Zhucheng is a small border town, not very big. As the county magistrate, Wei Min seldom encounters major cases, and he only handles trivial matters on a daily basis.
When there was something to do in the yamen, he would go to court. When there was nothing to do, Wei Min would stay in the small courtyard to read books and write. He lived a very happy life.
When Eighteen came back from outside, he ran straight to the kitchen, stuck his head in and shouted, "Xiao Jiuer, I'm hungry, is there anything to eat?"
The window of Wei Min's study was open, and he happened to see Eighteen, so he raised his voice and said to her, "Erjiu and A'ruan went out to buy groceries, and they haven't come back yet."
Eighteen said "oh" when he heard that, and went into the kitchen to take out the leftover cakes from yesterday. He walked towards the study and asked Wei Min, "Are you hungry, sir?"
Wei Min was standing in front of the desk practicing calligraphy. He shook his head when he heard this. He raised his eyelids to watch Shi Ba stuff two cakes in one mouthful. He couldn't help but remind him, "We're having garlic pork for lunch. Eat less."
With his mouth full, Shiba sat down at the table and said in a vague voice, "No, I'm starving. I need to eat something to fill my stomach first."
Wei Min saw that Shi Ba's hair was disheveled and his feet were covered in mud, and he immediately understood, "Did you find the chicken?"
In the morning, a man in his thirties came to the yamen with an anxious look on his face, saying that the chickens that his family had raised for half a year and were finally able to lay eggs were lost this morning. He didn't know if they were stolen by some bastard, so he came to ask her to help find them.
Seeing that he was sweating with anxiety, Wei Min let Eighteen, who was just sitting there eating melon seeds, go. Life in Zhucheng is too leisurely. She should not get used to laziness and waste her good skills.
Eighteen reached out to pour a glass of water, took a sip and swallowed the food in his mouth, then patted the table lightly and told Wei Min about the search for the chicken, "His chickens were not eaten by someone, they clearly went to the wrong nest. I searched all over the village, and guess where I found them? In the straw stack behind his house, the chickens were laying eggs in the nest when I found them."
Eighteen ate another piece of cake. "That young man was really enthusiastic. He saw that I had been running for most of the day and stuffed an egg into my mouth before I left. How could I accept this? Seeing that I was a nice person, he started to talk to me about other things."
"I heard him talking about his brother every three sentences, so I felt something was fishy," Eighteen sighed to Wei Min, "Sure enough, the next thing he asked was whether I was married."
Wei Min said meaningfully, "What did you say?"
Shiba smiled, revealing half of his fangs. "I just said that I married a third husband and have three children. The eldest is three years old this year. When he heard this, he glanced at me with complicated eyes and suddenly had nothing to say."
Wei Min shook her head and smiled. She knew this would be the result. If Eighteen answered every question honestly, she would not be herself anymore.
Ah Ruan and Er Jiu happened to come back and they went into the kitchen. After a while, Er Jiu put his hands on his waist and shouted in the yard, "Shi Ba, where are the green bean cakes I left?"
Erjiu entered the study, called Wei Min "Sir" first, and then looked at Eighteen with wide eyes.
Eighteen hurriedly stuffed the last piece of mung bean cake on the plate into his mouth, wiped the crumbs from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, lifted up the empty plate and shook it, then smiled wickedly at Erjiu, "I'm done."
Erjiu laughed in anger, showing his small white teeth to Shiba. Although he was smiling, his tone was low and sinister, "You are eating so fast, aren't you afraid of choking to death?"
Wei Min had already put down his pen and was ready to go out to look for A'ruan. When he heard this before leaving, he immediately watched the fun and said quietly, "If Eighteen chokes to death, her third husband and three children in the capital will be left without anyone to raise them. It will be so pitiful for the orphans and widows."
After she finished speaking, she left the study, leaving behind two people with different expressions.
Erjiu immediately looked at Shiba with disdain and said sarcastically, "You are so lucky."
Eighteen said with a smile on his face: "The adults were just teasing you, why did you really believe it?"
Erjiu snorted and turned to leave the study.
Eighteen looked at him like this, twirling the plate with his fingers, shaking his head helplessly, lowering his eyes and chuckling.
When Wei Min arrived at the kitchen, A Ruan was washing pork.
The meat is pork belly with fat and lean parts mixed together, and still has a little skin, which is best used to make garlic pork.
After Wei Min came in, he asked him, "Aruan, do you need my help?"
When A Ruan saw her come in, she smiled and shook her head gently.
A Ruan always felt that Wei Min was a man who wanted to do great things and shouldn't stay in the kitchen, but secretly he liked his wife to do nothing and just follow him and watch him cook.
After A Ruan scraped and washed the meat clean, he asked Erjiu to come in and light the fire to prepare to cook the meat.
