CH 132

Chapter 132 – Discussion

Nevertheless, six thousand taels was really excessive!

Yu Tang replied, “Father, do you want to think it over again? If Master Jiang is a merchant, he certainly wouldn’t make just this one voyage. After all, it’s our first time dealing with him, shouldn’t we take it slow?”

Yu Wen wasn’t the stereotypical elder, on the contrary, he liked the consultative approach of handling things together. Moreover, he knew that Yutang’s thoughts were reflective of the opinions of the rest of the family members. As he wanted to get the support of his family, if he could convince Yutang, the others would follow suit.

“Ah Tang, your words make sense.” Yu Wen thought about it and said after some deliberation, “However, sometimes in a business partnership, it’s not just about the business, it’s also about the people. As you know, transactions are clear-cut, but people are different, with a will and mind of their own. As long as the person is honest, trustworthy, capable and talented, even if he doesn’t turn a profit on this, he will surely generate profits from the next. We just have to follow his lead. The day he makes his fortune is the day we too, will make our fortune. You have to be farsighted. Don’t focus on the short-terms gains.” After saying that, he looked at Yu Bo and continued, “Just like Master Wu next door, the reason why their family made their fortune was because they had a good and capable son-in-law. However, the reason his son-in-law is where he is today, was it not because Master Wu always supported his studies? In business, the same principle applies.”

Yu Tang didn’t know if she should cry or laugh.

When Master Wu’s father, Elder Master Wu was alive, his family already had accumulated a considerable amount of funds, however, the annual taxes and the silver to support the elders were still weighing heavily on his mind. Therefore, he chose his current son in law, who was excellent in his studies but did not have enough financial resources, and funded his studies for ten years. The son-in-law did not disappoint him and entered into officialdom and appointed as a magistrate in Jiangxi.  From then on, Master Wu’s family could really relax and they were no longer afraid of getting into any trouble from officials and were able to deal with them accordingly.

As a result of this precedent, the two sons-in-laws chosen by Master Wu were both scholars, one of them was a scholar and the other a provincial scholar.

In Lin’an City, they could be regarded as a family with a backstory.

She understood the concept that instead of saving the money, it was better to use it to sponsor someone in their studies or to use it for investments, otherwise, she would not have found an excuse to go to Suzhou. But her fears were not unfounded. She had heard these things from her past life, but she still had to see for herself what the truth was. The money from the auction was an unexpected windfall, but it was still silver, and she could not waste it frivolously.

She couldn’t help but respond, “Father, what you say makes sense. That’s why I asked if we could invest a little less. After all, our family does not possess significant financial resources, and we still need silver for the forest land and for our lacquerware shop. It’s better to store up a little silver for the future, so that we can have a constant flow of income.”

Yu Bo nodded his head repeatedly.

Six thousand taels of silver was something he had never dared to think of until now.

Investing more would yield more, but it was also riskier.

He would rather take his time, and so even if he lost it, he would not be too upset.

When Yu Wen saw his elder brother nodding in agreement with Yu Tang, he hurriedly replied, “Brother, this is not the same as investing to help a little or as a kind gesture. It’s because I think highly of Master Jiang that I want to have a serious stake in his business. He has only just started and now is the most difficult time for him. Rather than waiting until he is well established to join in, we might as well form a partnership with him at this time. Only then will we be able to have the ability to negotiate with him and for him to have reason to support our family! It’s only friendship that begins in the humblest of beginnings that last the longest!”

Most importantly, no one in the Yu family had the courage and ambition to undertake such a risky business venture.

Since this was the case, they might as well find a reliable partner who would take the majority of the profits, while they follow along and have the crumbs.

Yu Bo was moved by Yu Wen’s words and nodded his head.

Seeing this, Yu Wen was delighted and smiled towards Yu Tang. “As Ah Tang said, we have to prepare for the future. Since we obtained this fortune by accident, we cannot have it again. Instead of leaving it alone and slowly depleting it, it would be better to risk it all. Even if we lose it, we can all just put our minds at ease and pretend that we never gotten it in the first place.”

Even Madam Wang and Madam Chen nodded their heads at this.

Yu Tang spoke up helplessly, “I agree with everything Father said. I’m only afraid that Master Jiang will misunderstand and think that our family is rich, and that if he had further future business plans that would require our family to contribute funds, our family would not be able to do so, which would make Master Jiang unhappy and create a rift between the two families. It would turn what was once a good relationship into a joke.”

“No way!” Yu Yuan interjected, “Uncle thought of this as well, so he informed Master Jiang that this was all the silver the family had. Otherwise, how else would another two thousand taels be added?”

Hearing this, Yu Wen smiled smugly as he shook his fan, saying, “Ah-tang, did you assume that your father only had book-smarts? I really admire this Master Jiang and wanted to help him out. However, I don’t want to turn a good deed into a bad one, so I added two thousand taels and told him that this was all the savings we had at present. I believe that if we failed to turn a profit this time, Master Jiang will not ask us to contribute so much silver again if he has any other businesses. Besides, I’ve made some enquiries. Master Jiang sold his family’s ancestral fifty acres of good land for this expedition, and he has also placed his family’s vessel as collateral to the pawnshop. He has utilised his entire family’s fortune, so he must value the success of this expedition even more than we do.”

