Chapter 42: An Ounce of Gold for an Ounce of Wine

"Manager Xiao, your business is growing larger by the day, but your conscience shouldn't be turning pitch black along with it."

"Manager Liu, the price you're offering doesn't even cover the cost of harvesting."

"Both of you managers, you can't expect to eat all the meat while not even letting us have a sip of the soup, can you?"

"That's right! Every year we pay out of pocket in advance for the tea farmers, and yet you're still forcing the prices down like this..."

"We won't sell! We're not selling..."

Hearing such utterly insulting and deeply damaging offers, the village heads were all filled with righteous indignation.

"Don't think I'm unaware of the unspoken rules in your tea houses. If even fifteen cash actually reaches the hands of the tea farmers, it would mean you still have a conscience."

Manager Liu cast a cold glance around the crowd and sneered, "What Manager Liu runs is a government-managed business. We have always believed in everyone making money together and have never bullied the market or suppressed competitors. If you don't wish to sell, then we shall leave immediately and purchase our tea in Suzhou and Hangzhou."

The tea house village heads never expected that Manager Liu, who dealt in strong liquor, would be so thoroughly familiar with the unspoken rules of the tea trade. Their arrogant momentum gradually subsided.

"Everyone, let Manager Xiao say a fair word."

Manager Xiao began with a smile, "Ever since the sea ban was enacted, the tea business has grown worse by the year. Many tea farmers are clearing wasteland to prepare for rice cultivation. Rather than letting your tea rot away in the warehouses, you might as well sell it to us."

The village heads looked at each other, all wearing expressions of dismay. What Manager Xiao said was the truth.

Yet someone still asked unconvinced, "Since the tea business is doing so poorly, why are you still going to the countryside to buy tea?"

Manager Liu slowly stood up and swept his gaze over the crowd, his quiet authority inspiring awe. "Manager Liu represents the government-managed trade. This means the prefectural yamen is well aware of the tea farmers' hardships. To help them tide over the lean months between harvests, we are subsidizing them out of our own pockets."

Hiss!

The village heads all drew in a sharp breath of air, utterly shocked.

They had complete faith in Xu Yougong, the Prefect of Jinling.

Every year, Xu Yougong would allocate substantial manpower and financial resources from the yamen for poverty alleviation, and he had even established numerous asylums to care for the homeless elderly free of charge.

"Everyone, in order to ensure that you all have enough food and clothing, this is the absolute most the yamen, the Yuquan Studio, and the Jinling Tavern can do."

Seeing that the timing was right, Manager Liu put on a pretentious act. "Our journey this time has taken us along the river, and our most ideal tea-purchasing location naturally would have been Suzhou and Hangzhou. Since none of you wish to sell, we shall take our leave."

The village heads were completely stunned and panicked.

Manager Liu was clearly threatening them—if this place wouldn't keep them, there were plenty of other places that would.

"Both managers, we can negotiate. Everything is open to discussion."

"It's already past noon. Stay for a meal."

"Perhaps you could reconsider and add a little more? Twenty-five cash really makes things very difficult for us."

They haggled back and forth, knowing each other's games of playing hard to get and putting up reluctant fronts.

"Since you are all so sincere, let's make it twenty-six cash."

The moment Manager Liu's voice fell, the village heads fell into deep thought.

"In business, one should never do a one-off deal." Seeing this, Manager Liu pressed his advantage while the iron was hot. "This time we plan to purchase ten thousand catties. If this goes smoothly, we will buy even more next time."

Each tea house had at least two thousand catties in stock.

With Manager Liu saying he only wanted ten thousand catties, once they divided it up among themselves, each house would only have around a thousand catties to sell.

If they didn't offload it now, it really would rot in their warehouses.

"I'll sell! I'll sell two thousand catties."

"I'll sell too, one thousand catties for me."

"And me..."

The village heads scrambled to vie with one another, terrified of falling behind the rest.

Manager Liu and Manager Xiao exchanged glances, both wearing identical smiles of satisfaction.

