Hui Niang didn't mention these things anymore, but let Shen Xi have a good rest, even if Shen Xi couldn't sleep, she also let Shen Xi close her eyes and recuperate.

But every time Shen Xi opened his eyes, he could see Hui Niang staring at him, but his eyes were a little hollow, obviously the previous words evoked too many memories of Hui Niang.

Before midnight, Zhou came over to change people, and Hui Niang simply instructed her to go back to her room next door. But after a long time, Shen Xi still heard the sound of the door opening and closing next door...... Hui Niang took care of him and should have had a good rest after a tired day, but he didn't want to lose sleep.

The next morning, there were many foreign merchants who came to visit Hui Niang, and Hui Niang did not go to the main hall of the Chamber of Commerce, so they went to the pharmacy to talk to Hui Niang in person.

Hui Niang originally wanted to put things after the Shangyuan Festival, after all, the shops in the city were only open at that time, but many of these merchants did not return to their hometowns during the Chinese New Year, and stayed to negotiate business. In cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce, you can receive large orders and eat for a year after opening, and it is difficult for these merchants to think about it.

The pharmacy became a place to receive these foreign merchants for a while, and Hui Niang asked Xiu'er to serve tea and water a few times, and simply entertained them, but in the end, she didn't talk to these people in detail on the grounds that there was something at home during the New Year.

The main hall of the Chamber of Commerce will still receive merchants in the past few days of the New Year, but if you really want to talk about business, you will get it after the fifth day of the new year for the time being. During the period before the fifth day of the new year, Hui Niang wanted to give herself a vacation to take a good rest.

The merchant sighed and left, but one group left, and soon another group came.

People are here to give gifts, and if you don't hit the smiling person when you reach out, it is impossible for Hui Niang to drive people away directly, which will make her the president of the Chamber of Commerce appear to be ungraceful.

Shen Xi was locked in his room and not allowed to go downstairs, wrapped in a thick quilt, with melons and fruits in front of him, and he could eat whatever he wanted.

In the morning, Xie Yun'er came over to diagnose Shen Xi's condition, and after confirming that there was no major problem, Hui Niang and Zhou were relieved to do other things. Lu Xi'er and Lin Dai, who were not allowed to come over to disturb Shen Xi yesterday, gathered in Shen Xi's room, and Lu Xi'er was slightly teased by Shen Xi and laughed non-stop.

"You go out to play, Xiaolang wants to rest. You're always bothering him here, and you can't even sleep well. "When it was almost noon, Hui Niang went upstairs to kick the two little Loli out of the door.

Hui Niang seemed to be very forgetful, and didn't say a word about what she said to Shen Xi last night.

Two days after that. Although Hui Niang said that she gave herself a holiday, she still couldn't be idle, and began to prepare for the sixth day of the printing workshop, found a carpenter to renovate all the printing tools, and went to the warehouse to count the inventory. See what needs to be in. The most important thing is that she took Xiu'er and a few other maids to the printing workshop and the female workers' homes to send rice and other condolences one by one.

On the fourth day of the new year, Fucheng was a little unpeaceful.

According to the merchants, in the first year, there were signs of a resurgence of the thieves, and two more cases of boat robbery occurred on the Tingjiang River, and the yamen at the prefecture and county levels in the city posted posters one after another, telling every household to close their doors and windows at night to prevent the bandits from patronizing.

Hui Niang was very worried when she heard this, after all, the pharmacy and printing workshop are quite profitable now. There is a lot of liquid money at home, if a thief comes to the door, it is nothing to lose a little money, I am afraid that the thief will rob the property and even kill people and set fire.

The widow's house, where there are women up and down, and the shop and the home are one, are on the street, and it is dangerous to think about it.

On the night of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Shen Mingjun stayed in the warehouse to keep vigil, and Hui Niang and Zhou gathered in Shen Xi's room to recuperate. Discuss what to do with the money in your hand.

While doing needlework, Zhou said: "There shouldn't be a way for thieves outside the city to enter the city, we actually have nothing to worry about, it's a big deal to divide the silver." Or dig a cellar and put all the valuables in the cellar. ”

Hui Niang shook her head: "Now I'm not afraid of those thieves, but I'm afraid that those ruffians and hooligans in the city will get entangled." Now that the Chamber of Commerce is famous, knowing that we have handled more than two silver, it will definitely hit our idea. If you want to rent a bigger yard when you go back, let's move there. A few more ...... please."

Shen Xi interjected: "Auntie, are we going to ask for a nursing home?" I think it's good, it's so crowded. ”

Zhou scolded: "Bastard boy, what nonsense? We, the women of our family, please come back to the nursing home, I'm afraid we will be gossiped about again. Now there are a lot of gossips about your aunt outside, and you're afraid that people won't have enough to say? ”

Hui Niang smiled and sighed lightly: "I want to invite a few more powerful maids like Xiu'er back." Originally, I planned to store the silver at the main hall of the Chamber of Commerce, but when I think about it, it doesn't seem to be safe there......"

