Chapter 12 rich son

At the moment when Zhou Yiming was about to leave, the clerk of the Jinchang Inn brought in a person. This person, sister Aqiao recognized, was the servant of the Pan family. "His name is Pan Fu." Sister Aqiao saw him through the window, and said to Hu Xueyan, "I don't know why you came here. If it's something related to me, don't just agree." Gently push. So Hu Xueyan met Pan Fu in the outhouse.After the visitor paid his respects, he took out a plum red letter from the worship box and handed it up.When I opened it, it was Pan Shuya who signed "Jiao Yudi" and invited him to dinner, and the date was noon the next day.Four words were specially added to the post: "Wu beg and reward light".

This is very abrupt!Pan Shuya is a complete "big young master", lazy to socialize with irrelevant people, so Hu Xueyan went to Pan's house a few times, and never invited the hostess.And at this time, suddenly posting a post to invite guests, there must be something so-called, and the invited people will naturally ask: Why are you here? "It's just to admire Mr. Hu." Pan Fu replied, "I didn't invite any other guests. I only invite Mr. Hu alone." Hu Xueyan really couldn't think of Pan Shuya's intentions, but he didn't have to think about it at this time, he would naturally understand when he went to the banquet tomorrow.Immediately took a reply, explained to Pan Fu that he would arrive, and asked him to thank him first.

"My majesty also said that if Mr. Hu doesn't go out tomorrow morning, or if he wants to go somewhere, please ask first, so that he can send a sedan chair to pick him up." "Probably not going out, but sending a sedan chair to pick him up, there is no need." "It must be. My superior said, it's not like this, it's not a respect." That being the case, there is no need to be polite.After Pan Fu resigned, he had to study the matter with Sister Aqiao, and they both had the same opinion. When Pan Shuya sent this invitation, one said it was "begging for honor", and the other was to send a sedan chair to pick it up.As for what was entrusted, even Sister Aqiao, who lived in Pan's house for several days, couldn't guess.

"Leave it alone!" Hu Xueyan said, "Let Lao Zhou accompany you into the city! By the way, let's find out with Mrs. Pan's wife. When I arrive tomorrow, try to send me a letter." Sister Aqiao still felt a little bit reluctant to part with her, but in the face of Zhou Yiming's inconvenience, she finally hired a sedan chair and went into the city. After a night of silence, Hu Xueyan walked into the city early the next morning, saw that Ji Heling was not in the inn, and did not disturb Ruiyun's cousin, so he quietly returned to Jinchang Inn.Just after eleven o'clock, the sedan chair sent by the Pan family arrived.It turned out to be a big sedan chair.After asking, I found out that soon after Pan Shuya was born, his father imitated the method of Yangzhou salt merchants and spent 20,000 silver to donate him a Taoist priest, a third-rank official, who can sit in a green woolen sedan chair as usual.According to the rules, there can also be a "top horse", but Pan Shuya has not put on this official position, but the big sedan chair is very particular, with three glass windows, colored silk curtains, and colorful tassels on the eaves of the sedan chair. The bar is covered with copper and polished sharply.In the sedan chair, there are bowls, fruits, snacks, a pipe for hookah, two books, one "Shadow of Flowers across the Curtain" and one "Speaking of the Old Man". .

It was the first time for Hu Xueyan to sit in a sedan chair. When he saw the four porters carrying the sedan chair, he couldn't help but think of Ji Heling's words - Ji Heling told a joke, saying that each of the four porters had four characters to describe, and the first one in front held his head high. The first one is called "raise your eyebrows", and the second one is called "Don't dare to fart", because the position is in front of the "Master", and if you fart, the "Master" will bear the brunt of the brunt. Don't distinguish things", the last one follows suit, only follow, that is "no idea".

It is said that the situation of the Minister of Military Aircraft is the same as that of these four bearers.The leader of the military aircraft naturally "raised his eyebrows"; when he played the right role, he was the one who spoke as usual, so the second one was called "Don't dare to fart"; It is also detailed.As for the last one, which is commonly known as "the military plane that hits the curtain", it is of course "no idea". From this, I thought of He Guiqing's same year, Peng Yunzhang, Minister of Military Aircraft, who was ranked?If it is "not daring to fart", then why can Gui Qing speak?When I have a chance, I will ask him.

Thinking wildly like this, he arrived at Pan's house before he knew it, and the sedan chair was carried all the way to the outside of the hall, only then did he realize that Pan Fu's words were unreliable, besides the host, there were two other guests, usually of the style of aristocrats in fine clothes. After the host and guest bowed to each other, the host introduced the two new friends to Hu Xueyan.He guessed really well, one is Wu Jizhong and the other is Lu Zhixiang, they are both sons of Guijie, both father and brother are officials in the capital, and I am a scholar.After expressing their admiration to each other, Pan Shuya went into the garden to receive them.

