C169

Every year, in the middle of September, Gu Yun would settle his annual accounts. Thus, starting from August, there would be shopkeepers in Shang Jing who would gather at the Suddenness Garden every single year, and it was Gu Yun himself who would appear. This year, coincidentally, Xie Jingxi was here, so naturally, this task was put up to her.

Counting it, more than half of the businesses under Gu Yun's name had already been handed over to Xie Jingxi, which meant that she was the true owner now, and it was reasonable for the shopkeepers to meet her for reports, which was also the first time they had officially met. Xie Jingxi was unavoidably a little nervous.

In this period of time, she had grown a bit fatter, not as thin as she had been in the past two months. Things also started to eat, and it was still as if her belly grew even faster, and not even five months had passed. She looked like she had lived for five or six months, and Gu Yun would walk with her around the courtyard whenever she had nothing to do, afraid that their daughter would become too difficult to produce.

"You don't have to do anything, just recognize them when you meet them, leave the rest to Bai Cao and the others. With you in the array, I think they won't make things difficult for you, it's better than me coming out." With Old Man Ji watching his at all times, Gu Yun didn't worry about anything else, he was only worried that she would be too tired.

Xie Jingxi was tired from walking so she went to the pavilion to rest. Listening to what he said, she asked curiously: "Will they still make things difficult for you?"

Gu Yun helped her sit down beside him, "Some shopkeepers can't help but think of ways to get more benefits, some can even have their own ideas. There are arguments and disputes between people, and if you encounter something that's hard to explain or you don't understand, you can pretend that you don't know it, it's not a big deal, so you don't need to think too much, just don't get tired of it."

Xie Jingxi had probably also heard from Bai Cao before, other than a few shopkeepers who had followed Gu Yun for many years, most shopkeepers were actually purely interested in hiring, some even had shares in them, thus it was hard for them to not make their own plans. They were all intelligent people, and it was not like she had never seen a Manager Li who could not control their Shen Family before.

She was originally nervous, but was even more uncertain after Gu Yun's words. She was afraid that if she failed to accomplish anything for him, she would call Bai Cao over when she was free, and ask her to explain the business in detail to her.

It just so happened that shopkeeper Cai and the Manager Lu had entered the Suddenness Garden, so Xie Jingxi dressed and went to meet them in the outer courtyard. The rooms at the front half of the Suddenness Garden were now in use, and all the storekeepers and storekeepers were temporarily staying here. The Clear Wind Pavilion was used as a guest hall, and when she arrived, the two shopkeepers had already been waiting here for a while.

Seeing Bai Cao and Xie Jingxi enter, the two shopkeepers hurried to greet them, "Greetings Grand Mistress."

Xie Jingxi sat in the leader's seat and said politely: "There's no need to be so polite, two shopkeepers.

Manager Cai was the first to speak: "Grand Mistress has troubled you. I was originally in the capital and could only travel a few steps. However, it was slightly more difficult for Manager Lu to come all the way from the northwest."

Shopkeeper Cai had been in the capital for a long time, so he was very good at dealing with officials and nobles. From the sound of his words, Manager Lu was clearly a type of boorish person, probably Tian'er who was not used to being a tiger in the capital. Her long robe was covered with sweat, but it prevented the female shopkeeper from displaying it, causing his to be even more stifled, and panting more harshly than the others.

Xie Jingxi looked at him, "Manager Lu has been working hard all this time, feel free to tell Zhao Zhang anything that's inconvenient, this place is the same as staying at home."

"Grand Mistress is indeed considerate." Manager Cai poked the person beside him. "That's right, Old Lu."

"Oh, thank you Grand Mistress for your understanding." Manager Lu didn't even bother to look at his eyes as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Xie Jingxi still knew how to judge people, it was not because the Manager Lu did not know how to read eyes, it was because he did not take her seriously at all.

Manager Lu also thought that way. It was his first time in the capital this year, and he thought that he would be able to see Gu Yun, but who would have thought that he would actually send such a delicate young mistress who could even sneeze down on him. He did not dare say it out loud, let alone doing business with his.

Seeing that the atmosphere was about to turn cold, Manager Cai spoke in his place: "Grand Mistress, this year, Qing Hu City has opened a branch family in the northwest, Manager Lu is the main matter there, he has followed our Eldest Young Master for a few years, but it's his first time entering the capital, so it's not a big deal, because the market is just opening, it's not possible for him to make profits, but the situation is still not bad."

