Seeing that the people's anger gradually subsided, the people behind the scenes became anxious. They had not intended to take the lead, but if they were to be talked down by this person, they would lose more than they gained.
"Don't believe him, he is spreading lies to cover up his crimes of corruption and extortion!" someone in the crowd shouted.
Someone on the other side responded: "Yes, no one knows whether what he said is true or not, but if the caravan and grain store don't open, we will really starve!"
This sentence touched everyone's heart. Yes, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. Even if the price of mountain products in Liangjing is high and the price of rice in the south is low, they can't go to these two places to do business with them. If there are no local merchants, their products will really rot in their hands.
"Sir Governor, we know you are from a big city, but we are used to doing business with local merchants. Please don't make things difficult for them anymore." The white-haired old man pleaded.
The others also stared at Pei Che. They had seen that this prefect might not be a criminal as others said. But so what? How long could people like them, who had family backgrounds and status, stay here? After he had stirred up this pool of water, he would just walk away, and the common people would be the ones who would suffer.
Pei Che asked: "Are you used to it, or do you have to do business with them?"
The people were silent. Pei Che saw this and asked, "If there is a grain store with lower prices now, who would you like to do business with?"
The old man said without hesitation: "Of course it is cheap. But where are the other grain shops in Cangzhou?" In Cangzhou, those who want to open grain shops have no good results. Two years ago, the shopkeeper Huang had his leg broken on the way home on the opening day, and now he walks with a limp. At that time, he reported to the government, saying that when he was beaten, he pulled off a man's face towel and found that he was a clerk of Datong Commercial Bank. But the government hastily closed the case after investigation, saying that he fell like this. Since then, everyone has known the attitude of the government, and no one dares to open a grain shop in Cangzhou.
"If I say there is food, then there is food. If you trust me, come and take a walk on this street in the afternoon. If you can't buy any food, just come and find me again." Pei Che said.
After hearing this, the people looked at each other, all of them were a little undecided. They dared to block the government gate today, just because they were confident, and someone assured them that the government would never punish them. If they left now, they didn't know if there would be a next time.
"Another caravan is coming into town! They're bringing food!"
The shouting from not far away broke the silence here. Everyone was a little bit unbelievable. Ever since the mountain road collapsed seven years ago and buried many people, the number of caravans coming to their place has become fewer and fewer. In the past few years, there has been only that one caravan coming here.
Now no one hesitated anymore. They squeezed out of the crowd, went home to get silver, and brought back mountain products to exchange for food later.
The few people who were hiding in the crowd, seeing that there were fewer and fewer people, had no choice but to pretend to be excited and leave with the others.
Pei Che smiled as he watched the venue outside the door become empty in an instant. He turned around and found that the officials behind him also looked relieved. Among this group of people, there were a few who were different from everyone else. Their expressions were strange. It was unclear whether they were shocked that Pei Che solved the matter so quickly, or regretted that he was not dragged into it.
Without waiting for Pei Che to take a closer look, everyone had the same expression and stepped forward to flatter him, without any trace of their previous hidden aggressive attitude.
Pei Che ignored their rapidly changing attitudes. The isolated environment in which he had lived since childhood was like this. Everyone seemed to be born with several different masks, which they would take off according to different scenes and times, or even present completely different attitudes when facing different people.
He thought, maybe this is one of the reasons why he likes A Miao. A Miao is a pure person, a little clever, a little worldly, but when faced with major issues, he can stick to the bottom line. Whether he treats the powerful or the ordinary people, he is the same. In him, Pei Che can feel that he truly believes that everyone is equal.
This kind of thinking might seem disrespectful nowadays, but Pei Che would occasionally think that maybe A Miao's idea was right.
Pei Che chatted with these people for a few words, then went to the direction of the station house on the pretext of official business. In fact, he turned back to the backyard halfway through.
Returning to the yard, Pei Che found that only Pei Mu and Xiao Shitou were at the dining table. They were eating the steamed buns on the table, bit by bit, enjoying the delicious taste. Occasionally, they lowered their heads to drink a sip of the fragrant millet porridge and eat some side dishes.
When they saw Pei Che, they greeted him politely, then lowered their heads and started eating again.
"Where's your brother Miao?"
Little Stone raised his head and said, "My brother went outside. He said he was going to a grain store."
"Has he eaten yet?" Pei Che asked when he saw that there were no other bowls on the table.
"My brother has finished eating. He put the bowl in the kitchen and said that you can wash it when you come back. If you don't come back, Xiao Mu and I will wash it together." said Xiao Shitou.
"Well, I'll wash up with you later. It's getting late, you guys should eat quickly and then go to school." After Pei Che finished speaking, he also served himself a bowl of porridge and started eating quickly.
