20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 237 Black Gold
  The congregation sang until evening.

Jiang Lianheng served the last table of wine, sent away the guests, and then returned to the house in a daze, leaving cups and plates all over the courtyard in a mess.

Xiaohua led the servants, servants and the little guard who was guarding the courtyard, taking care of everything and cleaning up the mess.

Although she is young, under Xiaoyan's careful training, she is very good at sending people to do things, and everyone calls her "Sister Hua" very affectionately.

Arriving at the living room on the first floor, Jiang Lian sat on the velvet sofa, smoked a cigarette, played with the fringe of the lamp at hand, looked around at the furnishings and decorations in the room, and couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly.

It took a year to build this mansion. In addition to purchasing furniture, hiring servants, and organizing banquets, the money naturally flowed like water.

Jiang Lianheng didn't know exactly how much he spent. Xiaoyan did all the calculations and never asked questions.

He claims that this is a kind of enlightenment - the blade of the knife licks blood, and you should enjoy it without being ambiguous.

In fact, it's nonsense. This fight with children is just like "there is wine now, and you will be drunk now", and it has nothing to do with licking blood with the blade of a knife.

After finishing his cigarette, Jiang Lianheng drank a glass of cold water, wiped his face, soothed the alcohol on his body, stood up, packed himself up, stood at attention, and then walked slowly upstairs.

When we got to the second floor, we first greeted my aunt respectfully and asked her if she was eating well, sleeping soundly, and if she had anything to buy.

Anyway, it was just a few words that he said over and over again day and night, and he never felt bored.

Xu Ruqing's situation is becoming more and more stable. She has a little white cat in the house. She seems to be very energetic, but she can't help being frightened. From time to time, she always holds a photo in her arms, dazed.

After greetings, Jiang Lianheng exited the room, immediately put on a cold face, and strode towards the master bedroom.

Pushing open the door, the congratulatory gifts sent by the guests were already piled in the room.

Hu Xiaoyan was sitting in a wheelchair practicing calligraphy without looking up at him.

The food on the table was already completely cold, and indeed it was not touched at all.

"What do you mean?" Jiang Lian sat on the armchair angrily, "You still haven't eaten yet? That's almost it!"

"No appetite." Hu Xiaoyan said lightly, "I'm not hungry!"

Water and fire complement each other, that's for the outside world!
  Once the life is settled, the two of them are at odds with each other.

Jiang Lianheng slapped the table, glared and cursed: "Do you think I care about you? You love me to death, don't let my son starve!"

Hu Xiaoyan sneered and said, "How do you know it's a son before your stomach is up? If it's a son, I'll strangle him to death when he's born!"

"Dare you?" Jiang Lianheng suddenly stood up and grabbed his wife's collar, "Do you believe I will f**king slap you?"

"Hit!" Hu Xiaoyan said with red eyes, but without fear, "If I groan, I will have the same last name as you!"

The quarrel spread downstairs.

Si Fengkou was eating a simple meal around the kitchen table.

Zhang Zhengdong raised his head and glanced at the roof of the shed, and murmured: "Hey, we don't need to go up to persuade him, right?"

"Hey! No, let's eat yours!" Wang Zhengnan held his clothes and carefully took a sip of the soup, "If Brother Dao can beat my sister-in-law, it won't be until the sun comes out from the west!"

"That's true!" Li Zheng stuffed his mouth with Western food and whined, "Don't say that my sister-in-law is pregnant with the child now. Even when she was not pregnant, Brother Dao never had a fight! Have you forgotten what happened last summer?"

"Remember, remember!" Zhao Zhengbei said with a suppressed smile, "It wasn't because of anything that time. Brother Dao was so angry that he was trembling all over. He slapped himself more than twenty times on the ears, and his face was swollen. He didn't touch my sister-in-law. A hair!"

Everyone laughed for a while, and suddenly there were footsteps at the door.

Zhao Zhengbei approached the door and stuck his head out sideways: "Eh? Brother Yuan, are you here?"

At the entrance, four people, Han Xinyuan, Zhao Guoyan, Zhong Yushan and Liu Yansheng, all dressed in rich clothes, each prepared gifts and red envelopes, and looked upstairs worriedly.

After the guests from the maternal family had finished joining in the fun, it was time for his younger brother Ma to come over and show his filial piety.

Zhao Zhengbei led Han Xinyuan and others to visit them. As soon as they went up the stairs, the quarrel upstairs suddenly stopped.

When he opened the door, he saw Jiang Lianheng and Hu Xiaoyan sitting on each side across the tea table, with springy faces and smiles in their eyes, as if nothing had happened.

Zhao Zhengbei snickered in his heart - he can really pretend!
  Although the two of them usually choked endlessly, except for Si Fengkou and Xiaohua, Hu Xiaoyan always gave Jiang Lianheng plenty of face in front of the brothers.

