Chapter Eight: The Grand Scheme for Wealth

Wang Qun's face showed hesitation as he said, "Young Master, if it were just a few dozen strings of coins, that wouldn't be much of a problem. But you want several hundred—now that's a considerable sum. I'm afraid you'll have to go through Lady Xing to get it!"

Go through Lady Xing! Wasn’t that like seeking skin from a tiger?

"Is there no other way?" Zhen Qian pressed, unwilling to give up.

Wang Qun shook his head. "If it were a small amount, we servants could pool something together. But the sum you want is too great, unless—"

Zhen Qian's eyes lit up. Wang Qun hadn't dismissed the idea entirely, which meant there was still a sliver of hope. "Steward Wang, if you have something to say, please say it!"

Wang Qun offered a wry smile. "Actually, Young Master, you have money, and not a small amount of it either. Unfortunately, it is all in Lady Xing’s hands, so you can't access it. Of course, even if you asked her for it now, she wouldn't give it to you, unless you left the Zhen family; only then could that money be drawn out."

"Tell me, how do I have money and not know about it myself?"

Zhen Qian was frustrated. According to Wang Qun, not only did he have money, it was a substantial sum. Yet he had no inkling of it.

Wang Qun was about to explain when Xiaozhu, standing by, suddenly realized, "I know! It’s the money your late mother brought with her as dowry when she married into the Zhen family. After all these years, the original few thousand strings of coins have probably grown into tens of thousands!"

With Wang Qun and the two young maids explaining, Zhen Qian realized he did, in fact, have a sizeable inheritance. His birth mother had brought a generous dowry into the Zhen family, and over more than a decade, its value had grown to tens of thousands of strings of cash.

"All this money is mine?"

Dowries were a tradition from ancient times to the present, so Zhen Qian wasn't surprised. But to say it was entirely his was hard to understand.

After hearing them out, however, Zhen Qian finally grasped the situation. In the Tang Dynasty, a woman’s dowry was not like what later generations imagined. It was completely her personal property, akin to premarital assets, and the husband had no right to use it. At best, he could manage it, but not claim it as his own.

Wang Qun said, "When your mother married, she took a portion from the Wang family inheritance. That inheritance is now held by Lady Xing. If you should one day become head of the Zhen household, it would naturally belong to the family. But if you leave the Zhen family, then it would belong to you alone!"

So that's how it was!

Having figured out the truth, it came down to this: Zhen Qian could not touch the inheritance for now, not unless he left the Zhen family.

Zhen Qian sighed. Was this not like grasping at the moon's reflection in water, or flowers in a mirror? Could he even leave the Zhen family now?

The current situation was like a closed triangle. To do business, he needed money. The money was managed by Lady Xing. To get it, he had two options: become the family head, or leave the Zhen family. Becoming head was out of the question, and leaving the family seemed equally unlikely. After all that, he still couldn’t get the money!

But Zhen Qian did not lose heart. A living man can’t be stifled by a mere need. After all, he had the wisdom and experience of a thousand years. If it came to the Four Books, Five Classics, poetry, and prose, perhaps he would fall short. But in the arts of cunning, calculation, and intrigue, while not the best, he could at least reach the upper echelons. And in business and investment, he believed he could make the top ten in the Tang Dynasty.

"Very well! Let me think this over a bit more."

Xiaomei thought he was giving up and hurried to comfort him. "Master, if you really need money, there’s some jewelry left by your late mother. We could pawn them for a good sum!"

They were even willing to part with his mother’s keepsakes; even if Zhen Qian agreed, such a thing would sound bad if word got out. "We’re not at the end of our rope just yet. Why don’t you two accompany me to the market tomorrow, and we’ll see then?"

He already had a few good money-making ideas in mind, but whether they would work remained to be seen. Not every business could be run in the Tang era, and there were many restrictions. For example, he thought of making a fortune by producing salt, but the problem was that Zhengding was over a thousand miles from the sea. Was he supposed to go drink sea breeze now? Or mining—where would he find the manpower, and mining required considerable capital as well. That wouldn’t work either!

He had quite a few ideas like these, but few were truly low-investment and high-return. At first, he considered making glass to earn his first pot of gold, but something like that would surely invite disaster—definitely not something he could risk now.

After much deliberation, he decided to go to the market the next morning and see for himself. After all, he had plenty of time. Even if he had to wait a year or two, it wouldn’t matter!

