Great Tang Idyll Volume 02 Chapter 65
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Volume 02 Chapter 65: One Trick After Another
While Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan had fun climbing the mountain, Housekeeper Zhang and those merchants began intense negotiations. In the room closest to the outside of the second floor of Between The Water And Clouds, over ten people were sitting at a round table. The wine and food on the table was barely touched.
Housekeeper Zhang first toasted everyone with a goblet of wine, and then started pointing to the outside scenery and said, "Everyone, you are all rich people and the Zhang Manor can't compare to you. The hospitality is poor, so please forgive us."
"Housekeeper Zhang is too polite. If someone from other manors told us this, we would still believe them, but not the Zhang and Wang manors. Why did only Housekeeper Zhang come? Could it be that the Wang family is not participating?"
At this time, the boss surnamed Lu smiled and asked, and for a while, he received sounds of approval from the others.
Housekeeper Zhang was not surprised at all. The Young Master had already told him about this situation yesterday. He immediately replied, "The master of the Wang Manor has left this matter to the Zhang family. The two manors are integrated so that others cannot deliberately incite disharmony between the two manors. Thus, the Wang family did not send anyone. Oh, I’m not referring to the people here. It’s because of the troubles caused by the person with the surname Mi."
When the merchants heard this, they didn’t show any expressions on their faces, but they still felt a little displeased. They actually intended to do that. They planned to give one family more money than the other family. Even two brothers, let alone two manors, would fight each other over this. However, they didn’t expect that the two manors had already anticipated this.
"That’s a given. We all trust Housekeeper Zhang. Sigh~! Speaking of that person surnamed Mi, I also hate him. Such a good business deal was ruined by him. Otherwise, we would have bought the seeds already. I wonder how much Housekeeper Zhang knows about what happened at the wharf at the Little Luo’shui River? That’s the perfect place for us to ship grains."
Boss Wang hurriedly tried to ease the tension, and at the same time, he looked at the scenery outside the window. This building sort of had a circular structure with an open center, thus, more of the outside scenery could be seen.
Since it did not rain in the past few days, there was only some silt in the area that was dug out specifically for water storage. However, he still praised the place, "This Between The Water And Clouds Restaurant is really good. Looking out from here, the sky is high and the clouds are faint. After a heavy rain, there will be water to fill this place. Yesterday, the rain at Little Luo'shui was not light. Isn't that place over there the Ge Manor?"
"Brother Wang is right, that is the Ge Manor. I heard that a lot of the Ge Manor’s rice seedlings were damaged by the wind last year, and they had to buy new seedlings from the Zhang Manor. No wonder some of the rice plants in their fields have higher yields. Some were lower, but the ones with the higher yield was not much different from Zhang Manor's yield."
Boss Jin also replied. He stood up and walked to the window and looked over to the rice plants, which were almost all harvested.
The two people spoke one after another and they thought this would make Housekeeper Zhang grow tired of talking to them, but they didn’t expect that Housekeeper Zhang didn’t appear annoyed at all. First, he said to Boss Wang, “If Boss Wang wants to find a ship, you should go find Mister Song. This matter is not the responsibility of a housekeeper."
"Why not? Doesn't that place belong to the Zhang Manor? Or are there other housekeepers in the Zhang household? Aiya, what’s wrong with the Zhang family. How could they let outsiders manage their business?" Boss Wang asked this deliberately.
"Haha, Boss Wang, the wharf at Little Luo’shui is indeed not owned by the Zhang Manor. Both of the Zhang and Wang families are peasant households, so how can they do business? The seeds mentioned this time are also related to agriculture. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here. As for the master’s arrangement, it is naturally the master’s decision. My family has been the housekeeper of the Zhang family for several generations, so I’m already familiar with managing the household."
Housekeeper Zhang handled this matter without revealing the slightest flaw in his words and this upsetted Boss Wang.
Another boss next to him immediately continued the topic Boss Jin brought up earlier, “Housekeeper Zhang, I wonder if what Boss Jin just said is true? I heard that the three manors funded the opening of the Between The Water And Clouds. How about we get someone from the Ge manor to come over and discuss this together?"
"It is indeed funded by the three families. Since all of you are interested in the crops in the Ge family’s fields, it is better for me to go back and wait for all of you to finish discussing with the people of the Ge Manor. The output of their field is really good. In fact, I think that their output is even higher than that of the Zhang and Wang manors. Congratulations to everyone for finding a good business partner.
If there is not enough for everyone to uy, then you can continue to look for me. The rice plants have stayed in the field for too long and are a waste of space. Because of this, the price may increase slightly next time. Once the Ge family’s representative is here, I'm afraid that he won't be able to speak because of my presence. Everyone, take your time to eat. The meal is on the house. "
Housekeeper Zhang didn’t fall for this trick at all. Of course, he knew that the seeds bought from the Ge manor were not bad, but they were definitely not as good as his own manor’s seeds. If his Young Master didn’t give them seedlings, they would have nothing in their fields right now. His Young Master’s techniques were not so easy to copy.
As he spoke, he stood up. He smiled at those bosses, and got ready to leave.
The merchants were anxious now and they glanced at each other. The people sitting near the door immediately stood up and smiled and stopped Housekeeper Zhang.
