Substantial profits gained through
transactions. (大發利市)
During the late Ming dynasty in China, a
famous writer named Feng Menglong wrote a collection of short stories.
One of these stories is about a loyal old
servant named Aji, who worked for a woman named Ms Yan.
Through his intelligence and prudence, Aji
changed the fate of Ms Yan and their respective families, transforming them
from modestly well-off to extremely wealthy.
The story, written by Feng Menglong, is set
in the mid-Ming Dynasty, a peaceful era of national strength.
Aji lived in a small village in Zhejiang
Province and was over fifty years old.
Ms Yan's husband was called Xu Zhe and had
two older brothers, Xu Yan and Xu Zhao.
Xu Zhe died of illness before reaching the
age of 30. Following his death, his two older brothers demanded to divide up
the family fortune. The terms of the division document drafted by Xu Yan and Xu
Zhao were unfair to Ms Yan. They allocated the oxen and horses that could be
used for ploughing and transportation to themselves and assigned Aji to Ms Yan.
Upon learning of this, A-Ji told Ms Yan,
"Given the current situation, I believe we need to change our thinking and
actions to overcome our predicament.
In my opinion, the only way to quickly make
money is to start a business. If you give me some funds, I can go out and look
for business opportunities tomorrow.
As long as I use these funds carefully, I
am sure that we will make a substantial profit.'
After hearing A-Ji's suggestion, Ms Yan
agreed that it made sense. She had known A-Ji for several years and knew him to
be an honest and upright person. Trusting his character and integrity, she
ultimately decided to support his proposal.
After taking stock of her possessions, Ms
Yan scraped together 12 taels of silver to give to Aji as start-up capital. The
day after receiving the money, Aji set out in search of business opportunities.
As he walked, he pondered what kind of
business to start. He suddenly remembered a village near his hometown where
almost all the farmers grew lacquer trees. The lacquer produced in this village
was of an exceptionally high quality. He decided that he could try wholesaling
the village's lacquer and selling it on elsewhere.
Aji was a simple-minded person, and he
immediately headed to the village after making this decision.
Upon arriving, he began asking around about
how to obtain this high-quality lacquer. He discovered that there was an
experienced agent in the village who specialised in buying lacquer from the
farmers and selling it on.
Aji then proactively approached this agent
to learn the details of wholesale purchasing.
Although Aji had no prior business
experience, he was meticulous and observant. After contacting the agent, he
built a rapport with them and invited them to dinner and drinks. Thanks to
these actions, Aji was able to purchase a batch of lacquer for 10 taels of
silver.
Having successfully completed his first
transaction, Aji began to consider where to sell the lacquer.
The two closest major cities to the village
where the lacquer was wholesaled were Hangzhou and Suzhou. Hangzhou was closer
and many of the people who bought goods from the village were likely to sell in
Hangzhou. Therefore, he decided to choose Suzhou, even though it was farther
away and would incur higher transportation costs, as there would likely be less
competition there.
Having made his decision, he immediately
hired a boat to travel there.
Aji was incredibly lucky. Due to ongoing
construction projects in Suzhou, demand for lacquer surged and he sold all of
his wholesale stock within three days. After calculating his profits, he
discovered that he had made around ten taels of silver, once his initial
investment had been deducted. Overjoyed and secretly delighted, he told
himself, 'I've made a substantial profit from this transaction.'
After collecting the money, he arranged to
take a boat back to his village the next day, ready to wholesale more lacquer
for sale in Suzhou.
This idiom literally means 'to make a
substantial profit from a transaction'.
It is often used to describe a merchant who
has achieved great success and substantial profits in business.
It is also frequently used as a
congratulatory phrase for someone who has made a lot of money in business.
Dear friend, what inspiration or thoughts
did you gain from this story?
Do you act quickly after making a decision?
Do you plan carefully before doing anything?
I hope this story gives you some new
insights.
大發利市(Substantial profits gained through
transactions.)