That night passed uneventfully. Zhen Qian did want to do something with the two young maids who shared his bed. Any normal man wouldn’t let such an opportunity slip by. Unfortunately, the two girls refused to consummate the relationship. If he didn’t know better, he’d have thought they were avoiding him.

Their excuses left Zhen Qian both frustrated and amused, but he could only blame himself. He kept insisting his amnesia hadn’t fully healed, and the girls worried that any excitement would trigger another episode.

Having two lovely girls by his side but unable to enjoy their charms was truly a waste of heaven’s gifts!

He tossed and turned for a while. In ancient times, there was little in the way of evening entertainment; people went to bed as soon as darkness fell. He used to read by candlelight, but now, not yet fully recovered, he was forced to "sleep early and rise early."

The next morning, the two girls dragged the still-sleepy Zhen Qian from bed. He yawned endlessly, having spent half the night lost in thought and unsure when he’d finally fallen asleep. There was no clock to check the hour, but from the sound of the night watch outside, it must have been around the third or fourth watch.

Zhen Qian stood by the bed like a wooden post while the two girls dressed him. It wasn’t that he was too lazy to put on his own clothes; rather, the layers were so complicated, with several pieces to be worn in the right order. A mistake would be a laughingstock.

Since he couldn’t dress himself and had two girls to serve him, it would be foolish not to enjoy such a pleasure.

Soon, he was fully dressed. Xiaomei brought a basin of clean water, a small dish of green salt, and a bone stick bristling with hairs. The green salt was like toothpaste, the bone stick a toothbrush. This primitive method had existed for centuries. Ordinary people used willow twigs as toothbrushes and could only dream of green salt, which only wealthy households like Zhen Qian’s could afford.

Zhen Qian carefully cleaned his teeth with green salt. One could not expect to find a dentist in those days, and with no anesthetic, tooth extraction would be agony. Healthy teeth were more precious than gold!

Wang You was already outside with the carriage ready. Zhen Qian, flanked by the two maids, descended the stairs. To outsiders, it looked like he was being helped down due to illness, but none could guess his true feelings.

Climbing into the carriage, Wang You cracked the whip with a crisp snap, and the vehicle rolled out of the Zhen residence, heading toward the bustling city of Zhengding.

The streets were lively, vendors hawking their wares all around. The carriage moved slowly through the crowd, unhurried.

Wang You played the driver, stopping by the roadside. "Young Master, the market is just ahead. Should we get out and walk, or look as we ride?"

The two girls wanted to stroll through the market as if on a shopping trip, but Zhen Qian, wary of unnecessary trouble, decided, "We’ll watch from the carriage—it’s just as good."

Wang You thought Zhen Qian was still unwell and not wanting to walk. "Very well, what would you like to see first?"

Zhen Qian was unfamiliar with the market and didn’t want to be specific. "Anywhere will do. Let’s just have a look around."

Wang You had no idea why Zhen Qian wanted to tour the market, but the two girls guessed his intentions. Peeking through the carriage window, they described the sights to him. "That’s the cloth market ahead, with shops selling fabrics from Jiangnan, Shu brocades from Bashu, northern furs... Beyond the cloth market is the grain market, with all kinds of rice and grains. Further on is the treasure market, with jewelry, jade, antiques—everything you could want..."

Having seen modern supermarkets and malls, these ancient shops were not unfamiliar to Zhen Qian. Many contemporary commercial streets imitate ancient architecture, and though separated by a thousand years, the atmosphere was unique.

The carriage moved slowly, stopping occasionally in front of shops so Zhen Qian could peer out and nod in approval.

Apart from the difference in goods, the business practices of ancient times were not behind those of later generations. There were sales pitches, hawkers, and lively promotions. Smiling shop assistants, brightly dressed women at the doors of fabric stores, honest-faced shopkeepers, and glib-tongued salesmen all worked to attract customers.

"Young Master, ahead is the livestock market. Shall we take a look?"

The livestock market was actually set within the main market, which surprised Zhen Qian. Wasn’t anyone bothered by the smell? "What’s there to see in livestock? Turn back!"

Wang You leaned into the carriage with a sly grin. "There’s nothing interesting in livestock, but there are plenty of slaves for sale, including Silla maids and Hu concubines. Would you like to take a look?"

"Slaves are sold here?"

Zhen Qian was taken aback. He’d heard about slave trading in the Tang Dynasty, especially the famous Silla maids and Hu concubines, but had never seen them in person. Now he was curious.

"Are you familiar with this place?"

Wang You chuckled. "Not exactly, but most of the Zhen family’s slaves were bought here. Xiaozhu and Xiaomei probably know the place well."