Uncle Lai in the Red Chamber

Chapter 415 hint
Qingzhu Yayuan discussed the allotment of shares, and everything began to advance in an orderly manner.

At the court, King Zhongshun took the lead and said that not only was it a pity that the shipyard was idle, but it also cost money every year to maintain and manage it. It was better to split it up and sell it off, which was echoed by Lai Shangrong, Chen Yiwen and others.

Emperor Zhenglong, who had already been informed, handed over the split pricing and other tasks to the Ministry of Household Affairs for discretion with a wave of his hand.

The Longjiang Shipyard is an asset of the imperial court and has always been recorded in the name of the Ministry of Household Affairs. This is also the responsibility of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Immediately, King Zhongshun invited everyone to gather in Qingzhu Yayuan again, hoping that Lai Shangrong could do something about the valuation.

Lai Shangrong is no longer surprised by the loss of court assets.

He knew that some money was too hot to handle, so he refused righteously. Although his attitude made King Zhongshun quite unhappy, after all, he stood for justice and did not dare to take it seriously.

On Lai Shangrong's side, the troops were divided into three groups. He himself was in charge of the capital, while Lai Da took Jia Jun to join the orphans, and then rushed to Jinmen alone to complete the sale of nine sea ships with Liu Xianglian, who had arrived in advance. , and began to build a cement factory.

this day.

As soon as the final pricing of the Ministry of Household Affairs came out, Lai Shangrong, who lives near the waterfront, selected three docks with the best overall conditions and signed a purchase contract with the Ministry of Household Affairs at a price of 30 taels each.

In order to avoid suspicion, he did not participate in the whole process. The price was slightly cheaper than he expected.

This is not some kind of fraud. After all, the shipyard is different from others. The price of the land is not high. If it is vacant, it still needs maintenance. If you can get rid of this burden, in total, you can add 200 million taels of silver to the national treasury. It was already a windfall.

Although the cost is less than expected, Lai Shangrong does not intend to reduce the budget and still plans to raise 130 million taels.

Of course, this includes the so-called initial expenditure of 15 taels.

Of the remaining 25, [-] will be used as working capital, and the rest will be used for repairs and maintenance, recruiting workers, purchasing materials, etc.

After paying the purchase price of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Lai Shangrong was not in a hurry to find the Rong Mansion and the Xue family.

First, there is still a balance of more than [-], so there is no shortage of money for the time being.

Secondly, he was still waiting for news from the Shi family, so it was difficult to allocate shares to the three companies.

However, just because he is not in a hurry does not mean that Jia Lian and Shi Jia are not in a hurry.

Originally, before King Zhongshun took the lead, Jia Lian revealed the news to the historians, but he was always unreliable, and the two brothers Shi Nai and Shi Ding did not take him seriously.

It wasn't until he heard the news that the imperial court was going to sell off the Longjiang Shipyard that he finally found Jia Lian.

Jia Lian was also self-aware, fearing that Lai Shangrong would be looked down upon by the historians if he was not at home and would be blocked from the door, which would affect his request for benefits, so he left the two of them in his outer house while he came to Lai's house to wait for Lai Shangrong.

When he heard that he was invited to go to the house outside Huazhi Lane, Lai Shangrong shook his head and said: "Let's do it! You can do some hard work and go back and ask them to go to my sister-in-law. I'll go over and let her make arrangements first."

It wasn't that Lai Shangrong wanted to expose his relationship with Wang Xifeng in front of historians and lose Jia Lian's face, but that he really didn't want to run both ways.

Seeing Jia Lian's hesitation, Lai Shangrong knew that he was afraid of making the family scandal public, so he added: "If brothers Lian think it's inappropriate, you can just leave it in the front hall of the house!"

"No, no, no! What's wrong, just do as Shang Rong said, and I'll go back right away."

Seeing Jia Lian leaving, Lai Shangrong went back to his house and changed into casual clothes, and Shi Shiran came to Rong Mansion.

Wang Xifeng felt a little disappointed when he heard that Jia Lian was going to bring Shi Nai and Shi Ding to discuss matters.

While instructing his servants to arrange the banquet, he asked tentatively: "Shang Rong has nowhere else to go in the evening, right?"

Lai Shangrong raised his hand to hold Wang Xifeng's pretty chin, pursed his lips, tasted it carefully, and said with a smile: "I don't want to bother the second master with one thing. Since I have bothered the second mistress, of course I have to finish it from beginning to end, and finish it!"

Wang Xifeng was a little confused and infatuated for a moment, but when she heard him say the word "to the end" in a coquettish tone, her eyes suddenly filled with lust, and her bare hands unconsciously reached down.