Yu Tang thought carefully about those events in her previous life.

It’s true that the Jiang family did not go bankrupt.

Otherwise if Jiang Chao could rise again after bankruptcy it would be a greater feat for others to brag about. Not only would it not damage Jiang Chao’s reputation, it would elevate his status and she would definitely have heard about it

The worst that could happen would be that Jiang Chao didn’t earn that much of a profit.

“Since father has made a decision, I will definitely support father.” Yu Tang said readily, but her cautious nature still made her unable to refrain from cautioning her father, “We have to check through the paperwork when we deliver the silver, so that we can avoid any trouble that arises in future.”

“Don’t worry about that.” Yu Wen addressed this to the whole family, “Although I’m not a businessman, but I can judge people! I will go with Master Wu to deliver the silver when the time comes.”

“What?!” Yu Tang jolted to her feet.

Yu Wen laughed heartily and said, “We met Master Wu on our way back from Hangzhou City, and when he heard about Master Jiang, he decided to join in as well.”

“Father!” Yu Tang couldn’t help but raise her voice, “The maritime business is extremely risky, it’s one thing for our family to invest, but we can’t encourage other families to follow us. If we lose our silver, it would be detrimental to our neighbours as well.”

“I know, I know.” Yu Wen chuckled, “That’s what I told him too. But he said that he believed in my judgement, it’s just that he couldn’t get such a large amount of silver and was only going to invest one thousand taels. Besides, with Master Wu’s wealth, a thousand taels is a small amount for him. I’ll make it up to him if he loses money.”

Yu Tang rubbed her forehead in disbelief.

Suddenly she felt that even if she was reborn, there was no way she could change her father’s profligate spending habits. It really wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t stop her father from buying Lu Xin’s painting in the first place ……

Yu Yuan knew about this and was also very opposed to the idea at the time, only that Yu Wen was his uncle, and so when Yu Wen and Master Wu spoke, he was not in a position to intervene. At this point, he immediately sided with Yu Tang and spoke up, “Uncle, I think sister made a good point. If our family invests, it’s fine. But as for Master Wu……”

Just before he could finish his sentence, Ah Cam ran in and said, “Master Wu has come over and said he has arrived with the silver.”

Yu Wen was overjoyed and replied, “Quickly, ask him to come!”

Yu Tang and Yu Yuan exchanged a look, knowing that it was too late to stop this even if they wanted to.

As soon as Lady Xiang saw this, she patted Yu Yuan’s hand comfortingly and walked quickly to Yu Tang’s side, saying quietly, “Don’t worry. If you really lose money, I will pay the 1,000 taels of silver to Master Wu. I was originally in favour of this too.”

But that’s not how silver is supposed to be used!

But as soon as Yu Tang saw Lady Xiang’s sincere gaze, she couldn’t say anything in response.

Everyone was well-intended and did it for the sake of the family, so if she continued her opposition, it would only make them feel worse.

Yu Tang secretly heaved an exasperated sigh in her heart.

Suddenly she was reminded of Pei Yan’s blunt “refuse”.

She should really learn from Pei Yan.

But if she did that, sister-in-law would be sad, right?

Just like when she heard Pei Yan’s blunt rejection, didn’t she too have a hard time accepting it at first?

Yu Tang smiled wryly and felt that she only could deal with the situation one step at a time, so she took Lady Xiang’s arm and said, “How can we use your silver? The silver is reserved for my nephew’s studies, to buy ink, paper and inkstones, and to repay the magistrate for passing the imperial examinations, so you can’t just give it out so freely! Even if sister-in-law wants to, I, as an aunt, cannot agree to it.”

Lady Xiang blushed and smiled softly.

Yu Tang was worried that she would still have the thought of taking her dowry to subsidize the losses of the Yu family, so she changed the subject and said quietly, “Sister-in-law, I went back to countryside residence two days ago and found that the peanuts planted in the mountain forest are almost ready of harvesting. I have spoken to my fifth uncle and will send some to the Wei family to try. When the time comes, you can decide if you would like to send them personally or send someone else to deliver them.”

If Lady Xiang personally sent it, she would have an excuse to vist her maternal home.

Lady Xiang was elated and said, “I’ll send it over myself then. I haven’t seen my aunt for a long time, and I miss her dearly.” Then she spoke of Wei Xiaochuan and the newly married Lady Gao.

Yu Tang let out a sigh of relief.

She, however, did not wish to speak with her father at all.

She simply took advantage of the fact that Yu Wen was preoccupied in a lively discussion with Master Wu about going to Suzhou and shut herself in her room as she carefully perused through the books Pei Yan lent.

It was only then that Yu Tang understood why Pei Yan asked her to consult her father or the senior workers of their family’s fields if she couldn’t understand what she was reading.

She knew what a plough was, but what was a Lei plough? How was the plough related to the Lei plough? What was the difference between a tiller plough and a rotary plough?

Yu Tang was greatly perplexed.

The most confusing thing was that she only wanted to know how to cultivate the fields, so why was there a journal of recollections included as well?

What does that have to do with farming?

Yu Tang suddenly understood why Yu Wen had a slightly stiff expression when he was looking through these books.