunchao saw that there was nothing else to do, because she knew that this fish maw was a good tonic, and she intended to honor Aunt Weng, so she ordered Xia Ming to pick up half a catty and wrap it, and she went out to find Sister Lu Hong.

It turned out that the wall between the Lu family's dry goods store was Hexiang Village, and Sister Lu Hong wanted to go over to take a look after leaving the shop. When I walked to the street, I happened to see an old woman selling flowers carrying a basket passing by. She stopped the mother-in-law, bought a pair of Ruixiang flowers with herself, and picked a peony for her sister-in-law. The flowers were sleeved, and then they stepped towards the Hexiang Village.

This Hexiangzhuang is a 100-year-old dim sum shop in Beijing, the master is fine, the recipe has been cultivated for many years, and the ingredients used are also refined, so this Hexiangzhuang dim sum is a must in Beijing, and even a few tribute cakes. The 16 pieces of size produced in this store are the must-have things for people in Beijing to visit relatives and friends on the eighth festival and six celebrations. The daughters of the Lu family like to eat dim sum, so they naturally prefer this Hexiangzhuang. Just because of the difficult family road in the past, the price of Hexiangzhuang dim sum is very high, but it is just a matter of buying a few things in the New Year, but it is unaffordable to eat leisure. When Xia Chun Chao reorganized the family business, and the family had plenty of money, the Lu family became the old customers of this Hexiang Village, and they would come here every ten days and a half to buy a few snacks.

Sister Lu Hong walked to the bottom of the stairs, only to see that the front of the store was cold and cold, only a few guys came in and out, and she was suspicious: I heard my sister-in-law talk about it, this is the business of Xiangzhuang on weekdays, far from being comparable to her own shop, why is it such a scene today?

She was suspicious in her heart, and was about to step into the store, but a man in a coarse cloth and short clothes came out of it and said to her: "Girl, this store is not open today, please be early tomorrow." This Sister Lu Hong suffered a lot of anger in Dade Temple earlier, and at this time, she never disappeared, she came to buy snacks but ate closed-door soup, and saw that this guy was not very polite, so she had a seizure, pointed to the guy's nose and said: "You don't do business, what are you doing with this store?!" Got customers to come to the door, but drove people out, merchants, how can there be such a reason?! ”

The fellow was not very impatient, and said, "The girl is wrong, and we may not have to do the girl's business when we open this door." There was really something going on in the store today, and I just kindly came out to mention it and told the girl to take a few steps less. If we don't do business today, the girl can't afford to buy it? The girl is reasonable, but there is a reason to buy and sell in this world?! Sister Lu Hong was even more angry when she heard this, and the two of them started talking on the door.

At this time, Xia Chunchao came over, and saw that the sister-in-law was arguing with someone in front of the store, so she hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "What is my sister arguing about?" When Sister Lu Hong saw her sister-in-law coming, she suddenly felt aggrieved, so she added fuel and vinegar to say it again, and said: "They don't do business, but they rely on me to buy and sell, and what they say is not unpleasant." The guy saw that she avoided the important and took it lightly, reversed right and wrong, and was full of anger. Just as he was about to retort, another person came out of the room and asked, "Jixiang, why are you shouting in front of the door?" The guy who called the auspicious man saw the owner come out, and he was about to distinguish it, but the man looked at Xia Chunchao and said with surprise on his face: "Sister Xia?!" ”。