After packing up, Pei Che changed his clothes and walked out to the street. This shop was bought by Jiang Miao. He originally planned to continue to do some small business after the New Year, but he didn't expect it to be put to use first. All the tools inside were made in the carpentry shop these days.
The caravan that had just entered the city was unloading goods outside the shop. Each carriage was loaded with grain. After unloading them in front of the shop, they soon piled up into a small hill.
The people around stared at the sacks intently, their eyes full of desire for food. They were just waiting for someone to give the order, so they could rush into the shop and buy rice.
Jiang Miao stood aside with an account book and a thin carbon rod, organizing everyone in an orderly manner to move the grain unloaded from the ground into the shop, and those that could not be placed in the shop were moved to the warehouse.
In the shop, a square rice bin had been prepared to store rice. The white rice was poured into the bin and popped out. When you got closer and smelled it, you could smell the fragrance of rice. From the taste, you could tell that this was new rice harvested this year.
When everything was ready, Jiang Miao struck a gong hanging next to the shop and shouted, "Everyone, be quiet!"
The people gathered outside quieted down. Jiang Miao stopped his actions with satisfaction and said, "Are you all here to buy rice? Then please listen carefully. Those who bring copper coins and sacks to buy rice directly, please line up on the red barrel side. Those who need to sell mountain products before buying rice, please stand on the green barrel side."
The crowd started to move, and at a glance, you could see that there were many more people lining up for the red bucket than for the green bucket. Many of them were carrying mountain products on their backs, but they were afraid that the sales would be too slow, and they would not be able to buy them if they were late.
Jiang Miao understood their concerns, and he didn't say much. Anyway, they would understand after a long time.
"Among these grains, there are brown rice and polished rice. Brown rice costs five cents per liter, and polished rice costs eight cents per liter. You can see that these measures are newly made by the carpenters in the city. They are absolutely fair to everyone. If you find that there is less after you go home, you can just take the rice back and get a refund." Jiang Miao said.
A liter here is about 1.25 jin. Since they buy in large quantities, brown rice is about 2.5 wen per jin. They set the price at 5 wen per liter. After deducting the loss on the road and the labor cost of the vehicles, they still make some profit.
Everyone was excited when they heard this. The rice in Datong Grain Store was 16 wen per catty, and 20 wen per liter. The price of rice here was equivalent to one-fourth of that over there, which means that for every liter of rice you buy over there, you can buy four liters here!
After calculating the price difference, no one cared whether the capacity of the bucket was accurate. They just wanted to buy the rice as soon as possible, cook it at home and have a good meal to soothe their sunken stomachs which had been a little sunken in the past few days.
"I want four liters of rice!" said the first man in line. After paying twenty cents, he opened the sack of rice he brought with him and waited for the waiter to pour the rice into it.
The clerk scooped out a liter of rice, smoothed the top of the pile with a wooden ruler, and poured it into the sack. When it came to the last liter, he didn't smooth it, but poured it directly into the sack.
"Young man, that's too much!" the man shouted. He had no money on him, and the rice he had just picked out must have weighed about one or two taels.
The clerk smiled and said, "Our boss said that there is no business without a sharp edge. Today is the first day of opening, so we should make everyone happy."
The man was indeed very happy, and left excitedly with the sack. The old man behind him also ordered four liters. He stared at the waiter's hand, and when he found that the last liter was a little bit left, he grinned.
Selling mountain products for rice was not so fast. Their mountain products were no longer weighed in sacks as before, with the same price regardless of quality. Here, their mountain products were poured onto a wooden table, and after two men picked and chose, they were divided into two piles and weighed separately.
"Sir, your mid-quality hazel mushrooms weigh one catty and four ounces, and the purchase price is one hundred and twelve wen at eighty wen per catty. Your low-quality hazel mushrooms weigh two catties, and the purchase price is one hundred and ten wen at fifty-five wen per catty. The total is two hundred and twenty-two wen." The clerk quickly calculated the price with a small abacus. The purchase price and the selling price are naturally different. They have to process them after they get the mushrooms, and after adding this part of the loss, the price will naturally not be too high.
"Customer?" Seeing that the customer did not respond after he said the price, the young man looked up curiously, but saw the customer standing there blankly, as if he did not hear clearly.
"You...can you say that again?"
The waiter fulfilled his wish and repeated it again. The man was stunned for a while, wiped the tears from his eyes, and said with a smile: "Buy a bushel of rice, and the rest will be exchanged for money."
"Okay." The two guys got busy, one taking the money and the other measuring the rice, and it was done in a short while.
Carrying a heavy load of rice on his back and a heavy load of copper coins in his chest, the man walked out of the grain store and took a deep look at the sign above - Fengshou Grain Store. This is what he just asked the clerk. In the future, he will never go anywhere else except this grain store! Even if the price of grain in Datong Grain Store is lower than this, he will not go there!
(End of this chapter)