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

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the moon in the sky is gradually becoming fuller.

The bright yellow moonlight, like a ribbon, hung outside the restaurant window, and the blue tiles outside shimmered with a faint light, appearing even brighter than the lights inside the private rooms.

At this moment, the servant tiptoed in, added oil to the lamp, and covered it with a lampshade.

As the lights flickered, the brightness suddenly increased, and the stagnant, awkward, and silent atmosphere between the two guests was finally dispelled by this warmth.

"No one but me can eat your cotton."

The young man, dressed in a moon-white robe, got straight to the point and expressed his intentions to Meng Da Dongjia, a seasoned businessman.

The young man was not aggressive at all, and his tone was slow and gentle, but Meng Shichen's face had turned completely pale, and he lowered his eyes.

Qifulou is famous for Huaiyang cuisine. On the table are dishes such as braised crab meat lion's head with meaty meat, exquisitely shaped squirrel mandarin fish, and Wensi tofu with superb knife skills. Every dish is exquisitely crafted and has a wonderful aroma.

But at this moment, Meng Shichen had neither the interest to watch nor the appetite to eat.

A pair of eyes stared intently at the young man in front of him.

"I don't like negotiating, so I generally don't give people a choice."

The young man's casual remark sounded like a threat at first glance.

For a moment, everyone suspected that the so-called purchase contract signed with the city's five major cloth merchants, which was placed in a wooden box on the table, was just a bluff to scare him.

But when the other party told him that he had given a stake in Baiyufang, one of the five major cloth shops, Meng Shichen's heart sank to the bottom.

Just like before, when the other party bought cotton from Songjiang Prefecture at five times the price in one go, this time, the other party also put their heaviest bargaining chip on the table.

Meng Shichen sighed. Such generosity in spending mountains of gold and silver like water made even the usually magnanimous Chairman Meng admit his inferiority.

Even he could imagine that when Chen Yangxuan and Zheng Qifeng, those old scoundrels, heard about this offer, they would be so happy that they would want to become sworn brothers with this young man.

In the morning, he personally pressed his fingerprint at Baiyufang, opened an account, received a customer certificate, and personally traded a promissory note. A strange feeling of fear and envy arose in his heart.

After he and the wealthy man who sold him the promissory note got up and left the counter, they looked to the left and saw the clerk write several transaction records on the blackboard.

This strange feeling suddenly transformed into a wonderful sensation that combined shock and surprise.

In less than a dozen breaths, the promissory note in my hand had increased by 30%... 30%!

The wealthy man next to him, who had just sold his promissory note, immediately beat his chest and stomped his feet, cursing for a long time, though it was unclear who he was cursing. Then, with red eyes, he told him that he wanted to buy it back... Meng Shichen naturally refused.

After spending about half an hour inside the magical Baiyufang, he realized it was a golden hen that could lay golden eggs.

But this young man was almost without hesitation, even offering it up as a bargaining chip to get what he wanted, which was frighteningly calm.

After a long silence, Meng Shichen sighed softly and said, "Mr. Ning, you've kept me waiting."

As the other party said, he had no choice; six times the price, a 30% deposit—there was nothing more to consider. This was already an act of great generosity on the other party's part, letting the cotton merchants in the city off the hook.

The night at midnight was pitch black.

A sturdy yellow horse pulled the carriage, tumbling and rolling through the streets.

With Meng Shichen by his side, he gathered several other powerful cotton merchants from various prefectures and placed an order for a total of five million catties of cotton at a price of 120 wen per unit, with a 30% deposit. The matter was finally nearing its end. Nearly 200,000 wen of cash flowed out like water, used as deposits to pay the cotton merchants.

Ning Nan placed the wooden box containing a series of contracts on the carriage seat, then huddled in a corner to support his stiff back. With the occasional up-and-down jolting of the carriage, he could pretend he was getting a massage.

"I'm exhausted," he muttered blankly.

