How can one make money?
Whether it is the countless beings in Chen Yun's previous life, or the common people in ancient society, everyone has at some point considered this question.
The world is bustling with activity, driven by the pursuit of gain.
The world is bustling, all moving for profit.
Money is generally seen as a good thing by most people.
However, making money is difficult, and so is eating horse manure. Some things cannot be accomplished simply by thinking about them.
Earning small amounts of money is easy, but making big money is hard.
In modern society, Chen Yun may not have thought of any legal ways to make big money.
But this is ancient society!
With at least a thousand years of foresight ahead of contemporary society, Chen Yun would not only find it easy to make a lot of money, but it would also be relatively manageable.
If it weren't for the Great Black Mountain and his family's circumstances, he would have made that family wealthy long ago. How could he have been sold off?
A skillful housewife cannot cook without rice, and that was his original situation.
At night, lying in bed, Chen Yun was pondering this matter in his mind.
For a traveler from the future to ancient times to become rich and successful, other than pursuing a normal career, business is often the first choice.
However, starting a business requires merchandise, and generally, it's hard to make a lot of money with regular goods. Only rare items have significant value.
Chen Yun has a few memories of valuable items in ancient society.
For example, glass, cement, distilled alcohol, and so on.
"Distilled alcohol is not suitable. Ancient people tend to prefer Huangjiu (Chinese rice wine), while distilled alcohol tastes spicy and rough, which is unlikely to be well-received."
Chen Yun closed his eyes and thought.
In addition, the production process of glass is complicated, and cement is in a similar situation.
What would be the best to make?
Suddenly, Chen Yun's eyes opened wide, and a smile appeared on his face. "Got it!"
...
The next day, dawn broke.
As usual, Chen Yun practiced martial arts and had his morning meal.
However, after having his breakfast, Chen Yun did not leave the dining hall as usual.
Inside the kitchen, Master Ning looked at Chen Yun with confusion, "What do you need wood ash for?"
Chen Yun blinked his eyes, "It's not convenient for you to know at the moment."
Master Ning thought that the herbal garden might use wood ash to cultivate medicinal plants.
He didn't think much about it and said casually, "Alright, I'll pack up the wood ash in a bag for you. You can come to get it later."
Chen Yun added, "Master Ning, are you going to go down the mountain to buy groceries later?"
"Most of the vegetables are available. We need to buy some fish and meat," Master Ning nodded slightly and said, "We also need to buy some oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar."
Chen Yun let his guard down, "When you go down the mountain later, could you bring back some salt, honey, lard, vegetable oil, some fragrant flowers, and strong liquor for me?"
Master Ning was a kind person, "Alright, how much do you need?"
Chen Yun had already calculated the quantities earlier, so he said it offhand: "Thirty catties of lard, seventy catties of vegetable oil, about ten catties of salt and honey one liang, and for the strong liquor...one hundred catties. As for the flowers, the more the better."
Master Ning was startled, "So many things, how can I bring them all back? Well, why don't you give me the money, and I'll tell the masters of each store to send the things here before evening?"
Chen Yun quickly said, "Alright, thank you, Master Ning, how much does it cost?"
Master Ning calculated, "The price of vegetable oil is forty-seven wen per catty, and that of lard is one hundred fifty wen per catty. The price of honey is two hundred forty wen per liang. The price of strong liquor is three hundred wen per dou. One dou of salt costs five hundred wen. After combining these two items, the cost is approximately twenty-five wen per catty for all of them. As for the flowers, they are everywhere on the mountains, and you can pick them yourself later. Let me calculate the total cost."
Hm, the ancient people's arithmetic is generally okay.
Master Ning is still calculating.
Chen Yun said, "11,650 wen."
Master Ning looked up and smiled, "Your arithmetic skills are quite good."
"I occasionally have some insights," Chen Yun took out a ingot of gold from his pocket and said, "This is a two-liang ingot of gold, after deducting the things I bought, I will have eight-three-five wen of silver left. Three-three-five wen will be given as a small fee to you, Master Ning. The remaining five liang of silver can be used to hire someone to help me pick more flowers from the mountain. Whoever is willing to help me can take the silver."
