Chapter 73 Returning in Triumph
Zhao Bantou asked again, "Then how did you know that Miss Qi was helping us raise the price?"
"Didn't you see that every time Miss Qi bargained, she was staring at me. It was obvious that she was reminding me to cooperate with her."
Everyone was silent for a while, and the team was dead silent, with only the sound of horse hooves clattering on the official road.
Finally, someone hesitantly asked, "Am I the only one who can't see anything?"
Everyone shook their heads, "No, no, no, me too."
"I didn't see anything."
"My mind is full of money, how can I think of anything else?"
Zhao Bantou kicked a few guys loudly and said, "You are so stupid. Learn more from Miss Xu--"
"Team Leader, this...this can't be learned..."
"Miss Xu is the reincarnation of a fairy child, she's quite smart, we're nothing..."
"No, I'm nothing, I'm just a piece of shit—"
Amidst the sounds of fighting and quarreling, Feng'er had a look of deep thought on her face. Her mind was still a little dizzy, but she forced herself to calm down and carefully reviewed what had happened today.
The more she thought about it, the more she felt that Miss Xu was unfathomable.
He started by having Ming Xiaoshuang pretend to be a thief and set up a trap at Zhao's Grocery Store, which led to a fight between Miss Qi and the river clams. Finally, he deliberately put the soap among a pile of soaps and had a lawsuit with Miss Qi, and in the process, he drove the soap, which cost only a few dozen cents, to a sky-high price.
Such tactics... Such manipulation of people's hearts... Such a series of traps...
Feng'er was afraid, but she was more impressed.
Fortunately, she had long been Miss Xu's person. Feng'er, who had been a slave and had to obey people's orders since she was a child, understood one thing very early on: a strong master is not scary, but a weak master is scary.
Xu Qingying is very powerful and can protect her.
And she only needs to offer her loyalty.
Xu Qingying glanced at Feng'er and saw her lowering her head in deep thought. "Have you figured out what happened today?"
Feng Er answered honestly, "There is still one thing I don't understand. Please enlighten me, young lady."
"you say."
Zhao Bantou, who was driving the cart on the side, immediately pricked up his ears, unwilling to miss any opportunity to learn.
He finally understood that he had learned more from Xu Qingying in just one day than he had in the previous twenty years!
Feng Er asked, "Why do you insist on delaying our meeting until as late as possible, until the city gates are about to close, to discuss business?"
"You could think of this as psychological warfare. They're worried about the city gates closing, while also trying to compete for price and business. Plus, the night makes people more impulsive. Add to that the excitement, and their decisions won't be as calm and rational as usual."
Zhao Bantou broke out in a cold sweat on his back. Even though there was laughter and joy behind the team, he suddenly felt cold.
Such speculation and manipulation of human hearts is truly terrifying.
Fortunately, I had never offended Xu Qingying before, otherwise I would not know how I died.
So Zhao Bantou somehow thought of the night when he eavesdropped on the conversation between Lian and Xu Qingying. The more he thought about it, the more wrong it seemed, and the more coincidental it seemed. Combined with Xu Qingying's behavior today, although Zhao Bantou could not find any evidence, for some reason he was sure that Xu Qingying had set him up.
Zhao Bantou glanced at Xu Qingying who was leaning against the carriage to rest, and suddenly looked away.
Why bother with him so much? Just cooperate well with Xu Qingying in the future.
When they returned, torches were bright and the camp was crowded with more than a hundred people. Everyone knew that they were going to the city to sell soap today. Those who worked were naturally worried about whether the soap could be sold and whether they could get paid.
Those who didn't participate were just there to watch the fun, so as soon as they appeared at the corner of the official road, they heard someone cheering, "They're back, they're back!"
Now everyone put down what they were holding and stood up.
Someone with discerning eyes had already shouted, "Looking at the speed, the carriage must be empty. Could they have all been sold?"
Xu Lezhi said unhappily, "How is that possible? That's 6,000 bars of soap! Unless everyone in Henan Prefecture buys one, how can they sell them all? Did you see that wrong? The carriage at the back is loaded with soap, right? It looks quite heavy. Could it be that they didn't sell a single bar?"
The eldest aunt glared at Xu Lezhi and said viciously, "You damned girl, do you know how to talk? Why are you cursing the sixth girl? Are you happy that she can't sell soap? You little girl, can't you see how cruel she is? We are family after all. Who would wish bad things for their brothers and sisters?"
