"I actually went to the market yesterday to inquire about the news. Because I might have made a huge sum of money, I hired people from the Yuanshun Escort Agency to escort me. However, I had some misunderstandings with the third master of the Qiao family, and we were both confused. It’s already been said.”
"I guess now it's time to get things done. There will definitely be gains in Chongwenmen Market in the past! Why don't you, Mr. Song, come with me?"
Song Yuren is also a very pragmatic person. Now he began to feel that the young master Hu Liu in front of him might be very important to him, so he immediately said:
"I have my wish, but I dare not ask for my ear."
Fang Linyan nodded and said:
"Safety first. We happen to pass by Yuanshun when we go to Chongwenmen Market, so let's call the Fifth Master together."
***
Half an hour later,
Fang Linyan and his group came to the market in a mighty manner, only to find that it was as if it had been swept by a typhoon. It was a mess and there was chaos everywhere. Some people looked happy, but more people were pale, and some Even crying loudly.
Fang Linyan frowned and suddenly whispered to Laurent:
"When did you get the news about the Battle of Toshima?"
Laurent said:
"The newspaper office and the informant from the special channel left, so I didn't get the first-hand information. Moreover, it is said that the Battle of Toshima started at four o'clock this morning and ended at eight o'clock this morning."
Fang Linyan calculated the time, no wonder the market here has become like this!
It's almost four o'clock in the afternoon, and there are telegraphs now. The Battle of Toshima started at four o'clock in the morning. No matter how much it is delayed, by noon, if the people here are well-informed, they will be able to get the first-hand news.
Although the naval battle was inconclusive at that time, it was equivalent to confirming that the Japanese were so frantic that they even attacked the civilian cargo ships of British companies! Obviously, in business, regardless of the situation of the entire country, the imported goods in the entire market Goods will inevitably begin to enter the bull market...
The kerosene and sugar that Fang Linyan bought with 60,000 taels of silver were all piled up in a temporarily rented warehouse not far from the market. Now the prices on the market have soared three times, and there is still a price but no market. People use money to buy it, but no one is willing to sell it.
The formation of this phenomenon actually has a lot to do with Fang Linyan's previous actions. His incident with Mr. Qiao last night caused a sensation in the entire market.
In order to help him purchase these two goods, the Qiao family also spent three hundred thousand taels of silver to buy foreign goods in large quantities, which indeed caused the popularity of sugar and kerosene in the market. In addition, there was a foreigner who was buying large amounts of foreign goods. Once word spreads about purchasing these two types of goods, some people will definitely be reluctant to sell them.
As a result, when the market opened this morning, the prices of sugar and kerosene had already risen by almost 20%! This is an additional 20% profit!
By noon, the news of the Battle of Toshima had not yet come, and the prices of these two goods had risen by almost 40%. This was the huge power of the reputation of the foreigners + the Qiao family.
Then at around one o'clock in the afternoon, the bad news of the Battle of Toshima came. After the chaos in the market, although the people who had sold the goods before made money, they were so upset that they wanted to find a rope to strangle themselves, so they hoarded the goods. People are smiling...
When Fang Linyan walked into Qiao's warehouse, it was also a mess. But to Fang Linyan's surprise, everyone from the clerk to the shopkeeper treated him with smiles and were very enthusiastic, especially the big shopkeeper.
Come to greet me in person and invite you into the upper room.
This really surprised Fang Linyan, because in his heart, this time he did business with the Qiao Family Warehouse, it could be said that he was scheming with the Qiao Family, causing the Qiao Family to not only lose face, but also suffer losses in the transaction.
heavy.
Although in fact the Qiao family did not lose any money, it would definitely not be a happy mood to see that the hugely profitable goods they collected could not make any money and had to be handed over to others.
After tea was served, Fang Linyan was about to speak when the big shopkeeper (who had been replaced) said with a smile:
"Master Hu Liu, please wait a moment. Our third master has said that as long as you come today, he will personally receive you. Mr. Feipali came to visit the third master just now, and the discussion should be over soon."
Fang Linyan nodded and said:
"Okay, then I'll wait for a while."
As a result, while waiting, someone suddenly passed by in the corridor outside. Fang Linyan didn't pay attention at first, but this person stopped and looked inside, and then walked in immediately. Fang Linyan had just met yesterday.
My seventh uncle Hu Xueming.
At this time, Hu Xueming looked much more haggard than last night. He even looked ten years older, and his eyes were bloodshot. He was very worried.
