Chapter Twenty-Two: Taking Stock of the Dowry

  Yao Yan's words lifted her spirits as she waited for her wet nurse, Feng Nian. Today, Yao Yan had sent Feng Nian out on an important errand. After eating, Feng Nian didn't dare to tarry and immediately came in to report back. Cui Wei cleverly led the little maids away and personally closed the door.

  "How's it going?" Yao Yan got straight to the point without beating around the bush.

  "Returning to you, young lady, I and my husband went through all four shops in the mansion that were given to you today. The rice shop's storefront is not large, it can't even be considered mediocre compared to those in Beijing. However, in this place, the larger rice shops actually do worse business. So although our shop is small, the customers are mostly poor commoners, and while the business is trivial, the daily takings are not insignificant, with a profit of over 100 taels of silver per month."

  "Hmm." Yao Yan nodded, the nobles in the capital all had their own estates, and their own estates were planted with various fine grains, why would they need to go out and buy food?

  Those who need to buy food for a living are mostly the working people at the bottom of society, these people don't have much money in their hands, and each time they buy rice and grains is only enough for three to five days' worth of food. Large grain stores naturally do not welcome them, and they will not go to such places to buy grains either.

  In the capital, opening a grain rice shop, if you can't do business with the imperial court, it's better to keep a low profile and do business with ordinary people, which is more stable. The Yao family has been merchants for generations, so they must have taken this into account early on.

  "Our silk shop is not small, and we have a wide variety of silks. It's just that we don't have any top-notch embroiderers, which is a pity. Now every month we take in 200-300 taels of silver, but the embroidery across the street is really good. According to our shopkeeper, they make 500-600 taels of silver per month and are especially busy during holidays."

  Yao Yan nodded: "This is also okay, doing business can't be too demanding, a big tree attracts wind."

  "That grocery store didn't do very well, with only 50 or 60 taels of silver in profit each month, and at most 600 taels for the whole year. On the other hand, that tea shop was quite good, because it had a good source of goods and made more than the silk fabric shop. Normally, every month there would be over 300 taels of silver in profit, and during holidays and festivals, this amount could double. In one year, they could make a profit of 5,000 to 6,000 taels of silver."

  Yao Yan's fingers tapped her chin as she roughly calculated and said: "In this way, in a year I can have... seven or eight thousand taels of silver income?"

  Old Lady Feng nodded: "The young lady is right."

  "That's not bad at all!" Yao Yan calculated the account in her heart, with an annual income of 8,000 taels of silver, she could be considered a small rich woman. Not to mention anything else, her own food and clothing expenses would definitely not be enough. If she could take it out to do some investment and make the silver earn more silver...

  Thinking of this, Yao Yan couldn't help but sigh. She was not born to do business. In her previous life, she didn't understand what stock trading and investment were, and in this life, after crossing over to the Great Cloud Dynasty, she still knew nothing about commercial affairs.

  In her two lifetimes, she was still most interested in medicine. Curing illnesses and saving lives were nothing to her, but if it came to doing business and making money, just thinking about it made her head spin. So with an annual income of seven or eight thousand taels of silver, which wasn't a small amount, she would put in her greatest effort to preserve this estate, and in the future, barely scrape by with a comfortable life, not bad for a lifetime.

  However, Mrs. Feng immediately shattered her fantasy.

  "Miss, this amount of silver for a year is indeed enough to live a life without worrying about food and clothing for an ordinary family. But Miss, you are not like those ordinary families. Let's just look at the life of our eldest aunt in the house. I've already inquired about it, and the monthly allowance given by the Ding Hou Mansion to the young lady is 20 taels of silver per month. At the end of the year, the things brought up by the Ding Hou Mansion's estate are naturally shared among the three houses, but as far as I know, they are also very limited. The Ding Hou Mansion has a large framework and extremely complex expenses. Although the eldest princess has her own fiefdom, the marquis must pay respects every year. Among the royal and noble families, there are frequent exchanges of gifts for red and white events, which one doesn't require silver?"

  "Besides, each household has its own expenses. Third Master also needs to socialize and entertain guests, while Eldest Mistress needs to make arrangements and pay for things on both sides. A good table setting outside costs over a thousand taels of silver, and the embroidery alone on a decent piece of clothing costs tens or even hundreds of taels. Calculating it this way, the grain dividends allocated to each household from the ancestral estate, plus the forty taels of silver that Eldest Mistress and her husband receive as their monthly allowance, probably wouldn't even cover Third Master's expenses for half a year."

  Yao Yan's face gradually turned sour, originally thinking she was a rich person, but it wasn't that way at all.

  Madam Feng looked at her master's worried face and smiled: "So the rest of them, we have to think of ways to make up for it. You don't need to worry about these things now, but in the future you'll get married and have to deal with them. With an annual income of 8,000 taels of silver, I'm afraid it will be difficult to make ends meet."

  Yao Yan listened to this and pouted, asking in return: "Can you still smile? In the future, following me might not be as easy as going with the northwest wind."

  Madam Feng smiled and said, "When you were at the Governor's Mansion, everything was taken care of by Old Lady and Madame, so I didn't need to worry about these things for you. Now that you've left the Governor's Mansion and are in this situation, I have to mention these worrisome matters to you ahead of time. It's just to let you be mentally prepared earlier. As for being penniless, we're not quite at that point yet."

  Yao Yan also smiled, and Northwest Wind's words were naturally laughable, but this matter also made her think seriously about it.

  "I know that you and Uncle Feng are capable, and I've always been impatient with these things. From now on, the operation of these four shops will be handed over to you. I only need to look at the account book once every three months, as for how the shop is operated and managed, I won't ask about it. Then, each year's profit from the shop, I'll take out 10% to give to you both, as a way of accumulating your retirement savings."

  "Oh dear, this is unbearable." Mrs. Feng hastily said: "It's only natural for slaves like us to serve our masters with our lives. Our masters give us a monthly salary, give us food to eat, and that's the master's kindness. We're being greedy again, wanting a share of the master's profits, isn't that asking for heavenly punishment?"

  "This is nonsense. I give you a 10% bonus, which means more work and more gain. This way, you will make progress in your work, and I will be at ease. Besides, what is considered fair? If the servant serves the master well, the master should also reward the servant well. Only this way can the relationship between master and servant not be in vain. Can it be that all good things in the world are enjoyed by the masters, while the servants just wait in vain, shedding blood and sweat, but getting nothing good?" Yao Yan said with a smile: "Such a stingy master will not have any good fortune in the future."

  Mrs. Feng again pushed back and forth, saying that she and her husband taking a 10% dividend was not appropriate at all.

  "If you think it's not suitable, then take out 12% of the spirit to help me pave the way. Let me earn more silver every year and make up for what you took away, isn't that a win-win situation?"

  Madam Feng smiled and bowed to show her loyalty: "Miss, you are kind and virtuous, it's our good fortune. My husband and I will devote ourselves to serving you for the rest of our lives, without any second thoughts."