Chapter 451 He Could Have Got to Rob
"Open it and let Shopkeeper Li have a look."
The follower opened one of the cloth bags and found ten pieces of bread, some dried meat of unknown origin, and a big radish inside.
This thing would definitely not be a rare commodity for Shopkeeper Li, but things are different now. Merchants in the city cannot get the goods, and many places are already short of food. Besides water, the most expensive thing in the city is food.
"This... please let me know, Brother Wang."
Steward Wang walked up to Shopkeeper Li and said, "This is a gift package prepared by our Master He to fill your stomachs out of pity for you all who have no food or drink. We, Master He, will give you this amount for this gift package, and it depends on how much you can sell the rest for."
Shopkeeper Li saw Steward Wang holding out five fingers and said with a smile, "Fifty copper coins, no problem. I'll take all of them."
The smile on Manager Wang's face changed several times. "Manager Li, a bowl of plain noodles in your store costs fifty copper coins. I have bread, meat, and a big carrot here. You said it's only fifty copper coins. I'm afraid you don't believe it yourself."
Manager Li asked tentatively, "Then Manager Wang, tell me how much it is? It can't be five hundred copper coins, right?"
"Of course it's more than that. It only costs five taels of silver."
Shopkeeper Li thought he had heard wrongly, but when he confirmed again and again that these things really cost five taels of silver per bag, he almost laughed out of anger!
He could have just robbed them, but they insisted on giving him a few pancakes!
The only two words that Manager Wang could say were "Mr. He"; he knew that when the drought first started, Mr. He had stockpiled a large amount of grain. Just for these pancakes, one pound of flour could make so many of them. And how much did a pound of flour cost at that time?
Shopkeeper Li tried hard to control his expression so as not to offend anyone. "Manager Wang, the cost price is five taels of silver. How much do you want me to sell it for?"
"With so many things, isn't it easy for you to sell them for ten taels of silver?"
Shopkeeper Li felt that Mr. He was really crazy about money. Who would spend ten taels of silver to buy such a small thing? Those who could afford it probably didn't need it, and the rest of the starving people couldn't expect him to spend so much money to buy it.
"Manager Wang, look at this shabby inn of mine. The people who come to stay here can't be from rich families. They may not be able to give even five taels of silver, let alone ten taels of silver. Why don't you go ask other people?"
Manager Wang's face immediately darkened. "Manager Li, why do you think we can sell this thing at this time? Of course, we have obtained the consent of Lord Wei. If Lord Wei knew that you, Manager Li, were unwilling to cooperate with us to benefit the people, I'm afraid he would be unhappy."
The reason why Manager Li was so polite to Manager Wang was because the He family had a close relationship with Lord Wei, the city defender. Lord Wei's new concubine who came into the mansion last year was the daughter of the He family. As long as he whispered in Lord Wei's ear, there was nothing he couldn't accomplish.
Shopkeeper Li didn't want to offend the He family, but he was also unwilling to be the one who got sucked in for five taels of silver and a bag of dry food.
"Manager Wang, five taels of silver is really too expensive. Can you make it cheaper? One tael, one tael of silver, I can give you whatever you want!" Manager Li gritted his teeth and made the decision.
Manager Wang sneered, "What's the situation now? You might as well go and rob for one tael of silver. Manager Li, you better think it over. There are only thirty bags here. I believe that with Manager Li's financial resources, it will be no problem to take them down."
Thirty packs, that would be one hundred and fifty taels of silver. He had to use one hundred and fifty taels of silver to buy some pancakes!
But if he didn't buy it, he would offend the He family and then offend Lord Wei. Shopkeeper Li was caught in a dilemma for a while.
Steward Wang saw that Manager Li was hesitant, so he softened his attitude and said, "Manager Li, I'm only saying these things to you because we have some friendship. It's just over a hundred taels of silver. Just think of it as giving face to our master and adults. What do you want to do in Luocheng in the future?"
Shopkeeper Li was reluctant to take so much. "Look, how about I buy ten bags? I don't have that much silver on hand. The most I can take out is fifty taels."
Seeing that Shopkeeper Li was not moved by his persuasion, Manager Wang sneered and had all the things carried out. "Since Shopkeeper Li doesn't need them, I won't force you. Just carry all the things away."
Upon seeing this, Shopkeeper Li hurried forward and grabbed a handful of copper coins and stuffed them into Manager Wang's hand. Manager Wang pushed the copper coins to the ground and walked away without looking back.
Su Ying was standing on the corridor on the second floor and watched the whole scene. She was standing in a relatively hidden position, so no one in the lobby noticed her presence. In addition, she had excellent hearing, so she was able to hear the conversation between the two.
The Master He mentioned by the City Guard’s Housekeeper should be the person he saw at the government office that day. He has a heart as rotten as that Lord Wei.
Su Ying felt that although Manager Wang had left, the matter would not just end like that. Otherwise, if everyone was like Manager Li, who would buy that stuff?
Su Ying walked down from the second floor and could clearly see the worry on Manager Li's face.
Su Ying walked up to Shopkeeper Li and asked, "Shopkeeper, when I entered the city, I saw so many disaster victims outside the city and no one was caring about them. Did the government never give out porridge?"
When Manager Li heard the word "government", his face became even more worried. "The other day, a fire broke out in the granary in Luocheng. Lord Wei said that almost all the stored grain was burned, so there was no grain left to provide porridge to the victims."
Su Ying's eyebrows jumped, "Burned?"
"Yes." Shopkeeper Li laughed sarcastically, "What a coincidence."
Su Ying felt that she needed to find out what was going on. "Manager Li, do you know where the granary in Luocheng is?"
The location of the granary should have been secret, but one time when Manager Li was drinking with Manager Wang, the drunk Manager Wang accidentally revealed it, and he then knew the location.
Shopkeeper Li looked at Su Ying in confusion, "Why are you asking about this, young master?"
Su Ying took out a gold medal from her body and said, "To be honest, I am sent by the court. The emperor has heard about the drought in Luocheng, so he sent people to check the situation. He is very confused about why Lord Wei has not opened the granary for grain, so I need to find out what is going on."
Shopkeeper Li looked at the red-gold token with dragon pattern in amazement. He looked around and made sure that there was no one around before he lowered his voice and told Su Ying an address.
Su Ying nodded when she heard this, "Don't worry, Manager Li. Those who don't care about the lives of the people will be liquidated by the court sooner or later."
Shopkeeper Li understood what Su Ying meant, and the sadness in his eyes gradually dissipated. "This lord must be careful. In the past two years, Lord Wei has held Luocheng in his hands and is not so easy to deal with."
Su Ying sneered, "Even if it's a man-eating tiger, I can still skin it!"
(End of this chapter)
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