Chapter 1756 – Shopping Day
For the common people of Xiangyang, the New Year’s Eve lantern festival is a significant event.
In the first two years since Jiang Pengji took charge of Xiangyang, to quickly restore the livelihood of the populace and rekindle their hopes for life, she organized this lantern festival. Over the years, Xiangyang prospered more and more, attracting hundreds of thousands of common people to live here, and the tradition of the festival remained. Many savvy merchants seized the opportunity, mimicking Zhi Ke Zhai with various promotional activities that not only whetted the shopping appetites of the common people but also boosted sales, filling their coffers to the brim.
Other merchants observed this with envy and quickly followed suit, launching their own customer appreciation events during the New Year’s Eve lantern festival.
This scene resembled something out of the Dried Fish world’s Double Eleven Shopping Festival.
Every year before New Year’s Eve, these events took place, and some frugal common folks developed the habit of stockpiling supplies for the coming year during the lantern festival. Of course, with more merchants participating, some unscrupulous ones took the chance to sell fake goods, while others used low prices to deceive the common people into buying inferior products, or even engaged in predatory pricing wars to squeeze out competitors and seize market share.
Even though Jiang Pengji’s previous-life profession had nothing to do with merchants, through exposure, she understood a few commercial tricks.
These tricks might have been seen as outdated relics in her time, but in this ancient era where commercial development was only budding, each insight could spark significant commerce upheavals. In other words, with her “advanced” business concepts, even if Jiang Pengji didn’t aspire to be a feudal lord, dabbling in commerce could potentially enable her to create a substantial commercial empire.
Thus, while promoting economic development, Jiang Pengji also enacted many regulations to restrict merchants.
Many of these regulations seemed absurd to the merchants of the time, but over time, as Xiangyang thrived and its economy surpassed typical prefectures, seasoned merchants began to unravel the enigma that was the Lord of Lan Ting and increasingly felt that she was unfathomable.
Taking one step at a time is not scary; what’s scary is taking one step while planning ten more.
#A boss like this? No, thank you. Gotta run!#
Overwhelmed by awe, they continued to restrain themselves and their shops, unwilling to cross any boundaries.
Some others, however, were not so clear-headed. There were unscrupulous merchants who would stop at nothing to make a profit. Yet, this was Xiangyang, where regulations targeting merchants, shops, and goods were detailed and precise. Get caught, and you might as well skip straight to the heavens—there was nearly no hope of recovery.
Once a boundary is crossed, not only would hefty fines and a year-long journey in prison await, but they would also face expulsion, forbidding them from doing business in Xiangyang ever again. For merchants, being able to bribe their way out was a trivial matter; the punishment of being expelled and unable to trade was what they deemed harsh.
Jiang Pengji was equally unyielding when it came to tax collection from merchants.
Of course, merchants could try to evade taxes, but if caught, the consequences were something they couldn’t afford.
Despite this, countless merchants risked their necks trying to rent shops in the Xiangyang market.
Why? Because Xiangyang had a large population with many business opportunities, and the commercial environment was favorable and stable, with no worries about bandits robbing them clean.
In previous years, when chaos reigned and local lords and warlords extorted with brute force, many merchants went bankrupt and could no longer continue. Even without warlords, banditry and thuggery meant that any shop hoping to do business had to pay hefty protection fees.
Not paying?
Then a whole gang would come and loot the store clean.
By comparison, Xiangyang was a paradise for merchants; every New Year’s Eve lantern festival turned into their carnival. Some merchants from other regions also planned to join the fun, securing temporary stalls a month or two in advance to sell their goods, coming with excitement and leaving fulfilled.
Merchants were happy, but some scholars and minor gentry were not.
In the hierarchy of society, merchants rank at the bottom.
The Lord of Lan Ting not only disrespected scholars but favored merchants instead—was his brain malfunctioning?
While they thought this, they didn’t dare voice it aloud, for this was Jiang Pengji’s domain.
The last person to publicly speak ill of Jiang Pengji had been beaten up on the way home by her dedicated fans.
The most ridiculous part? Instead of reflecting on his own behavior, he reported it to the authorities.
In the end, the officials got the full story and generously sentenced him to seven days in jail.
Wise families, like the Feng clan, understood how to protect themselves and wouldn’t dare utter such foolish words. Instead of opposing Jiang Pengji, they looked for ways to curry favor and made quite a profit, like the head of the Feng clan.
Now, the head of the Feng clan was Feng Gui, Feng Jin’s blood-related older brother.
He sought connections through Feng Jin and reserved the best stalls in the market, covering a wide range of businesses.
At that moment, Feng Jin realized just how much business his family had.
Feng Gui couldn’t help but complain, “You think you can just feast on the wind and drink dew?”
With so many branches in the Feng clan, even though resources were predominantly channeled to the main branch, the expenses incurred by various branch families were considerable.
Basic living costs were manageable, but education was expensive, and all of that required money.
Since business was still in a chaotic state, along with the influence of the social hierarchy, while aristocratic families possessed shops, most were conventional, with significant income still reliant on landed estates. Those who worked hard to acquire land naturally did so because it was profitable.
Under the constraints of the family’s ethos, the Feng clan operated more discreetly, but they still owned substantial agricultural land, much of which was inherited from their ancestors.
However, the clan’s second brother was tied to Jiang Pengji, and the latter actively suppressed the aristocracy.
In the past, rallying the power of the aristocracy for a counterattack may have worked, but now with Jiang Pengji’s growing strength, the aristocracy was being marginalized…
Feng Gui frowned, noticing that the matter was not so simple. He privately discussed with his father, Feng Ren, murmuring about who-knows-what, and later sold some of their agricultural land at a friendly rate. This land eventually all landed in Jiang Pengji’s hands—all prime farmland.
In a gesture of reciprocity, Feng Gui also acquired prime market stalls at a discount from Feng Jin.
The Feng clan had previously owned some shops, but their returns were low, nowhere near the income from their land, let alone stable.
Feng Gui researched the market, made adjustments, and combined with the preferential treatment he received from selling some land to Jiang Pengji, his business prospered, eventually expanding to neighboring districts. By the end of the year, the profits exceeded those from their land by several times!
Hmm—
This business venture was definitely worth it.
Feng Jin: “…”
Since taking over as the clan leader, his older brother seemed to have unlocked some bizarre new world.
“Huai Zhang, are you done yet?”
A gentle voice floated from outside. Feng Gui responded, “Yes, I’m coming.”
After divorcing his first wife, he waited four years before remarrying, as his two legitimate sons reached an age where they could understand the world.
He held no resistance to remarrying.
Legitimate sons need maternal guidance, and the Feng clan also required a proper matriarch.
Having experienced a failed marriage with a hysterical wife, his expectations for his second wife were not high. Surprisingly, he found ample joy in their union.
Currently, the couple lived in harmony; just their names for each other give a glimpse into their relationship.
