Chapter 19: Yang Family’s Small Classroom
It was unreasonable for him to enter the western wing, as it wasn’t his room, and Yang Yunxue and Old Lady Wang were living there. If news of this got out, it would be a huge scandal. Yang Zhengshan wouldn’t care about such gossip, but he couldn’t ignore the potential damage to Yang Yunxue’s reputation.
“Don’t stay in the room for too long, I’ll help your brother clean the snow later.”
One free labor force, why not use it? Now that he’s here, might as well put him to work.
“Hehe, that’s the benefit of being an old father-in-law.”
“I know, Dad!” Jiang He responded without looking back.
This guy was probably thinking of rushing into the room, not caring about anything else. Luckily, Yang Yunxue and the others knew he was coming and opened the door for him before he even entered.
“Sister-in-law, your brother is inside, you can talk to him first.”
Yang Yunxue said with a curved eyebrow, and she also brought out Old Lady Wang, giving the young couple some space to talk.
Jiang He and Yang Yunyan chatted in the room, while Yang Yunxue and Old Lady Wang went to the eastern wing of the main hall.
In the warm and cozy room, the two little ones lay on the thick cotton blankets, babbling away in baby talk.
Wang and Li had already started busying themselves in the kitchen, preparing meals for the large family. It wasn’t an easy task, but they didn’t complain and instead found joy in it.
Having enough food and warm clothes, they lived a life they previously could only dream of. Their hearts were filled with happiness.
After preparing a table full of dishes, Jiang He stayed for lunch, and then accompanied Yang Zhengshan to Jiang Family Village in the afternoon.
The two scribes from the county government, who were handling the land in Jiang Family Village, had heard of Yang Zhengshan and treated him with great respect, without any arrogance.
When they learned that Yang Zhengshan wanted to buy a hundred mu of land, they became even more enthusiastic.
Who wouldn’t want to return home to their wives on a cold winter’s day?
They had wanted to return to the county city, but the land in Jiang Family Village wasn’t selling, so they couldn’t leave.
Yang Zhengshan’s purchase of a hundred mu of land was equivalent to completing half of their task, so they naturally were very enthusiastic.
The process of buying the land went smoothly, and Yang Zhengshan acquired a large piece of land near Yang Family Village, including 40 mu of paddy fields and 60 mu of dry fields, totaling 440 taels.
He received the land deed on the same day, and by the time he returned to Yang Family Village, he had become the largest landowner in the village.
When Yang Zhengshan bought a hundred mu of land, the Yang family couldn’t help but rejoice.
For ordinary people, land was the foundation, and having land meant having food, which represented their ability to survive.
Although the Yang family had already started to prosper, Yang Mingcheng and the others still thought of themselves as ordinary farmers.
Yang Zhengshan thought it was time to open the Yang Family’s small classroom.
No matter big or small, everyone had to come and learn.
In the morning, they would practice martial arts, and in the afternoon, they would attend classes.
Yang Zhengshan personally taught the classes, from Yang Mingcheng and Wang to Lin Zhan and Old Lady Wang, even including little Yang Chengyi.
Of course, Yang Zhengshan wasn’t teaching them the Four Books and Five Classics or Confucian classics; those were beyond his knowledge.
He taught them arithmetic.
As an engineering major, teaching simple arithmetic was a breeze.
Apart from arithmetic, Yang Zhengshan also taught other practical skills, such as accounting, economics, and management.
However, to avoid appearing too extraordinary, he only taught certain topics and spoke in a vague manner.
There was no fixed curriculum; he taught whatever he thought of.
Sometimes, he would take Yang Mingcheng and the others to observe and research in the county city, visiting places like wine shops, tea houses, cloth shops, and grain stores, even including roadside stalls and large family homes.
They would observe how others lived and researched the business dealings of various shops.
Yang Zhengshan even borrowed some unimportant documents from Lu Zhaoqi’s office, allowing Yang Mingcheng and the others to read and research.
This process wasn’t just for Yang Mingcheng and the others to learn; it was also for Yang Zhengshan to learn.
The learning progress of Yang Mingcheng and the others was different, like Yang Mingcheng’s three brothers, who were literate and could directly learn simple knowledge. Meanwhile, Wang and Li had to start from scratch, learning to recognize characters.
When accompanying Yang Zhengshan to observe and research in the county city, the main participants were Yang Mingcheng’s three brothers and Lin Zhan.
At first, Yang Zhengshan personally led them, but after a few times, he let them go on their own.
After a month, all four of them had made significant progress.
On their way back to Yang Family Village from the county city, Yang Zhengshan sat in the horse carriage, looking at the three brothers and Lin Zhan.
“Come, tell me about your insights today!”
“You go first, older brother!”
Yang Mingcheng, who was driving the horse, quickly replied, “Dad, I think doing business in the cloth shop is the best!”
“Why?” Yang Zhengshan asked.
“Previously, I observed other shops, like the wine shop. There are two wine shops in the county city, but they don’t have many customers, maybe because of the cold weather. Anyway, they have few customers.”
“The grain store has many customers, but the profit is low.”
“The medicine shop has high profits, and with the current illness going around, there are many patients. However, the medicine shop’s business is closely related to the doctor’s medical skills, which isn’t suitable for us to operate.”
“Lastly, there’s the cloth shop. The colder the weather, the better the cloth shop’s business. People need cotton clothes and cotton flowers, and they need to buy them from the cloth shop.”
Yang Mingcheng slowly shared his observations and conclusions, occasionally glancing at Yang Zhengshan’s expression.
Yang Zhengshan nodded in satisfaction and said, “Your observation is correct, but you overlooked one point: Anning County doesn’t produce cotton, and the cloth shop’s fabrics and cotton flowers are all transported from outside. This involves complex business dealings that ordinary people can’t handle.”
It wasn’t easy to do business in Anning County.
Although it looked poor, those shops all had powerful backgrounds.
Especially industries like cloth shops, which weren’t operated by local people.
“For our family, the cloth shop isn’t a suitable choice. Instead, the stable and low-profit grain store is a better option.”
“However, those grain stores are all backed by large landowners and large families, and it’s difficult for our family to open one alone!”
Yang Zhengshan said, having already considered this. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have bought the land.
As a modern person, he knew that doing business was the quickest way to earn money, but without a strong foundation and background, it was just a fantasy.
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