If you want someone to help you with something, how can you expect them to do it without receiving some benefits?
Especially when it comes to the task of picking flowers on the mountain, which is actually very time-consuming and labor-intensive, Chen Yun wouldn't want to do it himself if there's a way to solve it with money.
Master Ning saw the two-liang ingot of gold and his eyes were staring. He immediately smiled and stammered, "Oh, it's really not appropriate. Chen Xie, you... ah, I promise to help you do a good job."
After speaking, he quickly took the ingot of gold and put it in his pocket.
...
Leave the dining hall.
Chen Yun did not immediately go to work at the drug garden but found his way to the Hall of Treasures.
As soon as he stepped over the threshold, he saw Zhang Qian crouching on the ground tinkering with some peach wood.
Wang Zai Xi was standing by watching.
Chen Yun greeted, "Master Wang, Master Zhang."
"Brother Chen," Zhang Qian didn't even lift his head, "Please wait a moment. I'm busy with something here."
Chen Yun said, "You can take your time."
Wang Zai Xi looked at him, as usual with his expressionless face, "What's the purpose of your visit here if you don't go to the herb garden?"
For Wang Zai Xi, Chen Yun was sincerely grateful and respectful. He said honestly, "Master Wang, I've heard that Master Zhang is excellent at kiln-making and woodworking, so I'd like to ask him to help make some things for me."
Wang Zai Xi said, "He's busy. Just this piece of hundred-year peach wood is enough to keep him busy for several days."
Oh?
It seems I'll have to do it myself.
Chen Yun was quite disappointed in his heart.
He knew his own limits.
Since he knows he's not skilled enough to make those things well, that's why he came to find Zhang Qian, the professional.
He never expected the other party to be busy.
Just as he was about to make a vague excuse to leave, the situation took a turn.
Then, Wang Zai Xi continued, "I can also do kiln-making and woodworking. What are you looking to have made?"
Chen Yun's eyes brightened, and he quickly said, "Woodworking is relatively simple. Just need to make some pattern molds. As for kiln-making, it's a bit more difficult..."
Wang Zai Xi said with a blank expression, "That's fine. Just tell me."
Chen Yun thought for a moment, "I'm not sure how to explain it properly. Maybe I can draw it for you?"
Wang Zai Xi pointed to a nearby desk, "There are brush, ink, paper, and ink stones over there. You can draw it for me to see."
Chen Yun said, "Alright."
The two walked towards the desk.
Zhang Qian seemed to be quite curious, working while secretly looking on.
They reached the desk.
Chen Yun picked up a brush, dipped it into the ink, and then began to draw on the blank paper.
A simple distillation device pattern appeared quickly on the white paper.
Wang Zai Xi looked a bit confused, "What is the purpose of this device?"
Chen Yun would certainly not have said this to anyone else, but the person in question was Wang Zai Xi.
He explained in detail, "This device is used to obtain alcohol by distilling the wine and evaporating it."
"Alcohol?" Wang Zai Xi said with confusion, "What is that?"
In ancient times with limited scientific technology, the wine that people drank was mainly fermented wine, so it was not surprising that they were unaware of alcohol.
Chen Yun explained roughly what alcohol was and its functions.
Wang Zai Xi listened and said, "It turns out that alcohol is so amazing. It can not only be used as fuel, but also for wound disinfection?"
Zhang Qian looked up and smiled, "Brother Chen, you figure out something like alcohol? Your brain might be too smart, huh?"
Wang Zai Xi nodded and said, "It is indeed very wise. But there is something I don't understand, what do you need alcohol for?"
This time, Chen Yun didn't reveal it. He spoke mysteriously, "Secret. Once I make the items, you'll know. I'll send some to you later, and I'm sure you'll like them."
Zhang Qian thanked first, "Even though I don't know what you're making, I'll thank you in advance."
