The bald man paused for a moment, then shook his head: "This is a matter of great importance, I'll go. Besides, I know a few rebel generals, so if we run into them, I can still manage."
Zhi Xing frowned, but couldn't resist the bald man's determination, and shook his head helplessly.
Just then, the accountant finished settling all the accounts for the Longxing Prefecture group—there was another accountant in Zhixing, so he only needed to check if there were any errors or omissions in the accounts.
"The vegetables and the kang (heated brick bed) for Boss Ye were paid separately and not included in the cooperation. After deducting the wages paid to the brothers who built the kang, we made a total of 133.8 taels of silver."
The accountant added, "The materials used for building the kang (heated brick bed) were all provided by the host, and the host also covered the food expenses for the brothers during the days they worked there, so we earned a little more."
The vegetables sent to Longxing Prefecture were frozen and sold at a low price to familiar stewards and merchants by Zhixing, but Ye Wenxue would be given a supplementary amount of silver at the original price.
Ye Wenxue happily accepted the silver, feeling that the small town was indeed not as good as the prefectural city.
Look, Zhixing only stayed for a month or so, and he earned so much money just from vegetables and cooking. Congratulations!
She took out all the change and gave Zhixing an additional ten taels of silver as commission:
"Take these three taels and eight mace of silver and use them to treat the brothers from Longxing Prefecture to a good meal."
The bald man pointed to himself expressionlessly: "And me?"
Ye Wenxue smiled and said, "You can come and freeload a meal."
The people at the table, who had been disappointed, all burst into laughter.
Zhi Xing hesitated for a moment, then accepted the silver, his eyes glancing at Da Zhuang from time to time, his intentions unknown.
The accountant glanced enviously at the silver in Zhixing's hand and continued:
"As for charcoal, braziers, etc., walnut charcoal and bamboo charcoal are particularly expensive, and good charcoal is also priced at the top of the market."
Most of the ordinary charcoal was purchased, and the price was stable at the bottom of the market price. However, because of the large quantity, it added up to a considerable profit. After deducting rent, car rental, food, clothing, daily necessities, entertaining guests, charcoal selling wages, etc.,
The accountant did another mental calculation, swallowed hard, and said, "We made a total of 1,967 taels and 3 mace."
Everyone guessed that they had made a lot of money on this trip. After all, the prices of grain and charcoal in Longxing Prefecture were not regulated, causing prices to skyrocket. Many grain merchants who did not have much money became rich overnight and could wear gold and silver without any problem.
Upon hearing the accountant's words, everyone except Zhi Xing, who had already paid the silver, was taken aback.
Ye Wenxue's mind raced as she recalled that in the original book, the He family sold charcoal for two whole months and managed to escape in time with Sui Bao's help before Longxing Prefecture fell, seemingly earning... three or four hundred taels.
And this is money I earned working for someone else.
Before the city fell, the owner of the charcoal workshop, who had close ties with the He family, was among the top three in terms of wealth in Longxing Prefecture.
The first two were both grain sellers, and both had close ties with the prince's mansion.
Ye Wenxue instantly calmed down. It's just money, whoever earns it earns it.
Xu Lin counted on his fingers for a long time, but still found it incredibly unbelievable.
It should be noted that when he was studying at a private school in Tanzhou City, he had tried many jobs, the lowest-paying ones being copying books and doing manual labor, earning at most fifty or sixty coins a day. Copying Buddhist scriptures earned him slightly more, but he didn't have work every day.
How many Buddhist scriptures would he have to copy, and how many years would it take to earn that much silver?
Xu Lin remained silent, for all the money was extracted from the people.
He sighed and scoffed at himself for wanting money to improve his family's life while simultaneously feeling that he was harming the common people.
The bald man didn't think much of it. He quickly grabbed a silver ingot, bit into it, and even though he was in pain, he was still laughing.
"Okay, okay!"
He gave Zhixing a big credit for his work and planned to reward him with more silver after the money was distributed.
Ye Wenxue had no objections.
After hearing that the accountant had deducted the money from the money spent on purchasing medicinal herbs by Zhixing, everyone happily divided the money among themselves.
Xu Lin first returned the consultation fee that Ye Wenxue had paid on his behalf, and then gave her another five taels of silver, saying it was to thank Su Jiu for her help.
Ye Wenxue noticed that he was a little off. Instead of joining the bald man who was overjoyed and called all his underlings to take the silver back to the stronghold, she waited until the others left and then looked at Xu Lin.
As the noisy footsteps faded into the distance, Xu Lin's lips curled into a self-deprecating smile:
"When I was a student, I thought more than once about how I should consider the people's interests, how to crack down on illegal businessmen, and how to firmly refuse bribes from officials. But I never expected..."
I never imagined that I would become one of those unscrupulous businessmen, or even worse, making so much money by taking advantage of natural disasters and man-made calamities.
This silver might be a family's food for several days, or the money for children and women sold off cheaply...
Originally, he only wanted to earn a little money to pay for his father's and his own medical treatment and medicine, and to stockpile grain and charcoal so that his family could safely get through the harsh winter.
Ye Wenxue was well aware of her own limitations; she had little moral sense and could not empathize with Xu Lin's current struggle and pain. So she gave Da Zhuang a look, asking him to persuade Xu Lin.
Dazhuang closed his eyes briefly: "Mom, you go out first. I'll talk to Uncle Xu."
Ye Wenxue nodded and went out.
Still feeling uneasy, she squatted by the window, listening to Dazhuang's 'gentle' advice.
"Uncle Xu, I understand your thinking. Don't you feel that you're being too greedy by wanting both?"
You're right, you're just too greedy.
Ye Wenxue's breath hitched. Why was this child speaking so bluntly today?
Could it be that Dazhuang was also tempted by the money?
Da Zhuang glanced at the window from inside the room and continued speaking:
“If we don’t make this money, someone else will. Those ‘others’ could be greedy officials or unscrupulous merchants. Once the money is in their pockets, they can forget about handing it back.”
But it's different when it comes to us. If you can't get over this, you can make charcoal yourself and send it to the cold-stricken elderly and children in the town at the foot of the mountain, or you can donate some rice and grain to provide free porridge at the foot of the mountain, or you can..."
Dazhuang rattled off quite a few points in bits and pieces.
Seeing that Xu Lin's expression was gradually softening, Ye Wenxue quickly ran away to prevent being forcibly persuaded by Da Zhuang.
As expected of the main villain in the book, he speaks eloquently, and most of it is learned from Xu Lin.
Wait a minute, isn't this just a case of the wool coming from the sheep's back?
Half an hour later, Dazhuang walked out of the house, his mouth dry, and gave Ye Wenxue a resentful look: "Mother, let's go back."
"Your Uncle Xu..."
"He planned to donate half of his silver to buy rice and grain to distribute porridge to every household, and to buy some ordinary charcoal to give to each household."
Ye Wenxue silently took out ten taels of silver, thought for a moment, then took back five taels and stuffed them into Dazhuang's hand: "This is the greatest token of my appreciation."
Let's just consider it an act of charity to pray for the children.
Da Zhuang: "..."
Upon returning to the valley, Ye Wenxue immediately stored all the silver in her spatial storage, then dragged Su Jiu over, narrowing her eyes as she questioned him:
"You two attempted to assassinate Prince Anle in Longxing Prefecture? You've got some nerve."
Su Jiu's expression tightened.
Oh no, that bastard Huo Zhaoqing warned him not to tell Ye Wenxue about this.
How did she know?!
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