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Chapter 243: The Conflict Among the Grain Stores (IV)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“What the hell are the Liu’s doing?”

The manager of the grain storage slammed on the cabinet hard. His wrinkled face turned red with rage and the vessels on his forehead stood out. It felt like a flame of fury was stored in his chest. Who would refuse the chance to be more wealthy? There was the perfect chance right in front of his eyes and the Liu’s had to intervene.

The clerk working in the store felt troubled because the store was quiet. He muttered to the owner, “Boss, should we lower the price as well?”

If they didn’t, they would have trouble selling the grain they had restocked. It would always be better to make some profit than nothing at all.

The manager of the store was so pissed; he almost lost his temper. He truly didn’t want to feel as though he was being led by others by the nose.

“No!” He ground his teeth and said, “Based on the Lius’ deep pocket behavior, they must have plenty of grain in stock that they are not scared to waste. What should we do if they keep reducing their price once we compromise?”

Even his master entrusted the business management to him, but if the store didn’t make a satisfying profit every season, he would be the one condemned by his boss. “Let’s wait for awhile and see. I will send someone to find out the reality.”

The manager of the grain store wandered back and forth with his hands crossed behind his back. It seemed like he was going to shatter the bricks on the ground.

The clerk asked, “So are we going to send someone to probe their grain storage?”

The manger almost couldn’t help but laugh at the clerk’s stupidity. He sneered at the clerk. “So who should I send to do it? You?”

The clerk shook his head hard.

The granary was like a safe for the gentry clans to keep their wealth in because it was their daily food supply. If someone from outside got caught probing their granary, it would be the same as if they got caught poisoning their food in the kitchen. They might get away with it if they didn’t get caught, but once they did, they would definitely offend the Liu’s and would be in a lot of trouble.

The clerk scratched his head and asked for the manager’s advice. “Boss, I know you are the wisest one... Do you have any ideas?”

The manager looked at the deferential smile on the clerk’s face and gently stroked his beard. There was a complacency in his eyes. “Move your ear closer.”

He whispered into the clerk’s ear and the clerk’s expressions changed from confusion to sudden understanding. The clerk was impressed by his sophistication.

“Brilliant!” The clerk applauded hard to flatter him. “You are really smart, boss.”

“This is nothing.” The manager felt his anger fade away and his mind eased, as well. “There is no comparison between me and the Liu County Chief on managing the county and civilians. But about doing business, Liu County Chief is just a layman and he is barely qualified to use the tricks.”

If he did have a clue about business, he wouldn’t make a mistake like using a rough strategy to have a constant grain price plunge. That was harmful to others, but not beneficial to himself.

Business was business. Liu County Chief was no doubt a competent manager with statecraft, but he was merely an obtrusive, average man in all business aspects.

It was simply that no one expected what the Lius’ grain stores did to acquire customers, which was decreasing the grain price, and no one expected that it had anything to do with Liu She.

It wasn’t because of their blindness that they couldn’t tell. It was either that the old Liu Xi or the present Liu Xi with Jiang Pengji’s soul had no interest in participating in those verse’s clubs.

The verse’s clubs were boring in many ways, but they were also the main method to advertise a person. It was a perfect place for anyone to display their talents and obtain fame for themselves.

Who could possibly remember Liu Xi if he never presented himself for marketing?

It was his personality that made the old Liu Xi choose not to do so, and Jiang Pengji just simply despised that kind of behavior.

That was why everyone considered Liu She as the man in charge in the Lius’ second branch. Naturally they would go to him to resolve issues. Everyone bullied the weak and feared the strong.

If they happened to be the weak one, then ninety-nine percent of them would be frightened, considering that Liu She was so hardcore.

But if it was the other way round, Liu She was the meek one; he would get bullied for many reasons.

They would bother him to death if they couldn’t torture him to death.

It didn’t mean that they were afraid of the kid, even though they wouldn’t dare to piss off the father. But if they actually did that, they would certainly take a lesson from it.

The kid was apparently more aggressive than the father. The father would only make them suffer, but the kid would make them lose their lives.

The clerk kept adulating his boss. “You are absolutely right. I think so as well. No one is more experienced than you at making a profit.”

“We will stay still first!” The manager thumped his hand on the table and said, “Let’s see how much storage they have for them to splurge!”

Since Jiang Pengji had more grain than the expected number, they held off the limited purchase plan until the next day.

Jiang Pengji examined the statistics on the desk, which was the price records of all thirty-one grain stores in Hejian County for the past couple days.

Excepting the first price decrease, the rest of the grain stores seemed to come to an agreement. Instead of continuing to decrease the price to match the Liu’s, they automatically chose to neglect the Lius’ three grain stores. They just let their own stores be stable and they had no emotional fluctuation, even though no one walked into their stores.

Jiang Pengji sneered after seeing that. “They are still acting calmly, but that will be it...”

If they chose to decrease the price to match hers immediately, they still had a chance to minimize their loss. She wouldn’t spare mercy for with them anymore, considering how much they held to themselves.

Early in the morning of the next day, Jiang Pengji asked Xu Ke to run an errand for her.

“You are sure about this... Langjun?” Xu Ke widened his eyes. Isn’t it too wicked?

Jiang Pengji had rolls of books in her hands. She knocked on the desk and yelled at him with a sense of impatience, “You saw the grand scene yesterday. The civilians were for sure attracted by our store, but the price was still far above their expectations and barely anyone purchased any.”

It wasn’t exactly like how she described. There was more than “barely anyone,” it just didn’t reach the goal she had set and she was not pleased by the gross transactions.

Xu Ke wasn’t going to respond to that. With the price they posted the day before, it would be weird if the majority people would be able to afford it.

Even though they had managed to do price drops twice for the Liu’s’ three stores, it was still out of the civilians’ affordable range.

Most of the civilians were still waiting to see if there would be another price drop within a day. They wanted to see if it might be cheaper if they waited a bit longer.

“I have seen the documents that father provided about Hu County. It is a good year with sufficient rain and it is almost guaranteed to be a good harvest. The drought situation in Two Counties areas are improving, and the food crisis pressure will be less than it has been in past several years. That also means that the price of grain will be exceptionally low after the harvest season.”

Jiang Pengji put on her poker face and said to him, “The sooner we trade the five thousand dans of grain in stock to real money before the harvest season, the better. If we purchase the grain at a low cost after the harvest season back and forth, that almost doubles or triples the total amount of grain we have had in the year. If we cannot clear out the stock before the season, that means that we are in the red.”

Even thought it was a business without any cost, who would go for a profit of a hundred over ten thousand?

Jiang Pengji needed everything she could possible think of. She was broadening the sources of income and reducing expenditures as much as she could, and she was doing everything to exchange the five thousand dans of grain into the maximum gains.

Xu Ke went silent. Is this the reason why you set up all the rest of the stores, Langjun? It is good and convincing. I have no comment about it.

He somehow felt relief that his master never lost her initial purpose, which was to make the other gentry clans suffer.