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

Because once you've received the money, you have to do the job.

If you don't do your job, people can't really do anything to you, but they won't come to you again next time.

In this way, you will lose even more money.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard, a secret police force, was known for its ruthless and predatory nature. Since they were willing to openly charge a price for this service, people naturally felt more at ease.

Even with such a complicated process, a thousand promissory notes require first obtaining a customer service letter and then purchasing the promissory notes.

But in just over half an hour, the promissory notes were sold out.

Shangguan Xiu was dumbfounded.

The restaurant owner readily pulled out a silver note and bought a promissory note. With a pair of shrewd eyes, the owner dusted off the note with the anti-counterfeiting mark and said to the people around him with a smile, "Just testing the waters, it's only a little money."

A tall, thin old man dressed as a wealthy man bought five bills, secretly folded them up and put them into a brocade pouch, then stuffed the pouch inside his clothes before leaving the house.

A woman who looked like a wealthy lady bought ten tickets, smiling broadly. She looked incredibly auspicious, the kind of woman who could bring down a bed. She waved the tickets and walked away with a thud.

There were even quite a few of Shangguan Xiu's acquaintances among them, business owners and wealthy people from all walks of life, and even a few students from the Imperial Academy. I don't know why they all came here this time.

There was also a brothel owner inside named Liu Qing.

This person actually came and bought fifty tickets! A whole nine thousand taels of silver!

Shangguan Xiu was completely stunned.

Unable to contain himself any longer, he asked, "Old Liu, aren't you afraid that Baiyufang won't supply cotton in two months?"

The old man winked and said, "We're not stupid. With you, Seventh Uncle, here, what are we afraid of? Even if the sky falls, there are tall guys to hold it up!"

This implies that with the Embroidered Uniform Guard involved, they have nothing to fear. Shangguan Xiu sighed inwardly.

They sold out too quickly… He was amazed by the situation… a thousand promissory notes like these. If the purchase procedures hadn't been so complicated, they would have been sold out in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Many people even beat their chests in frustration, saying anxiously, "How was I supposed to know you'd sell it for three times the price? I didn't bring any money with me!"

But when he rushed back to get the money, he found that all the promissory notes had already been sold out.

Even now, Baiyufang is still bustling inside and outside. All twelve tea seats in the outer hall are full of people, and many people have to stand, shouting, arguing and debating.

Ning Nan understands Xiu Xiu's confidence.

But no way.

They can only be sold at three times the price or even lower.

Ning Nan smiled and said, "Even if we sell it for four times the price, it's only 240,000 taels. The problem with Su Jin Pavilion is still unresolved, isn't it?"

A total of 50,000 taels of silver were spent. 20,000 taels were spent on cotton in Songjiang Prefecture, 20,000 taels on Suzhou Prefecture, and about 10,000 taels on Jiaxing Prefecture.

Each deposit is 10%. In total, upon maturity, the amount owed will be 500,000 taels of silver.

Well.

Now they've sold so much cotton again.

He ended up owing money to both sides.

They owed the cotton merchants of the three prefectures a total of 500,000 taels of silver.

We owe the wealthy merchants from all walks of life in Nanjing who came to Baiyufang today a total of three million catties of cotton.

It fell into his hands.

There was a total of 180,000 in cash and 2 million in cotton.

However, the latter was for dealing with royal merchants and big clients like Sujin Pavilion, so it can be ignored.

All we have at hand is this 180,000 taels of silver.

Shangguan Xiu's excited expression gradually faded, and he said, "Hmm, that's true."

Although Shangguan Xiu was shocked to see the other party take 180,000 taels of silver in one go.

But upon closer inspection, the deficit was still 320,000 taels two months later, and his emotions gradually calmed down.

However, at least the pressure on the imperial treasury is no longer the daunting 500,000 taels.

This feeling is strange.

It's strange in a way that's hard to explain.

Shangguan Xiu frowned.

This person clearly lost money; he bought cotton at five times the price, but then sold it at three times the price.

No matter how you calculate it, the loss should be said to be a full 120,000 taels of silver.

This was a number that alarmed him, and even His Majesty would likely find it shocking... The imperial treasury was about to bleed heavily.

But that's where the strangeness lies.

Why do I feel like I've gotten a great deal even though I've lost so much money?!

With this perplexing question in mind, Shangguan Xiu walked to the front hall, intending to return to the Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters.

