"Everyone, please don't push. The goods we brought this year are very sufficient and everyone can buy them." A middle-aged man with a goatee stood on a high platform and said loudly, with a gleam of light flashing in his seemingly gentle and smiling eyes from time to time. I'm afraid that in his eyes, these fanatical people below are all fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
The entire street was cleared, and the roads on both sides were full of goods unloaded by their caravan, most of which were new things from the south, whether it was food, daily necessities or clothing, there was everything. Jiang Miao noticed that the mirrors that the sister-in-law mentioned before, which were very clear, were placed on a stall in front.
Previously, Jiang Miao wanted to find transparent colored glass that could replace glass in the colored glass shop that Grandmother Pei gave him. Unfortunately, that thing was hard to come by, the production was too small, and the price was too high, so his greenhouse plan had to be aborted. Now he found that someone in the south had made glass, and the greenhouse plan was inevitably revived.
He followed the crowd and squeezed over there, but was stopped by two strong men in front of the stall. They said, "Please stand here and watch. This peep show is fragile. If you accidentally break it, it will be embarrassing for everyone."
"Hey, big brother, may I ask how much each of these peep shows costs?" Jiang Miao asked the more friendly of the two.
The man looked her up and down and asked, "Why are you asking this?"
Jiang Miao said with a smile: "Don't you want to buy one to put back home?"
As soon as he finished speaking, another sturdy man sneered: "You want to buy this?" The man wearing gray clothes and looking extremely shabby actually had a big appetite.
Jiang Miao seemed to be irritated. He puffed out his chest and glared: "Who are you looking down on? It's just a mirror. You decide how much it costs!"
"I'm afraid you'll be scared to death if I tell you." The man smiled contemptuously.
Jiang Miao also sneered: "No one is scared. Just say it."
"Do you see the smallest one here?" The man pointed to a mirror on the table that was about the size of a plate. "This is it. It's two hundred taels. I'm afraid you can't afford that much money, right?"
"Two... two hundred taels?" Jiang Miao was speechless. It was obvious that he was shocked by the price. "This is much more expensive than the bronze mirror!"
"If you can't afford it, don't join in the fun. Go away." The strong man pushed Jiang Miao rudely, causing him to stagger. Chan Yi and Wen Jing behind Jiang Miao immediately glared at him and were about to teach this man who dared to bully their Master Jiang a lesson. Jiang Miao immediately hinted with his eyes, and only then did the two of them temporarily control their temper.
"You are such a short-sighted person. Just wait. I will sell what I have and then I will have enough money to buy a mirror. Then I will force you to deliver it to my home in person!" Jiang Miao glared at the man fiercely and uttered cruel words.
The man took a closer look and discovered that Jiang Miao's basket was filled with dried pine mushrooms, and his attitude suddenly changed.
"I thought so. He is not in his right mind. I wasted so much time talking to him." The man complained to another person.
Jiang Miao was very angry, and left the crowd with a sentence "Don't bully the poor young man", causing the man to laugh out loud. The movement here attracted the inquiring eyes of the people on the high platform, and when he saw that Jiang Miao really had nothing to pay attention to, he withdrew his gaze.
"Mr. Jiang, why don't you just buy it? It will also let those villains learn some new lessons!" Chan Yi said indignantly.
Jiang Miao immediately became normal after he walked out of the crowd. He smiled and said, "His attitude is so bad, I still buy things from him, isn't it cheaper for him?" Jiang Miao would never do such a thing as spending money to slap someone in the face. If he could buy a large amount of glass, he would consider it, but a mirror like this is completely useless to him.
Chan Yi nodded gloomily: "You are right, but can you swallow this humiliation for no reason?"
Wen Jing said: "Master Jiang has his own ideas, we just need to watch."
Wen Jing was calmer than Chan Yi. She had long observed Jiang Miao's unusual behavior. In her impression, Master Jiang was not that kind of person.
Jiang Miao smiled and said, "Let's go to the other side and have a look." This street is for selling goods, and the street next door has been cleared out for collecting mountain products.
When they reached the next street, Jiang Miao didn't get any more cold stares from the other members of the caravan, because most of the people carrying baskets and sacks on the street were dressed similarly to Jiang Miao. They stood in front of the stalls and handed over the things they had picked for inspection. After the inspection, they negotiated the price. Often they handed over a large bag of things and got a small piece of silver in return. Sometimes they didn't even get any silver, but only a handful of copper coins.
Jiang Miao frowned secretly in the back. Although he knew that the purchase price and selling price of an item could not be the same, it was rare to see such a big difference.
