Young Master, Don't Show Off - Chapter 80
[Chapter 80 Persistence]
Lin Xiu’s guess was not wrong at all. After Lingyin returned to the capital, he lived a life of being drained every day. Apart from practicing, he just slept, not to mention going to Lihua Garden to listen to music, or cultivating feelings with Xue Ning’er.
But it was useless to cultivate feelings with her now. After all, the number of abilities that Lin Xiu copied had reached the upper limit. Everything had to wait until he broke through again, that is, when he saved up 100,000 taels of silver.
Half a month later, Li Baizhang came to the Lin Mansion.
In Lin Xiu’s study, he placed a small jar of wine in front of Lin Xiu and said, “The thing you made is really magical. In just one day, those inferior wines that tasted as light as water turned into fragrant wines…”
Lin Xiu asked, “How much inventory do we have now?”
Since he talked to Li Baizhang about this last time, Li Baizhang has set aside a manor outside his city and built a winemaking workshop. Now, there is already some inventory.
Li Baizhang said, “It will take some time for us to brew our own wine, but I have acquired two small workshops, so we can use the ready-made wine. The craftsmen have been busy these days, and there should be about 500 jars.”
Wine is a very common drink in this world, and 500 jars are not enough to sell, but the two of them planned to go the high-end route from the beginning. In this case, these 500 jars of wine are enough to open a store.
Lin Xiu asked again with concern, “Are your people reliable? If the secret recipe is leaked, we won’t make any money.”
Ordinary distillation equipment does not have much technical content. If the technology is leaked, this business will be gone.
Li Baizhang said, “Don’t worry, the craftsmen in the workshop are all my confidants, absolutely trustworthy. I have already chosen the address of the shop, which is on the street at the entrance of the palace. It is the only way for officials and dignitaries in the court to go to court. It will be open soon. I came to you this time to discuss the price of wine with you.”
He looked at Lin Xiu and said, “I thought about it. Even the broken wine in Zhaiyue Tower can be sold for a few taels of silver. Our wine is only sold for ten taels, which is still a bit of a loss. Should we raise the price a little more…”
Regarding the price of wine, Lin Xiu and Li Baizhang discussed for a long time and finally decided on a plan.
Their wine is not uniformly priced, but divided into grades.
The top-grade wine with the most distillations is 100 taels of silver per jar, and a limited supply of 100 jars is available each month, while stocks last.
After that, according to the number of distillations, the price of wine ranges from ten taels to dozens of taels per jar to meet the needs of different groups of people. A
jar of wine with a price of one hundred taels of silver is equivalent to a full 100,000 yuan in RMB. This price is still a big gap from the famous wines in later generations that cost hundreds of thousands or millions of yuan per bottle, but in this world, it is definitely a sky-high price.
Even if the dignitaries are rich, they would not be so crazy as to spend a hundred taels of silver to buy a jar of wine.
But these expensive wines were originally used as treasures of the store to raise the store’s status.
If you think it is too expensive, there are also ten taels of silver per jar. This kind of wine has been distilled several times. In terms of aroma and taste, it is incomparable to other wines. In terms of quality alone, it is definitely worth ten taels of silver.
A few days later, a wine shop named “Hongniju” quietly opened in the royal capital.
This wine shop is located on the main street of the royal capital, close to the palace gate, and is the only way for officials and dignitaries to go to court.
The Great Xia court has twenty-four departments, which are in charge of various affairs in the court. Every five days, His Majesty will hold a court meeting. Things that officials from each department cannot decide can be raised at the court meeting and discussed by all officials.
The court meeting starts at Sishi and generally lasts for an hour.
In fact, the court meeting was originally very early, but after the current emperor ascended the throne, he delayed the court meeting by two hours. This considerate move was greatly praised by the officials.
In the past, they had to get up before dawn to attend the morning court, and they didn’t even have time to enjoy breakfast.
Now, they can sleep until they wake up, eat breakfast, and then walk slowly to the palace gate. When they look at the time, it’s still a long time before the morning court. Of course
, everyone knows that His Majesty delayed the morning court not because he sympathized with the officials, but because he couldn’t get up in the morning.
He postponed the morning court time by two hours just to sleep a little longer with the concubines in the morning. All
the officials knew this well, but they didn’t dare to point it out.
After the court meeting, it was lunch time. The officials and dignitaries left the palace, either went home for lunch, or went to a restaurant with a few friends to have a few drinks, or went home, or went back to the government office.
The court did not strictly prohibit officials from drinking. As long as they did not appear in the government office drunk, it was fine. The small gathering after the court meeting had become a long-standing habit for officials. At
noon today, officials who had finished the morning court came out of the palace gate one after another.
“My lords, at noon today, at Zhaiyue Tower, I will treat you. Please do me the honor.”
“Hey, it was Lord Wang who treated us last time. Is it my turn this time?”
