Chapter 53: Raising Funds for Construction

  Xiao Jiading nodded and said, "There's no problem with speaking nicely to County Magistrate Kang, but I'm afraid my position is too low and my words carry little weight."

  "Big brother is too polite, what you say doesn't work, then no one's words will work. Of course, planning is up to man, success is up to heaven, even if it doesn't succeed, it's okay." With that, Huang Lu Shi bid farewell and left.

  Now that I have my own land, I need to think about how to build a house and start growing chili peppers. However, building a house requires money, and with the deposit given by that nun added to what I already had, it's only eighteen taels, which is probably not enough to build a decent house.

  What is needed most now is money.

  He thought of a way to make some money first. Xiao Jiading was thinking, recalling that piece of land, one side of which was adjacent to the street and had been walled off. If he tore down the wall and built a row of shops for rent, but where would the money come from? The first person he thought of was Zhu Haisheng, looking for him to think of a solution!

  It was scattered, this time Zhu Haisheng did not come to find Xiao Jiading to eat dinner, because he already knew that Xiao Jiading would go to meet Chi Mei in the evening. Unexpectedly, Xiao Jianding took the initiative to find him and said to go together for dinner. Zhu Haisheng was overjoyed and repeatedly agreed, and asked if he wasn't going to keep the appointment? Xiao Jianding said to go after finishing dinner. Zhu Haisheng was a bit strange, Chi Mei invited him to meet, must be to have dinner together, how could Xiao Jianding want to eat first before going? The two went out, Zhu Haisheng wanted to go to Yizhou wine building, but Xiao Jianding suggested going to a small wine building opposite his land to eat. Zhu Haisheng didn't understand, but he wouldn't refute Xiao Jianding's suggestion.

  The two arrived at the small wine tower. There were not a few guests, but there was still room for the elegant seats upstairs near the street, so the two went upstairs and sat down in the elegant seats. After Zhu Haixin ordered the dishes, Xiao Jiading pointed to the large piece of land surrounded by walls across the street and said: "Do you know whose land this is?"

  "This is the county government's, originally prepared for repairing the academy, but later heard that it won't be repaired after all, and planned to sell it. I was going to prepare to buy it, but estimated this fat meat wouldn't fall to myself, so gave up this idea."

  "I've already bought this piece of land." Xiao Jiading said with a smile.

  Zhu Haixin was overjoyed: "Really? Big brother, you really have skills! You can get this piece of land."

  Xiao Jiading said: "I chose this place on purpose today, just to let you observe this piece of land. I plan to build shops for rent in the area near the street, what do you think?"

  Zhu Haisheng's father was a businessman and his business was very large, ranking among the best in Yizhou. However, during the Tang Dynasty, merchants had low social status, so his father spent money to get him into the government office as a clerk, hoping to use him to boost their family's reputation. Zhu Haisheng grew up in such a big merchant family and naturally understood business very well. He said: "Since it's yours, why not build a storefront and do business yourself? Why rent it out to others? Doing business yourself can earn much more than renting it out!"

  Xiao Jiading said, "I know this too, but I don't have the money to make such a big move. Building so many street-side shops will surely require a lot of money. If only I could find someone to lend me money, paying interest is fine too."

  Zhu Haiyin said, "Indeed, a large sum of money is needed. My father may not have that much spare cash, but don't look for him, I'll help you find someone else to handle it. I know some contractors who specialize in renovating houses and can lend money to help others renovate their homes. Once the house is renovated and makes a profit, they will be repaid with interest. If one person lends money for this entire area, I'm afraid no one can come up with that much cash at once. It's better to let several people split it up and build separately."

  Xiao Jiading was overjoyed when he heard that the Tang Dynasty had already built it with borrowed capital. If so, it's equivalent to borrowing from a bank. He asked, "Is the interest high?"

  "Two percent annual interest."

  Two percent interest is twenty percent, which is a relatively high interest rate, equivalent to more than three times that of modern bank loans. Xiao Jiading hesitated and asked again, "How about the construction costs?"

  "This is calculated based on the procurement cost price. It's whatever it is, that's what it is. Because they have already collected the interest on the loan, they won't lose money from it, and you can check the prices at any time."

  That is to say, the construction itself will not make any profit, it is all cost price construction, and the contractor can only make a profit from the interest on the loan. This is different from modern loan construction. Xiao Jiading finally breathed a sigh of relief, if that's the case, then the loan construction with interest and the construction with added profit are almost the same. Maybe the loan with interest is even cheaper.

  Xiao Jiading said: "Do you think this shop will make money after it's renovated?"

  "Of course it's profitable, there are many people coming and going here, it's a treasure land for doing business!"

  "How long do you think it will take me to pay off these principal and interest?"

  "It's hard to say, if you run the business yourself, you can make money faster, probably in three to five years. But if you rent it out to others, you'll make less money, and it may take around ten years to pay off the loan."

  Xiao Jiading thought for a moment and said, "Alright! Let's do it this way. You help me find them and we'll sign the contract, then we can start construction."

  "Alright! I'll take care of this matter."