Jiang Miao shook his head, sighed, turned around and came to a stall, and said, "Can you please help me see how much this basket of things is worth?" He put the basket on the table and let the people at the stall look through it.
“These things of yours are everywhere in the mountain and are not worth much. Considering that it’s not easy for you to go up the mountain, I’ll give you... thirty cents.” His tone was full of alms, as if he had shown great mercy to accept this basket of things. If it were a simple mountain dweller, he would probably be fooled by him.
The manager didn't look panicked at all when being questioned, instead he looked like he was used to it. It seemed that there were many people who understood the market conditions and bargained with them.
"You also said that it was sold outside. If you have the ability, you can sell it outside yourself. Otherwise, it is only worth this price in my hands!"
Jiang Miao was silent for a while, took the basket back, and said, "I won't sell it to you. There are so many people buying mountain products on this street, and you're not the only one."
"Won't sell it to me?" The manager laughed as if he had heard a joke.
After he finished laughing, he said, "Then just go and ask. If there's anyone else who wants to buy it, just sell it to him."
When he said that, Jiang Miao guessed that the people here must be of the same mind. As expected, he asked all the stalls that bought mountain products on this street, but no one was willing to buy his stuff.
When Jiang Miao passed by the first stall, the man said, "Come back tomorrow and sell it at a different price."
Jiang Miao ignored him and left.
Chan Yi and Wen Jing were following from a distance at first, but after turning the corner, they quickly caught up.
"Master Jiang, these profiteers are so hateful. The things that the people worked so hard to collect were said to be worthless by them." Chan Yi said. She had just seen the methods used by several stalls to collect goods. Almost all of them first devalued other people's goods and then offered a low price to buy them. The people were already used to this method. Without even a question, they sold all the mountain products they had saved to them and then went to buy food in front.
"Yes, it's common sense for businessmen to be careful in their business, but what they do is clearly an abnormal transaction." In the words of his time, they could have robbed you openly, but they chose to give you some money.
"Alas, such a thing would only happen in Cangzhou. If it were Liang Jing, which merchant would dare to do such an unfair business and not be afraid of the government closing his shop?" Chan Yi muttered.
After hearing her words, Jiang Miao fell into deep thought.
When he got home, the women from other courtyards also came back, all with happy smiles on their faces, obviously having bought the items they wanted. The eldest sister-in-law from the same courtyard as Jiang Miao was a little happy but also a little sad, because she bought a mirror, but the mirror was too expensive. If she didn't really like it, she really wouldn't be willing to pay for it.
"Wen Jing, go and find out how much the mirror in Mrs. He's hand costs." Jiang Miao said. He was not in a position to get closer.
Wen Jing nodded, walked out the door naturally, and then naturally joined the crowd to inquire about the price of the mirror as big as a basin.
"Master Jiang, the mirror in her hand cost one hundred and eighty taels."
"One hundred and eighty taels, but the lowest price the person offered me just now was two hundred taels. It seems that he still chooses different prices based on the person." Jiang Miao snorted coldly. It seemed that this group of people knew their background and were bribing them in disguise.
Jiang Miao decided to wait for Pei Che to come back to discuss the matter. Even if they did not set up a new caravan at this time, they could not let these unscrupulous merchants monopolize the market and maliciously lower prices.
He kept waiting, waiting for Xiao Shitou and Pei Mu to come back from study, waiting for the sun to set, waiting for the food on the table to get cold and then heated up again, but he never waited for Pei Che and the others to come back.
Jiang Miao was extremely worried, but he couldn't show it in front of the two children, lest they worry too. Fortunately, before it got completely dark, a yamen runner rushed back from Xiahe County and brought him Pei Che's message.
All right, at least nothing happened. Jiang Miao felt relieved, thinking that Pei Che and his team must have found something in Xiahe County. He didn't know what they found, and whether it would be the key to solving the case.
At night, Jiang Miao lay on the big bed that seemed particularly wide today, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. In the past, when Pei Che was here, he just felt very crowded - no matter how wide the bed was, Pei Che would always sleep next to him.
Pei Che was not here today, so he should have slept well. However, no matter how tightly he closed his eyes, he was not sleepy at all. His mind was clear enough to sit up and play ten games of chess with his grandfather.
Jiang Miao fell asleep and finally couldn't help but hit Pei Che's pillow angrily. He thought that if Pei Che didn't come back tomorrow morning, he would go to Xiahe County to take a look. Of course, he didn't go there for Pei Che, he wanted to see if there was any place that needed his help, and by the way, tell Pei Che what happened this afternoon, and let him think about which day in the Daliang Law was applicable to these merchants.
(End of this chapter)