“Don’t argue. Today, I will treat you…”
…
After leaving the palace gate, the officials gathered in twos and threes, walking and chatting. They were probably discussing where to eat today. When they walked to a certain place on the street, someone’s footsteps suddenly stopped. A
puzzled look appeared on his face. He looked around and muttered, “Strange, what smells so good?”
On the street, someone soon discovered the source of the fragrance.
“It seems to be the aroma of wine.”
“Bullshit, I have tasted countless wines, and there is no such fragrant wine in the world.”
“There is a wine shop in front, and the fragrance seems to come from there.”
“Let’s go over and take a look. I want to see what kind of wine is so fragrant that it has aroused my appetite.”
…
The aroma coming from the wine shop was so tempting that several officials were attracted and could not help but walk into the wine shop called “Hongniju”.
On the left side of the wine shop’s plaque, there is a line of poetry.
“Green ants and new wine, red clay stove.
In the evening, the sky is about to snow, can you drink a cup?”
This is obviously the origin of the name of the wine shop. It must be said that although this poem is simple and short, it is full of deep feelings and long-lasting taste. Reading it makes people want to invite three or five friends to have a drink.
Several people walked into the wine shop. Inside the wine shop, a waiter had already walked up with a tray and said with a smile: “This is the new wine Xianrenzui in our store. You can taste it at will.”
On the tray in the waiter’s hand, there were several wine glasses with clear and transparent wine in them.
Someone exclaimed: “It’s really wine!”
Several officials present were from famous families. They had tasted all kinds of good wine, but it was the first time they saw such a rich and fragrant wine. Someone couldn’t help but pick up a wine glass and drank the wine in the glass. Then he couldn’t speak for a long time.
The wine was extremely spicy, and it was the strongest wine he had ever drunk in his life, but the aftertaste was sweet and mellow, with a long aftertaste. It was a pity that the wine glass was too small. He had just tasted the flavor when the glass was empty.
He reached out to take the second glass, and the waiter apologized, “Sorry, sir, this is a sample of wine for guests to taste. Each person can only drink one glass.”
Someone next to him teased, “Sir Liu, your family is not short of money, why do you even take advantage of the small wine shop…”
The official laughed and said, “Forget it, this wine is indeed a rare treasure. Bring me a jar. I want to taste it all at once!”
The waiter brought a jar of wine and said, “Sir, your wine, one hundred taels.”
The official looked at the small jar in his hand and asked unsurely, “How much do you say?”
The messenger repeated, “This wine is the best wine in our shop. One jar costs one hundred taels of silver.”
The official said angrily, “One hundred taels of silver for a jar of wine. Why don’t you go and rob it?”
One hundred taels of silver was nothing to him, but he would be crazy to buy a jar of wine with one hundred taels of silver. Although this wine is indeed the best wine ever, it is not worth the price.
At this time, the waiter patiently said, “Sir, you have misunderstood. This top-grade Immortal Drunk is extremely difficult to brew and the quantity is limited. Our shop only sells one hundred jars per month. First come first served. If you think it is expensive, you can take a look here. There are also 50 taels of silver per jar, 30 taels of silver per jar, 20 taels of silver per jar and 10 taels of silver per jar. You can try them…” It’s
strange that when the official first heard that this wine was sold for one hundred taels of silver per jar, he was very angry.
But when he heard that this wine was only sold for one hundred taels a month, he felt that the price didn’t seem too high.
After all, things are precious because they are rare. There is no shortage of people in the capital who are willing to spend one hundred taels of silver to buy this wine.
But he was still curious, and said, “I want to see what’s so special about your wine that it’s so expensive…”
He walked to the other waiters and tasted the wine on each tray, and then he realized that there was a reason why the wine here was so expensive.
He had drunk wine that cost ten taels of silver per jar in Zhaiyue Tower, but compared with the wine that cost ten taels of silver per jar here, that wine was not considered wine at all.
After tasting one cup after another, he found that the wine that cost twenty taels of silver per jar was stronger and more mellow than the one that cost ten taels of silver, and the one that cost thirty taels of silver was even better, and the one that cost one hundred taels of silver per jar was simply the best wine, and its quality was much higher than the rest.
At this time, he no longer felt that one hundred taels of silver was expensive.
He was thinking about another thing. This wine only sold one hundred taels of silver a month. There were countless people who loved wine in the capital, and there were many who could afford the one hundred taels of silver. A mere one hundred jars was not enough. If he was slow, it might be gone.
Thinking of this, he immediately said to the waiter: “One jar costs one hundred taels of silver. Give me two jars, no, three jars…”
The waiter shook his head again and said apologetically: “I’m sorry, sir. One jar of Xianrenzui costs one hundred taels of silver, and each person is limited to buying one jar.”
The official frowned and said unhappily: “Why can you only buy one jar? Do you think I can’t afford it?”
The waiter hurriedly said: “Don’t get me wrong, sir. This is the rule set by our shopkeeper. We have no way.”
