Chapter 71: Buy and Sell
Ruan Mian frowned slightly, turned around and took a look, only to see the big yellow vicious dog standing at the entrance of the alley with its teeth bared, barking at her.
She touched the jade bracelet and her eyes became alert, but several big stones flew out from somewhere and hit the vicious dog's butt!
The vicious dog suddenly went crazy and pounced straight at Ruan Mian!
She stood still, but before she could react, a dark shadow suddenly fell from the sky.
He hit the dog's tail with a stick, blew a few whistles quickly, and threw a big bone aside. The vicious dog was immediately attracted by the bone.
"Guard Liu?"
Ruan Mian was shocked when he saw the appearance of the person who came.
She didn't expect Guard Liu to appear here.
While she was shocked, Guard Liu ran forward at a high speed. He turned around, unsheathed his sharp blade, and smashed it hard on someone's head!
A man was knocked to the ground. When he struggled to get up, Guard Liu's sharp blade was already against his throat.
The man turned pale with fright and subconsciously looked at Ruan Jiao not far away.
At this moment, Ruan Jiao could no longer stand and stared at the man and spoke quickly.
"We've been caught, so if you take the blame yourself, it's better for you to be punished twice! Besides, your son and I have a complicated relationship. If you want to survive in the future, you should know how to do it."
After saying this, she turned around and ran away.
However, Guard Liu's scabbard hit her back with the speed of wind!
Ruan Jiao fell to the ground in pain with a grim expression on her face.
Ruan Jiao looked over resentfully, not knowing who Guard Liu was and why he came to cause trouble at such a critical moment.
However, before she could say anything, Guard Liu knocked the man unconscious, turned around and whistled to attract the vicious dog.
He threw another bone in Ruan Jiao's direction, and the vicious dog immediately pounced on her! !
Ruan Jiao was so scared that she screamed and crawled to her feet and ran forward quickly.
The vicious dog was very agile and there was no way she could outrun it.
He could only pick up stones nearby and throw them at the vicious dog, but the more he did so, the angrier the dog became.
In the end, he didn't even want to eat the bones, and caught Ruan Jiao howling while opening her mouth.
Ruan Jiao was so scared that she screamed and jumped up and down like a monkey, and accidentally stepped on the man!
He was suddenly woken up by being stepped on. The man covered his chest and opened his eyes to see the vicious dog drooling beside him. He was so scared that his face turned pale. He pushed Ruan Jiao to the ground desperately and ran away.
Ruan Jiao wanted to curse, but the vicious dog had already pounced on her face, howling and biting her shoulder.
Ruan Jiao screamed in pain, kicked the dog away, stood up at an extremely fast speed, and ran forward desperately, shouting and fighting wits and courage with the vicious dog.
Seeing her back as she ran all the way to the post station, Ruan Mian retracted the dagger and came to Guard Liu in surprise.
"When did you come here? Have you been to Kyoto?"
Guard Liu politely bowed to her, and when he saw that there was no one around, he answered truthfully.
"Madam Ruan, I happened to meet Master Xie on my way back to the capital, and I handed the account books to him personally, but..."
He paused and continued, "But when I met you, he had already been banished from the capital."
"Demoted?" Ruan Mian didn't expect this to be the reason.
That's why he came to Runing and was targeted by the Fifth Princess and her group.
The reason why they didn't take action in other places was probably because Runing was far away from Kyoto, making it easier to conceal their presence, and Qi Nanfeng and they were working together from inside and outside.
But how did they know Xie Huaian would come to find him? Even Ruan Mian didn't understand.
But this is not the most important thing, something else is important.
"Then do you know why he was demoted? Where was he demoted to?"
Guard Liu shook his head. "I'm not sure about that. That day, after I handed the account book to the master, he gave me some money and told me to come back to you, saying that he wanted me to protect you."
Ruan Mian frowned slightly, thought carefully for a moment, and then calmed down: "In that case, let's talk about it later."
Anyway, I can’t figure it out now.
Since Guard Liu arrived safely, she didn't have to worry anymore, so she took him to buy supplies first.
On the way, she also asked Guard Liu: "What are your plans next?"
Upon hearing this, Guard Liu decisively replied, "Madam Ruan has done me a favor, and I have nowhere else to go. Why don't I escort you to Wuheng first?"
He followed behind the team and helped them when they got into trouble.
Ruan Mian wanted to comfort him, but then he thought that he was homeless anyway, and if he followed him, at least he wouldn't starve to death, and he could also become someone he could trust.
Going to Wuheng together is the best of both worlds.
Seeing this, she stopped talking and followed his wishes.
After she bought enough supplies, she finally found the livestock trading place.
There are several stables here, all sold by different owners.
There was also a boss who sold both livestock and ducks. Upon asking, I learned that the boss raised so many ducks to supply nearby restaurants.
They have an authentic roast duck dish in Runing. Any caravan or other people passing by here must come to try it.
