Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 2404 Rectifying the Family Business ([-])

The Australians suddenly want to come to this line of muddy water, and it is impossible without a powerful killer move.Just like when the Australians came to Guangzhou to sell paper, they beat up the local paper goods in one year.Regardless of quality and price, nothing on the market can compete with similar products from Australian paper.

What is so unique about this Australian cloth?
"That nephew made a fool of himself. Let me talk about the cloth first. This cloth is similar to Songjiang fine cloth, but it is not as refined as the top-grade Songjiang cloth. It looks a little loose and not thick enough. This cloth is a bit strange. It feels like cotton cloth on the surface. It is not as soft as cotton cloth, but it looks stiff and linen-like. It seems that something is spun with cotton mixed. This is ordinary linen, which is worse than medium linen. It's similar to farmhouse cloth, and it's a little bit different from the weaving workshops on the market." Chen Lin evaluated the cloth samples one by one.

Wu Yijun touched the beard of his chin, and said with approving eyes: "My nephew is worthy of being from a textile family. I can't see any of these skills." Chen Lin is a relative of his mother's family, and is also a well-known silk workshop in the local area. .He pointed to the yarn next to him and said, "Look at these yarns."

Chen Lin picked up the yarn, twisted it in his hands, then tried to separate the fibers one by one, pulled them a few more times, and said: "This yarn is fine and tough, it is top grade, ordinary spinners can't do it." It takes ten years of skilled hands to spin such quality yarn."

At that time, many textile workshops integrated spinning and weaving, and the cotton yarn trade was relatively small, so Chen Lin could get a general idea of ​​it.

Wu Yijun nodded, expressed his satisfaction, and asked, "Is my nephew interested in making this thing?"

This time, Chen Lin was puzzled and said, "Could it be that there are skillful craftsmen to hire?"

Hearing this, Wu Yijun smiled and said: "Haha, no, it's made by a machine." Then he explained the meaning, that is, he wanted him to go back and reopen the textile workshop, and then transform into cotton spinning.There are better machines on the Kunren side, which can weave better yarn. If Chen Lin is willing, he can pay for the shares and ask the Kunren to introduce equipment and technology.Chen Lin's village is located at the junction of Nanhai County and Sihui. The Beijiang River flows through the area. Not only is the water source abundant, but it can also reach Guangzhou directly downstream. The water transportation is convenient.
"...Looking at what the Australians mean, they want to start cotton spinning in Guangdong. That's right, just going to Nanyang requires a lot of clothes, sails and bedding. This is really a great opportunity to make money!"

Chen Lin was not as excited as his cousin.His family has been making silk for generations, and has never dabbled in cotton spinning. As the old saying goes, every line is like a mountain.Sericulture and cotton planting are completely two different professions.Different merchants have different thresholds.Craftsmen can't turn it just by saying it.

If you can't do it, you can't deliver the goods. What's the use of a big business?
Uncle's idea is somewhat whimsical.But Chen Lin didn't like to say that, so he said:
"This matter is of great importance, and my nephew has to go back home to discuss with relatives before making a decision."

"Well, you go back to your hometown first and take care of the housework. I read in the newspaper that the four townships have been calmed down, and the rebels and bandits in northern Guangdong have retreated. There should be no serious problem in terms of safety. After you go back, you should first organize the family business. Come back to Guangzhou in a few days The government discussed with me that after the chaos, there may be many places to spend money, so I have asked the accountant to prepare 100 silver dollars, and you can take them home and use them."

"How can this make..." Although Chen Lin was moved, he also understood that this unreasonable money is not so easy to get.Besides, Wu Yijun was just his cousin, and it was a great kindness to take him in at the beginning, but now he suddenly gave him another hundred yuan, so he had to weigh it if he took it.So I repeatedly declined, saying "too much".

"Nephew, you don't have to shirk. The money is not free from my cousin. You have to spend money to reorganize your family business—even if your cousin borrowed it from you. If you are willing to partner with your cousin in the future, this money is considered to be money." If you don’t want the uncle’s share capital, you can return it to your cousin when you have more money.”

Speaking of this, Chen Lin is not easy to refuse.But I still insisted on writing an IOU to my cousin.

Wu Yijun saw the hesitation in his nephew's heart. This nephew read some sage books, and he was somewhat "stupid".But that's okay, although the founder is sometimes pedantic in doing business, he can be trusted.

The next day, under his arrangement, Chen Lin boarded the boat at Li's Wharf.The boat is a small boat of the Dan family hired by the Wu family all the year round.The boatman had also been to the Chen family before, so he didn't need to give special instructions, just tell him: "Go to the Nansha village of the Chen family." The boatman will know

On the road, as my cousin said: the four towns are peaceful.The villages along the way set up Baojia and built watchtowers and checkpoints in accordance with the requirements of the Australians. The villages and villages patrolled day and night, and they were more cautious than before.Think about it, the government made all these things with great fanfare to "prepare the Kun", but now the "Kun" is just taken over in a grandiose way and used by itself.