"You've got the makings of a businessman," Cheng Pengju murmured, his expression tinged with envy. "Our household is precisely in need of such talent."

"You could act first and report later by kidnapping him straight to the capital," Ye Xiu mocked.

"My good nephew, you don't really take me for some brainless wastrel, do you?" Cheng Pengju's eyes were full of disdain. "Xu Yougong has powerful figures backing him; even our old man has to show him three points of courtesy."

With that, Cheng Pengju suddenly asked, "You're so far away from the capital, how could you be so certain the imperial court is going to open up maritime trade?"

"I guessed it," Ye Xiu said, a look of complacency in his eyes. "Ten thousand catties of tea—factoring in labor, transport, warehousing, and taxes—only comes to a little over six hundred taels of silver. The cost of trial and error is very low."

"Then next..." Cheng Pengju's eyes lit up. "Isn't it just hoarding some silk and porcelain?"

"You're half right," Ye Xiu lowered his voice. "The truly astronomical profits come from strong liquor. At its peak, a single catty of liquor can fetch a catty of gold."

Hiss!

Cheng Pengju widened his eyes, completely awestruck.

It took him quite a while to calm down and regain his senses. "My good nephew, I'll have to write a letter to Grandpa, having him have a good chat with the Emperor about your grandfather's situation."

"To step on him, or to pull him up?" Ye Xiu asked.

"No, we'll only talk about the inner treasury's funds," Cheng Pengju said with a serious expression. "Without mentioning your grandfather, yet making it sound as though everything is about your grandfather."

"..." Ye Xiu: As expected, not a single person who understands politics is any good.

***

A single cargo vessel couldn't hold ten thousand catties of goods.

Manager Liu rented two additional boats at the docks.

Three cargo ships were now moored at the wharf.

The laborers packed and loaded the goods through the night, while Zhao Yide led men to carefully inspect the cargo package by package.

Manager Liu and Manager Xiao also rolled up their sleeves and pitched in personally, one taking the first half of the night and the other the second half.

Ye Xiu held them in high regard; anyone capable of managing a century-old establishment was certainly no ordinary character.

Early the next morning, the tea had been completely loaded onto the ships.

Only then did Ye Xiu and Cheng Pengju arrive at the docks, yawning.

"Thank you both for your hard work. I am too young to be of much help, so I hope you will forgive me."

Smiling from ear to ear, Ye Xiu stepped aboard the cargo ship and handed tea eggs, vegetable porridge, and meat buns to the two men.

"We're making a fortune together, what hard work is there to speak of?"

Manager Liu and Manager Xiao yawned continuously as well, taking the breakfasts with a warm feeling in their hearts.

Yet moments later, both of them snapped to realization: Wait a minute, isn't this the exact trick we routinely use on the clerks in our shops?

"Next, it all depends on the two of you." Ye Xiu sat on the gunwale, taking a bite of a meat bun.

"Our tea procurement this time cost seven hundred taels all-in. Next, we must send people to Jingdezhen, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Yangzhou."

Manager Liu took a sip of his porridge with a look of pure enjoyment. "Porcelain and silk are different from tea; we must compare prices across different places. The funds we have on hand are barely enough."

"If it exceeds our budget, the two of us will pay out of pocket first," Manager Xiao chimed in. "We can settle the accounts later just the same."

"Mm." Manager Liu nodded, then looked meaningfully at Ye Xiu. "Young Master Ye, can you give us a definitive bottom line now? I suspect what you care about most isn't these three major specialties of the Nanyang trade."

Knowing Manager Liu was referring to the strong liquor, Ye Xiu replied calmly, "You can rest assured about the production capacity. It will be more than enough to supply the entire country and the fleets heading to Nanyang."

"And the price?" Manager Liu's eyes gleamed with anticipation, and Manager Xiao looked equally eager.

"A catty of gold for a catty of liquor!"

Thud!

The meat buns in the hands of both Manager Liu and Manager Xiao dropped straight to the deck.

They widened their eyes, staring in utter disbelief at Ye Xiu, and spoke in perfect unison, "Young Master, are you serious?"