What's more, Runing is also a big city, almost as prosperous as Changping City.
After passing Runing, the area becomes increasingly desolate.
Thinking of this, Ruan Mian already had an idea in his mind. He first inquired about the prices of horses and donkeys with the boss who had the largest number of livestock.
Unexpectedly, the boss saw that she was from another place and asked for a very high price.
"Fifty taels for a donkey, and ten taels more for a horse."
Seeing the boss's smiling face, Guard Liu didn't bother to talk nonsense with him, so he stretched out his scabbard and punched him in the eye!
The boss was so angry that he immediately shouted: "If you can't afford it, don't buy it. Do you want to kill people?! I'm warning you, everyone around here is a local. If you want to cause trouble, I will report you to the police and have you..."
"Report to the police?" Ruan Mian stepped forward and smiled faintly: "Boss, you're in business, you must be aware of the commercial laws of Beijing, right?"
"Those who, in the production of cast objects, silk, or livestock, pass inferior goods off as good quality and sell them at exorbitant prices shall be punished with sixty strokes of the cane."
The boss's face turned pale, and he snorted, "Am I afraid of you? I..."
Before he could finish his words, Guard Liu suddenly took out a pass with an official seal. The boss, who was still yelling at his men to report to the authorities, sneered at the document.
"You think you can threaten me with this crap? I'm telling you! Of all the merchants in Runing City, I have the best relationship with the prefect. If you hit someone first, I'll make sure you pay for it!"
There happened to be a patrolling officer nearby. After being called by his buddy, he was about to investigate the matter fiercely. However, when he saw the document, his face suddenly changed. He quickly put on a smile and bowed.
"So it turned out to be a close confidant of Lord He. We were blind to his true ability. Sorry, sorry, it was all a misunderstanding."
When the merchant heard that it was Mr. He, he was dumbfounded. Seeing that he was indifferent, the officer scolded him in a low voice.
"What are you standing there for?! Why don't you apologize to the young master and his wife? How can you mess with them?"
The boss also knew what to do. He quickly put on a smiling face, bowed with both hands, and his attitude changed 180 degrees.
"I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Madam, sir, I'll give you as many animals as you want. The price will be based on our local market price. I have the official to testify for us. I will definitely not lie to you this time."
Ruan Mian folded his arms across his chest, sneered, turned around and walked to the stable next door to call the shopkeeper.
Then he handed over a few hundred taels of silver notes in his hand: "Boss, I want to discuss a business with you."
The boss was stunned when he saw the pie falling from the sky, and quickly invited Ruan Mian and others in.
The boss looked pale and tried to call Ruan Mian back, but was slapped back to his original position by Guard Liu.
After sitting in the room, Ruan Mian saw paper and pen on the table, so he took them and wrote a contract.
Then he handed it to the boss and got straight to the point.
"If you take on this long-term deal, you'll definitely become a wealthy businessman in the future."
Upon hearing this, the boss smiled and said, "Madam, you are just joking."
Ruan Mian knocked on the table and said, "Take a look first."
In the year after the natural disaster in the original book, Runing City became an important transportation hub for three countries, and its trade became increasingly prosperous.
Especially when the border war was tense, Runing was the largest city closest to the border, and many things had to be transported to the border.
From food and wages to daily necessities, later on, because the checkpoints were too strict, smuggling salt became a way to make a fortune in Runing.
In the original book, a large part of King Huai's expenses for maintaining his private army came from smuggling official salt.
However, smuggling official salt was a serious crime, so there was no need for her to risk competing with them. Instead, she could use those transportation channels to sell other things.
Therefore, in the contract, Ruan Mian asked the boss to transport duck down to Wuheng every two months, and also gave him a way to purchase cotton, as well as certain methods and channels for external transportation.
The boss was a little stunned, and saw Ruan Mian take out a few cotton balls from his purse and put them in front of him.
"Boss, you don't want the duck down and feathers from the ducks I slaughtered. Clean them according to the method I gave you and then ship them to Wuheng Post Station. I'll pay the fees. It's a guaranteed profit."
"As for the cotton, sew it inside your clothes to keep you warm and look beautiful. You know we don't have cotton growing channels in Jing Country, and the price of shipping it in from Qianglan Country is too high, but I do have a cotton purchasing channel."
"Boss, if you can become the first and only person in Beijing to sell this cotton, you will surely make a lot of money. Of course, the purchase price I give you is much lower than the price of shipping it from Qianglan Country."
The boss was overjoyed, but still cautious: "My wife, what you said is indeed reasonable, but with such a good opportunity, why don't you do business yourself?"
It's normal for him to be cautious, as there are still few things that come easy.
Ruan Mian said truthfully, "I'm an exiled prisoner from the imperial court. I can't leave Wuheng, so I can only earn money with others. I don't need you, the shopkeeper, to spend a penny upfront. If you're worried about wasting your trip, these banknotes can be considered my advance payment."
This kind of zero-cost transaction would attract any businessman.
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