Chapter 48 Leaving Jinan

  Go to Jinan

  Yao Fan nodded with sparkling eyes.

  He Wan Nian almost fainted, desperately holding back his voice and shouting: "My ancestors! You're full and fine, why do you want to hit him? He didn't come to provoke you, it's already our great luck that he didn't, what's the point of this?!

  Yao Fandao said: "He is so arrogant, he scolded me in the Zhou family, if I don't beat him, who will cure his arrogance?"

  He Wan Nian heard this and couldn't help but chuckle, then immediately became worried: "This is bad, Guo Ji Xiu has always been vengeful, he will definitely fight us to the death next."

  Yao Fan said with a sneer, "My family often says that it's endless fun to fight with others. Moreover, you also said that after the Guo family was robbed of their third sister by Wei Guofu, they ran to the post office in Jimo and sent an express letter, which is clearly to report to his father."

  I reckon his old man won't take the lead himself, but that old thing has been mixing in official circles for so long, I'm sure he's got a lot of officials in his pocket. After spending a few months making connections and laying low, I'm sure he'll make his move against us. My calculation is that he'll just find some people to file a complaint against us for smuggling."

  He Wan Nian scowled and said: "When the enemy comes, we'll defend; when the flood comes, we'll dam it. Wait for Benzi to come down, then we'll think of a way to spend some silver to bribe him."

  "Smuggling is rampant everywhere, if he joins us, it would be a slap in the face to those high-ranking officials in the imperial court. Moreover, we have paid taxes at the customs, although not much, but with Liu Ziming, the customs inspector, and Sun Maowen and Wei Guofu covering for us, as the saying goes, 'local officials are more powerful than the emperor', what do we have to fear? Brother Yao, why did you take this step first?"

  Yao Fandao said: "All the officials in the Ducha Yuan are black-hearted, if they decide to deal with us, it will naturally be a case of killing all in one pot. Why would they only target you and me? It doesn't matter whether it's Liu Ziming, Sun Maowen or Wei Guofu."

  He Wan Nian felt a chill run down his spine and asked: "Has Brother Yao already made up his mind?"

  Yao Fandao said: "Exactly, I'm going to Jinan Prefecture to hug Ding Baozhen's thigh."

  He Wan Nian asked: "Have you found a way out, Brother Yao?"

  "When a wagon reaches the foot of a mountain, there will be a road; after passing through a dark willow forest, another village appears. Heaven won't let a clever but poor man starve to death."

  He Wan Nian thought anxiously: "It's better for you to go and knock around..."

  "Brother Yao, this time you must spend a lot of money! Recently our business has connected with the big merchants in the south and north, and the first batch of goods you transported has almost all been sold out. There is enough silver in the store, so feel free to use it."

  Yao Fan hadn't inquired about the store for some time and was shocked to hear this, saying: "4,000 watches, all sold out?"

  He Shicheng said with satisfaction: "My partner Yu Xiang, who was sent to set up a branch in Shanghai, wrote to me and told me that after selling the watches to Yisheng Foreign Firm, they were sold out more than half of them in just one transaction. It is also said that some goods were even bought back by foreigners!

  Not only watches, but also silk fabrics and soap are selling well in the concession! There are also businessmen from Nanyang who come to place orders. They plan to sell them to Malaya, Indonesia, Philippines and other Southeast Asian islands.

  Later, the Yisheng Foreign Firm immediately came back and took another 1,000 watches and many bars of soap! After that, Taihe and Yanghang, such big households, also came and took 1,200 watches and many boxes of soap in one breath. As for other small merchants who came to grab whatever they could, they didn't even need to be mentioned, taking away more than 300 in total. Xinyi Foreign Firm arrived late, originally intending to take the remaining watches, but I thought that our company usually needs to keep some gifts on hand for socializing and building relationships, so I only gave them 400. Calculating it out, during this period of time, I sent out quite a few watches to the Customs and the Prefectural Government to build connections, and now there are still 47 watches left in stock.

  Yao Fandao: "You're right, don't sell this 47 yuan watch. Keep it as a gift for special occasions. This time I'm going to Jinan, give me 20 yuan."

  He Wan Nian said, "You'd better take the 40 yuan and go. Since you want to smooth things over with the provincial government, you can't be vague about it. Besides, I've already sent gifts to all the necessary connections here, so keeping more would be useless."

  Yao Feng nodded in agreement.

  He Wan Nian said: "Those 204 large boxes of soap, worth over 1.1 million pieces, have now been sold nearly half, and we've recovered more than 50,000 taels of silver. So the first batch of goods still owes Brother Yao's principal of 200,000 taels can be fully withdrawn."

  Yao Feng smiled and said: "Then I'll just pay out the remaining 200,000 taels of silver for the first batch of goods. The payment for the second batch of matches and other goods will be left untouched for now."

  He Wan Nian said: "Brother Yao, just take care of the payment. That second batch of goods, 10,000 boxes of matches, is a big deal! A total of 20 million boxes! At 10 cents per box, this shipment of 200,000 taels can be paid out too. Currently, there are over 7 million taels of silver in the account, and after Brother Yao takes out 400,000 taels, there will still be over 3 million taels left, which is enough for the business to operate."

  Yao Fandao said, "Alright, I'll put out 400,000. You just lay out those matches and sell them cheaply. That stuff can't be stored for long, it's prone to dampness, and it's a consumable item, so there shouldn't be any problem selling it."

