Chapter 214: Difficulty
Editor: Atlas Studios
Butler Chen walked out of the grain store in a daze and returned to the small rented courtyard with a frown. The lead guard, Wei Yan, hurriedly came out to welcome him. “Butler Chen, how is it?”
Butler Chen shook his head. “Not only did the price of grain not decrease, but it even increased a lot.”
Frowning, Wei Yan said, “Then what should we do? We’ve been out for so long. If we don’t go back soon, Little General and Young Master Fan will probably be anxious. Moreover, the prices of goods in Lin’an Prefecture are too high. The daily expenses of more than 30 of us are not small.”
Rolling his eyes, Butler Chen said, “You can just say this in front of me but don’t say it outside, lest others think that we’re poor. You can’t show your fear in a rich place like Lin’an Prefecture. Otherwise, no matter how much money you have, you’ll be cheated. Besides, are we people who care about that little expense? The money earned from those diced rabbit meat and cured rabbit meat is enough for you to feast for ten lifetimes.”
Wei Yan frowned and said angrily, “But that money belongs to our master. I’ve long had a problem with you taking his money out to treat people to a feast.”
“Heh.” Butler Chen glared at him. “You’re really taking it seriously? This is called doing business, understand? If we don’t treat people to a meal and drink, can our things be sold for such a high price? Oh, if we do things your way, aren’t you tired of recommending our goods going door to door at every dry goods store? This is secondary. If you do this, aside from lowering your status, the assistant shopkeeper will also bargain down the price. This is why Young Master Fan told you to listen to me.”
Wei Yan turned his head and said, “Alright, I’ll listen to everything you say. Tell me, when can we buy grains and return to Xingzhou Prefecture? I don’t want to stay in Lin’an Prefecture for another day.”
The first few days were still very novel. After all, this was the first time he had seen such a huge and prosperous city in his life. However, after shopping for a few days, Wei Yan was already tired of it.
The flourishing Lin’an Prefecture was a place of wealth and splendor, and those living there seemed to be unaware of the sufferings outside. If not for the fact that he had just come from Xingzhou Prefecture and had lived at the border since he was young, he would have thought that the Great Zhou Dynasty was prosperous and peaceful.
The longer Wei Yan stayed here, the more unhappy he became. How many lives had it taken to achieve such prosperity? Furthermore, the General and Little General had to lower their status to do business in order to earn money to buy rations for the soldiers and give out military salaries.
These people were clearly under their protection, but they were taking it for granted.
Was it the fault of the people of Lin’an Prefecture? Not really. Wei Yan had once stood up for the border soldiers in a wine shop, but the people at the nearby tables said that despite paying an additional amount of military expenses every year, the many soldiers in the Great Zhou could not even defend their country.
Only then did Wei Yan know that the soldiers at the border were the targets of scolding and disgust, except for the Yuan family’s army.
If Butler Chen had not stopped him, Wei Yan would have fought with them long ago. He felt that they had been wronged. They had always been collecting their rations and military salary from the local people all these years. Whenever they asked the Imperial Court for money and rations, the Imperial Court would at most send some horses and weapons, and it would usually take about half a year to get these things.
It was already not bad if one-thousandth of the military expenditure handed over by Lin’an Prefecture and Jiangnan fell into their hands.
Wei Yan widened his eyes and asked Butler Chen to give him a return date. In response, Butler Chen squatted on the steps and scratched his head. “How would I know when to go back? Young Master asked us to exchange 80% of the silver for grains after selling the items and only bring back 20% of the silver. Didn’t I delay for a month because I wanted to buy more after Jiangnan starts harvesting, hoping that the grain price would decrease? What the hell? Not only did the grain price not decrease, but it increased. How am I going to buy the grains now? Won’t Young Master kill me when I go back?”
Wei Yan said shamelessly, “You’re in charge of this business. I don’t care. In any case, I want to go back as soon as possible. It’s not a solution for us to stay here forever. Are we going to stay here forever if the price of grains doesn’t drop? Before I came out, the Jin soldiers were already eyeing our Xingzhou Prefecture covetously. I have to go back and help Little General.”
“Forget it. Little General doesn’t lack people like you.” Butler Chen rubbed his face and said, “Since we can’t buy at the grain stores, let’s go to the countryside to take a look. Don’t be idle. Send someone to inquire about the grain price in the countryside. If it’s not high, we’ll buy it directly from the farmers. As soon as we get the grains, we’ll set off immediately.”
“You should have said so earlier. Why did you only think of such a good idea now?”
Butler Chen snorted and said, “Do you think it’s easy? When you go out and do it, you’ll know how difficult it is.” Butler Chen patted his butt and left.
After the ordinary families paid taxes, how many families could take out grains to sell? Most of them could only store them in their houses and eat them sparingly until next year. Only rich families and small landlords had surplus grains to sell, but such people often cooperated with various grain stores.
This was a one-off business. Even if they offer those people a better price, they would not offend the grain merchants who had worked with them for a long time just for a one-off business. There were rules in this industry.
Butler Chen was taking the risk of breaking the rules to do such a thing only because he was hoping to get lucky. He only hoped to encounter a few rich landlords who were in urgent need of money or were so stupid that they did not care about the industry rules.
As for them, their people and foundation were all in Xingzhou Prefecture. Even if those grain merchants were angry, they wouldn’t be able to catch them.
However, Butler Chen didn’t dare to have too much hope. He returned to his room to find the letter Fan Zijin had given him before he left. It was a letter for Mrs. Fan. Butler Chen didn’t want to take it out, but Wei Yan was right. They couldn’t keep delaying in Lin’an Prefecture. Not knowing what the situation in Xingzhou Prefecture was like, they had to hurry back.
When he came, Young Master Fan didn’t ask him to pay his respects to the Fan family. He even said not to look for Mrs. Fan unless it was absolutely necessary. It could be seen that Young Master Fan didn’t have a very good relationship with his mother. It was also because of this consideration that Butler Chen didn’t let the Fan family know that they were Little General and Young Master Fan’s men.
Should they successfully sell all their diced rabbit meat and cured rabbit meat, the profits were indeed shocking. However, this was only half of what Young Master had instructed them to do.
Why did they spend so much effort to earn money?
Wasn’t it to buy grains?
He had to bring the grains back to complete the mission.
Butler Chen prepared a few small gifts and brought a guard to the Fan Residence to deliver the invitation. Not long after the invitation went in, Butler Chen was respectfully brought to the reception pavilion.
After reading the letter, Mrs. Fan pressed the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief. Her eyes were slightly red as she asked, “When did you come to Lin’an Prefecture?”
Butler Chen lowered his head and said in embarrassment, “I came a few months ago. It’s just that I haven’t been able to complete what Young Master instructed me to do. I was too ashamed to see Madam, so I dragged it out until today.”
Mrs. Fan touched the letter and looked at Butler Chen for a while. Her heart sank and she forced a smile. “You’re really considerate. Tell me, what’s making you so troubled?”
She knew her son well. It was most likely because her son did not want her to know about him.
Mrs. Fan had not expected her son to be so distant from her.