Chapter 82

Shuangyu Port is a base for smuggling. Centered around this port, in the coastal areas of the Great Ming north of Zhejiang, anyone involved in smuggling generally delivers their goods to Shuangyu Port for trading. These merchants come from all over, and most of them do not know each other. Due to the special nature of the smuggling industry, each smuggler wants to quickly sell their goods. In such a situation, trading centers like the Beigang Teahouse emerged.

The primary function of the trading center is not to make money for the port, but to help merchants arriving at the port find trading partners more quickly and sell their goods in the shortest time possible. This allows them to leave the port as soon as they can, which clearly helps to improve the port's utilization rate and attracts more merchants.

Shuangyu Port has three port areas, each with its own trading center. Each trading center is in the form of a teahouse, and their internal operating models are largely similar. The teahouses provide some conveniences, but the final transactions are still conducted by the merchants themselves. This clearly does not maximize the role of the trading center.

At first, Zhou Chong did not realize the significance of the trading center to a port. However, his knowledge and experience from his previous life instinctively made him feel that the operating model of the Beigang Teahouse had problems. Therefore, he proposed some of his own ideas to Uncle Tuo. These ideas, from the perspective of later generations, are actually quite old-fashioned, such as publicly listing transaction information and allowing all interested parties to choose for themselves. However, in the context of the Great Ming era, these ideas seemed extremely novel and forward-thinking.

It was precisely these ideas proposed by Zhou Chong, further refined by the experienced Uncle Tuo, that led to a comprehensive reform plan for the teahouse. This plan was quickly implemented in the teahouse. According to Uncle Tuo's estimate, with the implementation of these reforms, the trading volume at the Beigang Teahouse would definitely increase significantly, thereby increasing the cargo throughput of the Beigang area.

However, the experienced Uncle Tuo miscalculated this time. He did not realize the magnitude of the reform he and Zhou Chong had initiated. After the "Goods List" was published at the Beigang Teahouse, the trading volume in Beigang surged in just two days, even exceeding the trading volume of the previous month.

Of course, this was mainly due to some goods that had been stockpiled for a while, which were released all at once. After this burst period, the daily trading volume would drop to a normal level. However, even with the drop, the daily trading volume would still be several times higher than before. Once the "Purchase List" was introduced and the teahouse became familiar with the new model, the daily trading volume could be dozens of times higher than before.

With the trading volume increasing several times, the time required for a batch of goods to be sold from arrival at the port to completion of the transaction was reduced to a fraction of the original time. The port's utilization rate naturally increased several times. Moreover, the ability to sell goods so quickly in Beigang attracted many smugglers to dock their ships there, even some from the Nanport and Xigang areas, who also switched to Beigang to sell their goods sooner.

It was almost time for the New Year. Normally, this would be the slowest season for business at Shuangyu Port. However, due to the reforms at the Beigang Teahouse, smugglers from Nanport and Xigang were also attracted to Beigang. This made Beigang's business not only not slow down but even more prosperous than before. This benefited not only the South China Sea Chamber of Commerce but also other forces in Beigang. In contrast, Nanport and Xigang became particularly quiet.

In the backyard of the Xie Family Chamber of Commerce's residence in the Nanport area, a small courtyard was filled with the laughter of girls. Inside the warm pavilion of this courtyard, a small charcoal stove was burning brightly, with a hot pot on top. The white broth was bubbling, emitting a fragrant aroma. Various ingredients were laid out on the table, and three women were sitting around it, enjoying the food and playing, showing the camaraderie of sisters.

The leading woman was tall and curvaceous, the president of the Hong Family Chamber of Commerce, Hong Feiyun. To her right was the gentle and refined Xie Lingyun, and opposite Xie Lingyun sat her cousin, Zheng Youyi. Zheng Youyi's figure and temperament were very similar to Hong Feiyun's, with the only difference being that Hong Feiyun exuded a mature woman's allure, while Zheng Youyi had a sunny and innocent charm.

"Brother-in-law, why don't you let your brother and the two children come and eat with us? It would be more lively if everyone sat together!" Xie Lingyun said to Hong Feiyun, who was sitting in the middle. However, her use of "brother-in-law" was quite surprising.

"Oh, it's hot! Cousin, you don't know, my brother is taking the two children to build snowmen and have snowball fights. I don't know why he acts like a child sometimes," Zheng Youyi said, picking an mushroom from the hot pot and putting it in her mouth, only to be burned. She sucked in cool air and, after finally swallowing the mushroom, said to Hong Feiyun, "Sister-in-law, you should also keep an eye on my brother. He's already a father but still doesn't act mature, and he's always scolded by my father!"

