Chapter 983: Expensive Flowers and Cheap Food (Reward for the book friend "Like a Drinking Water")
Zhou Wulang brought a box into the house, opened it and showed it to Manbao, saying happily, "Four hundred taels, how about that? Impressive, isn't it?"
Manbao touched a large ingot of silver and asked, "Fifth brother, I counted the silver in the room. There are a total of 625 taels. It's more than I expected."
"Didn't you say to just set a high price and let them lower it?" Zhou Wulang said, "I went back and forth with the palace steward several times, and the pot of chrysanthemums sold for 245 taels, and the Chang'e flying to the moon sold for 380 taels. But I told you, those flowers are rare, there's only one in all of Jin."
"The pot of ancient roses I brought out this afternoon was golden yellow. Their eyes lit up when they saw it. I asked for a higher price, and finally they lowered it to four hundred taels."
Manbao was amazed. "Three pots of flowers are more valuable than our family's annual grain production."
Bai Shan said, "It's best not to spread this kind of thing. Otherwise, more people will grow flowers and fewer people will farm. And if there are too many flowers, they will lose their value."
Bai Erlang looked up from his seat and mumbled, "Who would be so foolish as to use the land used to grow crops to plant flowers?"
Bai Shan glanced at him and said, "Money is a powerful asset. A pot of flowers can be sold for 400 taels. At the current grain price, 400 taels can buy 40,000 dou of grain. In other words, a pot of flowers can be exchanged for 40,000 dou of grain. Do you think they would rather grow flowers or grain?"
Bai Erlang: "How can this be the same? Not every pot of flowers can be sold for four hundred taels. Take the ancient roses that Manbao brought back. This is the first time I've seen or heard of them in my life."
Bai Shan: "You know, but ordinary people don't know. They only know that someone sold flowers and sold a pot for four hundred taels."
Mr. Zhuang nodded and was about to express his agreement when Manbao said, "Hey, stop arguing. Rare flowers aren't just selling for a high price now. It's always been like that."
"Orchids and peonies, they sell for as little as one or two taels, and as much as a thousand taels. The annual flower fair is a lively affair, and I've never seen anyone use their cropland to grow flowers. How many people in this world can afford to pay such high prices for these flowers? They're either wealthy merchants, gentry, or powerful families," Manbao said. "This kind of flower business can only be done once or twice. If you sell the same kind of flowers a third time, customers will come to you."
Mr. Zhuang stopped talking.
Bai Erlang said, "You sold about twenty pots of white peonies before."
"That's because I only sell them for sixteen taels. If I'd sold two hundred taels or more, do you think I'd sell a second pot?" Manbao pointed at the flowers outside in the corridor and said, "Look, no two pots of flowers I buy are exactly the same. They might be different species or colors, but they're all different."
Everyone looked outside and found that it was true. They were silent for a moment.
"So things like flower planting encroaching on grain-growing land won't happen to ordinary people, it only happens among flower farmers."
Mr. Zhuang couldn't help but nodded slightly.
Zhou Wulang didn't understand these things. He was only concerned about one thing: "Where are you going to keep so much silver? Is it safe to keep it in the house?"
"It's very safe. Didn't I just take the money from the house for you before?"
Zhou Wulang thought the same thing, so he picked up the box and said, "Okay, I'll take it to your house."
Manbao happily went back to the house with Zhou Wulang.
Manbao opened the cash box and took out the scattered twenty-five taels of silver from it and handed it to Zhou Wulang, saying generously, "Fifth Brother, this is your hard work fee."
Zhou Wulang held up the silver and asked, "Isn't that a bit much? Do you have enough money to buy the flowers? How much did you spend on them?"
"It cost me a lot, but I also made money, and a lot of it. Would I do a business that didn't make money?"
Zhou Wulang thought so too. After all, they had set the lowest price, so he accepted it with peace of mind.
"Then I'll go back to the restaurant."
"Are you going back? Aren't you going to stay and have dinner with us?"
Zhou Wulang said, "The restaurant is busiest in the evening, I have to go back and help them."
Manbao saw him out and asked, "How's the restaurant business these days?"
"It's a little slower, but with regular customers, the income is okay. Anyway, it looks better than some of the restaurants nearby."
Manbao nodded and said, "Take your time. You'll get better as you do this for a long time."
Zhou Wulang asked quietly, "How many years do you think our family can last?"
Manbao was still very confident that they could overturn the verdict, so he said, "We can do it for as many years as we want."
Zhou Wulang chuckled, patted his youngest sister on the shoulder, drove his mule cart out, said goodbye to Liu Gui and others, and left.
Manbao watched her fifth brother walk away and then skipped back to her room. She touched the silver ingots in the box, felt their texture and weight, and then happily put them into the system space.
Because the next day was the first day of the new year and the three of them had a day off, Manbao stayed in bed for a rare while.
She got up after the sun was high in the sky, ate her breakfast leisurely, and then went to the small garden to look for Bai Shan.
Bai Shan got up a little earlier than her and was standing under a tree with his hands behind his back, reciting his lessons while shaking his head.
Manbao quietly moved past him and was about to scare him when Bai Shan suddenly turned around and screamed "Wow!" Manbao also screamed "Ah!", but neither of them was scared.
Bai Shan said: "You are so childish. You are so old and still playing this."
"You're not concentrating on your lessons."
"Don't you see where the sun is coming from? I can see your shadow as soon as you get behind me."
Manbao looked down and saw that it was indeed the case. She looked around and asked, "Where is Bai Er?"
"Not yet."
"I didn't see the gentleman either."
"The teacher said there would be a poetry gathering at Hanmo Studio on the first day of the new year, and that there would be new poetry collections for sale, so he went to take a look and left early in the morning."
Manbao found a patch of grass that had been dried by the sun and covered with dew, sat down, and asked, "Where do you want to go today?"
"I want to go shopping too. Didn't you say last time that you wanted to find a book? I happen to want to buy a picture book. Should we go to the bookstore later?"
Manbao nodded repeatedly, "Okay, okay."
Just as he finished speaking, Liu Gui came in quickly from outside and bowed, saying, "Miss Man, someone from Jishiditang is here, saying that the patient you were waiting for has arrived."
Manbao asked lazily, "Who is it? The idiot I tricked the day before yesterday?"
"No, it's the young master of the Yin family."
Manbao's eyes lit up, and he jumped up and ran, "Tell him to wait a moment, I'll go get the backpack."
Before he could finish his words, the man had already run away. Bai Shan put away the book and said to Daji, "Go and harness the carriage."
Daji agreed and turned to leave.
The next update will be around 11:30 PM
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