The Pan family's garden is very large, but the house looks very old, only a new nanmu boat hall, where Pan Shuya entertains guests.The male servant is outside the hall, and there are two servant girls in the hall.The girls in Suzhou have a cute style, a bamboo shirt with rolled lace, loose-leg pants, a very thin waist, braided aurora, and nails dyed extremely red.Ying Sheng groaned, calling Pan, Wu, and Lu all three "Young Masters", and only calling Hu Xueyan "Master Hu"! It was noon, and the banquet was held in the boat hall.The host offered Hu Xueyan the first seat, and did not wait for his humility. First, he declared: Hu Xueyan is the only guest, and Wu Jizhong and Lu Zhixiang are not even accompanying guests. They are the three protagonists, and they have to ask Hu Xueyan for advice.Panfold's words are good.

He had expected to ask Hu Xueyan for something, and after drinking for three rounds, he asked first, and Pan Shuya explained the reason in detail.It all started with Sister Aqiao's gossip, wandering around with Aunt Pan's wife, nothing to do in her boudoir, she used many stories she heard from You Wu, Yiqing's second child and Hu Xueyan himself as entertainment.Hu Xueyan's story is different from the beginning, and Aqiao's sister is articulate and meticulous, so Aunt Pan's wife is very interested. So these stories were uploaded from the pillow to Pan Shuya's ears.This time, he looked at Hu Xueyan with admiration!Hakama boys never make friends with ordinary and upright gentlemen, they must make friends with "interesting" people, who can speak well, or look outstanding, or behave beautifully. According to Pan Shuya, Hu Xueyan is this kind of person.But what he admired the most was Hu Xueyan's loyalty, and because of this, he wanted to entrust Hu Xueyan with great care.

"Brother Hu," he got to the point, "Suzhou has never been so turbulent! The officers and soldiers are fighting, not enough to protect the people, and more than enough to harass. The three of us want to go to the barracks in Shanghai and ask Brother Hu to take care of us." "Yes." Hu Xueyan replied calmly, thinking in his heart that the so-called care is nothing more than buying a house, which is a trivial matter, so he added, "Okay, it's all on me." "I think so. I have a sum of cash, give it to Brother Hu, and see how I can use it?" Pan Shuya said, "The amount of money is not large, about 120,000 to 30,000 silver."

