The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

Chapter 595 Fighting the Zheng Family
Based on the duration of the extreme cold weather in Tong Dajiao's memory, Tong Huaqiong calculated that 200,000 jin of charcoal would be just enough.

Since this charcoal is a lifesaver, it cannot be sold to just anyone, nor can it be bought in any quantity that is desired.

The goal is to prevent the wealthy from hoarding goods.

Charcoal is sold first to ordinary people from poor families, and then purchases are subject to limits.

When people first learned that Jufu's charcoal was only 35 coins per dan (a unit of weight), they didn't believe it. But they did believe it when they saw people at the front of the line carrying out their charcoal.

Based on the coal prices of previous years, Jufulai was considered expensive, but compared to the Zheng family's ten taels of silver per load, Jufulai was practically doing charity.

Everyone rushed in like madmen. While maintaining order, the yamen runners loudly announced which shops in the city Jufulai had set up charcoal sales points so that people could buy them separately.

So the people who arrived later went directly to Lian Hengruo's pearl shop.

As more people bought charcoal from Lian Hengruo's shop, the queue at Jufulai was no longer as long.

Tong Huaqiong breathed a sigh of relief; otherwise, she was really afraid of causing a stampede.

Although two rows of yamen runners were trying to maintain order, they couldn't stop the large number of people.

In this cold weather, queuing to buy charcoal for a long time can easily lead to emotional outbursts, and if you get annoyed, you might actually beat up the officials.

Zheng family.

Since the scandal involving Xu Zaohua and Gu Ruinian was exposed, the Zheng family has become a laughing stock in Pingchuan County.

The second young master of the Zheng family angered the old master of the Zheng family by releasing Gu Ruinian behind his parents' backs. The second young master assured the old master that Gu Ruinian's existence would be of great use to the Zheng family, but the old master did not believe him. He finally believed him after the extreme cold weather arrived.

These past few days, Grandpa Zheng has been completely unaffected by the extreme cold weather, his eyebrows and beard twitching with joy.

The extreme cold weather was like a divine eye opened for the Zheng family by God.

Originally, the second young master Zheng secretly wrote a letter in his father's handwriting, instructing the shopkeepers to use all the silver to stockpile charcoal. When the old master Zheng found out, the family's silver was almost gone. If it weren't for the headmaster of Wanliu Academy stopping him, he would have beaten his unfilial son to death.

As expected, the extremely cold weather arrived.

As Grandpa Zheng watched the swirling snowflakes, he could only hope that the weather would get colder and colder.

He initially set the price of charcoal at one tael of silver per load, and people bought it; he set it at two taels of silver per load, and people bought it; he set it at three taels of silver per load, and people still bought it; but when he set it at five taels of silver per load, only a few people came to buy it, and he was given the infamous name of Zheng the Bloodthirsty.

He angrily berated the customer for being blind, saying that not only was there no charcoal in Pingchuan, but the entire Ningcheng was without charcoal; all the charcoal had been hoarded by his youngest son. He was only willing to sell the charcoal now because he had a conscience and couldn't bear to see everyone suffering in the cold.

Since no one appreciates this offer, the shopkeeper decided to set the price at ten taels of silver per load.

Buy it or not, this is the price.

What are businessmen for? Businessmen are there to make money.

It's only foolish not to make money when you can.

He simply didn't believe that people made of blood and bone could truly have an iron will to withstand extreme cold. He wouldn't buy it for five taels of silver, nor for ten taels. He wanted to see how long they could hold out.

"Father, believe me. Even if I can't study as well as the other students at Wanliu Academy, I can still rise to the top." The second young master Zheng, who came from Ningcheng, took the opportunity to say while looking at the beaming face of the old master Zheng, "Father, please don't treat me like a child in the future."

The second young master Zheng has ingratiated himself with the fifth prince's mother's family, and is waiting to make a fortune from charcoal fires, from which he will then invest a portion of the profits in the fifth prince's business.

