Chapter 69: Sweet Harbor Storm - Funds in Place

It turned out that the people PEPI was preparing to introduce to Guo Yi were all the sons of officials and gentry who frequented Ziminglou. In terms of status, they were not particularly high-ranking. They were either the son of the grain transport commissioner, the young master or brother-in-law of some commander or vice-commander, or the young master or nephew of the owner of some large firm. They had some money in their hands and most of them also had a scholarly title. People with money and leisure naturally liked excitement. Ziminglou, a place that always had new things, was naturally a place where they often gathered.

“The few young masters who came want to see you. They are all rich. It probably won’t be difficult for you to raise some funds.”

“I know about raising funds, but I didn’t expect them to be so eager to see me. It’s rare for a patron to be so anxious to see a borrower,” Guo Yi was a little surprised. He usually met a variety of people, both business partners and officials, but he rarely saw such young masters. They were neither in business nor had any demands, so naturally, they would not want to see him.

“It’s just that they heard you are a visitor from overseas and became curious,” PEPI said with a charming smile. She then explained the reason in detail. It all started from PEPI’s casual chats with guests. When the wealthy patrons came to Ziminglou to spend money, she, as the hostess, would naturally accompany them for a while and make some small talk. During the conversation, she would talk about various things she had seen and heard in Australia as a form of entertainment. This kind of talk was originally material approved by the Lingao propaganda department, mainly to promote the various benefits and wonders of Australia, including a fabricated history, which was nothing more than “strange tales from overseas.” But it also contained a lot of content that the transmigrator group wanted to promote to the people of the Ming Dynasty.

This kind of story was already out of the ordinary. The exquisiteness of Australian goods, including the various novel amusements and enjoyments provided by this Ziminglou, coupled with PEPI’s eloquence and vivid descriptions, made many people very interested in Guo Yi, the owner of Ziminglou.

The sons of profligates never made friends with ordinary, upright gentlemen. They had to make friends with “interesting” people, either those who were eloquent, had outstanding looks, or acted in a peculiar way. These people had been pestering PEPI, wanting to meet the somewhat mysterious “Owner Guo.”

“So that’s how it is,” Guo Yi thought. It didn’t matter. Now was the time to build up his network, and it was always good to have some connections.

“Don’t look down on them just because they are ordinary young masters. They are quite wealthy,” PEPI said, flicking her wrist lightly. An emerald ring on her finger sparkled. “This is their generosity.”

This ring was worth at least eight hundred taels of silver. This was no small gesture.

“Isn’t this gift too heavy? There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” Guo Yi couldn’t help but worry.

“Where is the free lunch?” PEPI looked bored, raising her orchid-like fingers to admire the new nail art on them.

”?!” Guo Yi looked surprised.

PEPI knew he had misunderstood and said, both shy and anxious, “You, why do you always think of such crooked things!” She stomped her foot and was about to go inside.

“Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, don’t go, don’t go—” Guo Yi quickly grabbed her, feeling like he had become the protagonist of a Qiong Yao drama.

“Hmph,” PEPI turned around. “I am your Owner Guo’s person. No matter how profligate they are, they can’t have such ideas. Even if they did, Lixiu would not be able to comply—”

“Alright, alright,” Guo Yi felt a chill and quickly changed the subject. “So how did you handle it?”

“What’s there to handle? They have a request, so I just catered to their liking—it’s not difficult,” PEPI smiled. “Of course, they want to meet you, Owner Guo.”

They didn’t talk much more after that. A moment later, a maid came to report that the young masters had all arrived.

“Please ask them to meet in the Bamboo Garden,” PEPI instructed.

“Bamboo Garden? You built a small garden?” Guo Yi was surprised. He hadn’t seen any order for this project.

“It’s just a private room. I just gave it a nice name,” PEPI said, then went in to change her clothes. When she came out, she had changed into a thin, dark purple velvet dress with a floral pattern, which further accentuated her tall figure and plump curves.

The two of them, led by a maid, walked through the corridor, down the stairs, and around a corner. Guo Yi said, “This place is like a maze!”

PEPI said, “The place is too cramped, and the layout is a bit messy. If we have the resources, it would be best to redecorate it.”

Her words implied that she was not satisfied with the facilities of Ziminglou. Ziminglou was originally a renovated old building. At that time, the industrial system of Lingao was still a blank slate, and the Executive Committee was not willing to invest too many modern things here. Naturally, it could only be decorated according to the capabilities of this time and space. Because they were eager to open up the situation, and the original decoration facilities were still sixty or seventy percent new, they did not make too many adjustments and changes.

Guo Yi deeply agreed. With Pei Lixiu’s appearance and conversation, although she had attracted many profligates with the novelty of the moment, it was not a long-term solution. To make Ziminglou a prosperous and glorious business for a long time, they needed to constantly come up with new things and lead the fashion trend of Guangzhou.

Thinking of this, Guo Yi said slowly, “I had forgotten about this matter if you hadn’t mentioned it. Lingao has sent over a new list of goods. You can take a look later and see if there is anything that can be used in Ziminglou. We can consider the renovation then.”

“If you ask me, we should install a batch of sanitary ware first. It’s too inconvenient now…” Just as she was about to continue, she saw that they were almost there and quickly switched back to her sweet and cloying tone. “Master, watch your step.”

The Bamboo Garden was said to be a private room, but it was actually a small flower hall, decorated quite elegantly, although the furnishings were a bit old. There were two pretty maids serving in the hall. The two guests were dressed like noble young masters.

After the host and guests exchanged greetings, PEPI introduced Guo Yi to her new friends. She was right; they were typical profligate sons. One was Wu Zhixiang, whose father and brother were both officials in the capital, and he himself was a scholar. The other, Dong Jizhong, was even more unexpected. He was the son of a vice-commander and had inherited a hereditary post of commander.

“So you are an official! My apologies, my apologies,” Guo Yi bowed again.

“What official? Just a hereditary petty official,” Dong Jizhong said with a nonchalant look. “A person like me, would I really go to the battlefield to wield a sword and spear?”

He looked weak and scholarly, and it was hard to imagine that the descendant of a hereditary general’s family would be like this. However, since this person was in Guangdong, his father must be an official in Fujian or Guangdong. If he could get a hold of this connection, it would be much easier to get military information from the Ming Dynasty in the future.

They exchanged pleasantries. Since it was noon, Pei Lixiu held a banquet in the hall. A large round table had been set up in the middle, with twelve cold dishes laid out on fine blue and white porcelain tableware. Guo Yi had been here for a long time and knew that Ming Dynasty banquets, whether official or private, did not have this kind of arrangement. This typical 20th-century way of serving dishes, along with many of the dishes themselves, were all transplanted by PEPI from the 20th century—she had brought many cooking utensils and books with her.

Guo Yi’s eyes swept over the dishes. Not only were the dishes all familiar varieties from his past public and private banquets, but even the way the table was set was familiar. He couldn’t help but smile to himself.

Because it was an elegant gathering, there were no fixed seats. Since the few gentlemen were hosting Guo Yi, they pushed him to the head seat. Guo Yi did not refuse.

At the banquet, they inevitably talked about various strange and interesting stories about Australia. Fortunately, thanks to the internet, Guo Yi had a lot of miscellaneous things in his head, from astronomy and geography to social news. He could make up anything he wanted. He knew that this was just a prelude, and the important topic would surely come later.

Sure enough, after three rounds of wine, Wu Zhixiang went straight to the point. It turned out that although these few people were the sons of officials, they had been living in Guangzhou for a long time and had also been influenced by the commercial atmosphere. They had “some private money” in their hands and wanted to engage in some “profitable business.”

Profitable business was easy to say, but for them, the sons of officials, it was not very convenient. They didn’t know much about the ways of the business world and didn’t dare to venture into it rashly. Although lending money was profitable, the risk was high, and it also involved the issue of their official reputation. If it was reported to some “governor” or the six ministries, at the very least, they would be criticized for “competing with the people for profit,” which was highly inappropriate.

The easiest and safest way was to find a suitable large firm to deposit their money and collect interest. It was both safe and no one would gossip. But Wu Zhixiang found the interest rate too low.

After much thought, the most profitable business in Guangzhou was the foreign trade. Ships full of porcelain, medicinal materials, raw silk, and tea were shipped out, and what came back was white silver. Everyone was envious. Wu Zhixiang had been thinking about this for a long time.

