Chapter 82: Buying and Selling

The first soft light of the summer morning filtered through the window, falling upon the cherry-red quilt.

Li Ergou slowly opened his eyes and looked back to see Min'er, flushed, lying flat beside him.

He grinned and planted a small kiss on the face of the beauty beside him.

Then, not lingering in the lap of luxury, he gently shifted his body to the side, picked up his clothes, and tiptoed out of the room.

Bathing in the cool air, he arrived at an ancient well in the backyard.

He drew a bucket of cold water, held it high over his head, and "swish, swish, swish," poured it down abruptly. An indescribable coolness and refreshment spread from the top of his head throughout his entire body.

"Hoo," Li Ergou wiped his face and then began to put on his clothes.

Just at this moment, several of his underlings ran in in a great hurry. Seeing Li Ergou, Wang Pangzi said nervously, "Brother Gou, it's bad. Someone is dumping salt on the market, and the price of salt has already started to fall."

"What?" Li Ergou was startled, but he quickly calmed down and comforted them, "It's probably just someone in urgent need of money. Don't worry, this salt price will soon continue to soar."

"Really?" Wang Pangzi asked, full of worry.

The others also looked at each other, clearly still uneasy.

Li Ergou saw it clearly, his face immediately darkened, and he barked, "Whoever among you is afraid of losing capital, just sell this salt to me for thirty wen a catty. Once I've made money, I'll pay you all back together."

"That's not what we meant," Wang Pangzi hurriedly waved his hands to explain.

"If that's not what you meant, then go home and wait to bring sacks to load up the money."

As Li Ergou spoke, another group of people squeezed in.

The person in the lead was a sallow-faced, withered old man with a face full of deep wrinkles; it was Min'er's father, Li Laohan.

Previously, Li Ergou had been quite the wastrel, and he had tried every way to obstruct the marriage between his daughter and Li Ergou.

But not long ago, Li Ergou sold his land, his family property, and gathered these brothers to pool money together, hoarding quite a lot of salt.

As the price of salt tightened, Li Ergou's net worth rose with the tide.

Li Laohan then impatiently sent his daughter over, while also constantly urging the two to get married soon.

Now that the salt price had fallen, he couldn't sit still again and immediately brought people over to make trouble.

Seeing the two, Li Laohan immediately glared and asked, "Ergou, are you still going to marry our Min'er or not?"

"Marry, why wouldn't I?" Li Ergou nodded and replied.

"Good then, sell all the salt now, take the dowry to marry our Min'er, so you don't end up with all this salt crashing in your hands when the price drops back down," Li Laohan wiped his mouth and said bluntly.

"No."

"Why not?!"

"Now is not the time. If I sell now, I don't know how much I'll lose."

"Haven't you already made hundreds of taels? Is that not enough? In just one month's time, how much money could you earn farming or doing small business in a year?"

Li Ergou smiled and shook his head, staring at Li Laohan, and said, "Who would complain about having too much money? An opportunity like this is something an ordinary person won't encounter once in a lifetime. Since we've encountered it, if we just let it go like this, we'll be asking for retribution."

Having said that, he incited the crowd, "Tell me, isn't that right?!"

"Right!" The crowd laughed together and shouted in unison.

Li Laohan knew he couldn't persuade this rascal, so he gritted his teeth and played his trump card: "Then you just keep on dreaming your get-rich-quick dream here; I'll just find another good family for Min'er."

"With Min'er's looks, let alone your ordinary family, even the big shots in the city would have a bunch of people fighting over her!" "Hehe, Father-in-law, I advise you to give up on that idea," Li Ergou gave a wicked smile, looking like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, "I won't hide it from you, Min'er is already pregnant with my child. As long as I go out and shout it, let alone wealthy families, even families like ours wouldn't dare to have her."

"You!" Li Laohan's body trembled, his eyes widened, and deep regret surged in his heart.

If he had known, he shouldn't have let Min'er come over.

Seeing the atmosphere turn cold, Wang Pangzi, who was on the side, smiled and came out to smooth things over: "Uncle Li, you have to trust Brother Gou. Brother Gou said that this salt price will definitely rise again."

Another person chimed in, "That's right, once it rises a bit more, if we sell a little later, we'll definitely be able to earn even more."

Li Laohan was tempted in his heart, but he couldn't bring himself to back down.

Li Ergou saw it clearly, gave a hehe smile, leaned into his ear, and lowered his voice to say, "Father-in-law, rest assured. Once I sell this salt, not only will I bring Min'er into the house with an eight-bearer sedan chair in grand style, but even the matter between you and Wang Shen will be no problem at all."

Good lad.

Li Laohan's eyes lit up. He stared into Li Ergou's eyes for a long while before curling his lip and saying, "Forget it, forget it. Your young people's business is not for me to manage; I'll just leave it to you."

Having said that, he took out his dry tobacco pouch from his waist, put it in his mouth, turned around, and walked away from the crowd with his hands clasped behind his back.

The others who had come to make trouble also spoke some pleasantries and then dispersed in a hubbub.

On the other side, Jin Fu had naturally also learned early on the news that salt was being sold at a price of thirty wen.

Without a second word, he immediately ordered the steward to buy up all this salt.

After two days of work, the price of salt did not fall but rose instead, reaching thirty-three wen a catty.

Seeing such happy news, Jin Guanjia immediately took a warm sedan chair back home. Jin Fu had been waiting in the main hall early on. Seeing Jin Guanjia return, he asked unhurriedly, "How much did it rise?"

"Master, you are truly divine. It has risen by another wen, it's already thirty-three wen," Jin Guanjia gave a hehe smile, his face full of fawning.

Jin Fu was very proud in his heart, his face blooming like a bright chrysanthemum, but when he opened his mouth, he spoke with humility: "This is nothing. We're nowhere near the end; the good show is still to come."

"Did that lord give the word?" Jin Guanjia was immediately overjoyed.

"Is this something you should be asking?"

Jin Fu instantly retracted his joy and glanced sideways at Jin Guanjia.

Jin Guanjia felt as if he had been struck by lightning. His knees buckled and he fell to his knees with a thud, frantically slapping his own face, "This lowly one deserves to die, this lowly one deserves to die, this lowly one shouldn't have been so loose-lipped."

"Slap, slap, slap."

Every slap was delivered with full force. In no time at all, Jin Guanjia's cheeks were already flushed and swollen.

"That's enough, that's enough, get up."

"Many thanks, Master."

Jin Guanjia stopped his hand, let his arms hang down, and stood respectfully to the side.

"You put the word out that war is about to break out, and we are only buying salt, not selling. Anyone selling for thirty wen or less, you buy it all for me. This time, until the salt reaches fifty wen a catty, I will absolutely not stop."

"Fifty wen? Will... will anyone still buy it?" Jin Guanjia's face was full of disbelief.

"That won't be up to them." Jin Fu gave a sinister smile, his pair of triangular eyes filled with a venomous look.

(End of this chapter)