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nChapter 69.1 – Going out together

nJiang Zhen was very cautious when he signed the contract with these merchants. He even made it clear that he would come to see the situation first before he decided whether to do business with them or not. With such prudence, it made the merchants trust him even more.

nWhile Jiang Zhen was dealing with the businessmen, his men were confused. They used to come to these people’s houses to collect debts, but now . . . they would protect these people’s businesses? It was somewhat weird . . . But even though it felt strange, most of them were happy.

nIt was better to do decent business than to be a thug, and when they stood there, dressed like that, people around them looked at them in awe, which felt really great! They vaguely remembered something that Jiang Zhen had said earlier that even though there were many . . . they might actually be able to make something of it.

nJiang Zhen had been busy all day before he finished writing down the situation and address of all the merchants who wanted their goods to be delivered, then he had a lot to do.

n“Jinge, how are you feeling today?” on the way home, Jiang Zhen asked Zhao Jinge.

nZhao Jinge was a bit shocked. That day he didn’t feel anything other than that Jiang Zhen was particularly powerful.

nJiang Zhen smiled and put his arm around his shoulders, then they walked ahead together. While walking, Jiang Zhen talked with Zhao Jinge. For example, which businessman seemed to be unreliable or which businessman should be taken good care of, and that it could be a long-term business if they were successful.

n“I have too few people now . . .” Speaking of this, Jiang Zhen couldn’t help but frown. At the moment, he didn’t even have anyone under him who could read, and it would really be too troublesome for him to do everything himself.

nJiang Zhen has more than thirty people under him. Is it still too few? Zhao Jinge looked at Jiang Zhen with surprise.

nIn the current era, people seldom had business chains. After all, transportation was so inconvenient that even those big businessmen did not have many people. Jiang Zhen, thinking he had too few people, was really strange to Zhao Jinge. But Jiang Zhen had seen how developed the modern logistics industry was. He had only thirty people now, and he could only work in one line at a time. Under such circumstances, he naturally felt that he had too few people.

n“Jinge, what do you think should be the name of our business?” Jiang Zhen asked again.

n“It needs a name?”

n“Of course, it should have a name.” Jiang Zhen laughed. “How about . . . we just call it Jinzhen Escort Agency. I’ll teach you how to write it when we get back.”

nAlthough there were escort agencies everywhere in martial arts novels, in fact, in the history of the world Jiang Zhen came from, escort agencies did not appear until the Qing Dynasty, and then they started growing rapidly. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, even many ministers of the central government hired an escort agency to protect them and their mansions.

nAt that time, the escort agency became more and more powerful, and in some places, even the government had to give way to the escort agency . . . Unfortunately, in the end, these escort agencies only flourished during this one dynasty before they disappeared.

nOf course, in the Ming Dynasty, before the Qing Dynasty, there were people who were escorting goods and protected the safety of merchants and even helped people collect debts and beat up people. When these people got together, they set up fists as sign.

nIf this Daqi Dynasty continued to develop, it would probably also develop an escort agency. But at this moment, Jiang Zhen led a group of thugs to directly open an escort agency.

nAfter Jiang Zhen went back with Zhao Jinge, he told Zhao Fugui and Zhao Liu that he had opened his own escort agency and would be going outside.

nJiang Zhen was a man of great ideas and ability, so Zhao Fugui and Zhao Liu naturally didn’t try to stop him. After a moment’s silence, Zhao Fugui only took out all the silver that Jiang Zhen had given him before.

n“Take it. You always need to bring more silver with you when you go outside.”

nOriginally, Zhao Fugui wanted to buy land after he got the silver, but he hadn’t found a suitable plot, so he postponed it.

n“Father, no need. I have some silver on hand, and those merchants already paid a deposit for the delivery of their goods,” Jiang Zhen said.

nThese days, unlike in modern society, they didn’t charge a small fee for deliveries, so he actually charged a lot. According to his speculation, after this trip, after deducting various expenses and paying his subordinates, he would earn at least a few dozens of silver. This money didn’t seem like a lot but it was a start.

n“As long as you have a clear idea, you can rest assured that we will take good care of Jinge at home,” Zhao Fugui said, and took another look at Zhao Jinge.

nIt had been almost a month since Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge got married. This month, they were very close and were inseparable, suggesting that his son might already carry a child in his belly. When Jiang Zhen went out this time, after he came back, Jinge might have a surprise for him. Even without children . . . now that they had money, they could take this opportunity to take care of Jinge in turn.

nZhao Fugui and Zhao Liu prepared to have dinner.

nJiang Zhen gave even his men meat to eat. Of course, it was impossible to treat Zhao Fugui and his wife badly. The Zhao family’s meals were very good these days, allowing Zhao Fugui and Zhao Liu to eat till they were full, making them even look several years younger.

nThis evening, the Zhao family ate duck meat.

nDuck meat had a taste that some people couldn’t stand, but in this era no one was picky about it and Zhao Liu only disliked the lack of duck meat.

nJiang Zhen ate two bowls of rice with braised duck meat, steamed eggplant, and fried cowpeas. Then he took Zhao Jinge back to their room and continued to teach him how to read and write Chinese characters. He himself was also learning how to read a few Chinese characters. He didn’t want to practice his own handwriting, he just wanted to be able to write correctly so that he wouldn’t need to consult others. He just needed to write slowly according to the books. The only trouble was that he couldn’t write small characters for the moment.

nIn modern times, everyone practiced writing large words, but in fact, the writing of ancient people was very small . . . It was not easy to write such a small word with a brush that was relatively symmetrical with a thick horizontal character and relatively well-proportioned at the same time. In order to practice his writing, Jiang Zhen even bought more paper and wrote more slowly.

nZhao Jinge didn’t use paper to practice his calligraphy; he wrote slowly on his sand table. However, he would take the paper that Jiang Zhen used to practice his writing on. Although what was often written out was a black mess, that piece could still be read; it could still be used to look at to get a feel for it.

nAfter practicing his calligraphy, Jiang Zhen grabbed Zhao Jinge and directly pulled him to the bed. Although the weather was getting hotter and hotter, his heart was getting even hotter, and he was reluctant to give up such beautiful bed sports.

nIn the early morning of the next day, Jiang Zhen did not rush to take Zhao Jinge out as usual but stayed with him at home for a while.

nWhen Zhao Fugui and Zhao Liu saw this scene, they were a bit confused. They saw that people wearing the same clothes came to their house one after another. These people were all young, in their twenties and thirties, and they were all in high spirits. Zhao Liu couldn’t help glancing at them a few more times.

nThen her expression froze. The one who looked the strongest among these people, wasn’t it Liu Heitou? In the past, when he came to their house to cause trouble, Liu Heitou looked very fierce. But now . . . Zhao Liu suddenly realized that these people were wearing the clothes that she had ordered, the same clothes that Jiang Zhen said he had given to his men . . . This Liu Heitou had really become Jiang Zhen’s subordinate! Zhao Liu immediately felt a sense of pride.

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