After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

Meng Shichen's tone carried a hint of probing.

The brows of everyone in the room twitched almost imperceptibly.

Last night, Ning Dongjia snapped up nearly 30% of the cotton in Songjiang Prefecture at five times the price, thus relieving the crisis of the imperial merchant Sujin Pavilion.

Although we still need to purchase cotton today, we will not buy much, and we will certainly not be as anxious as we were yesterday.

—The price is probably too high.

However, Suzhou Prefecture was not a pushover.

Since you gave Songjiang Prefecture five times the purchase price, when it comes to my Suzhou Prefecture, you should at least purchase at today's market price—twice the price, right?

If you have anything to say, we owe you a debt of gratitude today. We've raised our cotton prices by 30% to pressure you down. Now, we Suzhou cotton merchants will never be able to hold our heads high in front of those people from Songjiang again.

Thoughts linger.

The expressions on everyone's faces changed again.

Considering that this person already has 200,000 taels of unpaid debts, and now he's buying from us again, where will he get the money to pay in two months?

Well, we can sell a little, but not too much.

Everyone present was shrewd; after exchanging glances and a few glances, they had largely reached an understanding of each other's ideas.

"Of course, it's five times."

Ning Nan raised his palm, spread his five fingers, and smiled calmly.

Huh? ...Five times?

The room fell silent.

Even their breathing could no longer be heard.

Meng Shichen, who was closest to Ningnan, had his pupils contract.

"Five times?" He leaned forward, frowning as he confirmed.

"Not bad." Ning Nan nodded.

"However—" His eyes sharpened as he glanced around at the people in the room who were trying to remain calm, then softened and smiled, "Gentlemen, I will not accept any loose goods weighing less than 50,000 catties."

……

rustling.

In the elegant room of Fulai Restaurant.

The lights were dim.

Tian Gui, who had worked as an accountant in the Prince Xin's mansion for ten years, was pale, his pen trembling slightly, his eyes unfocused, as he buried his head in writing contracts.

Fang Hongcai, who was also an accountant, clattered the abacus beads and checked the numbers with the cotton merchants one by one. After confirming the numbers, he told Tian Gui to fill them into the contract.

The contract was made in duplicate, and after it was written, it was handed to Liu Xin, an old man at another table.

The old man's face was numb. His right hand mechanically held the Sujin Pavilion seal, dipped it in red mud, and stamped it on the contract.

Shangguan Xiu arranged for a centurion to press his seal, which belonged to a commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, onto the contract.

clack.

clack.

Two times.

After affixing the seal, Liu Xin handed a copy to the cotton merchant across the street.

The other copy was given to a child next to him—the landlord had picked him up that afternoon; he was twelve years old and his name was Li Xing.

Li Xing took the contract with a serious expression, looked it over, and after confirming it, put it into a brocade box.

"Do you really know what you're doing?"

In another private room, Shangguan Xiu stared at Ning Nan with a look of despair.

Ning Nan picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea for the newly appointed commander of the Imperial Guards, the sound of the tea bubbling and sloshing filling the air.

"Look," he gestured, "this pre-Qingming tea, this pot is very expensive."

Bang! Bang! Bang! Shangguan Xiu pounded on the table, his eyes bloodshot, and said, "Do you know? You spent another two hundred thousand taels today! Two hundred thousand taels! A whole two hundred thousand taels!"

"Heh," Ning Nan laughed, "There's no 200,000 taels, just over 20,000, or 22,000 taels." He calculated that Su Jin Pavilion still had 8,000 taels of silver left.

Shangguan Xiu tugged at her hair in distress.

"Hey, Commander Shangguan, I'm not in a hurry, why are you?" Ning Nan picked up his tea, the steam rising, blew on it, and laughed, "Anyway, according to the contract, the five percent commission is inevitable. When the time comes, you Embroidered Uniform Guards can just count the money. How much you make depends on your abilities."

"That money should go into the imperial treasury!" the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard said irritably.

Five percent of the Embroidered Uniform Guard's wealth went into the imperial treasury.

His face was full of sorrow, and he sighed inwardly.

This morning.

His Majesty has even summoned him to the palace.

The young lady from the Emperor's side, Lizhi, gave him a severe scolding and asked him what was going on with her son-in-law.

What happened?

