Uncle Lai in the Red Chamber

Chapter 90: Might as well think more

On this day, Lai Shangrong returned to the value room after inspecting several paper-making workshops of the State-owned Corporation, and listened to the report of the glass workshop.

Chen Jie was then called to the room on duty and explained matters related to personnel training.

His so-called training is not technical training, but safety training. The glass workshop is about to be completed, and glass making is about to be put on the agenda.

The first batch of employees will have the task of leading new ones, so he is particularly attentive. Safety training is just pre-employment training. When the factory starts working, he will also arrange technical training and take the opportunity to select some worthy ones.

Although due to the limitations of the times, he could not promote these craftsmen too much to avoid criticism, but it is still within his responsibility to be slightly inclined in terms of money.

After explaining the business, Lai Shangrong said with a smile: "Master Chen, please take the trouble to say hello to the minister for me!"

Chen Jie is the son of Chen Yiwen, the left minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Lai Shangrong just learned about it from King Zhongshun not long ago.

The Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Personnel assists the Minister, and is in charge of the Department of Civil Affairs, Selections, Qing Li and Kao Gong. He is an official of the Ministry of Personnel and has a considerable say in the appointment and dismissal of civil servants.

A state-run government agency founded a government office, and it was involved in commercial affairs. Logically speaking, Chen Yiwen should not let his son join such a government office.

Unless he is a close minister of the emperor, he knows that the emperor values ​​the state affairs department, and he wants to make a good impression on his son in front of the emperor.

Of course, he did not draw the conclusion from this point alone. It was also due to the fact that Jia Zheng was sent to the outside world. The release of Jia Zheng in the third academic year was very unexpected, not to mention that Yuanchun was about to visit relatives.

Others didn't know the real reason why the emperor transferred Jia Zheng away, but he could see that it was probably the result of Jia Zheng's confrontation with the emperor in the court.

Through Jia Zheng's unusual appointment and dismissal, it is not difficult to see that the emperor still had a certain degree of control over the staff.

Combined with Chen Jie's joining the State-owned Enterprise, Chen Yiwen is likely to be the one who takes control.

With such good resources, Lai Shangrong would not let them go, so he took the opportunity to let Chen Jie negotiate with the Ministry of Civil Affairs and arrange for some pragmatic lower-level officials to be brought in.

After finishing the business, Lai Shangrong took out a letter from the drawer. This was not the first time he had received this letter. Since Xiangling brought him the accounting method last time, he had brought it frequently, saying that Xue Pan asked him for the details.

Lai Shangrong knew very well that it was all Baochai's excuse. After all, it was a disgrace to the reputation of a woman in her boudoir to exchange letters with her foreign husband. With Baochai's thoughtfulness, she naturally had to cover up a lot.

Using Xue Pan as a cover is just one of them. The handwriting is crooked, and I don't know whether it was written by Xue Pan or Baochai imitated it.

Clues can still be gleaned from the wording of the letter and the insights and thoughts expressed.

Lai Shangrong read the letter and couldn't help laughing like a pig.

Baochai wanted to hide it, but he also pretended to be dumbfounded and pretended he didn't know the inside story, so he played with her first.

Since he was under the guise of Xue Pan, he explained it in the simplest terms. After all, he couldn't understand it if he talked too deeply with Xue Pan.This not only lengthened the time and frequency of exchanging letters, but also made her unable to get what she wanted, which made her feel itchy and unbearable.

Over and over again, if she happened to meet him, I'm afraid she wouldn't be able to help but ask for advice in private.

Of course, given Baochai's character, he would probably say that he read his brother's letter out of curiosity and was a little confused, etc.

The Xue family's problem cannot be solved by accounting or auditing.

This era is limited by communication and other factors, and the owner has limited management methods for his own store.Most of them rely on the personal charm of the boss, or through inspections, placement of cronies, etc., to reduce the pockets of those shopkeepers.

Especially since the Xue family also has an industry such as a pawnshop, there are a lot of articles about it.

The items pawned by ancient pawnshops are sold or rented after the current period, and the store earns the difference in price or rent. This is not a problem in itself.However, when pawning, the value of the item is completely determined by the imperial court, and there is a big problem here.It’s just that it’s good to falsely report some prices. If you’re afraid of accepting fakes, or you find out that the price difference is high when you sell them, you may directly conceal the report.

This is also the reason why during the Qing Dynasty, Hu Xueyan, who was said to be as wealthy as anyone in the country, went from having problems with his industry to going bankrupt in just one month.

Businessmen in ancient times usually placed cronies in their shops, which the Xue family could do. However, Xue Baochai was a woman after all and could not have contact with foreign men. Otherwise, given her operations in Grand View Garden, placing cronies should not be a problem.

Xue Pan, the only person who can take charge of this matter, is clueless and easily deceived.

If Xue Pan hadn't changed his temperament drastically, the contract system would undoubtedly be the best choice for them.

Or find a strong uncle...

Not that kind of force, but someone who has the ability to manage or intimidate the store's stewards.

Lai Shangrong did not force his replacement. In fact, in the order of his first wife, Baochai could not even be ranked among the top three.

Modern people have certain misunderstandings about the ancient idea that a woman's lack of talent is a virtue.

It's not that women are not allowed to read and write, but that they don't learn the law and economics.

This can be seen from the education given to Sichun and Xiangyun by the Jia family and the Shi family, and the same education given to Daiyu by the Lin family of the fourth generation.

For women from big families, their talents in poetry, poetry, music, chess, calligraphy and painting have always been bonus points for marriage.

After all, ancient society was dominated by men, and most women took care of their husbands and raised children. If they studied law and economics, it would easily lead to harem interference in politics or the monopoly of relatives.

Take Wang Xifeng as an example. When Jia Lian secretly married Sister You, if she had not been familiar with the law, how could she have grasped the key to filial piety to the country and family?
Even Zhang Hua did not dare to sue the nobles of the court, so she also taught a roundabout way - suing the servant Lai Wang and taking the opportunity to lead the matter to Jia Lian and Jia Rong. These were all due to her proficiency in legal litigation.

This is similar to the difficulty in marrying female lawyers in modern society, so I won’t go into details.

Jia Shi and Xue San's family are very good at this point. The Jia family has their own talents in four springs, and their poetry and prose skills of Xiangyun, Baochai and Baoqin are not bad.

Only the Wang family is an outlier among the four major families. From Mrs. Wang, Aunt Xue, to Wang Xifeng, they may not recognize many words, but they are all well-versed in law and economics.

Although Baochai is the daughter of the Xue family, her mother is the daughter of the Wang family and is involved in a lot of things, so she can be considered as taking the best of both families.

Of course, Tanchun had been raised by Mrs. Wang since he was a child, so he was somewhat influenced by what he heard and saw.

To sum up, in his mind, Baochai and Tanchun were not the most ideal candidates for his first wife.

Although with his methods, those are nothing, and it won't really happen, but the order of the wife will inevitably be lower.

Of course, it would be better to have a concubine without these worries.

However, with his current status, he couldn't even marry a regular wife, let alone a married couple.

Ugh!
It's just Xiao Xiang.

I gathered my mood and put the written reply into my arms. It was time to go to the office...

(End of this chapter)