Chapter 98
"Medium charcoal is 15 wen a pound, and top-grade tobacco is 5 to 10 wen more. What kind do you want?"
When Zhang Fangyuan arrived in the city, he first went to the largest charcoal shop, which also had some customers at that time.
Although charcoal in the city is not as popular in summer and autumn as in winter, it can still be sold on weekdays. The charcoal shop not only sells charcoal, but also firewood. Many people in the city need charcoal and firewood for their daily life, and their role is almost equivalent to the daily salt requirement.
The charcoal shop's business was average, not as popular as the rice shop. The shop assistants could take care of it all. As soon as Zhang Fangyuan walked in, two shop assistants came up to him and asked for help.
Zhang Fangyuan thought the price was indeed not high. He bought good charcoal from the villagers at ten cents per pound. If he took it to a shop in the city to sell it, he could get fifteen to twenty cents.
"Can the price of medium charcoal be lower? I bought a lot."
Seeing that the business was quite big, the clerk was afraid that he could not make the decision, so he went to call the manager. Because it was not a small transaction, he was invited to the inner room and served tea.
"If you want more, I can give you less, but it will still have to be more than a thousand pounds."
Zhang Fangyuan saw that the manager was being polite, so he didn't make any jokes: "That's exactly what I meant."
The two parties did not say anything explicitly, but instead made a few gestures. Then Zhang Fangyuan bought 10,000 kilograms of medium-quality charcoal for ten cents, paid half of the silver in advance, and agreed to pick it up in three days.
After sending Zhang Fangyuan out, the charcoal shop owner stood at the door with his hands behind his back and narrowed his eyes slightly.
The clerk was calculating rapidly on his abacus, the beads of which touched each other smoothly, and the sound was very pleasant: "Master, this order is really big!"
"Of course it's not small."
"But why did this person buy so much charcoal? Maybe he was going to have a big banquet at home, but even if that was the case, he wouldn't need so much charcoal."
Not only the clerks were confused, the old steward was also puzzled, but he had made money anyway, and he was embarrassed to lose face in front of his servants, so he just said, "Others have their reasons for buying so much. The warehouse is much emptier now, and we have to have people restock it in time. It's mid-autumn, and although it may not be cold, many people in the city like to stock up on winter charcoal in advance, so the price should go up when there are more people."
The clerk nodded in agreement. The charcoal business was not good during the warm winter last year. If it is the same this year, business will be difficult. Rice is expensive now, and all the businesses in the city are envious of the rice business and are eager to switch to other businesses.
The manager returned to his room and couldn't help but sigh: "If there are big orders like this every day, there's no need to worry about bad business."
After Zhang Fangyuan ordered the charcoal, he did not rush back. He first went to the southwest entrance of the city and rented a large warehouse there at a low price. Linglong Shop was only a palm-sized piece of land, so even if the entire shop was used to store things, not much could be stored.
There is plenty of space to store charcoal in the village, but now that we have bought so much charcoal in the city, if we want to transport it back to the village, not to mention it will take a lot of manpower and material resources to transport it, we also have to bring it to the city to sell in winter. It is really troublesome to do this over and over again.
Instead of doing this, it would be better to just rent a large warehouse to store things, which would save you a lot of trouble and effort.
After booking the warehouse, he went to several major charcoal shops in the city one after another and bought tens of thousands of kilograms of charcoal. Charcoal was brought into the warehouse every day. There were many warehouses here, and there was a lot of traffic in transporting goods. Now the most popular thing was rice, so no one paid attention to his charcoal.
Only after the warehouse was fully stocked did Zhang Fangyuan return to the village with peace of mind. Now their house was almost surrounded by villagers who came to sell charcoal.
In the city and the village, Zhang Fangyuan can confidently say that no other charcoal shop has as much charcoal as he does.
Xu He watched as the piggy bank in his home became increasingly empty, and then turned into a pile of firewood and charcoal as high as a mountain. He felt so bitter that he could not express it in words. If he had known that Zhang Fangyuan was so troublesome, he would not have come up with that stupid idea. But now he is stockpiling charcoal as if he had a stroke, and all his money is spent on it.
