Chapter 276 Stealing Business

Liu Ji got up half an hour earlier today than usual. By the time he finished memorizing the book, the sky was just beginning to turn pale.

At this time, Awang had already cut the grass for the family's livestock and spread it out on a rack next to the cowshed to dry. He seemed to know how to feed the horses. Old Huang was always very excited when he saw him these two days.

Liu Ji heard the noise outside the yard, stretched, closed the book, and went to the warehouse in the backyard.

He opened the door of the warehouse and looked at the piles of wheat inside, and a smile appeared on his face.

"Awang, set up the carriage and have breakfast early. We will go to the town to sell grain later!" Liu Ji's tone was cheerful.

Awang responded from outside the yard, ran in quickly, pushed the carriage out, led out the horses and harnessed them, and then followed Liu Ji's instructions and carried five bags of wheat over.

The first time he went, Liu Ji planned to take five bags of grain to try out the results. If they sold well, he would load up his ox cart the next day and let Awang transport the grain to the town, while he would stand by and weigh and sell it.

The master and servant were busy all morning, left a steaming hot breakfast, packed their lunch and set off.

Along the way, they met many workers who came to Liujia Village to work. When they saw Liu Ji, they all asked him what he was doing.

The grain was placed in the carriage, covered by a door curtain, so no one could see the grain bags inside and thought Liu Ji had gone out for a stroll.

Liu Ji didn't say anything, for fear that everyone would follow his example. Xiahe Village was not poor, and there were several families who stockpiled grain.

Although the cost is not as low as his, and the quantity is not as large as his, after all, only the first wave of people who go there can make money, so don't blame him for hiding it from everyone.

He will tell you later when he can no longer hide it. By that time, all the food he has will have been sold out.

Liu Ji was very happy with the idea. He told Qin Yao that he planned to sell the grain ten cents cheaper than the grain merchants in town, but in fact he was only planning to sell it five cents cheaper than others.

Ten thousand kilograms of grain would cost fifty taels of silver!

In order to prevent Awang from revealing the truth, Liu Ji used all kinds of threats and inducements along the way. Sometimes he warned Awang that he could kick him out of the house at any time, and sometimes he asked him if he needed anything and just told the master and the master would buy it for him.

Awang always had that expressionless look on his face. He would just say “yes, yes, yes” to whatever Liu Ji said.

Liu Ji felt that it was settled.

An hour later, the master and servant arrived at the official road from Jinshi Town to the county town.

No one was allowed to enter the city, and the major families in Jinshi Town blocked the way, so all the refugees who had fled gathered between the two places.

Along the way, every open space or Taoist temple with a pergola was surrounded by refugees.

Some wealthy families would come here to recruit some cheap temporary workers to help with the work, which provided some refugees with hope of survival.

But such opportunities are very rare. Nowadays, there are a lot of people who sell themselves for free, and gradually, no one likes to be a manager of a wealthy family.

The refugees from outside gathered together, waiting for the pawnshop people to come and pawn their items every day.

Those who were poor were already starving to death, lying under a big tree by the roadside, motionless, not knowing whether they were alive or dead.

Whenever locals were seen passing by on the official road, a large group of refugees would gather around them to beg for food.

Liu Ji's target was certainly not the corpse lying under the tree. He had to go a little further towards the county town, where there was an empty horse farm. Some powerful refugees among them had already occupied this place.

The carriage was closed tightly, but the refugees' sense of smell could be described as horrible. As soon as Liu Ji's carriage passed by, it attracted many refugees to follow the carriage.

As there were two adult men with ruddy complexions in the car, no one acted rashly.

Moreover, there were many servants and thugs from various banks, pawnshops, and wealthy families along the way. Government officials would also appear every day to maintain order and distribute relief food to local victims, so the refugees became much more restrained.

The last incident of robbing the grain carts of Zhou Zheng and other officials never happened again after several leaders died.

When Liu Ji came from the provincial capital, he was already used to the wolf-like looks of these refugees. He turned to look at Awang and was about to comfort him, telling him not to panic as there were people protecting him in this area.

Awang remained calm and drove the car steadily.

"Stop there, outside that pavilion over there!" Liu Ji found a good spot and urged Awang to park the car there.

Awang did as he was told. As soon as the master and servant parked the car and dismounted, a group of refugees who seemed to be in good spirits gathered around them and asked them if they had any food to sell.

Liu Ji didn't expect that business would come to him so easily, so he immediately put up the sign he had written in advance, which read: COFCO, forty-five cents per pound!

Someone in the crowd could read and read it aloud.

"It's almost half the price of the medium-quality grain at the rice shop? Is that true?" someone asked in surprise.

Liu Ji said confidently: "Of course it is true. We are just ordinary people, not those black-hearted profiteers. I, Liu Laosan, know that you are in trouble now, so I will help you as much as I can."

He signaled Awang to open the car door and take out the food for everyone to check its quality.

"I bought some wheat at the beginning of this year. I haven't threshed it yet. Every grain is plump and sweet. It's only 45 cents a pound. The quantity is limited, so it's on a first-come, first-served basis!"

After Liu Ji's shout, everyone was sure that there was good and cheap food, and they swarmed around to buy it.

Liu Ji asked Awang to maintain order, "Everyone, take your time, line up, everyone has a place, no need to squeeze!"

While smiling, he took out the scale and took the bowls, cans, cloth bags and other items handed over by each family to weigh the food for them.

Business was booming. Liu Ji counted the money until his hands were tired. Seeing a large bag of grain sold in just a quarter of an hour, he couldn't stop smiling.

The victims who bought cheap and good food were also very happy. Word spread quickly and people all came to the pavilion to buy Liu Ji's wheat.

The rice shop clerk yawned and opened the door of his makeshift rice shop. He turned around and was about to say: Don't push, everyone. Anyone with money can buy food.

But when the words were about to come out, I realized that there was no one in front of the store where there used to be a long line.

The man was very shocked. "Where are the people? Could it be that the government officials are distributing relief food to the refugees?"

I heard a man shouting earnestly: "Fresh grain is only 45 cents per pound. The quantity is limited. First come, first served."

The clerk quickly asked his thugs to watch over the rice shop and rushed towards the source of the noise to check what was going on.

Seeing the master and servant selling food enthusiastically, the waiter's expression turned cold. He immediately caught a disaster victim who had bought food and asked him, "Isn't the food in the rice shop good? Why did you buy it here?"

Although he is a clerk, he behaves like a bandit. The victim who was grabbed was startled and subconsciously covered his grain bag, hesitating to explain: "Boss Liu's COFCO only costs a little more than half the price of your rice shop."

So naturally, it’s better to buy cheap rather than expensive!

The man let go of the victim, took a hard look at the master and servant, memorized their faces, turned around and ran quickly towards a nearby farm.

Two unknown people who came from nowhere dared to steal their business. Master Wu will definitely teach them a lesson!

(End of this chapter)