Chen Danian felt like he was being scratched by a cat, but despite his dissatisfaction, he didn't dare utter a sound as he watched the servants haul away cart after cart of treasures.
Although the Zhao family suffered heavy losses this time, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. The Zhao family still has Wanshunlou, plus so much saltpeter, and Master Zhao will be out soon. At that time, they may not be unable to earn back the money with these things.
Once they have the money, they'll definitely be able to buy these things back. Then, won't all these things be theirs?
On Zhao Juan's side, in order to raise the money for the ransom as soon as possible, she sold almost all the valuables in her house, and finally managed to raise five thousand taels of silver.
Steward Zhao took the silver to see Constable Wang. Constable Wang, having received instructions from the magistrate, didn't say much and happily accepted the silver. The next day, Master Zhao was released.
As soon as Master Zhao returned home, he collapsed into his armchair, unable to even catch his breath.
The days in prison were truly unbearable! Since he became wealthy, he had lived a life of luxury and had never suffered like this before.
Seeing this, Steward Zhao quickly brought over ginseng tea and served the patient with utmost care.
After drinking a few sips of ginseng tea, Mr. Zhao finally felt better. Looking at the empty living room, where there used to be valuable paintings, calligraphy and antiques, now only bare walls remained, he felt a sudden pang in his heart.
"Master, don't be sad. Those things are just material possessions. As long as you're alright, that's all that matters," Butler Zhao comforted him.
"Mere possessions? Do you know how much silver those things cost? And now you're just selling them like this!" Master Zhao roared in exasperation.
Steward Zhao naturally knew, but dared not utter a sound. Instead, he secretly glanced at Zhao Juan—he was just a servant, merely following orders, so he couldn't be blamed!
Zhao Juan was also frightened by Master Zhao's angry appearance, and feeling extremely wronged, she sobbed and said:
"Father, I had no choice. Those officials were demanding exorbitant prices, asking for five thousand taels of silver before they would release you!"
"Five thousand taels?" Master Zhao's eyes widened. Although he knew that the officials would take the opportunity to extort money, he did not expect them to ask for so much!
Chen Danian seized the opportunity to persuade him: "Father-in-law, please don't blame Juan'er. She only did this to save you... As for those valuables, with your abilities, you will earn them back a hundredfold or a thousandfold sooner or later."
In truth, Master Zhao was well aware that his daughter was doing this to save him; he was simply a little heartbroken upon hearing the figure.
After pausing for a moment, he heard Chen Danian's words and suddenly remembered—yes, although he had no cash on hand, he still had those saltpeter stones!
Although he could no longer do the ice business because that bitch Ganli gave the secret recipe to the court, which led to the widespread use of the ice-making method, he was able to sell the saltpeter he had stockpiled!
He obtained the secret recipe for making ice and, in order to make a fortune, stockpiled a large amount of saltpeter. Not to mention distant places, he almost monopolized the saltpeter market in the state capital.
Now that the method of making ice has been popularized, people who want to make ice at home need to buy saltpeter. Since it is not available elsewhere, they can only buy it from him. He can sell the saltpeter at a high price and make a fortune.
Upon thinking of this, Master Zhao was overjoyed and inquired about the progress of the ice-making method's promotion in recent days.
Although Steward Zhao has been extremely worried about Master Zhao's imprisonment these days, he has not forgotten to keep an eye on the outside news because of his many years of experience managing the Zhao family's business.
When Master Zhao asked, he quickly replied:
"Reporting to Your Excellency, I heard that the county has already begun to promote it. Although the ice-making workshop has not yet been built, officials from the county government are demonstrating how to make ice to the people every day at the county government gate."
Nowadays, the price of saltpeter in pharmacies has increased many times over compared to before, and even so, saltpeter is almost sold out.
I've heard that the government has started bringing in large quantities of saltpeter from other places, but this won't happen overnight, and other prefectures are also promoting this method, so they may not have any surplus saltpeter.
In short, saltpeter is in very short supply these days.
Upon hearing this, Master Zhao's eyes lit up, and he immediately perked up:
"We stockpiled so much saltpeter, and we thought we were going to be stuck with it. But now, isn't this perfect? It's like heaven is helping us!"
"Steward Zhao, send someone to thoroughly inventory how much saltpeter we have left. Prepare it as soon as possible; we need to start selling saltpeter!"
Steward Zhao accepted the order and left, and soon found out the truth.
After all, the amount of saltpeter purchased was already calculated, so now all we need to do is deduct the amount lost from ice making these days.
However, the amount of saltpeter lost was a drop in the ocean compared to what they had stockpiled, and the remaining amount of saltpeter was still quite considerable.
The only problem now is that since they bought these saltpeter at a high price, plus the costs of transportation and other labor, if they sell them for less than eighty coins, they will lose money.
So now the question is how much to price it, since saltpeter usually only sells for fifty coins a pound.
Steward Zhao offered a suggestion: "I heard that the price of saltpeter in the pharmacy has risen to 100 coins per catty... Why don't we also sell it for 100 coins per catty?"
Master Zhao frowned: "Only twenty coins a pound? What's the point!"
Butler Zhao: "..."
Earning 20 coins per pound may not seem like much, but considering the quantity they've stockpiled, if they sell at that price, the profit will be enough to cover their losses this time!
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