Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 153: Advice for Friends

His father, Liang Jili, was the eldest son of Liang Shengcai and the head of the Liang family. The Liang family lived in the wealthy Jiangnan Prefecture. The family started out in the textile and silk industry and was one of the most famous wealthy merchants in Jiangnan Prefecture.

As the eldest granddaughter of the Liang family, Liang Xiangyi was raised by her parents. Unfortunately, she had always been weak. Even with the best food and clothing, good doctors and good medicine, she was not able to take care of her health. Unexpectedly, a word from the wandering Taoist priest made Liang Feifei's health much better. Her parents were very happy.

But in June last year, Liang Jili, who had always been in good health, suddenly fell into a coma. The Liang family sought out almost all the famous doctors in Jiangnan Prefecture, but failed to revive him. Half a month later, Liang Jili passed away.

Liang Jili's father Liang Shengcai was so shocked that he suffered a stroke and was bedridden, unable to handle things.

Liang Jili's brothers couldn't wait to start a fight for the family property in the mourning hall.

In the end, Liang's second and fourth uncles took control of most of the family's assets, while Liang Jili's wife and children, as the eldest son of the family, only received 300 taels of silver per month for living expenses, and got nothing else from the assets.

Liang Xiangyi's second uncle said that the Liang family had not split up, and the eldest son of the eldest house was only six years old and could not manage the family business. It was very normal and reasonable for them to manage the Liang family's property. Liang Xiangyi's mother had just lost her husband and had three underage children to take care of. No matter how dissatisfied she was, she could not resist.

Liang Xiangyi, who was still 13 years old, knew that this was a trap set by her second and third uncles, but as a woman, she had no chance to speak in this battle for the family property of the rich. A few months later, the three hundred taels of silver were not paid out in full.

Three months after Liang Jili's death, Liang Xiangyi unexpectedly learned that there was something strange about his father's death.

So, he secretly went to his father's study, wanting to see if his father had left any written evidence, but unexpectedly found the deed to the Lotus Garden that his father had purchased in Shangjing City and the newly formed fleet of two ships and twenty people.

So he used the excuse that his mother was frightened and went to his uncle's house to recuperate, and asked his mother to take his younger sister and brother to his uncle's house, while he himself came to Shangjing City with a few loyal servants.

With her mother's private money and the three thousand taels of silver she got from selling her dowry, she managed to revitalize Lotus Garden. However, it was only this year that it started to have a surplus.

The fleet formed by his father has just started, the crew is still in training, the business is not yet established, and the money is still being invested. So Liang Xiangyi is living a very hard life now.

Hualei was a little unconvinced. "No way, Lotus Garden only started to have a surplus this year? The last time I went to Lotus Garden, I roughly calculated the accounts for you. You have about 35 houses in your garden, and each house has 80 taels of rent. The rental income for one day is 2,800 taels. Even if you only rent it for one month, you will have more than 70,000 taels of rent. In addition, you also rent out cruise ships and carriages, so the total will not be less than 80,000 taels. How is it possible that you have only just started to have a surplus?"

"Alas, you don't know, after my father bought Lotus Garden, he only paid a deposit for the construction of the courtyard corridors, and many courtyards were only half-built. The subsequent payments were made by me with the cash I received later.

Besides, the business is not as good as you say. It is packed every day. The business is better only during the days when the official school is on holiday. The rest of the time, it is empty. But you have to pay the monthly salary of the employees, right? You have to provide them with three meals a day. My father has made the stall too big, and I have no experience. I took a lot of detours at the beginning, so I just made a profit. "

After hearing about Liang Xiangyi's experience, Hualei couldn't help but feel deeply moved.

Even if you are from a wealthy family, there is no one in this world who doesn't have to work hard, right? I used to envy Liang Xiangyi for living a "white, rich and beautiful" life as a young lady, but in the blink of an eye, she became an abandoned child of a wealthy family. She also bears the hatred of her father's murder and the seizure of his property.

Maybe it had been a while since they had found someone to talk to, so the two of them sat together and talked for most of the day.

Finally, Liang Xiangyi spread his hands and said, "Look, apart from the Lotus Garden, I have less than 1,500 taels of silver on hand, and I have to spend 200 taels every month to maintain the fleet.

Moreover, after summer is over, for the next nine months, Lotus Garden will not only have no income, but will also have to pay monthly maintenance fees. I am worried that there will not be enough cash flow by then, and it will really be over.

Most importantly, I want to avenge my father, find the murderer who hurt my father, and bring him to justice.

I also have to protect my six-year-old brother Liang Yanming from what happened to my father. I don’t dare tell my mother about my father. I’m afraid she can’t bear it.”

Liang Xiangyi was very frustrated and continued, "And I have another big problem. My mother has arranged a marriage between me and my cousin from my uncle's family since I was a child. But when I sent my mother to my uncle's house this time, I found out that this cousin who was engaged to me actually has epilepsy. What should I do? How can I cancel the engagement?" Liang Xiangyi was going crazy.

Maybe it was too depressing. Liang Xiangyi spoke a lot in a disjointed and confusing manner. At the end, he held Hua Lei's hand and asked, "What should I do? Sister Hua, I really don't know anything about doing business. Although I was born in the Liang family, my parents protected me too well and never let me take care of business matters. I never took the initiative to care about it." Liang Xiangyi looked regretful.

"Forget it, forget it. I won't talk about my troubles anymore. You are really capable. Now that you have bought the farm and the shop, you can just run it well and wait to count the money." Liang Xiangyi said enviously.

"Actually, I think the most urgent thing for you right now is not revenge, but three more urgent things." Hua Lei said. It was not easy to meet a good friend here, and Hua Lei also considered her friend with all her heart.

"The first thing is to remind your mother and ask her to protect your younger brother and sister so that they won't suffer. You have to find an excuse to get your mother to pay attention.

The second thing is, you are about to break off the engagement with your uncle's cousin, but it is not a good idea to send your mother and younger brothers and sisters to your uncle's house. It will only involve more people and make it more difficult to break off the engagement. Find a way to bring your mother back or let her live with other relatives.

The third thing is that it was a bit of a mistake to use your mother's private money and the three thousand taels from the sale of her dowry to revitalize Lotus Garden. The subsequent maintenance will cost a lot of money. If your father is not dead, or you have a lot of liquid silver in your hands, then there is no problem, you just need to wait for the rent from Lotus Garden.

However, you can see that you have too little money, so you need to find a way to increase the liquidity. Otherwise, the consequences will be very troublesome. Think about it, what will you do if you have no money?