At the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, Shen Yuning received the news that Chen Wenwei had been promoted to the fourth - rank Langzhong of the Ministry of Revenue and was back in the capital for a work report. The new county magistrate of Yun County was the former right deputy magistrate, a local official getting a promotion, not the Lord Gao as previously mentioned.
Shen Yuning didn't understand much about the affairs in the court. However, because the emperor had conferred the title of Rural Lady on Shen Yuning and granted her female household registration, many prefectures in the Great Zhou Dynasty had actively sent letters, hoping that Rural Lady Rongchang would go to their places to open embroidery and dyeing workshops. Meanwhile, the mulberry - planting industry had developed vigorously in various places, and women had found their own occupations, which greatly improved their social status.
Seeing that the promotion of the legal code in various prefectures was well - organized, Shen Yuning no longer had to attend to every matter personally as before. She only asked Zhang Mo and Zhang Dachun to take Cen Xiaoniang, Xi'er and a few others to train and manage candidates for shopkeepers and lead them to open shops in different places.
Of course, even if Shen Yuning didn't need to worry about everything, she couldn't stay idle at home. Just looking through the dense account books of each shop was extremely mentally exhausting.
Shen Fugui was bustling around. He peeked into the study several times and saw that Shen Yuning and Xuan Zhi had been organizing the account books for an entire afternoon without even raising their heads.
Little Yuanbao was sitting on a chair, seriously fiddling with the abacus beads. She recalculated the accounts that her aunt had already calculated, learning how to manage the account books.
After Yuanbao got her new name, she always behaved very formally and didn't allow others to call her Yuanbao anymore. They had to call her by her formal name, Weirui.
Weirui calculated with the abacus for a long time, then carefully wrote down the results with a pen. She got up, rubbed her eyes, looked up helplessly at her still - buried - in - work aunt, gritted her teeth, and then lowered her head to continue calculating.
At this time, Xuan Zhi also looked up and said softly, "Yuanbao, don't look anymore. It'll hurt your eyes. Go outside and play with Huzi."
Weirui pouted. She wouldn't accept others calling her Yuanbao, but when it was Xuan Zhi, this brother who was both a teacher and a friend, she didn't dare to say a word.
She stood up, looked at Shen Fugui at the door, and called out, "Uncle."
Shen Fugui immediately smiled and said, "Just in time. You all should take a break. Your sister - in - law has stewed sweet soup. I'll go and serve it. Everyone can have some."
Shen Yuning didn't look up and said, "You all eat first. I still have a little left to calculate."
Shen Fugui was not happy. He pulled a long face, walked forward, and pinched the back of his sister's neck.
After this pinch, Shen Yuning felt that her whole back was stiff. She quickly sat up straight and exclaimed, "Ah, it's so comfortable. Brother, pinch it for me again. I don't know what's wrong with my neck. It's been hurting a lot lately."
Shen Fugui glared at her and said, "You know it hurts? I've told you many times. When you're calculating accounts, you should get up and move around every once in a while to relax your muscles. But you just keep your head buried in the accounts all day long and sit still. No wonder it hurts. If you go on like this, your back and neck will be older than Uncle Zhang's."
Shen Yuning turned her head to look at her elder brother, gave him a coquettish smile, and said, "Brother, you know I'm very busy. A little to the left, ah, yes, yes, right here. Wow, it hurts but also feels so good."
Shen Fugui couldn't help but pat her on the shoulder and then quickly continued to massage her, saying, "You're just so disobedient. At such a young age, what if you get some chronic illness? I'll go and invite a doctor later to give you a good conditioning."
Shen Yuning didn't take it seriously and said, "Why go through so much trouble? I don't have the time. I'll just get up and move around more later..."
Looking at her like this, although she said she would get up more, her brows were still tightly knitted and her eyes were still fixed on the account books. Shen Fugui could only heave a long sigh.
At this time, Xuan Zhi walked over, smiled, and gently pushed Shen Fugui away. He started to massage Shen Yuning's shoulders and said, "Brother, I once learned a few techniques. Let me massage sister."
Shen Fugui asked in surprise, "You have this skill? I didn't expect that. Our Xuan Zhi is really amazing. He's both literate and martial, and can even give massages."
Xuan Zhi's face blushed slightly and he didn't say a word.
Shen Yuning didn't notice what was going on behind her. She frowned and stared at the letter in her hand, then suddenly asked, "Xuan Zhi, look. This is a letter from Wuyun Prefecture. They want us to go there in person to open an embroidery workshop."
Xuan Zhi didn't stop massaging. His eyes scanned the letter. It was written personally by the prefect of Wuyun Prefecture. The letter was fine, but the problem was with Wuyun.
Wuyun was different from other places in the Great Zhou Dynasty. It was on the border of the Great Zhou. Although it was called a prefecture, its territory was not very large. The population in Wuyun was large and diverse. It was connected to three countries, and there were all kinds of merchants. Many traveling merchants went to Wuyun to buy goods and then sold them inland. Since there were novel items from other countries, such business was naturally very profitable.
The most important thing was that Wuyun was adjacent to a barren mountain in the west and sandy land in the north. Sandstorms swept through from time to time, which was not suitable for the development of the planting industry. The local people mainly relied on traveling business.
However, the operation of the Rongchang Commercial Firm was closely related to cloth and clothing materials. If they couldn't grow mulberry trees, raise silkworms, and weave cloth, how could they open their shops there?
