vstars Chapter 533: A Cunning Rabbit Has Three Burrows
Chapter 533: A Cunning Rabbit Has Three Burrows
Mr. Gu hit a wall with Gu Baishuang, and with a grit of his teeth, he went to see Gu Dashi.
He hoped to borrow two hundred taels of silver from Gu Dashi.
Gu Dashi took a deep breath, his grandfather really dared to ask.
Although he was the young master of Jufu Supermarket, he earned wages just like the clerks, and he didn’t even have ten taels of silver on him.
Tong Huaqiong said that men turn bad when they have money, and since he had a history with gambling, he was not allowed to have more than ten taels on him. Even in Ning City, if he treated someone to a meal, it had to go through the company account.
If the accounts didn’t match, even his own mother would deduct his wages.
He originally had ten taels of pocket money each month, but Liu Yueer was firm on the belief that men turn bad with money, so she deducted five taels from it.
He had to be frugal with these five taels.
"Grandpa, Gu Ruinian isn’t my grandson, I have no money." Gu Dashi took out five taels of silver from his pocket and handed it to Mr. Gu, saying, "I only have five taels on me, consider it filial piety to you, no more than that."
Before Mr. Gu could show a black face, Gu Dashi continued, "My eldest sister is already married, and life wasn’t smooth for her as a stepmother in the Nie Family. Instead of backing her up as her family, we’re here to borrow money. If the Nie Family finds out, how could she hold her head up at home? In the future, don’t look for her for anything. She doesn’t belong to our Gu family, much less to Ruinian."
Gu Ruinian heard from Nie Xiaofeng that Mr. Gu asked Gu Baishuang for a loan, and he was already angry. It just so happened Mr. Gu came to his side, no wonder he gave the old man a lecture.
Mr. Gu’s beard shook with anger; the little brat dared to lecture his father, as if he had never wronged Gu Baishuang before.
"You used to..."
"Let’s not talk about the past, I’m busy."
"Back when my sister and I were close siblings, what does Gu Ruinian count as?"
"Little auntie, you take this five taels of silver for grandpa, keep it well, don’t let that unfilial grandson Gu Ruinian take it away."
Afraid that Mr. Gu would mention the silver he used from Gu Baishuang in the past, Gu Dashi quickly handed the five taels of silver to Gu Honglian, who had come with Mr. Gu to find him.
"Boss Xu, you’ve arrived, come in, come in, please."
Gu Dashi went to greet a chubby boss.
He was currently gathering charcoal per Tong Huaqiong’s instructions, busy looking for charcoal merchants to understand the prices. Gu Dashi left Mr. Gu and led Boss Xu into Jufu Supermarket to find Tong Huaqiong.
Mr. Gu gritted his teeth in anger.
Boss Xu was the largest charcoal merchant in Pingchuan. The past few years had been mild winters, so the hoarded charcoal didn’t fetch good prices. Hearing that Tong Huaqiong wanted to buy charcoal, he took the initiative to come talk business.
Of course, Tong Huaqiong wouldn’t tell these charcoal merchants that this winter would be extremely cold. She certainly wouldn’t place 500,000 catties of charcoal with the local charcoal merchants in Pingchuan and Ning City either; they all knew each other locally. They’d compare notes and start to suspect.
Suspicions would not be beneficial to her.
Even if they couldn’t guess it was due to the weather, they would suspect that Tong Huaqiong wanted to break into the charcoal market. Given her understanding of these opportunistic and profit-seeking charcoal merchants from her memories of Tong Dajiao, they would unite to exploit her and hike prices.
She planned to stabilize charcoal prices when the extreme cold arrived but had no intention of not making a profit.
Her strategy was to spread purchasing: hoard some from local merchants and some from elsewhere.
It just so happened that the Lu Family had merchant ships, so she planned to hoard some charcoal from the south as well.
In business, you should always have multiple plans in motion.
While Tong Huaqiong was hoarsely negotiating with the charcoal merchants at Jufu Supermarket, half of Jufu’s customers ran to Wu Ji.
Liu Yueer and Gu Taohua thought Wu Ji had put a spell on the customers, otherwise, why would they go running to Wu Ji?
