Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 12: How to deal with a beggar?

Zhang Qi sneered: "Neither of us are fools. If you can get me the warehouse by tomorrow, I will naturally give it to you as promised."

Lu Jia smiled and said, "Why wait until tomorrow? We can do it today. But we need to draw up a contract first. After all, someone like you really has no character to speak of."

Zhang Qi was furious, his face turning ashen. He chased her into the hall, but before he could retaliate, the brat had already shoved two sheets of paper covered in writing at him!

Upon closer inspection, they were indeed two identical contracts, containing the contents of what they had just discussed: within two days, Lu Jia would help him buy a warehouse, and in return, he would return the Xie family's property that he had taken from them!
Zhang Qi felt a lump in his throat: "You were all prepared? So you knew I was coming?"

Lu Jia sneered: "Right now, besides taking my path, do you have any other way to go? -- The pen and ink are ready, sign and put your fingerprints on them, then bring the things over!"

Zhang Qi was speechless with anger. His gaze lingered on the paper for a moment before he picked up his pen and signed it.

So be it. It's just a piece of paper. What can it do to him? The silver shop was originally in their hands, but in the end, it still ended up with the Zhang family.

Let's sign something first to appease her!

He pressed his finger in again and said, "Can you tell me now?"

"Of course not. You have money and power, and I can't do anything to you with just this contract. So you should put the shop's land deed and three thousand taels of silver notes here first to show your sincerity."

Zhang Qi had lost his patience: "Are you trying to take advantage of me?!"

Lu Jia scoffed, "I didn't invite you here."

Zhang Qi stood up abruptly, about to storm off, but halfway there, he turned back and angrily pointed at her: "You can have money, but I can only give you five hundred taels. Any more than that, forget it!"

"Do you think I'm some kind of beggar? I'm the eldest daughter of the Xie family, and I was once a guest of honor at your Zhang family's house. You don't have the property deeds to the shop; how do you expect me to believe you?!"

Lu Jia also slammed her hand on the table.

Zhang Qi was startled, his chest heaving several times, and then he shouted at his servants: "Go and bring me the shop's property deeds and land deeds!"

After saying that, he glared at Lu Jia and said, "I'd like to see if you have the ability to handle this!"

Lu Jia sneered and remained silent.

The two houses were right next to each other, so coming and going was quick and easy. A little while later, the things were brought back, and Zhang Qi showed them to her, practically grinding her teeth: "Have you seen it clearly?"

Lu Jia reached out to take it, but Zhang Qi quickly pulled it back.

Lu Jia glanced at him and said:

"This morning I did some calculations for you. In the entire Shawan area, only those within the wharf, there are a total of 27 warehouses. More than 60% of them belong to rice merchants, and naturally, they can't give them up. The remaining nine are for local businesses like the Li family, which don't rely on the rice market."

“You know better than I do that, apart from this one belonging to the Li family, all the other eight have been reserved, and now the Li family won’t sell to you either.”

Zhang Qi glared at her angrily: "Isn't that obvious?!"

Lu Jia smiled and said, "Of those eight warehouses that have been reserved, you still have a chance at at least one."

Zhang Qi glared at her.

"After the cargo ships from Tonghuomen Wharf were diverted here, Shawan Wharf would definitely need to expand its embarkation and disembarkation area. Therefore, the large merchants of Tanzhou Prefecture also raised funds to extend the commercial streets."

"The longer the commercial street, the more points of boarding and disembarking need to be added. The warehouse I mentioned is located at the south end of the dock, right along the river. As far as I know, the Liu family, who run an inn, bought it. They originally intended to buy it and convert it into an inn."

"But if a boarding point is added in the future, this place will lose its advantage as an inn. Because there is no space outside to park carriages and horses, it will not be able to become a gathering place for merchants."

"But as a warehouse that needs to be loaded and unloaded at any time, it is just right."

"Although not many people know about the news that the merchants of Tanzhou are raising funds to expand the wharf, the Liu family, who run an inn, are well-informed and must already know about it by now."

"And they are probably already planning to make a move."

