Chapter 62061. If you don’t make money, you are a fool
noon.
Lei Li and Zhou Yi met the wealthy businessman as scheduled. He was a young man who was not too tall, about 1.75 meters tall, with a round face and a smiling face.
right.
A young rich second generation, who looked only about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, felt...
Looks like he's easy to fool.
Lei Li started to make plans in his mind, looking at the rich young man surrounded by people, while listening to Zhang Daqiang say,
"The young master's surname is Meng, and his name is Meng Luo. His father, Meng Fuguang, is said to be the largest rice merchant in Zhongchuan City and has some connections with the government offices in the city..."
"Young Master Mengluo is the son of Mr. Meng Fuguang, who was born in his old age. He has three older brothers and one older sister, so it's not his turn to inherit the family business. However, the old man and his brothers dote on him very much and are happy to use money to coax Young Master Mengluo into having fun."
Lei Li raised an eyebrow when he heard this. "If you have so much money, why did Master Mengluo come to this small place by himself?"
"The rice here is not bad. I heard it can be sold for 8 wen per pound in Zhongchuan Prefecture. The purchase price is only 4 wen, which is double the price..."
Zhang Daqiang clicked his tongue twice and pointed at the middle-aged man with a mustache next to Meng Luo. "However, collecting rice was originally the responsibility of the mustache-wearing shopkeeper. Young Master Meng Luo took over this part of the business two years ago."
"Young Master, when he gets bored at home, he loves to travel around with the fleet. He likes a lot of things, delicious food, fun things, and he's also a soft-hearted person, so he's easily tricked sometimes."
"Young Master Mengluo came to our place last year and was tricked into spending ten taels of silver on a colorful flower... The fruit was colorful, and the person was very happy. I guess he got this red fire grass that way too."
Colorful flowers...
Lei Li glanced at Zhou Yi and saw that he felt a little guilty. He was obviously thinking of the five-colored peppers that cost 800 Wen before, and he almost bought it.
Said Mengluo was a fool.
His husband is no less capable.
However, for a young master like Meng Luo who has experienced many setbacks, it is easy for Lei Li to get the chili peppers on his boat.
He didn't even need to approach it specially. As a fast food restaurant that had already gained considerable fame in the port, Meng Luo naturally became curious and came to his store.
Mengluo was still fooled by the employees on his fleet and treated them to a meal again.
The mustachioed shopkeeper grumbled, "Master, we paid a fortune to hire these lowly people. We didn't take a cent off them, and yet they're still asking for more. They want you to buy them food and drinks."
"Today he can ask you to spend money to treat him, and tomorrow he can order you around and take advantage of you..."
"It's okay, it's okay~"
Meng Luo's face still had a bit of baby fat, and he smiled kindly and said, "It's just a little silver, just to make everyone happy. We've been running on the river for so long, we're all tired and hungry..."
The shopkeeper with a mustache couldn't resist and gave orders unhappily, emphasizing that each employee could only order two pure meat dishes and two vegetarian dishes to save money and avoid eating too much and getting a stomachache.
Everyone below knew what kind of person the mustache-wearing shopkeeper was, so they automatically ignored his bad tone and became overjoyed. Even those who were busy and couldn't come to eat right away still cheered for the young master's prowess.
Meng Luo looked at the workers with envious eyes. These people were not from his fleet, but local migrant laborers who worked as porters.
He thought about it and asked someone to book several nearby restaurants and asked two servants to beat drums and gongs.
"My young master is treating everyone who's dining at the harbor today! My young master is treating everyone who's dining at the harbor today!"
"dinner?"
"Which young master? Which young master..."
"Young Master Mengluo? He's treating us to dinner again? We're so lucky today!"
"Brothers, it's time to eat, hahahaha!"
Mengluo felt much better after listening to the discussions and praises around him.
But the shopkeeper with a mustache was not happy and tried to persuade him, "Young Master, you've hired too many people. Those laborers are not our Meng family's long-term workers..."
Zhou Yi was not very happy either.
He had prepared lunch early, bought the chili peppers he had been craving at noon, chatted with others, collected some money, took a break, and then prepared dinner. He would close the shop around eight o'clock in the evening.
Now it was his arm's turn to smoke.
Last time, there were only 300 people, and Zhou Yi was almost exhausted. Now there must be over a thousand people, right? Knowing that his restaurant tastes the best, most of the people in the port flocked here, almost squeezing Mengluo out.
Zhou Yi was so busy that he even forgot about cooking chili peppers. He only remembered to cook, cook, cook... Next time, he should fix the stove and buy two bigger pots...
Lei Li didn't have time to go to Mengluo, he was busy serving food.
Not everyone who comes to eat has good qualities. If they were allowed to serve themselves, they could fill a bowl with meat with just two spoonfuls. Lei Li would be at a huge disadvantage.
Fortunately, Master Mengluo gave me enough money, so I didn't have to worry about the cost of meals.
The sun sets.
The moon rises in the east.
Only after Lei Ji Fast Food Restaurant closed down did Lei Li and Zhou Yi finally have some time to rest.
Zhou Yi drank several mouthfuls of water, and slowly recovered like a dried-up succulent. He had never been so tired even when he was training in his previous life.