120,000 to 30,000 silver, and said that the amount is not large, what a generous tone.Hu Xueyan was about to speak, but Wu Jizhong spoke before him. "Shuya and I are in the same situation. We have 100,000 silver, and I need to ask Brother Hu to spend it for me." "My situation is a little different." Lu Zhixiang said, "I have a box of things, and I don't feel safe in Suzhou. Brother Hu, please take a look and see if there is a safe place to store them." "Oh," Hu Xueyan asked, "a box of what?" "It's a painting box." "The collection at Zhixiang's house is famous." Pan Shuya said, "There are a few exquisite pieces left over from the Ming Dynasty." Based on these words, one can imagine the preciousness of that painting box.Hu Xueyan did not dare to answer this point lightly, but nodded and said, "Let's discuss it later." The so-called "discussion" is just an excuse. Hu Xueyan has already decided not to do such a thankless thing.So he made such a wise decision. But Lu Zhixiang's purpose was to hope that Hu Xueyan could protect him when he was transported out of the dangerous city and transferred to the Yichang protected by foreigners, so he mentioned You Wu. "I heard that Brother Hu and the leader of the Cao Gang are close friends?" He nodded and replied: "Yes. Songjiang's Cao Gang, the old and the young in charge, all think highly of me." Speaking of this, Hu Xueyan thought very alertly that Lu Zhixiang said this , Naturally, if you have something to ask for, it's better to be more beautiful, and you don't have to wait for him to speak again, "If there is anything, brother, as long as I can, I can intercede." "Yes. I want to ask Brother Hu to intercede." Lu Zhixiang said, "The Songjiang Cao Gang is very powerful and has contact with the 'boss' here. I want to ask Brother Hu to find out if the Songjiang Cao Gang is willing to help me I'm so busy, I naturally have a little thought." Then, he asked Pan Shuya, "Is it almost enough to send five thousand silver?" Before Pan Shuya could answer, Hu Xueyan waved his hands again and again: "I can't talk about it, I can't talk about it! When it comes to this, my friend surnamed You refuses to join hands. Dude," he said sincerely to Lu Zhixiang, " Listen to me, these old brothers are all born as young masters, and they are generous. However, there are things that money can’t buy when making friends in the world. I will do my best to fulfill my brother’s entrustment. As long as I am sure, This matter is nothing! In the future, when it is done, we will always meet in Shanghai. At that time, I will prepare a table of wine and introduce you. It is enough for you to thank me in person." The first half of the sentence was a bit of a lesson, but it was sincere, so Lu Zhixiang not only didn't think it was disobedient, but also repeatedly bowed his hands to be taught: "Yes, yes! It's vulgar to talk about remuneration." Then he talked about the inside story of the Cao Gang, and then talked about the anecdotes and strange things about Yichang. He talked about it without meaning, but put the business aside. While entertaining, Hu Xueyan observed calmly, and quickly understood that these three "elder young masters" wanted to move to Shanghai, half of which was to flee from disaster, and half was to yearn for the prosperity of Yichang.From this point of view, the first thing to do for them in Shanghai is to build a house for each of their families. The patterns of these three "residences" quickly appeared in his mind. They were Western-style buildings with various Western-style layouts, soft "shuttle" chairs, large vegetable tables, and coal-burning or burning Firewood for the fireplace. Thinking about it this way, Hu Xueyan also has a way to make a profit on Pan and Wu's cash.However, this method is "long-term and far-reaching", and it is impossible to talk about quick success and quick benefits.If they look at it from a distance, it will be of great help to their own business. Hu Xueyan thought to himself, with a position of 200,000 yuan that can be used for a long time, why not open another bank in Shanghai? Suddenly, I realized that I had encountered another excellent opportunity, so I thought about it carefully for a while, and when I thought about it, I found a gap between their conversations and said to Pan Shuya: "I have something I want to ask. " "Okay, okay. Tell me, please." "You two, Cheng, think highly of me, and I dare not be indifferent. But you two always have a plan for this cash, whether to do business, or to lower interest rates, and if it is to lower interest rates, is it long-term or short-term? Take a big idea, and I will be caught off guard." Pan Shuya looked at Wu Jizhong and asked for his opinion with a wink. "Brother Hu," Wu Jizhong only talked about his own situation, "I don't know what to do, so I have to tell you what I think. If you want to flee, your income in Suzhou will naturally be cut off, and you won't be able to receive the rented rice from the fields. I don’t know if the city house can be kept or not, let alone the rent. At that time, Shejian’s family of 18 depended on this money for their livelihood. The truth is, please figure it out.” "My situation is similar." Pan Shuya said, "My family is no more than thirteen people, but the Han tribe has a lot of people. If they all fled to Shanghai, life would be difficult, so I have to do my best." "I understand!" Hu Xueyan said, "In case Suzhou falls, I don't know when it will recover. No one dares to say whether it will be a year or a half, or three or five years. Since this money is used as the capital of fleeing, You have to have a long flow of water, with stability as the first." "The words 'thin water flows long' are very well said!" Wu Jizhong was very pleased, "That's what I mean." Hu Xueyan nodded, put down his chopsticks, put his hands on the table, and made a very solemn gesture: "The responsibility given to me by the two of you is not light! I can only do my best. I think I should make such a balanced plan. First, In Shanghai Yichang, you must have your own house; secondly, look at how much you need to spend every month, and put forward a sum of money for interest, and the interest will not move your capital. You have a house to live in, and you have a daily household. You have to be stable first. If you live in the 'Old Camp', you might as well let go and do some work, and use the remaining money to buy land or do business. In this way, you can think of the worst place, even if you lose everything, you can still live without worry. It won't hurt your vitality. Let me see if my plan works?" "Why not? That's great." Wu Ji turned his face and said, "Shu Ya, this big brother Hu is very scheming, really admirable." My