Chapter 68 Bidding

After the New Year, Wu Yingniang's Heishan Restaurant reopened.

Business was good last year, and the only five dining tables in the store were not enough.

When it’s mealtime, guests often have to wait for a table.

So Wu Yingniang bought the shop next door, renovated it, and opened the Black Mountain Restaurant.

As the store gets bigger and there are more customers, the store needs more manpower.

Black Bandit Mountain then sent three or five more people to the Black Mountain Restaurant to help, and took over Hao Ren's job as the restaurant's accountant.

But Hao Ren was not idle either.

He sat at a table at the back of the restaurant, drinking with Mr. Li, the shopkeeper from Bimozhai.

They talked about the writing business today.

Hao Ren took out a long wooden box:

"This is the ink Hao mentioned earlier. Shopkeeper Li, you can try it first."

Shopkeeper Li took out the ink stick and his eyes lit up.

He has been in the ink business for many years and can tell good ink by its texture and feel:

"Good, it's really good ink."

Shopkeeper Li's smile just rose, then fell again, and he pushed the ink stick back to Hao Ren:

"Village Chief Hao, although the price of ink is high recently, business is really tough. Not many people in Baiyun County are willing to spend big bucks on pens and ink, so I'm afraid good ink won't sell."

Hao Ren understood what Shopkeeper Li wanted to say, and he smiled warmly:

"Shopkeeper Li, as long as the price is right, there's no reason why good goods can't be sold. This batch of ink costs one hundred coins per hu. Shopkeeper Li, you can try selling twenty hu first."

Shopkeeper Li's eyes lit up, and he almost thought he had misheard: "One hundred coins and one hu?"

The current market price of ink is such that top-grade pine soot ink can cost up to 10,000 to 20,000 coins per hu, which is several dozen times higher than before.

Second-rate pine soot ink costs one thousand coins per hu, ordinary ink costs two hundred coins per hu, and the worst inferior ink costs eighty coins per hu.

Due to the soaring price of ink, some poor students can no longer afford ink.

The ink that Hao Ren brought was of high quality.

If placed next to ordinary ink, anyone who sees it will choose this ink.

If the purchase price is one hundred coins, the store can still make double the profit by selling it for two hundred coins, and there is no need to transport it from other places.

"Okay, Village Chief Hao, it's settled! I'll take it to the shop today and try to sell it for a few days."

Shopkeeper Li agreed readily, fearing that Hao Ren would regret it the next moment.

Hao Ren and Manager Li enjoyed some food and wine, and then Manager Li insisted on paying the bill and hurried back to Bimozhai with a bag of ink sticks.

Old man Qin, with a towel draped over his shoulders, came over to clean the table:

"Look at him. Selling one hu for a hundred coins is too cheap."

Although Old Man Qin was busy serving as a waiter, he heard every word of the transaction between Hao Ren and Manager Li.

Hao Ren stood up and helped wipe the table.

When he was young, he had seen many people in Beijing buying ink for thousands of coins and inkstones for tens of thousands of coins. He knew that although the ink could be sold at a profit for a hundred coins, it was not the time to raise the price yet.

…

Mingde Academy is closed on holiday.

The primary school students rushed out of the academy with their school boxes on their backs.

It seems that if you run faster, you can have a longer vacation.

Xue Che always walks at a leisurely pace, but Su Zhizhi is a fast runner.

Su Zhizhi pulled Gu Qingning and Xue Che and said goodbye to the headmaster. She ran so fast that her legs almost turned into hot wheels.

Gu Qingning and Xue Che felt like their eyelids were about to be blown off...

"Su Zhizhi—Su Zhizhi—"

The voice of classmate Wu Zhan came from behind.

Su Zhizhi and the other two stopped and turned around:

"What's up?"

Wu Zhan ran out of breath: "Su Zhizhi, if my dad wants to buy your ink, where can he buy it? Where is your home?"

Although Wu Zhan had not yet returned home to show Mo to his father, his intuition told him that this might be a business opportunity.

Su Zhizhi was about to talk about the location of her own courtyard, but Xue Che spoke first:

"Our master is at the Black Mountain Restaurant. If you want to discuss business, you can go to the restaurant to find him."

"Black Mountain Restaurant." Wu Zhan remembered it.

After saying goodbye to Su Zhizhi and others, he ran home.

The Wu family has a house with three entrances and three exits in the county town, and they are a well-off family.

But although the house looks big, there are only two or three servants serving inside.

