Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Luxury merchants, yards, bankruptcy
The boat of Jia Qing, a porcelain merchant, was moored on the shore, and the three of them boarded the boat together to see the goods.
Those porcelains are all set in a boxwood box, and each compartment is covered with soft wadding and white silk.The bright black porcelain stands out against the snow-white fine silk.
Ibra lightly picked up a porcelain cup, carefully looked inside and out and stroked it.Feng Sai also helped to inspect it, and it was indeed a first-class product.The two sides negotiated again, and Feng Sai helped them negotiate the price with a few words.Ibra only had five camels and asked for twenty cartons.A total of fifty-six guan, equivalent to twenty-eight taels of silver.
The three returned to the shore and walked into the tea shop.Feng Sai asked the store for pens and inks, took out the purchased deed, filled in the amount of the transaction items, and asked Ibra and Jia Qing to sign and pledge, and then asked the staff to invite the owner of the inn, Fang Jing, as a guarantee.
Fang Jing was in his forties, short and stocky, always cheerful when meeting people.In order to attract merchants, he often guarantees the merchants staying in the hotel.Today, when he came over, he said with a bitter face: "Second brother Feng, I don't dare to guaranty for you anymore. Wu Heizi from the charcoal shop came this morning and said he didn't see someone surnamed Tan bringing charcoal. Paying for his charcoal, and almost shaking my fist..."
"I'm really sorry, Mr. Housing. It's because I didn't manage it well, and I got into trouble with you. However, Brother Jia, you are familiar with it, and the transaction is very simple and convenient. The goods are on board, and the contract is signed, and the payment is made. It's nothing. It's very involved. It will take time to find another guarantor now, so I need Brother Fang to help me again."
Fang Jing shook his head with a smile, read the deed, did not say any more, grabbed a pen and signed his name.
Ibra took out an ingot of thirty taels of silver collar from his rucksack, and Fang Jing called his assistants to fetch a hammer, a chisel and a scale, and he chiseled out two taels of silver collar for Ibra. The money was handed over to Jia Qing face to face.Jia Qing also went back to the boat to fetch Wumo copper coins and paid Feng Sai for dental work.At this time, all the porcelain wooden boxes were moved ashore and tied up on the hunchback.
Feng Sai said to Jia Qing: "Brother Jia, I have an urgent matter at home, and I'm afraid I can't arrange the rest of the porcelain for you. How about finding another dentist?"
"I can't trust other people. You go and do your business, and I don't mind waiting for two days."
Feng Sai couldn't say anything more, so he had to say goodbye to the porcelain merchant.Lu Tian'er, the housekeeper, kept watching from the sidelines, and when he heard it, his eyes twinkled.Feng Sai didn't care about him, so he took Ibra and the camel team into the city, and rushed to the tax office on the right side of the inner city wall of Dongshuimen to pay taxes.
Chen Zhi, the tax supervisor, is close to Feng Sai, but his two tax collectors, Dong San and Song You, have sharp teeth and often make things difficult for business travelers.To avoid trouble, Feng Sai would win over them from time to time.Things were urgent today, so he first went across to Cao Sanlang to buy a bottle of high-quality wine and two bottles of middle-class wine, cut up two plates of white meat and cooked tripe, and packaged them together to send to the tax, saying a few words of condolence.Chen Zhi, the tax supervisor, was still modest, while Dong San and Song You narrowed their eyes with smiles. Hu merchants only took a rough look at the goods and did not check them carefully. According to the total transaction price on the contract, they charged 100% according to the merchants. The second tax money, a tax certificate was issued.
Only then did Feng Sai say goodbye to the Hu merchant: "Ibra, you have already bought all the goods you want. Can you give the ivory a little delay for a day or two?"
"Okay. But I can only wait three days at most."
"On the third day at the latest, I will take my friends to deliver."