The official said impatiently: “What bullshit rule, where is your shopkeeper? Call him out to me.” As soon
as he finished speaking, a figure walked out from the back hall, looked at him calmly, and asked: “Oh, Lord Liu, do you have any opinion on the rules set by this king?”
“Qin, His Royal Highness the King of Qin!”
“Your humble servant pays his respects to His Royal Highness the King of Qin!”
Looking at the figure walking out of the back hall, everyone stood still.
Several officials had never thought that this shop was actually the property of the Qin Wang Mansion. When they saw Li Baizhang, they all came forward to greet him. Officials who could attend the court meeting were of high rank and naturally recognized the Qin Wang.
The official surnamed Liu complained in his heart and said quickly: “No, no opinion. I think the rules set by His Royal Highness Qin Wang are too good. There is a limited amount of fine wine, but there are many people who like wine. Only by setting this rule can more people taste this fine wine. Your Highness is wise…”
After a while, when several people walked out of the shop, each of them was holding a jar of wine in their hands.
The kind that cost one hundred taels of silver.
In fact, some people didn’t want to buy it, but others bought it, and they didn’t buy it. Wouldn’t it be like being set off by others for not taking care of His Royal Highness Qin Wang’s business? They could only buy it with pain.
Fortunately, this wine is indeed top-grade. Even if it costs money once, it is worth it… Just
as they left, another group of officials passed by the door of the wine shop.
Someone paused and asked in confusion: “Hey, what smells so good?”
Another person found the source of the fragrance, pointed to the wine shop next to him, and said: “Let’s go in and take a look…”
Not long after, they also walked out of the shop with a wine jar in their hands, with a bitter face…
Then the next batch came.
…
Lin Xiu sat in the back hall of the wine shop, counting the silver bills with his fingers quickly, and sighed in his heart that it was a very wise decision to find Li Baizhang to cooperate with him.
As a prince, he didn’t have to do anything, just sitting in the shop was enough.
Any officials and dignitaries who were attracted to the shop by the smell of wine would give him three points of face. Although the King of Qin was not the prince and had no presence in the court, his mother was the most beloved concubine of His Majesty, so this face should be given.
This also led to a very high customer retention rate in the wine shop. Anyone who walked in would not leave empty-handed.
Moreover, the appearance of Li Baizhang was confirmed on the first day. This was the industry of the King of Qin’s mansion, which completely eliminated the idea of someone wanting to do something wrong.
As the boss behind the scenes, Lin Xiu doesn’t have to worry about anything, just sit and count money.
Having a stable, long-term and highly profitable business can make much more money than making ice, finding people and being a spy. No wonder so many people are scrambling to become capitalists. The money they made just a few years ago is not enough for ordinary working class people to work for thousands of years without eating or drinking.
Today is the first day of the new store opening, and the result is as expected by Lin Xiu and Li Baizhang.
As the saying goes, good wine needs no bush. Their wine is not only fragrant, but also not deep. It is located on the most prosperous main road at the gate of the palace. The King of Qin is in charge. About twenty officials, whether willingly or unwillingly, bought a jar of wine when they left the store.
In the afternoon, the flow of customers in the store began to surge.
Those who came here to buy wine were either from a certain marquis’s mansion or a certain duke’s mansion. The one hundred jars of top-quality wine were sold out in just half an hour. Those who came later could only settle for the second best and buy jars of fifty or thirty taels…
In the end, even the lowest-quality wines that cost ten taels of silver were snatched away. There were also many housekeepers and servants from the mansions of powerful officials queuing outside the door, and finally they could only return disappointed.
If it is said that at the beginning, everyone came to take care of the business of the store for the sake of the King of Qin.
Then later, the wine shop business got better and better, relying only on the quality of the wine.
When the last jar of wine was sold, Lin Xiu and Li Baizhang closed the door of the store and stared at the box of silver notes and silver in front of them. Just the one hundred jars of top-quality Xianrenzui could sell for ten thousand taels of silver. After that, those with slightly lower quality added up to fifteen thousand taels. After deducting all costs, the net profit was definitely not less than twenty thousand taels.
And this was just one day’s profit.
Although half of the workshop’s inventory was consumed on that day, the workshop outside the city had already started to operate normally and could supply the store continuously. It wouldn’t be long before Lin Xiu could earn enough to reach his small goal.
One hundred thousand taels of silver is just a small goal.
Under normal circumstances, he would have to go without food or drink and make ice for Zhaiyue Tower for a year, or meet a hundred rich women like Chen Yuanyuan, to earn so much…
…
Yishuyuan.
In the small courtyard that belongs to Zhao Lingyin alone, in the room, Zhao Lingyin and Lin Xiu sat cross-legged on the black ice bed facing each other. At a certain moment, she opened her eyes, with a puzzled look in her eyes, and looked at Lin Xiu and asked, “Why are you so persistent today?”
Thanks to the leader of “The Top of the World” for the reward. He is a new leader that I have never seen before. Thank you very much!
(End of this chapter)
***Commenting is only available on the Novel Description Page.