Chapter 100
"This is a mess, I hope you won't be surprised."
As the saying goes, a visitor is a guest. Even without asking, Zhang Fangyuan knew that he came for the charcoal business.
Among all the charcoal shops in the city, theirs is the one with the most goods. Although the other merchants may not know about it, seeing how much charcoal was sold today, they naturally came here after hearing the news. However, Zhang Fangyuan did not expect these people to come so quickly.
"Boss Zhang's business is booming. We came here rashly to disturb him. I was rude first. How can I be offended?"
Although the conditions at the warehouse were a bit simple, Xu He still made a cup of tea and brought it to the merchant who came. He was still very polite. After serving the tea, he sat quietly by the side and listened to the conversation between the two.
The merchant who came looked like a smiling tiger. Zhang Fangyuan thought he looked familiar. When he heard that he knew his last name was Zhang, he felt like he had seen him before. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember where he was at the moment.
He was born into a farming family and was a butcher in the past. Although he is now engaged in business, he is not like ordinary businessmen who like to flatter and flatter. He said directly: "May I know your name, boss? Are you here to buy charcoal?"
"My surname is Qin. I heard that Mr. Zhang has quite a few charcoal shops here. Everyone is very worried at this time of year. If there are more charcoal shops selling firewood, people's lives will be better. Don't you think so?"
Zhang Fangyuan listened to his beating around the bush and understood that what he meant was that he just wanted to buy some goods from him at a low price and then make money from the difference.
He was not stupid. The weather was not the worst yet. The snowy weather would last until February next year. Even if he had a lot of goods in stock, he would not have to sell them in large quantities to other merchants. He could sell them slowly until February next year. Even if he sold them in small quantities, it would not be a big problem.
It is certainly good to be able to sell a large amount of goods at one time, and the money can be recovered quickly, but the current price of charcoal is already twice the usual price. Even if he sells it to other merchants at a lower price, it will not be much lower. The final result is that the price of charcoal in their hands will double again.
Although this money is earned, the lives of many ordinary people who cannot afford charcoal will be difficult. Even if the natural disaster is over, ordinary people will still be poor, and merchants will still have to work hard even if business is not good.
Zhang Fangyuan had figured this out from the beginning, so he said bluntly: "If Boss Qin needs charcoal for himself, I can deliver it to your door in person, but if you want to purchase it, I don't have much charcoal here, so I'm afraid I can't cooperate with Boss Qin."
The merchant surnamed Qin was not angry when he heard this, but instead felt it was understandable. After all, everyone knows that charcoal fire is a hot business now, and no one would be willing to give up profits easily.
He said, "The price is negotiable. Don't worry, Boss Zhang. I will never compete with you in Siyang for profits. I will send it to other counties when the time comes."
It was not only Siyang City that was affected this time, but other small towns and markets in the surrounding areas were also affected. Due to the epidemic control personnel entering and exiting, it was inconvenient for merchants to go out, but the surrounding areas were still okay.
This means that instead of making money from the high prices paid by the people of Siyang City, they can make money from people in other places. This is quite thoughtful.
But Zhang Fangyuan remained unmoved: "Boss Qin, let me be frank. Not shipping is not only for profit, but also for the people. Please go back."
The merchant surnamed Qin was a little surprised to see that Zhang Fangyuan still had no intention of doing so even after talking to this point, but he also knew that there was really no hope.
He paused for a long time, then stood up and saluted, changing his previous smiling face with an unclear expression: "Boss Zhang is kind and righteous."
After that, he added: "Boss Zhang doesn't care about our past relationship at all, but I still wish Boss Zhang a prosperous business."
Before Zhang Fangyuan could say anything, the merchant rushed out with great strides.
The waiter sent the person away. Xu He stood at the door and watched the person getting on the sedan chair in the distance. He couldn't help but frowned: "This matter is bound to offend people."
"Not every business deal can be concluded. If you hold a grudge about it, that won't be a long-term solution." Zhang Fangyuan certainly knew that maintaining the price of coal and preventing it from rising would inevitably offend some merchants, but it was impossible for everyone to be considerate. In this case, he could only do what he wanted.
There was nothing else to say, he just felt that the merchant's words were a little unclear: "No matter what, we can't open a loophole, otherwise we will offend people in the future."
Xu He nodded. After that, merchants came to visit him every now and then, but he was persuaded to go back one by one because none of them bought charcoal. The merchants cursed for this but felt more or less balanced in their hearts and did not have much to say.
The Zhang family's warehouse was open every day, and there was always an uninterrupted supply of charcoal. Their medium-quality charcoal was sold for thirty cents. If other charcoal shops in the city offered a higher price, they would not be able to sell their charcoal. The common people would rather queue in front of the Zhang family's warehouse for an incense stick of time than spend more money, so the price of medium-quality charcoal in the city was maintained at this price.
