Steward Guan returned to Nanshan County from the imperial city and went to look for Wei Cheng as soon as he came back.
Steward Guan brought something back from the imperial county, and he presented it in a box.
“Official merchant token!”
Wei Cheng opened the box, and there was a token the size of a palm on it, with seals engraved reading “Official Merchant”.
The official merchant token in Wei Cheng’s hand is silver. There are three levels of official merchants, copper, silver tokens, and gold- an imperial merchant would carry the gold one.
Wei Cheng was surprised, it turned out to be a silver token- he is now an official merchant and can join the Fucheng Chamber of Commerce, let alone the one in the county town.
“Boss Wei, this is your official merchant token.”
Having finally obtained the title of an official merchant, Wei Cheng said, “You’ve traveled a long way, I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”
“No trouble, this is what I should do. If you have an official merchant title, you have to go to the local yamen to register for use locally.” Steward Guan took out a red invitation card and handed it to Wei Cheng, saying, “This time, coming back, I’ve been ordered to prepare a batch of goods to take to the imperial city, the most important thing is to send the official merchant token to you. In addition, my young master will get married next month and originally wanted to invite you to the imperial city to attend the wedding banquet. Considering that sugar is already being sold in the whole country, many forces are inquiring about the source, and the current situation in the imperial county is more complicated, my young master thinks that you should not go to the imperial county, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble. My young master said, wait until he comes to Nanshan County to buy you a drink.”
“Yin Chengfeng is getting married.” Wei Cheng flipped through the invitation in his hand and said with a smile, “Since he is going to get married, then congratulatory gifts should be given. Will Steward Guan still go to the imperial county soon?”
Steward Guan replied, “I’m under the care of the young master now, and since the young master is getting married then as his steward, I must return to the imperial city. I will return to the imperial city together with the merchant ship in ten days.”
“That’s it.” Wei Cheng smiled, “In a few days, you can bring my congratulatory gift for Yin Chengfeng. He should appreciate this congratulatory gift.”
“Since Boss Wei said so, this subordinate is curious.” It is a good thing to get something from the other party, and he was very curious as to what it could be, “Can you reveal what it is in advance?”
“You’ll see it a few days later. It’s for your young master, so it’s okay to reveal it to you.” Wei Cheng said with a smile, “I got a batch of pearls a few days ago, and it’s suitable to make these pearls into his jewelry. I will send some to your young master soon.”
Steward Guan asked in surprise, “Pearls? Where did Boss Wei get the pearls? Pearls are not easy to get. How many are there?”
“I will write a letter to Yin Chengfeng about the origin of the pearls. I can’t disclose this for the time being.” Wei Cheng said, “There is a box of pearls, which are used to make pearl hairpin jewelry. Those of inferior quality would be used to make pearl cream. The effect of pearl cream is comparable to the most expensive rouge gouache, the effect may be better.”
He can’t do such a task badly.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
After sending off Steward Guan, Wei Cheng went home to find his wife.
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Qfl Jtfcu ijeutfv jcv rjlv, “Cgf sbe rb tjqqs? Prc’a la pera jc boolmlji wfgmtjca abxfc?”
“Of course I’m happy.” Zhou Yuan said, “If you become an official merchant, you can become a nobleman. You can become a nobleman without taking the exam for a scholar. After being a scholar, one’s status has been improved, and they would be a person of status in ten miles, eight villages, and even county towns.”
Wei Cheng smiled and said, “Then why don’t you arrange a banquet at home to celebrate?”
“No.” Zhou Yuan denied, “I’m happy but I won’t show it off.”
A banquet is a headache, and it is too troublesome to deal with people who come to congratulate them.
The eldest brother and the others all said that his cousin is a scholar, and many people come to visit him every day, and many matchmakers come to the door to be matchmakers.
“Yuan Yuan, your husband has something for you, you will definitely be happier after seeing it.” Wei Cheng took out a box, Zhou Yuan looked at the box in Wei Cheng’s hand and moved towards it. The box was not opened, so he couldn’t see what was in the box, he curiously asked, “Husband, what’s in it?”
“Open it and take a look.” Wei Cheng signaled him to open it, “This was designed by your husband, and I even made it by myself.”
As soon as Zhou Yuan heard that his husband made it, he was already very happy. He took the box and opened it, “This, is this a pearl? A pink pearl?”
There is a pink pearl bracelet in the box, with gold as the base, and the top of the gold bracelet is embedded with tight pink pearls, each pearl is round and shiny.
Wei Cheng took it and helped him put it on. Zhou Yuan put it in his hand. Wearing the pearl bracelet on his fair and delicate hands would not only not look feminine, but also have a bit of nobility and tranquility.
“Husband, this is so beautiful!”
