Chapter 204 Becoming a Landlord
However, if he were to sell his herbal medicine shop at a price, it would only be worth a few dozen taels of silver at most according to the current market price.

But it is understandable, after all, Wangji Herbal Medicine Shop is located outside Zuoanmen, not even in Beijing.

If compared with the shop in front of me, it is like comparing the storefronts outside the Fifth Ring Road of Beijing in later generations with those of Wangfujing Shopping Mall.

Moreover, these storefronts are right next to Liulichang, which is the main street of the entire Beijing city. Many dignitaries have to pass by here when coming in and out, so it is normal that the prices are a bit higher.

According to Wang An's personality, it would be impossible for him to buy such a shop.

There is no other reason, mainly because the two businesses he is running now do not require such a good location.

One is the coal warehouse. If you sell honeycomb coal at two cents a piece on Zhengyangmen Street, it will take many years to recoup the cost.

The second is soap. According to Wang An’s original idea, he wanted to follow the Amway route. Although he also needed a physical store, it did not necessarily have to be located in a good location.

But now he is an imperial merchant after all. Not only does he have the title of the imperial court, but he also has Man Gui, the general, as his elder brother. If we don't count Eunuch Wei, this network background is already enough.

The most important thing is that Wang An just developed a scent-enhancing improved soap yesterday, and he plans to use it to conquer the high-end market in Beijing, so a presentable storefront is very necessary.

We can't ask princes and ministers to run to the slums outside Zuoanmen to buy soap, can we?

Even if Wang An had enough confidence in his own soap, he would not lose face and run to such a lowly place.

In this case, some good facades are necessary.

So when Fan San asked, Wang An nodded without hesitation and said, "Of course you can, but I think this 1,200 taels of silver is still a bit expensive!"

Fan San understood what he said, and his face suddenly turned into a chrysanthemum. "As long as you are satisfied, Shopkeeper Wang, I will negotiate the price!"

"How much can we talk about?" Wang An asked without hesitation.

Fan San was stunned when he heard this, and said hesitantly: "You need to meet the master of the Liu family to know this. Manager Wang, if you suddenly ask me this, I really can't answer it."

Wang An sneered and said playfully, "I suddenly remembered an interesting story. I'd like to chat with you about it."

Fan San was stunned when he heard this, wondering why Wang An was talking about such nonsense for no reason.

But Wang An was his big client after all, so he pretended to be very interested and asked, "Oh, what's the interesting story?"

Wang An smiled and said, "I have a friend who does business in Jiangnan, and he also often deals with local dental shops."

"My friend told me that the brokers in Jiangnan are very dishonest. Often when the seller asks for 100 taels of silver, they will tell the seller it's 130 taels or even 150 taels of silver."

"If they get a counter-offer from the buyer, they pretend to negotiate a lower price with the seller, and they actually do so."

"For example, if an item is worth 100 taels, the broker will ask the buyer for 130 taels of silver, and then negotiate with the seller to lower the price by 80 taels. Then, when he comes back, he will tell the seller that the price has been negotiated down to 110 taels."

"So the two families happily signed the contract, and the pawnbroker made thirty taels of silver, not counting the commission. It was really a good business."

Before Wang An could finish his words, Fan San's forehead was already covered in cold sweat.

But of course he wouldn't admit it, so he smiled awkwardly and said, "So my colleagues in Jiangnan are really unruly, but I, Fan San, am not that kind of person!"

Wang An smiled but said nothing, just looking at Fan San. Fan San felt uncomfortable being looked at, so he said evasively: "Wait for me to talk to the Liu family, and about 1,100 taels of silver will not be a problem."

When Wang An heard this, he knew that Fang San had at least added more than one hundred taels of silver, but he still smiled and said nothing.

Seeing this, Fan San gritted his teeth and said in order to get the order: "If Shopkeeper Wang can pay cash, we can probably negotiate it down to 1,000 taels, but I can't guarantee it."

Upon hearing this, Wang An knew that the seller's real offer should be between one thousand and one thousand one hundred taels.

However, Wang An also knew that a horse cannot grow fat without night grass, and he could not guarantee that he would have to interact with Fan San in the future, so he patted Fan San on the shoulder and said with a smile: "If you can negotiate it down to less than 1,000 taels, I will give you one tael of silver for every ten taels lower."

Upon hearing this, Fan San was overjoyed. He immediately bowed to express his gratitude and confidently went to negotiate the price with the master of the Liu family.

The Liu family lived not far from Zhengyangmen Street. Wang An and Fan San walked not far before they arrived at the Liu family. After explaining their purpose, the doorman reported to Mr. Liu, and then took Fan San and Wang An to the lobby.

The current master of the Liu family is a middle-aged man in his forties, who looks frail and sickly. He looks like he has indulged in alcohol and sex excessively.

The negotiation process went extremely smoothly, mainly because Wang An directly put a large bag of silver on the table and said that if the deal was successful, this would be used as a deposit, and the remaining amount would be paid immediately after the contract was signed.

The final price was reduced to nine hundred and fifty taels, which was much lower than the market price.

Wang An was not greedy and immediately decided to buy it.

He went home to get more than 900 taels of silver, and followed Fan San to Liu's house to sign the contract. On the same day, he went to the Shuntian Prefecture government office to transfer the property.

After all this was done, all three parties were happy. Wang An kept his promise. In addition to the silver he received, he also gave Fan an extra three or five taels of silver as a reward.

Fan San was so happy that he kept thanking him and promised that if Wang An needed to buy any house or land in the future, Fan San would get him the best price.

Wang An made a few polite remarks and just listened to them.

After the separation, Wang An was also an anxious person. He immediately found Ergou and hired some carpenters and bricklayers, and started to renovate the storefront that day.

When Wang An took out the new title deed, the old servant of the Liu family could only sigh and prepare to pack up and leave.

Wang An couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable looking at his old figure, so he stepped forward and said, "Old man, you have worked in the Liu family for half your life, right?"

The old man sighed and smiled bitterly, "More than half a lifetime. I have been following Old Master Liu since I was eight years old. Now it has been a full fifty years."

Wang An couldn't help but be deeply moved and felt comforted.

From the conversation, I learned that the old man in front of me was named Zhao Dekui. He followed the old man of the Liu family and worked his way up from a small clerk to a shopkeeper. He traveled all over the country and even worked at the frontier for a period of time in his early years.

But later, as the old man of the Liu family grew old and could no longer compete with the eight imperial merchants, he returned to the capital and settled down.

After opening this North-South Dry Goods Store, Zhao Dekui became the shopkeeper of this dry goods store and worked there for another twenty years.

Wang An couldn't help but feel moved when he heard this. His base camp was still in Beijing, but if he wanted to do business here in the future, he would often be away from home for ten days or a month.

(End of this chapter)