Chapter 91 A Feud Between Life and Death!
"Who is this other person...?"
Li Nanke's round eyes were full of question marks.
Shen Cong opened his eyes and looked behind her.
Li Nanke turned around following his gaze, and Huang Sheng, dressed in a gray shirt, was walking through the bean field.
His dark face, covered by a black eye patch, contrasted sharply with his large belly against the lush green bean field.
Even a short distance left me breathless.
"Your Highness."
With his left eye, which was covered by an eyepatch, he grinned at Li Nanke and let out a soft hum.
Li Nanke didn't mind her coldness and waved her hand with a smile.
"Master Huang."
Huang Sheng snorted, "Don't shout, I never agreed to teach you."
"I'll teach you sooner or later, hehe."
Huang Sheng pursed his lips, bowed respectfully to Chen Cong, and acted with utmost deference.
"Your Highness has not yet answered my question. If I have completed the grain collection task assigned by Miss Li, may I return to the Prince's residence?"
With his eyes closed and his face expressionless, Shen Cong uttered two words.
"cannot."
Huang Sheng's left eye patch twitched twice with excitement.
"Why? What did I do wrong? Why am I being sent to collect grain by an eight-year-old girl?"
The subordinate is unconvinced and wants to know...
Shen Cong suddenly opened his eyes and looked over.
Huang Sheng was startled and subconsciously touched his blindfold, his voice abruptly stopping.
Shen Cong scoffed lightly, "Didn't you already guess why we're collecting grain?"
Huang Sheng gasped, his intact eye bulging like a copper bell.
"No way? Has the weather really changed?"
Shen Cong remained noncommittal.
Huang Sheng subconsciously turned his head to look, and saw that the surrounding green fields were full of busy farmers.
Looking further into the distance, you can see the prince's estate.
The prince ordered the harvest to begin early this morning, and at that moment, his suspicions about the sudden change in weather became even more certain.
He swallowed hard and quickly asked, "Is it a strong wind, a downpour? Or...?"
His gaze fell on Erfeng, who was nodding vigorously. He cursed again, "It's a downpour! How is that possible?"
He looked up at the bright sun outside, then turned to look at Shen Cong.
"Where did Your Highness get this information? Is it reliable?"
Shen Cong nodded at Li Nanke with his chin.
"Whether she's reliable or not, you should ask her."
"No way?"
Huang Sheng was so startled that he ripped off his blindfold and tried to glare at Li Nanke with his "two" eyes.
"You said it would rain heavily?"
Li Nanke rested his chin on his hand and nodded with a smile.
Huang Sheng then turned to look at Shen Cong, his jaw dropping to the floor.
"You believe her if she says there's a rainstorm? You believe her if she says it's raining silver?"
Shen Cong closed his eyes, too lazy to pay him any attention.
Huang Sheng touched the scar on his left eye, circled around Li Nanke, and kept looking at her with his only remaining right eye.
After a while, he squatted down and grinned.
"I said, little girl..."
"Master Huang, you can call me Nan Ke or Ke'er."
"Oh, but little girl."
Huang Sheng casually picked a name for him, his eyes gleaming with barely concealed curiosity.
Are you sure it's going to rain heavily?
Li Nanke nodded.
"Why?"
Li Nanke pointed upwards with her small hand, "You should ask about this from up there."
*Pfft*
Erfeng, who was kneeling on the mat brewing tea, chuckled.
Huang Sheng glared at him somewhat awkwardly, then turned around and put on what he considered a gentle expression.
"I mean, why are you so sure it will rain heavily?"
"Well, this is my specialty, so I can't just tell others about it."
"Your signature skill?" Huang Sheng became even more curious.
What special skills could an eight-year-old girl possibly have?
"You're asking me to harvest the grain because it's going to rain heavily?"
"Hmm, what else?"
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
Li Nanke spread his hands.
"You can never be too careful; that's the first lesson Master Huang taught me."
Master Huang...
The little girl is quite cunning.
Knowing he wouldn't get any answers, Huang Sheng got up dejectedly.