While the meat was cooking, A Ruan started making the sauce.
Wei Min noticed that the garlic Ah Ruan bought was a little small and hard to peel, so he asked him, "Why didn't you buy some bigger ones?"
As she spoke, she took the garlic from his hand and started peeling it for him naturally.
When this matter was mentioned, Erjiu spoke up, "My lord, you don't know that the garlic in the market is small. My lord has looked around but hasn't seen any big garlic."
"Oh?" Wei Min asked in doubt, "Didn't the garlic just get harvested? Could it be that the harvest was bad this year and all the garlic is small?"
Ah Ruan raised his hand upon hearing this:
——The garlic seller said that the big garlics were picked early this year, and the remaining ones are relatively small.
Seeing that Wei Min seemed very interested in what was happening at the vegetable market, Ah Ruan "talked" a few more words to her:
——The garlic seller said that garlic is selling well this year and we should plant more next time.
Looking at the small garlic cloves in the bowl, Ah Ruan picked up the smallest one, washed it, and handed it to Wei Min:
——Eating raw garlic in summer is good for your health.
After "listening" to A Ruan's words, Wei Min seemed to be lost in thought and did not notice what he was feeding into his mouth. After he chewed the garlic and tasted the spicy taste in his mouth, his brows immediately twisted into a knot.
Ah Ruan lowered her head and pursed her lips to smile.
Wei Min blocked Erjiu's sight with his body, reached out and pinched Aruan's chin to lift his face, then bent down and kissed him irresistibly.
A'ruan immediately tasted a kiss with a garlic flavor, and his face wrinkled involuntarily. After Wei Min let him go, he hurriedly brought a bowl of clean water for both of them to rinse their mouths.
Afterwards, while A'ruan cooked, Wei Min stood aside with his eyes lowered, as if thinking about something.
Eating garlic in summer is good for your health, and garlic is also a condiment. But no matter how good garlic is, it is not eaten with every meal. There is no reason why anyone would need so much garlic at once. Even if it can be stored for a long time, buying so much garlic may have to be eaten until next year.
But if it is not for eating, then the intention of those who purchase garlic in large quantities is worth considering.
The next day, when A'ruan got up early to buy groceries, she was stunned to find Wei Min following her.
Seeing him looking dumbfounded, Wei Min smiled and explained, "I'll go see how the garlic is sold."
Wei Min went to the street with Eighteen. She had something important to do, so she didn't accompany A'ruan.
There were very few women at the market buying vegetables, so Wei Min and Shiba standing in front of the vegetable stall stood out from the crowd.
After asking around, Wei Min learned that most of this year's garlic had been bought away by a businessman named Tu before it was put on the market. He had some guesses in his mind and couldn't help but frown.
Wei Min pondered for a moment and turned his head to look at Eighteen.
One day later, a merchant named Ba appeared in the market and also bought garlic. She bought garlic of all sizes and she bought them very quickly.
After this news came out, Boss Tu became anxious, wondering if someone had discovered the business opportunity like her and wanted to get a piece of the garlic pie?
Boss Tu frowned tightly, thinking about the garlic in stock, and walked around the table twice with his hands behind his back.
Due to the bad weather this year, the garlic harvest is actually not as good as in previous years. She learned about this by chance and thought it might be an opportunity to make a fortune. After all, things are valuable because they are rare, so that's why she came up with the idea.
In fact, she didn't have much money, so she didn't raise the price when she harvested the garlic.
And now someone has thought of the same thing as her...
She had already bought the garlic, how could she just give it up like that?
Boss Tu immediately gritted his teeth and prepared to pay more for the acquisition, not wanting to share this money-making opportunity with others.
If she raised the price by a cent, the other party would follow her lead and raise the price by a cent as well. The garlic that originally cost seven cents per pound was finally sold for fourteen cents per pound.
Garlic farmers who had a poor harvest this year have made up for their losses, and all the garlic at the market has been bought out.
In order to compete with the other party, Boss Tu spent almost all his spare money on buying garlic, hoping to make a big profit in a few months to recover his investment.
Boss Tu guessed that the other party was competing with her for the garlic, even at the cost of raising the price, and would certainly not lower the price when selling. At that time, as long as she lowered the price a little bit than the other party, she would be able to sell it better.
Boss Tu believed that as long as the other party was not a fool, he would definitely not sell the garlic below the cost.
However, the boss of "Ba", who also purchased garlic, was neither impatient nor anxious. She did not wait for several months. She immediately put the purchased garlic into the market.
There is still garlic in the market, so Boss Tu can't sell it at a higher price than this.
Therefore, Boss Tu borrowed money from the bank by mortgaging her shop and took the remaining garlic.
While Boss Tu was waiting for the price to go up, Boss "Ba", who had sold a small portion of the harvested garlic, was counting the money with her parents.
