Zhao Hao was right. Mr. Liu left the two of them alone for more than two hours until he finished his meal and took a nap, then he asked someone to call them over.

There was really no need to build up emotions this time, as Zhao Hao and the other two had already turned pale with anxiety lingering on their faces.

"Oh, nephew is here too?" Mr. Liu was sitting under the grape trellis. He didn't stand up when he saw the two of them coming. He just said sarcastically, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? Your uncle could have invited you to try some Suzhou cuisine."

"Mr. Liu really keeps his word." Zhao Hao aptly expressed his complicated feelings at the moment.

"Uh, haha..." Mr. Liu stood up with a fake smile, asked the two to sit down and said, "Boss Tang, nephew Zhao may have some misunderstandings. I am not targeting you, but my Suzhou Chamber of Commerce has decided not to sell silk for a few months. If the price of silk does not rise to the price we expected, no one is allowed to sell it."

"Oh, is that so..." Tang Youde said with a worried look on his face, "What should I do now? I have almost negotiated with the workshop, looms and weavers, and paid a deposit of over ten thousand taels. If I can't buy the silk, won't all the money be wasted?"

"Why don't you go to the guilds in Song, Chang, and Zhen and ask again, Boss Tang?" Mr. Liu made a false suggestion, then directly extinguished hope and said, "But now the price of silk has risen to three taels and three taels. I guess no one will buy before five taels."

"Ah..." Tang Youde burst into tears and said dejectedly, "By that time, I'm afraid the flowers will be cold."

"I'm really sorry, but I don't have the final say in the Chamber of Commerce." Mr. Liu narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhao Hao, seemingly apologetic, but in fact he deserved a beating.

Boy, I have eaten more salt than you have eaten rice. You are too young to challenge me!

"You're so cruel. I admit defeat this time." Zhao Hao said with a dark face, "I can't beat you. I agree to cancel the engagement."

"Hahaha, a forced melon is not sweet. My dear nephew, you should have figured this out long ago." Mr. Liu looked more and more proud, but he continued to say with resentment: "But let me be clear in advance. Even if I cancel the engagement, I can't sell silk to you. Otherwise, how can I, as the president, convince the people?"

"Then...what about borrowing silk?" Tang Youde looked at Mr. Liu cautiously.

"Borrow some silk?" Mr. Liu glanced at Fatty Tang and was not surprised.

Since there have been specialized machine owners recruiting professional weavers for factory production, borrowing silk has become the norm in the industry.

Small-scale farmers have always woven as much silk as they can, so looms are often idle for half a year. But it is different in a factory, where professional weavers need to work every day, and weavers must continuously provide enough raw silk for each loom.

Raw silk is expensive, and large-scale purchases will inevitably lead to cash flow difficulties. Borrowing silk to start production and then repaying the debt after production is completed has become the business model of almost all machine operators.

However, Mr. Liu was still somewhat wary of Tang Youde's offer to borrow silk.

"I heard that Boss Tang sold tens of thousands of kilograms of silk. Since you are planning to open a factory, why don't you keep some for yourself instead of selling it all?"

"Oh, it brings tears to my eyes when I talk about it." Tang Youde explained with a wry smile, "The bulk of the funds for buying silk came from Master Xuelang of the Great Baoen Temple. His goal was to earn money to repair the temple, and when he saw that he had earned enough, he insisted on selling the silk. He is the major shareholder, so naturally he has the final say."

"Besides, I am also optimistic about the silk weaving business. I think that after the opening of the sea, this business will definitely make more money than running a southern goods store. So I want to take advantage of the fact that the prices of weaving houses, looms, and weavers have not yet risen to the top along with the price of raw silk, and quickly take out money to start."

Tang Youde said, spreading his hands, "I was being clever at the time. I thought the factory would only be open for a month or two. By then, the silk price would definitely not be that high. I would sell it at a high price first, and then buy it at a low price. Wouldn't that save me a lot of money?"