Affected by the natural disaster, the weather in Siyang is getting colder day by day. Although the charcoal fire is no longer as worrying as before, the weather is freezing cold and the city is loaded with snow. People are huddled at home and are unwilling to go out. There are few pedestrians on the streets, and most of them are people sweeping and clearing snow. Under such circumstances, business in the city is not doing well.
As we entered the twelfth lunar month, there was none of the festive atmosphere as in previous years. Not many people were buying New Year's goods, and the business of all industries in the city, along with the weather, seemed to have entered a cold winter.
Everything is going up in price. Even the cabbages and radishes that were commonly seen in the vegetable markets have increased by one or two cents. It's not that the people are making things difficult for each other. It's really because of the heavy snow that has frozen the mountains and the ground, making it difficult for villagers to pick vegetables. The weather is extremely cold and there is ice and snow, so many vegetables have been frozen to death. How could the prices not go up?
The shop owners were complaining that except for the rice and charcoal shops, everyone's business was difficult and everyone was having a hard time.
Ever since the weather turned cold, business at Zhang's Guesthouse has been declining. When it snows, the guesthouse can only receive three or four groups of guests a day.
The tea shed was still okay, but the roads were difficult to walk on in snowy weather, so the people around relied more on the tea shed to buy some daily necessities, such as firewood, rice, oil, soy sauce, vinegar and tea. The tea shed also sold charcoal, but except for the households in Jijiu Village who stocked up charcoal, many households in other villages did not.
In the past, you might not be able to buy charcoal in the city, but now the tea stalls are close and the prices are not higher than in the city, so everyone likes to go to the tea stalls.
Although the business is still maintained, it is far less prosperous than before. It can only sell groceries and few people come to eat.
But even though the family's previous businesses were not very profitable and had entered a recession like other businesses, Zhang Fangyuan's foresight made his business flourish. The money earned from the charcoal business alone supported the entire family.
Xu He was thankful for Zhang Fangyuan's decision more than once. If he had not done the opposite, he would surely be worried like other merchants in the city.
The warehouse had been open for more than ten days. After the hired workers were able to operate it skillfully, the couple no longer continued to go to the city to guard it every day.
The warehouse opens on time at Chenshi every day and closes at Sishi. Everyone knows the time and comes on time.
Zhang Fangyuan went to the city once a day and was responsible for carrying the day's earnings back home to support his wife.
Ordinary people mostly used copper coins, and Zhang Fangyuan could earn a box of them almost every day. He did not take them to the money shop to exchange them for silver or silver banknotes, but just took them home directly.
Xu He really liked counting money. At first, he counted the copper coins in the box one by one with a smile and without getting tired of it.
It only takes half an hour to string them together with a hemp rope, and it is not troublesome at all. But later on, I counted them every day, and they were all very big boxes, with a minimum of twenty or thirty taels and a maximum of hundreds.
Counting these coins is actually a huge task. Now there are already several boxes of copper coins piled up at home. No matter how much Xu He loves money, he was surprised to find that he gradually lost interest in it after talking about it too much.
However, in the past two days he had found the pleasure of counting money again. He had originally planned to ask Zhang Fangyuan to directly exchange the money and take it back, but he stopped talking.
"One, two, three..."
It was snowing outside, and two servants were cleaning the courtyard. There was a warm fire of the best smokeless charcoal in the warm room. Xu He held a child on each hand. There was a mountain of copper coins piled on the table. While counting the money, he taught the children how to count it, over and over again.
The teaching method is particularly intuitive. It allows students to directly get in touch with the silver and money circulating in people's lives, and it also solves a problem that Xu He has.
It was the first time that little Li saw so many copper coins. He was very interested. He grabbed a handful with his left hand, then a handful with his right hand, and followed his father in muttering something. He had a good learning ability and could count to ten quickly following his father. However, he could not keep his eyes open for long and soon fell asleep on the table.
Ruijin had been able to count to ten a long time ago, and now he was studying seriously with his father, making rapid progress. After a few days of teaching, he could already count to fifty.
He has a strong learning ability and is interested in learning. He can follow Xu He to count a box of money until he is done.
When Zhang Fangyuan returned home, little Li Ge'er had "died in battle" and was sleeping soundly on the couch, with his face red from being pressed by himself.
"I've finished counting, I've finished counting!"
Although Ruijin was much calmer than Xiaoli, the child's perseverance and endurance were limited after all. He finally finished sorting the money and was jumping on the stool. He looked up and saw his father coming back with a familiar box. The light in his eyes immediately disappeared.
Xu He laughed when he saw him like this, and carried him down: "Okay, that's all for today, we'll count what Daddy brings back tomorrow."
Ruijin felt a little embarrassed when his thoughts were seen through, and rubbed against Xu He's arms.
Zhang Fangyuan put down the box and laughed, "We in Ruijin have regarded money as dirt since we were young, and we are not happy to see silver."
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