The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

When Zhou Chu returned home, Shen Qing was still there, while Afu and Adong had already returned to the shop.

“My little sister is home alone, and I was afraid she would be scared, so I stayed to keep her company.”

Shen Qing explained after seeing Zhou Chu.

After all, it was the middle of the night, and it wasn't a good thing for her, a woman, to be alone in Zhou Chu's house.

"Thank you."

Zhou Chu nodded.

"Does your family want this shop back?"

Zhou Chu looked at Shen Qing's troubled expression and asked.

Shen Qing nodded silently.

Although she was mentally prepared, he was still her father after all.

Shen Qing had initially harbored some illusions.

She felt that her father would at least say something for her.

But little did she know that the Shen family had already abandoned her.

Shen Qing's father didn't even bother to look at her.

He only had eyes for his sons and concubines.

This shop is doomed.

After all, it was originally intended for Shen Qing to manage.

"So you've finally come to terms with reality?"

After Zhou Chu sat down, he leisurely poured himself a cup of tea and spoke as he drank it.

Shen Qing nodded upon hearing this.

"You're right. In this world, only by relying on yourself and becoming strong will others treat you kindly."

Zhou Chu put down his teacup and looked at Mu Yunjin.

"Little sister, you go to sleep first. I have something to talk to her about."

Upon hearing this, Mu Yunjin glanced at Zhou Chu and then at Shen Qing with some unease. Only after confirming that there was nothing between the two did she turn and leave.

"He's so young but so clever."

Zhou Chu naturally noticed Mu Yunjin's little actions and shook his head helplessly.

Upon hearing this, Shen Qing blushed slightly and felt her ears burning.

It's so late at night, and a man and a woman are alone in a room.

In the past, Shen Qing would never have dared to even think about this.

However, Shen Qing no longer cared about so much at this point.

All she wanted was to make money and become powerful.

As for the Shen family, she no longer cared.

"If you've thought it through, go and settle things with the Shen family first thing tomorrow morning, and return the shop to them."

Zhou Chu seemed to have already planned out the path ahead, speaking clearly and logically.

"it is good."

Shen Qing had no doubts about Zhou Chu's words at this moment and carried them out completely.

"Do you have a shop in mind? The shops around here are all very expensive."

Shen Qing couldn't help but ask.

This is, after all, the capital city, where every inch of land is incredibly valuable.

Every shop is incredibly expensive.

Take Shen Qing's shop for example. Even when business was bad, it would have been impossible to buy it without 50,000 taels of silver.

Zhou Chu originally thought that buying a shop wouldn't be too expensive, but after investigating, he realized he was overthinking it.

Zhou Chu couldn't remember if it was from Water Margin or some bottle, but it said that ten taels of silver could buy a two-story attic in Yanggu County.

Zhou Chu thought that even if Yanggu County was a small, third-tier county, and even if the two-story attic was a house, buying a larger shop in Yanggu County would only cost a hundred or two hundred taels of silver at most.

No matter how expensive the shops in the capital are, they are at most two or three thousand taels of silver.

But as it turns out, Zhou Chu was completely overthinking things. The capital city of today is not as large as it is in later generations; it is just the inner city.

Even the most remote places would be considered within the second ring road in later generations.

Upon learning that the shops were so expensive, Zhou Chu couldn't help but recall a piece of information from historical records.

In the fourteenth year of the Jiajing reign, Jin Xueyan, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, proposed to prohibit the use of silver by the common people, on the grounds that there were countless wealthy households in Jiangnan, each with at least several hundred thousand taels of silver, while the imperial court only had a little over one million taels of silver.

At that time, silver was not the mainstream currency. It was not until the Longqing era that silver was established as currency. In other words, if a wealthy family had hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, they would have at least dozens of times the value of copper coins, or even more.

The annual expenditure of the Ming Dynasty government was approximately fifty to sixty million taels of silver.

But the emperor had very little at his disposal, only one or two million taels.

In summary, it wasn't that the Ming Dynasty was short of money, but rather that the imperial court and the royal family were short of money.

Renting is quite cheap.

However, renting a shop to do business is tantamount to living under someone else's roof.

Business is okay when it's not so good.

Once business is good, some people will get jealous and try to take back the shop.

This lesson from the Shen family made Shen Qing no longer want to rent a shop to do business.

Too unstable.

"Of course we have shops. Wouldn't the Feng family's shops be perfect?"

Zhou Chu said with great interest.

"The Feng family? Would that old fox Feng Youde sell?"

Shen Qing asked, puzzled.

Whether he sells it or not is not up to him.

Zhou Chu was right; the Feng family's home was raided the very next day.

Feng Youde has done too many bad things.

All of the Feng family's property was confiscated and put to public use.

It was supposed to be compensation for the victims' families.

But Zhou Chu knew that this was just official talk.

It's nothing more than those officials coveting the Feng family's wealth.