  He Wan Nian nodded and said, "Brother Yao is going to Jinan Prefecture this time. Since you have to pass through Tai'an, the journey will be nearly a thousand miles. If you hurry, you can arrive in ten days. If you go slowly, it may take a month."

  "Brother Yao has arrived in Jinan and insists on contacting our family's Old Third. He is handling the affairs of our branch office in Jinan Prefecture, you can stay at our branch office when you go."

  Yao Fan agreed and the two of them discussed the management of the business for a while before He Wannian took his leave.

  That night, the new house of Yao's family was filled with the fragrance of pancakes. In order to prepare dry food for the road, a dozen or so workers were specially assigned to help San Jie and the newcomer He Shifang make pancakes.

  Yao Fan held a meeting with his core partners in the house, Yao Fan decided that this time he would only bring He Shicheng, Zhou Di, Li Jun, Liu Jinbao and other ten big partners who received 10 taels of silver per month. In addition, he brought twenty ordinary partners who had learned to ride bicycles and earned one or two taels of silver in wages. The rest of the big partners continued to manage the construction project in Yaojiazhuang locally.

  Those who were not named by Yao Fang to follow him to Jinan Prefecture were somewhat disappointed. Today, following Yao Fang's fight, and singing in the warehouse, has already made them develop a centripetal force towards Yao Fang, and they can't help but want to follow Yao Fang all the way.

  Fortunately, Yao Fan arranged for Li Hainiu to stay behind, as Li Hainiu had previously worked at a carriage shop in Tai'an and Yao Fan was afraid he would be recognized. Since everyone saw that Li Hainiu wasn't going either, they no longer insisted on asking him to follow and protect them.

  Yao Feng poured out a cup of fragrant tea, and seeing that everyone had taken their cups to drink, he said: "During this period, brothers have been gathering with me every evening for meetings, are you happy in your hearts?"

  Li Haoniu said: "How can you be unhappy! Master, what are you talking about? In this whole world, there is only one master like you who treats us as human beings!"

  Today, the little car class monitor Liu Jinbao, who is going to take the blame for Yao Fan, said: "The master treats us as brothers, but if we say it, our humble bodies are not worthy of it. The master is higher than Bodhisattva in my heart! Being able to sit with the master is my greatest blessing!"

  "Every day when I wake up before dawn, I'm already thinking about the 'tea party' at Master Dong's place tonight, hahaha."

  Li Jun, the head of the carpentry class, said: "The boss holds meetings for us every day and tells stories that I remember. When I get married and have children in the future, I will tell them these stories so they know that there are many stories and principles in this world!"

  Yao Fangan nodded and smiled, getting to the point: "Earlier we talked about many stories, talked about why sheep eat people, talked about Utopia Island, talked about what is revolution, and later also talked about how the foreign monk's church used fire torture to harm those who understand the truth of heaven and earth."

  After hearing these stories, everyone should understand that I am telling you that in this world, truth is the greatest! Gods and emperors tremble with fear when they see the truth. They not only try every means to kill those who understand the truth but also use cruel torture to force those who understand the truth to perjure themselves, saying that what they previously said was true is nonsense.

  The various stories I mentioned earlier, whether it was the Englishman More's Utopia; the Italian Campanella's City of the Sun; the Frenchman Saint-Simon's proposal to establish a society where distribution is based on labor contribution and individual ability; or Owen and Fourier's utopian societies.

  These stories are telling us that this world is dark and unfair, and those who suffer must establish a better new world! Otherwise, generation after generation will continue to cycle through suffering! Sons and grandsons will endure the torment of injustice!

  In today's world, whether in the Qing Empire or in foreign countries, it is a dog-eat-dog world. Everyone prioritizes their own interests and can build their happiness on others' suffering and misfortune! Doctors wish for everyone to fall ill; lawyers hope for every household to be embroiled in lawsuits; builders hope for every house to catch fire; tailors hope for everyone's clothes to wear out quickly. If not, how else would they get rich?

  "This pervades all under heaven and is what they call a system of 'warfare of each against all and all against each'."

  He Shicheng sat on the kang, hugging his knees and leaning against the wall, saying in a puzzled tone: "Isn't it the same all over the world? You said that in Western European factories, workers work 18 hours a day, which is nine shifts. Even seven or eight-year-old children work from dawn till dusk, earning very little money, and a whole family can barely make ends meet. Isn't it the same in our Great Qing dynasty? Which farmer isn't working from dawn till dusk, busy all their life, and still can't even eat their fill of rice?"

  Yao Fandong: "Therefore, to change the injustices of the world, we cannot rely on people's morality, but rather on systems and institutions to constrain."

  But if the country is in the hands of princes and nobles, and all the rules and institutions are made by those wealthy and honorable people, can we expect them to be kind enough to let the poor people live a little better?

  Let me tell you a joke. There was a rich man who, after eating his fill, felt bored and annoyed, thinking that the delicacies he had every day were meaningless. He thought life was dull this way. His butler came up with an idea, saying to find a beggar to talk about his miserable experiences. By comparison, the rich man would feel that his current life is happy.

  The rich man thought the butler was right, so he found a beggar to tell stories. The beggar's life experience was indeed extremely tragic, making the rich man feel sad and unable to hold back his tears.

  After the beggar finished telling his story, the rich man said to him, "If it weren't for your miserable fate and life, how could I feel the joy of my current life through comparison?"

  The rich man ordered his steward to drive the beggar out with a stick, and from then on he lived happily ever after.