Qiu Han saw the car entering a mansion, and his heart couldn't help beating again. The car door was opened, and the yard was wide. There was a thin man standing in the setting sun. His face could not be seen clearly against the light, but his figure was thin and small, like a thin hozen. He was holding a steel knife in his hand. Han couldn't open his eyes. "You come down first!" The thin man ordered Qiu Han coldly, his voice high-pitched. Qiu Han hesitated for a moment, then stood up and came to the car door. She had her hands tied behind her back and didn't know how to get out of the car. At this moment, the driver in front came around. He was tall and strong, with dark sunken eyes and a flat nose, like an orangutan.He reached out to grab Qiu Han's arm and pulled Qiu Han out of the car, then dragged her to the house on the north side of the yard.Qiu Han suddenly became frightened, and tried his best not to leave the two daughters, but the man's hand was so strong that he dragged her forward with great strides. The yard is very large, surrounded by earth walls, the yard is empty, and the ground is full of black cinders.The man dragged Qiu Han for a hundred steps, and came to the door of a room on the left.The house was built in a rudimentary manner, only better than ordinary farm houses, and the doors and windows were old and blackened.Qiu Han turned his head, and saw a thin old woman with gray hair protruding from the door on the far right. The old woman quickly retracted her head when she met Qiu Han's gaze.While Qiu Han was wondering, the man had already opened the door, pushed her in, and then knocked the door from the outside. Qiu Han hurriedly turned around, put his face against the crack of the door, and peeked out anxiously.The big man strode back to the car, raised his leg and got into the car. Qiu Han was terrified and slammed on the door hard.After a while, the man jumped out of the car, with Ling'er in his left arm and Long'er in his right hand, striding towards this side, the two girls kicked their legs and cried out in fright.Qiu Han saw that his heart was being torn apart, and continued to hit the door with all his strength.The man quickly walked to the door, put down the girls, opened the door, carried the two girls in, threw them on the ground, and then slammed the door behind them. Qiu Han hurriedly squatted over, and Ling'er and Long'er moved to Qiu Han's side together, crying even harder, but their mouths were gagged, and they could only whimper. Qiu Han couldn't help crying again.Although she is only a daughter of Xiaoranfang's family, her parents love her since she was a child, and she has enough food and clothing. How did she encounter such a situation?Frightened, unable to think of the slightest solution. After a while, the door opened again, and Liu Bifu was also pushed in.
The sun has already set in the west, and the water of the Bian River is bright red.There are far fewer people on both sides of the river, and most of them are returning to the city after playing. Feng Sai drove his horse out of the city again, went up to the Hongqiao Bridge, and looked around at the head of the bridge. There were not many boats on the river, let alone charcoal boats.There are only a dozen or so people standing in front of the old Yueqing tea house on the north bank of the river, standing on the bank and looking at a cruise ship in the river. There are several people walking back and forth on the cruise ship. One of them seems to be Gu Zhen, the patrol officer of the left army. I don’t know what he is up to. . Feng Sai went down the bridge and asked some people by the river, but they all said that they did not see the charcoal boat.Just as he was asking, he saw a thin man walking from the west bank carrying a box. It was the painter Zhang Zeduan.Before Zhang Zeduan entered the Palace Painting Academy, Feng Sai had helped him sell paintings, and the two had a long friendship. Seeing him carrying the painting box, Feng Sai knew that he was coming to sketch again, so he hurriedly stepped forward, bowed hastily, and asked anxiously, "Mr. Zhang, have you been here all this time?" "yes." "Did you see the charcoal boat coming?" "Charcoal boat? No." Zhang Zeduan has a photographic memory when he sees things, if he says there are no, then he must not.Feng Sai had no choice but to leave, and hastily drove his horse to the east. In the Song Dynasty, coal mining was very common. From the imperial palace to the folks in Bianjing, firewood and charcoal were rarely used for fire, and every household burned coal.I usually don't feel anything when I look at this black and bright coal, but as the charcoal merchant Wu Meng said, if there is a shortage, the whole city may have to eat raw food and drink cold water. Feng Sai had never been in the charcoal business before, but more than ten days ago, Zhu Deshi, the head of the charcoal bank, suddenly came to him and said that there was a deal and he