Zhang Han was both mentally and physically damaged, and not long after he woke up, he didn't say a few words to Zhang Chun before he fell asleep again.

In his sleep, there seemed to be a pair of hands caressing him, extremely gentle, making him feel an indescribable comfort and peace of mind, which seemed to be experienced only in his own childhood.

At dawn the next day, he was awakened by the smell of rice.

Neatly cut pickled white radish strips, a small plate of turquoise snow mushrooms, a plate of fried oily peanuts, and a few cloves of sugar and garlic are also put on a plate, four small dishes are placed on the strip plate, which looks very tempting, and a bowl of boiled very viscous yellow millet porridge, which is steaming.

"Big 'grandma', brother is awake."

As soon as Zhang Han woke up, there was a little movement, and Zhang Chun, who was napping at the head of the bed, woke up suddenly.

This time, Zhang Han he saw was completely awake, his eyes were wide open, his eyes were bright, and he was not at all in the half-comatose and half-awake dying state he was in a few days ago.

After all, they grew up together, even if the master and servant have a part, the friendship between Zhang Chun and Zhang Han is not shallow, seeing the appearance of the young master when he got up, Zhang Chun looked happy, and almost jumped up and cheered.

For Zhang Han, thinking and sleeping well in the middle of the night also made him thoroughly sort out his current situation.

Of course, it will take time to accept it all, at least for him in front of him, what he has to do now is to accept the current reality, he is already a son of a Jin merchant in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, what he has to do is to establish a firm foothold, and don't talk about anything else.

Zhang Han, who was young and bereaved and self-reliant early, is much stronger than ordinary people in accepting reality.

"Han'er, you're so confused, it's really dangerous this time, and it's also a worry for my mother!"

A woman about forty years old walked in from the outside, and as soon as she entered the door, she rebuked Zhang Hanlai.

Her hair bun was a little messy, and the green satin jacket on her body was also a little wrinkled, obviously waiting on the floor outside, Zhang Han estimated that the hand that stroked her forehead in the middle of the night to see if she had a fever should also be this woman.

This is Zhang Han's mother Chang, who has always been a little strict, and Zhang Han is subconsciously afraid of her.

In Zhang Han's opinion, the woman in front of her is good-looking and has an outstanding temperament, and it can be seen at a glance that she had read books when she was young, and her temperament belongs to the kind that is strong. It's just that Zhang Han's father died early, and Chang became the person who set up a family in this family, and Zhang Han couldn't help her, this woman was very angry, and she was probably very bitter in her heart, which made her face wrinkled a lot, and she looked much older than her actual age.

Zhang Han remembered the hand that stroked his forehead in the middle of the night, and then looked at the woman in front of him, although the other party was scolding him, if it was Zhang Han before, he would be disgusted and afraid, but he felt a sour heart.

Only people whose parents died early can understand Zhang Han's feelings at this time......

How many nights have I longed to be taught by my mother, and when I woke up, my cheeks were wet with tears......

Zhang Han had a strange feeling in his heart, the original memories and emotions in his mind were mixed with his own memories and emotions, with complicated thoughts, he sat up straighter and said to Zhang Changshi: "Mother, I know that I was wrong this time." ”

"Huh?"

Chang was a little surprised, the son in front of him has been smart since he was a child, but his sex has a lot of flaws, too proud and stubborn, he has always been a temper that does not enter the oil and salt, and today he admits his mistakes so calmly, in her memory, it is really rare.

"Children shouldn't be so angry, don't take care of their bodies......"

"You can say that, you are very pleased to be a mother, and you don't need to say more, as long as you are sensible, our Zhang family has hope, and Yusheng also has hope."

Chang's face showed a look of relief, she sat on the edge of the bed, holding Zhang Han's hand with her own hand, the mother and son were flesh and blood, there was really no need to say more at this moment.

Zhang Han felt the mother-son relationship he had always longed for, but his heart was also cold.

It seems that Chang's face is ugly, not purely because of his own body, but because of the business name Yusheng, and the Zhang family supported by the business name, there are already some troubles and problems, and the previous Zhang Han shook his hands and was a sage book, he was a standard nerd, and he didn't know anything about the situation at home.

"Mother, how is the business recently, is it enough for the family?"

Chang Shi smiled slightly, and looked Zhang Han up and down with his eyes.

Zhang Han's face was as usual, only showing a look of concern.

"You raise it first," Chang said lightly: "No matter what the business or family is, it won't shorten your food and clothing." ”

"Well, what my mother said is ......" Zhang Han responded first, and then said: "After this incident, my son felt that he was too confused before, and he had the heart to go to the shop to Zhang Luo's affairs, there is no adult man in the family, and the son should go to the top door to set up a household." What is the situation at home, you should really ask clearly. ”

Chang's face showed surprise, and he looked at Zhang Han carefully, and finally nodded: "I don't think about it, after you have a serious illness, people are really much more sensible." ”

She thought about it, and knew that the mess at hand would have to be handed over to her son sooner or later, Zhang Han was just a nerd before, but now it seems that she might as well slowly tell her son the truth, so that she can help herself.