When Brother Dao opened his mouth, his sister-in-law never said "no".

Of course, when the brothers retreated and closed the door, the quarrel was still going on.

The four people are now performing their respective duties.

Han Xinyuan takes care of the "Huifangli" place; Zhong Yushan takes care of the business of "Heshengfang"; Zhao Guoyan collects rent everywhere and provides security for Jiangzhai; Liu Yansheng is the most educated and can be regarded as the accountant and military advisor.

The four of them placed the gifts, handed over red envelopes, and chatted as usual.

When everyone saw the food on the table, they asked, "Sister-in-law, haven't you eaten yet? You need to take more care of yourself!"

Hu Xiaoyan nodded with a smile: "I'm about to eat it!"

Jiang Lianheng glanced at her, hummed, and immediately asked about various business matters.

Upon asking, Zhong Yushan's words became clear. The reason was simply that the business of "Heshengfang" recovered the fastest. Even if Lan Dao didn't have the ability to "dream through the hall", he couldn't make much difference in getting money.

Han Xinyuan looked a little depressed. Although the business of "Huifangli" had recovered, it would be difficult to make further progress without "Chun'erhong".

That's how business is - if you don't advance, you will retreat.

Zhao Guoyan collects rents and bonds everywhere, and in the name of the Jiang family, everything will go smoothly without any obstacles.

The accounts managed by Liu Yansheng, as well as those of the Han and Zhong families, were all in good order and there was no fault to be found.

But the problem also lies in the word "stable". Without windfalls and new ways of making money, it is just like standing still.

After Hu Xiaoyan silently listened to everyone's report, she turned around and looked at Liu Yansheng, but said: "Yansheng, if the income from the recent business can be exchanged for cash, try to exchange it for cash. The price difference of the black bank, as long as it is not too outrageous, will be fine." Replaced them all."

Liu Yansheng nodded repeatedly: "Sister-in-law also heard that the small foreign banknotes are about to lose money?"

Hu Xiaoyan responded: "I saw it in the newspaper, just in case."

"What newspaper?" Jiang Lianheng thought of Su Wenqi's words during the day and said, "The Shengjing Times? That newspaper was written by Japanese devils. You can't believe it! If the official bank has closed down, what's the point?"

Hu Xiaoyan took his face into consideration, so she calmed down and said with a smile: "Lian Heng's words are reasonable, but you can't go wrong with real money. Recently, you try to collect as much cash as possible. The small foreign bills in your hands can be redeemed. , exchange some first, and then see the situation."

Everyone nodded and accepted the order, chatted for a few more words, then stood up and left.

As soon as the room fell silent, Jiang Lianheng shouted at the top of his voice: "Xiaohua! Heat up the food in the room, your sister-in-law is going to eat."

"Stop shouting, I'm not hungry!" Hu Xiaoyan said with a cold face.

"Didn't you say you were about to eat just now?" "Just now was just now, and now is now."

"Tsk! Wife, it's almost done!" Jiang Lianheng took the initiative to show weakness, "I just called a court meeting, it doesn't cost a lot of money!"

"Is it just a matter of a church meeting?" Hu Xiaoyan asked, "You don't even look at how much money you spent this year!"

"It's just money spent! It's not like you can't earn money!"

"Earn it, where do you earn it? Do you know what's going on at home now?"

"what's going on?"

"I'll get you the account book."

"I don't want to watch!" Jiang Lianheng waved his hands quickly, "Three melons and two dates, it's boring!"

Hu Xiaoyan didn't force it: "Okay, then I'll tell you."

"Okay, then go ahead and say it!" Jiang Xiaodao reminded while opening the congratulatory gifts from the guests, "You have to eat after you finish talking!"

So, Hu Xiaoyan began to explain it in detail.

"I won't tell you how much it costs to build a house. I've hired so many servants. I won't tell you whether it's necessary. Let's just say that we have four or five people watching the show now, at least. Ten, right? The average monthly payment is twenty yuan per person, which is one thousand yuan a month and ten thousand a year. This does not include the red envelopes at the end of the year and the dividends from Guo Yan and others."

"Then what's going on? Wearing clothes, horses, and saddles is called facade, and you can't save it! Do you understand?"

Jiang Xiaodao opened a white porcelain bottle, carefully placed it on the tea table, then turned around to remove another one.

"The problem is, our income is low now!" Hu Xiaoyan continued, "We have a facade, so we can't work in vain all year round, right?"

"Hey! You don't understand this!" Jiang Lianheng denied, "Why is our current business so stable? It's just because of this facade, gambling houses and prostitutes, can anyone do it? If you take down the facade, the business will not be stable."

"That's too much."

"Not many! The forty or fifty people I have are not just trying to make up the numbers, they are all people who can fight. My father once said that when Zhou Yunfu was at his best, he had hundreds of people under his command!"