The confiscation of the Feng family's property gave Zhou Chu a more direct understanding of the rigid class system of the era.

I became increasingly vigilant.

Most of these officials are ruthless and heartless.

"Young Miss, what's your decision?"

The next morning, before Shen Qing even went to the Shen family home, the Shen family's steward arrived at the shop.

The housekeeper showed Shen Qing absolutely no respect.

He knew very well that this young lady was only a young lady in name only.

The Shen family had long since abandoned her.

In the past few days, the Shen family has learned that Shen Qing's shop is very profitable.

Although I don't know exactly how much I'll earn.

Just by looking at the bustling crowds inside the shop, you can imagine how much revenue it generates every day.

This one shop is probably worth four or five other shops, or even more.

The entire Shen family owned no more than a dozen shops.

How could those concubines tolerate the shop falling into Shen Qing's hands?

They didn't care that the shop's business had started under Shen Qing's management.

In their eyes, Shen Qing was a money-losing daughter who would eventually get married and was still their own daughter.

So the concubines got together and decided to whisper in Shen Qing's father's ear.

They'll marry Shen Qing off, and as for this shop, it's making so much money now.

Even if they didn't say anything, Shen Qing's father was reluctant to give her away as part of her dowry.

This matter has been keeping Shen Qing on her mind for several days.

The housekeeper is here today to give Shen Qing an ultimatum.

“You’re not qualified to talk to me. Either let my father or Aunt Liu come.”

Shen Qing glanced at the butler, completely disregarding this arrogant fellow.

"you!"

The housekeeper pointed angrily at Shen Qing, but dared not actually scold her.

After all, he was a servant, and Shen Qing was the master.

He may disrespect Shen Qing, but cursing Shen Qing is another matter entirely.

If the master finds out, he will have nowhere to stay in the Shen family.

It's not that Master Shen still has much affection for Shen Qing.

Rather, it is because the master would not tolerate his servants rebelling against the Heavenly Gang.

"Alright, Qing'er, tell me, how do you want to talk about it?"

A voice came into the shop, and Aunt Liu came to Shen Qing.

This was the woman Zhou Chu had met once at the brokerage firm.

Upon seeing the person in question, Shen Qing no longer put on airs.

She knew very well that Aunt Liu could make the decision.

"I can give you the shop, but you won't take a single piece of cloth with you."

Shen Qing's words delighted Aunt Liu.

"But I have a condition."

After saying this, Shen Qing felt a little uneasy.

After all, she was only sixteen or seventeen years old at the time.

At this point, the person being addressed is considered an elder in the family.

Many things are easier said than done.

Everyone gets nervous when they actually face it.

"What conditions?"

Aunt Liu asked.

"After I give you the shop, I will have no further connection with the Shen family. We need to sign a contract so that you can no longer interfere with my marriage. To the outside world, I will still be the daughter of the Shen family and will not disgrace the Shen family. But from now on, the affairs of the Shen family will have nothing to do with me."

After saying this, Shen Qing seemed to have used up all her strength.

Upon hearing this, Aunt Liu thought to herself, "What a wonderful thing! Isn't this double happiness?"

In this way, the Shen family won't even need to provide Shen Qing's dowry.

In those days, the dowry that wealthy families brought when their daughters married was a considerable fortune.

Many would even bring shops and estates as part of the dowry.

The purpose is so that the daughter can stand tall and be in charge in her parents' home in the future.

Although Shen Qing's marriage could no longer pave the way for his son's career.

However, Aunt Liu was a member of the family and knew only her own family affairs.

Her son was simply not cut out for studying.

For her, this deal was always a sure win.

"Bring me the ledger first, let me take a look."

Aunt Liu said calmly.

Shen Qing did not refuse. She knew very well that only sufficient benefits would entice him.

Soon, the account book arrived in front of Aunt Liu.

Aunt Liu picked up the account book somewhat casually.

The more I looked, the more shocked I became.

Finally, his eyes turned red.

Last month, the shop actually made tens of thousands of taels of silver.

That's tens of thousands of taels a month.

That's hundreds of thousands of taels a year.

What is this concept?

This is more than the entire Shen family's income combined.

Even Aunt Liu was completely unsettled at this moment.

She turned to look at Shen Qing.

“I can’t give you the money I earned last month; I need to keep some for my dowry.”

Seemingly aware of what Aunt Liu was thinking, Shen Qing directly refused.

"If you're going to swallow all this money, then so be it, I'll burn this shop down to the ground."

Shen Qing said expressionlessly.

Upon hearing this, Aunt Liu thought for a moment and decided that the bigger picture should take precedence and that she shouldn't let a small matter cause her to lose sight of the bigger picture.

As long as the shop exists, you'll have a golden goose in your possession.

Are you still worried about not having money?

"Okay, you draft the document, and I'll have your dad sign it later."

At this moment, Aunt Liu was thinking about how to spend the money she had, and she felt a little giddy.