Chapter 64 · Painting Boat

Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty once went to Jiangnan six times and loved West Lake. At that time, Hangzhou officials specially built a construction office on the bank of West Lake to flatter him, which specialized in producing dragon boats and pleasure boats. It was once very prosperous. However, as the court declined and the government took over it, the construction office had already withered. In the early years of West Lake, there was also a pleasure boat tour of the lake, but because the hull was too big, they were not satisfied with each other. The owner thought it was not cost-effective and was gradually replaced by a black-sailed boat.

It is perhaps the locals in Hangzhou who have not seen a pleasure boat on the West Lake for a long time.

Especially a new painting boat with carved beams and painted roofs, it looks like it is newly built. At this moment, the painting boat is reflected on the clear lake surface, and the lake water is swaying. Coupled with the sound of the pipa coming from afar, there seems to be a bit of graceful posture in the warm summer breeze.

Tang Xueru said in surprise, "Who has such a big business actually built such a pleasure boat, it will cost a lot of money, right?"

Tang Xuehua didn't care at first, but he happened to sit next to him. After listening to his sister's words, he stuck his head out and took a look. His expression became shocked instantly. The pleasure boat had two floors, two octagonal pavilions built on one floor, with red columns and yellow covers, and magnificent. There were two straight servants standing at each corner of the boat, all with a short gray cloth jacket, and they stood with their hands behind their backs, looking extremely neat. The main cabin was transparent and spacious, with white gauze covering the window edges, so only the shadows could be seen by Zhuozhuo.

Tang Xuehua looked carefully for a while and finally found a flag on the front of the boat, with a triangle printed on it, and the word "jiang" framed inside. He then realized and said in contemplation, "It seems to be a ship from the Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce..."

"Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce?" Tang Xueru looked at him a few more times, "Is it the one who can win the first place in the Dragon Boat Festival every year?"

"That's right." Tang Xuexi nodded, "I saw the flag of the Chamber of Commerce. It seems that this pleasure boat was also built by their family." The Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce was established as early as the late Qing Dynasty. The original purpose was to unite local merchants in Hangzhou to survive the most turbulent and difficult periods together. At that time, the president of the Chamber of Commerce was also voted by the shopkeepers of various stores. The more votes they had won. Each president not only performed his duties, but also worked hard to win the interests of each merchant. It was precisely because of this that the Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce was very prosperous in the early years, but with the change of times, the taste of the Chamber of Commerce gradually changed. For example, the current Chamber of Commerce is the patriarch of the Jiang family. He not only used means to win over several powerful families in Hangzhou, but also re-elected one person.

After several presidents, votes and other votes have long been abandoned. Many smaller shops were kicked out by the Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce for various reasons, and transactions like the Tang family were even more indifferent. I heard that the Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce also had many idle gangs online. Once someone's business hindered the Chamber of Commerce, these idle gangs would find reasons to cause trouble, and even smash shops and beat people, which was very unreasonable. The head of the local security group in Hangzhou usually called him brothers and brothers, and even if someone sued him, he would not take the blame. Instead, he would still suffer revenge from the Jiang family. Now, merchants in Hangzhou City say behind their backs that the Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce has completely become the private property of the old Jiang family, so how could there be any original intention of establishing the Chamber of Commerce to seek benefits for merchants?

Therefore, the Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce has a very bad reputation. Smaller merchants will take a detour when they see the Jiang family. This also makes the Jiang family think that everyone is afraid of themselves and acts without fear, and they feel like they have become the king of the mountain.

Xiao Shisi leaned over and looked out with interest. After listening to their conversation, the boatman couldn't help but smile and said, "Yes, that's true. It was indeed a pleasure boat built by the Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce. I heard that it was customized at a high price. I just went into the water a few days ago. We all gathered around to watch the fun. The eldest son of the Jiang family came to see it specially. Don't say that the eldest son is really a handsome talent, and he also rewarded us with a lot of money."