Despite being exhausted, I was still silently planning some things.

The cotton production in the Jiangnan region is extremely high, but this year's production has generally decreased by 30% to 50%.

In those days, the survey data from the imperial court was not very reliable. He could only rely on visiting and studying local county records to make inferences, estimating that the tens of millions of catties of cotton in his possession accounted for about 10% to 15%.

As long as one's predictions aren't wildly wrong, this amount of cotton is enough to determine the entire cotton market.

The night breeze blew in from outside the lifted carriage curtain, and Ning Nan rubbed his sore eyes.

I haven't been sleeping well these past few days. In order not to disturb my wife Cui Cui's sleep, I've been sleeping in the study every night.

Although he still went to the private school in Liuye Lane during the day, his mind was actually very tense, and he didn't do very well in the eight-legged essay. He was basically thinking about these kinds of things.

But there was no other way.

Ning Nan squinted, slowly inhaled, and then slowly exhaled from his lungs, his eyes becoming tired and complicated.

Sujin Pavilion was originally the property of Cui Cui's mother's family. It was inexplicably handed over to her, and it even looked like that her mother had snatched it from her second uncle.

Having just taken over the business, he was immediately plunged into such a huge crisis. While feeling unlucky, he was also deeply shocked and dissatisfied with the huge mess left behind by his wife's unreliable second uncle.

But since it was Cui Cui's wife who brought the pit herself, rather than someone else giving it to him, he had no choice but to accept it and deal with it as it came.

We can't just leave like that, or we should go find that so-called Boss Dou and ask him what his next move is.

In that case, his wife would lose face in her family.

My tense back relaxed a little, and I felt much better.

I glanced at the bulging wooden box and thought to myself, thankfully... it's almost all over.

When we returned to Baiyufang.

It was already past 1:45 AM.

Changqing Trading Company lent him a storefront to run the Nancheng Daily.

Five days ago, he rented this place, not far from the Nancheng Daily, and opened this Baiyufang.

Even at this moment, the backyard of Baiyufang was still brightly lit.

"How is it?"

Ning Nan opened and closed his arms, stretching to invigorate himself, as he walked into a side room in the backyard.

inside.

Li Xingzheng and his three accountants were hunched over a table, writing and calculating.

"The basic analysis is complete."

Li Xing's eyes were bloodshot, and he was yawning.

"Big pot—" After a long yawn, the boy finally spoke a little more clearly, shaking his head and saying, "There are three big households in total, um, I can't say three, let's say three groups."

He handed me a piece of paper.

Ning Nan took it and looked at it.

There are eight people in total, from "0461" to "0468", with consecutive numbers and consecutive account opening times.

Li Xingdao said, "These eight people arrived late, and they only buy, not sell. They all only buy and don't sell. Moreover, the time of the transactions and the counters where they traded were either similar or they were all queuing in the same line, like these three records."

He took out another piece of paper and pointed to it, "All three people were at counter seven, and the times were consecutive, which means they were all at counter seven at that time."

"Are you sure they're together?"

"It's pretty close," Li Xing said. "They've only been buying, not selling, and they currently hold a total of 152 cards."

Ning Nan laughed and said, "Let's call them the number one big spender."

He squinted and looked again. The second largest holder held 120 cards, and there were three people in total. They also had consecutive numbers, and their behavior pattern was basically the same as the first largest holder. The third largest holder was a single person, holding 105 cards.

In other words, the top three holders together own more than 30%... Tsk, the concentration is happening faster than he imagined.

There are so many smart people.

Awesome.

"Let's check again tomorrow... Have you calculated the cost at parity?" Ning Nan raised an eyebrow and asked.

"Hmm," Li Xing nodded, his head throbbing slightly, and said with a sour tone, "The entire market saw 342 transactions today. The largest single transaction was 35 lots, with a cost of 120 coins; the average cost for the day was 155 coins. The average cost for the number one big player was 182 coins."