Lu Jia glanced out the window as he spoke, “There are plenty of people who want to buy warehouses right now. You should go to the Liu family immediately and make your move before anyone else. The rest will just be a matter of price.”

Zhang Qi's anger had turned into shock.

He never imagined that the merchants of Tanzhou Prefecture's actions would actually provide him with such a hidden opportunity—although he had paid for the warehouse himself in full, the problem was that he hadn't thought of it at all! Wasn't her keen mind enough to be astonishing?
"It's getting late, we should go."

Lu Jia stood up and stuffed the now-dry ink-stained document into her sleeve: "Just in case you're unreliable, I'll go through the trouble of accompanying you on this trip."

……

It was already evening when I left the Liu family's house.

Zhang Qi and Lu Jia parted ways in front of their house, and then, as if avoiding a ghost, quickly slipped into the house despite their limp, and slammed the newly repaired door shut.

When he placed the deed to the warehouse in front of Mrs. He, she immediately jumped up from the stool!
"How did they do that?!"

"I have no idea how I did it."

Zhang Qi tilted his head back and gulped down a large cup of tea.

After leaving the Xie family, they went straight to the Liu family. Sure enough, before they arrived, a Jiangxi herbal medicine merchant and a local rice merchant were already sitting in the Liu family's hall.

Zhang Qi was determined to win—in fact, with Lu Jia urging him along the way, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and grit his teeth to accept the offer, which was five hundred taels of silver more than when the Liu family bought it.

Watching Lu Jia and the other merchants argue and haggle over prices, looking so fierce, all he could think about was the Lu Jia of the past, who, although unwilling to admit defeat, had never directly confronted him.

Unexpectedly, after only a few days in a coma, she woke up and began to wreak havoc, leaving everyone unable to withstand her power!

This brat seems to be of some use after all...

He's shrill voice pierced the roof again: "You mean, that brat came up with this idea to extort a shop and three thousand taels of silver from us? Why doesn't she just rob us?!"

After scolding him, she grabbed Zhang Qi again: "You didn't actually agree to her request, did you?"

Zhang Qi looked annoyed: "You think I wanted to? How was I supposed to know he was that good?"
"When the Liu family brought out the deeds to the warehouse, I don't know where she got the speed from, but she snatched them away and forced me to hand over the deeds to the shop before she gave them back to me!"

"That damn thing!"

Madam He let out a pig-like scream, "That was a shop worth two thousand taels of silver! How could she just extort it like that?"
"I'm not done with her!"

Zhang Qi, however, didn't think so. Although it was a pity to return the shop, he figured you can't catch a wolf without risking your cub, so it wouldn't hurt to let that brat be smug for a while...

……

The rain outside the window has stopped, and dusk has enveloped the earth. This cold snap in early spring will soon be over.

Before Lu Jia went for a stroll at the dock in the morning, she originally planned to take advantage of Li Er's anger last night to persuade Zhang Qi to continue buying the Li family's warehouse, and then to make them a mortal enemy once again.

When she saw the Liu family's warehouse at the dock, and later when Zhang Qi mentioned his affair with the county magistrate, she changed her mind.

Strictly speaking, there was no coincidence involved; it was simply that Zhang Qi lacked the business acumen of a merchant.

If he truly possessed the foresight of Old Master Zhang in managing a household, he wouldn't have stooped so low as to collude with Li Er.

The shop is back, and there are still three thousand taels of silver left.

Although they knew the Zhang family would definitely still try to take over the shops, money was much easier to lose than shops.

The fate of Xie Yi in his previous life serves as a cautionary tale before they are able to preserve more of their family fortune.

With this shop, at least our immediate food and drink needs can be met.

Next, the dock area is worth paying attention to, because in her previous life, Lu Jia left Shawan for the capital city at this time.

What will the Shawan Wharf look like in the future? She has never seen it. She also doesn't know exactly what aspects of Shawan are affected by the imperial court's reforms to water transport.

This means that she won't be able to reap many informational benefits for some time to come.

It's too long, so I've split it into two chapters.
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(End of this chapter)