Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 187 Lin Daiyu: Why is she here?

As a rising star, the Huang family, through two generations of family heads, has been able to become the number one wealthy merchant in Cangzhou in just a few decades. It indeed has a lofty status among Cangzhou businesses.

There are two major business groups in the north and south of Dachang. The Shanxi merchants are mainly in the north and have a long history. Their main business is salt and iron, covering Shaanxi, Jinzhong, and even the surrounding areas of the capital.

Zhejiang merchants mainly ruled the south and also made their fortune in the salt industry in the early days of Dachang. Their business radiated across the country from Lianghuai and Liangzhe, reaching Longyou in the west and Huguang in the south. To the north, they were competing with Shanxi merchants in Shandong and other places, nibbling away at their territory bit by bit.

It is in this context that the area around Cangzhou has become a region not controlled by the big business gangs, but it has also become a territory that people are striving to gain.

It was rumored that the Huang family had connections in the imperial court, so they could call the shots in Cangzhou City, and the prefect also opened the door to convenience. In just a few decades, they quickly accumulated wealth and became the backbone of the Cangzhou Chamber of Commerce.

Although the Huang family did not take the initiative to admit the matter, nor did they refute the rumors, they always maintained an ambiguous attitude.

All the heads of the families thought that even if the Huang family had no connection with the court, it was most likely related to the support of one of the two major business gangs.

Only in this way can we sweep the rest of the families.

But now it seems that everyone has misjudged the situation.

The Huang family underestimated the level of information available to the people behind them, and they also underestimated the Huang family's capabilities.

At that moment, Huang Wenhua calmed down and said to the many family heads present: "Everyone, please be patient. I said that Yue Ling did not have that much food, and it was not without reason. As you all know, Yue Ling has only been in Cangzhou for ten days. In ten days, where else can he collect enough relief food for the whole prefecture except the Ministry of Revenue?"

"And according to reliable information I have obtained, none of the warehouses in the Ministry of Revenue have sent grain to Cangzhou. In other words, after Yue Ling's extravagant behavior this time, he has no more food left."

"He must be doing this in a high-profile way to show us. He wants us to lose our composure and think that we can't sell our grain, so we rush to sell our stored grain, which drives down the price of grain."

"If you guys still want to fight among yourselves at this moment, you will definitely fall into Yue Ling's trap!"

The family heads pondered for a while and felt that Huang Wenhua's words made some sense. But who would dare to bet that Yue Ling had no food at this time? What if he had it?
At the right time, another patriarch asked, "Is Patriarch Huang's source of information reliable? If Yue Ling brings these grains here, what will we do with the grain later?"

Huang Wenhua swore to heaven, "This source of information is absolutely reliable. If it is a lie, I will let you deal with it. I only ask one thing of you. Please do not sell the grain at a low price. This is a loss of our own hard-earned money. It will really cost us our livelihood."

The family heads were silent again.

There is really no other way now, except to humble himself and beg for mercy from Yue Ling. All he can do now is to wait.

"Well, since we have already embarked on this path, there is nothing much to say at the moment. Let's go back and wait. Master Huang, you must find out the news clearly and don't let everyone fall into the trap together. We all trust the Huang family's ability in the court, so we regard you as the head of the Chamber of Commerce."

After hearing this, Huang Wenhua had no choice but to grit his teeth and agree.

After all the family heads left, Huang Wenhua was so angry that he picked up a food box and threw it to the ground.

Suddenly, fragments fell to the ground, food splattered everywhere, and the butler who was about to enter was so frightened that he stepped back repeatedly.

Huang Wenhua said angrily: "Vile merchants, they forget morality when they see profit. They don't even think about who has brought them good life these years. Now that they are in trouble, they want to push me out first, adding color to Yue Ling's guillotine!"

When Huang Wenhua thought of Yue Ling's guillotine, his expression became even gloomier.

The housekeeper stepped forward to comfort him, "Master, don't be upset. It's still unclear who will win at this moment. Even if there are thousands or tens of thousands of shi of grain in the entire Cangzhou area, it's nothing. If there is no harvest in autumn, isn't it still a chance for you, Master?"

Huang Wenhua said angrily: "I'm afraid these fools won't understand!"

After the heads of the families left the Huang family's door, they tacitly stopped talking and got on their sedan chairs.

Just at that moment, a team of grain carts passed by their sedan chair, forcing them to lift the curtains to look.

One of the owners asked his servants, "This is the residence of a rich family, there shouldn't be a porridge stall, how come the grain cart passed by here?"

The servant replied, "There is no porridge stall here, and the porridge stalls are already distributing porridge. It is rumored that a porridge stall has 100 shi of porridge, and it would take several days to distribute all the porridge. The grain should be sent to the granary by way of detour. After all, there are porridge stalls on the main street and the side street, and the people are so crowded that it is impossible to get through."

The owner of the house was startled and was watching intently when a mule pulling a grain cart got frightened and suddenly started to riot, overturning the cart.

Bags of grain fell from the cart, some were broken and the rice spilled all over the ground.

At the right moment, an officer stepped forward and yelled, "Damn you beast! Food is so precious, and you threw him to the ground?"

"Someone come and collect the food!"

