Chapter 22: The Yao Family

  Yao Family

  "It's like I'm back, haha, 2011, although the air isn't always fresh and is filled with the weird smell of car exhaust, this familiar sense of security can't be compared to 1875."

  Yao Fan quickly took off his long gown beside the Tian Hou Palace, wrapped it in a box filled with gold, hailed a cab and headed straight home.

  Yao Fan's parents had already retired. After Yao Fan returned home, he told them about his strange encounter in detail.

  At first, both elders did not believe what Yao Fang said. Yao Fang's mother even thought he had gone mad and hastily wanted to take him to the hospital for a check-up.

  Yao Fan hastily showed them the long gown brought by the Qing Dynasty and the box filled with 20 kilograms of gold. The two old men gnawed at the gold repeatedly to confirm, and only then did they temporarily half-believe and half-doubtfully accept Yao Fan's statement.

  "Yao Fan's mother was worried about her son's money-making plan: "Fan, are you really going to go back to that ghost place? Mom is not at ease! Fan, look, now we have so much gold, didn't you say it's worth six million? Mom thinks you should just buy a house and live a simple life, don't go back to that ghost place again. That was the Qing Dynasty! Mom saw on TV that ordinary people were easily beheaded when caught by officials!"

  "Mom, don't worry, I can take care of myself! Your son is so clever, if things don't look right, I can run back home immediately!"

  Yao Feng's father, who had been quiet and taciturn all along, suddenly spoke up: "Listening to you talk about it so mysteriously, I'm tempted to go to the Qing Dynasty to see what it's like. What do people wear there? Where do they live? What do they eat? Fengfeng, why don't you take your dad with you? It'll be safer for both of us."

  "Right! Right! Yanfan, you really want to go again, be sure to bring your father with you, it's too dangerous for one person. You're just a little kid, what if something bad happens to you?"

  Yao Fan had no choice but to tell his parents the details of the Blood Soul. It turned out that this Blood Soul could only bring the host himself and inanimate objects through, so it was impossible to bring the two elders along.

  "Dad, Mom, you can rest assured and stay here to help me sell gold and purchase goods. With this time-traveling method, I must make good use of it, who knows when I'll lose this ability, then I'll miss the opportunity."

  Yao Fang's parents saw that he had made up his mind, and for the time being they couldn't persuade him otherwise, so they repeatedly exhorted Yao Fang to be careful in all things.

  "Dad, Mom, I have a favor to ask of you. I have a batch of books that need to be converted into traditional characters and old printing layout, the kind where sentences are read from top to bottom and pages are turned from right to left."

  "Why is that? You can just look for the Hong Kong and Taiwan version directly then?" said Yao Feng's father.

  "That's also a way, but I'm too busy and don't have time to do it. Dad, you register a company and recruit some university students majoring in literature from normal colleges to do it, and also help me get the things listed on this notebook."

  "Yao Fang, you haven't said what this is for yet, are you going to the Qing Dynasty to sell books?" Yao Fang's mom asked.

  "Yeah, having earned so much money on that side, I should help them open their eyes and see the world." said Yao Fangdao.

  Yao's father carefully looked at the small notebook handed over by Yao Fang, furrowing his brow.

  "Yao Feng, this matter is too difficult to handle. According to the method you wrote, it's not necessarily possible to get it done. Besides, didn't you used to do business in the past? What do you need these things for?"

  "Dad, you try it my way first, if that doesn't work then try other ways. These things are very useful for my personal safety."

  "You're doing all these things in the past, I'm afraid it will only lead to trouble..."

  Yao's mother snatched the notebook from Yao's father and examined it carefully: "Feng Feng! You're asking for death! These..."

  The whole family discussed it until late at night, and Yao Fan finally persuaded his parents to join in on his transmigration plan.

  The next day, Yao Fan went to the company to resign and officially devoted himself wholeheartedly to the cause of crossing over.

  Yao Fan and his family of three took the gold to various gold shops in Qingdao, carefully selling it off in batches over two days. They sold 20 kilograms of gold and got more than 5.9 million yuan in cash.

  With more money in hand, logically speaking, the traverser should have opened a factory in 1875. However, what made Yao Feng depressed was that before the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing government did not allow private individuals to set up new-style enterprises. Unless he opened his factory in the concession area under the protection of foreigners, he would be free from trouble. But where is the concession a paradise? A Chinese-owned factory would be investigated and shut down within days, let alone talk about rebellion.

  It is impossible to think that by developing industry in the Qing dynasty, one can train a group of workers to rebel. Even if one does not want to rebel and only wants to strengthen the country through industrial development, it was unrealistic before the Sino-Japanese War.

  "A revolution is not an invitation to dinner." Yao Weng thought.

  Then Yao Fan started purchasing again.

  This time Yao Wenyuan targeted the Qing dynasty's must-haves - matches.

  During the Daoguang Emperor, matches were presented as tribute and sold for one or two taels of silver per box of 80. Later, with the influx of foreign matches, the price dropped to 50 cents per box. Even at 50 cents a box, this was enough to buy half a kilogram of pork during the Qing dynasty!

  The Qing dynasty used matches mainly in official and wealthy merchant households, before that they used fire tongs or fire knives to make fire, with tinder, very cumbersome. Of course, ordinary people could not afford matches, they used flint or drilling wood to make fire.