Lei Li also drank several sips of water and wiped the sweat off his face. "With this style of behavior, that wealthy northern merchant boss from last time, could he also be from the Meng family?"
"Yes, it's the Meng family."
Zhang Daqiang was temporarily pulled in to work as a waiter. He was also taking a break in the store at this time. Then he said,
"The Meng family does a lot of business. Their fleets are constantly transporting rice, and along with it, they bring in some valuable and rare items. Some of this is the family's business, while some is the private work of the people in charge."
"Is he doing private work?"
Lei Li asked, "I remember that he didn't collect rice last time he came back, but a lot of medicinal herbs and dried vegetables."
"I don't know about that."
Zhang Daqiang shook his head and said, "But he is indeed one of the headmen of the Meng family. His surname is also Meng. It seems that he is the son of one of Mr. Meng Fuguang's concubines. He climbed up to the headman with some ability."
"I heard he has a very good relationship with Mengluo. He has also learned Mengluo's habit of hiring people. He always uses Mengluo's banner outside. Even if he does private work, no one will investigate him. Who knows if Master Mengluo is involved in it."
After chatting for a few more words, Zhang Daqiang also went home, and Lei Li took out the money he earned today.
Thirty taels.
Three ten-liang silver coins.
It was the first time that Zhou Yi had seen such a large piece of silver. There were official graphics and texts printed on the bottom. If you pinched it hard with your fingernails, it would leave a shallow mark.
"Master Mengluo will stay at the port for three days. We will go to him tomorrow to buy chili peppers."
Lei Li saw Zhou Yi's worries and said, "I heard him say that the food in our restaurant is delicious and he will come again tomorrow at noon. But the chili peppers are quite expensive. Zhang Daqiang estimated that they cost ten taels a pot..."
"Oh, ten taels a pot of broken grass, just go and rob it."
Lei Li curled his lips and said, "Didn't you say that chili peppers can be used to make many dishes? And that they can be made into chili sauce, chili powder, and chili oil?"
"right."
Zhou Yi nodded. "Chili peppers can be used in many dishes, and Sichuan cuisine is a major branch of it. Sichuan... Perhaps someone in Zhongchuan Prefecture has discovered the specialness of chili peppers and started using them as a seasoning."
"It doesn't matter whether Zhongchuan Prefecture knows about it or not, as long as Master Mengluo doesn't know about it."
Lei Li smiled and said, "Have you forgotten how we got ninety-three taels from Shopkeeper Haiwei?"
Honestly, the amount of money was so huge that Lei Li was a bit shocked at first. He just chatted with Hai Wei out of habit, who knew he would actually buy it...
Lei Dashan and Liu Ye'er are both down-to-earth ordinary people. They will bargain even if eggs are half a cent more expensive.
Taking out so much money at once would scare them, so Lei Li thought about taking it slow and giving it all to Liu Ye'er for safekeeping after a while, and only took out half of it to buy houses and fields.
The two elders were terrified for a long time, fearing that the owner of Haiwei would find out that they had been cheated and come back to ask for their money...
Zhou Yi understood, "You want to sell the recipe to Meng Luo in exchange for chili peppers?"
"Of course not."
Lei Li smiled cunningly and ambitiously. "Since there's a small village in Zhongchuan Prefecture that grows chili peppers, we have a method for making them, and Mengluo has money and people, why not a three-way collaboration, with one providing the raw materials, one providing the money, and one providing the technology?"
"This way, we can make a lot of money without spending a penny. Can we make a profit? This is the method you taught me before."
"You have a point."
Zhou Yi had an epiphany.
When the owner of Haiwei went to the village to ask him for the soup dumpling recipe, he discussed with Lei Li whether to cooperate and profit from the profits or buy out the business. Since they were short of money at the time, he simply and crudely chose to buy out the business.
Now we have no shortage of money, we have the technology, we have suppliers, and we have a wealthy and easy-to-defraud tycoon. The boss is right in front of us, and the timing, location, and people are all right...
It would be foolish not to make money.
"We can also sign a contract with the village, forcing them to sell the chilies only to us and not to anyone else, especially those in the food business like us."
Lei Li said, "How about we just open a big restaurant and do business with the rich and powerful, and sell dishes for one tael of silver per dish?"
"It would be best if our restaurant is located near a river for easy access. We want to open the largest and best restaurant in Zhongchuan Prefecture. After all, the Meng family is in Zhongchuan Prefecture, and Zhang Daqiang also said that the Meng family has someone protecting them."
"Yes, we can also cooperate with the government, which is what you call cooperation between the government and the people, so that other restaurants will not dare to steal our recipe and snatch the supply of chili peppers."
The more Lei Li talked about it, the more he thought it was feasible. "Let's keep the chili sauce production in the village and let them do it. We can collect the finished sauce directly and then use the Meng family's boat to transport it to various restaurants. Since we own the boat, the cost can be controlled."
"ah?"
Zhou Yi was stunned. "But those recipes weren't my own. I learned them from books. It's not good to claim them as my own, right?"
Before, I only made a little money from cheating Haiwei, but now I'm almost monopolizing it...
“I can’t make money even if I have one.”
Lei Li rolled his eyes at him, then sighed and said, "Then let's take them to make money together, to make money from rich people..."
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