had to be hired as a middleman.Feng Sai was a little puzzled, and after careful questioning, he found out that the Beijing Charcoal Bank had encountered a trouble—— The charcoal in Beijing is mainly produced in Hedong, Hebei, and Jingdong, and it is transported by Jinshui River, Wuzhang River and Bian River respectively.Unlike other goods, the charcoal transported from Bianhe only accounted for 20% of the total charcoal in Bianjing, so the charcoal bank did not pay much attention to it.But since the middle of last month, Bianhe charcoal merchants have come less and less.At first, Zhu Deshi and others didn't pay attention, thinking it was just caused by poor waterway.Who knows that by the end of the month, not a single ship will come.The amount of charcoal in the capital suddenly decreased by 20%, which means that out of 200,000 households in the city, 40,000 households have no charcoal.Charcoal suddenly became scarce, and the price immediately skyrocketed. Feng Sai had actually heard about it at the time, but in the past few months the prices in the capital have been in turmoil, so he didn't pay much attention to the price of charcoal. Zhu Deshi, Wu Meng, Zang Qi and other big charcoal merchants hurriedly negotiated, and sent two people to search the lower reaches of the Bian River by boat, but they didn't even find a charcoal boat.He rode a fast horse to the charcoal mine again, but the people in the charcoal mine said that the goods were still delivered as usual, and there was no shortage for a day.After the investigators came back to report, Zhu Deshi and the others lost their minds.The amount of mining in other places has a fixed number, and it is difficult to make up for the shortfall of 20% in a hurry.Being anxious, a person came to them and said that he had charcoal. The man's surname was Tan Mingli, and he spoke very harshly, saying that he would deliver all the coal along the Bianhe Road in the future. Zhu Deshi and others didn't believe this person surnamed Tan before.Tan Li invited them to go out of the city to see for themselves. They saw Tan Li's extravagant clothes, so they followed him out of the city with suspicion.When they arrived at Hongqiao, Tan Li pointed to a row of more than a dozen boats on the north bank for them to see. They were indeed charcoal boats, and each boat was piled with small black mountains of charcoal. Zhu Deshi hurriedly asked the reason, but Tan Li only smiled and said: "As long as it is real charcoal, you don't need to know anything else." Wu Meng became annoyed: "Did you cut off the charcoal boat?" Tan Li smiled and said, "As long as you don't enter the city, it will not be under your control." Wu Meng was so annoyed that he was about to punch him, Zhu Deshi and Zang Qi hurriedly persuaded him to hold back his anger and negotiated a deal with Tan Li, but Tan Li said: "Your charcoal dealers are useless, I only know 'Ya Jue' Feng Sai." Zhu Deshi had no choice but to invite Feng Sai. At that time Feng Sai was busy buying and selling tea, salt and alum, so he refused with a smile when he couldn't get it out, but Zhu Deshi couldn't stand repeated pleas, so he had to hand over the alum business to Liu Erlang and let him take care of it first.I followed Zhu Deshi to the Fangjia Inn on the bank of the Bian River, and saw Wu Meng, Zang Qi and a tall man sitting face to face.Wu Meng was angry, Zang Qi had a gloomy face, but the man had a long face with a smile on his face. Feng Sai looked carefully, and saw that Tan Li was in his early thirties, wearing a rhinoceros buckle black gauze head trimmed with gold thread, a dark green Shu brocade trousers with gold thread and ruyi patterns, a pair of suede boots embroidered with gold on the waist, A Ruyi big money box embroidered with gold thread.The whole body is glittering and shining with gold, one can see that there is so much money that one can wish to have her eyebrows bronzed in gold. Feng Sai had seen many people like this, he smiled inwardly, crossed his hands in front of him and asked, "I'm Feng Sai, thanks to brother Tan's love and respect." "One sentence from Yajue, one hundred thousand silver in Bianjing. Just looking at the appearance of Mr. Feng, it is worth hundreds of thousands of silver." Tan Li also grinned, showing his yellow teeth, and stood up to pay respects with a smile. With a strong Jiangxi accent, he is actually from Feng Sai's hometown. "Brother Tan made fun of it." "I'm a charcoal peddler who can't speak, and Mr. Feng will take care of you. Now that the teeth are coming, let's not talk too much, let's start a deal!" Everyone sat down, and the owner hurriedly ordered the waiter to order tea. Tan Li said in a loud voice: "I only want to do business for fun. Now the price of charcoal in Bianjing is 110 yuan per scale. I know that some big bosses in your charcoal bank charge 85 yuan, and it is 90 yuan to forward it to the charcoal shop." Fifteen cents, you can earn ten cents for nothing by