Hu Xiaoyan sneered, but asked: "When the Zhou family collapsed, where were the hundreds of people?"

Jiang Lianheng opened another set of Western tableware and immediately shook his head: "You can't look at it like that."

In fact, both of their statements are correct, it's just that they are from different perspectives.

On the inside, it is a fact that money is not enough.

In terms of face, once the momentum declines, outsiders will take advantage of it and step in. This is also true.

But then again, Zhou Yunfu could have hundreds of people under his command back then, why can't Jiang Lianheng do it now?
  The reason is complicated.

For one thing, Zhou Yunfu was at his peak when the Gengzi Empire was in trouble. General Shengjing fled far away. There was a vacuum of power on the ground and he was naturally not subject to the constraints of the government.

Secondly, after decades of accumulation, Zhou Yunfu has just reached his peak. When Jiang Lianheng was founded, he made a splash in Fengtian, but it was far from being famous, let alone to the extent that people would follow him. .

The third one is also the most important one. Compared with Zhou Yunfu's time, Jiang Lian lacked a way to make money, just like walking with a broken leg.

After opening the gift box, Jiang Lianheng's eyes immediately froze.

Inside the gift box is a palm-sized object wrapped in white paper, like a tea cake, with four words written on the seal - hard local product.

Hu Xiaoyan's eyes were also attracted.

Without taking it apart and taking a closer look, Jiang Lianheng knew from the smell that it was smuggled foreign soil.

A palm-sized piece is worth ten acres of farmers' harvest for a year. No wonder tobacco farmers resist the smoking ban.

"West Wind!" Jiang Lian shouted suddenly.

The sound of footsteps sounded, and Li Zhengxi opened the door: "Brother Dao, what are your orders?"

"I know you are wild!" Jiang Lianheng handed him the printed cigarette, "Sneak it out and sell it. How much you can sell it for depends on your ability. But there is one thing. No matter how much you sell it, it will be divided into four parts. , one for each of you.”

"Five copies!" Hu Xiaoyan emphasized, "There are also little flowers!"

Li Zhengxi's mouth was filled with joy, and he hurriedly reached out to pick it up: "Hey! Thank you Brother Dao and Sister-in-law!"

Jiang Lianheng suddenly withdrew his hand and ordered: "You kid, if you dare to touch this thing, I will kill you with one shot!"

Because he had witnessed Zhou Yunfu's situation in his later years, and because of the various warnings from his father and aunt, he had always been afraid to avoid Yantu.

Li Zhengxi knew Brother Dao's temper, so he nodded quickly: "Brother Dao, don't worry, you have said it countless times."

Jiang Lianheng waved his hand: "Okay, let's go!"

The door was closed, and Hu Xiaoyan's mind was a little wandering: "Xiaodao, the tobacco business, if you can pick it up, you still have to pick it up. If you don't do it, someone else will do it, and you will make a huge profit. When the money comes, it will definitely threaten you. we."

"What? Wife, you are trying to push me into a pit of fire!" Jiang Lianheng glared and said, "Two days ago, four smugglers were killed in the city. How dare you commit crimes against the wind?"

Since the previous administration’s New Deal, the ban on smoking has been strengthened repeatedly.

Now that the Republic of China is about to be established, we can't go beyond that and go back to dazzling!
  President Fang and Big Gun Sun, even if there are ten thousand people they can't deal with, they are rarely on the same side when it comes to the smoking ban.

Lao Fang was born in the army and hated the smoke and soil deeply; Lao Sun had lofty ambitions and wanted to strengthen the country and breed, so he also hated the tobacco and soil.

Zhang Laogeda is now trying to curry favor with Lao Fang, and of course he must also respond to President Fang’s call.

In the provincial capital, no one dared to sell tobacco openly, except in the annexed areas.

If there are one or two occasionally, don't ask - the backstage is as high as a mountain!
  Although troubled times and a rebellion against the Qing Dynasty have led to the emergence of "Three No Matters" zones in many places, and the anti-smoking policy has been slightly relaxed, the country as a whole still adheres to the anti-smoking strategy of the previous government.

At least - at this moment, that is indeed the case.

However, banning planting and smoking cannot completely end the bad habit of smoking. Concessions and private traders in various places still continue to ban it.

In the final analysis, it is still driven by interests. How many dignitaries hide private information; how many tobacco farmers grow privately; how many beards force tenant farmers to change rice to opium; not to mention some market hooligans?
  The immediate interests are so abundant. After the death of all interested parties, how can they care about the flood?

Hu Xiaoyan's statement certainly makes some sense.

Jiang Lianheng was neither willing nor dared to sell tobacco.

There is no benefit in committing a crime against the wind, especially at this juncture. It is like putting eye drops on Zhang Laoqiao, and it is difficult to seek bail.

However, Hu Xiaoyan thought differently and asked: "Xiaodao, do you know about smoking cessation pills?"

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