  Yao Fangan thought that if he lowered the price of matches to 10 cents per box, he would face an enormous market. Moreover, in the eyes of the Qing government, matches were a product that filled the market gap and did not compete with foreign cloth and native cloth, which would be attacked by the gentry class as "competing with the people for profit". Furthermore, once the price was low, the Qing government would not be sensitive to the awareness that this thing would make a lot of profit.

  In 2011, a standard matchbox containing 80-100 matches was wholesaled for just 7 cents. A carton of 2000 boxes cost only 140 yuan.

  Yao Fan found 20 match factories on Alibaba, each ordered 500 boxes, a total of 10,000 boxes, spent 1.4 million.

  Then Yao Fan rented a warehouse near Beiling Mountain and prepared to store matches and other goods that would be purchased in the future.

  As for the remaining 40 million, Yao Wenyuan left it all to his parents.

  "Dad, I've rented a warehouse near Beiling Mountain and handed it over to you. When the matches arrive, send them in. Please remember to ensure fire safety, okay?"

  "Son, don't worry, Dad has it under control." Mr. Yao patted his chest and guaranteed.

  Yao Fan's father, Yao Peng, took out a camera from the cabinet at home. It was an old Seagull 4A-107 camera that Father Yao had treasured and hadn't been willing to throw away.

  "Take this camera with you this time, I've already bought 20 rolls of film for you. Take more photos of the Qing Dynasty when you're there, I'm very curious about what China was like back then."

  Yao Fan put the camera into his own 90-liter large travel backpack and carried it on his back.

  The family arrived at the Temple of Heaven, where Yao Fan bid farewell to his parents who had come to see him off and repeatedly reminded them. The blood sacrifice was initiated, and Yao Fan returned once again to 1875.

  Yao Fan's parents stood in the distance, watching as their son and goods vanished into thin air, speechless.

  After Yao Weng returned from his journey through time, he felt that his body was not uncomfortable after losing blood. Yao Weng thought this was probably because his body was still quite strong.

  Yao Feng raised his head to see that the sky was already noon, he jumped onto the wide-tired mountain bike specially prepared for this trip and rode towards Qingdao city with a backpack full of personal belongings.

  Yao Feng arrived at the city gate on his mountain bike, already drenched in sweat. The road he took was not a proper one, but rather a cross-country ride, which those who have experienced off-road biking know is the most exhausting way to travel. As Yao Feng recognized the guard collecting taxes at the city gate as one of the three personal soldiers who had accompanied him and Bai Daogui when they sent San Jie back last time, the soldier also immediately recognized Yao Feng from a distance. Upon seeing Yao Feng, he came up to him with a big smile on his face and gave him a hearty slap on the back.

  Yao Feng smiled and joked: "You little scoundrel, aren't you afraid of getting your clothes dirty?"

  "This personal soldier stood up and laughed, saying: 'As soon as I see Master Yao, I couldn't help but bow deeper. You are a famous good person from Qingdao Port, and you treat us lower-class people with such kindness, who wouldn't be willing to bow to you?'"

  Yao Feng smiled and said, "Not bad, not bad, you're quite eloquent. It's strange, every time I come to the city gate, it's either Bai Da Gui or you that I run into, all familiar faces."

  The guard saw that Yao Fan didn't know his name, and hastily said: "I'm Li Shi Tou, and Bai Da Gui is also one of Master Wei's personal guards. This task of collecting taxes at the city gate, sir can rest assured to entrust it to us."

  Yao Fan suddenly understood and laughed, saying: "So that's how it is. However, I don't have any silver on me today. What can we do? Unless you, Shi Tou, come back to my shop later, and I'll give it to you then."

  "Hey, Master Yao! You're making it sound like I'm a debt collector. If you want to reward me, just give me something next time we meet."

  Yao Feng smiled and nodded: "Alright, then if you're ever short of money in the future, come find your big brother Yao. I'm going into town now."

  Li Shi Tou saw Yao Fan lift him up, a small soldier, and call him "Brother Yao", standing in place for a moment, stunned and speechless. After reacting, he bowed deeply again from behind, watching as Yao Fan pushed that colorful, strange two-wheeled cart into the city.

  Yao Fanshen pushed his cart into the city, and under the gaze of the surrounding pedestrians, he swiftly got on his bicycle and rode quickly to the entrance of his own store.

  "The master is back! The master is back! Master, you're back!"

  The first person to notice Yao Fang was He Shi Cheng, who was guarding the door. He shouted and ran over, taking Yao Fang's backpack from him.

  "Boss, He Er Ye is at the new store."

  Yao Feng's eyes lit up: "He's quite fast, he's already opened the main store."

  At this time, everyone in the house heard He Shicheng's voice and knew that Yao Fang had returned. Another fellow, Wang Chuannian, and the steward, Luo Guangqun, hurried out to greet him.

  Yao Feng asked Luo Guanqun: "Guanqun, I won't be around for the next few days, will everything be alright in the store?"

  Lu Guanqun stood up and replied: "Master, you've been away for a few days, everything in the shop is fine. Su Niang's injury has also improved a lot. Dr. Liu said that there are no major problems with her body now, and she is continuing to take warm nourishing medicine to recover. It's estimated that she will fully recover in two months."