sitting. Everyone in the world is a brother, and everyone who has money will share it. I will sell it to you as a round number, ninety cents." When Wu Meng heard this, he said angrily, "You're knocking on the door to rob us! Open your mouth and pay five cents, you look down on us too much! The world is full of charcoal, without you, would you all eat raw meat?" "Business, business, only for fun. If you don't want it in Bianjing, I will transport it to Yingtianfu." Tan Li still smiled. "Go! You can go wherever you want, and you can still hear the sound by throwing the master's money for fun." Feng Sai hurriedly persuaded with a smile on the side: "Business is only based on harmony. Don't be vindictive, you two can talk and discuss." Tan Li smiled and said, "I am at this price. Even if the price of charcoal rises to 1,000 Wen tomorrow, it will still be at this price, nothing will change." Feng Sai looked at Zhu Deshi, Zhu Deshi frowned, and said slowly after a long while: "The three of us will discuss together before we decide. Sit down for a while." He called Wu Meng and Zang Qi to go out together to discuss by the river.From the teahouse, I saw Wu Meng shaking his head, staring, and waving his hands, Zhu Deshi kept persuading him, but Zang Qi kept his face sullen and silent.Tan Li sat on the chair, looked at them and smiled, as if watching three chickens fighting. Seeing Tan Li's smile, Feng Sai felt a little unhappy. Tan Li didn't seem to be here for business, but seemed to be teasing the three charcoal merchants on purpose.However, Feng Sai did not disclose that as long as the contract is clear and the money and goods are settled, he is a middleman, so he doesn't need to worry too much, and he has no right to ask. The three of Zhu Deshi discussed for a while before returning to the teahouse together. Seeing Wu Meng's angry look, Feng Sai knew that Zhu Deshi and Zang Qi had persuaded him and agreed to Tan Li's bid. Sure enough, after Zhu Deshi sat down, he said solemnly: "We will collect the charcoal at the price you said, but you have to deliver the charcoal on time and in full, and you can't be short for a day." "I also have to earn money. If I miss a day, I will lose a day's income. You don't need to say much about this." "Empty words are hard to prove, or written in the contract." "Success. Whatever you want to add, just write it in."
Lu Mantou asked the two men to go back first, and returned home with his two sons. He now lives in Niu Ti Lane in the southeastern suburbs, and his family of five rents three narrow shabby houses.Before he got to the door, he smelled a smell of meat coming out of the broken window.The two sons cheered together: "Mother cooked meat!" Pushing the door open, I saw my wife and two daughters gathered around the old dirty square table in the middle of the room. There was a big porcelain bowl on the table. The bowl was full of pieces of meat, fresh and fat, shiny and steaming. Niang San didn't use chopsticks either, she was eating a piece of meat with her oily fingers open, it was scalding. Seeing them coming in, his wife hurriedly swallowed them whole, and said embarrassingly: "I can't help it, I tasted a piece." "Where did you get the meat?" "It was sent by a boy." The two sons had rushed to the table, grabbing the meat and shoveling it into their mouths. Lu Mantou also swallowed heavily: "What kid?" "The kid at the tea shop on the west side street said that someone bought it and asked him to deliver it. It's this basket..." Wu pointed to a bamboo basket in the corner, which contained a piece of fat lamb hind leg. It costs seventy yuan a catty, and mutton has already risen to more than one hundred and fifty yuan. This leg of lamb costs at least 10 yuan... Oh, yes! There is this hidden under the meat..." She walked quickly to the back room, holding Take out a blue cloth bag, which is soaked in raw meat and blood. When Lu Mantou took it, it was very heavy, and almost fell to the ground unpreparedly. When he lifted the cloth, he saw a shiny silver collar with two numbers engraved on it: Xuanhe Three Years, Beijing Ingot Silver Fifty Liang. Wu Shi whispered from the side: "That man really kept his word." But Lu Mantou was speechless, looking down at the silver collar, not knowing what it was like. He was originally the head of the Lu family's steamed bun shop in the south of the city. His family came to the capital to seek a living more than 20 years ago. After working hard for these years, he gradually moved from steamed buns to a steamed bun shop. He recruited seven or eight assistants alone.Even if it is far behind the first-class Wanjia steamed buns and Sun Haoshou steamed buns in the capital, they are somewhat well-known in the south of the city, with a prosperous family business and ample food and clothing.Who would have thought that due to an inadvertent mistake, she would fall back to the original shape when she came to the capital in a blink of an eye.