Previously, Gu Yun had said that Qing Cang had its branch families in the northwest region, but not as a name for Qing Hu, because after the Yuecao Hall was withdrawn from the northwest, the markets of the north-west region and the south-west region were all empty. At this time, it was to see who would make the first move, because other than Qing Hu, the Changchun Hall was also planning to attack that side, but everyone was just starting out, so the situation in the future was not good, but in truth, Qing Hu's current situation was already very good, because he had already established his foundation there, Bai Cao had also said that Manager Lu was a talent, but don't look at him, they were all smart people.

Xie Jingxi listened to Manager Cai's narration and smiled as she nodded her head, "We naturally have to rely on the few shopkeepers for matters in the business world. I have always felt that the northwest region has great potential, it would not be a bad thing for us to have more families competing with each other, and that way, we can make up for our deficiencies."

"Grand Mistress is right." Manager Cai nodded.

Xie Jingxi then continued: Since we have already established a branch family, I think we can merge them together. The northwest region is not like our capital, where they walk the path of ordinary citizens, but the green bag we opened can be targeted at some of the upper echelons, some of the larger families, and some of the faster to open up local markets, and for people like the Durin Hall and the Changchun Hall, we all walk the path of noble officials, and the prices of the medicines are much higher than the Yuecao Hall from before. I am afraid that it would not be easily accepted, but the Changchang Hall has its own medicines in the north region, so it will be more competitive than us.

The Manager Lu finally raised his head and glanced at Xie Jingxi. In his heart, he was actually thinking about this matter, because he knew that the brothels of the capital city or the Jiangnan region all walked the paths of the upper echelons. In truth, they were the same as the nobles and ordinary people would not enter, but the northwest region was just a poor place for the nobles. The reason why Manager Lu was not willing to speak to Xie Jingxi was because he felt that she did not know about this. Even if she did, it would not necessarily change her attitude towards the commoners.

"Grand Mistress's words have enlightened me. I can take a look at the road to integration." Manager Lu nodded his head. He wanted to let Qing Hu take down his pride as a noble, but he was afraid that the owners would not agree, so it became difficult.

Looking at his expression, Xie Jingxi knew that he was listening. After pondering for a while, she asked, "Manager Lu has been in the Northwest region for a long time, have you come into contact with the local ticket numbers?"

The Manager Lu raised her head in surprise, she did not know why Xie Jingxi would ask him this, "To be honest, Grand Mistress, I have thought of this in private, and have interacted with many people, but most of them are still spectating, the ticket line has only just risen, it is not done yet."

Thus, Xie Jingxi did not ask anymore, and after speaking for a while, she was also a little tired, so she left first. When the remaining two shopkeepers were done, Manager Cai brought up Manager Lu, "Old Lu, I told you the truth, our Grand Mistress is not an ordinary person, I told you not to look down on her, although she is not a smart and astute person, but she is not stupid."

"In the end, I still have to meet Lord Gu. No matter how strong a woman is, she can't be the master, I don't want to come here for nothing." Annoyed, he undid a few buttons on his front lapel, flashing his collar as he said, "What kind of crap is this capital? It's so hot that it kills me."

Shopkeeper Cai glanced at him, "What's the ticket number then? Why does Grand Mistress ask this?"

"How would I know what she's up to? I know quite a lot, but it's useless."

Xie Jingxi had been wanting to get her hands on some tickets. He tried to test the waters of Manager Lu, but she had a rough idea of what to do next. This Manager Lu still had his own plans, and wanted to depend on him for the rest.

Bai Cao was afraid that Xie Jingxi would be angered, and said to her: "Madam, please do not lower yourself to the same level as those barbarians, I will deal with him with Zhao Zhang, and only use your face to bully you, in front of Eldest Young Master, you do not even dare fart."

Xie Jingxi was not angry at all, she patted on Bai Cao's hand, "Where you see me getting angry, everyone has their own thoughts, I am not going to argue with him, and furthermore, I do not have the prestige of your Young Master, I hope that they will treat each other as equals, I do not know you, Manager Lu?"

"I have never interacted with him before, but Zhao Zhang should be familiar with him, you are …"

"I called him to the pavilion in private tonight. I have something to ask him."

Bai Cao was confused, she did not know why Grand Mistress was looking for Manager Lu, but she was still thinking about whether she should notify the Young Master and the Prophet, but coincidentally, Gu Yun had returned home a little late tonight. Xie Jingxi went back to her room to rest, and only after the sun had set did she head back to the QingHui Pavilion.