Some of the uninhabited houses were covered in dust.

Wu Zhan's father, Wu Fugui, sat in the yard drinking cold water to cool down.

After you finish the cold water, you have to pour it yourself.

The family has been short of money these past two years and cannot afford so many servants, so I have to do a lot of things myself.

In his early years, Wu Fugui made a lot of money through business, bought houses and land, and lived a prosperous life.

At that time, Wu Fugui did not realize that he was at the peak of his life. He thought that he would make more and more money next year and the year after, and gold and silver would come rolling in.

The harsh truth is, he kept missing out after that.

When selling umbrellas, there was drought and no one bought them; when selling fans, there was flood and humidity.

Whatever he bought, he couldn't sell.

So much so that some people actually avoid the goods that Wu Fugui imports.

Recently, Wu Fugui saw that the price of ink was rising, so he went to other places to purchase a batch of ink sticks.

As a result, the price went up, but no one bought it. The people of Xunzhou would rather buy inferior ink than spend money on expensive good ink.

"Oh——" Wu Fugui lay on the chair and drank another bowl of water.

"Dad, why are you sighing again?" Wu Zhan came in from the door.

There was no doorman at the door, so Wu Zhan opened and closed the door himself. He was both the master and the servant in his own home.

Wu Fugui beckoned his son to come closer:

"Dad is lamenting that your grandfather gave Dad the wrong name. Your grandfather named Dad 'Fugui', but how could he not realize that our family name is Wu, alas."

"Zhan'er, Dad wants to change your name, otherwise Dad is afraid that you will never be able to spread your wings and fly high in this life. How about you call yourself Wu Qiong?"

"Dad, stop! Stop!" Wu Zhan shook his head repeatedly and quickly took out an ink block wrapped in a handkerchief from the bookcase.

"Dad, don't think about changing your name for now. Take a look at this. This is the ink sold in the village by my classmate from the academy. I think it's better than the pine soot ink Dad has in the warehouse."

Wu Fugui suddenly became alert, stood up from his chair, took the small ink block from his son's hand and looked at it carefully.

Its color is extremely dark and its patterns are like those of a rhinoceros rhinoceros.

Wu Fugui hurried to the warehouse to get a piece of pine soot ink that he had bought from another place for comparison.

The two ink sticks were dipped in water and ground together.

As soon as he put pen to paper, two clouds of smoke spread out on the paper.

The small piece of ink that Wu Zhan brought back was finer in texture than the pine soot ink that Wu Fugui bought from other places.

Wu Fugui turned to look at his son with joy and asked three questions in a row:

"Zhan'er, what kind of ink is this? How much is it? Where is your classmate's home?"

Wu Zhan: "My classmate said it's called Black Mountain Ink. He didn't say how much it cost, but asked us to get a quote and negotiate. You can find their owner at the Black Mountain Restaurant."

Wu Fugui calculated in his mind:

The pine soot ink he imported from other places was eight hundred coins per tablet. If he could get the Black Mountain ink for three hundred coins, he could transport it north to other places to sell.

Not only can you make up for the losses, but you can also make a lot of money.

"Let's go, let's go! Zhan'er."

"Dad, where are you going?"

"Dad will take you to the sky!"

Wu Fugui dragged Wu Zhan to the Black Mountain Restaurant impatiently.

The father and son arrived at the southwest corner of the city and went in towards the wine flag of the Black Mountain Restaurant.

"Are you looking for our boss to buy some ink? Please come in. It's in the innermost private room on the first floor."

The new owner of the restaurant is Lao Xu, who enthusiastically gives directions to the Wu father and son.

It was Old Xu who, after being disguised by Grandma Qiu, performed a 360-degree spin and vomited blood in front of the censor and the governor last time.

He has profound martial arts skills and is a good person. His only flaw is that he is a natural actor and his performances are exaggerated.

The Wu family father and son had just taken two steps when they heard Old Xu sighing behind them:

"Tsk, what's going on today? They're all skipping meals and coming to the boss to buy ink."

Wu Fugui and Wu Zhan quickened their pace at the same time.

Just as they reached the door of the private room and were about to knock, they heard an old man's powerful voice from inside:

"I want all the remaining Black Mountain Ink!"

"Four hundred coins and a hu can do it"

Wu Fugui didn't care about that, he pushed the door open and shouted:

"Wait! I'll give you five hundred!"

"Five hundred and one hu! Leave some for me!"