"Ninety chapters, three hundred taels?" Xie Lingyun heard Zhou Chong's offer, and her eyes were shiny in her mind for a moment, and her expression must immediately bargained, "No, it's too expensive, at most two hundred and fifty taels!"

"Three hundred taels, no point can be lost!" Zhou Chong ignored Xie Lingyun's bargaining and still insisted.

"You..." Xie Lingyun's tone stagnated, and a slight fluctuation flashed in her calm eyes, but she finally said calmly, "Two hundred and eighty taels, this is my bottom line, even if I go to the capital,

No one will pay such a high price for a book!"

"Three hundred taels, this is also my bottom line. If Miss Xie disagreed, at worst I would let the manuscript be rotten in my hands!" Zhou Chong's attitude was particularly firm. Last time he was at Fengyou Teahouse, he ate under Xie Lingyun's hands.

It was a little loss. Although he would not hold a grudge against the other party because of this, it is also worth asking for some spiritual compensation in a timely manner.

Seeing Zhou Chong so determined, a slight fluctuation flashed on Xie Lingyun's calm face. The Xie family originally started with smuggling, but Xie Lingyun believed that smuggling was not the right way after all, and she didn't know when the imperial court would strengthen the maritime ban, so since she took over the family

After the business, she began to develop some new businesses, such as the printing workshop, which is a business she is optimistic about. And what’s more coincidental is that Zhou Chong’s Journey to the West gave her a chance to open up the printing situation, so she didn’t want to

give up!

Xie Lingyun thought for a long time, finally pursed her red lips, raised her head and looked at Zhou Chong, and said calmly: "Okay, three hundred taels are three hundred taels, but I have two conditions!"

"Oh, what conditions?" Zhou Chong was happy in his heart. Three hundred taels were finally obtained, which also means that he had taken the first step to success.

"It's very simple. First, I hope Mr. Zhou will hand over the first fifty chapters of Journey to me this month, and the remaining fifty chapters can be handed over to me at the end of February next year. Second, if Mr. Zhou has some more in the future

What new work? Under the same conditions, you must give us the new work priority to print and publish!" Xie Lingyun is a business genius. When she saw that she could not take advantage of the price, she immediately changed direction and attached two more to this price.

Extra conditions to gain greater benefits for yourself.

"Trade!" Zhou Chong agreed without hesitation. He had already written the first thirty chapters, and the remaining twenty chapters could definitely be written at the end of the month. As for the second chapter, he was planning to finish the Journey to the West anyway.

I won't write anymore, so Xie Lingyun's plan is destined to be disappointed.

After the matter was agreed, Xie Lingyun immediately drafted a contract, and then she and Zhou Chong respectively wrote on it. According to the above regulations, Xie Lingyun would take out fifty taels to Zhou Chong, which was the deposit for the manuscript.

Xie Lingyun ordered, and the bald man behind her took out a deposit of fifty taels of silver from the bag on his body. Zhou Chong took it and weighed it in his hand. Although the silver was heavy, it made him feel relieved.

No matter in which era, enough money can always bring people a sense of security.

"Thank you Miss Lingyun for your generosity. It's getting late. Do you know if Miss Lingyun has anything else?" Zhou Chong handed over the silver to Butler Xu behind him, and then immediately prepared to drive out the people. It was almost dark.

He didn't want to keep this Miss Xie for dinner, and it was not convenient for a lonely man and a widow.

But what Zhou Chong didn't expect was that Xie Lingyun did not get up and say goodbye immediately after hearing this. Instead, she took a small gift box from the little maid behind her and walked forward a few steps: "Mr. Zhou, my sister Jianer is

The sisters in the poetry club, a few months ago, I promised to give her a box of rouge produced in the capital, but later Uncle Zhou died unfortunately, and Bracelet sister was mourning at home. She could not attend these poetry club gatherings, so she had no choice.

I gave it to her. This time I happened to come to Zhou’s mansion. It was too late, so I didn’t go in to see Sister Jianer. I also asked Mr. Zhou to hand it over to me!”

Zhou Chong didn't expect that Xie Lingyun knew Jianer, but it was not surprising that Jianer used to have frequent contact with some wealthy daughters from Songjiang Mansion, and formed a poetry club. Zhou Chong doesn't remember the name, but it's just a bunch of them anyway.

The things that Miss Qianjin has made when she is idle, Xie Lingyun, as the most popular rich lady in Songjiang Mansion, has no reason not to participate.

Just a box of rouge, it must not be worth much, so Zhou Chong did not refuse. After thanking him, he reached out to take it and personally sent Xie Lingyun out of the door. However, the wind began to blow, and pieces of water were floating in the sky.

The dark clouds seem to change the sky at any time.

Seeing Xie Lingyun's carriage slowly leaving, Zhou Chong turned around and was about to go in and warm up, but unexpectedly, when the corner door opened, Butler Xu and Wu Shan each pushed a small car out, and it seemed like he was going to pull something like this?

"Butler Xu, what are you and Lao Wu doing?" Zhou Chong asked with some surprise. It was time for supper soon. According to Butler Xu's personality, shouldn't he go out at this critical moment?

