The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

"Although the White Lotus Sect is extremely powerful, how many of those madmen are truly willing to die for it?"

"Don't overthink it, just do as I say!"

"With the eight major granaries destroyed, the imperial court will definitely use the Grand Canal to urgently dispatch a massive amount of grain and supplies to the capital!"

"At that time, just by earning shipping fees, we'll be able to make a lot of money!"

"Not to mention, we can also actively collect various grains and supplies from the countryside outside the city and smuggle them into the city. As long as we sell them, it will be a considerable income!"

Ahem, entering the Beijing market through normal channels requires paying taxes.

These are nothing compared to the exploitation by lower-level officials, which is the most deadly.

Otherwise, why are prices in the city generally 10% to 30% higher than those outside the city? The transportation costs alone wouldn't require such a large expenditure and consumption.

Even the Rong family's reputation is useless when it comes to real money and interests.

Unless someone in the Rong family is their superior or someone they can't afford to offend, they will still have to accept bribes, but they won't be so unscrupulous.

Ni Er's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he was quite excited. He quickly said, "If that's really the case, then the brothers will have something to look forward to. I'll go find them right now!"

After saying goodbye, he hurriedly left the small martial arts school.

This person is quite serious about making money.

If he didn't want to make a lot of money with Jia Huan, why would he give up the loan business at Sihai Gambling House and instead go to participate in dangerous Jianghu battles?

Although he entrusted the loan business at Sihai Casino to his cousin on his maternal side, you can't judge a book by its cover. Who knows if his cousin might be envious of the loan income and kick him to the curb?

At that point, he couldn't very well resort to violence against his cousin from his maternal uncle's side over a matter of a little money, could he?

Chapter 105 Jia Huan's Thoughts (Please Subscribe)

Driven by the foreseeable huge profits, Ni Er acted quite swiftly.

After gathering his men, he explained the situation to them, which immediately provoked these thugs to howl in anger.

With the ability to make money, and big money at that, why would they care about the threat from the White Lotus Sect?

Besides, Master Huan made it very clear.

The White Lotus Sect had become a thorn in the side of the imperial court, and even a core high-ranking official like Ma Yuan had fled overnight. How could they possibly launch a counterattack? Did they really think the imperial army was made of paper?

Another point is that they helped take over the White Lotus Sect stronghold outside the city, so naturally it must be their territory.

If we delay in occupying it, other martial arts forces might get there first, which would be frustrating.

Whether it was self-hypnosis or a burst of enthusiasm, they hurriedly set off before nightfall, afraid that the cooked duck would fly away.

They acted swiftly, and by evening news arrived that they had seized the White Lotus Sect's former stronghold. By tomorrow, they would have complete control over the civilian boats and numerous laborers on the river.

Meanwhile, Xue Pan hurried to the Xue family shop in the city and instructed the respected old manager to get things moving.

The old shopkeeper was suspicious, even though he knew that what Xue Pan said was indeed a good opportunity to make money.

But coming from Xue Pan, it just sounds so unreliable.

So, the news was immediately relayed to Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai.

When Xue Pan returned home in the evening, he was beaming with joy. Aunt Xue invited him to dinner and asked him curiously about the reason for the incident.

Xue Pan wasn't annoyed that the old shopkeeper had "complained to his parents," and replied in a relaxed tone, "Recently, I've seen the prices of daily necessities on the street skyrocket, and I thought there was a profit to be made, so I went to talk to the old shopkeeper about it!"

"A few days ago, eight official granaries under the jurisdiction of the granary administration were burned down in one go!"

"The supplies stored inside have been almost completely destroyed, and there's simply no time to replenish them!"

"Let's take advantage of this time difference. As long as the grain and supplies transported from the south are fast enough, we can make a fortune. Doesn't that make sense?"

"That makes sense, and your sister has already agreed to the proposal!"

Aunt Xue said with a smile, "My son, I didn't expect you to make such great progress after staying in the capital for a while. We definitely made the right choice in coming here!"

"Haha, let's eat! I'm going to have an extra bowl today!"

Xue Pan blushed slightly, but he couldn't explain anything, so he quickly changed the subject to cover it up.

However, when he met his sister Xue Baochai's meaningful gaze, he felt a pang of guilt.

I couldn't help but lament in my heart: Having a sister who's too smart means I can't enjoy the pleasure of showing off at all!

Having spent a long time with Jia Huan, one naturally wouldn't really treat him like a child.

He even envied Jia Huan's composure, keen insight, and bold demeanor.

Having learned his lesson from the near-fatal experience last time, he didn't try to be reckless this time and insist on taking his own servants and guards to cause trouble at the White Lotus Sect's stronghold outside the city.

Nobody knows if something unexpected might happen!

