Chapter 82: The General Store 1

Since they were family, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't be bothered to stand on ceremony with his old man.

He immediately stated the purpose of his return home this time.

"Father, I wonder if our Wangfu has any shops in Jingcheng; I am thinking of doing some business in Kyoto."

It was the same old principle: if his own family had them, there was no need to spend his own money to buy one.

After all, Zhu Gaoxu's current net worth was only the one thousand taels of silver bestowed upon him by Lao Zhu.

To open a shop, that might not even be enough.

But when Zhu Di heard Zhu Gaoxu's words, his brows furrowed.

"What? Does your brat have some new expenses again recently?"

"Didn't I tell you before? If you have any expenses, just report them to the Wangfu's accounts; no matter how large the expense, our Wangfu can afford it."

"If you want to do business yourself, forget it."

There was no help for it; this was not the modern era.

In this ancient society of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, it was very demeaning for members of great noble families to engage in business.

In ancient times, regardless of whether it was true in reality, in terms of state systems and public opinion, merchants were formally the lowest of the low.

In Zhu Di's mind, Zhu Gaoxu was going to be the kind of shopkeeper who had to show his face to the public.

He was, after all, a member of the imperial family; what kind of decorum would it be to hawk goods on the street?

By then, let alone Zhu Yuanzhang, I fear those ministers from the Ministry of Rites would drown them in their own spittle.

Therefore, Zhu Di directly cut off Zhu Gaoxu's idea.

And when Zhu Gaoxu heard this from Zhu Di, he knew his old man had misunderstood his intentions.

With financial freedom about to be realized, Zhu Gaoxu naturally was unwilling to let it go just like that.

Zhu Gaoxu immediately explained: "Father, you have misunderstood; your son only wants to share the burden for the family. I know my status, and of course, I cannot show my face; I will only be directing things from behind the scenes."

Hearing Zhu Gaoxu say this, Zhu Di's expression looked a bit better.

Although he had not operated much in Kyoto due to issues of status, given the massive expenses of the Wangfu, Zhu Di did indeed have several properties in Kyoto.

Usually, he just left them to the family servants to manage, letting them handle the operations.

Since his son had spoken up, Zhu Di simply nodded and agreed.

"Go find Wang Guanjia; he manages all the family's businesses. We do indeed have several properties in Kyoto; whichever one you take a fancy to, just ask Wang Guanjia for it."

Zhu Gaoxu was overjoyed upon hearing this; having obtained what he wanted, Zhu Gaoxu immediately took his leave.

Afterward, he found Wang Guanjia.

There was nothing much to say; as the master, Zhu Gaoxu's word was naturally law.

He had Wang Guanjia bring out the land deeds one by one.

Zhu Gaoxu had Wang Guanjia introduce them to him one by one.

As Zhu Gaoxu listened, he was secretly shocked in his heart.

He had not expected the Wangfu to have so many properties.

At first, listening to his old man's tone, it sounded like only one or two, as if he didn't care at all.

He hadn't expected there to be over a dozen shops.

Among them were three pawnshops, two restaurants, two inns, three silk workshops, one escort agency, one general store, and finally three teahouses.

For a moment, Zhu Gaoxu really didn't want to work hard anymore.

His family was already this awesome; he felt he could just lie flat for the rest of his life.

However, Zhu Gaoxu's reason finally shattered the fantasy.

At this point, even if he wanted to lie flat, I fear neither Lao Zhu nor his own father would agree.

Sighing, Zhu Gaoxu pointed at the land deed for the general store and said: "This is the one."

Seeing that the one Zhu Gaoxu chose was the smallest and even a loss-making shop, Wang Guanjia advised: "Oh, Young Master, you should choose another one. This shop is not only in a bad location, but it is also small. Our two restaurants are quite good; their locations are in the most luxurious districts, and many princes and nobles go there often."

But Zhu Gaoxu had his own ideas and waved his hand to decline Wang Guanjia's good intentions.

Then, tucking the land deed into his robe, Zhu Gaoxu headed straight out of the Wangfu without stopping.

Now that everything was ready, all he lacked was the east wind.

Accompanied by a few Embroidered Uniform Guards, Zhu Gaoxu followed the address indicated by Wang Guanjia and headed toward that general store.

Even though he was mentally prepared, Zhu Gaoxu still grew more shocked the further he walked.

Damn, this is way too remote, isn't it?

Honestly, Zhu Gaoxu hadn't been in Kyoto for long.

Most of his time was spent between the Wangfu, the Imperial Palace, and the Military Camp outside the city—a simple three-point line.

At most, he had been to Wanhua Pavilion a few times and his maternal grandfather's Wei State Duke Mansion.

Therefore, he still had some misunderstandings about what Wang Guanjia called "remote."

But since he had already claimed it and had firmly rejected Wang Guanjia at the time, Zhu Gaoxu felt too embarrassed to go back on his word.

Just like that, Zhu Gaoxu bit the bullet and finally found his family's shop.

The location was a bit better than he had imagined.

At the very least, it was still property of the Wangfu; if it were too poor, his family wouldn't have kept it.

It was just that the reason Zhu Gaoxu felt the environment was poor...

... was mainly because this place was situated in a commoner area, and Zhu Gaoxu had walked all the way from the noble area to the commoner area.

So, naturally, the environment felt increasingly worse, and it was normal to feel a bit of a gap for a moment.

Putting away the sense of disparity, Zhu Gaoxu stood on the street and looked at this small general store, feeling it was actually not bad.