In the first month, there was a food shortage in the capital. He shouldn't have listened to his two sons' preaching, thinking that he had caught a huge opportunity, and he would spend all he had. At the highest price of five guan for one shi, two thousand shi of grain was seized.Only a few days later, food prices began to fall back, four times five, four times, three times five, three times... just staring at the loss of three or four million. At first, he hoped that the price of food would go back up, but after the price of food fell to three times, it stabilized.The loan he borrowed was at 5% interest per month, and he had to repay 2 million a month for the interest. After two months, the principal with interest was already 6 million.The monthly rent for the leased grain depot is 20 guan. He didn't dare to procrastinate any longer, so he had to ask people everywhere, and sold the grain at a price of two hundred and five hundred Wen, and used all of it to pay off the debt, and there was still a shortfall of one million yuan.If it is delayed for another month, the interest will be hundreds of thousands.He had no choice but to pawn off his yard and shop. Xieku was only willing to pay 800,000 for the shop and house worth more than one million yuan.In this way, he still owes a debt of two hundred thousand. Lu Mantoudian sold the last bit of jewelry from his wife and daughter, rented these three run-down houses outside the city, and saved some money for his life.Now they can only steam some steamed buns, and the father and son each carry their burdens to sell along the street, and they can barely make ends meet at the end of the day, no matter how difficult it is to pay off this debt. Suddenly in such a state of desperation, he ran to the Bianhe Hongqiao several times at night, wanting to make a jump, but thinking about his wife and children, he finally couldn't help himself, so he could only go back crying.He had never cried like this in his whole life. Three days ago, he was carrying a bunch of steamed buns to sell around, when he was chased by two hooligans under the hands of the creditor, he was kicked and beaten in the street, and the steamed buns rolled to the ground.He didn't dare to say a word, he could only wait for the two rogues to leave, and endured the pain to pick up those steamed buns.The steamed buns are covered with dust, and they can't be wiped clean. How can they be sold? Looking at the dirty steamed bun in his hand, he couldn't help crying again.At this time, a carriage stopped beside him, and the driver said to him: "Old man, the official in the carriage wants to talk to you, you go into the carriage."
Qiu Han saw the car entering a mansion, and his heart couldn't help beating again. The car door was opened, and the yard was wide. There was a thin man standing in the setting sun. His face could not be seen clearly against the light, but his figure was thin and small, like a thin hozen. He was holding a steel knife in his hand. Han couldn't open his eyes. "You come down first!" The thin man ordered Qiu Han coldly, his voice high-pitched. Qiu Han hesitated for a moment, then stood up and came to the car door. She had her hands tied behind her back and didn't know how to get out of the car. At this moment, the driver in front came around. He was tall and strong, with dark sunken eyes and a flat nose, like an orangutan.He reached out to grab Qiu Han's arm and pulled Qiu Han out of the car, then dragged her to the house on the north side of the yard.Qiu Han suddenly became frightened, and tried his best not to leave the two daughters, but the man's hand was so strong that he dragged her forward with great strides. The yard is very large, surrounded by earth walls, the yard is empty, and the ground is full of black cinders.The man dragged Qiu Han for a hundred steps, and came to the door of a room on the left.The house was built in a rudimentary manner, only better than ordinary farm houses, and the doors and windows were old and blackened.Qiu Han turned his head, and saw a thin old woman with gray hair protruding from the door on the far right. The old woman quickly retracted her head when she met Qiu Han's gaze.While Qiu Han was wondering, the man had already opened the door, pushed her in, and then knocked the door from the outside. Qiu Han hurriedly turned around, put his face against the crack of the door, and peeked out anxiously.The big man strode back to the car, raised his leg and got into the car. Qiu Han was terrified and slammed on the door hard.After a while, the man jumped out of the car, with Ling'er in his left arm and Long'er in his right hand, striding towards this side, the two girls kicked their legs and cried out in fright.Qiu Han saw that his heart was being torn apart, and continued to hit the door with all his strength.The man quickly walked to the door, put down the girls, opened the door, carried the two girls in, threw them on the ground, and then slammed the door behind them. Qiu Han hurriedly squatted over, and Ling'er and Long'er moved to Qiu Han's side together, crying even harder, but their mouths were gagged, and they could only whimper. Qiu Han couldn't help crying again.Although she is only a daughter of Xiaoranfang's family, her parents love her since she was a child, and she has enough food and clothing. How did she encounter such a situation?Frightened, unable to think of the slightest solution. After a while, the door opened again, and Liu Bifu was also pushed in.