Fortunately, Jia Huan didn't embarrass him; instead, he assigned him a task that perfectly suited the Xue family's situation.

This was the main reason Xue Pan was so happy; he wasn't a deserter or a coward!

Of course, if the Xue family really made a lot of money this time, they would naturally not be stingy with the benefits, and Jia Huan would probably not refuse, since this guy borrowed several thousand taels of silver from him.

As for his sister Xue Baochai's inquiry, Xue Pan did not provide any detailed explanation; the answer was clear.

Xue Pan didn't want his younger sister Xue Baochai to get too involved in outside affairs, but he didn't know why.

Jia Huan was unaware that Xue Pan was keeping it a secret from him at home.

If I knew, I would definitely trust this guy more.

At this point, Xue Pan was quite different from the almost wicked character in the original Dream of the Red Chamber.

He probably had something to do that took up most of his attention, so he didn't have the mind to focus on eating, drinking, and having fun.

For someone like Xue Pan, eating, drinking, and having fun are nothing special. He has enough money at home to spend, and the key is that there aren't many things that can get his attention.

He had absolutely no interest in tinkering with the family business.

The fighting and killing in the martial arts world, and the struggle for interests, are still more interesting.

Xue Pan's significant change, when reflected in Jia Huan's cheat ability, likely provided him with approximately five to ten points of luck.

Unfortunately, the changes weren't huge, and Xue Pan was just a minor supporting character.

If it weren't for Xue Baochai's influence, he probably wouldn't have been able to provide so much luck value.

Jia Huan was quite satisfied. When he was messing with Xue Pan, he never expected to gain any luck points.

The main reason was that I didn't want this guy to harm the students in the clan school. It was such a simple and unambitious idea, but I never expected to have such an unexpected gain.

At this moment, Jia Huan's luck value, displayed on his virtual cheat device panel, reached fifty-five points.

Upon careful consideration, there were Aunt Zhao, Cong-ge'er, Jia Lian, Wang Xifeng, Master Zheng, many classmates from the clan school, Xue Pan, Ni Er, and the hooligans from Ningrong Street.

The maids and wives in the mansion also had their fates changed to varying degrees because of Jia Huan.

These guys gave Jia Huan fifty-five points of luck in return!

I wonder where this level of luck would be considered in the entire Great Qian Dynasty.

Unfortunately, Jia Huan knew nothing about the art of observing qi, and even if he wanted to study it, he couldn't find a way to learn it.

Otherwise, one can directly observe one's own and others' fortunes and use colors to distinguish between high and low fortunes.

At present, Jia Huan has not conducted in-depth research on the role of his own luck.

All I know is that ever since my luck points increased, everything I do has gone smoothly.

For example, the local thugs on Ningrong Street didn't encounter any unruly, ambitious, or arrogant individuals who refused to submit to anyone, and they were easily brought under their command.

If they could make some money while expanding their influence and power, that would be ideal. Otherwise, they wouldn't have advised Ni Er and the others to seize the opportunity to make a fortune.

However, to his utter surprise, judging from the news that Ni Er reported back the next day, it seemed that the granary administration had completely ceased operations.

Jia Huan immediately realized that the situation might be much more serious than he had imagined.

Otherwise, even if eight official granaries were burned down by the fire dragon, it wouldn't have completely paralyzed a powerful government office!

Unfortunately, he had no stable and reliable channels of information from the government.

Even Qiu Liang, the commander of the western city of the Five Cities Garrison, who was an ally of the enemy, was too busy with the pursuit of Ma Yuan to have any time or leisure to contact him privately.

As for Lord Zheng Er, he still doesn't fully understand the situation within the Court of Imperial Stud, let alone the ever-changing political landscape of the court.

This man, perhaps because he's living too comfortably, rarely discusses matters of the government or the court in his study, Mengpo Studio.

Jia Huan was also quite helpless. His status as the strategist was declining at a visible speed. Many times, after he paid his respects, the Second Master Zheng would simply wave him away.

It really fits a line from "A Chinese Odyssey": when you like someone, you call them "Little Sweetie," but when you don't, you call them "Old Cow." It's not fair to kick someone after they've served their purpose.

As for Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng, they seem to have other plans, or perhaps they have their own ulterior motives.

When they needed Jia Huan's help to come up with ideas or to run errands, their relationship was naturally very close and warm.

But once Jia Huan was no longer needed, his attitude, while not exactly cold as ice, became noticeably more distant.

If it weren't for the business dealings involved, they would probably be complete strangers by now.

Under such circumstances, Jia Huan naturally couldn't take the initiative to inquire about information from the imperial court.

It seems that fifty-five points of luck are not enough to make his wishes come true and everything he does go smoothly!

All he can do now is passively wait for the court's response, while instructing his subordinates to seize this rare opportunity to make a fortune.