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

Chapter 596 The charcoal is likely to be stuck in my hands.
"Shopkeeper, something terrible has happened! They say Jufulai is selling charcoal!" The shop assistant shouted to the shopkeeper as he rushed into the shop.

"Jufulai is selling charcoal?"

"Yes, thirty-five coins per load."

"impossible?"

"Really, shopkeeper, you can go out and ask everyone if you don't believe me."

The shopkeeper sneered; the young man was just too cowardly.

How much charcoal does Widow Tong have left to sell?
It should be noted that the young master has stockpiled most of the charcoal on the market.

In the end, won't everyone still come to Zheng's house to buy charcoal?

The shopkeeper cursed Tong Huaqiong in his heart for being stupid. Since there was charcoal available, why didn't she take the opportunity to make a fortune and sell it for thirty-five coins a load? She must have lost her mind to do such a thing.

It was because Tong Huaqiong's charcoal price exceeded the Zheng family shopkeeper's expectations that he had the misconception that Tong Huaqiong must have very little charcoal to dare to sell it at such a price.

Otherwise, he simply couldn't understand Tong Huaqiong's behavior.

Soon, the news that Jufulai sold charcoal for thirty-five coins a dan (a unit of weight) reached the ears of all the shopkeepers and employees of the Zheng family, and even the Zheng father and son knew about it.

But nobody took it seriously.

Firstly, they didn't believe that Tong Huaqiong had stockpiled a large amount of charcoal; secondly, they didn't believe that even if Tong Huaqiong had enough charcoal, the price wouldn't remain the same.

Old Master Zheng ordered all Zheng family shops to keep the price of charcoal absolutely unchanged, depending on how many households Tong Huaqiong could supply.

Widow Tong's attempt to use the Zheng family to win people's hearts is pure fantasy.

Three days later, with the intervention of Tong Huaqiong and Magistrate Liu, almost every household had bought charcoal.

Magistrate Liu issued a public notice throughout the city, first refuting the rumor that the extreme cold weather would continue until May of the following year, and catching and severely punishing a group of rumor-mongers; secondly, he called on everyone to work together to overcome this difficulty and ensure that everyone would have a supply of charcoal before the spring.

This measure reassured the public.

The panic throughout the city gradually subsided.

Tong Huaqiong gained fame, and Magistrate Liu gained a good reputation.

Soon, Tong Huaqiong received a message from Gu Jingzhe in the prefectural city that the Lu family and Tong Huaqiong were selling charcoal on the same day, thus quelling the panic among the people of the prefectural city about the charcoal shortage.

After three busy days, Tong Huaqiong barely slept. Looking at the smiling faces of the people who were able to buy charcoal in the cold weather, Tong Huaqiong thought that she had finally done a good thing for this era.

She doesn't know how many people freeze to death in the extreme cold, but with her intervention, at least a number of people who are freezing to death due to lack of charcoal will be saved.

The Zheng family's charcoal hadn't sold a single pound in the past three days, causing panic among the various shops.

At first, Grandpa Zheng and his second son were able to keep their composure, thinking that Tong Huaqiong was just playing around. But when they learned that Tong Huaqiong had stockpiled 200,000 jin of charcoal, they were so shocked that they almost collapsed to the ground.

All the charcoal the Zheng family owned combined was less than the amount Tong Huaqiong had hoarded.

A question arose in Zheng Er Gongzi's mind: When exactly did Tong Huaqiong stockpile charcoal, and who delivered the message to her?

He began to suspect that Gu Ruinian was selling information to two different families, or that Gu Ruinian was colluding with Tong Huaqiong to deal with the Zheng family.

“Father, Widow Tong’s 200,000 catties of charcoal is only enough to last for one winter in Pingchuan. We still have the prefectural city to rely on,” said the Second Young Master Zheng.

Just as Young Master Zheng finished speaking, news came from the prefectural city that the Lu family had started selling charcoal three days ago.

Of course, the prefectural city is not like the plains, so the Lu family set the price slightly higher, at forty-five coins per load of charcoal.

What alarmed the Zheng family was that, as the leading merchant family in Ningcheng, no one knew how much charcoal the Lu family possessed.

All that is known is that Old Master Lu assured Prefect Yao that he would absolutely not let the people of the prefecture suffer from the cold this winter.