After making up his mind, Chang Shi thought about it and said: "Let's talk to Yusheng about selling groceries, tea, oil, paper, cotton cloth, southern goods, everything, but in fact, the main business is still food." In the past two years, the weather has gradually become bad, our Shanxi, Shaanxi, Zhili, this area has been poor in the past two years, and some prefectures and counties are almost out of harvest. The grain is less, the price is expensive, our grain is mainly sold to those Tartars, but people do not recognize the reduction of production on our side, or buy at a low price, come and go, the profit is much thinner, in the past two years, we and Yusheng have suffered a lot of deficits. ”

"Suffering a deficit" actually means that you are losing money and eating your old capital.

Zhang Han frowned when he heard this, originally he looked at the furnishings of the room, the area of the courtyard, and the fact that the Zhang family had more than a dozen servants, and after they were famous ministers, he must have a solid family background, but he didn't expect that this business was actually losing money.

"The business was founded by your grandfather, and he brought less than 5,000 taels of silver from Puzhou at that time, so he was separated from that side. Over the past few decades, there are more than 20,000 silver in our cellar, shops and inventory are worth 11,000, there are nearly 10,000 acres of land in Tianchengwei, worth three or four thousand taels, and some other utensils, mules and horses, vehicles, and our yard, which are not worth two thousand, in recent years, we have lost about three or four thousand, and the loss is not much, but if we lose like this, it will only close the door...... "Chang Shi looked ashamed, and finally said: "I am a woman, I want to keep the ancestral business, but I can't keep it...... If Han'er can keep this family business, it will be better for your mother to explain to your grandfather and father in the future! ”

Zhang Han put on his cotton shoes, lifted the thick cotton curtains, and paced out of the warm room.

Zhang Chun had been waiting outside with a big woolen coat for a long time, and when he saw Zhang Han coming out, he hurriedly came over and put it on for the young owner.

Zhang Han's illness has been cured, and the people have moved from the cold study to the east house with a fire pit...... The weather of this era is really cold to be unimaginable for future generations, not to mention the extremely cold weather with an average of minus 30 degrees, and there will be a heavy snowfall every few days, Zhang Han has been recuperating for a total of five or six days, connecting two heavy snowfalls, and now although the snow in the courtyard has been swept away, the roof is still full of snow.

Zhang Han looked at the situation in front of him, shook his head slightly, and muttered in a low voice: "This is the beginning of the Xiaoice period, right?" ”

Although Zhang Han is a businessman who fought all the way up from the bottom, he has been washed ashore in the first two years of the crossing, and he reads some books on politics, economics and history every day.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the world continued to suffer from famines, that is, the so-called Xiaoice Period, which lasted for about 70 years, from Wanli to Tianqi and then to Chongzhen, but it happened that after Shunzhi, the Xiaoice Period ended, and South American crops entered China, so that the Manchu Qing Tatars hit the big luck, and with their clumsy rule, they also made a "Kangqian prosperous era".

A few days ago, the daily family said that the price of grain had risen sharply, and there was a famine in various places, and Zhang Han understood what was going on in his heart.

Maybe others will expect that in two years, the sky will change and food prices will fall, but Zhang Han knows in his heart that it is absolutely impossible.

Food prices will only rise again and again, and there is absolutely no possibility of a decline, and there may be fine-tuning on a small scale, but in most places it is not as good as year after year.

Chang said that he was useless, and the woman's family couldn't keep this business, Zhang Han knew in his heart that this matter had nothing to do with his mother, and under the general trend, even if the old lady Zhang Yun was reborn, he still had to pay for it.

Those who do not lose money are those predators who have monopolized grain purchases and can control grain prices.

Zhang Han sighed and muttered again: "To do business, you have to monopolize, otherwise you can only eat the crumbs of cake that fall from others, whether you can eat it depends on people's faces and moods." ”

If Mrs. Zhang Yun is here, I'm afraid I will have to give a thumbs up to my good grandson...... Zhang Han muttered this, only then can he really get to the point, to the point!

It's a pity that there is only one Zhang Chun with panda eyes in front of him, and he is really cute for the blind to see.

Zhang Han looked at his companion and soothed: "Zhang Chun, I punched you ignorantly that day, don't hold a grudge." ”

It's also funny to say, if you become a traverser and stretch out your hand to beat people, I'm afraid that Zhang Han is the only one......

"What my brother said, how could I." Zhang Chun shrunk his neck, still a little scared.

Speaking of which, Zhang Han has given him the feeling that he has changed in the past few days, and Zhang Chun is a little inexplicably nervous about Zhang Han.

"Don't call me brother, you have to go to the business to do things, my brother is long and my brother is short, and it doesn't sound like words."

"In that, I'll call you the young owner."

"Okay, that's all."