Ning Yi ran into Yun Zhu and Jin Er while taking a leisurely stroll in the afternoon. He had been quite busy recently, overseeing the construction of the Bamboo Branch's second shop, which had been temporarily paused for the New Year. With the Lantern Festival approaching, work needed to resume. So, he had taken some time to check on the progress, accompanied by Yun Zhu and Jin Er. Yun Zhu had some business matters to discuss with someone along the way, so Jin Er accompanied Ning Yi to the shop first.

By this stage of the decoration, the style of the shop was basically finalized, and there weren't many things that needed Ning Yi to decide. As for whether the shop would be called "Second Shop" or "Jin Er's Shop," Ning Yi didn't mind. The restaurant was built along the river, and many of the windows hadn't been installed yet. One side, exposed to the wind, even had some accumulated snow. Fortunately, both of them were warmly dressed. Ning Yi's second-rate martial arts skills were developing nicely – at least he felt that way. And Yuan Jin Er, always lively, had recently boasted that she could bathe in the river in the heavy snow, so she didn't feel particularly cold. They chatted casually.

"Once this shop is ready, I've decided to perform on stage for three days to attract customers," Jin Er said.

"You haven't performed in ages. You must be rusty," Ning Yi teased.

"Get lost! I only perform in front of Yun Zhu... Uh, what do you think?"

"I've never seen you perform, so I'm sure it's terrible."

"I mean, about me performing on stage!"

"...You know yourself. Don't cause trouble."

Although they often seemed to disagree, Jin Er admired Ning Yi in many important matters. She naturally had high hopes for the shop that bore her name. She mentioned wanting to perform on stage to attract customers, but when Ning Yi said that, she pouted and didn't bring it up again.

"Then I'll have to find my old sisters. That'll cost a lot of money," Jin Er said, dragging a stool to a sheltered spot in the hall. She had good social connections and played a big role in finding contacts for Bamboo Branch. But she didn't have a very solid understanding of money. She would watch Yun Zhu calculating accounts and always get upset about the expenses, being incredibly stingy.

"It can build fame, and you don't have to accompany smelly men like me. It's a win-win," Ning Yi said, placing several stools on a round table to clear some space. He smiled and continued, "And, if Bamboo Branch really gets big in the future, we can cultivate our own performers."

"Cultivate..." Jin Er blinked, whispering, "You want to open a brothel?"

"Why is your mind in the gutter!" Ning Yi glared at her. "In the future... when Bamboo Branch becomes much bigger, we can cultivate some girls ourselves, and even boys, with all kinds of teachable skills. We can form a troupe, covering everything from opera and singing to magic and acrobatics. There are many children outside who can't find food, so it would be a good deed, solving the problem of surplus labor."

Listening to Ning Yi's plans and visions, Jin Er was stunned for a long time. "That... would cost a lot of money. If we don't open a brothel and only perform, a makeshift troupe won't earn much money at all. And... how big would we have to be?" She couldn't imagine these things at all. If they just ran around performing everywhere, wouldn't that be the same as a cheap opera troupe? Who would be willing to spend a lot of money on that?

"Once we have three or more branches, the snowball effect will kick in. Then we can create a process and let it slowly split off," Ning Yi said, writing some notes about the interior design. "The important thing is... official-merchant collusion. Yun Zhu is quite familiar with the Qin family, and she also knows Consort Kang... That old man owes me quite a bit recently. This way, we can at least ensure the smooth running of the whole process and avoid too much interference from the government. We'll have connections to pull strings..."

He paused. "The key is to go upscale and expand to the south, to places like Suzhou and Hangzhou. Gradually develop supporting entertainment. As long as the management and promotion are good, there will always be business. This Wu Dynasty... is only rich in money anyway. Of course, it also depends on whether you like to make it too big, otherwise we can stop at any time."

Ning Yi had enough operational ability in these business matters. What's more, in this day and age, the most important thing for doing business is not operation, but connections. Letting Bamboo Branch's business run on the strength of the Consort's mansion was fine. He hadn't really talked to Yun Zhu and the others about this before. When Jin Er heard it, she looked surprised, thinking in distress that she might become a millionaire in the future. But she also thought that this guy was too bold, and she didn't believe it.

While they were talking, Yun Zhu came in from outside the restaurant, closing the door while looking at the road ahead. Unlike Jin Er, who sometimes dressed like a man, Yun Zhu usually wore women's skirts, at most in simple colors. From a distance, she looked a bit rustic, but up close, her beautiful appearance couldn't be hidden. Seeing her come over, Jin Er laughed and pounced on her, then looked around. "Yun Zhu, what are you looking at?"

"Uh, I thought I saw... Miss Qi Lan passing by just now. Maybe I was wrong."

"Qi Lan?" Jin Er opened the door and looked around several times. "What a coincidence. But we weren't very familiar with her before anyway. We even had a little conflict during the Flower Queen competition, so it definitely has nothing to do with us."

"When did you have a conflict with Qi Lan..."

"She won the Flower Queen title, and that Ning guy gave her two thousand flowers, making me lose face. That's a big enough conflict, right?"