Bai Rongxuan and Zhang Yunniang were always sitting steadily in the cabin seat without moving.

Bai Rongxuan had heard a lot about the Jiang family in her previous life. She heard that the Jiang family had only two sons, and they were a lot apart in age. The eldest son of the Jiang family acted calmly, but the second young master was extremely absurd. He didn't do his job properly on weekdays and only knew how to pick up cats and tease dogs in his hand. Seeing a beautiful girl, he followed her shamelessly. Once, he almost even messed with a concubine of a Zhejiang warlord. If Mr. Jiang hadn't spent a lot of money to operate, the second young master of the Jiang family would have chopped off his hands.

Therefore, she has no good feelings for the people in the Jiang family, and she has no interest in hearing that she has a relationship with Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce.

However, Bai Rongxuan was curious about why Zhang Yunniang was not moved. She turned to Zhang Yunniang and found that she was also looking at her. She looked at her with her eyes. Both of them understood each other's intentions in each other's eyes, and they laughed at each other. Zhang Yunniang secretly said in Bai Rongxuan's ear, "My brother often says at home that the Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce hides dirt and dirt. As long as you have money, you can join the church no matter what extraordinary things you do, those businessmen who are honest and diligent were turned away because they have no money. The Chamber of Commerce is no longer the chamber of commerce of the year, and something will happen sooner or later."

Bai Rongxuan felt that this future brother-in-law had a unique vision and knew the small things. No wonder he could revitalize his family business in the future and do his business so big.

Zhang Yunniang continued, "A few years ago, Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce sent someone to find my father and brother to invite the Zhang family to join the party. My father was a little moved, but my brother refused sternly. Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce later found it twice, and each time my brother used various excuses to make excuses. They probably also saw that my brother was ungrateful and did not come much afterwards. At that time, my brother was still very worried, fearing that Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce would hinder our family behind their backs, but later he found out that it was completely unfair to worry about him. Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce and we didn't take our family seriously, let alone use methods."

The two of them secretly laughed in a low voice.

The few people who were still observing the pleasure boat did not pay attention to their conversation. Tang Xueru even asked curiously, "Brother, what do you think Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce is doing to build a pleasure boat? Is it going to do business on West Lake?"

Tang Xuehua didn't understand it, and it was very puzzled.

But the shipman laughed and said, "You don't know anything about this. The Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce is not as good as our small business. I heard from the servants of the Jiang family that this pleasure boat was specially customized to entertain a distinguished customer from Shanghai. In order to hurry up, I paid a double deposit and did not make any mistakes. When the pleasure boat first started to go into the water that day, the paint surface in some places had not yet dried."

"What kind of customer is so amazing?" Tang Xueqi asked him, "Here are you from Shanghai?"

When he mentioned Shanghai, he looked at Bai Rongxuan intentionally or unintentionally.

Bai Rongxuan also raised her head and looked at the boatman with nerves.

The boatman shook his head and said, "How can I know this? But early in the morning, there were many people coming to the Chamber of Commerce, cleaned up the West Lake. Later, a group of people came, each of which was extremely expensive. I hid behind the crowd to watch the fun, and saw the eldest master of the Jiang family, the second master of the Li family, the eldest master of the Ma family, and the second master surrounded the three young noble men on board. They also invited the girls from Yuchunfang to play the pipa. When they saw that the three noble men were guests from Shanghai."

When Bai Rongxuan heard the words Shanghai, her nerves immediately became tense, and her hands unconsciously clenched into fists. Zhang Yunniang saw the change in her emotions, gently patted the back of her hand, and carefully comforted her.

Tang Xuehua smiled and said to the shipman, "Do you know who is from Shanghai?"

"How can we know so thoroughly?" The boatman continued while rolling the oars, "But when have you ever seen the eldest master of the Jiang family bent over? This time I saw him nodding and bowing to the three noble men, with a very respectful attitude. When he saw that the three were amazing people."

(End of this chapter)
Chapter completed!