Hearing their conversation, Shen Fugui was also a bit curious and asked, "Maybe they just want the name of our commercial firm. For cloth, if they can't produce it themselves, they can just buy it. An embroidery workshop doesn't have to use only the cloth they produce themselves."
Shen Yuning shook her head and said, "It's not right. Look at the prefectures that wrote to us. Most of them are close to Lingcheng. And in their letters, they've written down the conditions clearly. They've already made full preparations for opening up wasteland, growing mulberry trees, and raising silkworms. They just want our commercial firm to put up a name to prove that they're actively responding to the imperial court's call. But for Wuyun, they're already a business - heavy area. What do they want our name for?"
Shen Fugui didn't understand these things at all. He just shook his head blankly and called Weirui to go and serve the sweet soup with him.
Xuan Zhi thought for a moment and said, "Wuyun has a poor geographical location. Although it belongs to the Great Zhou, it's adjacent to Daye and Yunfan. For many years, the imperial court has paid little attention to Wuyun. And because of its special situation, the local commercial tax is 30% lower than in other places."
"30% lower means that it's much more convenient for the local people to do business. Moreover, being far from the imperial court, the local prefect is like a local emperor."
Shen Yuning looked up and only then realized that Xuan Zhi's hand was still massaging her. She quickly dodged away and gave an embarrassed smile, saying, "Xuan Zhi, you've been looking at the account books and letters with me for so long. You don't need to massage me when you're taking a break."
Xuan Zhi let go of his hand and smiled, saying, "It's okay. I'm not tired."
Shen Yuning threw the letter aside, looked at the mountain - like account books in front of her, and sighed, "The business in the shops has been really good in the past two months. I didn't find it so troublesome when I managed the shops before. After sorting them out these days, I feel really exhausted. And through this sorting, I've clearly realized the loopholes in the previous management. It turns out that I have so many deficiencies in business."
"In the past, our scale was small. Each person managed a few shops, and there were hardly any mistakes. Now that the scale has suddenly expanded so much, it's naturally a bit overwhelming. I think it's better to teach them how to manage accounts than for us to do it ourselves."
Shen Yuning deeply agreed. She reached out to organize the account books and letters on the table, and then went out with Xuan Zhi, saying, "The account books of the shops with capable shopkeepers are clear at a glance, much simpler. It shows that I can't be so suspicious. Appointing only relatives is not a good way."
The two of them washed their hands while chatting and laughing, and then went to the main hall to have the sweet soup. For a moment, they felt that the sweet soup was extremely delicious.
After drinking the soup, Shen Yuning leaned on Uncle Zhang's reclining chair and let out a comfortable sigh, saying, "No wonder Uncle always likes to lean on this chair for an entire afternoon. It's really comfortable."
Weirui frowned beside her and said, "Such slovenly behavior is not what a lady should do."
Shen Yuning glanced at her and said, "You little thing, who is the Rural Lady, you or me? Do you think the restrictions on girls in the world are not enough?"
Weirui tidied up her hair, shook her head, and tried to smile without showing her teeth, but her still - growing front teeth were still exposed. She said, "That's not it. I just think that those people used to ignore me, but now that I have a noble status, they're not worthy of getting close to me. I just like to put on this airs. The more surprised they are, the happier I am."
Shen Yuning couldn't agree with Yuanbao's bad taste. Anyway, she was just a child. After finally getting rid of her unreliable parents, shouldn't she be allowed to do whatever she wanted?
As for Shen Fugui, he was still nagging, saying that they had been too hard - working these days and had not taken good care of their bodies.
Shen Yuning waved her hand indifferently and said, "Don't worry. There's not much left. I can finish reading them in at most two days."
Shen Fugui glared at her and said, "Even after you finish reading the account books, you won't be idle. You'll either stay in the room embroidering or reading and writing. If you don't move around, you'll really be older than Uncle Zhang."
The whole family was bustling and lively. It was Xuan Zhi who kept silent. After a long time, he finally said, "Sister, I have something to do tomorrow and I need to go out."
Shen Yuning responded, "If you have something to do, just go. Don't worry about the account books. I can finish reading them."
It wasn't that she indulged Xuan Zhi. It was just that since the emperor's visit, Xuan Zhi had always looked worried. He rarely even cared about Yuanbao's studies. Occasionally, he would go to the suburbs to practice with knives and guns, but most of the time he just stayed in the yard reading books.
She had asked him a few times, but Xuan Zhi never answered. Later, letters and account books flew in like snowflakes. They were all very busy, and Xuan Zhi finally returned to his previous state.
Sometimes, being busy could reduce a lot of troubles.
However, Shen Yuning squinted her eyes. What was on her mind was still the letter from Wuyun Prefecture.
Xuan Zhi knew her concerns and said again, "The folk customs in Wuyun Prefecture are very open. Women doing business is more prevalent there than in other places. It's impossible that they came for the reputation of Rural Lady Rongchang, who speaks up for women and children. However, I remember that some things happened in Wuyun Prefecture before. During the reign of the former emperor, the people of Wuyun sent a petition to the capital, saying that the local government was arbitrary and their lives were miserable. Later, the former emperor even sent an imperial envoy to investigate the matter there, but in the end, it came to nothing."
Shen Yuning opened her eyes and looked at Xuan Zhi. After a long time, she asked, "Xuan Zhi, how do you know such an old - fashioned thing?"