Private Salt
After the rain, the damp soil, crushed by wheels, releases its unique scent, prompting passersby to take a deep breath and feel the breath of spring breaking through the earth.
Pei Jue peeked out for a while, then retreated back into the car and pulled the curtain closed.
“My wife Ayan, I hope you are well…” He dipped his brush in ink and continued writing, “We have arrived in Yangzhou and are all well. There are already signs of spring here, and the early buds are already sprouting. I wonder if the capital is still as cold as it was when I left home.”
Before the last stroke of the character 'cold' could be finished, the carriage suddenly stopped. Pei Jue lost his balance and fell forward, drawing a long black line on the paper, resembling a thin, elongated earthworm.
"Master, we've arrived," Zhu Ying's voice came from outside.
Pei Jue frowned as he looked at the destroyed letter, sighed, and put it aside, planning to rewrite it when he had time.
Zhu Ying stood beside the carriage, helping Pei Jue down while reporting, "Master, we have now arrived near Dongguan Wharf. There are many inns and teahouses nearby for merchants to rest. Please take a rest."
After getting off the train and settling down, Pei Jue looked around. He squinted, trying to make out the surrounding scenery.
I still couldn't see clearly, but at least I could tell there was a boat in front and houses behind, so I wouldn't fall into the river.
"let's go."
The two entered a small teahouse and ordered a pot of hot tea. Zhu Ying poured a cup for Pei Jue and then stood straight to the side.
"Don't stand, sit down and have some hot tea."
Pei Jue held the scalding hot teacup in both hands, occasionally blowing away the tea foam floating on top.
"Wow, this batch of salt is really good quality; it'll definitely fetch a good price."
Pei Jue's eyes flickered, and he slowly turned the teacup in his hand.
"That's right. The government's salt supply is not timely, and there is a severe shortage of salt in Wenzhou. We're sure to make a fortune when we go back this time."
It sounds like the two people sitting at the table behind them.
With a "clink," the teacup in Pei Jue's hand struck the tea table in front of him with a crisp sound.
“Bamboo shadows,” he called out.
Zhu Ying immediately realized what he meant, nodded to him, and turned to walk away.
"Gentlemen, are you also salt merchants?"
"Who are you?" one of them asked in an unfriendly tone, glancing warily at Zhu Ying.
He's not good at starting conversations.
With a taut face and expressionless expression, Zhu Ying continued, "My young master and I are salt merchants who have come to buy salt for the first time. We overheard you saying that the salt is of good quality, so we wanted to ask where you sourced it."
The two men exchanged a glance, and one of them clicked his tongue and said, "Young man, it's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that the saltworks we went to were too crowded. You probably won't make it in time if you go now. Anyway, the quality of the salt is pretty much the same, so it's the same no matter which one you go to."
This was clearly a way of saying they didn't want to talk about it for fear of losing business. Zhu Ying readily took a small purse from her pocket and handed it to the man, saying, "We are salt merchants from the capital; we won't compete with you for business."
The man, with a bamboo skewer dangling from his mouth, weighed the heavy little pouch in his hand, exchanged a knowing smile with his companion, and then the other man spoke:
“Sure, I see you’re new to this business, so I’ll lend you a hand. Here’s the Fengli Saltworks nearby, it’s very close to this dock, just a short walk away.”
Zhu Ying then asked, "Could you two gentlemen please tell us the price? We're a small business, so we need to think it over."
The man chuckled, spat out the bamboo skewer from his mouth, and gestured with his chin toward Zhu Ying: "Young man, you really are a novice. You don't use silver to buy salt, but salt permits, each permit being worth three hundred catties of salt." He then looked at his companion, and the two of them simultaneously sized up Zhu Ying with mocking eyes: "You'd better go and ask your master if he has any salt permits, otherwise you'll be wasting your time."
Zhu Ying wasn't annoyed. She clasped her hands in thanks to the two of them and returned to Pei Jue's side.
While Zhu Ying was inquiring about the news, Pei Jue refilled his teacup and was now calmly skimming off the foam floating on top with the lid.
Zhu Ying approached and lowered her voice to reply, "Reporting to Master, we have found out everything. It is the nearby Fengli Saltworks, with a yield of three hundred catties per batch."
Pei Jue shook his teacup nonchalantly: "That salt certificate is useless to us; it's just for show."
Zhu Ying nodded, then lowered her voice even further: "Judging from their attire, they don't seem to be legitimate salt merchants."
Pei Jue showed no reaction, as if he had expected it.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have gone to such lengths to have Zhuying inquire about the name of a salt field.
“Let’s go,” he said, standing up as his layers of moon-white brocade robes unfurled, like moonlight pouring down.
He lowered his head and carefully brushed away the dust from his cuffs, then straightened his leather belt, a strange smile playing on his lips.
The clothes that the lady bought should be cherished.
The salt from Fengli Saltworks is renowned for its high quality, so any salt merchant with some money is willing to come here to buy large quantities of salt. As a result, the area around the saltworks is bustling with activity, and it is packed with people from early morning.
Zhu Ying walked ahead, carefully protecting Pei Jue behind her to prevent him from being bumped into by passersby.
They entered the salt warehouse, grabbed a passing warehouse worker, and began questioning him about the process of buying salt.
The cook pointed and said, "Look, see those people over there? Take your salt permits and line up to get your salt."
