Chapter 54: Making a living and winning over each other

There were only two people in the inner hall, and the old house of the Feng family looked a bit plain. Although the official hat chairs and coffee tables were made of huanghuali, the screens and lighting seemed a bit out of date. If it was our ancestral home, theoretically these would be done every year. It needs to be replaced in all seasons.

The Xue family is also a big family. Pearls are like earth, gold is like iron. Even if it was glorious decades ago, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and the weather pattern is still there. Naturally, it can be seen that the Feng family really doesn't run this place very much. , which makes Xue Jun a little regretful. With the Feng family's influence here, if they want to do some business, the income should be considerable.

Although such a big thing happened in the two days he came to Linqing, Xue Jun still managed to inspect Linqing. Although businessmen from all over the country gathered here, all walks of life were quite developed. If it weren't for the tax supervisor, Impact, business will be even more prosperous.

"Uncle Xue, you don't have to be polite, we are all family members." Feng Ziying said with a smile: "I heard that my uncle intends to make a living in the north. I wonder how you feel about Linqing?"

 The drama is here, Xue Jun said in his heart, but his face was calm.

"Brother Keng, uncle, I have been traveling around for more than ten years. It used to be mainly in the south of the Yangtze River, but business has been difficult in recent years. Some of the businesses run by the Xue family are also not very prosperous, and there is also great competition outside. , so I came up with the idea of ​​​​visiting the north. I visited Xuzhou, Jining and Dongchang Prefecture, and then arrived in Linqing. It should be said that these places are good, but they are relatively fixed. If you want to get involved in any industry , it’s more difficult.”

Xue Jun is telling the truth. Businesses along the canal have basically formed a relatively stable market. Without new changes or the emergence of industries, it will definitely be more stressful for you to get involved.

"Then what are uncle's plans?" Feng Ziying has also chatted with Xue Jun several times in the past few days. She feels that Xue Jun is generally a more open-minded businessman in this era. He has seen a lot of the world through his travels, and there are also crises. I feel that if the Xue family continues like this, they will probably have nothing to lose. He can't control the eldest branch, but he still wants to get rid of the increasingly declining situation of the second branch.

"Brother Keng, to be honest, I haven't thought about it." Xue Jun didn't hide anything. "In the past, the Xue family could do anything, but in the past few years, you may also know that after the death of my brother, the situation of the Xue family was not satisfactory. Now, my nephew has caused a lot of trouble, and my sister-in-law can’t control it. She has lost a lot of money, and a lot of business has stopped. When my brother was still alive, our eldest and second house had already divided the business. After we got a family, um, some properties in Beijing and Jinling City were owned by my sister-in-law and her family, and my second house also lost some businesses in Suzhou and Yangzhou, but overall they were not very good, such as gold and silver shops, Jewelry shops, silk and satin shops, etc.”

“Oh, the Xue family also runs a gold and silver jewelry business?” Feng Ziying was slightly surprised.

The jewelry business is not simple. Firstly, the goods are heavy and the investment is high. Secondly, it requires high reputation, that is, high technology and credibility. Thirdly, it must have a stable source of high-end customers. These points also determine the needs and requirements of this industry. There is a very close relationship with the government.

 If you don’t have strong official connections, just a little bit of stolen money could have you shut down or even imprisoned.

However, everyone knows that the jewelry industry is highly profitable. The south of the Yangtze River is prosperous, and the families of scholar-bureaucrats all like luxury and have better spending power than the capital. Therefore, it has always been the focus of the jewelry industry. The Xue family is quite famous in Jinling, so it is reasonable to run this business. .

For example, gold and silver shops, jewelry stores, pawnshops and banknotes are basically connected together, and can also form a relatively stable transaction chain between precious metals and currencies.

Feng Ziying still doesn’t know the current development status of bank accounts and banks in the Great Zhou Dynasty, but judging from the situation in Linqing, there are at least some initial sprouts, which means that this type of business has already appeared, but it is not very popular yet. , maybe this will be an opportunity in the future.

Now my little arms and legs can't support this business.

"Well, the Xue family's Fengrunxiang has some history. It has been in business since the ninth year of Tianping, so it has been fifty years." Xue Jun did not expect that Feng Ziying was actually interested in the jewelry business and was a little surprised: "Over there in the south of the Yangtze River The female family members have very high requirements for jewelry and are picky about both material and workmanship. It is not easy for the Xue family to maintain this business."

“Then uncle, have you ever considered coming to the North to run this business?” Feng Ziying asked.

In the past two days, he also learned about the jewelry business through some channels. Jining, Linqing, Dongchangfu in Shandong plus Dezhou and Jinan are the main dock cities along the canal. With the development of the canal in the past two or three decades, Business is becoming increasingly prosperous, and these dock cities have also gathered a large number of merchants. Some local gentry have also moved to live in the cities, making these cities more prosperous and increasing consumption.

However, the consumption level and level of Northland has always lagged behind Jiangnan, especially high-end consumption like this. It lags far behind Jiangnan, both in terms of fashion and craftsmanship. It is lower than Jiangnan such as Suzhou, Hangzhou, and even Yangzhou and Jinling. Cities vary greatly, and Feng Ziying sees this as an opportunity.

Shanxi merchants and Hui merchants are now focusing more on the operation of bulk goods, and consumer businesses like this have not yet been truly involved. This may be because the Xue family is struggling in the face of fierce competition from rivals in the south of the Yangtze River, but in the north The location has quite advantageous business opportunities.

Xue Jun became solemn, thought for a while and then said slowly: "Brother Keng, do you mean that I can move Fengrunxiang to Shandong?"

"In terms of the prosperity of the city, no one in Beidi, except Beijing, can compare with Jiangnan. But as my uncle said, there is more than one Fengrunxiang in Jiangnan, and one that is even as powerful as Fengrunxiang, or even higher than Fengrun. There are many Xiangxiangs, and my uncle also said that the Xue family's current situation is not very good. These days, people dislike the poor and love the rich and tend to follow the crowd. Fengrunxiang must be difficult in Jiangnan. These cities in Shandong are compared to Suzhou, Hangzhou, Yangjin, etc. Cities are definitely very different, but the demand for this in this city is still in its infancy, and people here also admire these fancy gold and silver jewelry from the south of the Yangtze River. In this case, Why doesn’t uncle use his strengths and avoid his weaknesses to settle here?”

Feng Ziying was not just talking nonsense. He had thought carefully about it before and even talked to some people at the Shanshan Guild Hall. Now Shanshan merchants and Huizhou merchants are very powerful. If the Xue family wants to start business here, it will be difficult to get started. At this stage, you can only avoid it a little bit, so you have to think carefully about it.

When Xue Jun mentioned the jewelry store, he remembered that even his mother liked the Jiangnan-style jewelry, and sometimes even traveled thousands of miles to have a few pairs of jewelry made in some famous shops in Jiangnan. This shows that the Jiangnan style jewelry Fashion is so popular in the North.

Xue Jun nodded: "According to Brother Keng, the Feng family also intends to run some business in Linqing? Is this what your father meant? Then why has the Feng family been guarding such a Feng Shui treasure land before and has not moved yet? Woolen cloth?"

"Uncle Xue family, I won't hide it from you. This is my own intention. I haven't come here much before. My mother is generally intervening in matters here. You also know that my father has been in Datong, so I am intervening here. When I came back this time, I felt that Linqing was indeed a good place. In addition, I felt that Uncle Xue’s family had some experience and manpower in this area, so I came up with this idea..."

Please support! I also recommend a new book "The Age of Chasing Dreams" that has just been released on the shelves. It is about urban farming. If you like it, you can read it.

 (End of this chapter)