Yuan Jin Er hadn't originally intended to compete for the Flower Queen title, but she brought up this matter whenever she felt like it, to accuse Ning Yi of being shameless. Yun Zhu chuckled when she heard it. Ning Yi helplessly patted his forehead. He was not far from the snowdrift under the window on one side of the hall. At this time, he silently walked over, picked up a snowball. Jin Er's expression froze, and she wanted to run away. Yun Zhu laughed. "Okay, hit her."

Ning Yi had no sentimental feelings, especially towards Yuan Jin Er, who was always provoking him. He waved his hand, and the snowball came whistling over. Jin Er hugged her head, letting out a low "ah". She originally thought that after taking this blow, she would show that she would take revenge. The next moment, snowflakes splashed open.

Yun Zhu shrank her neck, not reacting at all. The snowball splashed on her head. Ning Yi maintained the posture of throwing the snowball, and he was stunned for a moment. Jin Er suppressed her laughter. After a while, her whole face was puffed up.

"And you call yourself a martial arts expert... you can't even hit a snowball..." Yun Zhu patted the snow on her head, her shoulders slumped. Her eyes were slightly resentful. Then she pursed her lips and began to walk outside. Jin Er followed her out with a grin. The two women began to make snowballs under the eaves.

"Hey, a flood washed away the Dragon King Temple, this is a misunderstanding... Yun Zhu, you're more sensible than Jin Er, you can't be like this..."

*****************

The fact proved that even sensible people would not want to be beaten for nothing. Not long after, when the three of them came out of the hall again, Ning Yi patted the snow off his body, his expression a little helpless.

"You have to practice your hidden weapon skills, okay..."

"That shows that your hidden weapon skills are not as good as ours." Yuan Jin Er straightened her hair, looking like she had just been ravaged. Then she turned back to look at the shop that was still being renovated. "It can open in February, right?"

"Yeah," Ning Yi nodded. "Second Shop."

"Jin Er's Shop!"

"Okay, you decide..."

It was getting late. The details of the shop decoration had been discussed, or so it seemed – actually, this wasn't the main point. The three of them separated on the street. Yun Zhu and Jin Er took a carriage back, while Ning Yi went home from the other side.

The weather was still cold, and the city had a thick layer of snow. Walking home, looking at the shops and teahouses open on both sides of the road, the expressions of the pedestrians seemed to herald that this year was still a peaceful year. Ning Yi thought about the development of Bamboo Branch. These things were business, but to him, they were like playing house.

Logically, he preferred to expand to the south. After all, the Wu Dynasty was weak. Whether it was the Liao people or the Jin people, no matter how the situation developed, they might eventually attack from the north. The south would definitely be more peaceful. But when he thought of that, he remembered talking to Lu Hongti about taking his business to Mount Lüliang in the future. In that case, it would be difficult to succeed, especially since that area was impoverished, and now Tian Hu was causing trouble. If he really wanted to do business there in the future, he might have to take a different approach.

Ning Yi did have plans to expand his business, but not for the sake of some boring achievement like a national chain. The main reason was actually for future inventions related to weapons. He would definitely be working on these later. If he could really make them, he didn't want to give them directly to Kang Xian for complex reasons.

Firstly, half-baked firearms were not very useful. If they were really to have a significant effect in turning the tide, Ning Yi would need to be involved in many areas. In that case, he would definitely have to come out and take action. The officialdom was full of infighting, and there was an emperor above him. Ning Yi was used to being in charge, and it wasn't that he couldn't handle the infighting, but it would definitely be annoying. He wouldn't like the model of having people constantly telling him what to do. Secondly, he didn't identify with this dynasty. He identified more with Lu Hongti. He admired this strong and powerful woman, and if possible, he might as well help her.

Of course, when a thought expanded to the scope of the "nation", it always seemed extremely unrealistic in concrete considerations. Now that he only had two stores, thinking about a national chain seemed a bit exaggerated. Ning Yi's current range of activity was only within Jiangning City. Recently, he had been accompanying Tan'er to pay New Year's visits, and what he usually came into contact with were mostly trivial matters at home or in the business.

This was not an age of information explosion, where any passerby could talk about politics and patriotism. Later generations might see how many patriots there were in history, how tragic and moving the stories were, but in reality, for the current society, the war in the north might be an extremely abstract concept. In the business world, they might have contact with Liao merchants, but how the Jin people were, those Confucian scholars who talked casually in brothels and pleasure boats were actually unclear.

Ning Yi only learned some fragments of information from occasional chats between Qin Lao and Kang Lao. What he came into contact with more was the leisurely life in Jiangning City, the quiet bamboo forest near the academy, the children shaking their heads while reading, the smile or playfulness of his wife when she was keeping accounts and chatting at home. These things were ultimately more real.

But some feelings were actually gradually expanding. The officials who visited Qin Lao during the New Year made the old man's identity more complex and three-dimensional. One thing was probably certain: Qin Lao would not be able to set up his chess stall on the Qinhuai River in the future. Ning Yi was not clear about what Qin Lao had specifically done, he could only roughly outline a profile based on what others said. The old man was extremely calm in this regard, and never talked about these things during daily chats. But since the New Year, Ning Yi could clearly feel that something was tightening up. Qin Lao and Kang Xian were both waiting for something to happen in the north.

But what they were waiting for had not yet come.

In the spring of this year, the Jin and Liao countries signed a ceasefire agreement. The seemingly imminent war, for a time, became distant again... (To be continued.) Vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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