Eighteen asked, "Sir, why don't you just stop Boss Tu from raising prices? Why do you have to do so much and waste your time with her?"
Wei Min was painting. Hearing this, he didn't even raise his eyelids and said nonchalantly, "Let her learn a lesson."
Besides, Zhucheng is indeed very free and has plenty of time, so she can take it slow with Boss Tu.
…
Three months later, Boss Tu sold the garlic he had purchased at 20 cents per pound.
There was particularly little garlic at the market this year. People thought it was because the garlic harvest was poor, so even though they thought it was too expensive, they still bought some.
Rich families would compare themselves with each other based on the presence of garlic on the dining table. If there was garlic at the market, they would buy it.
Boss Tu made a lot of money on the first day, but on the second day, he found that he couldn't sell his garlic.
She asked her servants to go out and ask around, only to find out that some people in the market were selling garlic for only seven cents per pound, which was very cheap.
Boss Tu couldn't believe what he said. He thought the other party was a fool and smashed the tea set in anger.
If someone sells garlic cheaply, ordinary people will naturally buy it. But when rich people see that the price of garlic has dropped, they will buy less.
Boss Tu’s garlic was piled up and couldn’t be sold.
Garlic can be stored for a maximum of six or seven months. If Boss Tu waits any longer, the garlic will either go bad or new garlic will be on the market.
The people at the money house would not allow Boss Tu to wait, as they had agreed on a deadline for repayment.
Boss Tu was so worried when she saw the unsold garlic in the warehouse that her hair dropped. Some of the garlic was bought for 14 cents, and it would be a big loss to sell it for 7 cents. But if she didn't buy it and kept it here, she might not be able to sell it for even 7 cents when the new garlic comes on the market next year...
Boss Tu hated the person who was competing with her to the core. The most important thing was that she had no idea about the other party's background, and now she couldn't even figure out the other party's intentions.
Could it be that someone had an enemy against her and was determined to punish her and take her with him to be buried with him even if it meant losing everything he had?
When Boss Tu thought of this, his face turned pale, and he inexplicably remembered the things he had done in the past. He suddenly felt a chill on his back, and cold sweat soaked his shirt.
In the end, Boss Tu sold his garlic for six cents, lost most of his family property, and fled from Zhucheng in disgrace.
Boss Tu is afraid of losing his money, but he is even more afraid of losing his life. She was afraid that if she was still in Zhucheng, her "enemy" would not let her go.
As for the garlic farmers who had originally planned to grow more garlic next year, most of them gave up the idea immediately when they saw that the vegetable was only seven cents at the market.
Eighteen came back from outside and told Wei Min about this. He guessed, "Boss Tu must have something wrong, otherwise she wouldn't think so much... It seems that she has done a lot of unscrupulous things in the past, but this time she only lost most of her family property. It's really a bargain for her."
Upon hearing this, Erjiu immediately flattered Wei Min and said, "That's why the adults didn't stop Boss Tu from raising prices at the beginning, but instead thought of a way to secretly deal with her."
"Boss Tu's increase in the price of garlic will help those whose garlic harvest was poor this year to make some money and make up for their losses. It is for the benefit of garlic farmers.
But if Boss Tu sells the garlic at a high price afterwards, the garlic growers will think that garlic is easy to sell even though it is expensive, and they will definitely plant more garlic next year.
If too many people grow garlic, the garlic may not be able to be sold next year. If the garlic is cheap, the common people will suffer. ”
Erjiu concluded: “Boss Tu’s behavior is unethical and he is a profiteer who only thinks about himself.
So the adults thought of a way to teach her a lesson. We bought garlic with her and raised the price first to let the garlic farmers make money. Then when Boss Tu sold her garlic, we sold it at the normal price. In this way, she wouldn't be able to sell her garlic, and she would definitely lose money in the end.
As for the adult, she had already made back her investment from the half of the garlic she sold to Boss Tu, so she would not lose money selling the garlic in the future.
If Boss Tu doesn't have any bad intentions, the adults won't be able to kill her. My Lord, you are using Boss Tu's money to compensate the garlic farmers who are losing money due to weather reasons. ”
When Wei Min heard this, he looked up at Erjiu in surprise and said with a smile: "You are quite smart."
Erjiu's eyes suddenly curved into crescent shapes, his brain was still quite useful.
Eighteen saw that Erjiu's eyes were no longer smiling, and immediately hit him, "It must be because he was dizzy and influenced by the master that he finally became smart. Everything is thanks to the master."
When Ah Ruan heard the topic was inexplicably about himself, he looked at Wei Min blankly. Wei Min smiled and said to him, "It's okay, eat, don't worry about them."
The author has something to say: There is no small theater today (/▽╲)
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