How would I know what happened?

I originally came here tonight to sound out what was going on, but—this kid has been tricked out of another 200,000 taels of silver!

Old Man Liu and the other two were already numb.

He's almost gone mad.

The imperial treasury is almost at its breaking point!

Shangguan Xiu stared at the scholar leisurely sipping tea in front of her, her eyes reddening... The person who caused such a huge mess is now leisurely drinking tea!

Shangguan Xiu was furious, his shoulders trembling, but he really couldn't do anything about it. He even had to defend the other party in front of outsiders.

For example, when facing His Majesty and Lady Lychee in the morning, he had to bite the bullet and say that Ning Baixuan would definitely have a solution, and that His Majesty should not be anxious.

But no matter how hard he racked his brains, he couldn't figure out what kind of magic trick this person in front of him could perform to conjure up 200,000 taels of silver out of thin air—oh, no, 400,000 taels of silver out of thin air!

"Go into the imperial treasury... then there's nothing I can do." Master Ning of the Ning family shrugged.

Shangguan Xiu roared, "Don't talk like you've already come up with 400,000 taels of silver and solved the problem. And the Embroidered Uniform Guard's 5% commission! If you don't figure out how to get the money, or quickly cancel these money-losing, stupid contracts... in two months... you can expect my wreckage!"

Ning Nan smiled noncommittally: "Well, Brother Yushan, don't worry."

"Bai Xuan," Shangguan Xiu said with a helpless expression and a strained tone, "Even if you won't tell me what's going on in your head... can you at least tell me why you spent another 20,000 taels of silver tonight?"

"I want more cotton."

"That's it?"

"This is it."

"Then why don't you buy it for double the price? Or even triple the price?" Shangguan Xiu exclaimed. "Wouldn't that allow you to buy more?"

"They won't sell," Ning Nan shook his head, "at least not this many."

He looked at his friend, whose face was flushed with anxiety, and smiled with a complicated tone.

"Brother Yushan, there's nothing we can do about it. If I buy at double the price, they might sell me two or three thousand catties, but not twenty or thirty thousand catties; if I buy at triple the price, it's the same. The price of cotton will visibly triple, and they will sell me five or six thousand catties, but not fifty or sixty thousand catties."

Shangguan Xiu was completely baffled, and frowned, saying, "So you're going to offer five times the price?"

"Hmm." Master Ning nodded.

"But, but, but why? Why do you need so much cotton?"

"Because I need to sell them."

"Sell it?" Shangguan Xiu frowned.

Sell ​​it... Sell it... Sell it... After thinking for a while, suddenly, a chill ran straight to the top of his head!

Hoarding and speculation!

A glint flashed in Shangguan Xiu's eyes.

"You want to sell it for a high price?!" He leaned forward, close to Ning Nan, and whispered through gritted teeth.

"hehe,"

Ning Nan looked at his friend with a complicated expression.

"You're wrong."

He smiled and said,

I want to sell it at a low price.

……

……

"Ha, he wants to sell at a high price and become a cotton merchant himself."

Inside the Qianqing Palace.

The little maid named Lychee, who had the name of a fruit, wrinkled her slightly flat nose, smiled, and analyzed the situation to the young emperor on his sickbed.

"Last night he bought nearly 30% of the cotton in Songjiang Prefecture, and today he bought nearly 20% of the cotton in Suzhou Prefecture. The country was already suffering from a disaster, and with all this commotion, the price of cotton will definitely skyrocket and keep rising."

When the maid first spoke, her expression was somewhat disdainful, but the more she spoke, the more excited she became, with an undisguised thrill in her voice.

This is the kind of excitement you feel when you can see through your opponent's next ten moves in a single glance while playing chess.

Lychee tilted her chin up and said confidently, "His plan is to use a 10% deposit to make a big gamble. He'll treat 500,000 taels of silver as if it were 500,000 taels, quickly buy up a portion of the cotton at a high price, and let the cotton merchants hoard it in advance. Once the cotton price soars, as long as it's more than five times higher, he can sell off some of his existing orders, keeping only the portion for the imperial merchants, and he'll win."

"Heh," Zhu Boqing thought for a moment, then smiled on his pale face, "Hmm..." The emperor nodded and exclaimed, "My brother-in-law does indeed have some guts."