Chapter Thirty-Three: First Acquaintance

  Song Jiuxiao didn't react slowly, and immediately explained: "Yuniangzi, you misunderstood. I plan to open a legitimate shop and want to ask for your help, but I heard from the rumors that some shops make a profit of hundreds of taels on the first day. If it's like that, then I won't be able to afford to hire you. That's why I asked. By the way, I also wanted to understand the consumption situation in the upper class of Beijing, so as to have a comparison."

  Song Jiu really didn't understand much. He didn't know some small historical details before, and even leaders like Luo Yanhuan and Guo Yanbin, if they hadn't come to the Song Dynasty capital, he wouldn't have known. But it can't be said that he was historically blind, in his previous life when he went traveling, on the road, he passed the time reading some novels, plus he had studied history before, so he knew some things about history, such as the later Fang Lou, an ordinary meal cost several hundred taels of silver, and silver was very expensive at that time, one tael fluctuated between 1,500 to 3,000 wen. Nowadays in the capital city there are more than twenty authentic shops, but Fang Lou has not appeared yet. Ren Dian is the most popular, yesterday a large group of people spent money, plus they invited several prostitutes to sing and dance, and only spent over three hundred guan. Pan Weide bought it alone, and Pan Weide was still shouting that it was expensive.

  It's definitely not those overpriced ones, around this time consumption is cheap.

  "Let me help you?"

  Yes.

  "Why let me help?"

  "This brothel will have prostitutes," Song Jiufei feared she would misunderstand again, and explained: "They are all Qing Dynasty courtesans, let them perform, not sell their bodies. At the same time, I used to live in the riverside poor district, where I didn't understand the etiquette, needs, and consumption of noble people. The people I knew also didn't understand. After thinking about it, only Yuniangzi is the best candidate."

  Yu Ping's expression changed to a smile, and she finally understood that Song Jiu wanted to open a high-end restaurant and hire her as the madam. This was a good career opportunity, but she started worrying again: "Jiu Lang, opening a high-end restaurant requires a lot of capital, and you must have impressive dishes and other configurations, such as silverware and ivory utensils. The wine house must be luxurious and majestic, and the location must be excellent, or people won't recognize it as a high-end restaurant."

  "Don't worry about this, I just want to ask how much money you get paid when you're called out once. Don't misunderstand, it's necessary to understand this."

  "It depends, some guests are generous and will give a hundred or two hundred taels of silver, or even gift us with valuable jewelry worth hundreds of taels, but others are stingy and only give ten or twenty taels. Some guests are rough and violent, often causing trouble that ends in everyone leaving unhappy. If you cause trouble once or twice, your reputation will be ruined and no one will dare to invite you again, and your value will drop. But if you don't cause trouble, the feeling of being forced to compromise is also unbearable. That's why when I heard your little ditty, I had Cui'er find you. Although it's not a great thing to do, it's unavoidable, and it's not too humiliating, but it does increase one's reputation, who wouldn't want that? This line of work, Jiulang, is not as glorious as you imagine, and I don't want to do it either."

  Song Jiuxu sighed and finally understood why the old handsome man Liu Yong was so popular, although he was a bit of a suck-up, Liu Yong wrote lyrics for them, which was exactly what made him famous!

  "Does Ninth Brother despise my humble abode?"

  Song Jiu did not despise her, and even if he had a ninth-grade official position, he would not have the qualifications to despise Yu Ping. Even if he reached Yu Ping's level as a "vulgar person", he wouldn't be qualified. However, she had an ulterior motive and didn't answer directly, saying: "Yu Niangzi, how much income do you have in a year?"

  "It's not easy to say, if it's good, one year can have an income of three or four thousand taels of silver, if not, two thousand taels is not enough. And then there's the rent for this courtyard, mother and Cui'er's food and clothing, entertaining guests with fruit and tea, and daily necessities like cosmetics, so it's hard to save much money and silk. But I did get some valuable jewelry. However, a woman's beauty fades quickly, I'm already 20 years old..."

  This question is not easy to answer for Song Ji. In the Song Dynasty, people got married early, which was contrary to the Tang Dynasty's custom. They preferred thinness over plumpness and even liked Lolita complex. From a scientific perspective, a woman's golden age is at 29 years old. If she encounters some evil people, even in her 40s, she can still dress up like a young girl. At 20 years old, in later generations, she would only be considered a little girl. But that's not the point...

