Chapter 262

The thirteenth year of Emperor Jia Zhao, the end of September.

Two days later is the first day of October, the Cold Clothing Festival; after this day, it means that the year enters autumn and winter and turns cool, and every household will pack up summer clothes and change into autumn clothes.

This day is also called the Ancestor Worship Festival, which is the traditional day for the Han family to sacrifice to their ancestors, and its importance is equal to the Qingming Festival and the Lantern Festival.

The construction progress of the firearm workshop porcelain mine is on track.

Because Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao expanded one thousand firearm soldiers in the Five Military Firearm Camps, the demand for firearms has also increased greatly.

The newly purchased and handed-in Luming muskets from various places were also transported to the firearm workshop for modification and upgrading one after another.

Various ministries and government offices will have a day off on the Cold Clothing Festival, except for necessary duty personnel, so that officials can have family sacrifices.

In the palace, the Emperor will bestow cotton clothes to civil and military officials on the Cold Clothing Festival to show the imperial grace and care.

Every household among the people will also change into autumn clothes on this day, sacrifice to ancestors, burn underworld clothes, and entrust their mourning.

And because of the construction progress and confidentiality needs of the firearm workshop, all craftsmen are not allowed to return home for the festival.

Although these craftsmen could not return home for the festival, this situation was not strange to them; they had been engaged in the craft industry for half their lives, nothing more than for food and clothing, so where would there be so many requirements?

The Rongguo Prefecture, which was granted the title, became the real eldest son, and the original Jia clan ancestral hall naturally had to be moved to the Rongguo Prefecture.

At that time, only the descendants of the various houses in the Love Shenjing would gather to perform the ancestor worship ceremony at the ancestral hall.

The ancestor worship of the Cold Clothing Festival does not need the various houses in the Jinling old home to go to the capital like the spring sacrifice of the New Year; they only need to sacrifice in their own homes.

In the past month, Jia Lian has been busy with the relocation of the ancestral hall with several descendants of the clan.

Because Ningguo was originally the eldest son of the Jia clan, the Jia clan ancestral hall was originally in the Ningguo Prefecture.

This move made the craftsmen who worked day and night feel flattered.

These completely different actions of Jia Cong made these craftsmen in the workshop more and more convinced and admired this young supervisor.

After the ceremony, each house returns to its own home, and the elders in the family give the younger generation the ceremony of giving clothes and food, implying that in autumn and winter, the ancestors bless the descendants with warm clothes and abundant food.

When Jia Cong returned to the mansion, he also saw Jia Lian and several descendants of the clan directing more than a dozen little servants to move and place sacrificial items into the new ancestral hall.

The reason why preparations for ancestor worship were made so early was still because of the Ningguo Prefecture being raided and confiscated.

Although the workshop management was a bit strict, compared to the benefits they received, all this was nothing.

Now that Ningguo Prefecture has been raided, the Ningguo eldest son Jia Zhen and Jia Rong have been convicted and exiled, and the Ningguo eldest son line is equivalent to extinction.

After entering Qingzhi Studio, I saw Qingwen and Zhen Ying Lian taking little maids to wash and dry the summer clothes in the yard, which is also a custom around the Cold Clothing Festival.

Now that it is the Cold Clothing Festival, the workshop supervisor also sent good food for them to enjoy the festival; which employer in the past would treat them so well?

Craftsmanship has always been lowly; now not only can they enter the official workshop to work, get abundant rations, and their families have been moved to the Love Shenjing together, it is said that all this is the grace of this workshop supervisor.

And the Rongguo Prefecture began to handle the ancestor worship of the Cold Clothing Festival as early as the beginning of September.

Jia Cong arranged to purchase enough meat, vegetables, melons, and fruits for the craftsmen of the firearm workshop to enjoy the festival.

These summer clothes will be packed after drying, and will be taken out to wear next summer.

The breeze blew, the clothes fluttered, and several little maids laughed and shuttled through the drying skirts, which was quite interesting.

Qingwen didn't know what she said to Zhen Ying Lian, and made a silver bell-like laughter, echoing in the small courtyard, adding a romantic and happy atmosphere.

After Feng Shi used Zhang Shipeng's plaster, her injuries were completely recovered, so she let Zhen Ying Lian, who was taking care of her, return to Qingzhi Studio.

After Qu Hongxiu went to Jinling to promote the affairs of the Xinchun Firm, the old shop on Xinchun Street in the Love Shenjing was managed by Feng Shi and Liu Ping.

Ever since Feng Shi was severely injured, Jia Cong visited famous doctors for her without fear of hardship and cured her almost crippled hands.

It made Feng Shi see Jia Cong more clearly; this is a righteous, worthy of entrustment, and upright man, and that talent and ability are even more amazing.

Although her daughter has been drifting and unfortunate since she was a child, she is fortunate to meet such a character, which is also her blessing to turn from bad to good, and she will definitely live much better than herself in the future.

Every time Zhen Ying Lian returned to Xinchun Street to visit her mother, she would be urged back by Feng Shi before she stayed long, letting her take care of Jia Cong attentively.

