"Goodness, what he did wasn’t begging at all! The elderly ladies pitied him and even spoke auspicious words, giving him broken silver piece by piece. He started begging on the roads by various Daoist temples when he was seven, and in just five years, believe it or not, he managed to build a house with green bricks and big tiles."
"Do you think he was just extrely lucky?"
"More than that, he even saved a grandparent and grandchild from Prefecture City on that road. Oh, the grandmother was so grateful that, from then on, during every festival or holiday, people would bring gifts to his house. Each batch of gifts would be enough for his family’s expenditures for several months."
"Yet, Yuan Laorong was an ambitious man, he didn’t just sit back and live off his past gains. Knowing that people from Prefecture City built houses from green bricks, he leveraged his connections with the wealthy families and went to a brick kiln in Prefecture to beco an apprentice. Years later, he asked to marry his master’s only daughter and even said he would na his second son after his master to continue the master’s family line."
"The old master was overjoyed and agreed imdiately. After Yuan Laorong married his daughter, he brought the old man back to Yanfu Village and built a brick kiln."
"Thanks to the brick kiln, Yuan Laorong’s family saw significant yearly profits. Also, with those connections to the wealthy families from Prefecture City, Yuan Laorong’s family really made it big, and he took on the roles of village chief and village head. Even when the county decided to eliminate half of the village heads, he wasn’t affected, his position remaining very secure."
He Shiliu was recounting the story of Yuan Laorong’s family to Gu Dashan and Gu Dafu, and by the end of noon, the trio finally reached Yanfu Village.
Yanfu Village is located before Qingfu Town, quite a distance from their Da Feng Village; it took them two and a half hours walking briskly to get there.
Yanfu Village is large and affluent, considered one of the wealthiest villages along with Shang Family Village in Qing Fu Town.
Every household in the village has n working at Yuan Laorong’s brick kiln, who were just getting back to work after their noon break.
A man who saw He Shiliu squinted for a while, then smiled and said, "Aren’t you the one from Da Feng Village who deals in stone business? What brings you here this ti with strangers? Who are they and what are they here for?"
Having spent two months training in the workshop, Gu Dashan was not as naive as before and replied with a smile, "My family is planning to build a shop, and knowing there’s a brick kiln in your village, we ca specifically to buy green bricks from Village Chief Yuan."
The man laughed, "So you’re here for business, follow then, I’ll take you to Brother Rong."
Yuan Laorong’s house was at the back of the village, a typical green brick and tile house. The man brought them to the door, knocked, and shouted inside: "Sanzi, visitors! Hurry and open the door."
Then to Gu Dashan and the others, he said, "Wait here with Sanzi to et Brother Rong, I need to go back to work."
Finishing his words, he casually slung his jacket over his shoulder and left.
The door of the Yuan family’s house opened and a slightly chubby ten-year-old boy erged, turning to Gu Dashan and the others, he asked, "Are you sirs here to buy green bricks? Please co in, my dad is at ho."
Barely had the plump child led Gu Dashan and the others inside the house when Yuan Laorong and his second son ca to greet them.
Upon learning that Gu Dashan was the owner of Gu’s Workshop from Da Feng Village, Yuan Laorong was pleasantly surprised, "So you are the owner of Gu’s Workshop! Then this deal is set."
Yuan Laorong, a straightforward person and keen on fostering good relations with them, imdiately gave them a discount on green bricks—from five cents a piece, he reduced it to only four cents, and even lowered the price of tiles by one cent.
Gu Dashan felt sowhat embarrassed and wanted to decline, but Yuan Laorong said, "Don’t worry about these trivial matters, let’s just consider it making friends between our families."
Gu Dashan’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing that; could Elder Yuan Laorong be coveting their workshop?
It was no wonder that Gu Dashan was overthinking; after dealing with the Zou family, Lu family, and Sun family, he had beco sowhat fearful.
Elder Yuan Laorong, ever so clever, saw his nervous expression and laughed, "Brother Gu, no panic, elder brother ans no harm, just admiring our few families and wishes to be on good terms with you all."
Elder Yuan Laorong’s second son, a clever one, explained at his side: "Uncle Gu, do not worry, what my father said is the truth, he truly admires the owners of Gu’s Workshop. He often says you are capable, setting up business and starting workshops within half a year, truly remarkable. It would be foolish not to befriend such capable people like you."
More importantly, the Gu family had a good relationship with County Captain Jiang, and even had three young n serving in the county governnt and Military Office, so a capable and well-connected family like theirs was not to be trifled with by his father.
Elder Yuan Laorong’s second son was to continue the family lineage of his step-grandfather, thus he was surnad Chang and nad Chang Errui. This year, eighteen years old, not only was he tall and robust, but he was also eloquent. eting people with a smile, his deanor never seed sycophantic. Listening to him made Gu Dashan and Gu Dafu very comfortable.
Especially Gu Dafu, who took several good looks at Chang Errui.
Hearing this, Gu Dashan felt relieved and continued discussing business with Elder Yuan Laorong.
Thanks to Elder Yuan Laorong’s intention to be friendly, their business went smoothly, quickly settling the matters about how many green bricks and roof tiles to purchase.
Elder Yuan Laorong even invited the village brick and tile foreman over, had a eting with them, settled the wages, and arranged the days to dig foundations and deliver the green bricks. Then, the three from the Gu family happily returned to their village.
That evening, Gu Dashan told the families, "The green bricks cost only four cents each, and the new tiles are one cent each, saving us quite a bit of silver."
Gu Jin’an was already doing the accounts, and after a few monts he said: "It saved us a full twenty taels of silver."
They needed to build three shops, and the quantity of green bricks and tiles required was huge. Though it was just a saving of one or two cents per item, for the three shops together, it amounted to a saving of twenty taels of silver.
"Wow, this Village Chief Yuan is really generous. We shouldn’t be too stingy either. When they deliver the green bricks, we should give them so spiced ats, roast duck, and spices to take back."
Compared to Elder Yuan Laorong, Gu Dafu was more interested in Chang Errui.
After the other families left, he specifically stayed behind to speak with Third Grandpa and Third Grandma, "Chang Errui, that young man looks promising, sensible, capable, and also steady. Although he needs to continue his step-grandfather’s family line and cannot take the surna Yuan, marrying him could benefit Sister i."
"Sister i’s temperant, if she had to live under the sa roof with her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law, would certainly lead to daily quarrels. The Yuan family has already built him a green brick and tile house, saying that once he marries, the young couple will move into the new house to formally continue the Chang family lineage, without needing to take care of Elder Yuan Laorong and his wife."
"Old Man Chang passed away three years ago, so if Sister i could marry Chang Errui, in the future she would be free to live her life as she wishes, without enduring the trouble from her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law."
The more Gu Dafu spoke, the more excited he beca, almost desperate to set aside his pride and ask a matchmaker to propose to the Yuan family.
And Chang Errui, eighteen and still not betrothed, was also because he was observing mourning for Old Man Chang. Just two months after finishing the mourning period, Elder Yuan Laorong’s family was planning to find him a wife.
Gu Dafu felt that this was fate. How else could it be that just as he was considering finding a match for Sister i, he went to the Yuan family and t Chang Errui?
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