The Good Grandson of the Red Chamber

Chapter 94: The Way is not easily passed on, and medicine is not readily available.

Upon hearing these words, Prince Chungshun felt a chill of fear.

He joked, "I'm so old, yet I'm blinded by money. I can't even see things as clearly as a little kid like you."

"That's true. If we had sold like crazy at the beginning, they would have cut off our supply with their wickedness, leaving us with nothing to sell and unable to even source supplies from the palace."

"That would ruin your reputation. Even you wouldn't have the face to go to the palace to complain then."

That's true; you can only file a complaint once.

The Emperor and Empress have already stood up for him. If he were to file a second complaint under these circumstances, it would be a sign of his incompetence.

It is not a long-term solution to rely on others to protect what you cannot protect yourself.

I'm afraid his image in the emperor's eyes will be greatly diminished.

Prince Zhongshun then said, "Brother Zong, by the way, your fifth uncle does have a stable source of goods here."

"Outside the capital, there is a royal merchant registered with the Ministry of Revenue, which is one of the top-tier merchants."

"His family was incredibly wealthy, being major landowners and tycoons in the capital, not to mention their other land holdings."

"They have dozens of acres of land planted with osmanthus trees. All the osmanthus gardens in and around the city belong to the Xia family. Even the bonsai in the palace are tributes from the Xia family. Therefore, people call them the Xia family of osmanthus."

"We can sign a contract with their family; I doubt they would dare to break it."

The Xia family of Guihua? The Xia family of Xia Jingui?

They do share the same surname as the royal family.

Xia Chengzong couldn't help but ask, "Fifth Uncle, this Xia family also shares the surname Xia. Is there any connection between them and the royal family?"

Prince Zhongshun shook his head and said, "The Xia family has no connection whatsoever with our royal Xia family. They may want to climb the social ladder, but they're simply not capable of doing so."

"I heard that all the men in their family have died, and they only have one daughter, who is about your age."

"It's a pity their family name is also Xia. Otherwise, if you took her into your household, you could have obtained their enormous wealth."

What?

My fifth uncle even considered having me take Xia Jingui as a concubine?

Xia Chengzong quickly pictured Xia Jingui:

He frequently beats and scolds his servants, enjoys eating fried bones, gets drunk and acts out, and even seduces his brother-in-law.

It can be said that she embodied almost all the bad traits of a woman.

This is something I absolutely cannot agree to! Luckily, we share the same surname, otherwise I'm afraid I would have had to go through a lot more trouble to persuade them.

Xia Chengzong shuddered and quickly banished the image from his mind.

He said to Prince Chungshun, "Fifth Uncle, since you are familiar with their family, you should be the one to sign the contract with them."

Prince Zhongshun nodded: "This matter can be left to Fifth Uncle; you don't need to get involved."

"By the way, if we sign a contract with the Xia family, will we be able to sell perfume in large quantities?"

Xia Chengzong shook his head and said, "Fifth Uncle, let's keep the daily limit of thirty bottles of perfume."

Prince Chungshun asked in surprise, "Why is that?"

Xia Chengzong laughed and said, "Firstly, having only osmanthus perfume is a bit too monotonous."

"Secondly, we only sell thirty bottles a day, so our income is limited and won't arouse jealousy or resentment from others."

"Thirdly, our perfume will only become more and more popular. Fifth Uncle, do you think there might be people acting as middlemen, reselling our perfume at inflated prices?"

Prince Zhongshun looked thoughtful, but for a moment he did not fully understand Xia Chengzong's intentions.

He asked, "Brother Zong, what do you mean?"

Xia Chengzong laughed and said, "Since others are selling it, why don't we sell it ourselves!"

"A bottle of perfume sells for fifty taels of silver in our shop, but middlemen sell it for at least one hundred taels or even one hundred and fifty taels of silver."

"Why don't we become middlemen ourselves and secretly sell them for 150 taels of silver? Wouldn't that allow us to earn money without attracting unwanted attention?"

Upon hearing this, Prince Zhongshun slapped his thigh and exclaimed with delight, "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Zong-ge'er, you always have so many clever ideas! That's exactly it!"

This tactic was also commonly used in later generations.

Many ticket sellers like to use this trick.

The original-price tickets sold out in a second, and then they became scalpers themselves, reselling the tickets at inflated prices.

Xia Chengzong has only just learned a few tricks from them.

