Returning to Sichuan and Shu was hardly a secret, so Jin Feng replied, “Yes!”
“Can I go to Sichuan and Shu with you, sir?” Princess Lujie asked.
“Of course.” Jin Feng nodded in agreement. “When we set off tomorrow morning, I’ll have someone come and call for Your Highness.”
He had deliberately avoided seeing Princess Lujie because he knew that negotiation was not his strong suit. He had wanted Princess Lujie to go to Sichuan and Shu and negotiate with the Ninth Princess and the Privy Council.
Now that Princess Lujie had taken the initiative and asked to go to Sichuan and Shu, Jin Feng naturally would not refuse.
“Thank you, Mr Jin!”
Princess Lujie gave Jin Feng a slight curtsy, then turned and left.
After the Taiping docked, Princess Lujie immediately led her people off the ship and went back to pack her belongings.
Jin Feng, meanwhile, went to the cabin and wrote a letter. He then asked Tie Chui to arrange a speedboat and set off immediately to deliver it to Sichuan and Shu.
Although Jin Feng had already said that they could come back again in the future, that afternoon Guan Xiaorou still spent the entire afternoon packing with Run Niang. They packed everything they needed to take with them, while also arranging everything they were leaving behind neatly.
Tang Xiaobei often travelled from place to place and had long since grown accustomed to going from one location to another. After getting off the ship, she did not even return home, instead taking Bei Qianxun straight to the Chamber of Commerce branch.
Once they arrived at the branch, Tang Xiaobei called over the person in charge of the branch and the warehouse and gave them instructions regarding the work that needed to be done. Bei Qianxun, meanwhile, stayed in the main hall of the branch and browsed around.
It had to be said that shopping was a woman’s natural instinct, both in ancient times and in modern times.
The Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce was Jin Feng’s business. Given Bei Qianxun’s status, if there was anything she wanted, she only needed to give an order to one of her personal guards. However, she rarely did this. Every time, she would personally visit a Chamber of Commerce branch.
She never revealed her identity and instead chose things and paid for them just like an ordinary customer.
Sometimes, when buying things from roadside stalls, she would even haggle with travelling merchants.
By the time Tang Xiaobei finished her meeting and came out, several personal guards behind Bei Qianxun were carrying large bags and packages, while Bei Qianxun was calculating the bill at the counter.
“Qianxun, what are you doing?”
Tang Xiaobei said with a helpless laugh, “You’re buying things here, so why are you paying for them?”
“Paying for things when you buy them is only right and proper.”
Bei Qianxun tossed a money pouch onto the counter and said to the Chamber of Commerce clerk collecting the money, “Take whatever you need. If it isn’t enough, let me know.”
The clerk had been recruited and trained in Jiangnan. He did not know Bei Qianxun’s identity, but judging from what Tang Xiaobei had just said, it was obvious that Bei Qianxun and Tang Xiaobei had an extremely close relationship.
If he accepted Bei Qianxun’s money and Tang Xiaobei became unhappy, he would be in trouble.
For a moment, the clerk did not know what to do, so he could only look towards the branch manager who had come out with Tang Xiaobei for help.
However, the branch manager completely ignored him. He lowered his head as though he had not seen the clerk at all.
This was because it was also the first time the branch manager had encountered such a situation, and he did not know how to handle it.
“Take the money!”
Bei Qianxun tapped the counter, then turned to Tang Xiaobei.
“All right, Xiaobei. Although the Chamber of Commerce is our own business, the rules cannot be broken. Otherwise, if I take things from here without paying today, and Run Niang takes things from there without paying tomorrow, the rules will gradually fall apart.
“Besides, it’s only this little money. If I don’t pay, I’d have to sign for it, then their branch would have to report it level by level, and eventually it would reach the Privy Council and Xiaoyu. It would cause more trouble than it’s worth, and I can’t afford to lose face like that!
“Sister Xiaorou has also said that if I run out of money, I should ask her for some, but I must not run up debts recklessly outside, because that would damage the head of the household’s reputation.”