中國的明王朝末年，有一個著名的文學家，他的名字叫做(馮夢龍)，他寫過一本短篇小說集。
他的這本小說集中有一個有關於一個忠誠的老僕人的故事，這個老僕人的名字叫做(阿寄)，他的女主人是顏女士。
(阿寄)經由自己的聰明與謹慎而改變了顏女士與自己的兩個家庭的命運，他透過他的智慧與運氣讓顏女士的家庭從小康變成大富戶。
馮夢龍說的這個故事發生在明王朝的中葉，那是一個國力強盛的和平時代。
(阿寄)住在浙江省的一個小村莊內，他的年紀已經50幾歲了。
顏女士的先生的名字叫做(徐哲)，徐哲有兩個哥哥，這兩個哥哥的名字是(徐言)與(徐召)。
徐哲因為生病所以不到30歲就病逝，徐哲病逝後，徐哲的兩個哥哥提出了分拆家族財產的要求，徐言與徐召擬定的這份拆分財產的文件中的條件對顏女士並不公平，他們把可以幫忙耕地與運輸的牛與馬分配給自己，他們把年紀老邁的阿寄分配給顏女士。
阿寄得知自己被分配給顏女士後，他就跟顏女士說。
我認為就現狀看來，我們應該改變我們的想法與作法才可能突破現在的困境。
在現在這種情況之下，我認為只有做生意才能夠快速讓我們賺到錢，只要妳給我一些資金，我明天就可以出門去尋找商業機會。
我相信只要我小心謹慎的使用這些資金，那麼我們一定可以賺到豐厚的利潤。
顏女士聽完阿寄的話後，她覺得阿寄的建議很有道理，她已經認識阿寄好幾年了，她知道阿寄是一個正直而且誠實的人，她很信任阿寄的人格與品德，所以她最終決定支持阿寄的提議。
顏女士清點自己所擁有的財物之後湊出了12兩銀子給阿寄當本錢，她把這筆錢交給阿寄的隔天，阿寄就出門尋找商業機會。
阿寄走在路上，他邊走邊思考應該要做甚麼生意，他突然想到離自己的家鄉不遠的一座村莊，這個村莊中的農民幾乎都在種植漆樹。這座村莊中所生產的漆的品質非常的好，他心中對自己說我可以試著去批發這座村莊中的漆去別處販賣。
阿寄是一個心思很簡單的人，他做出了這個決定後就立刻前往這座村莊。
他到了這個村莊內，他便開始詢問要怎樣才能夠得到這些高品質的漆，他發現這座村莊中有一個專門跟農民收購漆然後批發銷售這些漆的資深的專業代理人。
他便主動去找這個代理人想要了解如何批發採購的細節。
阿寄雖然沒有做過生意，但是他是一個很細心而且觀察力很好的人，他在接觸到這個代理人之後，他先主動跟這個代理人拉近關係，接著他又找機會請這個代理人吃飯與喝酒，因為阿寄採取這些行動，所以阿寄在很快的時間內用10兩銀子買了一批漆。
阿寄做成了頭一筆交易，他順利地拿這批漆之後，他就開始思考要到那裡去銷售這些漆，他心想。
杭州與蘇州是離批發漆的這座村莊最近的兩座大城市，杭州離這座村莊的距離比較近，可能很多在這個村莊批貨的人會優先選擇到杭州市銷售，所以我應該要選擇比較遠的蘇州市，蘇州市雖然比較遠我要花費比較多的運費，但那個地方的銷售競爭對手應該會比較少。
他決定好之後，他就立刻雇用船隻前往蘇州市。
阿寄的運氣非常的好，由於蘇州市剛好有一些工程正在進行，對於漆的需求量大增，所以阿寄所批發的漆在三天內就全部賣光，他結算了一下，他發現扣掉本錢之後，他又賺了大約10兩銀子，他的心中非常的開心，他拿著這些錢，他新的心中暗暗的歡喜，他對自己說我因為交易而獲得了豐厚的利潤。
他把這些錢收好之後，他就安排隔天要搭船回到那座村莊去批發一些漆來蘇州市銷售。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是開始因為交易而獲得豐厚的利潤。
這句成語通常被用來形容一個商人生意後取得了巨大成功與豐厚利潤。
這句成語是一句經常被使用於祝賀一個人做生意非常賺錢的吉祥話。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的啟發或有怎樣的想法呢。
你做出決定後會快速採取行動嗎?你做事情之前會先經過詳細的規劃嗎?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為馮夢龍-醒世恆言-卷35-徐老僕義憤成家
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