There was nothing to say along the way, but I returned to Nansha Village in three days.There are countless place names called Nansha in the Pearl River Delta.Nansha Village, where Chen Lin's family is locked, is located on a piece of sand deposited by the river.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the descendants of the Chen family migrated here from Shaoguan and settled down in this wasteland, which was still a river beach at that time. They have worked hard to accumulate wealth for more than 200 years, and expanded their power through the imperial examinations of their children, and gradually became Nansha Village. The first surname.

He set foot on the land he had been away for a long time, looking at the village houses and fields in the distance, he couldn't help but feel heavy.It has been more than a year since I fled in a hurry, and I don't know what is going on with my clan and fellow villagers.All I know is that the village and the family property were severely damaged.

He just received the letter from home recently, and it was written by an old man in his family.When Nansha village was ransacked by rebels, he escaped, and finally found an opportunity to send him a message.

From the letter, he officially learned of his father's death. On the night of fleeing, he saw his father was shot by an arrow and fell from the bridge into the river. He had no hope at all, but when he knew that his father was really dead, Chen Lin is still heartbroken - he lost his mother when he was young, and it was his father who brought up his brothers and sisters alone.

The Chen family has a big business, and there are thirteen branch concierges in this village alone.With so many family branches, there are naturally rich and poor.Fortunately, the family property has been accumulated for many years and has accumulated into a considerable number. Even the poorest family can get a stable income and will not suffer from cold and hunger.

Chen Lin's branch doesn't own many fields and fish ponds.But because there are so many sericulture farmers in the surrounding area, starting from his grandfather, he set up a silk shop in the village, buying cocoons and raw silk from villagers for weaving silk.The products are also considered well-known and have been sold to Guangzhou.

His family's workshops have begun to take shape, including cooking rooms, silk reeling rooms, silk weaving rooms, calendering rooms, and self-dying. These workshops are shared by his father's cousins ​​and nephews, and his father is in charge of coordinating all the work. time to work.

The riots swept through the village, and the rebels looted all the stocks, and the raw silk stocks were ruined a lot.Even the house was set on fire while running. Fortunately, the villagers fought hard to put out the fire, and most of the houses and equipment were saved.But the father died, and the craftsmen and servants died or dispersed, so the silk workshop could not continue to operate.

The letter also urged him to come back as soon as possible to "reorganize the family business", and said that the current people in the clan were in disorder.

I don't know what kind of mess is waiting for him to clean up!Thinking of this, Chen Lin felt a little dejected.

"Uncle Jiu, we're here!" It was Chen Qing who accompanied him back to the village.Although he is only two or three years younger than him, he is Chen Lin's nephew in terms of seniority.The side branches are different, and Chen Qing's family is very poor, and he followed this second uncle when he was more than ten years old.They say they are uncles and nephews, but they are actually masters and servants.

The village was much better than he had imagined.Although many houses have not been rebuilt, and there are dilapidated walls everywhere, there are already many small temporary houses. It seems that many people have returned, and some people are busy working in the fields outside the village.

After walking a short distance, I heard a woman's voice: "Brother Ah Lin! Ah Qing! You are back!"

This familiar voice, without looking, knew it was Chen Yue, the daughter of Chen Lin's second uncle.

As for the second uncle, to be honest, Chen Lin looked down on him very much.Because this man has been eating, drinking, whoring and gambling all the time, if he wasn't a descendant of the Chen family in Nansha, and someone from the clan would have done things for him, he would have been beaten to death several times.The second aunt had been married to him for more than ten years, but she really couldn't stand his absurdity, so she moved out of her natal brother to arrest the second uncle, forced him to write a divorce letter, and the two divorced.The patriarchs and elders of the Chen family only pretended to be deaf and dumb, unwilling to fight for the second uncle.

Although he is a messy person, he gave birth to a daughter who is smart, beautiful, and wise.The elders of the clan were afraid that this rotten old man would do something that would be degrading to the family, such as entrusting his daughter to a creditor or pawning her off, so they adopted her to Chen Lin's father—in terms of patriarchal law, Chen Yue is now his relative. girl.

Chen Lin was most worried about this girl.I'm afraid that this girl will be hurt in the turmoil -- the elders who wrote to him only vaguely said that there are girls in every family who have been humiliated, some committed suicide, and some disappeared.Seeing Chen Yue's lively and bright expression at this moment, she should be safe and sound.Can't help but be more than half settled.

After all, this is his only relative.

Chen Yue told him that the house had been destroyed by rebels.It wasn't that it was burned, but the rebels heard that this house was the home of the owner of the silk workshop, and they believed that there must be treasures buried in the house. After snatching away the treasures, they even tore down the walls, dug them everywhere, and even uncovered the roof tiles. , making the Chen family mansion devastated.

"...I escaped the catastrophe by hiding at Mrs. Hua's house, and now I live with her as a partner, doing some handicrafts together in exchange for rice, half hungry and half full..."

Sister-in-law Osmanthus, surnamed Zheng, was the wife of a machinist in the Chen family's silk workshop. After the machinist died, she also did odd jobs in the silk workshop to make ends meet.He is fairly reliable.This made Chen Lin feel relieved.

(End of this chapter)