After saying that, he lifted his foot to leave, but someone grabbed his arm.
“Please take us to the saltworks ambassador,” Pei Jue said to him.
Upon hearing this, Cangfu was quite puzzled: "What do you want with our ambassador? If you want to buy salt, you can buy it here."
Pei Jue shook his head, still holding his hand tightly: "I have important business with your ambassador, please lead the way."
Seeing that he couldn't persuade him otherwise, the porter had no choice but to put down his work and lead them around to a large house next to the saltworks.
The warehouse worker told them to wait outside while he went in to inform them.
"The ambassador is inside, please come in." A moment later, Cangfu came out and hurried away.
"Wait for me outside." Pei Jue said to Zhu Ying, then pushed open the door and went inside.
Inside the room, a middle-aged man was holding a brush and writing something in a flamboyant style on a stack of Chinese books.
"Ambassador." Pei Jue stood below and bowed.
The man sitting above impatiently tossed the documents in his hand aside, barely managing to pry open a hole in the mountain of documents in front of him, and looked at Pei Jue through the hole.
"What do you want from me?"
Pei Jue ignored his impatient tone and said, "We're here to buy salt."
The man became even more impatient upon hearing this, and almost wanted to jump down and kick Pei Jue out.
"Go away, go outside if you want to buy salt," he muttered angrily, panting heavily through his nose like a cow. "Who was the blind fool who brought this to me?"
Pei Jue waited quietly for him to finish his tantrum, then said calmly, "I need a lot of salt, not just the kind outside."
The man behind the pile of documents then stood up, walked up to him, and looked him over properly.
The person in front of me was wearing a moon-white straight-collared long robe, with a wide belt with moon-white auspicious cloud patterns around his waist, and a piece of black jade hanging from his waist, which looked very valuable at first glance.
He stroked his beard, pondering for a long time but still couldn't figure out who this person was, so he didn't dare to speak casually.
“If you want a lot of salt, bring more salt permits. My word doesn’t count; only permits issued by the government are valid.” He gave Pei Jue a deep look, then stood still.
Pei Jue hesitated for a moment, then took out a piece of paper from his waist, stepped forward to the ambassador, and handed him the paper.
Seeing the ambassador take the paper with suspicion, Pei Jue added casually, "The meaning on it."
The ambassador unfolded the paper with some skepticism, but after just one glance, his expression changed drastically. He bowed deeply to Pei Jue and said, "I was very rude just now, please forgive me, sir."
“It’s alright,” Pei Jue said, putting the paper away. “Bring me all the salt you have stored.”
The ambassador was immediately stumped: "Sir, this... I also need to keep some for business."
"Keep your gains for today, and leave the rest to me. Don't worry, you won't be shortchanged."
Upon hearing the word "money," the ambassador immediately changed his tune, bowing and scraping to Pei Jue: "Yes, sir, how about this, I'll deliver the goods to the dock for you tomorrow morning?"
"Approximately how many?"
The ambassador's eyes darted around, and he held up five fingers.
Pei Jue considered it for a moment and was quite satisfied with the figure of five million, so he stopped talking to him and turned to leave.
Once outside, Zhu Ying was still waiting. Pei Jue tossed him a salt certificate, specially made by Pei An and worth ten thousand others, saying, "Go check out the other salt fields. Don't waste them."
Zhu Ying respectfully accepted it: "Yes."
While waiting for Zhuying to exchange the salt, Pei Jue returned to the carriage. He picked up his pen, intending to write a letter to Pei An before rewriting a letter to Xu Ruoyan.
Based on the current salt price, one jin of salt costs three cents, so he needs to pay the salt merchant 15,000 taels of silver. Once it reaches the market, one jin of salt can be sold for four cents, so he will eventually receive about 5,000 taels.
Oh, and there's also that 10,000 salt permits, which can be exchanged for 300,000 catties of salt, and in the end, you'll get an extra 10,000 taels.
Pei Jue pondered to himself that 15,000 taels wasn't too much, but one couldn't rush things in business; he would just buy more next time.
After he figured out the calculation, he picked up his pen and wrote on the paper: "Fifteen thousand taels of silver, delivered to the Huaiyang East Gate Wharf as soon as possible."
He folded the paper into a small square, took a pigeon out of its cage, tied the letter to its leg, and threw it out the window, thus ending his task.
These pigeons were trained by the Shadowless Pavilion and are much faster than ordinary pigeons. If nothing unexpected happens, they should reach Pei An's hands in a day.
After resolving the matter, Pei Jue picked up another piece of paper, carefully dipped it in ink, and copied down the words he had written to Xu Ruoyan not long ago.
He continued writing: "The matter has been settled, and I should be able to earn more than ten thousand taels of silver."
After pondering for a while, he added a few more strokes: "From now on, I will be able to support my wife."
When Zhuying returned, she brought some new information.
"My lord, the matter has been settled. Except for the Fengli Saltworks, the ships transporting salt can set off tomorrow and will take fifty days to reach the capital."
Pei Jue hummed in agreement: "Thank you for your hard work."
Zhu Ying continued, "I have also learned that the current prefect of Yangzhou is Song Mingyang."
"Song Mingyang... was he a student of Li Wen, the Grand Secretary of the Hanlin Academy, right?"
Bamboo Shadow replied, "That's right."
He lowered his head and heard Pei Jue chuckle softly.
"Since they're acquaintances, things will be much easier."
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