Xu Lezhi angrily said, "The soap business belongs to the third house. What does it have to do with my aunt? Why doesn't my aunt usually care about my sixth sister? Why are you pretending now? Could it be that my aunt is still hoping that my sixth sister will take us with her when she gets rich? Don't forget, we all signed the contract. No matter how much money my sixth sister makes, it has nothing to do with us!"
"Lezhi!" Xu Yinxi frowned and stopped her. "Since the third house's business has nothing to do with us, why bother being a villain and making sarcastic remarks? We can just watch from the sidelines."
Xu Lezhi still listened to his sister's words. Although he was dissatisfied in his heart, he didn't say anything more. He just prayed in his heart: Don't let Xu Qingying earn a penny. It would be best if all the soap was thrown away. It would be best if Xu Qingying came back on her knees to beg them...
Seeing Xu Qingying and others approaching, Miao was the first to greet them. Fang Huiming, who was young, lost his patience and was about to ask something, but was stopped by Miao.
She glanced at the two people who were leaving, and seeing that Xu Degui couldn't hide his joy at all, she already knew what was going on, so she said, "Everyone, you've all worked hard. The logistics team has prepared tea and food. Eat and drink first, then we'll talk."
Xu Qingying also said, "Captain, you and the brothers have worked hard today. Let's eat first. Don't worry about the money. I'll come back to you tonight after I've sorted it out!"
Zhao Bantou was much more respectful this time. "Look at what you said. You are all here. Are you afraid that the money will run away? Besides, the brothers all trust you——"
After that, he shouted a few more words, "Brothers, eat first, eat first, and talk after you finish eating."
No one mentioned money. "Yes, yes, we've been hungry all night. Let's eat first!"
Everyone tacitly walked together and went to eat.
All the members of the Xu family had gathered together. Huang walked tremblingly, but her cloudy eyes were shining with brilliance, and she couldn't stop winking at Xu Qingying.
Xu Qingying sometimes thought that the old lady was quite amusing, so she suppressed her laughter and whispered to her in her ear, "Don't worry, Grandma. We made a lot of money this time. It's not convenient to talk about it right now. Let's talk about it after we sort it out."
Huang knew what was going on when she heard this. Seeing the group's unconcealed joy, she was also curious, but she knew how to avoid showing off her wealth. She helped stop the Xu family members who were about to ask questions, "Alright, alright, what are you all doing here? Are you going to let Sixth Girl eat? Didn't I just tell you to eat first, then talk about money. Besides, the soap business has nothing to do with you, why are you all crowding around?!"
Xu Qingying wanted to laugh when she heard this.
In the entire Xu family, only the second branch did not invest any money.
These people don't need to be anxious right now.
Huang pushed them out and said, "Go, go, go and eat first. Don't let my sixth daughter go hungry. If anyone dares to disturb her while she's eating, I'll beat her with a stick!"
With just one sentence, the large group of people who came to join in the fun were all too embarrassed to ask any questions.
Miao, on the other hand, saw a carriage behind them, which was full of supplies. She was a little stunned and looked at Xu Degui who was just grinning. "What's going on? Why is there an extra carriage?"
Xu Huiming also said, "It's full of what we need... Dad, how much do you earn to be so generous with your purchases?"
Xu Degui came to his senses, pulled Miao and Fang Huiming to a secluded place, and finally poured out all the words that he had been holding back, from arranging Ming Xiaoshuang to act in the play at the beginning to Miss Qi's help in defrauding Mr. Zhao in the end.
Xu Degui was not good at storytelling, but the story was too full of ups and downs. Miao and Xu Huiming were able to experience their exciting day from Xu Degui's dry and tasteless words.
Xu Huiming was also deeply shocked after hearing this, and it took him a long time to recover. "You mean... the soap sold for 10,000 taels today?"
He looked at Miao in a daze, "Mom, did I hear correctly?"
Miao nodded, but was also shocked. Although she had thought that with Xu Qingying's ability, the batch of soap would be sold out slowly, the result was the same, but the process was completely different.
Xu Degui wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was obviously still not out of the excitement of the day. Even his eyes were bloodshot. "You don't know, I have never seen such a scene in my life. The bosses of Zhaoji and Fengqige begged us to sell, and almost got into a fight! Six thousand bars of soap, a full cart, sold out in one day! I didn't even react before the soap was gone! You didn't see the end. Just four bars of soap, and boss Zhaoji directly offered four thousand taels. I was standing next to them at the time and was so scared that I almost fainted——"
Xu Degui became more and more excited as he spoke, and couldn't help but stand up and walk back and forth, "Bihe, we're rich!!"
