Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 176 Lin Ruhai: My Cheap Girl
"My Lord, are you serious?"

The family heads suppressed their emotions and confirmed further with Yue Ling.

Yue Ling stood with his hands behind his back, his face no longer showing the violent expression just now. He smiled warmly at everyone, like a spring breeze blowing on their faces, "Of course, I always keep my word, and you can all bear witness to this. The highest price that the city will allow you to set is 250 coins, and as for how you want to sell it, it's up to you."

"Of course, the premise is that you have to pay the taxes. To be honest, the government office is short of money right now."

Yue Ling narrowed his eyes, grasped the hilt of the sword, glanced at the crowd and said: "It's okay if you don't hand it over, I'll come and get it!"

The heads of the families were so shocked that they took a step back and quickly responded, "Okay, we'll listen to you, Lord. We'll go home and count the accounts now."

Yue Ling raised the corner of his mouth slightly, "Goodbye, I won't see you off."

After everyone in front of the door had left, Jia Yun came to Yue Ling and asked humbly, "Master, are you going to let them go so easily? If we were to search and confiscate the property of each family based on the crime just now, they probably wouldn't be able to argue."

Yue Ling smiled and said, "Of course not. We have to squeeze out all their value bit by bit. They bully the people and collude with officials to make Cangzhou Prefecture into such a mess. The death by the guillotine is still too merciful for them."

Seeing Jia Yun's puzzled look, Yue Ling asked, "Is there anyone in your family who does business?"

Jia Yun thought for a moment and said, "I don't think it can be considered as doing business. My uncle's family has a spice shop on Ningrong Street, and I used to go there to help out every now and then."

Yue Ling said: "Let's take this spice shop as an example. First of all, to open this spice shop, you have to rent a shop, recruit employees, and stock up on goods. This is a big expense. Moreover, the goods must be kept in your hands first. There will be losses when they are stored every day. Only when they are sold can they be converted into cash. This is called recovering funds."

"With the funds we have received, we need to buy another batch of goods before this batch is sold out. If we want to make more money, we can only buy more goods, so we need more cash."

"If you don't have cash, you can only go to a bank to borrow money. But in Cangzhou City, how many banks can lend money?"

Jia Yun seemed to understand something. He pinched his chin and thought, "So, Master's goal is to get the cash they have? Then why did he say that we can use grain to pay for it?"

Yue Ling smiled and said, "Merchants pursue profits, so they won't use grain as collateral. They are waiting for me to fail to get grain, and then use silver to buy their grain."

"As long as they don't have enough cash, all industries will be restricted. In such a depressed market in Cangzhou, how long can they hold on to the goods?"

Jia Yun exhaled slowly and said to Yue Ling respectfully, "Master is really great. He has such a thorough understanding of economics. I still have a lot to learn."

Yue Ling patted Jia Yun on the shoulder and said, "It's okay, take your time. A few days ago, I ordered the officials from all towns to enter the city. Where are they now?"

"They are all staying at the inn first. When will the master see them?"

Yue Ling thought for a moment and said, "Today you go and take inventory of the warehouses in the city and give me a number. I will then summon officials from all the counties tomorrow."

"Yes."

Jia Yun nodded and thought of something else, "Master, do we need to send a message to Miss Xue?"

Yue Ling replied: "I have already sent someone to deliver a letter to her this morning, so I think it is time for her to take action."

……

After bidding farewell to Yue Ling, the family heads did not rush back to their own homes, but gathered around the backbone Huang Wenhua.

Huang Wenhua had just witnessed the head of the head of the Pan family falling to the ground, and he was calling his name before he died. He was really frightened. Even though this group of people didn't talk about it anymore, he still felt uneasy.

At this moment, he was leaning back in the hall, his hand holding the teacup trembling slightly. Before drinking the tea, he put the teacup back on the tea table and took a long breath.

"Tell me, is Yue Ling born in the Year of the Dog? How can he change his face so easily? Master Huang, do you think Yue Ling's words are trustworthy? We really have to pay five years of taxes, which is a huge amount."

"Yes, the total amount of money for the seven or eight of us is probably tens of thousands of taels."

Huang Wenhua calmed down and responded, "Yue Ling is more complicated than we thought. We can't judge him by his age. His completely different approach to the Gao and Pan families today was a play for us. If we don't listen to him, he will kill us."

"Now is not the time for us to decide the winner. Yue Ling has his weakness after all, that is, he has no food. He wants to open a porridge stall to help the people, so this matter cannot be avoided. No matter how much silver he wants, doesn't he still have to buy food from us?"

"Even if we hand it over, we will earn double the money back."

Someone else asked, "Master Huang, do we really have to raise the price of grain to 250 wen? Even if it's 180 wen now, it's not selling fast in the city."

Huang Wenhua hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "It's okay. We still need to eat. We will slowly raise the price of food. Today it's 200 coins, put up a sign, and tomorrow it will increase by 10 coins, all the way up to 250 coins. I don't believe that these people won't come to rob them!"

Huang Wenhua slammed the tea table to release the pressure accumulated in his heart, then picked up the teacup and took a sip.