Seeing Jia Cong return, Qingwen and Zhen Ying Lian greeted him with a smile, and entered the room to help him take off his outer clothes and change into home clothes and soft shoes.

Jia Cong saw that there were many things on the table, a pair of silk-faced soft-soled warm boots, a large gown with dark bamboo patterns in blue silk, and a letter and a package.

He asked curiously: "Where did these things come from?"

Qingwen's mouth was sharp and her voice was crisp, saying: "In a few days, it will be the Cold Clothing Festival; this pair of silk-faced soft boots was made by the Third Young Lady, and the blue silk large gown was made by the Second Young Lady, sent to the Cong Sanye as a festival gift."

"This letter and package were sent from Jinling, let in by the little servant outside the second door in the morning; just now Miss Lin also came, and seeing that the Cong Sanye was not there, she left."

Jia Cong picked up the blue silk large gown and the pair of satin-faced warm boots; they were all meticulously stitched, and Yingchun and Seeing Tan Chun must have spent a lot of thought.

He rubbed them carefully in his hand, and his heart was warm; what is it that he really cares about in this mansion? It is these sisters in the family.

And the letter and package from Jinling.

The letter was written by Qu Hongxiu, and there were two newly made winter clothes in the package.

The letter said that the Xinchun Firm's establishment of trade routes in Jinling and Ningbo was quite smooth.

After all, the name of the imperial merchant is easy to use, and there are two Imperial Household Department subordinate officials cooperating, involving official customs clearance and other matters, almost without obstacles.

With the assistance of the Imperial Household Department subordinate officials, the branch shops in Ningbo and Jinling have now opened.

When Qu Hongxiu went to Jinling, she took away part of the inventory from the perfume workshop in the Love Shenjing, and the sales of the perfume sold in the Jinling and Ningbo branches were very good.

The Xinchun Firm also built a perfume workshop in Jinling, which is managed by Zhou Guangcheng, who arrived in Jinling not long ago and is familiar with perfume making.

At Keqing's suggestion, the Xinchun Firm purchased twenty young female servants who were displaced and homeless among the disaster victims in Jiangnan as technicians for the Jinling perfume workshop.

The reason for purchasing young widowed women is that such people have relatively simple thoughts, zero secular relationships, and are relatively simple in work and management.

Under Jia Cong's instruction, Zhou Guangcheng divided the entire perfume refining process into several independent processes, maximizing the confidentiality of the construction skills.

It won't take long for the Jinling perfume workshop to form considerable productivity, and it should be no problem to meet the short-term needs of several new Jiangnan shops.

According to Jia Cong's vision, with the development of the Xinchun Firm, perfume workshops will be built in other places, and the incense-making process will be divided into upstream and downstream according to the origin of raw materials.

It can not only improve efficiency but also be easier to control.

What surprised Jia Cong most was Keqing.

According to Qu Hongxiu's description in the letter, this official daughter, the former Ningguo Prefecture young mistress, now seems to be reborn.

She quickly adapted to the business of the Xinchun Firm; she asked the newly opened shops to report the account books and inventory every five days; any slight error in the accounts could not hide her flaws, which made the several new shopkeepers hired in Jiangnan admire her.

Newly opened places, newly entered people, human hearts are unfamiliar, and there are always unpredictable situations; as the manager and owner, one must have the ability to handle things and meticulous thinking to quickly subdue the situation.

The opening of the Jinling perfume workshop and the entry of the first batch of female workers were all screened and purchased by Keqing herself to ensure that the female workers were reliable and usable.

Qu Hongxiu's courage and agility, and Qin Keqing's introversion and meticulousness, seem to form the most perfect internal and external complementarity.

This is an unexpected surprise for Jia Cong.

In his reply, Jia Cong asked Qu Hongxiu to pause the speed of promotion at the Shipping Commissioner's port after the Jinling and Ningbo branches opened, and wait until they gained a foothold before expanding.

After all, these branch shops are under the eyes of the Imperial Household Department.

He will send a letter to Liu Hai of the Jinling Embroidered Uniform Guard Thousand-Household Office, asking him to take more care of the Xinchun Firm's business in Jinling.

He is now doing these actions without any hindrance, because whether it is Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao or the Imperial Household Department, they know who the real big owner of the Xinchun Firm is.

During Jia Cong's time in Jinling, because Liu Hai guarded the Daci'en Temple construction site, the two formed a friendship.

Later, Jia Cong and Yang Hongbin and Liu Hai jointly wiped out the Dongying ronin, which can be considered as having shared hardships and fighting.

Liu Hai is upright and upright, otherwise he would not have been demoted by Zou Huaiyi to guard the construction site, and Jia Cong still trusts him a bit.

And Liu Hai is the confidant of Ge Ge Zhi Cheng, the Thousand-Household of the Jinling Embroidered Uniform Guard; Jia Cong can link to the entire Jinling Embroidered Uniform Guard force through him, allowing the Xinchun Firm to have a force that can be protected in Jinling.

And for the trade route construction in Yangzhou and Su Zhou, Jia Cong did not let Qu Hongxiu stop, and can promote it according to the resources provided by Lin Ruhai.

(End of chapter)