thefictionvixens Chapter 595: Competing with the Zheng Family
Chapter 595: Competing with the Zheng Family
Based on Tong Dajiao’s memory of the duration of the extreme cold weather, Tong Huaqiong calculated that two hundred thousand jin of coal would just be enough.
Since this coal is life-saving, it can’t be sold to just anyone who wants to buy it, nor can anyone buy as much as they want.
The goal is to prevent the rich from hoarding.
Priority should be given to selling coal to ordinary poor families, and there should also be purchase limits.
Initially, people didn’t believe that Jufu’s coal was only thirty-five wen per dan. It was only when they saw people at the front carrying coal out that they believed.
Compared to coal prices in previous years, Jufu’s price was considered high, but compared to Zheng’s shop selling at ten taels of silver per dan, Jufu was practically doing charity.
Madly, people pushed their way inside, while government officials maintained order and shouted loudly which Jufu stores had coal selling points set up in the city, encouraging people to buy from different locations.
Consequently, the people arriving later directly went to Lian Hengruo’s pearl shop.
As people also bought coal from Lian Hengruo’s shop, the queue at Jufu wasn’t as long anymore.
Tong Huaqiong breathed a sigh of relief; otherwise, she truly feared a stampede might occur.
Despite two rows of government officials maintaining order, the crowd was overwhelming.
Waiting in line for coal in such cold weather, tempers could easily flare, and one could really lash out at the officials.
Zheng Family.
Since the scandal of Xu Zaohua and Gu Ruinian broke out, the Zheng Family has become the laughing stock of Pingchuan County.
The second son of the Zheng Family made decisions behind his parents’ backs and angered Old Master Zheng by freeing Gu Ruinian, assuring him that Gu Ruinian’s presence would be of great benefit to the Zheng Family. Old Master Zheng didn’t believe it until the extreme cold weather finally convinced him.
These days, Old Master Zheng is entirely unaffected by the extreme cold weather, his happiness making his eyebrows and beard quiver.
The extreme cold weather was like heaven opening its eyes for the Zheng Family.
The second son of the Zheng Family had been secretly writing letters imitating his father’s handwriting to inform shopkeepers to use all their silver to hoard coal. When Old Master Zheng found out, the family’s silver was almost depleted, and if not for the president of Wanliu Academy stopping him, he would have beaten the unfilial son to death.
The extreme cold weather did arrive on time.
Old Master Zheng, looking at the swirling goose feather snow, only hoped the weather would get colder and colder.
Initially, he set the coal price at one tael of silver per dan, and it sold; then he set it at two taels per dan, and it sold; three taels per dan, and it still sold; it went up to five taels per dan with only a trickle of buyers, bestowing him with the evil reputation of Zheng the Blood Drinker.
Furious, he cursed the customers for being blind; Pingchuan had no coal, the entire Ning City had no coal, all the coal was hoarded by his youngest son. Now he was willing to sell the coal, it was out of his good conscience, not wanting to see everyone freeze.
Since people were unappreciative of this, he had the clerks set the price at ten taels of silver per dan.
Buy if you want, this is the price.
The purpose of merchants is to make money.
If you’re not making money, you’re a fool.
He just didn’t believe that those made of flesh and blood would truly have the will of steel to withstand the extreme cold weather, not buying at five taels, not buying at ten taels; let’s see how long they can hold out?
"Father, believe me, even if I don’t study as well as the other students at Wanliu Academy, I can still achieve success in one leap." The second son of the Zheng Family, who had hurried back from Ning City, seized the opportunity to speak to Old Master Zheng whose face was blossoming with smiles. "Please don’t ever think of me as a child again."
The second son of the Zheng Family leaned on connections with the maternal family of the fifth prince, waiting to make a hefty profit from selling coal, to extract part of the silver to invest in the fifth prince.
Old Master Zheng praised his youngest son with admiration all around, laughingly said to him, "From now on, you decide what to do in the family."
Meanwhile, he joyously calculated in his mind how much profit this wave would bring.
The youngest son had a bit of the ruthlessness he had in his youth; he hoarded all the coal in Ning City, not only making a fortune in Pingchuan but also commanding high-priced coal sales in Ning City for the Zheng Family.
After this winter, the Zheng Family would leap to become the wealthiest in Pingchuan.
By then, they would also build two large ships, learning from the Lu Family in Ning City to sail the seas and build the Zheng Family’s bank and commercial empire.
The clerk at Zheng’s shop sat inside, coldly watching people pass by the shop’s doorstep.
Not buying at ten taels, you’ll regret it when it becomes fifteen taels.
Buy or not, it doesn’t matter, there’s nowhere else selling anyway, eventually, they’ll come back to Zheng’s shop.
But soon the Zheng shop clerk noticed something was off, why did people hurriedly run away?
Despite the cold wind, where were they running to with all their lives?
The Zheng shop clerk felt something was odd but didn’t care much.
Overnight, no customers visited any of the Zheng Family coal shops again; the clerk thought the ten-tael per dan price scared everyone away, still believing that soon the entire city would be begging and pleading with silver.
"Buy a dan of coal."
A burly man walked into Zheng’s shop, handing the clerk thirty-five wen.
The clerk thought the man was there to joke.
"Brother, are you giving this to a beggar? Our coal is ten taels of silver per dan, didn’t you come to the wrong place?"
Puzzled, the man responded: "Wasn’t it said coal was thirty-five wen per dan, but each household could buy up to two dans?"
The man was new to Pingchuan this year and wasn’t familiar with the shops. He was shivering at home when a neighbor told him that Manager Tong at Jufu was selling coal and had distributed it to several shops for sale. The neighbor advised not to line up at Jufu but to buy from Miss Lian’s shop for the same price.
Seeing coal stocked at Zheng’s shop, he mistook it for Miss Lian’s shop and entered.
Hearing it was ten taels of silver, he was shocked.
"Go, go, go, who told you thirty-five wen per dan. Do you even know what the situation is this year, or are you so cold you think it’s still last year." The clerk shoved the man outside while speaking.
Angrily, the man said: "Ten taels of silver per dan of coal, are you drinking blood?"
At this moment, a person carrying coal stopped by the road, rubbing hands, and said to the man: "Brother, you’ve got the wrong shop. This is Zheng the Blood Drinker’s shop, you should go to Jufu where there are fewer people in line now."
The man bolted away.
The Zheng shop clerk disdainfully said: "Jufu? That Widow Tong is selling coal too? Don’t joke, all of Ning City’s coal is stacked at the Zheng Family, where would Widow Tong get coal?"
The middle-aged man carrying coal lifted the load again, sarcastically said: "Your Zheng Family is impressive, ten taels of silver per dan and it can’t be sold, so it’s just accumulating at home."
He finished, lifted his load, and walked away quickly, cursing that Zheng’s coal should just rot at home.
The Zheng shop clerk initially didn’t believe it, but seeing many people on the street carrying coal home, an inexplicable panic arose in his heart.
"Where did you buy your coal?" The clerk couldn’t help asking toward the street.
"Bought it at Jufu. So what? Without the Zheng Family, are we going to freeze to death?"
"Widow Tong is indeed kind, thirty-five wen per dan. No wonder Jufu is doing so well."
"Such merchants won’t succeed long-term; your Zheng Family’s coal might as well be used by yourselves."
People deliberately carried their coal past Zheng’s shop, and hearing the clerk’s question, they didn’t mind responding sarcastically.
Seeing the increasingly ugly expression on the Zheng shop clerk’s face, everyone felt a slight warmth in the air.