Daily Intelligence System: Don't Kill Me, Honey!

Chapter 798: Chapter 216: Chen Jiusi’s Strategy, Yelu Walks into the Trap (10,000 Characters for Subscriptions)_3

Zhou Peng stretched out his hand and played a card, ”Hmm, you’ve worked hard. How was the turnout today?”

The shopkeeper said, ”Even more than yesterday. This morning, as early as the hour of Yin, people were already queuing, and by the time we opened, it took no more than the time to drink a cup of tea to sell out completely.”

Zhou Peng said, ”Heh heh, looks like the grain is very much in demand. We’re bound to get rich.”

”Bang!”

Zhou Peng reached out and took the ’one bamboo’ tile that Landlord Wang had just played.

Meanwhile, Liu Rong of the Firewood Guild said, ”Guild Leader Zhou, the tactic you taught is indeed useful. Selling a little less each day with restrictions can indeed minimize losses, but what if the Commandery Princess discovers what we’re doing?”

Zhou Peng replied, ”Discover what? Aren’t we all complying with her instructions, opening the door and selling grain at a fair price? A pound of sorghum rice for ten cents, there’s no difference from before the disaster, right?”

”I haven’t been mixing sand into the rice, have I? With all this done, what does she have to be dissatisfied about?”

Upon hearing this, Landlord Wang said, ”Guild Leader Zhou, but, fifty quotas a day, isn’t that too few?”

”Few? It’s not few at all. We don’t have grain in our hands, do we? The grain has to be allocated daily, and there’s only so much. We’re already doing our best. Does the Commandery Princess really want to scrutinize us that much?”

”Besides, she’s a transient official. She’ll leave in a few days anyway. Do you think she’s really going to keep a close eye on this matter?”

While saying this, Zhou Peng played another card.

After hearing this, Landlord Zhang said, ”Yeah, Old Wang, you’re too timid. Even if the Commandery Princess farts, you treat it like a royal edict.”

Liu Rong of the Firewood Guild said, ”That’s right. She, the Commandery Princess, wants to play the saint, but what does that have to do with us? Didn’t we buy our grain with money? Fifty quotas a day, a little over a hundred pounds of sorghum rice. Do you know how much sorghum rice is going for on the Black Market right now?”

Hearing this, Landlord Wang asked, ”How much?”

”Twenty cents a pound, and it’s still going to go up.”

Hearing this, Landlord Wang exclaimed, ”It’s doubled?”

Liu Rong said, ”What did you think? A hundred pounds of rice a day, how much would I lose? Moreover, according to my estimate, in a few days, the price could very well reach twenty-five cents.”

Hearing this made Landlord Wang’s breathing heavier: ”Such huge profits!”

”What did you think?”

Zhou Peng said, ”I tell you, I estimate that this grain, at the very least, will increase fivefold!”

Hearing this, everyone around took a sharp breath. Fivefold—that meant their assets would quintuple. If someone was worth ten thousand taels before, now it would turn into fifty thousand!

Such incredible profits.

Zhou Peng looked at them and said, ”So, do you still think a hundred pounds of sorghum rice a day is too little?”

Landlord Wang replied, ”Not at all.”

Zhou Peng laughed and said, ”Exactly, this hundred pounds of sorghum rice is my goodwill, the Commandery Princess should appreciate it.”

As Zhou Peng spoke, about thirty disciples came back from the front courtyard, each with a sack on their back. They approached the nearby rice bin and poured the sorghum inside.

Seeing this scene, Liu Rong, Gang Leader of the Firewood Guild, said, ”Brother Zhou, what is this?”

Zhou Peng replied, ”Recycling grain.”

”Huh? You can recycle?”

The three of them looked bewildered at Zhou Peng. He turned to the shopkeeper behind him, ”Old Qian, explain it to them.”

Hearing this, Old Qian chuckled and said, ”Haha, my fellow shopkeepers, this is a strategy our Gang Leader thought of. Every day we send people to queue up early outside. Then we can sell the grain directly to our disciples who were sent to line up. Once the grain is sold out, it comes back here, only to be sold again the next day, continuing in a cycle.”

”You all should know, the total amount of grain sold in the past few days is less than twenty pounds.”

Huh?

Hearing this, Liu Rong and the others looked as if they had just discovered a new world, their eyes widened in surprise at Zhou Peng, ”Can we really operate like this?”

Zhou Peng smiled and said, ”Don’t tell me you fellows have been truly putting in a hundred pounds, one hundred pounds of sorghum rice every day, right?”

”Hey!”

Upon hearing this, all three simultaneously slapped their thighs. Then, Landlord Wang said, ”Guild Leader Zhou, how come you didn’t share this brilliant method with us earlier?”

Zhou Peng replied, ”You didn’t ask earlier.”

Liu Rong said, ”Ah, we’ve been at a loss, a big loss. These past two days I’ve sold four or five hundred pounds of sorghum rice. If I had sold that on the Black Market, how much money could I have made?”

Landlord Wang and Landlord Zhang both agreed completely.

The Black Market—a new underground marketplace for selling grain specifically organized in Mianshui, different from the usual black markets.

Since Third Miss Hua is now closing ranks with the Fishing Guild, her black market has been greatly impacted, leading to the spontaneous emergence of a new Black Market in Mianshui, specializing in the trade of grain, with prices far higher than those in the regular shops.

Yet, it was a place where you could genuinely purchase grain.

However, it’s a shame the prices on the black market haven’t risen recently, and for a simple reason: someone’s causing trouble.

Who?

Chen Jiusi from the Fishing Guild.

Indeed, Chen Jiusi’s Antai Grain Store has recently been strictly complying with the Commandery Princess’s edict, selling grain at fair prices, limiting the quantity per person but not the number of customers.

Moreover, Chen Jiusi has boasted that he has enough grain to feed the people of Mianshui for a year, so there’s no need to restrict grain prices.

As a result, the queues at Antai Grain Store stretch out for miles.

And Chen Jie’s daily grain sales are also increasing. In the past two days, he has sold more than six thousand shi. If he opened up sales completely, his stock could probably be wiped out in a matter of days.

Precisely because Chen Jie is keeping the grain prices stable, it has only doubled over these days, which is quite commendable.

But there’s also a rumor that Chen Jiusi is running out of grain and is just barely holding on.

Moreover, with so many people queuing up every day, many can’t get the grain and are forced to buy from the Black Market.