Wu Ji’s reputation was already in tatters. Anyone buying from Wu Ji would be looked down upon by those around them.
"Come on, let’s go see what kind of mischief Second Uncle is up to." Gu Taohua pulled Second Sister-in-law Liu Yueer and headed towards Wu Ji.
Upon arriving at Wu Ji’s entrance, the crowd was packed tightly, layer upon layer, and it didn’t look like they were there to shop, it looked more like a spectacle.
"Auntie, what kind of event is Wu Ji holding?" Gu Taohua casually grabbed an auntie’s hand and asked.
"Event, my foot. Wu Ji’s second owner’s son and Eldest Young Madam Zheng have been having an affair, and her family came here to settle the score." The auntie said.
The young wife next to the auntie recognized Gu Taohua, knowing she was the young mistress of Jufu, she said while cracking sunflower seeds, "Aren’t you from the same village as Eldest Young Madam Zheng’s family? Just now, two ox carts of people came, armed with clubs and hoes, rushing into Wu Ji. Who knows if Eldest Young Madam Zheng’s paramour will be beaten to death."
The gossip-loving Gu Taohua and Liu Yueer were intrigued. With so many Xu Family members coming, Gu Ruinian was in danger.
The Xu Family wasn’t an easy lot to deal with.
"Taohua, let’s go in and have a look." Liu Yueer took out a handful of sunflower seeds from her pocket and headed towards Wu Ji with Gu Taohua.
As they squeezed their way through, they were stopped by two familiar voices.
Liu Yueer turned around, delightfully called out, "Uncle."
It turned out to be Liu Tieshan, Uncle Gu, and the Gujia Clan Leader, along with a group of Gu Family juniors, including Gu Dahuan.
"Big brother, how come you’re here?" Gu Taohua asked.
Gu Dahuan rubbed his hands and said, "I don’t even know what’s going on. I was just dragged here by Second Grandpa after coming out of the pigsty."
Gu Taohua looked speechlessly at him.
"Taohua, go call your mother." Liu Tieshan, fearing the Xu Family might get violent and kill someone, asked Gu Taohua to fetch Tong Huaqiong.
Only Tong Huaqiong could control the Xu Family.
Even if Tong Huaqiong didn’t want to get involved, if the Xu Family went over the line, she could use her noblewoman status to report them to the authorities.
Gu Taohua rushed towards Jufu Supermarket.
Tong Huaqiong had just finished negotiating a deal with Boss Xu, buying a few thousand catties of charcoal at a third lower than last winter’s market price, seeing Boss Xu off with a proud smile, when she saw Gu Taohua running towards her.
"Mother, Second Brother, and the Xu Family brought two cartloads of people to settle scores with Gu Ruinian. The village head, Second Grandpa, and the Clan Leader brought our Gu Family youths too, and Second Grandpa and the village head asked you to come over."
Anyway, having nothing else to do, Tong Huaqiong headed towards Wu Ji, with Gu Dashi following along.
They squeezed through the crowd and entered Wu Ji’s shop.
Second Uncle Gu stationed Gu Dahuan at the door, only letting Tong Huaqiong, Gu Taohua, and Gu Dashi in.
"Quit gawking, there’s nothing to see." Second Uncle Gu yelled at the eager onlookers outside.
He felt Gu Ruinian had completely disgraced the Gu Family, so he had Gu Dahuan close Wu Ji’s doors.
Tong Huaqiong glanced around; the shop was a mess. The shelves were smashed, goods scattered on the ground, and even the abacus beads were shattered.
Wu Ren and Mrs. Qiao looked livid.
Tong Zhaodi and Tong Zhijie were taking the opportunity to stuff things into bags, smiling pleasingly when they saw Tong Huaqiong come in.
From the warehouse came the sounds of cursing and sobs...
Figures moved in the courtyard.
"Hey! That’s my house, what are you smashing? Be careful, I’ll report you to the authorities."
Mrs. Qiao saw several of the Xu Family wielding clubs rush into their house after a smashing spree and quickly went to stop them but was a step too slow.
The kitchen was wrecked with a crashing noise.
Suddenly, a wail came from the warehouse.