Wei Cheng asked in a low voice, “Do you like it?”
“Well, I like it!” More than just like it, this pearl bracelet was made by his husband himself, Zhou Yuan liked it even more.
Wei Cheng looked at the happy smile of the person in front of him, he was happier than when he just got the official merchant token, Wei Cheng felt soft in his heart and was also very happy.
Compared with anything else, his wife liked the things he gave him the most.
Although, with his current money, he can give more precious jewelry to his wife, for some reason, he still likes to give him some special things.
For example, he personally participated in the production of pearl bracelets.
Material things, he felt, were not as precious as his thoughts.
Zhou Yuan smiled,”I will always wear it.”
This was made by his husband himself, and the hairpin that his husband gave him for the first time is the most precious!
Steward Guan went to the imperial county ten days later. In addition to the congratulatory gift from Wei Cheng, he also snatched some new pearl jewelry from him.
He felt that this jewelry was very suitable for the wives of the main family.
Jewelry made of pearls, each one is very special, it looks very luxurious, and it should be even more luxurious when worn.
There is also the pearl cream, which has a faint fragrance, and looks smoother when applied. These good things, as the young master’s steward, will be brought to the imperial county.
Of course, those nuts from the north are very delicious. Compared with candy, he likes nuts very much. Well, the young master must have a unique portion of nuts to entertain guests at the wedding banquet.
Steward Guan and the merchant ship returned to the imperial county with a lot of merchant goods.
The north-south line of the wharf is officially opened. They were all wholesale, not sold separately and each product was divided into grades. The middle and lower-grade products can be wholesaled according to the wholesale volume. High-grade products must be bought by merchants who cooperate with the north-south line.
This is not only to attract business but also to find more sources of goods from the North and South.
In addition to wholesale, Nanbeihang will also purchase commercial goods from individual merchants on the wharf. As long as it is suitable, it will be purchased and then become Nanbeihang’s commercial goods.
Those retail merchants are not afraid that the goods in their hands will not be sold, and they will be purchased by Nanbeihang. They can even take the source of goods from Nanbeihang and sell them elsewhere.
After coming and going, those scattered merchants bought goods from other places and sold them to Nanbeihang, and Nanbeihang even gathered the resources of these scattered merchants.
Regardless of the lack of goods from the scattered merchants, when they gathered together later, these scattered merchants became one of the largest sources of goods in the North-South line. When other merchants saw the business opportunities, they had already missed them.
At the same time, there are new products on the shelves of Baizhen Lou.
Earrings, bracelets, hairpins, and pearl necklaces, snacks made of various nuts, delicacies, that range from a few hundred to several thousand taels. The price of a small bottle of pearl ointment started at 50 taels. Once it was put on the shelves, the news spread and it was sold out within two days.
Wei Cheng knows how to do business, so it must be sold in limited quantities.
People who can’t buy it, and those who have business contacts, come directly to ask for pearl jewelry.
In the imperial city.
After reading Wei Cheng’s personal letter, Yin Chengfeng immediately arranged for people to buy the sea area of the fishing village and establish a pearl purchasing site in the fishing village.
What Wei Cheng originally purchased still belonged to Wei Cheng.
Yin Chengfeng asked his servants to give the pearl jewelry and pearl ointment to the elders in each room, but he gave Qi Yihan a pink pearl bracelet.
All the wives of the Yin family wore pearl jewelry on Yin Chengfeng’s wedding day, and each woman’s complexion looked smoother and more radiant.
The most conspicuous thing is that Qi Yihan is wearing a pink bracelet, which is a rare good thing.
In fact, among that batch of pearls, there were more than a dozen lavender pearls the size of a thumb. Wei Cheng asked Steward Guan to take them to the imperial city for Yin Chengfeng to deal with. Yin Chengfeng was amazed and threw them directly to his elder brother so he could handle them.
In the end, more than a dozen pearls were enshrined in the palace by Young Master Yin, and he received many rewards.
For the Yin family’s recent moves, other powerful families were guessing whether the pearls were exchanged from overseas. After all, the Yin family made a batch of white and fine sugar, and they could use the sugar to trade with overseas merchants.
But a guess is a guess, and they will have to inquire in private.
Fortunately, the Yin family had a tight mouth and deliberately guided them behind their backs. No matter how much they inquired, they couldn’t find out about Wei Cheng.
Hehehe, the business is flourishing!
But Yuan Yuan is right, nothing is better than a homemade gift from your beloved
☺
Thanks for the update
Thanks for the chapter! Let the powerful deal with the headache inducing stuff. Our MC can focus on the important stuff, a good life & handmade gifts to his beloved, lol.
Thank You for the new chapter (´∩｡• ᵕ •｡∩`) ♡