friend is from Pan Shuya, hearing this praise, it's really "honoured", so he is also extremely proud.When she was happy, she immediately called the girl and said, "Go in and tell your concubine that there is a prayer box in the iron box, and you have even brought the key." "Slow down!" Hu Xueyan hurriedly stopped, "Don't give me anything right now." "It's the same." Pan Shuya said, "My family has 50,000 to 60,000 banknotes, so I hand them over to Brother Hu first." "No, no! As a bank, we pay attention to credit first, and procedures second. After we have negotiated a solution, I will hand over the money from the two of you to the bank. Whether it's long or short, you have to carefully consider it." "Alright!" Pan Shuya said, "Then I will ask Brother Hu to give me instructions." So Hu Xueyan started from buying land and building a house, and then talked about doing foreign goods business, and he roughly had a plan.To buy land and build a house, the amount is 10,000 taels of silver, and the rest is divided in half, half of which is a five-year long-term deposit, and the other half is a demand deposit, which is used as capital for business.The banks where the deposits were made were introduced by Hu Xueyan, which are actually equal to long-term deposits, because the half of the current deposits used for business also have to listen to Hu Xueyan's idea. If his position is tight, a certain business can not be done , over and over again, listening to a word in his mouth. "Okay, that's it for us." Pan Shuya asked Lu Zhixiang, "What about you? What's your idea?" "Hearing that you guys are talking lively, I naturally have to plan and plan. In Shanghai, everyone's house is built together, so it's easy to move around." So what you say and what I say are all about the joy of living together in the future and living together day and night.Hu Xueyan watched coldly, and felt that these three rich young men had different tempers from Pang Er, Gao Si, and Wu Wu. After all, Zhou and Gao had also managed business themselves and were relatively shrewd, but they were shrewd and easy to deal with. These three young masters are completely ignorant of the difficulties of harvesting. Perhaps their expectations are too high and unrealistic, and they may not know the world and don't know good from bad. When they talk, they can talk about everything.As soon as it is done, if you feel that it is not as good as you want, you will immediately have ugly words, and it will be hard work and not flattering, then it is too useless. So he asked: "Have all three of you been to Shanghai?" "I went there once, when I was only four years old, and I can't remember anything!" Pan Shuya said, "The two of them went as far as Changshu." "That said, you still haven't seen what Yichang looks like." "That's right!" Pan Shuya said, "I am forty-two this year. When I was four years old, I was still in the Jiaqing period. Where did I come from?" "It is said that Yichang is lively, but I want to tell the three of you: the excitement is in the future. The lively place in front of you is just a small place where fish and dragons are mixed together. It is not suitable for elegant people like the three of you who play piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. I think of a place where I can buy a large piece of land to live in. It still looks like a countryside. In the future, when foreigners build roads there, it will become a quiet place to live in. However, this is what I said , How about it, we have to wait for you to see it for yourself.” "As long as you agree, it's fine, buy it first and then talk." "Third brother Pan is right." Hu Xueyan said bluntly, "But this is the first time we have worked together, and the days to come will be long, so the first trip must be successful. I have an idea now. Among them, who is interested, I will accompany you to Shanghai to have a look first, how about it?" "That's a good idea!" Lu Zhixiang said excitedly, "I've wanted to go out for a long time. I'm afraid I don't have any acquaintances, and I don't know the rules of barbarians, and I will make jokes. Now that Brother Hu is here, what are you afraid of?" This said, Pan and Wu's minds were also active, but Wu Jizhong was very filial to his mother, and he was a little reluctant to leave his knees, while Pan Shuya had a property to be disposed of, so he couldn't stay away, so the result of the discussion was decided by Lu Zhixiang go alone. "When are we leaving?" he asked. "I want to start tomorrow." "Hey!" Lu Zhixiang was greatly surprised, "Then how come it's too late?" It is common for people in business to travel far away, and they can leave whenever they want. For a person like Lu Zhixiang, it is a great event to travel far away. First, choose an auspicious day for a long trip, and then prepare your luggage and send it off to relatives and friends. After that, relatives and friends will say goodbye to each other, and go to various places to say goodbye. If this goes on, if you can leave in ten days, it will be considered fast. Hu Xueyan understood these situations, and thought that there was no need to "bargain" with him, even if he waited for two or three days longer, it would be of no avail, but his two or three days of work were too precious to be wasted needlessly, so he said : "Fortunately, I'm not in a hurry. Just take it easy and set a date. I'll send someone to meet you on a special trip, or I'll make another trip by myself, so you can arrive in Shanghai safely and comfortably." "It couldn't be better than this." Lu Zhixiang used the emperor's calendar to pick a date. Originally, it was at the end of the month, but because of the Dragon Boat Festival, he wanted to celebrate the festival at home, and finally picked the seventh day of May, which is an auspicious day for the zodiac. After talking about business, a feast was coming to an end, and four kinds of "table dishes" were served, so I had to take a look, but eight kinds of pickles in small plates were swept away. Hu Xueyan drank a bowl of fragrant japonica rice porridge, patted Stomach stood up and said: "I'm going to say goodbye. I'm going to leave tomorrow. I won't come to say goodbye to everyone. After the Dragon Boat Festival, I will definitely find time to pick up Brother Zhixiang in person. Let's talk about it then!" Pan Shuya wanted to keep him sitting longer, and Wu Jizhong and Lu Zhixiang wanted to invite him to dinner again.Hu Xueyan felt that there was no need to be too accommodating to this group of "elder young masters", so he refused all of them with excuses, rewarded the servants of the Pan family lavishly, and still left the gate of Changmen in the ornately decorated sedan chair for four people.