Chapter 77: I will definitely not let you down
Shi Qingluo held Xiao Hanzheng’s arm and went to the new house to have a look.
There was a black goose following behind them.
It was already evening and the sun was about to set, so there weren’t many people walking around in the village.
Hence Shi Qingluo held her husband’s arm so intimately along the way.
Xiao Hanzheng also enjoyed such moments.!!
So, although he was helpless, he still allowed his little wife to have such a big goose.
Seeing that his new home was already half-built, a smile unconsciously appeared in his eyes.
In this lifetime, he finally had a real home.
His mother, younger brother and sister were still alive, and he had a smart and clingy little wife.
Cough cough, there was also a big goose.
He was feeling hopeful and confident about his future.
The loneliness and darkness of his previous life seemed to slowly dissipate in his heart.
After looking at the house, Shi Qingluo had already let go of her little husband’s arm.
Xiao Hanzheng took the initiative to hold his little wife’s hand and interlocked his fingers with hers. “This time, I’ve provided medical consultation for quite a few people in the prefecture and earned quite a bit of money. I’ll hand it all over to you when I get home.”
Shi Qingluo had been born into a wealthy family in her previous life and had never lacked money to spend.
In fact, she did not care much about money.
Now that she wanted to earn money, of course she did not lack ways to do it either.
However, she liked it that her little husband took the initiative to hand over the money with good intention.
She leaned her head against his arm and rubbed it. “Sure, Zhengzheng, you’re the best.”
Xiao Hanzheng lowered his head and chuckled softly. “From now on, I’ll pass all the money I earn to you. You can use it however you want.”
He liked the way his little wife clung to him.
Shi Qingluo looked at him with starry eyes and smiled. “Then tomorrow, we’ll go and buy the mountain behind our old house and start the agriculture business.”
“But we don’t have enough manpower at home. We can’t handle all of it. You’ll have to go out and recruit a few long-term workers for our business to work.
“We’ll have to rely on you, Brother Zheng.”
She had to let her young husband participate in this fortune making business, so that he would have more experience and could gain a sense of achievement.
She had to acknowledge his role as a man and a husband more, hence praising him frequently was also necessary.
As expected, Xiao Hanzheng’s smile deepened.
He was very happy that his young wife recognised his efforts.
In particular, apart from continuing to take the exams and giving her his thigh to hug, he also hoped to be able to help her handle some of their family’s errands.
His heart warmed knowing that she was so considerate.
He also began to anticipate their family business that his wife is initiating more.
He held her hand tightly. “Alright, leave these to me.”
Shi Qingluo also shared her other thoughts with him.
“I saw that there’s still a piece of barren land at the entrance of the village that no one wants. I want to buy it too.
“After that, we’ll build a separate courtyard. The exterior will be a shop, and the interior will be a courtyard for people to stay or for storage.
“At that time, we’ll sell the things we made from our workshops in these shops to attract more people to our village and our county.”
If she wanted to lead the entire village and make others rich by advertising her image and binding her interests with more people, she would have to bring the stagnant water to life first.
After thinking about it, Shi Qingluo thought of using the workshop’s goods to attract merchants from all over the country to start purchasing goods from Xiaxi village.
Perhaps one day, this small Nanxi county would become an important wholesale place for commodities in Daliang.
In fact, her goal from the very beginning was to eat well and wear good clothes so that she could survive in Daliang.
But now that she had a lot of money in her hands, she felt that since she had already come to this era, it would be a waste not to do anything.
This is especially when she saw that many people in the village could not even afford a new set of clothes all year round or enjoy three hot meals every day.
Although the people in the county town seemed to have a better life than those in the village, there were still quite a number of poor people who couldn’t afford to eat.
She often saw young boys, girls, and children on the road who were sallow and emaciated, wearing patched clothes.
She didn’t feel good about it.
After all, it was almost impossible to see these in the modern world.
So, she wasn’t just thinking about money and benefits.
Shi Qingluo suddenly wanted to do something for this era.
This might not be a long-term solution with a large outreach, but at least she wanted to improve the living standards of the people around her first.
