In the past, there were earthquakes in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces and an avalanche in the Tianshan Mountains. The imperial court immediately mobilized grain in northern Zhili for disaster relief.
As imperial merchants, the Lin family naturally spared no effort in providing relief to the victims. However, the earthquake occurred during the first month of the lunar calendar, and food supplies were already scarce in Northern Zhili, and transferring grain from Jiangnan would take time.
At that time, her mother was seriously ill, and all matters of the Marquis's residence were handed over to Gu Ruoyun. One day, Gu Ruoyun suddenly sent 5,000 dan of rice to the Lin family, saying that she had bought it from farmers. At that time, the price of rice in the capital had risen from one liang and three coins per dan to sixteen liang of silver per dan.
The Lin family was overjoyed. At the time, the imperial court had been pressuring several major imperial merchants to provide relief to the disaster victims. The Lin family immediately provided porridge and grain, but that grain killed thousands of victims.
My uncle personally came to the capital and gave away most of his family property to save the Lin family. Afterwards, Gu Ruoyun knelt in front of the Lin family and could not get up. My uncle guessed that she was also plotted against and did not think much of it.
In her previous life, Su Qingyu also thought that her cousin had been deceived, but now that she thought about it, it was clear that someone had teamed up with Gu Ruoyun to plot against the Lin family.
This matter is definitely not something that Gu Ruoyun can plan alone. There must be someone behind the scenes who wants to kill the Lin family.
The enemy is in the dark, and they are having a hard time in the light, and need to be on guard against cold swords at all times.
Su Qingyu suddenly asked, "Cousin, whose path did the Lin family follow to become an imperial merchant?"
The Lin family used to be the largest grain merchant in Jiangnan. It was only in the past three or four years that they began to earn money from the court as imperial merchants.
Lin Wenbo didn't understand why Su Qingyu asked this, but he still said: "The Lin family is an imperial merchant, following the path of Mr. Shen San. My father once met Mr. Shen San and helped him. He didn't want to owe the Lin family anything, so he spoke up for them."
Su Qingyu took a deep breath and thought of the bad things that happened to the Shen family in her previous life.
They say monkeys scatter when the tree falls, but in fact they have to scatter.
After Third Master Shen passed away in the previous life, the Shen family gradually began to struggle. On the one hand, this was because the abilities of both branches of the Shen family were average, but there was another important reason, which was that Third Master Shen’s former political enemies began to retaliate against the Shen family.
If my uncle had followed Mr. Shen Sanye's path, he would have been labeled as a member of the Shen family. It would be understandable that someone in the court coveted the Lin family's way of making money.
"Cousin, what's the price of grain in Jiangnan now?"
Lin Wenbo said, "Right now, it's about one tael of silver per stone. It's the end of the year, and it's a bit more expensive at this time of year. During the autumn harvest, the average price was about eight qian of silver. What's wrong?"
Su Qingyu asked again: "How much silver can you mobilize now?"
Lin Wenbo calculated in his mind, "Five or six hundred thousand taels, maybe. This money needs to be returned to my father at the end of the year."
Su Qingyu tapped the armrests of her chair with her green fingers and said thoughtfully, "Can we find a way to collect one million dan of grain and transport it to the capital before the end of the year?"
In less than two months, the acquisition and transportation...
Su Qingyu felt a little unsure.
Lin Wenbo was horrified. "Are you crazy? Grain prices are at their highest right now. We might not be able to sell all of one million dan by next autumn. By the time the new grain arrives in autumn, you'll be left with nothing."
Su Qingyu didn't know how to explain to Lin Wenbo, but the grain must be collected, and the more the better.
After thinking for a moment, Su Qingyu asked him mysteriously, "Do you know Master Ci'en?"
Seeing that Su Qingyu looked like she was about to reveal a secret, Lin Wenbo moved closer and said in a low voice, "Of course I know. It is said that Master Ci'en's ability to read celestial phenomena and interpret divinations is even better than that of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory's chief envoy."
"I went to Huguo Temple yesterday and heard Master Ci'en worshiping the Buddha. He said that in two months, a natural disaster would strike northern Zhili. By then, the people would be destitute and starving, with corpses of starvation everywhere."
"I thought if we didn't know, we could just forget about it. But now that we know, we have to prepare early."
Lin Wenbo was shocked after hearing this. He knew that his cousin went to Huguo Temple because he went to the Marquis' Mansion yesterday and planned to ask about his cousin's marriage. The gatekeeper said that the eldest lady had gone to Huguo Temple.
I don't think my cousin would want to raise one million shi of grain for no reason. If it is really what Master Ci'en said, then we should prepare for this in advance.
In business, whoever can seize the opportunity first will win.
Lin Wenbo thought for a moment and said, "I can't make the decision on this matter. I need to go back to Yunzhou Prefecture to see my father in person."
There was no way he could avoid his father and make the decision on his own regarding one million dan of grain. This matter was too big and required the Lin family to put in all its efforts.
Su Qingyu said, "That's fine, but you must tell my uncle that this matter must be concealed. Send more new faces out, and don't go around collecting grain under the banner of the Lin family."
Lin Wenbo nodded and said, "I know this. I will tell my father."
The fewer people who know about this kind of thing, the better. After all, the natural disaster hasn't happened yet, and spreading the news will only cause unnecessary speculation.
Su Qingyu discussed a few more things to pay attention to with Lin Wenbai before getting on the carriage and returning to the Marquis' Mansion.
As soon as the carriage stopped at the hanging flower gate, Amber was seen waiting there anxiously.
Seeing Su Qingyu get off the car, he hurried forward and whispered, "Miss, the Marquis is waiting to interrogate you."
Su Qingyu raised her eyebrows slightly, "Interrogating me? What's going on?"
Amber followed Su Qingyu and explained, "The Third Miss was about to commit suicide in her room today, and the Marquis happened to see her. The Third Miss said that Zhou Zheng was your lover outside, and your tryst implicated her. She also said that you deliberately harmed her."
Before Amber could finish her words, the master and servants were stopped by the butler Su Zhong. "Miss, the Marquis has been waiting for you in Songhe Hall all day. Please go over now."
Su Qingyu's cold and beautiful face showed a layer of anger, and she said lightly: "Then let's go."
In the side hall of Songhe Hall, the old lady and Su Chengye sat in the main seats, while Gu Ruoyun comforted the crying Aunt Xue on the side.
When she saw Su Qingyu coming in, Aunt Xue stood up and cursed at Su Qingyu as if she had seen the murderer of her father.
"You little bitch, you are such a lowly person yourself, why are you harming my daughter?"
"I'm going to strangle you to death today. You're a disgrace to our family. You're going to die a miserable death."
"Tell me, how many men have you slept with outside? Are you jealous of my daughter's purity?"
Aunt Xue's words became more and more unpleasant. She no longer acted like a noble concubine in a marquis's mansion. She was almost like a village shrew scolding people in the street.
A frost gradually appeared on Su Qingyu's face.
Pop.
There was a loud slap, and Aunt Xue staggered as well.
Su Qingyu asked coldly.
"Are you awake? If not, drag him away and give him a beating."
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