Shen Xi suddenly said, "Then why don't we open a silver account?" ”

Hui Niang and Zhou set their eyes on Shen Xi at the same time, and Hui Niang asked curiously, "What is the silver number?" ”

Shen Xi thought about how to phrase it before replying: "Aunt, I heard that in some places in the south of the Yangtze River, silver and copper coins have to be exchanged, so you have to find a money shop." Let's open a silver number, if the people exchange silver for copper plates, or use copper plates for silver, they can come to the silver number, and we charge a little handling fee or color discount fee, wouldn't it be very good? ”

Zhou frowned: "Most of the people use copper coins, where will they use silver taels?" ”

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty was seriously depreciated, although it has not been abolished in the Hongzhi period, but the people have completely disapproved of this kind of paper money issued by the imperial court, and the silver ban has been relaxed after the orthodox years, copper coins and silver can circulate at the same time on the market, and there have been rudiments of silver in various places, that is, money shops, to local people and merchants to exchange silver and copper coins.

Western Fujian is located in a remote area, this emerging industry has not yet been spread, and at this time the money shop does not have the function of saving money and lending, the profit model is very simple, and a slight market fluctuation can make the money shop go bankrupt.

Hui Niang did not object after hearing Shen Xi's suggestion, and explained to Zhou: "Sister doesn't know, listening to those merchants who come from the south to the north, there are money shops in the north and south of Beijing, as well as in Suzhou, Hangzhou and other places in the south, mainly to do the business of big merchants, after all, there are many copper plates and heavy, and it is inconvenient for merchants to transport goods, not to mention that they have to carry so many copper coins?" Most of the merchants traded in silver. Now that we have the Chamber of Commerce as a support, we can try to open a money shop in Tingzhou City. ”

"It's not a money shop, it's a silver number." Shen Xi corrected.

Hui Niang asked puzzledly, "Is there any difference?" ”

"Of course there's a difference. If you just open a money shop, even if you can help people convert copper plates into silver, or exchange silver into copper plates, but the problem of silver folding is very serious, and we may lose money if we are not careful, how can this work? It is better to change the money shop to a silver number, in addition to operating the daily exchange of silver and copper plates, we also receive deposits, merchants or ordinary people have spare money in hand to deposit with us, we pay them interest. ”

Zhou's face turned dark, and with her comprehension ability, she couldn't understand the benefits of opening a silver account at all.

"Stinky boy, you think we have a lot of money and want to share it with others, right? First of all, whether people believe us or not, they are willing to deposit the money with us, just say that they have deposited, and we have to pay the interest to them for nothing, are you lacking heart? ”

Hui Niang waved her hand: "Sister, I think what Xiaolang means is to let us lend out the money we collect and charge higher interest, right?" ”

"yes, that's it." Shen Xi said with a smile.

Since ancient times, borrowing and lending have been commonplace, but because there is no formal business, borrowing privately is either not interest-free or usury, and the person who lends money must have a deep social background, otherwise it is difficult to recover the loan.

"I'm afraid it won't work."

Hui Niang had a hint of nervousness on her face, "The government will not support private lending, and besides, if we lend out the silver, we can't guarantee that we will get it back, and we can only lose it." ”

Shen Xi smiled: "Then we can just operate as a pawn shop...... Whoever comes to borrow money must have a mortgage, just like in the first year, my aunt and uncle had difficulties in operating a pharmacy and needed silver turnover, but there was no way before, but after the establishment of the silver number, they could put the house deed and title deed into the silver number to mortgage and borrow. We don't have to set the interest too high, and when they turn back the money, we can redeem the title deed and the house deed. If we really can't pay it back, after the specified period, the land deed and the house deed will be ours, and we can sell it ourselves to fill the vacancies. ”

Zhou Shi was stunned: "Isn't this idea too bad?" ”

"Mother, you always say that we can't touch other people's properties, but some people have business difficulties, and they can borrow money with real estate mortgages, maybe they can survive, otherwise the creditors will force them to come to the door, and their ancestral property will still not be able to be saved. We're helping them, not harming them. Shen Xi was stern.

Hui Niang nodded: "What Xiaolang said makes sense. ”

Shen Xi continued to tell his idea: "After all, we are backed by the Chamber of Commerce, and if there is any money exchange within the Chamber of Commerce in the future, both parties are not at ease, we can use the silver number as a guarantee, so that one party can deposit the silver first, and wait for the other party to deliver the goods, and the two parties have no objection, and then we will pay off the silver from the silver number, so that the two sides will not have disputes due to integrity issues, not only can temporarily increase the silver number for the silver number to lend out to achieve profits, but also can establish prestige for the Chamber of Commerce, so that others are more convinced, right?" ”

A smile appeared on Hui Niang's face, and her nodding was much more powerful than just now.

Shen Xi finally said: "In fact, the most important thing is that we will develop the silver number in the future, and it is best that every prefecture and county in the world has our silver number, so that merchants come and go to do business, and they don't need to take a lot of money on the road, as long as the silver is stored in the silver number, even if it is stored in the capital, with our ticket voucher, it can be taken out when it arrives in Tingzhou Mansion." ”

"Even if the ticket voucher is lost or robbed, there is no painting of those merchants, and it is a blank piece of paper. Merchants do not carry a large amount of money on the road, saving transportation costs, and at the same time, they do not have to worry about encountering bandits and bandits on the road. ”

*************

PS: This is an additional update for a monthly pass with 60 votes or more! The Son of Heaven continues to summon subscriptions and monthly passes! (To be continued.) )