The sun has already set in the west, and the water of the Bian River is bright red.There are far fewer people on both sides of the river, and most of them are returning to the city after playing. Feng Sai drove his horse out of the city again, went up to the Hongqiao Bridge, and looked around at the head of the bridge. There were not many boats on the river, let alone charcoal boats.There are only a dozen or so people standing in front of the old Yueqing tea house on the north bank of the river, standing on the bank and looking at a cruise ship in the river. There are several people walking back and forth on the cruise ship. One of them seems to be Gu Zhen, the patrol officer of the left army. I don’t know what he is up to. . Feng Sai went down the bridge and asked some people by the river, but they all said that they did not see the charcoal boat.Just as he was asking, he saw a thin man walking from the west bank carrying a box. It was the painter Zhang Zeduan.Before Zhang Zeduan entered the Palace Painting Academy, Feng Sai had helped him sell paintings, and the two had a long friendship. Seeing him carrying the painting box, Feng Sai knew that he was coming to sketch again, so he hurriedly stepped forward, bowed hastily, and asked anxiously, "Mr. Zhang, have you been here all this time?" "yes." "Did you see the charcoal boat coming?" "Charcoal boat? No." Zhang Zeduan has a photographic memory when he sees things, if he says there are no, then he must not.Feng Sai had no choice but to leave, and hastily drove his horse to the east. In the Song Dynasty, coal mining was very common. From the imperial palace to the folks in Bianjing, firewood and charcoal were rarely used for fire, and every household burned coal.I usually don't feel anything when I look at this black and bright coal, but as the charcoal merchant Wu Meng said, if there is a shortage, the whole city may have to eat raw food and drink cold water. Feng Sai had never been in the charcoal business before, but more than ten days ago, Zhu Deshi, the head of the charcoal bank, suddenly came to him and said that there was a deal and he had to be hired as a middleman.Feng Sai was a little puzzled, and after careful questioning, he found out that the Beijing Charcoal Bank had encountered a trouble—— The charcoal in Beijing is mainly produced in Hedong, Hebei, and Jingdong, and it is transported by Jinshui River, Wuzhang River and Bian River respectively.Unlike other goods, the charcoal transported from Bianhe only accounted for 20% of the total charcoal in Bianjing, so the charcoal bank did not pay much attention to it.But since the middle of last month, Bianhe charcoal merchants have come less and less.At first, Zhu Deshi and others didn't pay attention, thinking it was just caused by poor waterway.Who knows that by the end of the month, not a single ship will come.The amount of charcoal in the capital suddenly decreased by 20%, which means that out of 200,000 households in the city, 40,000 households have no charcoal.Charcoal suddenly became scarce, and the price immediately skyrocketed. Feng Sai had actually heard about it at the time, but in the past few months the prices in the capital have been in turmoil, so he didn't pay much attention to the price of charcoal. Zhu Deshi, Wu Meng, Zang Qi and other big charcoal merchants hurriedly negotiated, and sent two people to search the lower reaches of the Bian River by boat, but they didn't even find a charcoal boat.He rode a fast horse to the charcoal mine again, but the people in the charcoal mine said that the goods were still delivered as usual, and there was no shortage for a day.After the investigators came back to report, Zhu Deshi and the others lost their minds.The amount of mining in other places has a fixed number, and it is difficult to make up for the shortfall of 20% in a hurry.Being anxious, a person came to them and said that he had charcoal. The man's surname was Tan Mingli, and he spoke very harshly, saying that he would deliver all the coal along the Bianhe Road in the future. Zhu Deshi and others didn't believe this person surnamed Tan before.Tan Li invited them to go out of the city to see for themselves. They saw Tan Li's extravagant clothes, so they followed him out of the city with suspicion.When they arrived at Hongqiao, Tan Li pointed to a row of more than a dozen boats on the north bank for them to see. They were indeed charcoal boats, and each boat was piled with small black mountains of charcoal. Zhu Deshi hurriedly asked the reason, but Tan Li only smiled and said: "As long as it is real charcoal, you don't need to know anything else." Wu Meng became annoyed: "Did you cut off the charcoal boat?" Tan Li smiled and said, "As