  "Jade girl, how much are these ornaments worth?"

  "Jiulang, you asked so clearly, wanting to cheat my family's daughter out of money?" Cui'er said.

  "Cui'er, even if I love money, I won't go eat soft rice. Jade girl, farewell."

  "What's wrong with eating soft rice?"

  "A man who is supported by his wife is called a 'rice weasel'."

  "My family agrees with you."

  "I'll thank you then, and I won't let you down in the future," Song Jiu said. He still didn't know how much money Yu Ping could make in a year, but he definitely wouldn't be able to ask today. If he asked her how much she made, she would say "Do you look down on me? I'm 20 years old, can this be said?" Yu Ping was quite pretty, but he had promised, and the young lady from the Pan family could become his concubine in the future. Even if it were Yu Ping, it's impossible for her to become a concubine. Between these two options, he could only give up on Yu Ping.

  Strolling to Panlou Street, all the nearby shops were luxury goods stores from the Song Dynasty. Song Jiu didn't buy anything, just walked from one store to another, browsing.

  After spending most of the day, I finally got around to doing the second thing, inviting a painter.

  Song Jiude's material science, arithmetic is a minor path, accounting, practical studies, and uniform measurement are also minor paths, even becoming a side door, strange skills, and cunning. Words are also a minor path, and painting is even more so. Although the Song Dynasty initially established the Painting Academy, it was not highly valued until Emperor Song Renzong, who loved literature and art, slowly promoted some famous painters to low-ranking officials. Painter Zhao Ji is not counted, including many famous painters such as Fan Kuan and Guo Cheng, who spent their lives in obscurity, unable to fulfill their ambitions.

  However, there were not a few painters. Some painted portraits and screens for officials and nobles, while others made a living by selling paintings. Even the great painter Xu Daoning used his paintings to attract tourists to buy dog skin plaster. If you bought one of his dog skin plasters, he would give you one of his paintings. Paintings that are now worth tens of millions of yuan were then only worth the price of a piece of dog skin plaster.

  So Xujiu spent two hundred coins a day and immediately found seven or eight painters, and looking at their paintings, they couldn't be compared to great masters like Guo Cheng, but they were all pretty good, able to be called second-rate painters. Not needing so many people, he chose again from among them and selected four, bringing them back home. By the time they arrived home it was almost Shensi (3-5 pm), the sun gradually inclining westward.

  The gate was still open as before, and inside it was still bustling with activity. However, this state of affairs would not last long. Once the academy was established, things could no longer be so chaotic. But then his family had another dozen or so guests arrive, three sisters, several strangers, Liu Gonggong and a guard.

  Seeing Song Jiu return, they came forward one by one to greet him.

  Liu Gonggong is familiar, the three sisters must be familiar too. Those few people are unfamiliar, Song Jiu looks at them with suspicion. They start to introduce themselves, all of whom are bosses or managers from various business houses. Song Jiu understands their intentions without asking.

  Song Jiuyi wants students to compete with each other, not just for this bet, but also for their future.

  It's impossible for him to know everything in history, but he knows some major events. For example, the Ming Dynasty was very strict with corrupt officials, beheading and skinning them to make drums. The Tang and Song Dynasties were also very strict, but not as cruel, instead making it a private crime. Public crimes refer to mistakes made due to ability, and those who commit such crimes can still be rehired. Private crimes refer to corruption, and once identified as a private crime, they are no longer allowed to be rehired.

  Gao Xi received money from Guo Chong, which was only slightly related to corruption. Guo Chong himself was one of the founding generals of the Song Dynasty, and he just wanted to give some gifts to ask Gao Xi to say a few good words for him. Gao Xi was in a difficult situation. Who was Gao Xi? He was Zhao Kuangyin's trusted aide and private secretary!