The front hall was noisy and bustling.

The twelve tables for entertaining guests were crammed together, with everyone talking at once, making a noisy commotion about something.

All twelve counters inside were now packed with people, and waiters were shouting "Queue up!" "Queue up!" "Please queue up!"

As Shangguan Xiu passed by one of the tables, a series of arguing and chaotic sounds reached his ears, and he couldn't help but slow down.

"You're still not selling at this price?" "No." "Old Chen, you should have a conscience." "Brother Wang, we just sold you three at this price... I want them first, come on, I'll give you this price, I want to buy them back, it'll only be a quarter of an hour, you can make a killing, are you selling or not?" "Sell my ass!" "You old bastard, you even said your grandpa has no conscience..."

As they talked, the two seemed on the verge of fighting, and bystanders hurriedly pulled them apart and tried to break them up.

At this moment, someone exclaimed, "Sold!" "Another one sold!"

Shangguan Xiu frowned. She noticed that everyone in the room had turned their heads away, and even those who had been arguing had fallen silent.

What happened?

He followed the gaze of the crowd.

Ta-da!

A servant was writing on a rather large wooden board that was painted black, using a white plaster-like object.

"Four pieces sold for 155 coins, up."

"It's gone up! It's gone up! It's gone up again!"

"Pah! What kind of bastard offered that price! Lower it! Lower it for me! I want to buy it back!"

"One hundred and sixty coins, who's willing to sell? I'll take it!"

"Get lost!"

"Damn it! Xu Zhicai, give me back the ticket you just bought!"

"You pay for it! Two hundred! I won't sell a single piece for less than two hundred coins! I won't sell it for more or less! I won't sell it for less!"

In an instant, the chaos in the entire lobby far exceeded what it had been before!

Shangguan Xiu's eyes gradually widened.

He looked up at the words the servant had just written... there were more than a dozen.

"One sheet, sixty-two coins, price increase."

"One sheet, seventy coins, price increase."

"Three sheets, eighty-two coins, price increase."

"Five sheets, ninety-five coins, price increase."

"..."

"Five sheets, one hundred and twenty coins, down."

"One sheet, 130 coins, price has increased."

"..."

"Bang!"

At this point, the two who had been arguing finally started fighting.

Shangguan Xiu turned around to look.

The rich man who had been punched had blood flowing from his nose.

Fortunately, the Imperial Guards who were maintaining order came over. When they saw the Imperial Guards wearing flying fish robes, the two calmed down a bit and separated, cursing and crying.

Just now in the backyard, the commander of the Imperial Guard who had heard the phrase "blood flowing like a river" ran to Tian Gui, the manager of Baiyufang, and asked how many transactions had been completed in the past hour.

Tian Gui was cold all over, his eyes were red, and his voice was trembling. "Reporting to Lord Shangguan... seventy transactions... seventy transactions..." In just over an hour, no less than seventy transactions had been completed.

Seventy transactions, which means that the middleman's fee has already reached seventy taels! Shangguan Xiu's pupils contracted.

And the price of cotton—no, to be precise, the price of these cotton futures contracts—rose to one hundred and fifty coins!

……

……

"Buy! Keep buying!"

Dou Yuan held a thin cotton promissory note in his hand, his face fierce as he addressed the eight stewards of the Qi Prince's residence inside the room, "From now on, you don't need to do anything else but try your best to collect these promissory notes. There are only a thousand of them, so collect as many as you can!"

After saying that, he added, "The use of the Prince's treasury is permitted."

"Yes," all the stewards replied in unison.

Dou Yuan was always a man of his word, and all the stewards knew his abilities and temperament, so they dared not say a word.

After being shocked by what Jiang Heng said about Baiyufang in the morning, everyone hurriedly dispersed and rushed to Baiyufang to see what had happened.

When he arrived, the lobby was packed with people. After spending some time getting to know the situation, he silently opened an account.

He couldn't buy the initial promissory note, but by then, some people had already started trading it, so he found someone and, after going through complicated procedures, bought the promissory note for seventy coins, which is two hundred and ten taels.

The middleman's fee of one tael of silver was paid by the ticket seller.

Upon seeing the man offer one or two taels of silver, Dou Yuan's pupils suddenly contracted.

While reading the rules, Dou Yuan hadn't paid much attention to the fee, but now that he saw someone actually pay one or two taels of silver, he was startled.