Miao was not so excited that she lost her mind, but her eyes were red. She knew how tired Xu Qingying was these days. She was the one who watched the most critical step in making soap. Every time Xu Qingying got off the carriage, she was soaked all over, but the child just gritted her teeth and said nothing. Thinking about it this way, wasn't Qingying doing all this for their third room?
Miao couldn't help wiping her tears, "Okay, that's great."
"Bihe, you really gave birth to a good daughter for me——"
Miao pursed her lips and said angrily, "You were always contradicting her a few days ago."
Xu Degui touched his head and admitted it frankly, "Bihe, to be honest, I used to think that my second brother had read more books than us and had eaten more salt than we had eaten rice. What's wrong with listening to him? Besides, we relied on my second brother to gain a foothold in Bianjing City. In our current situation, if we leave this supporter, what benefits can we get? How could I not know that my second brother looked down on us, but there was nothing I could do. I am incompetent and not smart, so I had to humble myself and seek a way to survive. But now it's different. This time I really saw Qingying's ability. Don't say it, I think... I think..."
Xu Degui felt that it was a bit outrageous to say this, but today's events had stimulated him and aroused his courage. He felt a surge of pride in his chest, "I think our daughter is even more powerful than our second brother!"
Miao paused.
Xu Huiming was a little jealous: "How can it be so amazing? Dad, are you confused?"
"Humph, you don't understand." Xu Degui straightened his chest this time, and thought carefully about everything that happened today. He finally got some taste of it. He only regretted that he was not well-educated and could not explain it clearly. He could only beat his thigh and said, "You didn't see that our daughter's aura today was no less than those high-ranking officials I have seen. Why didn't I think our daughter was so powerful before? Oh, hateful, hateful, why is she not a little boy!"
Miao pulled Xu Degui aside and secretly glanced at Xu Huiming, fearing that Xu Huiming might be suspicious. She scolded him, "What nonsense are you talking about in front of the child?"
Xu Huiming was quite open-minded and said with a smile, "When you see a virtuous person, you want to emulate him. It's common for petty people to be jealous of his talent. Dad praised my sister so highly that it made me want to try it. Next time, take me with you so I can see what she has to offer—"
Xu Degui patted Xu Huiming on the shoulder, even happier this time. "Good boy, you have guts! You're worthy of being my son, Xu Degui!"
Xu Qingying didn't care about anything else. She had been busy all day and was indeed hungry. Fortunately, the food left for them was good. She ate the rice with soup and took a few bites. Unexpectedly, there were always people coming over to ask anxiously.
"Miss Xu, how are the soap sales today? Can we get paid on time?"
People came and went, and I asked several times.
Zhao, the squad leader, was fed up with listening and signaled Ming Xiaoshuang to stop him. Ming Xiaoshuang ate two mouthfuls and was about to stand up and scold him, but was stopped by Xu Qingying again.
Xu Qingying looked at the eagerly expectant crowd, put down her bowls and chopsticks, stood up and said, "I know everyone is anxious. You worked for me and are anxious to get your wages. I understand. In this case, I will immediately take people to settle the accounts. Please wait for about half an hour. Once I have settled the accounts, one centimeter is worth one penny, and you will know how much you have earned. However, as I said before, due to time constraints today, we are selling soap in silver bills. We have to wait until we go to the next town to exchange them before we can distribute them to everyone. I hope you can understand."
Someone immediately smiled and said, "We understand. Miss Xu Liu is here, so she won't default on her debt. We still have some trust in you."
"Yes, yes, we are all part of the same exile group. How could Miss Xu refuse to pay her debt? Besides, her soap is selling so well. I just saw that there is not a single piece left after they took it out."
Some even tried to get information from her with a smile: "Ms. Xu Liu, how much money did you make today? Is the soap business really that profitable? Why didn't you take us with you?"
Zhao Bantou and the others were very annoyed, but Xu Qingying responded with a smile, "It's not much money, just enough to pay for food."
"Damn it, what are you yelling about? What are you yelling about? Didn't you hear what Miss Xu said? We're going to calculate the wages tonight, but we won't pay you! Why are you all crowding forward? If you keep squeezing Miss Xu, don't blame me for being rude! You all have forgotten your names after earning a few cents. Don't forget, you're here to be exiled. Don't force me to put shackles on you tomorrow!"
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