  There are various reasons for this, including the greed of officials, mutual protection among officials, and the confusion of accounts, which gives officials an opportunity to take advantage. The most obvious example is that during the Western Expedition of Emperor Renzong of Song several years ago, the country was in a state of emergency and there was no money in the treasury, so they had to heavily tax the people again. In fact, the two taxes only increased by 10 million, which is equivalent to 4 million strings of cash at most, while commercial taxes increased by 12 million strings, and various monopolies increased by several million. After being distributed among households, each household only paid a little over 2 guan per year, not even 3 guan. However, after just four years of heavy taxation, people in various places rose up in revolt. This is the achievement of officials, who collect 10 million from above and distribute it to below, where it becomes at least 30 or 40 million.

  So Song Jiu intentionally let Xue Zile shine a bit.

  If Song Jiuxiang's original intention was to let the students learn well and be able to take care of themselves, and now they can do better, it would be even better. If Zhao Kuangyin can appreciate them, letting them serve as accountants in various states, counties, and government offices, wouldn't that be a brighter future?

  I don't know what Zhao Kuangyin thinks, but yesterday's big competition, those ten shops may not be very happy. This matter has caused some stir, not only for the country, but also for some large businessmen's industries. From upstream workshops or production places, to midstream transportation costs and losses, to downstream sales in various stores. These accounts are complicated, if using current abacus and single-entry bookkeeping methods, it will not only be confusing, but also lead to serious errors. Even saying something unpleasant, even the servants of Zhao Pu's family would take advantage of embezzling Zhao Pu's due share.

  Small shops don't matter, but if a big shop hears about this, ignorant people will mock him, and those who understand will know the meaning behind it. That's why these few people came. In the past, people didn't know, but now they do, just like Bai Juyi's poem: The Yang family has a daughter who has just grown up, raised in a deep boudoir, unknown to people. Born with beauty, hard to abandon, one day selected by the king's side. A glance and a smile, a hundred charms are born, the six palaces' powder and rouge have no color. Later, more and more people will come!

  "The host yields to the guest," Song Jiuxiao said to them, "Would you all mind waiting for a moment?"

  First, we must invite Liu Gonggong, he is in charge of handling matters for His Majesty.

  Liu Gong said: "Jiulang, let's talk in private."

  "Good."

  Liu Gonggong brought a small brocade box and followed Song Jiu to the back house. Liu Gonggong opened the brocade box, inside were three ingots of gold. He said: "This is 150 taels of yellow gold bestowed upon you by His Majesty."

  "Thank you, Your Majesty!" Song Jiu was overjoyed. At first, silver was still relatively cheap, with one tael of silver equivalent to 800-1200 wen. However, after being given away to the Khitan and Western Xia for many years, it became increasingly expensive, rising to 2000-3000 wen. Gold was also expensive, with one tael now worth 10,000 wen. But after obtaining Southern Tang, the price of gold fell, once dropping to 5000 wen. Later, as trade developed, copper coins flowed into the Khitan, Western Xia, Goryeo, and Japan, but there were not enough copper coins in circulation, while gold flowed into the Arab world. Additionally, large amounts of gold were needed for jewelry, causing the price of gold to skyrocket again, reaching a peak of 40,000 wen at one point. From an investment perspective, if there are no reliable investments available, it would be best to sell any gold you have now and exchange it for silver to collect.

  Song Jiu won't save it, there are many places to use the money immediately. These one hundred and fifty taels of gold, if exchanged for cash in a money cabinet, can be exchanged for at least over 1,400 yuan.

  Liu Gonggong smiled.

  Yesterday's events, Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Kuangyi both heard about it, but couldn't quite understand how Song Jiu got the money. However, they also heard that he took a few second-generation nobles to drink wine and then brought them to the riverbank to show off, making it likely that he would swindle them out of their money. But how much could he swindle? Even if he managed to get 20-30 thousand taels, it was still a lot. Swindling without leaving any evidence wasn't against the law in this era. However, knowing the basics was essential for making a profit. In the end, Zhao Kuangyin decided to be generous and gave Song Jiu 150 taels of gold, adding icing to the cake by giving him a horse as well.

  The Duke said, "Your Majesty also asked me to bring a message to you. The deadline is approaching in one month's time. Your three questions have stumped many people, and the imperial court's reputation is not great either. Why don't you tell Zhang Doctor the answers? He will mention it to Zhang Doctor, and he won't ask for your 500 bolts of silk reward. This way, it can also help improve your relationship."

  "Fake it?"

  "This is called flexibility, why pretend?"

  "Is this okay too?"