Chapter 277: Chapter 276: Stealing Business

Liu Ji woke up half an hour earlier today compared to before, finished reciting the book just as the sky began to lighten.

Ah Wang had already returned with the grass for the livestock at home, spreading it out on the rack next to the cowshed to dry. He seemed to know well how to feed the horse, and Old Huang had been getting all excited these past two days whenever he saw him.

Hearing the commotion outside, Liu Ji stretched lazily, closed the book, and went to the backyard warehouse.

He opened the warehouse door, looked at the piles of wheat inside, and a smile spread across his face.

“Ah Wang, get the carriage ready, have breakfast early, we’ll go to town to sell the grain later!” Liu Ji said cheerfully.

Ah Wang responded from outside the yard, quickly ran inside, rolled the carriage out, led the horse out and harnessed it, then followed Liu Ji’s orders, carrying over five bags of wheat.

For the first trip, Liu Ji planned to take five bags of grain to test the waters. If they sold well, tomorrow he would load the ox cart at home too, having Ah Wang ferry the family’s grain to town while he stayed to sell it by weight.

The two of them bustled around all morning, leaving steaming hot breakfast behind, taking lunch with them, and set off.

Along the way, they met many workers heading to the Liu Family Village for work. Seeing Liu Ji, everyone asked where he was going.

The grain was in the carriage, covered by a curtain, so no one saw the bags of grain inside, thinking Liu Ji was going out for a leisurely stroll.

Liu Ji didn’t say anything, fearing they might all imitate him. Lower River Village wasn’t poor, and several families also stored grain.

Although their cost wasn’t as low as his, nor the quantity as large, after all, it was the first batch going that would make money. So it wasn’t surprising that he kept it a secret.

They could talk about it when it couldn’t be hidden anymore; by then, the grain in his hands would have already sold out.

Liu Ji thought happily. He told Qin Yao he was planning to sell it ten cents cheaper than the grain merchants in town, but actually, he planned to make it only five cents cheaper.

Calculating ten thousand pounds of grain, that would be fifty taels of silver!

To prevent Ah Wang from leaking anything, Liu Ji spent the whole journey threatening and enticing, warning Ah Wang he could kick him out of the house anytime, or asking if he needed anything, indicating the master would buy it for him.

Ah Wang remained expressionless as usual, responding to everything Liu Ji said with, “Yes, yes, yes.”

Liu Ji felt reassured.

An hour later, the two of them arrived on the official road from Jinshi Town to the county seat.

The city was off-limits, as the noble families in Jinshi Town blocked the way, preventing entry, forcing the refugees to gather between two places.

Along this road, wherever there were open spaces or cool sheds at Daoist temples, refugees surrounded them.

Some large households would come and recruit some cheap short-term workers, providing a bit of hope for the refugees to survive.

But such opportunities were scarce, and now many were offering themselves for free, leading to a decline in big households’ stewards coming over.

The incoming refugees gathered together every day, waiting for people from the pawnshop to come for pawning.

Those with little family foundation were already starving, lying motionless under trees on the roadside, uncertain of life or death.

Whenever they saw locals passing by the official road, a large crowd of refugees would surround them begging for food.

Liu Ji’s target was not those lying under the trees; he had to go a bit further towards the county seat, where there was a vacant horse farm that some powerful refugees had already taken over.

The horse carriage was tightly closed, but the refugees’ sense of smell could be described as terrifying. As Liu Ji’s carriage passed, it attracted several refugees who followed it.

Knowing the carriage contained two healthy adult men, they refrained from acting rashly.

Moreover, throughout this journey, there were numerous money shops, pawnshops, house servants from big families, and government officers who showed up daily to maintain order, distributing relief grain to local disaster victims, making the refugees more restrained.

The last time there was an incident of robbing Zhou Zheng and other officers’ grain carriage, but after a few leaders died, it never happened again.

Having come from the Prefecture before, Liu Ji was used to the predatory gazes of these refugees. Turning to Ah Wang, he was about to comfort him, saying don’t panic, as they were under someone’s protection in this area.

Then he saw Ah Wang remain unfazed, driving the carriage steadily.

“Stop there, stop outside that pavilion!” Liu Ji spotted a good spot and urged Ah Wang to park the carriage there.

Ah Wang complied, and as soon as they got off the carriage, a group of refugees, looking in relatively good spirits, gathered around, asking if they had grain for sale.

Liu Ji hadn’t expected business to come to him. He immediately set up a signboard he had prepared beforehand, which read: Medium grain, forty-five coins per pound!

Someone among the crowd who could read spoke aloud.

“Is it really almost half the price of the medium grain at the rice shop? Is it real?” someone asked in surprise.

Liu Ji confidently said, “Of course, it’s real. We are all ordinary people, not those unscrupulous merchants. I, Liu Laosan, know everyone is going through tough times now, so I’ll help where I can.”

Signaling Ah Wang to open the carriage door, he took out the grain to show everyone its quality.

“Freshly bought wheat from the beginning of the year, unthreshed, plump and sweet, only forty-five coins per pound, limited quantity, first come, first served!”

With this shout, people confirmed there was indeed good grain at low prices, and they swarmed around, all wanting to buy.

Liu Ji asked Ah Wang to maintain order, “Everyone, take your time, line up, there’s enough for everyone, no need to rush!”

Smiling broadly, he took out the scale, receiving bowls, pots, and bags from families to weigh their grain.

Business was extremely brisk, Liu Ji counted money until his hands were tired, grinning as he watched a bag of grain sell out in just a quarter of an hour.

The disaster victims were also very happy to buy cheap, good grain, spreading the word, with more people coming to the pavilion to buy Liu Ji’s wheat.

The rice shop assistant yawned, opened the makeshift rice shop door, turned around to say: Don’t crowd, everyone, there’s grain for sale if you have money.

But as he was about to speak, he realized that the shop, which used to always have long queues, now had no one.

The assistant was stunned, “Where is everyone? Could it be that the government gave emergency grain to the refugees?”

Nearby came the loud voice of a man shouting: “Fresh medium grain, only forty-five coins per pound, limited quantity, first come, first served…”

The assistant hurriedly instructed the thugs to guard the rice shop and rushed towards the source of the voice to see what was happening.

Seeing the bustling duo selling, the assistant’s expression turned cold. He immediately grabbed a refugee who had bought grain and questioned, “Isn’t the rice shop’s grain good enough? Why buy here?”

Though he was just an assistant, his demeanor was thuggish, scaring the refugee into instinctively clutching his grain bag, stammering an explanation: “Boss Liu’s medium grain is just over half the price of the rice shop’s.”

So naturally, they’d buy what’s cheap, not what’s expensive!

The assistant let the refugee go, gave the two sellers a fierce look to remember their faces, and quickly headed to a nearby manor.

Nobodies from nowhere dared to steal their business; Mr. Wu would surely make them regret it!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep