Su Qingyu said: "Of course we have to sell it, but we can't sell it like this."
In the previous life, as soon as the news of the earthquake in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces came out, the grain merchants in the capital realized that food was in short supply, and as soon as the market opened in the morning, they all started raising prices.
On the first day, the price was three taels of silver per stone, and on the second day it directly increased to five taels.
Because grain merchants raised prices, people began to panic and everyone came out to line up to buy grain. For a time, people in the capital were in a panic.
At that time, the task of disaster relief fell on the head of the cabinet chief Xu Yixiang.
The first thing Lord Xu did was to take action against several major grain merchants, accusing them of malicious price gouging.
Several major grain merchants, led by the Lin and Su families, each contributed 300,000 dan of grain and 500,000 taels of silver to calm the government's anger.
Half a month later, refugees affected by the disaster began to enter Beijing one after another. However, by that time, all the food in northern Zhili had been sent to the northwest for disaster relief, and the capital fell into panic again.
The unrest was not eased until the end of the first month when grain from Jiangnan arrived in Beijing.
Lin Wenbo was confused. "Then how do we sell it?"
Su Qingyu pondered and said, "Cousin, what do you think? It's only three taels today. Will it go up again tomorrow?"
Lin Wenbo said, "It will definitely go up. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Northern Zhili is short of food. I'm afraid that in the future, it might even go up to ten taels."
Su Qingyu asked again, "Now that the country is facing a crisis, if we all raise our prices, will the court use us as sacrifices?"
"When the day comes when public outrage is aroused, we, the major grain traders, will be the culprits."
"By then, I'm afraid I'll have to pay back double the money I earned."
Lin Wenbai is not a young man who is ignorant of the world. Having been in charge of the capital for many years, he is well aware of the twists and turns involved.
Whenever a major disaster struck the country, merchants like them were the main force in providing disaster relief. Firstly, this was their duty as merchants to serve the people, and secondly, it was to maintain good relations with the government.
What my cousin said is very likely. If we continue to follow the trend of raising prices, things may get out of control in the end.
Seeing that he understood, Su Qingyu said, "Cousin, this time we don't ask for much money, we just hope that the Lin family won't be liquidated by the court."
Su Qingyu's side was fine, with only these four grain stores. The Lin family had many businesses, and if they were really targeted like in their previous life, their family would be in great trouble.
Lin Wenbo nodded slightly and asked Su Qingyu, "Then how do we sell it? If we sell it at a low price, we will offend all the merchants in the capital."
The current situation is different from the previous price reduction by Zhou’s Grain Store. Previously, Zhou’s Grain Store reduced the price of one stone of grain by three cents, and the grain merchants in the capital had already complained.
Under such circumstances, if the Su and Lin families sold at the same price, the grain merchants in Beijing would have to come and question them.
Su Qingyu pondered and said, "I have an idea..."
The two discussed for half an hour, then stood up, said goodbye to Lin, and returned to the city together.
After entering the city, Lin Wenbo's carriage turned back to the Lin's Trading Company. He had a lot of things to do today. Su Qingyu told the driver to go to the shop in the west of the city.
Su Qingyu gently lifted the curtain of her carriage, and the entire capital seemed to come alive. The streets were crowded with people, and every grain store, big or small, had a long queue at the door.
Pearl looked outside through the gap between the cars and sighed, "Miss, why does this look so scary? Are all the people in the capital crazy?"
Su Qingyu looked outside with a cold expression. This was just the beginning. In the next month, the capital would become more and more chaotic.
The carriage stopped opposite the Su's Grain Store. The Zhou's Grain Store on the other side was queuing up to sell grain, and the listed price was three taels of silver per stone.
At this time, Lin Sheng, the owner of the Su family's grain store, had just received a notice from the Lin family's manager that all the grain stores of the Su and Lin families would be closed today.
The people in the queue kept staring at Su, hoping they would confirm the price before queuing up to buy. But they didn't wait for the price, but waited for the shop to close.
Seeing that Linsheng was about to close the shop, someone shouted, "Are you not opening the shop today?"
Lin Sheng stood at the door, clasped his fists slightly, and said, "Everyone, I'm really sorry, we are closed today."
At this moment, a man emerged from Zhou's Grain Store, squeezed his way into the crowd at the entrance of Su's Grain Store, and suddenly shouted, "Are the Su family expecting to raise prices later? Do you still have any conscience?"
"Yeah, does the Su family want to wait until the price is higher to sell it?" someone asked loudly from the side.
Lin Sheng could only say vaguely, "As for the price, we won't know until we open tomorrow."
The man immediately shouted, "You are just waiting for the price to go up. I will never buy food from you again."
"Yes, I will never buy food from the Su family again."
The people are always easily incited, especially in times of panic like now. Soon, the Su's Grain Store became synonymous with unscrupulous merchants, while the Zhou's Store became known as the most righteous grain store in the eyes of the people.
Pearl looked outside, her chest heaving with anger. She stood up and was about to get out of the car, "Miss, I'm going to go and argue with them."
But Emerald grabbed her arm and said, "Young lady, you have your own plans."
Pearl sat back dejectedly and said, "Miss, we can't let them slander us like this."
Su Qingyu was still looking outside. Lin Sheng had already closed the shop, but the people were enraged and were throwing rotten vegetable leaves and eggs at the shop.
"Let's go back to the Marquis' Mansion. Everything is fine here. Everything will be fine tomorrow."
Pearl asked in confusion, "So will our shop also sell for three taels of silver per stone tomorrow?"
Su Qingyu shook her head and said, "No, we won't sell it for three taels of silver."
She was curious about what Zhou's listing price would be tomorrow.
After returning to the Marquis of Pingning's Mansion, Su Qingyu first went to pay her respects to the old lady and also delivered fresh vegetables from the farm.
The old lady did not say much about Su Qingyu going to the farm to celebrate the New Year, but only asked about Lin's health.
Su Qingyu was curious. When did her grandmother become so good-tempered? She thought she would be scolded when she returned.
Just as I was lost in thought, I heard the old lady say, "On New Year's Eve this year, the Emperor specifically mentioned Shen Zhixiu and even gave a special reward to Old Lady Shen. After receiving the reward, Old Lady Shen sent someone to give you a portion."
"The things are in the Bishui Pavilion. Take some time these days to go and pay New Year's greetings to Old Madam Shen, and mention your second uncle's matter by the way."
"Lady Shen mentioned this last time when we were discussing marriage, but her family has a lot of trivial matters, and I'm afraid she's forgotten."
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