Chapter Twenty: Undercurrents of Wealth

On the 18th day of the twelfth lunar month, in the backyard of the main branch of Datong Pharmacy.

The charcoal fire burned brightly, and Liu Bao'er sat in the main seat, the abacus-shaped gold hairpin in her hair gleaming calmly under the lamplight. More than a dozen branch managers sat on either side, their expressions grave. The probing three days prior, though causing no real loss, felt like a thorn in their side.

"There have been eight irregularities in the Dongshi branch's payments over the past three days, totaling 400 strings of cash."

"Six branches in the West Market, 320 strings of cash."

"The Luoyang branch also has a similar situation..."

The managers reported in turn. Although the amounts were not large, the patterns were similar—the payments were made in a decentralized manner, with the amounts precisely controlled below fifty strings of cash. This was clearly a test of the money shops' bottom line for payment.

Liu Bao'er listened quietly, then lightly tapped the table with her fingertips: "What do you all think their intentions are?"

"They're clearly trying to test our capabilities!" said Manager Liu of the East Market branch, who was the most impatient.

"Why not raise the redemption threshold and discourage them from making a decision?" someone suggested.

Liu Bao'er shook her head, her gaze sweeping over everyone present: "You can guard against it for a while, but not forever. Since some people want to see, let them see it clearly." She stood up, walked to the wall, lifted the cloth, and revealed a meticulously drawn diagram of the flow of funds.

"Starting today, all branches will implement a 'tiered reserve' system."

She picked up her bamboo cane and pointed it at the center of the drawing: "The head office shall retain 30% of its cash as core reserves, never to be used. Each branch shall retain 20% of its cash based on its business volume for daily payments."

The bamboo cane was moved to several major trade routes: "The Chang'an to Yangzhou route departs on odd-numbered days; the Chang'an to Luoyang route departs on even-numbered days. The silver transport wagons on each route depart at staggered times to support each other."

A young manager wondered, "Isn't this kind of scheduling too costly?"

"High costs are what deter people from even considering it." Liu Bao'er lightly tapped a few nodes on the blueprint with her bamboo cane. "Our hidden vaults in various locations are our real strength."

She turned to Hu Liu: "Sixth Master, tell me your plans."

Hu Liu stood up, his expression unusually serious: "Our silver transport wagons are divided into three routes: the main road, the back roads, and the third route, which is split into smaller groups, with our employees posing as traveling merchants. Each wagon is equipped with bodyguards, but the cargo is mostly stones."

"Empty cart?" The shopkeepers were surprised.

"Exactly," Liu Bao'er interjected. "The real silver was transported to its destination three days ago through various channels."

She took out a specially made codebook: "From now on, all communications between branches will use this code. Half an hour before the market opens each day, the head office will send out the daily payment code."

On the 20th of the twelfth lunar month, another round of probing began.

This time, the other party intensified their efforts, with more than a dozen payments occurring simultaneously in both the East and West markets, each amounting to around forty-five strings of cash. However, the response from Datong Pawnshop surprised all onlookers—regardless of the amount, all payments were processed immediately, with the money settled on the spot.

What's even more perplexing is that the silver transport vehicles from Datong Store continued to depart on time, and the fleet size actually increased. Those who paid close attention calculated that the cost of transporting silver in just the past two weeks alone reached a thousand strings of cash.

"Where did they get so much cash?" The person observing from the shadows couldn't sit still any longer.

On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, Datong Pharmacy unexpectedly launched a new policy of "earning interest on deposits"—deposits for a full year would earn an extra five coins. The news caused an uproar in Chang'an.

"Can saving money generate more money?"

What is Datong Store trying to do?

What's even more surprising is that this seemingly unprofitable business actually led more people to deposit their spare money into the money exchange. Rumors began to circulate among the common people: the treasury of Datong Money Exchange was overflowing.

When Cui Jiulang visited that day, he happened to see Liu Bao'er checking the codebook. He thought to himself, "Madam Dou's trick has fooled everyone."

"Why do you say that, Jiulang?"

"Openly repair the plank road while secretly crossing the Chencang pass." He tapped lightly on the table. "Those silver transport carts are mostly a decoy, aren't they?"

Liu Bao'er just smiled and remained silent.

That night, she went up to the attic alone. The gold hairpin in her hair gleamed coldly in the moonlight, and the account books lay open on the table, meticulously recording the true flow of funds—

Most of the deposited silver was cleverly invested in higher-yield areas such as salt certificates and tea coupons. Those seemingly unprofitable "interest-bearing deposits" actually provided her with a stable source of funds. The real flow of money was quietly taking place where the world could not see.

Looking at the complex graphs representing the flow of funds in the ledgers, she sometimes had the illusion that she wasn't running a business, but rather maintaining a vast economic cycle model. And she was both the designer of the model and a key variable within it.

The 30th day of the twelfth lunar month marks the approaching end of the year.

The probing by Datong Pawnshop quietly ceased, as if it had never happened. However, Liu Bao'er knew that this undercurrent had only just begun. She gently touched the gold hairpin in her hair and wrote down a new plan in the ledger—

It's time to let the money from Datong P&G flow further afield.

Fine snowflakes drifted outside the window, and the lights of Chang'an flickered in the snowy night. Beneath this tranquility, a quiet current of capital was gathering, awaiting the day it would break through the ground.