"My master never wastes a grain of food in his bowl, let alone us. What's wrong with the food on the ground? Even if the food is hidden in the ground, we have to dig deep to find it!"

After a while, the grain team returned to calm.

The grain carts were like a long dragon, with no end in sight, and seemed to be slowly crawling along this small path.

The owner's face immediately changed. "There must be hundreds of grain carts. After transporting the grain carts to the porridge shed, they are now transporting grain to the big warehouse in the city. If the big warehouse in the city is filled, it can hold 20,000 shi. 20,000 shi is enough to eat through the winter." The owner hurriedly lowered the curtain of the sedan chair and said to the servants around him, "Quick, go back first and tell all the shops to take out the grain for sale. One hundred coins per pound. No, fifty coins. Fifty coins still make a profit."

"Master, do we really have to lower the price? Didn't you say we wouldn't lower the price?"

The head of the family said angrily, "Damn it, Yue Ling had planned it all out long ago, and led us into a trap step by step! He took our cash and sold us some food, leaving us with nowhere to store it. Now, if there is any disturbance, we will lose everything we have invested!"

"What if I don't sell it? Where will the money come from? What will I eat, what will you eat? What will the dozen concubines in my house eat?"

“Those who don’t sell are idiots!”

……

The big warehouse in the city,

Yue Ling brought Lin Daiyu all the way here.

After getting off the horse, Lin Daiyu looked at the endless grain carts. With her face covered with a veil, her eyes were curved and she was naturally happy.

Pulling at the corner of Yue Ling's clothes, Lin Daiyu said, "This much food is enough to save the people of the whole city."

Yue Ling smiled and whispered to Lin Daiyu, "How can there be so much? If there is really so much grain, it must be 40,000 to 50,000 dan. We have just experienced the war, and granaries everywhere are running out of grain. Even a prosperous city like the capital cannot provide 40,000 to 50,000 dan in a short time."

"Unless there are rats in the capital, like the profiteers in Cangzhou, who have hoarded a lot of food."

There are definitely no rats in the capital. When Yue Ling was the Grand Commander during the war, there were indeed grain merchants who wanted to hoard goods and make profits, but they were defeated by Yue Ling's thundering means and lost all their money.

I heard that the grain of those grain merchants either rotted in the warehouse or was made into feed, which directly caused many shops in the city to go bankrupt.

However, this is the capital city after all. If you don't open a store, there are plenty of people who will.

Someone quickly filled the original shop's space, and it didn't cause much of a stir.

But Cangzhou City is different. If a large number of shops are closed, if you want to resume business, get money flowing, and truly boost the economy, you really need the presence of merchants.

Yue Ling still hoped that the Xue family could succeed. It would be best if the pawnshop could exchange grain for silver, and then use the silver to exchange for various commodities to activate the business in Cangzhou City.

However, this is another story.

Lin Daiyu was puzzled when she heard what Brother Yue said. She asked again, "If it's not grain, then what is it? Why are they transporting it to the warehouse in bags?"

Yue Ling smiled and said, "These are the river sand and adobe bricks that I sent people to bring from outside the city. Many houses in the city are damaged, so it's a good time to repair them. People have to live in them anyway."

Lin Daiyu immediately understood, "Brother Yue did this to let everyone in the city know that there is enough food in the warehouse, and people's hearts will be more stable."

Yue Ling added: "Not only that, the key lies in the grain merchants. They control most of the grain in the city. According to my rough estimate, there are tens of thousands of stones. But they think that I have grain and the city is not short of grain, so there is no need to make a profit from it."

"So next they will sell grain at very, very low prices," Lin Daiyu answered quickly.

Yue Ling nodded, "Yes, and it's very cheap and not much can be sold. Because I posted a notice in the city, you can get relief food, you can work in exchange for food. Except for the middle-class families, I'm afraid no one needs to buy food, but such families in the city have been almost destroyed by them."

"The price went up in the past, but it's down now. Who knows if it will go down even further? So they sell at a loss to avoid losing money."

Lin Daiyu asked again, "What if they insist on not selling it?"

Yue Ling smiled and said, "Sister Lin doesn't understand businessmen. They are most profit-driven. They put profit first in everything. Who would hold on? They like to gamble, but they don't dare to gamble big."

Lin Daiyu understood what he said and couldn't help but sigh: "Brother Yue, you are really bad. But you should be even worse to bad people, and Brother Yue is just the right person."

Lin Daiyu's eyes seemed to be shining with stars as she looked at the omnipotent Brother Yue, and an indescribable feeling came over her heart again.

Yue Ling felt something and looked down, with a warm smile on his face.

When the atmosphere was just right, another sedan chair came from a distance. Yue Ling saw it familiarly and had a bad feeling in his heart.

Sure enough, the corner of her clothes was pulled tighter, and Lin Daiyu's eyes were no longer as gentle as a spring breeze, but gradually became filled with anger and as sharp as a knife.

"Didn't Brother Yue say he would bring me out? Why is she here?"

Yue Ling looked a little embarrassed. "I was going to bring Sister Lin out, and I didn't tell anyone else. When did I ever lie to Sister Lin?"

(End of this chapter)