"Young master, Wu Shan is a person who understands the weather. He said that when the wind is windy today, it will be very likely to snow heavily in the next few days, so he is going to buy some coal balls as fuel. I thought that there is not much fuel in our house anymore, so

I'm going to go back with him." Butler Xu said without blushing. The fuel in the mansion was not much. The reason why he chose to go with Wu Shan at this time was mainly because he was interested in Wu Shan's strong body and strong body.

Can help him move things.

"I didn't expect that Old Wu, you still understand astronomy." Zhou Chong looked at Wu Shan with some surprise, "It's like this, I'm fine, let's go together!"

The coal balls in the Ming Dynasty were also called coal cakes, but they were not the honeycomb coal of later generations. They were made of crushed coal and loess and water to make a solid small ball. They were about the same size as table tennis balls. They were very laborious and burned.

It is not as thorough as honeycomb coal. Zhou Chong had thought about using honeycomb coal to make money before, but honeycomb coal was originally a business with small profits and quick turnover, and it required a considerable amount of start-up capital, which is exactly what Zhou Chong lacked.

"Young Master Zhou, don't go. The coal shop is dirty and messy, and it is really not suitable for scholars like you!" At this time, Wu Shan also smiled and said, his character is simple, but it does not mean he is stupid.

During a while, Butler Xu often asked him to help with some work, but he didn't mind. Instead, he felt very happy because it meant that Butler Xu did not treat him as an outsider.

"Isn't it just moving some coal balls? Is there anything suitable? Even a saint, he also wants to eat, drink, defecate, and urinate?" Zhou Chong said, walking over to take the car from Butler Xu's hand. After all, Butler Xu is not old.

He is too young and has too fat. These days, he has lost weight a few times because of his family's work. Zhou Chong is also worried that he will be exhausted.

Seeing Zhou Chong taking his car, Butler Xu wanted to grab it back, but was rejected by Zhou Chong. In the end, he could only follow behind silently, but he secretly wiped his eyes while Zhou Chong was not paying attention.

Coal shops have almost disappeared in later generations, and the fuels of daily life have become clean energy such as gas or electricity. However, in the Ming Dynasty, coal shops were very prosperous. Not far from Zhou Mansion, there was a coal shop with a large frontage.

.

The structure of the coal shop is almost the same. There is a large room in front, with a counter on one side, and baskets and scales next to the counter. There are also a few guys and shopkeepers busy. There are coal and coal balls piled up on the other side of the room.

Among them, the coal is easier to burn, and it is also easy to burn, but the price is more expensive. The coal balls are bonded with loess, which is relatively low.

The guys in the coal shop and the guys in the hotel are two extremes. No matter what the guys in the hotel look, they must at least look clean. However, the guys in the coal shop are just the opposite, all of whom are dyed with black heads and black faces.

The torn jacket he wore was also shiny and could not tell what he was originally looking. Zhou Chong estimated that if he stuffed African black people among these guys, it would be difficult to tell which one was the real black person?

It seems that this is not the first time Wu Shan and Butler Xu have come. After entering the door, they greeted a few guys first, then walked to the counter, and finalized the price with the only cleaner shopkeeper. The guys immediately started and soon

Then they put the coal balls they wanted in baskets and scaled them into the car.

Wu Shan was pushing the car in front, Zhou Chong was pushing the car behind, and Butler Xu helped Zhou Chong hold the car. It was already dark and the wind was getting heavier. There were almost no pedestrians on the road, but it was just them.

Just as I turned the corner and was about to get home, I suddenly found two big and one small three people walking towards the other end of the street.

Zhou Chong didn't care, but as the three people on the other side got closer, Zhou Chong was surprised to find that in the cold evening, the three people coming towards him were a man, a woman and a child. It seemed that he was a man, a woman and a child.

It should be a family, but whether it is a woman or a child, they are only wearing a few ragged clothes, shaking while walking in the cold wind.

The family was so dirty that they were covered with black stains on their faces and hands. They looked no cleaner than the guys in the coal shop. The man was carrying a bundle of straw mats and two bags behind him, while the woman was carrying a back.

A torn quilt that couldn't see clearly. Judging from the little braids and figures of the child, he should be a five or six-year-old girl with a cleaner face than her parents, but she was frozen and covered in black and big eyes

With her thin cheeks and figure, she looks particularly pitiful.

The three of the family saw Zhou Chong and the other two walking towards him, and their eyes showed a look of begging and fear intertwining. They seemed to want to get help from Zhou Chong and others, but they did not dare to take the initiative to step forward, so they could only use this

A complicated look was looked at the other person.

Looking at the family trembling in the cold wind, Wu Shan suddenly sighed, put down the car, reached out to take out a few cents from his arms, and walked over and put them in the little girl's hand. During this period, Butler Xu wanted to stop him, but looked

He finally shook his head and said to himself, "Oh, there are so many poor people, how many can we little people save?"

Wu Shan's alms were exchanged for the repeated thanks from men and women, and the little girl also said in a hoarse and trembling voice: "Thank you, uncle!"
Chapter completed!