Li Nanke asked, "The five days have passed. Has Master Huang received the grain?"
Huang Sheng straightened his back and proudly raised his chin.
"Fine rice costs two hundred coins, while millet, beans, and various coarse grains cost between fifty and one hundred coins. Essentially all the grain around Bianjing is now in our hands."
This only used half the silver you gave me, so I sent people to several cities around Bianjing. The entire shipment should arrive by tomorrow evening at the latest.
“I rented all the warehouses in the Beitao Hutong area, where the grain was stored. I also spent another two hundred taels of silver to hire two escort teams to guard and patrol day and night.”
Li Nanke's eyes lit up.
In her dream, she heard someone close to Shen Cong mention the name Huang Sheng and learned that he was a shrewd businessman.
But she had never seen it before; now it seems Huang Sheng really does have a knack for it.
She gave a thumbs up, her eyes full of admiration and respect.
"Master Huang is amazing!"
The little girl's eyes shone like stars, and her voice still carried a touch of childishness; she was just like a little dumpling.
Huang Sheng was very pleased and couldn't help but say a few more words while stroking his beard.
“Nowadays, some people in the city are secretly buying up grain, especially a grain store that started buying up grain at almost the same time as me.”
Li Nanke's heart stirred.
"Is it Song's Grain Store?"
Huang Sheng nodded, "That's right, it's this company. But don't worry, I acted faster than them. The Song family didn't buy anything, hahaha..."
"No, let her buy it."
Li Nanke suddenly interrupted him.
Huang Sheng's laughter stopped abruptly, and he stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
"What did you say?"
Li Nanke repeated it again, a cold glint in her round eyes.
“I told her that if she can buy it, you can sell her the grain you bought at a higher price, the more the better.”
Huang Sheng...
Huang Sheng left, and Shen Cong slowly opened his eyes, his gaze lingering on Li Nanke for a moment.
With a slight smile, he said, "It seems you have quite a grudge against the Song family."
Li Nanke grinned, "A blood feud!"
Bianjing (Kaifeng)
Song Hui paced impatiently around the room countless times.
"How could there be no grain? Who took all the grain? How despicable!"
She finally managed to scrape together 50,000 taels of silver, intending to use it all to buy grain, but she was too late; grain was almost impossible to find on the market.
Looking at her anxious face, Madam Zhang whispered, "Why don't we just forget about it? This fifty thousand taels is all the wealth we have left."
"It's uncertain whether there will be a downpour; what if we lose everything..."
“How could we possibly lose money?” Song Hui suddenly raised her voice to interrupt Zhang, her eyes filled with urgency.
"It is precisely because this is all our wealth that we must use it to buy food; this is our best chance to turn our lives around."
"Mom, believe me, the rain will definitely come, and the price of grain will skyrocket. We'll make a fortune then!"
Zhang sighed, "But we can't buy any grain now."
Song Hui slumped into a chair in frustration.
"Madam, we've found the grain."
At this moment, the shopkeeper of Song Hui's shop rushed in.
Song Hui was overjoyed.
"Really? How much grain?"
"It was Manager Huang, who was on his way to visit relatives in the south. He said there was still a considerable amount of grain stored in the warehouse, approximately 100,000 shi (a unit of dry measure)..."
Song Hui said eagerly, "We want them all!"
The shopkeeper hesitated, "But the price they offered is a bit high."
"How many?"
"Fine rice is five hundred coins a catty, millet is two hundred coins, and beans are one hundred and fifty coins."
Zhang gasped.
"This is nearly three times the current grain price. Even when the new grain comes in, it won't sell for such a high price."
"Hui'er, maybe we should just forget about it and not buy it."
"No, buy it! Buy all 100,000 shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain. If I don't have enough silver, I'll get more."
Song Hui's expression was resolute, her face glowing with a strange red light, like a gambler who had staked everything on a gambling table, just waiting to win one last time.
“Mother, believe me, this 100,000 shi of grain will soon increase fivefold, tenfold, or even twentyfold.”
"As long as there's a heavy rain, we'll make a fortune!"
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