"In fact, Yue Ling's move is very simple. He is just imitating the story of Mr. Fan, raising the price of grain in the city to attract grain merchants from outside to sell. Do you think we merchants don't read? But Yue Ling doesn't know that there is not much surplus grain even outside. Nowadays, the price of grain in various places is not low, and it can be sold out locally. Why transport it to Cangzhou and go through this muddy water?"

"Cangzhou doesn't have much of a market, and we have already firmly controlled it. It's a pipe dream to expect grain merchants from other places to squeeze us out." Huang Wenhua tilted his head to look at the Qingke beside him and asked, "Have any grain merchants from other places come to Cangzhou recently?"

The Qingke shook his head and replied, "I haven't heard of it."

Huang Wenhua nodded slightly, "You should also greet the grain merchants from other provinces that you are familiar with. Everyone needs to eat, so don't come and disrupt the situation."

The family heads nodded in succession, "Okay, let's follow Patriarch Huang's arrangements. Let's go back and prepare the cash and hand it over to Yue Ling."

"It's okay. It won't be long before the money is back in everyone's hands."

Huang Wenhua had just given everyone a reassurance when he heard a servant come in and report, "Master, there is a group of grain merchants outside the city who only sell grain for 100 coins per pound. Now people outside the city are scrambling to buy it!"

Huang Wenhua was shocked, slammed the table and asked, "How many are there?"

The servant said hurriedly, "There is a boat with about 5,000 kilograms of grain. They didn't come to Cangzhou originally, but it seems that their boat broke down on the way, so they had to sell the grain outside the city."

The heads of the families who were about to leave now stood in the hall again. Someone suggested, "Didn't Yue Ling just say that grain cannot be sold at a low price? Why don't you go and inform the government office?"

The servant was so upset that he could not even cry. "We went to look for him, but the government said that he was selling grain outside the city and it had nothing to do with them. They said they only cared about matters within the city."

"What's the big deal?" All the family heads became annoyed.

Huang Wenhua tried to appease the crowd and said, "This is not a big deal. It's just a few individual investors. Five thousand kilograms is a small amount. My Huang family will take it first. In the future, if there are such small households, we will just buy them out. Don't disrupt our overall situation."

"Everyone, please go back first. If you delay in delivering the silver, Yue Ling will be able to use it against you."

……

Yangzhou Prefecture, Salt Inspectorate Office,

After returning from another business trip, Lin Ruhai did not stay in the front hall, but went straight into the back house.

Apart from official duties, what Lin Ruhai was most worried about was his daughter who was far away in the capital.

But while on his way, he heard news from the capital that Yue Ling had been demoted to Cangzhou to provide disaster relief and was assigned as a supervisory censor.

When Lin Ruhai was investigating and confiscating smuggled salt, he received no letters from home and was always worried about Lin Daiyu's current situation.

"After Yue Ling left the capital, he should have sent Yu'er to Rongguo Mansion, right? Now that His Majesty has ascended the throne, there is no need for Yue Ling to look after her. Yue Ling should be old enough to get married, and now is the time for him to become famous. It would be bad to delay him from finding a good marriage."

Upon hearing the news of the master's return, Aunt Bai and Aunt Zhou, two of the Lin family's aunts, came out to greet him, "Master, you're back."

Lin Ruhai came back to his senses and nodded in response: "Well, did Yu'er send the letter back?"

Aunt Zhou smiled and said, "I knew the first thing the master would ask when he came back, so I've already put it down for him in the study."

Lin Ruhai also smiled and said, "Okay, that's thoughtful."

Lin Ruhai went straight to the study and couldn't wait to open the letter to learn about Lin Daiyu's recent situation. He unfolded the letter and saw two sentences in front of him, "On May 10, I followed General Yue from the capital to Cangzhou. I am writing to ask about your health. I am in good health and everything is going well. I only hope that your father is in good health and your official work goes smoothly."

Lin Ruhai looked down and saw that it was Yue Ling who was conveying official messages through Lin Daiyu's mouth.

After flipping through the other three pieces of paper, all of which were official business, Lin Ruhai couldn't help but frown.

"How come the family letter only had two sentences, but the official business took up four pages? Yu'er doesn't have anything to say to Daddy?"

At that moment, the two concubines came to the study again and served tea and snacks. Seeing Lin Ruhai's frown, Bai concubine couldn't help but ask with concern: "Master, what's the matter? Did something happen to the young lady?"

Lin Ruhai shook his head and said, "That's not the case, it's just that Yu'er's book is too perfunctory."

Aunt Bai was puzzled, "There are four pieces of paper, are you still being perfunctory?"

Lin Ruhai slapped the letter on the table. "These are all Yue Ling's plans to develop the salt industry in Cangzhou. He asked me to help check for deficiencies and to borrow some people from me."

Aunt Zhou and Aunt Bai looked at each other and couldn't help but smile.

Lin Ruhai frowned again and muttered to himself, "Why didn't Yu'er stay in the capital? Why did she follow Yue Ling to Cangzhou to take up her post?"

Aunt Zhou smiled and replied, "It seems that the young lady is in good health and can go on a long journey with me."

(End of this chapter)