Shen Qing squinted at Boss Wu.
Then I remembered that he was the candidate that the other merchants had previously nominated to be the president.
This man usually doesn't say much in the chamber of commerce and has never spoken out to criticize anything, but at crucial moments, a single sentence from him can make other merchants jump up and rebel.
Shen Qing recalled a saying: A dog that bites doesn't bark.
This Mr. Wu is probably that kind of dog.
Shen Qing pulled himself together, walked up to the man, and asked with a smile, "Mr. Wu, how did you determine that I lack the ability to sell my inventory?"
"If you had that ability, you would already be selling raw silk to foreigners instead of hauling it into your own warehouse!"
Shen Qing feigned confusion: "How do you know I didn't sell raw silk to foreigners?"
Mr. Wu choked, and before he could speak, Mr. Liu, standing to the side, muttered, "The British didn't even come to buy! They won't be coming for at least a month..."
Before he could finish speaking, Mr. Wu glared at him, and Mr. Liu immediately fell silent.
Shen Qing walked up to Boss Liu, put his hands behind his back, and looked at him with a smile: "What? You made a deal with that Englishman that he absolutely cannot come to buy raw silk within a month? Did you even conspire to make it so that even if I go to his door to sell him raw silk, he can't buy it?"
Mr. Liu's eyes darted around a few times, and he sneered, "What nonsense are you talking about! How can you say we're colluding with that Englishman?"
As she spoke, she turned her eyes to the doorway, but did not see Qi Zhenheng, so she felt relieved.
As long as Qi Zhenheng doesn't hear it, no matter what Shen Qing accuses them of, they can turn the tables and say that she framed them!
Anyway, there's no evidence!
Shen Qing knew exactly what these merchants were thinking, so he walked to the head seat, sat down, and gave a mocking smile.
"Don't worry, I won't report you to Lord Qi for colluding with the British. That's not important. What's important is—"
She suddenly raised her sharp eyes, looked at everyone, and said coldly, "Most importantly—I already know who the mole is! I'm giving you three days to handle this matter. If you haven't severed ties with that foreigner by then, I will report to Lord Qi! At that time, taking back your share and kicking you out of the Chamber of Commerce will be a minor matter; treason will be a crime that will implicate your entire family!"
Mr. Liu and Mr. Li turned pale.
Mr. Wu, however, remained unfazed.
The other merchants looked completely bewildered.
Judging from everyone's reaction, Shen Qing had already determined who the mole was.
She opened the drawer beside her, took out several documents in both Chinese and English, and threw them into the center of the long table.
"These are the orders and customs declarations for over four thousand bales of raw silk, each bale worth five hundred taels. Everything is clearly written on the customs declaration. Anyone who doesn't believe it can come with me when it's time to collect the money."
Mr. Wu immediately stepped forward, picked up the bilingual (Chinese and English) customs document, and looked at Shen Qing with surprise: "You sold raw silk to the French?"
Shen Qingwei raised her chin and glanced at him: "What? Selling it to the French doesn't count?"
Mr. Wu choked and couldn't say a word.
Shen Qing coldly looked at him and the two bosses, Li and Liu, and sneered, "My customers are all over the world. Do you think that just because you've colluded with the British, I can't sell these raw silks? If the British can't sell them, I can sell them to the French, the Japanese, the Italians, or even the Indians! Let's see how capable you are at colluding!"
She laughed angrily: "I signed a one-year contract with the French. The British won't get a single piece of raw silk this year! You'd better go back and think about how you're going to explain this to the British!"
Mr. Li and Mrs. Liu slunk away.
Mr. Wu glared at Shen Qing for a while, then left with gritted teeth.
Five bewildered merchants remained at the scene.
"Mr. Shen, we actually don't want to dismiss you. We think you've done a great job."
"Yes, yes, I also think Mr. Shen did a great job!"
“Every time, it was Boss Li and Boss Liu who would come and encourage us, saying things like, ‘You’re no good, you’ve made us lose all our money…’”
Shen Qing smiled and said, "I know everything. There's no need for explanations. Actually, I know very well who the mole is."
The group felt a little relieved.
Seeing that Shen Qing looked exhausted, they all stood up to say goodbye to her.
Everyone left, and the accounting office returned to silence.
Shen Qing got up and stretched her limbs. When she turned around, she saw Qi Zhenheng standing at the door with his hands behind his back, smiling at her.
She smiled at him and said, "Lord Qi, please come in."
Qi Zhenheng strode into the accounting room and stopped in front of her: "I heard you sold out all that raw silk?"
Shen Qing laughed: "Of course! Otherwise, wouldn't those merchants have dragged me down with them?"
Qi Zhenheng looked at her with surprise and delight.
Even though they had reached a dead end, she still managed to turn the situation around!
"Tell me quickly, who did you sell it to? How did you sell it?"
"I'll sell it to the French!"
"French?"
“I originally bought a villa in Shanghai to open a silk shop. Later, a Frenchman took over my silk shop, and I used that money to sign raw silk orders with silk farmers for the next ten years.”
Qi Zhenheng nodded: "And then?"
Shen Qing explained in detail:
“I left in a hurry, leaving the remaining silk and employees in the silk shop to the French. After he moved into the villa, he found that my silk was of good quality, better than the finest silk in France and even in Europe. So he sent me a telegram asking me to sell him more silk so that he could take it back to France to sell.”
“At the time, I was busy with the Chamber of Commerce and raw silk, and I didn’t take this matter to heart. It wasn’t until a few days ago, when those merchants forced me to sell raw silk, but then joined forces with the British to refuse to buy raw silk, putting me in a dead end, that I remembered that there was a Frenchman in Shanghai waiting for my silk.”
“I went to Shanghai and met with the French. I told them that the reason my silk was of such high quality was because of the excellent raw silk. Actually, machine-woven and hand-woven silks are pretty much the same; the most important thing is the raw material. So the French bought more than four thousand bales of raw silk.”
Qi Zhenheng asked in bewilderment, "But if you price a package at five hundred taels, can the French really accept that?"
Shen Qing laughed: "The French originally bought raw silk from the British at a markup, and they couldn't even buy raw silk from Nanxun. They bought second-grade raw silk from other places, and the price wasn't low. Those British monopolized the raw silk market in China to create a global monopoly, so naturally they couldn't sell it cheaply. I'm asking for 500 taels, and the French are overjoyed!"
Qi Zhenheng understood everything and gave her a thumbs up: "You've achieved three things at once! And the British must be frantic to see that the silk didn't stagnate because of their boycott, but instead bypassed them and was sold to their customers!"
"Isn't that right? If these British people come back for raw silk next time, it won't be 500 taels per bundle anymore! If they don't accept it, fine, we'll bypass them and sell it directly to their customers!"
"In this way, not only will the Englishman be left anxious, but the other merchants will also be silenced! Brilliant! Hahaha..."
"Isn't that right? Hahaha..."
Shen Qing's clear laughter and Qi Zhenheng's hearty laughter echoed in the side courtyard of the textile manufacturing bureau.
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