long as you don't enter the city, it will not be under your control." Wu Meng was so annoyed that he was about to punch him, Zhu Deshi and Zang Qi hurriedly persuaded him to hold back his anger and negotiated a deal with Tan Li, but Tan Li said: "Your charcoal dealers are useless, I only know 'Ya Jue' Feng Sai." Zhu Deshi had no choice but to invite Feng Sai. At that time Feng Sai was busy buying and selling tea, salt and alum, so he refused with a smile when he couldn't get it out, but Zhu Deshi couldn't stand repeated pleas, so he had to hand over the alum business to Liu Erlang and let him take care of it first.I followed Zhu Deshi to the Fangjia Inn on the bank of the Bian River, and saw Wu Meng, Zang Qi and a tall man sitting face to face.Wu Meng was angry, Zang Qi had a gloomy face, but the man had a long face with a smile on his face. Feng Sai looked carefully, and saw that Tan Li was in his early thirties, wearing a rhinoceros buckle black gauze head trimmed with gold thread, a dark green Shu brocade trousers with gold thread and ruyi patterns, a pair of suede boots embroidered with gold on the waist, A Ruyi big money box embroidered with gold thread.The whole body is glittering and shining with gold, one can see that there is so much money that one can wish to have her eyebrows bronzed in gold. Feng Sai had seen many people like this, he smiled inwardly, crossed his hands in front of him and asked, "I'm Feng Sai, thanks to brother Tan's love and respect." "One sentence from Yajue, one hundred thousand silver in Bianjing. Just looking at the appearance of Mr. Feng, it is worth hundreds of thousands of silver." Tan Li also grinned, showing his yellow teeth, and stood up to pay respects with a smile. With a strong Jiangxi accent, he is actually from Feng Sai's hometown. "Brother Tan made fun of it." "I'm a charcoal peddler who can't speak, and Mr. Feng will take care of you. Now that the teeth are coming, let's not talk too much, let's start a deal!" Everyone sat down, and the owner hurriedly ordered the waiter to order tea. Tan Li said in a loud voice: "I only want to do business for fun. Now the price of charcoal in Bianjing is 110 yuan per scale. I know that some big bosses in your charcoal bank charge 85 yuan, and it is 90 yuan to forward it to the charcoal shop." Fifteen cents, you can earn ten cents for nothing by sitting. Everyone in the world is a brother, and everyone who has money will share it. I will sell it to you as a round number, ninety cents." When Wu Meng heard this, he said angrily, "You're knocking on the door to rob us! Open your mouth and pay five cents, you look down on us too much! The world is full of charcoal, without you, would you all eat raw meat?" "Business, business, only for fun. If you don't want it in Bianjing, I will transport it to Yingtianfu." Tan Li still smiled. "Go! You can go wherever you want, and you can still hear the sound by throwing the master's money for fun." Feng Sai hurriedly persuaded with a smile on the side: "Business is only based on harmony. Don't be vindictive, you two can talk and discuss." Tan Li smiled and said, "I am at this price. Even if the price of charcoal rises to 1,000 Wen tomorrow, it will still be at this price, nothing will change." Feng Sai looked at Zhu Deshi, Zhu Deshi frowned, and said slowly after a long while: "The three of us will discuss together before we decide. Sit down for a while." He called Wu Meng and Zang Qi to go out together to discuss by the river.From the teahouse, I saw Wu Meng shaking his head, staring, and waving his hands, Zhu Deshi kept persuading him, but Zang Qi kept his face sullen and silent.Tan Li sat on the chair, looked at them and smiled, as if watching three chickens fighting. Seeing Tan Li's smile, Feng Sai felt a little unhappy. Tan Li didn't seem to be here for business, but seemed to be teasing the three charcoal merchants on purpose.However, Feng Sai did not disclose that as long as the contract is clear and the money and goods are settled, he is a middleman, so he doesn't need to worry too much, and he has no right to ask. The three of Zhu Deshi discussed for a while before returning to the teahouse together. Seeing Wu Meng's angry look, Feng Sai knew that Zhu Deshi and Zang Qi had persuaded him and agreed to Tan Li's bid. Sure enough, after Zhu Deshi sat down, he said solemnly: "We will collect the charcoal at the price you said, but you have to deliver the charcoal on time and in full, and you can't be short for a day." "I also have to earn money. If I miss a day, I will lose a day's income. You don't need to say much about this." "Empty words are hard to prove, or written in the contract." "Success. Whatever you want to add, just write it in."