The prefectural city was never the Zheng family's stronghold, and now with the Lu family's involvement, even if the Zheng family lowers the price of their charcoal, no one will buy it.

Old Master Zheng's eyes were gloomy. The second young master Zheng panicked and asked, "Father, what should we do? Should we lower the price?"

Old Master Zheng angrily retorted, "Absurd! Lower the price? Can you lower it to thirty-five coins per dan or forty-five coins per dan?"

Young Master Zheng's face turned pale.

The Zheng family stockpiled charcoal after the first snowfall of the winter, when the price of charcoal had already risen considerably.

What they didn't know was that Tong Huaqiong had already stockpiled some of the charcoal in Pingchuan at extremely low prices during the summer, and in late autumn, the Lu and Huang families had stockpiled all the charcoal in Ningcheng.

By the time the Zheng family stockpiled charcoal, most charcoal merchants had already run out of charcoal. In order to do business with the Zheng family, they had to import charcoal from other places, which increased their costs.

Therefore, the cost of each load of charcoal for the Zheng family was between eighty and ninety coins.

This is what Old Master Zheng meant when he said that no matter how much the Zheng family lowered their prices, they could never be cheaper than the charcoal prices of Tong Huaqiong and the Lu family.

The second young master Zheng's stockpiled charcoal, which he had emptied his family's coffers, is likely to be stuck with him.

Thinking of this, Young Master Zheng broke out in a cold sweat.

Where should he get the 100,000 taels of silver he promised to the Fifth Prince's mother's family?

The second young master of Zheng hated Gu Ruinian for playing him, and hated Tong Huaqiong and the Lu family for cutting off the Zheng family's escape route. For a moment, he didn't know what to do.

Old Master Zheng slumped into his chair, his face ashen.

Nothing good ever comes from meeting Widow Tong.

He really wanted to slap his youngest son; this bet would probably wipe out the family fortune.

The thought that her eldest son was dead and she only had one son left caused her raised hand to turn and face the shopkeeper who had first raised the charcoal fire to ten taels of silver per load.

"Idiot, who told you to set the price of charcoal so high?"

The shopkeeper looked at Old Master Zheng with disbelief.

How did he become the culprit?

He was clearly acting by reading his employer's expressions and guessing what his employer was thinking. Without his employer's approval, he would never have dared to raise the price of charcoal to ten taels per load.

When he told his boss about Jufulai selling charcoal, he said that a widow was nothing to fear, and the Zheng family would not stoop to competing with a widow. The Zheng family would resolutely not lower the price of their charcoal.

The other shopkeepers looked at the shopkeeper who had been slapped with pity, all thinking about how to run away.

"Well, I've actually been defeated by a widow." Old Master Zheng gritted his teeth.

The Zheng family father and son vented all their anger on Tong Huaqiong at home. What they didn't know was that most of the charcoal the Zheng family had stockpiled came from Lu Zhaozhao.

When the Lu family made their move, all the charcoal in the city flowed to them.

When Young Master Zheng learned from Gu Ruinian that this winter would be extremely cold, the Lu family had already stockpiled almost all the charcoal available on the market.

The news of the Zheng family stockpiling charcoal could not be kept from the Lu family.

Lu Zhaozhao had heard about the Zheng family's misdeeds from Gu Taohua, and when she visited Gu Jingzhe at Wanliu Academy, she witnessed the second young master of the Zheng family making things difficult for Gu Jingzhe. In a fit of anger for the sake of her "beauty," Lu Zhaozhao set a trap for the Zheng family.

Lu Zhaozhao did some calculations. The Lu family's various shops had stockpiled 500,000 catties of charcoal. She ordered her employees to set aside 200,000 catties and sell them to the Zheng family.

She was certain that the Zheng family would drive up the price of charcoal to an outrageous level to fleece the people, and that Tong Huaqiong's 200,000 jin of charcoal would thwart the Zheng family's greed.

Once the Zheng family had their charcoal firewood, she and Tong Huaqiong would join forces to buy it from the Lu family at a very low price and donate it to the people of Pingchuan for charity.

Tong Huaqiong only learned about Lu Zhaozhao's interference in the Zheng family's charcoal business after receiving Lu Zhaozhao's letter.

Clutching her hand, she sighed with emotion, thinking, "She truly is the daughter-in-law I chose."