  After dinner, Xiao Jiading and Zhu Haixin parted ways. Xiao Jianding didn't go find Chi Mei directly, he first went to a wine shop, bought a small jar of top-grade Huichun wine and some pastries, then brought them to Du Erniu's house.

  Du Er Niu was extremely delighted to see him, very warmly pulled him into her boudoir and even bolted the door shut. This made Xiao Jia Ding feel very tense, he quickly put down his things and stared at her, wondering what this chubby girl wanted to do? Wouldn't she want to kiss or even...

  He was in a dilemma, Du Er Niu had already turned around and tightly grabbed his arm, her plump body leaning against him.

  Xiao Jiading hesitantly said: "Er Niu, this way... isn't good, right..."

  "What's wrong?" Du Er Niu stomped her foot and said, "Are you trying to welch on a debt?"

  "Rascal?" Xiao Jiading was tongue-tied, "I... I didn't promise you anything!"

  "Why didn't you respond? That day at Taolin, we agreed on it."

  "Taolin?" Xiao Jiading finally reacted and laughed, "You're talking about helping you with your poem, right?"

  "Of course! What did you think?" Du Er Niu said with a huff.

  "I thought... haha, I thought you were going to invite me for a midnight snack, but I just ate my fill and really can't eat anymore."

  "Think you're so great!" Du Er Niu snorted, rolling her eyes, "Unless you help me get first place this time, then I'll treat you to a midnight snack."

  "Never mind, I won't be able to stay by your side either, and it's not guaranteed that we'll definitely come in first."

  "Then second is fine, or third at worst, but definitely not last!"

  Xiao Jiading thought to himself, "With all the famous Tang poems in my belly, I shouldn't end up last," and smiled: "This should be no problem. What's the topic?"

  "I don't know yet!" Du Erniao lowered her voice and said, "I'm going to tell you that our poetry club will have another gathering in a few days, and at that time, Mrs. Ji will secretly tell me the topic. I'm her goddaughter! Hehe, it's just a pity that although I knew the topic in advance before, no one helped me, so I couldn't win against them. Knowing it was useless. Now that I have you, I'm not afraid anymore."

  Xiao Jiading said: "No problem, you know the topic just tell me, I'll write it for you right away."

  "Ah, great!" Du Er Niu hugged his arm excitedly and twisted her body, "I was just about to find you, and you came, how did you know I wanted to find you?"

  "I... I've been thinking about what I promised you, so I came over to ask. By the way, is Grandpa at home?"

  "Come on in, I'll take you there!"

  After that, Du Er'niu opened the door of the house, warmly pulled Xiao Jia Ding's hand, and came to her grandfather Du Da Yin's room.

  Du Dajun was surprised to see him, hastily inviting him to sit down. Seeing that the gift he brought included a jar of wine, which turned out to be top-grade Huichun wine, he became even more delighted, laughing so hard that his white beard shook wildly. He quickly took it over and put it aside, exchanged a few pleasantries, then asked Du Erniang to bring some pastries and fruit platters.

  The two sat down, and Du Da secretly and cautiously sized up Xiao Jia Ding, making Xiao Jia Ding feel somewhat uneasy, and he smiled awkwardly: "What's wrong, Old Du?"

  "Can't see it, someone sells you a house at a low price, and you don't want it! Tsk tsk."

  "Do you know about this?"

  "Of course, this kind of thing spreads the fastest."

  "What did you say about me?" Xiao Jiading asked nervously.

  "It's natural to say you're being cautious and not taking bribes, but later on, think of other ways."

  Xiao Jiading let out a slight sigh of relief and said, "As it should be, especially for us who are in charge of handling the case, it's even more so."

  Du Da gazed at him with a profound meaning: "I know, you want to leave a good impression in front of Tang Sima. He is said to be very upright, and his friend had been wanting to ask for his help with a case for many years, but he just sent him a basket of fruit. He actually put the fruit at the gate, making that friend very ashamed, and never dared to mention asking for help again. Heh."

  Xiao Jiading was disdainful of this in his heart. If he sent a box of fruit, of course, he would do so. But if he sent a box of gold, I wonder if he would put it at the door. There is a saying that goes: "A woman guards her chastity because the price is not enough."

  There's another yellow joke, a woman's response to an offer: "Five yuan and you think I'm what kind of person? Fifty yuan and I'm not that kind of person. Five hundred yuan and tonight I'm yours. Five thousand yuan and don't treat me like a human being tonight. Fifty thousand yuan doesn't matter how many people come today, five million yuan doesn't matter if the one coming tonight is human or not." This joke also works when applied to officials facing bribery.

  Xiao Jiading was thinking about Huang Duanzi, when he heard Du Dali say: "You're being cautious now is correct, if you want to get rich, you have to first stand firm. Forget it, what did you come looking for me for?"

  Nothing in particular, just passing by and thought I'd drop in on you, Old Du.

  "Alright, don't play dumb with me, I know you have something on your mind. What is it?"

  "There's really nothing, just that last time I followed Old Du to learn about the case of the governor's courtyard, there were some things that weren't said yet. These past two days, while handling affairs in the yamen, I've had even more doubts in my heart, so I wanted to come and ask for your guidance again."

  "Hmm, what do you want to know?"