He heard the sound of horse hooves in the yard, and quickly put down the money box and went out. He saw Zhang Fangyuan, who had been busy for more than half a month, coming back from the city with a lot of things. He hurried over to help him: "What did you buy again?"
"They are all medicinal herbs, which are useful to keep at home."
Xu He looked through the books and found that they were undoubtedly things for strengthening the body and preventing diseases. He was confused, but thought that it was late autumn, and when winter came and the weather got colder, the body would indeed not be as strong as in autumn and summer. Taking some tonics would make the body warmer, and he could use some herbs to stew chicken and mutton for the two children to drink.
"But do we still need to go to the city to stock up on charcoal?"
Xu He asked carefully.
Zhang Fangyuan waved his hand: "I won't buy it."
Xu Hechang breathed a sigh of relief. If he bought any more houses, his family fortune would be emptied.
Then Zhang Fangyuan said, "Tomorrow we will tell the villagers that we will not collect charcoal anymore."
"So suddenly?" Xu He hurriedly handed the herbs in his hand to Gan Cao and took them into the house: "Right now the villagers are busy burning charcoal and chopping wood. If we stop collecting them all of a sudden, won't many families with charcoal explode their hands?"
Zhang Fangyuan said, "I won't collect them. I told everyone to keep the extra ones for their own use. Winter is almost here anyway, and they will always be able to use them in winter."
Xu He could imagine how the villagers would jump up and down, but his family was now a landlord, and even if the villagers wanted to jump up and down, they dared not to come to their house. In the past two years, the Zhang family had helped the villagers make a lot of money by planting mulberry trees and raising silkworms, having fish ponds and livestock, and hiring them to plow the land. Now, they were given something to do during the slack season by making charcoal. Their family had considerable prestige in the village.
Thinking of this, he felt much more at ease.
"Okay, I'll let you know when the time comes."
It was not unexpected by Xu He. When they heard that the charcoal could no longer be collected, the villagers cursed. But after all, it was up to them whether to collect it or not, and there was no way to force it on them. No matter how dissatisfied he was, he knew that he could only rely on the Zhang family. If he offended them, they would not hire him anymore in the future, and that would be a loss.
For this reason, he only cursed in private and didn't dare to say anything in front of the owner. Besides, what Zhang Fangyuan said was right. These things would be needed in winter. In the past, people were too lazy or were thinking about finding other things to do and didn't get to work on them. This year, because the Zhang family was collecting charcoal, every household stored some charcoal for their own use.
It will be easier when winter comes. Getting charcoal in winter is not as easy as in summer and autumn. Not only is it cold, but the wet firewood is very heavy and needs to be carried back and dried, which is very troublesome.
They were all farmers, and after a little thought, they felt embarrassed to go to Zhang Fangyuan to make trouble. No matter what, they still made some money from burning charcoal this autumn, which could be considered to supplement this year's autumn harvest.
"How can we sell so much charcoal?"
Zhang Shicheng, his wife and children went to Zhang Fangyuan's home for dinner. Looking at the clear and rainless weather, he couldn't help but feel worried, wondering if this year would be another warm winter like last year. The villagers didn't say that Zhang Fangyuan was stupid. After all, he provided everyone with an opportunity to make money. But in their hearts, everyone was just watching the fun.
In previous years, it would rain heavily in late autumn and people in the city would have already started using charcoal fires. But this year, it was still sunny at noon at this time of year. It was still very hot today and he was only wearing two thin clothes.
Xu He was actually a little uneasy in his heart, but if all his family members said such things, he was afraid that Zhang Fangyuan's burden would be even heavier. For this reason, he didn't say much. Instead, he persuaded his family and took the initiative to ask the Xu family to stock up some charcoal.
When it was almost noon, the smell of food wafted from the kitchen. For lunch today, we had fresh fish caught from the village pond. We also caught an old hen in the shed and stewed it with some wild ginseng to nourish our bodies.
Zhang Shicheng was chatting with Zhang Fangyuan in the house when the gate of the yard was opened by Huang Qi. He stretched his neck to take a look and saw that it was his elder brother Zhang Shixin.
