my wonderful zoo

Chapter 3 The Chen Family
Chen Xun has never given up on exploring the conditions for the second animal in the contract. He has hypothesized various possibilities such as emotional investment, increasing his physical strength, increasing age, increasing the species richness of the zoo, etc., and has invested in experiments one by one, but so far all have failed. did not succeed.

Helpless, for the time being, I can only continue to explore the potential of snow pigeons, and when I have time, I go to the zoo to play with the snow pigeons, cultivate their feelings, and train them.

The Chen family's business is thriving, half of the credit is due to Chen Xun, and the other half is mostly due to the snow pigeon species.

The efficient information transmission speed allows the Chen family to be superior to other commercial entities of this era in all aspects such as the selection of resold goods, timing, cargo transportation, and business management.

Through the control of the pigeons, Chen Xun also firmly controlled the power he had developed.

"Mr. Lang, I'd like you to come over for lunch." Chen Xiu walked in and said.

I got up late originally. After receiving Geng Shou, I spent a lot of time in the zoo. It was almost noon now.

"Did you say something?" Chen Xun asked.

"I'm not very sure. It seems to be about the Guanfu Salt Farm." Chen Xiu's claim was corrected by Chen Xun. Since Chen Xun took full control of the family's financial power, all rights gradually fell into Chen Xun's hands.In order to enhance the self-confidence and sense of belonging of the long-term workers, tenants, and servants who work for the Chen family, Chen Xun stipulated that everyone should not be self-deprecating when calling themselves, and just call them "I".

"it is good."

Father Chen's first half of his life was very ordinary. He was a rich farmer with land. He didn't even have tenants. There were only two or three long-term workers in the family. When the farming was busy, he would hire some part-time workers. He usually ate mostly whole grains and could only eat meat a few times a month. , it can be said that the landlord has no surplus food at home.

Even if it is so difficult, the reason why we can maintain this kind of rich peasant life is because Chenjiazhuang is united enough.

The surname Chen is the largest surname in the South, no one else.

Since the Song Dynasty, people surnamed Chen in the countryside have more or less relatives, and there are always some outstanding individuals who have made a fortune. The clan power in the south is very powerful, and the Chen Yi lineage is also considered strong in Chenjiazhuang, and it has just not been annexed by the big landowners.

But cousins ​​will always become less and less important, and brothers will fight for the family property. Not to mention relatives, if it were not for Chen Xun, Chen Yi's land would probably not be saved in the end.

Fortunately, Chen Xun came and the fate of the Chen family changed accordingly.

Currently, there are a total of 360 five households in Chenjiazhuang, of which [-] households are more or less under Chen Xun’s hands, and other large or small houses have been completely dismantled by Chen Xun through profit transfers. Now there is only one big household in Chenjiazhuang. , that is Chen Xun's house.

After quickly taking all the remaining moon jellyfish in the bucket into the Wonderful Zoo, Chen Xun went out and walked towards the east courtyard.

Chen Xun's family has a total of three large courtyards in Chenjiazhuang. The east courtyard is the smallest, with only five entrances. Chen Xun's parents, Chen Yi's concubines, and Chen Yi's younger siblings all live in the east courtyard.The West Garden is the largest, with more than 200 houses in front and behind, inhabited by long-term workers, servants, and their families who have worked for the Chen family for a long time.

Chen Xun lives in the south courtyard, which has more than 100 houses and is still being expanded.There lived Chen Xun and his cronies, as well as more than 300 orphans adopted from various places.

The eldest of these orphans are adults (over 20 years old), and the younger ones can't even walk yet. There are more than 30 strong women taking care of these orphans.

The distance from the south courtyard to the east courtyard is more than three miles. When we arrived at the dining room where my parents often ate, various cold dishes were already placed on the table. My parents, younger siblings, and others were already seated, waiting for Chen Xun to come over and start the meal.

"My lord, mother."

"Brother." After greeting each other, everyone formally took their seats.Although there are etiquette requirements for eating, sleeping, and eating, the Chen family was originally just farmers. After Chen Xun obtained the Wonderful Zoo, he also gave up taking the imperial examination. The evolution of the class was a staged failure, and they were not very particular about these etiquette. Well, the most you can do is not speak when chewing something in your mouth to avoid choking and spitting it out.

"Why did you ask me to come here?" Chen Xun spent most of his time eating in the cafeteria with the orphans.

"Your mother went to Xinhui County yesterday to see Wang Yuanwai's second daughter, and she was very satisfied." Chen Xun's marriage is currently the most troublesome thing for the Chen family. This kind of blind date introduction has been done dozens of times.At first, Chen Yi planned to use "the orders of his parents and the words of the matchmaker" to pressure Chen Xun. After Chen Xun went to sea several times, Chen Yi no longer dared to force him.

"Sir, please wait for this matter." Chen Xun interrupted his father.

"I don't understand. What are you waiting for? Waiting for a fairy to fall from the sky?" The reply as always angered Chen's father.

"Okay, let's finally have a meal together." When Chen Xun was about to put down his chopsticks, Chen's mother quickly pulled Chen Xun's arm and relaxed the atmosphere at the dinner table.

The other brothers and sisters were immersed in eating and did not dare to interrupt. Even the father's two concubines were silent.

"Wait a little longer, at most two or three years, and I will definitely let you have your grandson." Chen Xun, who was rarely angry, explained patiently: "The Jin people from the north invaded Hebei, and large groups of refugees went south. I have been busy arranging my subordinates recently. I really can’t spare the time when I go north to pick up people.”

"Hebei is thousands of miles away from Guangzhou, and you are not an official. I don't understand why you are worried about this. You have brought back so many people, and you have to support them. Just spend your free money like this. What's the point? ?" Chen Yi was essentially a farmer, and it was also because of Chen Xun that he became rich. He had taken concubines one after another over the years, and wore silk and satin, but he was not on the same ideological level as Chen Xun at all.

"You don't have to worry about these, just do your job well." Chen Xun didn't explain any more. No matter how much he said, he was just talking to a cow. Moreover, although the title in his words was an honorific, there was not much respect in the meaning.

Chen Yi is currently in Chen Xun's business territory. He is mainly responsible for farming, which is based on grain. This position is considered very important.However, the stewards under him would only listen to Chen Xun when the father and son's orders conflicted, resulting in Chen Yi's lack of stewardship.

Now that his family's conditions were better, and he didn't have to worry about making money to take care of the family, he started to try new methods. If Chen Xun hadn't stopped him in these years, he would probably have married a number of concubines in double digits.

The words were not speculative, there was a moment of silence at the dinner table, and the noise of the brothers and sisters eating was a little bit lower.

"Mr. Lang, there is urgent information from the north." Without even knocking on the door, a servant ran directly into the dining room and went straight to Chen Xun to report the report.

"bring here."

The servant handed the thin red bamboo tube in his hand to Chen Xun, turned around and walked out.

Seeing that the color of the bamboo tube was red, everyone in the dining room stopped eating and looked at Chen Xun.

First, he checked the wax seal of the bamboo tube. It was intact. He opened the seal with a table knife and took out the paper roll inside.

"On the 22nd of the Bingzi month of the Yihai year, Emperor Zhao Ji abdicated to his eldest son Zhao Huan, and in the Gengzi year he changed his reign to Jingkang."

"The course of history has not been affected by me, and it has come to this point." Chen Xun sighed inwardly.

(Explanation: In the Song Dynasty, children called their fathers adults, and civilians called officials officials. It was only in the Yuan Dynasty that civilians called officials adults.)
(End of this chapter)