At this point, everyone understood that Hong Feiyun's mysterious husband was actually Xie Lingyun's cousin, Zheng Longhai. However, because Zheng Longhai was a high-ranking member of the Xie Family Chamber of Commerce and Hong Feiyun was the president of the Hong Family Chamber of Commerce, their marriage would make the relationship between the two chambers extremely close. For certain reasons, the Xie and Hong families did not want too many people to know about this close relationship, so the marriage of Hong Feiyun and Zheng Longhai was kept secret, and almost no one outside knew about it.

Hong Feiyun, hearing her sister-in-law's complaint, laughed and said, "You don't know your brother, Youyi. He's naturally a lively person. Making him act like our fathers and scold the children is harder than climbing to heaven."

Xie Lingyun also laughed and said to Zheng Youyi, "That's true, Sister. Your brother and my father are completely different. I think the relationship between your brother and the two children is much closer than the average father-son relationship. So, I think it's better for him to play with the children rather than scold them like my father."

Hearing her sister and sister-in-law side with her brother, who always tried to marry her off, Zheng Youyi still disagreed, "I don't see anything good about my brother. He's always laughing and joking, and when we were young, he used to steal my snacks. Now he's always trying to marry me off. It's a pity you married such a person, Sister-in-law!"

Hearing Zheng Youyi's comments about her brother, Xie Lingyun and Hong Feiyun exchanged a smile. In fact, the relationship between Zheng Youyi and Zheng Longhai was quite good. However, Zheng Youyi was already a twenty-year-old "old maid" and had not yet married, so her father and brother were constantly pressuring her to get married. Zheng Youyi dared not say anything against her father, so she vented her frustration on her brother, Zheng Longhai.

Zheng Youyi's background was not bad, and she was very beautiful. However, the main reason she couldn't get married was her height. At 1.8 meters, she was tall even by modern standards, let alone in the Great Ming era, where men were generally shorter. The mainstream aesthetic for women was petite and delicate, and few men would want to marry a woman taller than themselves. This idea was prevalent even in modern times, and many tall women struggled to find a husband, let alone in the male-dominated era of the Great Ming.

If it were just her height, Zheng Youyi might not have had such a hard time finding a husband. The key was that her standards were also high. She grew up with Xie Lingyun in the Xie family and had read many books, influenced by stories of talented scholars and beautiful women. She had set a standard for herself: she would only marry a scholar.

However, most scholars preferred delicate and shy women, and a tall and sunny beauty like Zheng Youyi was not acceptable to them. As a result, her marriage was delayed, and Zheng Longhai, whenever he saw a young scholar, would try to sell his sister to them. Zhou Chong was one of the victims.

Although she knew that Zheng Youyi disliked talking about her marriage, as her sister-in-law and good friend, Hong Feiyun felt she should say something. She smiled and said, "Youyi, I know you don't like to hear this, but you're almost twenty. It's time to find someone to marry. Otherwise, not only will your brother and I worry, but your father will also be concerned about your marriage. Look, he seems to have more white hair recently."

Hearing her sister-in-law's words, Zheng Youyi fell silent for a moment and then murmured, "Sister-in-law, I know my marriage has caused everyone to worry. I do want to get married, but where can I find the right person?"

"Isn't there? Isn't there someone very suitable for you right now?" Hong Feiyun suddenly smiled.

"Who?" Zheng Youyi looked up, puzzled. Xie Lingyun, however, seemed to understand and had a complex expression on her face.

"He's not simple. He's only been in Shuangyu Port for a few days, but he has already taken away a lot of business from our Nanport and Xigang. He's not only a scholar but also very handsome..."

At this point, Zheng Youyi finally understood who her sister-in-law was talking about, but she looked at Xie Lingyun and shook her head, "No, no, Zhou Chong and my cousin are a perfect match. How can I marry him?"

"Naive girl, with Lingyun's status, it's impossible for her to be with Zhou Chong. They are just maintaining a surface relationship for business purposes. So, introducing him to you is perfect!" Hong Feiyun, as the president, had a clear understanding of the relationship between Zhou Chong and Xie Lingyun. For certain reasons, she did not want Xie Lingyun to get too close to Zhou Chong, so she suggested matching Zhou Chong with Zheng Youyi in front of Xie Lingyun.