Lu Mantou asked the two men to go back first, and returned home with his two sons. He now lives in Niu Ti Lane in the southeastern suburbs, and his family of five rents three narrow shabby houses.Before he got to the door, he smelled a smell of meat coming out of the broken window.The two sons cheered together: "Mother cooked meat!" Pushing the door open, I saw my wife and two daughters gathered around the old dirty square table in the middle of the room. There was a big porcelain bowl on the table. The bowl was full of pieces of meat, fresh and fat, shiny and steaming. Niang San didn't use chopsticks either, she was eating a piece of meat with her oily fingers open, it was scalding. Seeing them coming in, his wife hurriedly swallowed them whole, and said embarrassingly: "I can't help it, I tasted a piece." "Where did you get the meat?" "It was sent by a boy." The two sons had rushed to the table, grabbing the meat and shoveling it into their mouths. Lu Mantou also swallowed heavily: "What kid?" "The kid at the tea shop on the west side street said that someone bought it and asked him to deliver it. It's this basket..." Wu pointed to a bamboo basket in the corner, which contained a piece of fat lamb hind leg. It costs seventy yuan a catty, and mutton has already risen to more than one hundred and fifty yuan. This leg of lamb costs at least 10 yuan... Oh, yes! There is this hidden under the meat..." She walked quickly to the back room, holding Take out a blue cloth bag, which is soaked in raw meat and blood. When Lu Mantou took it, it was very heavy, and almost fell to the ground unpreparedly. When he lifted the cloth, he saw a shiny silver collar with two numbers engraved on it: Xuanhe Three Years, Beijing Ingot Silver Fifty Liang. Wu Shi whispered from the side: "That man really kept his word." But Lu Mantou was speechless, looking down at the silver collar, not knowing what it was like. He was originally the head of the Lu family's steamed bun shop in the south of the city. His family came to the capital to seek a living more than 20 years ago. After working hard for these years, he gradually moved from steamed buns to a steamed bun shop. He recruited seven or eight assistants alone.Even if it is far behind the first-class Wanjia steamed buns and Sun Haoshou steamed buns in the capital, they are somewhat well-known in the south of the city, with a prosperous family business and ample food and clothing.Who would have thought that due to an inadvertent mistake, she would fall back to the original shape when she came to the capital in a blink of an eye.
In the first month, there was a food shortage in the capital. He shouldn't have listened to his two sons' preaching, thinking that he had caught a huge opportunity, and he would spend all he had. At the highest price of five guan for one shi, two thousand shi of grain was seized.Only a few days later, food prices began to fall back, four times five, four times, three times five, three times... just staring at the loss of three or four million. At first, he hoped that the price of food would go back up, but after the price of food fell to three times, it stabilized.The loan he borrowed was at 5% interest per month, and he had to repay 2 million a month for the interest. After two months, the principal with interest was already 6 million.The monthly rent for the leased grain depot is 20 guan. He didn't dare to procrastinate any longer, so he had to ask people everywhere, and sold the grain at a price of two hundred and five hundred Wen, and used all of it to pay off the debt, and there was still a shortfall of one million yuan.If it is delayed for another month, the interest will be hundreds of thousands.He had no choice but to pawn off his yard and shop. Xieku was only willing to pay 800,000 for the shop and house worth more than one million yuan.In this way, he still owes a debt of two hundred thousand. Lu Mantoudian sold the last bit of jewelry from his wife and daughter, rented these three run-down houses outside the city, and saved some money for his life.Now they can only steam some steamed buns, and the father and son each carry their burdens to sell along the street, and they can barely make ends meet at the end of the day, no matter how difficult it is to pay off this debt. Suddenly in such a state of desperation, he ran to the Bianhe Hongqiao several times at night, wanting to make a jump, but thinking about his wife and children, he finally couldn't help himself, so he could only go back crying.He had never cried like this in his whole life. Three days ago, he was carrying a bunch of steamed buns to sell around, when he was chased by two hooligans under the hands of the creditor, he was kicked and beaten in the street, and the steamed buns rolled to the ground.He didn't dare to say a word, he could only wait for the two rogues to leave, and endured the pain to pick up those steamed buns.The steamed buns are covered with dust, and they can't be wiped clean. How can they be sold? Looking at the dirty steamed bun in his hand, he couldn't help crying again.At this time, a carriage stopped beside him, and the driver said to him: "Old man, the official in the carriage wants to talk to you, you go into the carriage."