"Hahaha..." Mr. Liu no longer had any doubts. He smiled and patted Tang Youde's arm and said, "It's like a mountain between two different trades. If Mr. Tang wants to change his trade, he must pay the full apprenticeship fee."

"Alas, this time we really spent a lot of money." Tang Youde said, bowing to Mr. Liu and begging: "Look, I also persuaded Mr. Zhao to come. He raised his hand and stopped making things difficult for Mr. Liu. Mr. Liu, please give us a way out."

"Hmm..." Mr. Liu pretended to think about it. But in fact, there was nothing to think about.

Firstly, for some reason, he needed to cancel the engagement quickly, otherwise he would offend people again.

Secondly, he was not lying. The price of raw silk in Suzhou will be at least 5 liang, or even higher. Moreover, the price of silk will remain high, at least until the raw silk is put on the market next spring, when it may fall back slightly.

Therefore, instead of letting the 100,000 kilograms of silk stored in the warehouse grow hairy, he might as well lend it out and earn some interest!

Thinking of this, he relaxed his brows slightly and asked, "How is the interest calculated?"

"Borrow it for three months first, according to industry regulations." Tang Youde replied.

"Nine out, thirteen back..." Mr. Liu pondered for a moment, shook his head and said, "It's hard to say what the price of silk will be at that time. It's hard to calculate if it's converted into silver."

"This is easy. I borrow silk and I return it. It doesn't involve money. Isn't it simple?" Tang Youde seemed to have made up his mind and said the words that Liu Yuanwai loved to hear the most.

In a bullish market, borrowing silk and repaying silk is certainly more profitable for him than borrowing silk and repaying silver.

Seeing that Fatty Tang was so generous, Mr. Liu wanted to lend him silk even if there was no condition to cancel the engagement.

"How much do you want to borrow?" asked Mr. Liu.

"We won't need much silk at the beginning, but I plan to increase the number of looms to 500 within three months, and we will need almost 20,000 kilograms of silk to support it." Tang Youde gave the number.

"Twenty thousand kilograms of silk may not have been a big deal before, but it's very valuable now." Mr. Liu glanced at Zhao Hao and said, "I'm afraid I can't lend you so much just based on a marriage certificate."

"I can also use Tang's as collateral. If I can't pay it back by then, both stores will belong to Mr. Liu." Tang Youde gritted his teeth, determined to get it.

Mr. Liu did a quick calculation. He had already done some investigation and found that Tang Youde's two southern goods stores were both located in the downtown area, were large in scale, and made considerable profits. They should be worth at least 20,000 taels of silver.

"It has to be delicious." Mr. Liu was smart and didn't want to take any risk. He looked at Zhao Hao and said, "Can you make the decision?"

"You're cruel. Okay." Zhao Hao nodded expressionlessly.

~~

After the most difficult conditions were negotiated, there was no need for Mr. Liu to make things difficult for the two of them, and the three parties quickly signed a contract.

Then the next day, both parties came to Bailuzhou Wharf for delivery. When Mr. Liu transferred 18,000 kilograms of raw silk to Tang Youde's name, Zhao Hao also used his daughter's engagement certificate to exchange for his own.

When Fatty Tang went to see Mr. Liu off, Zhao Hao played with his engagement letter for a while, then tore it into pieces and threw it into the river.

"Huh, now my father and I are finally free again..."

Zhao Hao stood on the dock with his hands behind his back, feeling that the world seemed much wider.

At this time, Fatty Tang came back, carefully took out the deposit slip, and asked Zhao Hao: "Sir, what should we do next?"

"Didn't I tell you? Sell them all in the next two days. Not a pound of silk can be left!" Zhao Hao looked at the flocks of egrets in the distance and sneered like a cat playing with a mouse.

Even if you, Liu, are as cunning as a devil, you must drink this master's foot washing water!

ps. The second update is here, please vote for recommendation, comment on the chapter, and collect it! ! ! !

ps2. In order not to affect everyone's reading of the main text, the [New Year Special] has been moved to the work-related section. Those who have not watched it can go to the work-related section to watch it.