Chapter 270 How many people would seize this opportunity to make money from the people's misfortune?
Ruan Mian smiled and said, "We are all family. Shopkeeper Yi works so hard and wholeheartedly to supply me with goods. How could I be greedy for such a small profit?"
Shopkeeper Yi quickly said politely, "How can this be considered a mere trifle? These things are incredibly valuable to us in the north! Furthermore, the weather has been bad this year, and even the harvest hasn't come. We've got no grain left to sell in Runing! If you want to buy, you'll pay ten times the usual price."
He sighed deeply, regretting that he hadn't bought more before. "I do have some left in our granary, but it's not much. Now I can only live frugally. I hope I can get through this winter as quickly as possible."
Ruan Mian never expected that food prices would rise so high.
This has a lot to do with the weather, and of course it is also closely related to some merchants.
How many people have seized this opportunity to make money from the people's misfortune?
Thinking of this, Ruan Mian decided to help Shopkeeper Yi again: "Shopkeeper, I still have a lot of food in the cellar. This time you go back, take some back with you. Don't let your family suffer."
Shopkeeper Yi was taken aback, then declined gratefully, "Absolutely not, Madam Ruan. You have so many people in your family. You're taking their food and lives. Our granary can still hold on for a while. You can't..."
"It's okay, Shopkeeper Yi. I'm sure I have enough, so I'll give you some. Don't worry. Besides, we'll have more business dealings in the future. If you get hungry and have an accident, what will happen to my future business?"
Hearing her say this, Shopkeeper Yi's eyes became moist. He had no way to repay her for her timely help and kindness in times of disaster.
Ruan Mian asked him to sit down disapprovingly and said immediately.
"People should help each other in times of difficulty. Manager Yi didn't despise me, a fugitive, and was willing to trust me. I'll always remember that."
"For an upright man like the shopkeeper who keeps his promise, I am of course willing to help. However, I just heard you say that the price of grain in Runing City has increased more than tenfold. With such exorbitant prices, is there no one in the city to take care of it?"
Speaking of this, Manager Yi sighed deeply.
"After the former prefect died of illness, the court dispatched an official named Wen Yuan. But I don't think this Mr. Wen is an honest official. He has allowed grain prices to remain low and even claimed that they will return to normal after the disaster."
"When villagers went to petition and beat drums, they were all beaten with sticks. Of course, profiting from the people's misfortunes has existed since ancient times. It's not just in Runing City. All the way south, food prices have risen in surrounding towns and cities. It's just that the price increases vary, and the people can't do anything about it."
It turned out to be this Wen Yuan.
Just as he was thinking about it, Shopkeeper Yi mentioned, "Oh, there's something I forgot to tell Madam Ruan. Master Wen said that from now on, anyone doing business outside of Runing will have to pay an additional commodity tax. It's not much, but I still need to explain it to you."
This is obviously to make money from merchants, but because the amount is not large, many people turn a blind eye.
After all, a strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake. In this territory, whoever has a higher official position has the right to speak.
Merchants are no longer surprised by this.
"Ever since Mr. Wen came to Runing, a lot of things have changed. Business isn't as good as it used to be."
"And I heard that many of the brothels and underground casinos in the city are owned by Master Wen."
"He's a prefect, and he's secretly investing money in this shady business?"
In this era, the status of merchants is low, and he is willing to invest himself in it. Could it be that...
Ruan Mian's eyebrows moved slightly, and he quickly recalled that since he was involved in the princess's assassination of Ah Huai, it meant that he was also a member of the rebel party.
Therefore, the reason why they are willing to take these risky deals is most likely to help the Fifth Princess make money behind the scenes.
She looked at Shopkeeper Yi and warned him, "Shopkeeper, this matter cannot be allowed to develop. Once all the merchants in Runing are controlled by this Master Wen, the entire Runing City will be finished."
"That's right! But we are just some powerless merchants. How can we compete with them?"
"Don't worry for now. Although the merchants have little power, the people have great power. I'll give you an idea. You can do it this way for now."
After saying that, he leaned over and whispered something in Manager Yi's ear.
Then he reminded him, "Just send me a message anytime. Once I've dealt with my family affairs, I'll find a chance to go to Runing City and meet up with the shopkeeper. Then, we'll see how big Mr. Wen's business is."
Shopkeeper Yi nodded repeatedly in agreement.
Before he left, Ruan Mian took a lot of food from the space, and there was enough peat to put on their carriage.
Then he returned to the house.
She thought that the weather in the north was bad now, and the nearest city would probably be affected as well.
No wonder no down vests have been delivered to Guancheng in the past two days. I guess something went wrong there.
Thinking of this, Ruan Mian rushed to Guancheng to meet his aunt.
She first went to the herbal medicine shop and found that there were more people coming to get medicine than usual, and even the doctor on duty was too busy to handle it.
After asking, we learned that due to the bad weather, many people had caught colds and even a lot of elderly people had died in the city.
As soon as my aunt arrived, she knew Ruan Mian's purpose and pulled her to the backyard to talk.
"With the ice and snow disaster, the food supply in the city has doubled. Everyone can barely afford to eat, so where would we get the spare money to buy our warm gear? Only the pharmacy is doing any business right now."
"I've thought about selling grain. We could definitely make a lot of money in this market. But I'm not a profiteer! We should have a conscience. Taking advantage of people's suffering and making a fortune on their hardship is so immoral!"
Ruan Mian laughed. She knew that her aunt was a kind-hearted person and would not do such a thing.
but……
“As long as they don’t sell it at a high price.”
"If we don't sell it at a high price, we won't make much money. It's a waste of time and effort, and it will only make people jealous. Besides, all the crops in our village have frozen to death. Even if you have plenty in your space, the demand is so high. If you sell it out and someone knows the secret of the space, wouldn't it be more trouble than it's worth? People will definitely be suspicious."
Ruan Mian already has a plan for this.
She told her aunt her idea, and her aunt was shocked. She looked at her in disbelief and asked, "Will this method work?"
"We don't have any cutting tools, so if we want to build something larger, it'll be difficult."
"If we can't build such a big one, we can just pool our resources and make a big one. It's not a big deal." After saying that, he took a pen and paper from the shopkeeper and drew a blueprint of the sunroom under the watchful eyes of his aunt.
This is a group of similar small sunrooms placed next to each other, expanding into dozens of acres of farmland.
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