Happy Little Scholar

Yu San has no name, or his name is just Yu San.

She was sold to Yufu since she was a child. At first, she only did some chores in the house, such as cleaning buckets and pouring night incense. Later, because of her cleverness, she was noticed by the steward and was able to leave the house and work in the family shop. Now that I have become a little boy, my life is much smoother than before.

A few days ago, due to outstanding performance, he was promoted from clerk to shopkeeper of this store. It can be said that he has reached the highest point in his life.

The Yu family has been running a paper mill business for decades. The paper produced in the family can be supplied to the imperial court and satisfy the market. It is very popular throughout the Jingguo. Therefore, the Yu family's shop in Kyoto used to be There are always customers here, and most of the time, he is busy from morning to night.

Looking up and seeing someone walking in, Yu San immediately walked out and said with a smile: "Shopkeeper Ma, business has been good recently. I just ordered a batch of goods yesterday. Are you ordering again today?"

This shopkeeper, Ma, is in the picture book business and has always used paper from the Yu family. Occasionally, he will give him a few wonderful albums to comfort him on lonely nights.

Shopkeeper Ma looked embarrassed and said, "To be honest, I'm here today to return the goods."

"Return?" Yu San looked at him in surprise and asked, "But there is something wrong with the quality of that batch of goods. Shopkeeper Ma can rest assured. If this is the case, we can exchange it after we verify it."

"No, it's..." Shopkeeper Ma looked confused and hesitated for a while before speaking: "It's because there are several new paper mills opened in the city. The quality of the paper is high quality. What's the price? Compared with the same level here, it's a lot. I can’t get to Chengdu, so I’m coming today…”

Anyone who does business is not a fool. If you can buy something of higher quality at a 10% lower price, you don’t have to think about how to make a choice.

"A newly opened paper mill?" Yu San was startled at first, thinking that this was a malicious trick by a competitor, but before he had any doubts, there were footsteps outside the door again.

After a moment, looking at the people standing in front of him, Yu San's face showed a wary look, "Are you all here to return goods?"

…

Just when Yu San rushed out of the shop and ran towards the Yu family, Yu Dingfeng's expression in the Yu Mansion had changed drastically.

"What did you say?" The head of the Yu family, who was discussing important matters with the Cui family, suddenly stood up, grabbed the man's collar, and asked: "You mean, someone outside is selling paper that is better than the Yu family's. The quality is better and the price is less than 10% of ours?”

The servant of the Yu Mansion said in a trembling voice: "Master..., in several stores in Kyoto, there are long lines of people going to return goods..."

Yu Dingfeng let go of his collar, forced himself to calm down, and asked, "Have you found out who the people behind these shops are, and what kind of paper is that paper?"

If this is just a malicious suppression by a certain competitor, then that's fine. He knows better than anyone how much it costs to make paper. The higher the quality, the higher the cost. If it is sold at a low price, even the cost cannot be recovered. Naturally, It can't last long.

But if..., if someone really improves the art of papermaking and can produce high-quality paper at a very low cost, the Yu family, the things that the Yu family relies on for survival, will be gone all of a sudden...

What's more, in order for the academy to purchase more paper at a high price, so that they can make profits from it, the Yu family... invested even their family's wealth in it and hoarded a large amount of goods. If, just if, if there were He invented a kind of high-quality and low-priced paper, so no one wanted to buy the Yu family's paper. The Yu family, the Yu family was really at the end of its rope.

"Their background cannot be found..." The servant looked at Yu Dingfeng and whispered: "Those papers have been inspected by someone. The quality is indeed very high. It has never appeared on the market before."

Before the servant finished speaking, the voice of the man named Cui next to him came over.

"Brother Yu, Brother Yu, what's wrong with you..., Brother Yu, Brother Yu, wake up!"

Yu Dingfeng was pinched by the man surnamed Cui. After Youyou woke up, he felt a chill running down his spine and his face turned pale. He said, "Go, send someone to the Princess Mansion. No, no, prepare the car. Prepare the car quickly. I Go in person!”

Although the eldest princess has always lived in the palace, the princess and the prince in the palace can open a mansion outside the palace after they reach adulthood. The supply of paper for the academy has always been contacted by the people from the princess mansion and the Yu family. .

Yu Dingfeng urged the coachman all the way, regardless of whether the censor might see him driving the carriage across the capital. He got out of the car in a hurry when he arrived in front of the princess's mansion.

After being brought into the princess's mansion, he has been waiting in a side hall somewhere.

He was feeling uneasy. He brewed a cup of tea countless times until the taste was gone. Then he saw a female official slowly walking in from outside.

Yu Dingfeng stood up in a hurry and said straight to the point: "I came today to supply paper to the academy..."

The female official looked at him and smiled slightly: "There are several new paper shops opened in Kyoto. Does Mr. Yu know about them?"

Yu Dingfeng's legs weakened and he fell heavily back into the chair.

…

"How could this happen? How could this happen..." Chen Qing walked around the hall, occasionally glancing at Chen Chong who was sitting there drinking tea, and said: "Only a few days have passed since that night. In other words, here Was there someone planning the Yu family before?"

"Isn't this normal?" Chen Chong looked up at him and asked, "What did the Cui family say?"

"Cui Qingze overturned the table on the spot. This is not just a matter of not preventing the establishment of the academy." Chen Qing said a little irritably: "The Yu family has tried their best to bring down the eldest princess this time. It is precisely because They put all their efforts into it - from now on, there will never be another Yu family."

Chen Chong shook his head and said: "Yu Dingfeng is too greedy. After the Fanbang merchant incident, the Cui family's vitality was severely damaged. Now that the Yu family is gone, the Cui family is like a broken arm, and this arm was deliberately chopped off." Broken."

"He was cut off on purpose?" Chen Qing frowned and was suddenly startled, asking: "You mean, he has already started planning..., impossible, impossible, he and the King of Shu just have a personal grudge, and they have always been He is not close to any of the princes. Prince Jin is too young. His Majesty has so many adult princes. He cannot be Prince Jin. This is unreasonable and unethical. The only one he is close to is the eldest princess. Could it be that he is not the prince? Does he still want to assist the eldest princess to ascend to the throne? "

"This is naturally impossible." Chen Chong shook his head and said, "But I always feel that this is just the beginning, let's see..."

He stood up, looked at Chen Qing, and said slowly: "Maybe it's time for our Chen family to think about it carefully..."

Qin Mansion’s family banquet.

Qin Yan sighed and said: "The Yu family has no chance to turn around this time. After this time, the wealthy families who make paper mills will be seriously injured. If they make a desperate move like the Yu family, even the entire family will lose their vitality." The whole family will be affected.”

He said a few words, and when he saw Qin He fighting and playing with a seven-year-old naughty boy in his lower office, Qin Yan couldn't help but frown slightly and said: "Lao Wu, can you stop being so silly and do something serious? ?”

"Hey, the fifth uncle is an elder. You should respect your elders and not compete with me..." The fifth uncle of the Qin family was playing with the child born in Qin Yan's concubine's room. Hearing this, he raised his head with a look of astonishment on his face, "Brother, I do this every day They are all doing business..."

"Watching a show and listening to music, is this what you call business?"

Qin Wuye looked confused, "Don't...doesn't this count?"

…

"Everything has been arranged according to what you said. In the future, paper prices will definitely fall sharply. Like the Yu family, the situation where one family is the only one will never happen again. Of course, even if it is the only one, we will be the only one..."

Li Xuan said this lazily, then thought of another thing, cheered up and sat up, and asked doubtfully: "Now can you tell me, what is the second kind of paper used for?"