Even Yu the Great's heir couldn't believe that he would cooperate with someone so stupid as to be a pig.
The shop owner publicly admitted that the cotton-padded clothes were of poor quality. Fortunately, no ordinary people gathered around, otherwise the reputation of Qu Family Cloth Shop would have been ruined.
After glaring at Master Qu, the Crown Prince of Yu asked again, "So, this batch of cotton-padded clothes really isn't from the Zhou family's cloth workshop?"
Zhou Ziqiong didn't dodge the question, and honestly smiled, "Yes, how could these inferior cotton-padded clothes possibly come from our Zhou family's cloth workshop?"
"..."
Before the Crown Prince of Yu could speak, Zhou Ziqiong pointed at Jing Zhe and said, "These were all given to me by my younger brother!"
"..."
The Crown Prince of Yu felt a vague unease and looked at Jing Zhe along with Master Qu.
Jing Zhe then laughed and said, "My sixth sister is right. These cotton-padded clothes and cotton were indeed sent by me. After all, I only know how to do business in restaurants and newspapers. How would I know anything about cotton?"
"And your cotton and cotton-padded clothes..."
"Oh, this..."
Jing Zhe laughed and said, "Last night at Wenxiangju, I ran into some foreign merchants who insisted on drinking strong liquor. I ended up drinking a few cups with them, but who knew they could hold their liquor so poorly? They couldn't last more than a few cups and kept telling me that they had bought ten cartloads of cotton-padded clothes and cotton from a big idiot at a low price."
"..."
Upon hearing the foreign merchant call him a "big fool," Master Qu's face turned green. He was both furious and surprised: "Huh, he's clearly angry, so why is he calling me a fool?"
At this point, Jing Zhe continued, "I didn't want it at first, but these foreign merchants insisted on selling it to me! Later, I inquired and found out that they had only spent 250 taels of silver to buy these ten cartloads of cotton and cotton-padded clothes, and they were willing to sell it to me for 500 taels, just to make friends! When I heard that, it was indeed a good deal, so I bought it. But these foreign merchants are really cunning. They say they're making friends, but I think they're clearly just trying to avoid trouble. They just passed it on to me and made double the silver in profit. How clever!"
"..."
Master Qu cursed inwardly again: Are these foreign merchants mentally challenged? Ten cartloads of cotton clothes and cotton, if transported back to their home countries, would earn them tens of thousands of taels of silver, but they only earn two hundred and fifty taels. I think they are just idiots!
"Master Qu, do you really think there's anyone that foolish as to sell so many cotton-padded clothes and cotton for only two hundred and fifty taels of silver?"
Jing Zhe looked at Master Qu, and after speaking, he suddenly slapped his forehead, realizing something. "Oh dear, I forgot! Master Qu just said that this cotton coat is from your Qu family's cloth shop? Could that big idiot be Master Qu himself?"
"..."
Now, Master Qu's face turned completely green.
"Silence means consent. It seems it really is Master Qu. Master Qu shouldn't be stupid, so why would he sell the cotton-padded coat at such a low price? Could it be that Master Qu is sacrificing his personal interests for the sake of friendship between Anguo and the foreign states? Such magnanimity is truly admirable!"
After speaking, he looked at the Crown Prince of Yu and asked, "By the way, what brings you here today, Your Highness?"
The Crown Prince of Yu's expression kept changing, and finally he waved his hand and said, "It's nothing. I just heard that the Zhou family's cloth shop bought cotton clothes and cotton from foreign merchants, so I came to congratulate them!"
"Your Highness..."
"Shut up!"
The Crown Prince of Yu glared at Master Qu, then looked at Zhou Ziqiong and said coldly, "However, I still have to advise Miss Zhou that having too much cotton is a good thing, but it's not entirely a good thing!"
After saying that, he left without looking back. Seeing this, Master Qu immediately followed him out.
...
"Clap clap clap!"
As soon as he left the Zhou family's cloth shop, the Crown Prince of Yu slapped Master Qu three times across the face, leaving him completely stunned.
"Your Highness..."
"What, you still don't know why I hit you?"
"Clap clap clap!"
Then came three more slaps. Poor Master Qu, at his advanced age, was beaten so badly by the Prince of Yu, who didn't know how to respect the elderly and care for the young. His head was filled with stars.
"You're such an idiot! You actually think you can use your worthless IOU to ask someone for money back? Dream on!"
The Crown Prince of Yu nearly roared, "Can't you see that you've fallen into someone's trap? From the moment that foreign merchant appeared, you were ambushed! What good is that written agreement? That man surnamed Jing said the foreign merchant sold him the cotton-padded clothes, what does that have to do with the Zhou family's cloth workshop?"
"..."
Master Qu snapped out of his daze and lowered his head.
He was indeed scammed, and he lost everything.
"Your Highness... what should we do next?"
The Crown Prince of Yu's expression shifted rapidly before he finally said, "As I just said, so what if they have cotton and cotton-padded clothes? They did have some before, but so what? Did they sell them?"
"..."
What Master Qu actually wanted to say was that they couldn't sell their cotton-padded clothes before because the cotton-padded clothes sold by the Qu Family Cloth Shop were cheaper, and the people of Ruzhou had a choice. But now the Qu Family Cloth Shop doesn't have a single cotton-padded coat left, so they can only buy them from the Zhou Family Cloth Shop!
"Fool! The cotton-padded coats at Zhou's Cloth Shop are priced at the same two hundred coins as before, but in the past two days, the people have clearly become accustomed to our previous low prices. If they suddenly raise the price to two hundred coins a piece, the people will definitely think it's expensive!"
Master Qu nodded; that's just human nature.
The crown prince of Yu continued, "In that case, let's set the price at fifty coins per cotton-padded coat and see if anyone will buy them!"
"But…"
Master Qu hesitated for a moment and said, "Young Master, our cloth shop is out of cotton-padded clothes right now. If we set the price so low, what will we do if people come to buy cotton-padded clothes and we can't afford them? Won't our reputation get even worse?"
"Useless! Can't you be more flexible? If someone buys, just write down their names. The cotton my royal uncle sent us will arrive in a day at most. Once the cotton arrives, we'll work overtime to make a batch of cotton-padded clothes and distribute them to those who have pre-ordered! They only need to wait a few more days to save 150 coins. Do you think the common people would choose to wait a few days or be stupid enough to buy a cotton-padded coat for 200 coins?"
"Your Highness is brilliant! As expected of the Crown Prince, I doubt I could have come up with such a brilliant idea if I were in his shoes!"
The answer is obvious, so Master Qu started flattering him again.
"A piece of trash!"
The Crown Prince of Yu snorted coldly and said, "I warned them just now. Does Zhou Ziqiong really think that having more cotton is a good thing? They couldn't sell so much cotton in stock before, which caused their Zhou family's other businesses to be unable to operate. Now that they have even more cotton piling up in their warehouses, they will die even faster!"
"Your Highness... is indeed brilliant!"
Master Qu flattered them again, and then the two of them laughed heartily with great satisfaction.
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