It just so happened that she wasn’t a person who liked to idle.
A goal in mind motivated her further.
Xiao Hanzheng listened to her and nodded. “Sure, let’s go buy it together tomorrow.
“When I returned to the county, I met Bai Xu. He said that they had printed my manuscript and the novels are selling well.
“It will definitely be more popular in the future, so the profit will not be small.
“When the time comes, I’ll tell the public that we used the money given by the Wu family to buy the land.
“Then, for buying livestock and hiring others, I’ll just tell them that the money came from the earnings from my manuscript.”
It was best to give a reasonable explanation on where their money came from, since they were suddenly buying so much land, expanding their agriculture business and opening shops.
This way, less people would stare at you with envy.
When you’re held in a similar status as everyone else, many people would be jealous and will become more evil to you because you’re rich.
But when the distance between you and everyone was too big, and they felt that they could not catch up to you, instead of being jealous, they would look up to you, only with envy and would want to make friends with you.
There may be rivals who despise him for writing manuscripts, but Xiao Hanzheng didn’t care at all.
When he stood at a high position in the future, perhaps writing scripts now would also become a beautiful topic to chat on.
Many times, one’s status can really decide and change many things and one’s reputation.
Moreover, his script wasn’t about love and affection, so he wasn’t afraid that others would talk about it.
Shi Qingluo nodded and smiled. “You’re really thoughtful. I’ll analyse it like this.
“You can make a lot of money by writing novels now. Everyone in the village will think that a scholar like you is indeed amazing.
“Even if there are people in the county who look down on you, they can’t do anything.
“At most, they’ll be jealous when they mention you.”
She changed the topic and suggested, “Old Xiao, I think you can organise some imperial examination exercises and resources and print them into books and sell them.
“Not only can you earn some money, it will also boost your reputation.
“In the future, let the scholars in Daliang know that Xiao Hanzheng from Nanxi county is very powerful. The reference books for the Imperial examination are actually written by you.
“At least you are the founder of such books.”
The current situation wasn’t like the modern era with all kinds of reference books and materials for examinations.
He could use this new opportunity to make good use of his identity as a scholar.
“If your reputation spreads to more people, it will also benefit you in subsequent imperial examinations.
“The scumbag father will also be a little fearful. This would prevent him from doing anything evil on the surface.”
An individual’s reputation was very important in ancient times.
If used wisely, it would be a sharp sword.
Although it was a double-edged sword, they would try their best to make it as sharp as possible.
Next time, she would use her wealth to bind her interests with more people, while her husband would use his knowledge to network with more scholars.
If those aristocratic families or dignitaries wanted to touch them, they would have to take a step back to see if it was possible.
At the very least, they would be afraid.
Therefore, they had to start making small troubles bit by bit to lay the foundation for their future survival.
Xiao Hanzheng found that his wife was very visionary and planned very well.
In fact, many of her ideas and beliefs were in line with his.
He asked with more curiosity, “How do you start a business to sell imperial examination books and materials?”
Although he roughly understood the literal meaning, he still wanted to listen to his wife’s analysis.
Shi Qingluo told Xiao Hanzheng about the general situation of the modern examination practice questions and reference materials.
For example, understanding the ancient version of the “five years college entrance examination series with three sets of mock papers”.
She felt that Xiao Hanzheng was a big shot who had done it many times, so he would definitely have a better understanding of subsequent imperial examinations too.
It should not be difficult for him to come up with a few reference materials and exercises.
“We can do it step by step. Now that you are an elementary scholar, you can come up with the books and materials for the elementary scholar exam.
“When you pass the high scholar examination in the future, you can come up with the relevant materials again.”
Xiao Hanzheng pondered for a moment. The more he thought about it, the more feasible it felt.
“Alright, after I write a few more manuscripts and pass them to Bai Xu first. Then, I’ll try to consolidate and publish a book that contains exercises for the elementary scholar examination.”
Shi Qingluo had a smile on his face as he pinched his palm. “Old Xiao, you’ll definitely be able to do it. I believe in you.”
Xiao Hanzheng lowered his head and looked at her with a light smile. “I will definitely not let you down.”