“You want to buy a shop?” Steward Fang was a little surprised at first, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt it was not surprising.
He set down the water pouch in his hand, which contained Golden Orange Drink. These days, he had taken to carrying around beverages to sip on whenever he pleased.
“You two are skilled, but setting up a stall does come with limitations. As for that shop I have, you know,” Steward Fang paused, addressing Qiao Suiman directly, “it’s only for rent, not sale. The rent is seven taels a month, with a minimum lease of six months. Can you afford that?”
Qiao Suiman and Lu Dongqing exchanged glances, both with the same look of conflict in their eyes. Lu Dongqing spoke up, “Would you mind taking us to see it?”
“There’s been a lot going on at the wine house these past few days. How about this? I’ll have Xiao Wu take you there.”
The steward called a man to fetch someone. Before long, Xiao Wu arrived in the kitchen from the backyard. The steward pointed at Qiao Suiman and Lu Dongqing and continued, “Xiao Wu, take them to the teahouse on Dongde Road.”
“Alright.”
Xiao Wu accepted the task and gestured for them to follow before leading the way out of the small kitchen.
Qiao Suiman and Lu Dongqing hurried after him, leaving their cart and wooden barrels behind in the wine house’s backyard. They weren’t particularly valuable items, and since the two of them frequently dealt with Steward Fang and the kitchen was always bustling, they were not afraid of losing them.
After leaving the wine house, Xiao Wu asked, “Are you interested in renting that shop?”
Lu Dongqing thought for a moment and avoided giving a direct answer. “We’re just looking around for suitable shops. We appreciate you taking the time to show us around. May I ask how we should address you?”
“No trouble at all. I’m just running errands anyway. We’re probably around the same age, so just call me Wu Sheng.” Wu Sheng waved his hand dismissively.
“That shop is in a good location and is quite spacious. The owner of the teahouse is getting old, and his son wants to take him to the prefectural city to live in comfort, so he’s not renting it out anymore.”
“So that’s how it is.” Qiao Suiman said.
“The rent there isn’t cheap. Did the steward tell you that?” Wu Sheng asked.
“Yes, he mentioned seven taels a month,” Lu Dongqing replied.
Wu Sheng said, “Your drinks must be earning you quite a bit. Why not consider buying a shop somewhere else?”
“We’ve thought about it, but we haven’t seen anything suitable yet,” Qiao Suiman admitted truthfully.
“Ah, right!”
Wu Sheng smacked his forehead. “Look at my memory. I thought I felt like there was a shop somewhere on Beide Road. My older brother and brother-in-law has a shop there, and the shop next door is urgently looking to sell. It’s definitely not as big as the Fang family’s shop, but the location isn’t bad.”
If Xide Road was the gathering place for scholars and the area near the restaurant was where the wealthy lived, then Beide Road was the intersection between the two. It housed both common folks and small business owners, with quite a few scholars residing there as well. It is a place where all kinds of people come together.
Qiao Suiman’s eyes brightened. “Really?”
“Of course! If you don’t believe me, after we finish at the teahouse, I’ll take you there to have a look around. Who knows, maybe there are other shops for sale.”
Wu Sheng was a talkative and enthusiastic person. He chatted nonstop along the way, saying whatever came to mind. By the time they arrived at the teahouse, Qiao Suiman and Lu Dongqing already knew which places in town were good for business and which ones sold mostly food.
When they arrived at Dongde Road, Wu Sheng pointed to a two-story shop and said, “That one, the two-story one. There are two small rooms in the back for the workers to live in.”
Qiao Suiman’s eyes widened. A two-story shop!
No wonder the rent was so expensive. He looked on with envy. Such a large shop! If it were his, he wouldn’t sell it either. Just collecting rent would be more than enough.
Seven taels a month… Based on what he currently earned supplying drinks to the wine house, he sold nearly two hundred bamboo tubes a day, bringing in a little over nine mace of silver. After deducting wages for his elder brother and Qin Yu-ge, he still made seven maces a day, which was enough to cover the rent for now.
But there was no guarantee how long this business with the wine house would last. If the staff there ever figured out how to make the drinks themselves, they might stop hiring him. Renting this shop was too much of a risk.
Still, since they were already here, Qiao Suiman followed Wu Sheng inside for a look. The more he looked, the more he felt as if he had been doused in a basin of cold water. Everything in the teahouse was in perfect order, with dedicated staff for brewing tea and serving food, and they even hired storytellers.
Wu Sheng greeted the teahouse shopkeeper, an elderly man whose hair was already turning white. He exchanged a few pleasantries with Wu Sheng and asked, “Are you bringing someone to look at the shop?”
“That’s right. This is the ge’r who makes drinks for Steward Fang, and the bamboo craftsman who carves the bamboo tubes,” Wu Sheng introduced with a smile.
Lu Dongqing bowed slightly and clasped his hands in greeting. “Apologies for the intrusion. We’ve come to take a look today.”
Qiao Suiman also nodded with a smile.
“Ah, the Qiao family’s fragrant drinks?” The shopkeeper became interested and said, “I sent someone to buy from your stall before. Later, I heard customers say the Fang family’s wine house carried them too, so I had someone fetch some from there. The taste really is excellent.”
Praise always lifted Qiao Suiman’s spirits. Smiling brightly, he said, “Thank you for the kind words. It’s only because Manager Fang provides such fine ingredients.”
The shopkeeper laughed heartily. “You’ve got a silver tongue, young man. And this must be the young man who built the bamboo house for the county magistrate’s in-laws?”
Lu Dongqing replied, “It was me.”
“I know his steward. I went to see that bamboo house myself. Your craftsmanship is truly impeccable. Young man, you’re remarkable.”
The shopkeeper sighed. These two young couples were both skilled artisans, and each was more valuable than the other. “So, you want to rent this shop?”
Qiao Suiman looked around the teahouse again and said honestly, “I still can’t afford to rent it. Your business is really good, shopkeeper.”
He is not yet capable of doing what the shopkeeper does.
The shopkeeper stroked his white beard and reassured him, “Don’t worry, young man. I also started with a small stall and worked my way up step by step. You can’t go wrong.”
Encouraged, Qiao Suiman grinned. “Thank you for the advice. We’ll keep that in mind.”
Lu Dongqing and the shopkeeper chatted a bit more about bamboo crafts. The shopkeeper said that if he hadn’t closed the teahouse, he would have asked Lu Dongqing to make him a batch of bamboo bowls and cups.
After walking around the teahouse a bit more, they didn’t want to disrupt business, so they didn’t linger. Soon, they were on their way to Beide Road.
“The shopkeeper also started out as a street vendor. That’s really impressive,” said Qiao Suiman.
“You’re impressive too,” Lu Dongqing said, leaning closer with a smile. “Look, we’re even looking at shops now. Just like the shopkeeper said, as long as we keep moving forward step by step, everything will work out.”
“Mhm.” With an outsider present, Qiao Suiman felt too shy to act too affectionate with Lu Dongqing. “Let’s see what else we find.”
Beside them, Wu Sheng sighed dramatically at the sky. Ah, what a familiar sight.
His elder brother and brother-in-law were the same way. Once they reached Beide Road, he would probably be stuck between two couples. Life is tough.
Noticing this, Lu Dongqing coughed lightly and retracted the hand that had just secretly squeezed Qiao Suiman’s palm, and said casually, “We appreciate you taking us there.”
Wu Sheng smiled and said, “Hehe, no trouble at all. No trouble at all.”
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