Tianliangyuan

Chapter 149 More and more bamboo paper workshops

The Deng family is large and powerful, so naturally they will not go bankrupt or fall into poverty because of Xu Zhaozhao's attack.

However, it is no longer possible to provide the Jiang family with a large amount of money.

Even so, Grand Tutor Jiang and Jiang Yanping did not think they should abandon the Deng family.

Firstly, it's about reputation. After all, the two families are related by marriage. If they were to be abandoned after a single defeat, who would dare to rely on the Jiang family in the future?

Secondly, the Deng family's current decline does not mean it will decline in the future. What if they have another chance to rise again?

For example, if the younger generation of the Deng family can be successful, they can naturally become officials. Also, who can say for sure what will happen between merchants?

Moreover, the Deng family still has some resources. Even if the Deng family can't come up with that much money, their relatives and friends might be able to.

Therefore, the Jiang family has already set its sights on several of the younger members of the Deng family.

Arranged marriages are always a good strategy.

Meanwhile, everything is progressing smoothly for Xu Zhaozhao and Xu Junting. In addition to his position as Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Xu Junting also has a job at the Imperial Estate, making him a very busy man.

Xu Zhaozhao is now rolling in wealth, so naturally she can't possibly display it all in the open.

Xu Degui was sent to Jiangnan not only to be responsible for acquiring some industries, but also to visit the paper mill he had set up there.

The manager of the paper mill and the accountant there were all specially selected by Xu Zhaozhao. They could withstand scrutiny and had absolutely no connection with the Marquis's mansion.

Therefore, no one would have thought that the mastermind behind the paper mill was Xu Zhaozhao.

The paper mill business is too big for Xu Zhaozhao to make all the money by herself, otherwise those few companies that have the secret papermaking method would tear her apart!

Therefore, while making bamboo paper herself, Xu Zhaozhao also gave advice to others, helping to improve the technology of rattan paper making.

With high output and good quality, and no additional investment required, paper mills can still make a profit even if the price of paper drops. This means their source of income has not been cut off, and at least they will not consider a desperate, mutually destructive approach.

As a person, you should always think things through. Before you've fully developed your abilities, you should always leave yourself a way out.

Xu Zhaozhao simply wrote down the process of making bamboo paper and gave a copy to Zhang.

Zhang was her sister-in-law and the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo's family. The two families were originally on the same boat, so naturally, when there were benefits, they would prioritize their own people.

With paper becoming increasingly scarce in the Great Xing Dynasty, the secret of bamboo paper will eventually be discovered by some veteran craftsmen. In that case, it's better to do a favor by sending it to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion first, so that they will remember our kindness.

Among Zhang's dowry was a paper mill, but it wasn't in the capital; it was in a suburban county.

The location of the paper mill was related to its geographical location, but more importantly, it was the ancestral home of Zhang's mother's family, so it could be considered ancestral property.

When Zhang got married, Madam Zhang gave her one of the paper mills as part of her dowry. As a result, after Zhang married into the Marquis's household, she basically never had to spend money to buy paper. Instead, she had people deliver it to her regularly, and they always chose the best paper.

It was precisely because of Zhang's generosity that Xu Zhaozhao thought of her first after she benefited from using the bamboo paper.

Zhang was grateful, and she knew that the emergence of bamboo paper would be a huge blow to rattan paper, simply put, bamboo paper was much cheaper.

These days, a single coin can buy a vegetarian steamed bun, and the money saved from a ream of paper is enough to feed a scholar for several days.

So Zhang was originally worried about the paper mill, but unexpectedly, Xu Zhaozhao delivered the treasure trove to her doorstep.

“Good sister, this is too valuable, I can’t accept it for nothing. How about this, I’ll give you 30% of the monthly profits from my paper mill.”

"Absolutely not! I have my own too. Sister-in-law, there's no need to be modest. Ever since you married into the Xu family, you've always thought of them. I'm just sharing some crude ways to make money with you. Why make such a fuss? With this much effort, your managers could probably take the recipes back and start working!"

Zhang laughed at her explanation.

In the end, Zhang could not persuade Xu Zhaozhao otherwise.

Xu Zhaozhao didn't want to accept the money as a gift, and Zhang knew that even if she sent it herself, Xu would definitely return it.

When Xu Junan learned of this that evening, he felt there was no need for them to push each other along.

"When Zhaozhao gets married, we'll give her a generous dowry. Then we'll secretly slip her some gold and silver as part of her dowry. Do you think she'll refuse?"

Zhang thought to herself, "That's right!"

Xu Zhaozhao is already sixteen this year. Even if they don't get married this year, it will be at the latest next year.

"My husband is so thoughtful. My brain is really not good enough."

Xu Jun'an laughed and said, "You're not lacking in brains, you just think you're the eldest sister-in-law and don't want to take advantage of your younger sister. It's nothing, after all, we're all family. The fact that she thought of giving this to you shows that she knows we're family. Now that we have a child, whether it's mine or yours, it will all belong to our son in the future, right?"

These words were blunt, but Zhang agreed with them completely.

Her eldest son with her husband would naturally inherit most of their wealth.

"My lord, I am thinking of returning to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion tomorrow. Such an important matter must be known to our parents."

"Do as you please. But how will you explain it if anyone asks?"

“That’s not difficult. My workshop used to make bamboo paper, but the quality wasn’t good, so we gave up. Besides, I’ve heard that there’s some bamboo paper of varying quality on the market now. Regardless of the quality, the price has come down.”

"Just know it in your mind."

Zhang's thinking was simple: she had received such a great favor from Xu Zhaozhao, and she wanted her family to know so that if the Marquis's mansion or Zhaozhao were in trouble in the future, the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion would be willing to lend a hand.

Although they were all noble families, who dared to say that their family would be glorious and safe for life?

While Xu Zhaozhao gave the bamboo paper recipe to Zhang, another workshop in Taiyuan Prefecture was able to produce bamboo paper of the same quality. Moreover, the workshop had a high output, with more than ten cartloads of bamboo paper already being transported to the capital.

In this way, Xu Zhaozhao's role in this matter will be downplayed, and no one will associate Xu Zhaozhao with the paper mill.

Xu Zhaozhao doesn't mind others knowing she's the owner of a paper mill, but only if she's not attacked by anyone.

Therefore, it is a step-by-step process, with each link connected to the next.

Once people realized that bamboo paper workshops were appearing one after another, and that they weren't even in the same prefecture, they stopped paying attention to Xu Zhaozhao.

Jiang Yanping had been having a run of bad luck lately, suffering repeated setbacks in court and even more misfortunes in his personal life. After leaving the court that day, he simply ordered his servant to drive the carriage to Yongping Ward in the outer city.