Wang Zai Xi didn't express gratitude, and he seemed to be not very interested in whether Chen Yun had something to send or not. Instead, he asked about the requirements for making the instruments in detail.
Chen Yun told him one by one, mostly about the dimensions for sealing and so on.
At the end, Wang Zai Xi agreed to have the simple distillation device made before evening, and Chen Yun took the opportunity to leave.
...
In the afternoon.
Chen Yun, who was reading in the Hall of Talismans, was called out by Master Ning.
This time, Cai Rujin didn't make trouble. Instead, he followed Chen Yun when he heard that he had bought a large amount of cooking oil, strong alcohol, and other materials and didn't seem to be surprised.
Chen Yun let the three or four shop assistants carry the items to the kitchen.
Afterward, he went back to the Hall of Talismans and quietly continued reading.
Cai Rujin didn't understand what Chen Yun was buying so many things for, but he couldn't bring himself to ask for fear of losing face, so he sat there and kept staring.
Around dusk, the flowers collected by Master Ning and amounting to over one hundred catties were all delivered.
During that time, Chen Yun went out again.
After returning, Cai Rujin's curiosity within his eyes became even stronger.
Until the time for the evening meal was approaching.
Wang Zai Xi personally delivered the simple distillation device.
Now, Cai Rujin's curiosity was fully ignited.
The simple distillation device made by Wang Zai Xi didn't seem to be a normal kiln-firing process.
Because the normal firing process is not that fast, and it's not possible to be perfectly natural.
Chen Yun guessed that it might have been made using a spell.
He hasn't practiced spells yet, so he doesn't know how it was made specifically.
Cai Rujin couldn't bring himself to ask Chen Yun, but he had a good relationship with Wang Zai Xi.
At the same time, he pointed at the simple distillation device and asked, "Master Wang Zai Xi, what is this thing?"
Wang Zai Xi grunted, "This is a device that Brother Chen is preparing to use for making alcohol."
"Alcohol? What is it?" Cai Rujin asked with great curiosity: "I also love to drink a little wine from time to time, but I've never heard of alcohol before."
Wang Zai Xi roughly repeated what Chen Yun had said before.
After finishing his explanation, he took his leave from Cai Rujin.
Once the person was gone, Cai Rujin looked surprised and took the initiative to speak to Chen Yun for the first time. "Brother Chen, you actually know how to invent things? Alcohol? That's interesting."
The sun was setting, and Chen Yun closed his book.
He didn't know that Cai Rujin had some reservations about himself, but he continued to be modest and said, "I was just fortunate enough to discover alcohol, so it doesn't qualify as true invention."
Cai Rujin stroked his goat beard and followed up, "What's the purpose of you making alcohol?"
Chen Yun looked at the time and realized it was almost dinner time. Standing up, he said, "To answer Master's question, to make money."
After saying that, he bid farewell to Cai Rujin and headed towards the dining hall to have his evening meal.
Cai Rujin didn't move an inch but just stood there, gazing at Chen Yun's back in a daze.
Making money?
Can alcohol be profitable?
This thing sounds promising.
But Cai Rujin really couldn't imagine how much money Chen Yun could make from alcohol.
However, Cai Rujin had a change of heart towards Chen Yun for the first time.
This young man seems to have uncommon wisdom.
He can even invent something like alcohol?
This little guy is interesting.
Cai Rujin of course knew why Chen Yun wanted to make money. It was simply because he wanted to buy the Red Snow Litchi Fruit.
He quoted a price of one hundred taels of silver for each Red Snow Litchi fruit.
This price is incredibly expensive for ordinary people.
But alcohol sounds magical and seems to have limited uses.
It seems unrealistic to make enough money from alcohol to earn one hundred taels of silver.
The confident look on Chen Yun's face earlier seemed to indicate that he had the confidence to make that much money.
This piqued Cai Rujin's interest.
He wanted to see how Chen Yun would make one hundred taels of silver with the help of alcohol.