He said flatteringly: "Every time I say that I will pity others, I stop in the end, but always... in my heart..."

There was just a starting move here, and suddenly I heard Xiaohong's voice coming from outside the hall. "Second Master Lian is here with the two masters of the Shi family!"

The two quickly separated.

Lai Shangrong took some time to adjust his robes, and saw Jia Lian leading Shi Nai and Shi Ding into the side hall.

When the Shi brothers saw that only Lai Shangrong and Wang Xifeng were in the hall, they looked surprised. Then they were relieved when they saw the servants coming in with wine and food.

After the ceremony, the guests and the host were seated.

The Shi brothers got straight to the point: "I heard from Lian Er that the shipyard founded by Shang Rong is still raising shares?"

"Raising shares?" Lai Shangrong said with a surprised look on his face: "Where did you two uncles start talking about this? I allocated [-]% of the shares in the shipyard and distributed it to the Rong Mansion and the Xue family. It's good, but it's really not good to talk about raising shares. As for Uncle Guo, he only gets [-]%, and Chen Shangshu and Master Qiu combined only get [-]%. As long as I let the wind go, will I still be short of money?"

Shi Nai said hurriedly: "Yes, yes! Shang Rong, your business is hard to find even with a lantern, so how can you be short of money?"

Shi Ding hurriedly took over the topic: "We brothers heard from Lian Er that the government can only spend 6 or [-] taels of silver. I wonder if we can also share it... and do our part?"

Lai Shangrong asked knowingly: "Oh? The government can only provide 6 to [-] taels of silver?"

With Mrs. Wang and Wang Xifeng, he knows the financial situation of Rong Mansion better than Jia Lian. He is just trying to tease the Shi brothers.

Shi Nai hurriedly said: "That's right! Since the mansion can only take out fifty or sixty thousand silver, why don't we make up for this share instead of making it cheaper for outsiders?"

Seeing Lai Shangrong's slight hesitation, Shi Ding hurriedly added: "One hero has three gangs, and everyone adds fuel to the flames. With our relationship, if we become a shareholder, only Shangrong will follow his lead!"

Lai Shangrong pretended to be confused: "The two uncles don't know. Although the mansion is short of money, the Xue family is not short of money. They can naturally make up for the short share, so there is no need to trouble the two uncles!"

"Hey! Why does Shang Rong need to see others? How can this be said to be trouble?"

"That's right! Speaking of which, his wife, the Xue family, is just the second wife's sister, but ours is the old lady's nephew!"

"The old lady and my aunt have been in love for many years. Speaking of which, our family is closer to Shangrong!"

……

The two brothers sang and I came on the stage. They sang and harmonized, and they cooperated seamlessly. There was no previous resentment at all.

Lai Shangrong was unmoved, shook his head and said: "The two uncles don't know something! The Xue family has already promised the second-bedroom girl Qin to their nephew as a concubine. It's just that during the period of filial piety to the country and the family, they haven't married yet, so now she is considered half In terms of in-laws, we are closer over there!"

He deliberately emphasized the tone of the second room of the Xue family, intending to wake them up. If one person comes in, the whole family will benefit, and there is no need to worry about his own family.

Unfortunately, the two brothers did not understand their intention. They looked at each other and said in unison: "It's just a concubine. How can it be worthy of Shang Rong's care? The shares it holds exceeds the mansion!"

The two brothers did not work together, but they were afraid that it would not be enough to stand alone. They had heard before that the Xue family would participate in the shares, and they had already made plans and planned to start from the close relationship.

Now that Lai Shangrong was beating him repeatedly, and it was difficult to discuss in person, he had no choice but to follow his original thinking.

"Hey!" Seeing that the two of them were not on the right track, Lai Shangrong pretended to be dissatisfied and said, "The words of my two uncles are wrong. I don't have many relatives in my family. Although this concubine is not considered an in-law, I regard her more seriously than others."

After a pause, he continued: "If Xing Shibo hadn't been the steward of the family property, the annual dividends would be enough for him to spend, and he wouldn't lose a share anyway."

"Shang Rong..." Jia Lian was just about to help negotiate an agreement, but when he saw Lai Shangrong's sharp gaze, he immediately changed his words: "Shang Rong is right, my uncle only has one daughter, Xiu Yan, and he can't spend all the annual dividends alone. , there is no need to invest in shares, I am living a smooth life now, I am afraid I have more money than the master has on hand."

What he said was a bit exaggerated, but it didn't stop the Shi brothers from looking at each other in shock.

Lai Shangrong also stopped the order and raised his glass: "You two uncles, don't be surprised. This shipbuilding business has a bright future and it will cost me a lot of effort. If we wait another two or three years, we may not have the opportunity to cooperate!"

(End of this chapter)