Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

Chapter 82: Retraction
The first soft light of the summer morning poured into the room through the window and fell on the cherry-red quilt.

Li Ergou slowly opened his eyes and looked back. Min'er was lying next to him with a blush on her face.

He grinned and took a sip towards the beautiful woman next to him.

Then, without lingering in the gentle arms of her husband, she gently moved her body to the side, picked up her clothes, and tiptoed out of the room.

Bathed in the cool air, he came to an ancient well in the backyard.

He fetched a bucket of cold water, raised it above his head, and poured it down suddenly. An indescribable coolness and comfort spread from the top of his head to his whole body.

"Huh" Li Ergou wiped his face and then began to put on his clothes.

At this moment, several younger brothers rushed in in a hurry. Seeing Li Ergou, Fatty Wang said nervously: "Brother Gou, it's bad. Someone is selling salt. Now the price of salt has started to fall."

"What?" Li Ergou was startled, but soon calmed down and consoled, "It's probably someone who needs money urgently. Don't worry, the price of salt will continue to rise soon."

"Really?" Fatty Wang asked worriedly.

The other people looked at each other, obviously worried.

Li Ergou saw it clearly and immediately got angry. He shouted, "If any of you are afraid of losing money, just sell the salt to me at thirty coins a pound. When I make money, I will return it to you."

"That's not what we meant." Fatty Wang waved his hands quickly to explain.

"That's not what you mean. Just go home and wait for the sack to be filled with money."

As Li Ergou was speaking, another group of people squeezed in.

The first person to come forward was a skinny old man with a sallow complexion and wrinkles all over his face. He was Min'er's father, Old Man Li.

Before this, Li Ergou was very dissolute, and he tried every means to obstruct his daughter's marriage to Li Ergou.

Just a few days ago, Li Ergou sold his land and property and gathered his brothers to pool money together to stockpile a lot of salt.

As the price of salt became tight, Li Ergou's net worth soared.

Old man Li sent his daughter over impatiently, and kept urging the two to get married soon.

Now that the price of salt had dropped, he couldn't sit still anymore and immediately brought people to cause trouble.

When the two of them saw each other, Old Man Li immediately asked with his eyes squinting: "Er Gou, are you going to marry our Min'er or not?"

"Marry? Why not?" Li Ergou nodded and replied.

"Well, then, you should sell all the salt now and use the salt as a betrothal gift to marry our Min'er, to avoid the salt falling back and getting all stuck in your hands." Old man Li wiped his mouth and said casually.

"No."

"Why?!"

"Now is not the right time. I don't know how much I will lose if I sell it now."

"Haven't you already earned a few hundred taels? It's still not enough. It's only been a month. How much can you earn in a year by farming and running a small business?"

Li Ergou smiled and shook his head, staring at Old Man Li and said, "Who would complain about having too much money? This opportunity is something that ordinary people will only encounter once in their lifetime. Now that we have encountered it, if we let it go, we will suffer retribution."

After that, he bewitched everyone and said, "Tell me, is that right?!"

"Yes!" Everyone laughed and shouted.

Old man Li knew that he couldn't persuade this brat, so he gritted his teeth and used his trump card: "Then you can just dream of getting rich here, and we will find a good family for Min'er."

"With Min'er's looks, let alone an ordinary family like yours, even a big boss in the city would have a lot of people vying for her!" "Hehe, father-in-law, I advise you to give up on this idea." Li Ergou smiled wickedly, as if a dead pig was not afraid of boiling water. "I won't hide it from you, Min'er is pregnant with our child. As long as we go out and make a fuss, let alone the rich families, even a family like ours, no one would dare to take her."

"You!" Old man Li's body trembled, his eyes widened, and he felt very regretful.

If I had known earlier, I shouldn’t have let Min’er come over.

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit cold, Fatty Wang on the side smiled and came out to smooth things over: "Uncle Li, you have to believe Brother Gou. Brother Gou said that the price of salt will definitely go up."

Another person followed suit: "Yes, if we wait until the price goes up a little more, we can sell it later and we will definitely make more money."

Old man Li was tempted, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Li Ergou saw it clearly, smiled, leaned close to his ear and whispered: "Don't worry, father-in-law, as long as we sell the salt, we will not only marry Min'er in a grand sedan chair, but also take care of your relationship with Aunt Wang."

good boy.

Old man Li's eyes sparkled as he stared at Li Ergou's eyes. After a long while, he curled his lips and said, "Forget it, forget it. I, an old man, can't control your affairs. I'll just let you do whatever you want."

After saying this, he took out his pipe from his waist, put it in his mouth, turned around, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked away from the crowd.

The rest of the people who had caused trouble also started to speak nice words and then dispersed.

On the other hand, Jin Fu had already learned the news that salt was being sold for thirty cents.

Without saying a word, he immediately ordered the butler to eat all the salt.

After two days of hard work, the price of salt rose instead of falling, reaching thirty-three cents per pound.

Seeing such a happy event, Butler Jin immediately took a warm sedan chair back home. Jin Fu was waiting in the hall early. When he saw Butler Jin coming back, he asked calmly, "How much did it increase?"

"Master, you are amazing. The price has increased by one cent, and it is already thirty-three cents." Butler Jin smiled and looked flattering.

Jin Fu was very proud in his heart, his face was as bright as a chrysanthemum, but he spoke modestly: "This is nothing, this is just the beginning, the best is yet to come."

"Did that gentleman speak?" Butler Jin was immediately delighted.

"Is that what you should be asking?"

Jin Fu immediately suppressed his joy and glanced at Butler Jin.

Butler Jin was struck by lightning. His knees bent and he fell to the ground with a thud. He slapped his mouth frantically, "Damn it, damn it, I shouldn't have said so much."

"clap clap"

He used great force in each slap, and soon, Butler Jin's cheeks were red and swollen.

"Alright, alright, get up."

"Thank you, sir."

Butler Jin stopped what he was doing, let his hands hang down, and stood aside respectfully.

"Spread the word that there will be a war soon. We will only buy the salt and not sell it. You can buy all the salt below thirty cents. This time, if the salt is less than fifty cents a pound, we will not stop."

"Fifty cents? Is there anyone who would buy this?" Butler Jin had a look of disbelief on his face.

"That's not up to them." Jin Fu smiled sinisterly, his triangular eyes full of viciousness.

(End of this chapter)