But although Wu Zhixiang’s father and brother were officials in the capital, they were not some powerful figures. Dong Jizhong’s father was just a vice-commander, and the rank of a military official was not worth much. Moreover, he was an official in another province, and no one in the local area would try to curry favor with them, so they couldn’t get a share of the goods or invest to make a small fortune. To go out to sea and run the business themselves, they heard that the storms were dangerous and there were pirates. The two of them really didn’t have the courage. To entrust it to others, they couldn’t be at ease…

Dong Jizhong also interjected, “They say that foreign trade is a sure-fire way to make money, but the storms at sea are dangerous, and the Zheng pirates—” He paused. “—although Zheng Zhilong has been pacified, the sea is still very dangerous!” He said with a bitter smile, “We have money, but we can’t use it.”

After all this long-winded talk, Guo Yi knew that these few were just ordinary profligate sons. They were envious of others’ wealth, but they were not willing to take any risks or endure any hardship. So they came to him—such people were easy to deal with. He just nodded and said casually, “The storms at sea are indeed not a good business. You are all precious sons. You can’t do this kind of business.”

Although they had given up the idea of doing maritime trade, the idea of making money had never changed. Dong Jizhong thought that in Guangzhou now, another big money-making business was Australian goods. A mirror sent to Jiangnan would double its profit, and in the capital, it would be even more. The goods were small, easy to carry and transport, and very easy to sell. It was much safer than risking a large sum of money to go out to sea for foreign trade.

There was another advantage. Because Wu Zhixiang’s father and brother were in the capital, he often went to the capital himself or sent people on business. Each time, the Wu family would take advantage of the opportunity to travel to and from the capital to carry a large amount of goods along the way for sale. This kind of business, which used official documents, not only did not have to pay taxes at the customs, but all the expenses on the road were borne by the post stations, and even the porters could be arranged by the post stations along the way.

The two of them hit it off immediately. They had the capital. But the Gao family monopolized the wholesale of Australian goods in the Guangzhou market. To get some goods from them was no different from snatching food from a tiger’s mouth. Although Gao Ju was just a commoner, he had connections with people in the palace and was said to be connected with pirates. How could they dare to provoke him? As for Guo Yi, they had heard of his name for a long time, but they had no contact with him and no suitable person to introduce them. They were afraid that they would not even be able to see him if they went to visit him rashly. Even if they did, it would be too demeaning to their status.

After much thought, they thought of Pei Lixiu of Ziminglou. They heard that this was Guo Yi’s property, so Pei Lixiu, who was in charge of the business of Ziminglou, must be the number one favorite of this Owner Guo, his favored concubine. If she could introduce them and say a few good words at a critical moment, things would be much easier to handle.

Having made up their minds, the two of them went to Ziminglou every day, trying their best to please PEPI, not hesitating to bribe her with heavy gifts. Their purpose was to get her to whisper in Guo Yi’s ear, to meet him, and to get this “Australian God of Wealth” to leak some goods from between his fingers, which would be more than enough for them to enjoy.

“…With such a sum of money that can’t be used, we would like to ask Owner Guo for some advice on how to use it to generate some profit,” Dong Jizhong said. Although his words were polite, the meaning was very clear: what Guo Yi had in his hands that could guarantee a profit was Australian goods.

Guo Yi knew that he had encountered an excellent opportunity, so he carefully considered it for a while. Since they had money that they couldn’t use, it was idle money. Not only could it be borrowed for a short term, but if handled well, it could be used for long-term operations. He just didn’t know how much they had. He thought that each of them probably had ten or twenty thousand taels of silver.

But at this moment, he did not express his opinion, wanting to keep them in suspense. He only vaguely replied, “It’s easy to say, easy to say.”

“What wine would you like to drink, Master?” Pei Lixiu said. “I have already prepared some grape wine.”

“Let’s have the grape wine.”

These days, whenever there was a banquet, Guo Yi would drink “Peerless,” purely to advertise his own wine. He was getting a little tired of it. Hearing that there was grape wine, he felt like he had found rain in a drought.

Grape wine was also sold in Guangzhou in the Ming Dynasty. One type was foreign goods, transported in wooden barrels, no different from the grape wine of the 20th century. The other was just yellow wine with raisins added. A place like Ziminglou naturally used the former.

The wine was poured into a glass, crimson and beautiful. Guo Yi took a small sip. The wine was not astringent, but had a sweet and sour taste of the original juice, and indeed had a familiar fruity aroma of grape wine. He couldn’t help but say, “Good wine!”