Jia Yujing of Red Mansion

Chapter 7 Market Research
After listening to Shen Biyun's words, Jia Qiong recalled the several mentions of money in Dream of Red Mansions.

Suddenly, I realized that the gap between the lives of a powerful family like the Jia family and the common people at the bottom was really big.

When Grandma Liu entered the Grand View Garden, Wang Xifeng gave her 20 taels of silver.

She thanked him profusely, saying that 20 taels a year was enough for her family of five.

Jia Yucun wanted to go to Beijing to take the exam and had no travel expenses, so Zhen Shiyin supported him with 50 taels of silver.

After going to Jiayu Village, he had to deal with basic necessities, food, housing and transportation, especially staying in the capital until the exam results were released.

During this period, I also need to get to know more friends from the same period through literary exchanges, and everything can be done with 50 taels of silver.

As for Jia Mu, Mrs. Wang and others, their monthly allowance is 20 taels of pocket money.

It was Wang Xifeng's birthday and everyone pooled together 150 taels of silver to help her.

When Qin Keqing died, a coffin cost 1000 taels of silver.

The Jia family usually holds a big banquet when there is a wedding or funeral, and the expenses are indispensable.

Coupled with the gifts sent everywhere during the holidays, these are the dignity of honorable people. You can't save them even if you want to, otherwise they will look down on you.

However, Jia Qiong's family does not need to consider these things for the time being, so 480 taels of silver is actually a huge sum of money.

In fact, the annual rent collected by the shop alone is enough for their family to live well.

However, my aunt was right to prepare for a rainy day and be diligent and frugal in running the household. After Xu Shan and Jia Qiong became officials, various entertainment expenses were indispensable.

Jia Qiong doesn't want to be a corrupt official. His current family background is indeed too thin. It seems that he has to find a way to develop financial resources first.

After lunch, Jia Qiong wanted to go to the market to feel the atmosphere of the ancient market and see if there were any business opportunities.

The original person is still young and a homebody. He rarely goes out except for family studies.

So he didn't have much impression of what was happening on the street, and Jia Qiong had to go and understand it in person, so he told his aunt that he wanted to go out for a walk and buy some books.

Shen Biyun asked Xu Shan to take good care of him and gave them some scattered silver before letting them go out.

Of course, the little lolita Xu Weirui also came out, and was hugged by her cousin all the way, laughing happily.

After the Chu Dynasty succeeded the Song Dynasty, the business atmosphere was strong.

Shenjing City is also the residence of the Emperor, the most prosperous place, with developed transportation, and the first stop for trade in the Western Regions. Now it is definitely the largest city in the north.

The streets were bustling with people, and there were many merchants and people coming and going.

The three of them walked out of Ningrong Street and headed towards Tianyuan Street, the most prosperous place in the West City.

Tianyuan Street is close to the Imperial City, with the Imperial College to the north, the Wucheng Army and Horses Division to the south, and Gongyuan to the east. The location is excellent.

There are many shops here, most of which are large stores with two or three floors. Taibai Tower, one of the most famous restaurants in Shenjing, is located on this street, which is five stories high.

Most of the pedestrians on the road were well-dressed and either rich or noble. They were at least from well-off families. There were few lower-class people wearing coarse linen clothes.

Because the shops on this street are basically large restaurants, silk and satin shops, bookstores, teahouses, antique shops, rouge shops, jewelry shops and other large shops.

It is only for the upper class, and the people at the bottom cannot afford to come here.

Ordinary people usually go to the small markets in various villages, or to the east and west cities where merchants are most concentrated, such as Dashilan and Liulichang.

The most you can do is to go shopping on Zhuque Street, the main street in Beijing. The consumption level there is already very high, but Tianyuan Street is even higher than there.

Jia Qiong and the others had walked all the way from the small market. They asked questions along the way and had a general understanding of the current market conditions.

The country has enjoyed peace for a long time, and the current price level can be said to be relatively low.A bushel of ordinary japonica rice costs only 60 cents, and a bushel costs 12.5 kilograms. One kilogram is equivalent to about 5 cents, and a pound of radish costs only 1 cent.

The steamed buns sold on the roadside only cost a penny each, and an average adult would be almost full after eating two or three.

Meat is slightly more expensive, with a pound of pork costing 20 cents and a pound of mutton costing 15 cents (pork is actually more expensive than beef and mutton at this time, probably because there is more fat).

A pound of fish is 10 Wen, a chicken is 80 Wen, a pound of coarse salt is 18 Wen, and fine salt is 60 Wen.

Calculating that ordinary people do not eat meat, they can live on just eating vegetables and steamed buns for six or seven cents a day, which is only two or three taels of silver a year.

Nowadays, a clerk's monthly salary is between 800 Wen and one tael of silver. The salary of a skilled worker is much higher, with an average of two taels of silver.

If an ordinary peasant family has ten acres of land, and they grow rice twice a year in the south, one mu of land can produce about 600 kilograms of grain per year. Ten acres of land is 6000 kilograms, which can be sold for 30 taels of silver. After deducting various taxes and fees, there is still 20 taels left. Two more.

Therefore, as long as there are no natural or man-made disasters, no illness, and no exploitation by corrupt officials, the pressure to survive on ordinary people is not great. Of course, it is impossible to have a big meal.

When we arrived at Tianyuan Street, the prices of the things sold here were obviously much higher.

Women's things have always been very expensive. A box of ordinary rouge costs 100 yuan, and a piece of ordinary silk costs six taels of silver.

Not to mention gold and silver jewelry, which can easily cost dozens or hundreds of taels.

Things for scholars are not cheap. The four treasures of the study are pen, ink, paper and inkstone. A Hu pen costs 400 coins, a stick of pine smoke ink costs 180 coins, a knife of ordinary rice paper costs 500 coins, and the cheapest stone inkstone costs [-] taels of silver.

If you use rice paper to practice calligraphy every day, most people really can't afford it. Jia Qiong usually uses cheap hemp paper and bamboo paper to practice calligraphy.

Jia Qiong thought about it while walking and found that there were not many ways to make money.

The types of goods in this era are already very complete, and most of the things that were available in later generations are now available. Jia Qiong, who is not available now, cannot even tinker with it even if he is a liberal arts man.

There are only two things that are relatively easy to make and have a large market, which are liquor and sugar that the predecessors who traveled through time often used to make a fortune.

Dachu's wine is not a monopoly, so anyone can sell it as long as they pay the tax. The same goes for sugar.

The liquors currently on the market are all low-alcohol liquors, and mature distillation technology has not yet emerged.

The only sugar available is brown sugar. White sugar only flows in in small quantities from the Western Regions and is expensive.

There is no doubt that these two products have huge market potential and the wealth they can generate is immeasurable.

However, precisely because the benefits are too great, Jia Qiong cannot touch it for the time being.

He now has no official title and no title, so he cannot bear so much wealth.

The most likely possibility is that he first makes a little money and then gets targeted by dignitaries.

They will try their best to steal the secret recipe, and Jia Qiong will no longer be able to do this business.

At this time, they walked to the door of a bookstore called Wenhua Zhai. This store was very large and had three shops in one. Looking at the storefront, you could tell that the owner was very powerful.

Jia Qiong thought that maybe he would have to make money as a copywriter, so he planned to go in and take a look, and pick out a few contemporary documents to study.

He said to Xu Shan: "Cousin, I will go in and pick out two books.

You can take Wei Rui to play outside for a while. Just come back to me in an hour. "

"Then go ahead, I'll take Wei Rui around, and you can keep the money."

Jia Qiong nodded, took the money, and walked directly into the store.

(End of this chapter)