HLnovel Chapter 109 Everyone has their own agenda
Chapter 109 Everyone has their own agenda
Chapter 109 Everyone has their own agenda
"Master Li, what brings you here today?" Ma Deyun asked.
Li Jinshui smiled and said, "Isn't Young Master Ma buying grain? I was just about to sell some!"
Ma Deyun frowned, confused about Li Jinshui's intentions. Ma Deyun knew very well that Li Jinshui followed Wang Wenzhou, and if Wang Wenzhou forbade him to sell grain, he certainly wouldn't dare to. What exactly did Wang Wenzhou mean?
Seeing Ma Deyun's suspicion, Li Jinshui said, "Young Master Ma, rest assured, Lord Wang doesn't know I'm here. As you know, we merchants are all in it to make money. Lord Wang is supporting us at home to stabilize grain prices for the sake of the people of Hanshan, but he doesn't want to miss out on making money."
"What does Brother Li mean?" Ma Deyun asked doubtfully.
Li Jinshui took a sip of tea and said, "I discussed it with Brother Fan and the others. It's not about who we sell the grain to, it's about who we sell it to. Lord Wang hasn't forbidden us from selling grain either. I'm thinking of this: Brother Fan and I will secretly sell all the grain from the grain shop to you. What do you think?"
Ma Deyun was naturally happy to oblige; they wanted to buy grain from Guangliang Company.
Ma Deyun asked with a smile, "I wonder how much grain the grain store still has?"
Li Jinshui thought for a moment and then answered, "There are still 25 shi (a unit of dry measure) left."
"What? So many? How is that possible!" Ma Deyun said in disbelief.
"To be honest, Young Master Ma, a few days ago, Lord Wang ordered us to go to other places to collect grain. I regret it now. I shouldn't have agreed to participate in the grain business for the sake of face. Now it's difficult to extricate myself. To be frank, you've bought up all the grain in the counties near Hanshan. When we go to collect grain in more distant places, the losses on the way are huge. One tael of silver per shi of grain is just enough to break even."
"Alas..." Li Jinshui sighed and said regretfully, "Who doesn't do business to make money! But Lord Wang insisted that we sell grain at cost price, making all our work for nothing!"
"Haha..." Ma Deyun laughed, "I understand! Tell me, how much silver do you plan to charge per shi of grain?"
Li Jinshui thought for a moment and then said, "Let's not beat around the bush. We'll just accept your purchase price of one tael and one mace. We'll only make one mace of silver per shi of grain!"
Ma Deyun thought about it and realized he wasn't losing out. After all, they got this price for buying grain from the people. Now that they could buy all the grain from the grain store at once, why not?
“Alright! That’s the price! But, Mr. Li, you’ll have to give us some time to raise the money,” Ma Deyun said.
"Then I'll take my leave!" Li Jinshui stood up and took his leave.
"No need to see me off!" Ma Deyun said with a smile.
As soon as Li Jinshui left, Ma Deyun instructed his servants to invite Wang Wenhua and the others over.
As soon as Wang Wenhua and the others arrived, Ma Deyun recounted the entire conversation he had just had with Li Jinshui.
"25 shi of grain! Silly Xiao Wu is really good at calculating! If Li Jinshui hadn't secretly told us, we don't know how long it would have taken us to buy up all the grain in the grain store," Wang Wenhua said calmly.
"Yes!" Yang Shan nodded and asked, "Brother Wang, are we still buying grain? That would cost about 30 taels of silver!"
Wang Wenhua thought for a moment and then said, "There is quite a lot of silver, but I don't have that much silver on hand right now. How much more silver can you offer?"
Wang Wenhua and his group still have a total of 15 taels of silver, meaning they are still short 15 taels.
Yang Shan said with a wry smile, "Brother Wang, I don't have any money to spare."
Ma Deyun and the others shook their heads. The four talented scholars had already invested over 10 taels of silver, almost emptying their savings. They truly had no money left.
Wang Wenhua was silent for a moment before speaking, "I didn't want to go to Xu Yingjie, but now I can only try to get him to join us. He should be relatively well-off."
Xu Yingjie is the heir of the Duke of Dingguo. The Duke of Dingguo's mansion, which has been passed down for more than a hundred years, really doesn't care about this little bit of silver.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Brother Wang!" Ma Deyun said, cupping his hands in greeting.
“We’re brothers, no need to be so polite. Find someone to take my invitation and invite Xu Yingjie over for a talk.” Wang Wenhua took out the invitation and handed it to Ma Deyun.
A short while later, Xu Yingjie arrived as invited.
"What? Buying grain? Brother Wang, you're interested in such a small business?" Xu Yingjie said disdainfully.
Ma Deyun frowned. "Young Master, why are you being so disrespectful?"
Wang Wenhua smiled and said, "Brother, this is no small business. If it succeeds, you can earn several times the profit."
"Hmm?" Xu Yingjie frowned, then laughed and scolded, "Brother Wang, don't joke with me. I've discovered that your Xinjian Marquis's Mansion is full of swindlers! A few days ago, I was swindled out of nearly 100,000 taels of silver by your fat son at the courtesan competition!"
Wang Wenhua chuckled inwardly, thinking, "Xu Yingjie, you finally realize you've been tricked by that silly Xiao Wu!"
“Brother, I won’t hide anything from you. You should know what my relationship is with my silly little Wu. This business is definitely going to make money! Give me a straight answer, are you going to join or not?” Wang Wenhua asked.
"Tell me, how much silver do you need?" Xu Yingjie smiled slightly. He would do anything to cause trouble for that fatso. After all, that shameless fatso was always pestering the beautiful Liu Dajia.
“Young Master, we are still short 15 taels!” Ma Deyun said.
"Holy crap! Are you buying grain? Or a huge tract of fertile land? 15 taels? Did I hear that right?" Xu Yingjie said in disbelief.
Wang Wenhua said with a smile, "Brother, we want to monopolize the grain sales in Hanshan. You have to understand that Hanshan has nearly 50 people. The amount of grain needed by so many people is certainly not a small amount! To be honest, we have already invested more than 30 taels of silver, and we are still short 15 taels of silver."
“Hmm…” Xu Yingjie thought for a moment and then said, “Brother Wang, could you explain it to me in more detail again?”
Wang Wenhua had no choice but to explain the grain trade again.
Xu Yingjie listened very attentively this time. After Wang Wenhua finished speaking, Xu Yingjie laughed loudly and said, "15 taels of silver, I'll take it! I also think we can make a lot of money!"
Wang Wenhua stood up with a hearty laugh, raised his glass, and said, "My dear brothers, let's drink to this and wish you all prosperous business and smooth sailing!"
"Cheers!" Everyone raised their glasses.
After several rounds of drinks and dishes, Wang Wenhua suddenly spoke up: "Tomorrow, our silly Xiao Wu is going to marry a girl from a brothel. My aunt is very sad. Brother Xu knows that my mother died early and I was raised by my aunt. Although my relationship with silly Xiao Wu is very bad because of our rivalry over the title, I can't bear to see my aunt sad."
Wang Wenhua sighed and said plaintively, "The fifth young master of the prestigious Xinjian Marquis's Mansion is marrying a courtesan. Isn't this a disgrace to our manor? Can you give me some advice on how to prevent my foolish fifth young master from marrying that courtesan?"
Lin Qing laughed and said, "Brother Wang, isn't that easy? We were planning to have someone beat up that idiot Wang a few days ago, right? Perfect timing, we'll send someone to crash his wedding. We'll make sure he can't get married!"