"Your uncle has the most sensitive nose."
Zhang Shicheng laughed.
"I passed by there yesterday and called my uncle on the way. He said he had to go to the city to do some work today, so I thought he wouldn't come." Zhang Fangyuan stood up and greeted him: "Uncle, are you back so early?"
Zhang Shixin hurried into the room, holding the tea bowl and taking a sip of tea: "It's gone up again!"
Zhang Fangyuan and Zhang Shicheng said in unison: "Is the price of rice rising again?"
Zhang Shixin put down his tea bowl and nodded, his eyes bright. "Fortunately, I listened to Fang Yuan and didn't sell the grain to those rice merchants too early, otherwise I would have suffered a huge loss. There is not much rice in the autumn harvest, and when the time comes, there will not be enough for our family to eat before we go to buy more. The money that could buy two kilograms of rice before can only buy one kilogram now."
It’s jaw-dropping just thinking about it.
Zhang Shicheng peeled melon seeds and asked, "Brother, are you planning to sell some now?"
Zhang Shixin also grabbed a handful of melon seeds and stuffed some into his pocket. No one said anything to him: "I won't sell them. Do you know why the price of rice has gone up again? I got some shocking news in the city today!"
"What's the matter?"
Zhang Shixin looked very stern: "There's an epidemic in Ningjiang Prefecture! It's very scary, it spreads from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred. The city is in a state of panic. The news just came out, but everyone knew about it within a few hours."
Zhang Shicheng couldn't help but sigh, his eyes a little dazed: "How can there be so many things these days!"
"The county magistrate has sent people to strictly guard the official road. The entry and exit of Siyang is strictly controlled. They check everyone one by one and do not allow people from Ningjiang Prefecture to come in." Zhang Shixin also felt cold all over: "It's better to guard it tightly. If someone gets in, Siyang will be in trouble."
He then looked at Zhang Fangyuan and said, "Merchants from Ningjiang Prefecture are not allowed to come here to do business. Fangyuan, is the silkworm merchant you know from Ningjiang Prefecture? If so, I advise you not to hold on to the cocoons of your fellow villagers. You should stop raising two crops of silkworms first, or you won't be able to sell the cocoons."
Zhang Fangyuan frowned. This was indeed a problem. "There is still the last batch of silkworms this year. They are already spinning silk. Even if we want to raise them, we have to wait until next spring. By then, the disease may have been cured."
"This matter cannot be resolved in three to five months. You'd better be cautious. It's not easy to get your family back on track. Don't let it get ruined in such a bad year."
Although Zhang Shixin loves to take advantage of others, what he said is sincere. After all, he still has some vision. Among the descendants of the Zhang family, Zhang Fangyuan is the most promising one. If he fails, he will have no place to take advantage of others. Naturally, he also hopes the best for Zhang Fangyuan.
"Okay, I'll write a letter later and send it out to see if Boss Song wants to go to Ningjiang Prefecture."
The dishes in the kitchen were ready. Xu He came up with the stewed chicken soup. At the door, he heard the conversation of several men, young and old, in the house.
He frowned, worried about the silk cocoons. If Song Yong could not come to Siyang due to the epidemic, he would lose another way to make money. The silk cocoons he had collected before would have to be kept in his hands, and with the charcoal, it would be a heavy burden for the family.
The epidemic made people shudder, and she felt a little confused, but she also realized that her husband seemed a little unusual.
He had just brought back a large pile of medicinal herbs a while ago, including some for preventing diseases. He didn't know if he was overthinking it or it was just a coincidence or something else, but for this little thing, he felt inexplicably relieved about the charcoal fire.
But I felt at ease. While the people of Siyang were still worried about the epidemic in Ningjiang Prefecture, the weather, which had been hot for a long time, continued to rise in temperature as if summer had returned. After reaching its peak for three days, the temperature suddenly dropped sharply.
A sudden autumn rain with cold fog came all over the sky. The people who were still wearing thin clothes yesterday were now wrapped in thick cotton and linen clothes.
"The situation has changed so quickly!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
