Chapter 1409

Upon arriving outside the Shangpin Pavilion, Liu Dahei watched the imperial decree being posted, drawing a crowd of commoners who were soon in an uproar along Zhu Que Avenue.

Clutching his entire net worth—four taels and five qian—he felt nothing but relief in the depths of his eyes.

He let out a long sigh and remarked with deep emotion:

"That was close, just a hair's breadth away."

"From now on, I'm never managing money again. This is just too terrifying."

Liu Dahei sighed.

He resolved to head home as fast as he could to properly pay his respects to his ancestors.

Inside the Shangpin Pavilion.

Li Huaxiong stood stiff as a board; Liu Dahei's words had completely shattered the last shred of fantasy in his heart.

With his sharp eyes, he could easily tell that Liu Dahei was a crude, unrefined man.

Yet, precisely because of that, he felt a surge of terror.

If even Liu Dahei understood this logic, who else in all of Changancheng, or even the entire Da Qian, did not?

Li Huaxiong's face turned ghastly. He took a deep breath, suppressed the complex emotions in his heart, and spoke to Gouwazi through gritted teeth.

"Get out there and scout for news immediately! Confirm if this is true!"

"If this is real, my Shangpin Pavilion is finished, and the entire Zhao Gao market is finished!"

Gouwazi scrambled to run outside, nearly tripping and falling to the ground, but he ignored it and charged out.

Soon, he returned to the Shangpin Pavilion, his lips trembling.

"Shopkeeper..."

Seeing Gouwazi's expression, Li Huaxiong knew the result. He felt as if his very spirit had been drained, stumbling backward a few steps until he collapsed onto the floor.

In truth, he had already known the result from the voices of the palace guards.

It was just that he had been clinging to a sliver of hope, or perhaps, he was unwilling to face reality.

"Shopkeeper, it's true. The whole of Changancheng is talking about it. Everyone is saying... saying that Zhao Gao is done for..."

Li Huaxiong's face was deathly pale, but he knew in his heart that he must not panic at a time like this.

On the contrary, he had to remain calm; he must not let his own ranks fall into chaos!

"How many bolts of Zhao Gao are left in the warehouse?"

Li Huaxiong asked.

After hesitating, Gouwazi replied weakly, "Shopkeeper, I estimate there are still two or three thousand bolts..."

Upon hearing this number, Li Huaxiong's vision went black.

He asked in shock, "Why so many?"

Gouwazi replied, "Earlier, when the price of Zhao Gao was rising, you ordered us to stockpile heavily. That's why our Shangpin Pavilion rarely sold any; instead, we bought quite a lot at high prices."

"You said this was a heaven-sent opportunity to hoard stock and wait for the price of Zhao Gao to skyrocket so we could reap massive profits."

Li Huaxiong's face grew even uglier.

He remembered now. When Zhao Gao was skyrocketing, he hadn't dumped his stock; instead, he had chosen to keep buying, driving the price up further in hopes of making a fortune.

Greed had caused him to lose himself...

"Sell!"

"Sell it all off at one tael and three qian! Sell as much as you can!"

Li Huaxiong took a deep breath and said through gritted teeth.

"What?"

Gouwazi was shocked to hear this.

"Shopkeeper, sell at one tael and three qian? How much silver will we lose?"

Gouwazi looked heartbroken.

But Li Huaxiong, standing nearby, suddenly flew into a rage. "If we can even sell it at one tael and three qian, we should be burning incense in gratitude! And you're complaining it's too little!"

"Go!"

Once these words were out, Gouwazi dared not delay and hurriedly changed the price on the wooden sign hanging with the Zhao Gao!

Overnight, the Shangpin Pavilion's price plummeted by three taels and seven qian!

If Gao Yang were to learn of this, he would likely just sneer.

When an endless crash begins, a fire sale still requires someone to pick up the slack—it requires... actually being able to sell!

Every second that followed felt like a year to Li Huaxiong.

Not only was his warehouse hoarding thousands of bolts of Zhao Gao, but the Li family's caravan was also delivering the latest batch from a thousand miles away in the Zhao Kingdom—at least several thousand more bolts!

Furthermore, to seize the market, the Li family caravan had gone to the Zhao Kingdom and signed contracts with the local commoners, paying a portion of the deposit to secure Zhao Gao in advance.

If this couldn't be sold, the Li family would suffer devastating losses!

Now, Li Huaxiong could only hope that the commoners would still pay for Zhao Gao, allowing him to lose a little less.

But this was destined to be an unrealistic fantasy.

Before the news broke, Zhao Gao was a luxury item that every commoner in Da Qian envied; wearing it gave one immense face, and walking down the street drew high rates of attention.

But after the news broke, the tide of public opinion underwent a shocking shift.

"Zhao Gao that fades when it touches water? My grandmother's foot-binding cloths are better quality than this!"

"Who's to say otherwise? And this is supposed to sell for five taels a bolt? They're insane!"

"His Majesty should have issued this order long ago. With quality like this, why should Zhao Kingdom's Zhao Gao sell for so much?"

For a time, the commoners of Changancheng spoke up one after another.

Such is human nature!

Especially those who hadn't bought any earlier; they were now enjoying the spectacle. Those who had spent huge sums to buy Zhao Gao were becoming increasingly enraged at the fabric amidst the mockery.

One tael and three qian?

Who would pay for that?