"Housekeeper Zhang can't leave like this. We took a closer look just now. Compared to the rice of the Zhang and Wang manors, the Ge manor is a bit worse and can't be used as seeds. Oh? Housekeeper Zhang, this dish on the table, is this a new dish? I have yet to see it elsewhere. What does everyone else think?"
No matter what, the person refused to let Housekeeper Zhang leave. He pushed Housekeeper Zhang back to the position he was in just now. He swept his eyes across the table and found that there was a dish that he had eaten at The First Near Water before. He pretended that he didn’t recognize the dish and changed the topic.
The people sitting here were all clever and each of them started praising the food too. They no longer dared to play tricks like they did just now anymore. Housekeeper Zhang didn’t even bat an eye at their tricks. If they threatened the manors, then the manors would just raise the price. Just earlier, he was still talking about how it was going to rain and ruin the crops in the fields, but now he complained that the crops wasted space.
"Oh, this may be the first time you all have eaten it. This is actually normal roasted tofu, but it uses a particular chilli sauce brought over from another place, so the taste is different. Not a lot was added so it’s not that spicy. Have a taste."
Housekeeper Zhang no longer looked like he was going to leave and he began to talk about the dishes. Everyone knew what was going on anyway. They never ate it before? Which person that came over from the Little Luo'shui never tried the new dishes?
"It’s good, it's delicious. I’ll definitely come here more often in the future. This tofu is made of soybeans. I wonder if there is a place to grow beans in the Zhang manor? The yield is not low, right? Are there seeds?"
Boss Lu ate a piece of tofu, and then began to inquire about the seeds.
Housekeeper Zhang deliberately pushed the plate of tofu in front of this person. "If it's delicious, you can eat more. If there’s no more, I’ll let someone make more. Soybeans are good, but they were not planted here. We never thought about this. Thank you Boss Lu for suggesting this. Next year. Next year, the Zhang Manor must plant some."
"Oh, that's really a pity. I can only buy some rice seeds then. I wonder how much the Zhang family is selling a catty for? It won't be like what Mister Song had said--150 coin per catty---, right? The price was driven up by that person with the surname Mi. It has nothing to do with us."
Boss Wang stood on the side and began talking and then he brought up the matter about the seeds again.
"Of course it is not that expensive, but recently we bought a lot of high-priced grain from elsewhere, and there were many grain shops that had no grains to sell. From this, we can tell that the output this year is low, and the price of grains will be higher. The crop yield at our manor is high, so if you buy the seeds and plant it, you can sell it for more money.
You all work in the grain business, so don’t tell me that there are a lot of grains. When we bought the grains at the beginning, I asked everyone’s grain shops and I was told that there really was no grain left. I was also told that grains were lacking in the Capital city too. How about I reduce the price by 20 coins, 130 coins per catty. Everyone, be assured, the Zhang and Wang manors' seeds will not be out of stock like your grain shops. "
Housekeeper Zhang smiled and looked at the faces of these bosses, and chose his words purposefully.
Everyone's complexion changed slightly, and then they laughed, but they were calculating the gains and losses in their minds. 130 coins was a lot more expensive than 100 coins. Just now they said that the lack of grains was not intentional, and it had nothing to do with themselves. In that case, then there was indeed a shortage of grains and the price of grains should also be increased, so why shouldn’t the price of seeds rise too?
"Haha, what Housekeeper Zhang had said is correct. For the past few days, we really didn’t have grains coming in, but someone reported last night that the grains from outside had come in. There is a lot of it too, and the price is cheap." A boss laughed dryly a couple of times and began explaining.
"Really? What a coincidence. It's cheaper? How much cheaper? According to this, the price should be lowered. Does everyone agree?" Housekeeper Zhang was stunned when he heard these words. He thought about the points his Young Miss added, and she did indeed cover this.
"Really. It indeed is a coincidence. How much cheaper? Back then when you bought the rice from the Mi person, the price was 29 coins per dou. Ours is cheaper. One dou is only nine… no, eight coins. That’s for wheat, not rice. Rice is also cheap, eleven coins per dou."
Boss Lu spoke up and took over the conversation again. He deliberately lowered their grain prices.
"What about millet? Is everyone’s prices like that?" Housekeeper Zhang asked in disbelief.
"Millet is six coins per dou. It’s all the same, right, everyone?" The price set by Boss Lu was the price they bought it at. In the past, it may have been cheaper, but this year, with the droughts and locust plagues, it was more expensive. If they really sold it, the retail price would not be this cheap.
Everyone nodded at the same time, and Boss Jin asked, "Since Housekeeper Zhang knows about the price now, how much can the prices of the seeds be reduced by?"
"How much? A large amount must be reduced. So this is the case. Now that everyone has grains, then I’ll buy some first. I’ll buy 10,000 picul first. Deliver it using waterborne transport. The freight will have to be paid by you, and the same is true for the seeds of the Zhang and Wang's family---we will pay for the freight. Go find a broker, and tell my master and the Wang family’s master that I have bought grains for a cheap price."
Housekeeper Zhang happily said while putting on a joyful face. The waiter turned around and ran off so quickly he disappeared in a breath’s time.
The bosses turned their heads to look at him disappearing, and were dumbfounded.
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