Grandpa Zheng praised his youngest son to those around him and said with a smile, "From now on, you'll be in charge of making decisions about anything in the family."

While happily calculating in his mind how much money he could make from this wave.

The youngest son possessed some of his father's ruthlessness from his youth, hoarding all the charcoal in Ningcheng. He not only made a fortune in Pingchuan, but also controlled the high-priced charcoal in Ningcheng.

After this winter, the Zheng family will become the richest family in Pingchuan. They will then build two large ships, emulating the Lu family of Ningcheng, to sail the seas and establish the Zheng family's banking and commercial empire.

The shop assistant at Zheng's shop sat inside, coldly watching the people passing by his shop.

If you don't buy it for ten taels of silver, you'll regret it when it's fifteen taels.

Buy it or not, it's not sold anywhere else anyway, so in the end we'll just end up back at Zheng's shop.

But soon Zheng's fellow realized something was wrong; everyone had suddenly disappeared.

Where are you running headlong in the freezing wind?

Although Zheng's fellow shopkeeper sensed something was wrong, he didn't take it seriously.

Overnight, no customers visited any of Zheng's charcoal shops. The shopkeepers thought that the price of ten taels per load had scared everyone away, and they were still thinking that soon the whole city would be begging and pleading for money.

"Buy a load of charcoal."

A burly man walked into Zheng's shop and handed the shop assistant thirty-five coins.

The guy thought the big man was there to amuse him.

"Brother, are you trying to fob me off like a beggar? Our charcoal costs ten taels of silver a load. Have you come to the wrong house?"

The burly man asked, puzzled, "Didn't they say that charcoal costs thirty-five coins per load, but a family can only buy a maximum of two loads?"

The big man had just arrived in Pingchuan this year and didn't know much about the shops there. He was shivering from the cold at home when the old lady next door told him that Manager Tong from Jufulai was selling charcoal and had distributed it to several shops to sell separately. She told him not to queue at Jufulai and to buy charcoal from Miss Lian's shop for the same price.

He saw the charcoal fire piled up in Zheng's shop and assumed it was Miss Lian's shop, so he went in.

He was terrified when he heard it was ten taels of silver.

"Go away, go away! Who told you it's thirty-five coins a load? Don't you know what the market is like this year? Have you lost your mind from the cold and still think it's like last year?" The shopkeeper said as he shoved the big man outside.

The burly man angrily retorted, "Ten taels of silver for a load of charcoal? Are you trying to bleed me dry?"

Just then, a man carrying charcoal stopped by the roadside, rubbed his hands together, and said to the big man, "Brother, you've come to the wrong shop. This is Zheng Hexue's shop. You should go to Jufulai. There are fewer people queuing up now."

The big man took off running.

Zheng's servant scoffed, "Jufulai? That widow Tong sells charcoal too? Don't be ridiculous. All the charcoal in Ningcheng is piled up in our Zheng family's yard. Where would widow Tong get charcoal?"

The middle-aged man carrying the charcoal picked up the firewood again and said sarcastically, "Your Zheng family is something else. You can't even sell a load of charcoal for ten taels of silver, so you just pile it up at home."

After saying that, he picked up the load and walked away quickly, cursing in his heart that he hoped the Zheng family's charcoal would rot at home.

Zheng's servant initially didn't believe it, but seeing many people carrying charcoal home on the street, he inexplicably felt uneasy.

"Where did you buy your charcoal?" the shopkeeper couldn't help but ask, looking down into the street.

"Bought it at Jufulai. What? We'll freeze to death if we leave your Zheng family's place?"

"Widow Tong is so kind. A load of charcoal costs thirty-five coins. No wonder Jufulai's business is so good."

"These unscrupulous merchants won't be smug for long. You Zheng family's best bet is to keep the charcoal for your own use."

They deliberately carried charcoal past Zheng's shop, and when they heard Zheng's shop assistant ask them questions, they didn't mind giving sarcastic retorts.

Seeing Zheng's increasingly grim expression, everyone felt a touch of warmth in the air.