When Jin Feng had first established the textile factory, he had found a cave in the rear mountain and used it to store his possessions and various supplies.
From that time onwards, the key to the rear mountain warehouse had been kept by Guan Xiaorou.
At first, the rear mountain warehouse contained armour, weapons, copper coins, and a small amount of gold and silver.
As Jin Feng’s power grew stronger, the amount of gold, silver and treasures seized from powerful clans and influential families in various places also increased. After being transported back, all these treasures were stored in the rear mountain warehouse as well.
By now, the rear mountain warehouse no longer stored things like armour, weapons and copper coins, which were of relatively little value and took up too much space. Even the gold, silver, jewellery and antiques were almost filling the entire warehouse.
At present, the lowest value of goods that could be stored in the rear mountain warehouse was a whole chest of silver ingots.
Even so, the key to the rear mountain warehouse was still kept by Guan Xiaorou. Only when she left Xihe Bay would she temporarily hand the key over to the Ninth Princess.
As soon as she returned, the Ninth Princess would immediately return the key to her.
Because Guan Xiaorou had experienced hard times, her everyday life was extremely simple, and she was even somewhat frugal. When Jin Feng was not at home, or when he was working late in the laboratory and did not return home for meals, she and Run Niang would often simply heat up leftover food and eat it.
However, if one were to ask who was the richest person in Great Kang, Guan Xiaorou would definitely rank among them.
Guan Xiaorou was frugal with herself, but she was extremely generous towards Bei Qianxun, Run Niang and the others.
Not only did she send them their monthly allowances on time, whenever anyone said they were short of money, Guan Xiaorou would basically give them money without even asking questions.
Therefore, ever since Bei Qianxun had married Jin Feng, she had never lacked money to spend. She had even accumulated a considerable amount of savings.
Naturally, once she had money in her hands, she had to spend it. Moreover, Guan Xiaorou had reminded her not to run up debts outside, so Bei Qianxun almost never signed IOUs. Whether she was eating or buying things, she always paid on the spot.
Tang Xiaobei also knew Guan Xiaorou’s personality. Seeing that Bei Qianxun was determined, she said to the branch clerk, “All right, calculate her bill.”
The branch clerk breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly checked the accounts again, then opened Bei Qianxun’s money pouch and took out two silver ingots.
“Madam, your goods come to a total of seventeen taels and seven qian of silver. I’ll take twenty taels from you. Please wait a moment while I give you the change.”
At this time, the main forms of currency were still silver and copper coins.
The smallest silver ingot was one tael. Silver weighing less than one tael consisted of broken silver, or copper coins could be used instead.
Official silver ingots all bore special casting marks, which served as one of the anti-counterfeiting measures.
There were roughly two types of silver ingots circulating within Sichuan and Shu at present. One type was the silver ingots that had circulated within Sichuan and Shu before the Ninth Princess ascended the throne. There were many varieties, and counterfeit ones could sometimes be encountered.
The other type was the silver ingots minted by Jinchuan Bank after the Ninth Princess ascended the throne.
To stabilise the currency market, they first had to achieve currency unification.
Therefore, the Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce and Jinchuan Bank had been continuously collecting old silver ingots and sending them to the mint, where they were melted down and recast into new silver ingots.
The branch clerk needed to give Bei Qianxun two taels and three qian of silver in change, so he first took out two small one tael silver ingots and then began counting copper coins.
Bei Qianxun found the counting troublesome, so she simply took the two small silver ingots and waved her hand.
“You can keep the remaining three qian of silver as a tip.”
The branch clerk secretly glanced at Tang Xiaobei. Seeing that she said nothing, he quickly bowed towards Bei Qianxun.
“Thank you for the reward, Madam!”
Three qian of silver was equivalent to three hundred copper coins. To Bei Qianxun, Tang Xiaobei and the others, it was nothing, but to the Chamber of Commerce clerk, it was a considerable sum of money.