……

In the following days, business at the Dianjiangchun perfume shop boomed.

Even before the shop opens each day, long queues of customers waiting to buy perfume form outside.

Because this perfume shop only sells thirty bottles of perfume a day, even though each bottle costs a full fifty taels of silver.

However, due to their scarcity, they remain in short supply.

After all, this is a perfume exclusively supplied to royalty!

At first, it was the various noblewomen who sent people to show their support.

However, within just one day, some people saw a business opportunity in it.

There are many items exclusively supplied to the royal family, but to dare to advertise them like this, to even engrave these four characters on a perfume bottle, and to have a plaque bestowed by the current emperor, is truly unique in the entire Great Qian Dynasty.

And I've heard that this perfume has a wonderful, long-lasting fragrance, far surpassing incense.

Once you buy them, transport them to the Jiangnan region, and resell them, you can make at least several times the profit.

With such astonishing profits, why wouldn't these businessmen flock to it?

Soon they learned that the reason for this was that the raw materials were precious, the process was complicated, and mass production was difficult, and priority had to be given to supplying the palace.

The shop can only sell a maximum of thirty bottles of perfume per day, and each customer can only buy one bottle.

As the saying goes, scarcity increases value; the less available, the more frantically people rush to buy it.

Some people are willing to pay a high price to buy all thirty bottles of perfume, even at two or three times the price.

However, the shop flatly refused.

These people were used to being arrogant and domineering elsewhere, but they didn't dare to act recklessly in this shop.

After all, the imperial plaque is still hanging there. Unless they're tired of living and want to play Candy Crush with their whole family, who would dare to be so presumptuous?

This is why the shop is so popular.

Because of the wildly popular perfume, their other products also sold much more.

In just two days, people outside started reselling the perfume at high prices.

The selling price is twice that of the shop.

Even so, demand still exceeds supply, and many people are still willing to pay extra to buy them.

……

After resolving the perfume issue, Xia Chengzong began working on winning over Ni Er.

However, if he were to visit in person, it would be a step down.

The saying goes, "The Way is not easily passed on, and medicine is not readily available."

It means that the doctor didn't go door-to-door to recommend himself/herself.

This would not only arouse suspicion, but also belittle oneself and one's medical skills.

Things handed to you on a silver platter are often not appreciated.

You must make the other party sincerely come to you, so that they feel that the opportunity is hard-won.

Thinking of this, Xia Chengzong asked Xia Bei to invite Jia Lian over.

Xia Chengzong planned to entrust this matter to Jia Lian.

This way, Ni Er wouldn't become suspicious, and it would also be a test for Jia Lian.

If Jia Lian does indeed handle this matter well, it might be worthwhile to use him in the future.

If he can't even do such a small thing well, then this guy is not worthy of being trusted, and Xia Chengzong will naturally distance himself from him in the future.

Before long, Jia Lian was invited over.

When Xia Chengzong asked him for a favor, Jia Lian agreed without hesitation, patting his chest.

They also expressed their willingness to face any danger, even unto death.

When Xia Chengzong told him what he needed to do, Jia Lian was overjoyed.

The prince really wanted him to do something, and it was something rather secretive.

The fact that the prince dared to let him do such a thing shows that he doesn't consider him an outsider.

Jia Lian immediately patted his chest and agreed, promising to do the job well and without any mistakes.

Just as Jia Lian left, Prince Zhongzheng sent Xia Shouzhong to invite him to his residence.

After Xia Chengzong moved to the new Prince's Mansion, he would return to the mansion every half month or twenty days to pay his respects to his parents and show his filial piety.

He also often invited his siblings over to play.

They just rarely come here to play.

Firstly, Xia Chengzong was relatively poor. There was no delicious food here, nor was there a theatrical troupe, so he couldn't watch operas.

Of course, there is probably an even more important reason: we are all brothers, so why should you have a royal residence while we don't?

It's one thing that you already had a princely residence, but this princely residence is even beyond the standard.

Even when they grow up, the royal residences they are allocated will be much smaller than Xia Chengzong's.

People are not worried about scarcity, but about inequality.

For this reason, they are even less willing to come.

……

Before long, Xia Chengzong returned to the Prince Zhongzheng's residence and went straight to his study.

When there are important matters, the father and son will discuss them in the study.

The princess and the other children will not come here to disturb them.