After hesitating for a moment, Fang Linyan still followed the current rules, stood up, saluted, and took the initiative to call Uncle Qi, but well, the feeling of alienation in it could even be felt by outsiders.
After Fang Linyan saluted, the rest of the people naturally greeted him one after another. After Hu Xueming returned the salute hastily, he frowned at Fang Linyan and said:
"Lao Liu, come out, I have something to tell you."
Fang Linyan thought to himself that showing love for nothing is either adultery or theft. Are you a bad old man trying to trick me? So he smiled and said:
"Uncle Qi, you've eaten more salt than I've ever seen rice. If you want to teach me a lesson, you don't have to avoid people. Just say it if you have any good words. Didn't you teach me a lesson yesterday in front of so many people?"
Ichiban? You don’t have to save face for me today.”
Hu Xueming was hurt by Fang Linyan's words with a gun and a stick. His face suddenly turned purple with anger, and a "huffing, huffing" sound came out of his nostrils, but after a few seconds, his mind also turned around.
I had a lot of thoughts and could only swallow my anger and said: "I'm not trying to teach you a lesson, I just want to discuss something with you."
Fang Linyan looked at the old man in front of him, and was about to speak as his mind flashed, but when Wang Wu and Song Yuren came to the side, he felt that it was best not to let them see the side he showed next, so he smiled and said:
"Okay, let's go out and talk."
The two of them walked out of Qiao's Warehouse and found a secluded corner. Hu Xueming said:
"Lao Liu, when you did such a beastly thing to my family's Huiyin, Uncle Qi finally let go. Otherwise, how could you still be here as comprador for Mr. Laurent today?"
"As the saying goes, drink water and remember its source. You should actually owe my boss a favor!"
This was the first time that Fang Linyan heard about his embarrassing incident, so when faced with Hu Xueming's words, he could only shrug his shoulders for a while, and then said:
"Well, what then?"
Hu Xueming showed a hint of embarrassment on his face and said:
"It's like this. After you left yesterday, the third master of the Qiao family insisted on staying with me to drink tea and chat... He also said that hearing Jun's words was better than ten years of reading, and he would definitely pull me to win. Drinking upstairs! Alas, I reluctantly obeyed, but ended up having a few drinks and missed a big deal."
At this point, Hu Xueming was probably into the fun, and he slapped his thigh and said:
"Yesterday at the banquet, the steward of the Qiao family was very cunning. Hearing my revelation, he knew that I had a batch of foreign goods, so he tried every possible means to persuade me and wanted me to sell it to him. I was also temporarily I didn’t notice, and he really gave me a good price at the time, so I relaxed.”
Fang Linyan glanced at Hu Xueming, knowing that the nominal seventh uncle was probably not telling the truth. He probably believed only the last few words. He was sneering in his heart, but he said in his mouth:
"What kind of foreign goods is it?"
Hu Xueming said anxiously:
"It's three thousand boxes of French gourmet pasta!"
The so-called Xiangjizi is actually soap in folk dialect. Thanks to the isolation of the country during the prosperous days of Kangxi and Qianlong, most of the daily necessities still had to be imported.
Fang Linyan said calmly:
"Oh, what does Uncle Qi mean?"
Hu Xueming said angrily:
"Now that I think about it, the manager of the Qiao family is obviously shamelessly trying to deceive me! Now the price of imported spices has even increased to seventy taels per box!"
"And everyone is still talking about it. That damn little Japanese is so bold that he even dares to kill people from Great Britain and Russia. What else can he not dare to do? I am afraid that shipping will be cut off at least until the armistice. What year and month should that be?"
"Since the Treaty of Nanjing (the First Opium War), everyone has been accustomed to using foreign products. Now it's better. The number of foreign products on the market has increased at least five times!"
Speaking of this, Hu Xueming said to Fang Linyan:
"Let's do this, Xiao Liu, you can still speak in front of the third master of the Qiao family. You ask him to return my goods, and transfer the sugar and kerosene in your hands to me. If there is any difficulty, I will stand by your side."
After listening to Hu Xueming's words, Fang Linyan said leisurely:
"I finally understand why the Hu family fell so quickly after the death of Immortal Xueyan."
Hu Xueming said curiously:
"Why?"
Fang Linyan said:
"Because there are too many people like you, Uncle Qi."
Only then did Hu Xueming react. His eyes suddenly bulged and his face turned purple as he said:
"Xiao Liu, I advise you not to be ignorant of flattery!!"
Fang Linyan smiled and said:
"I haven't learned how to appreciate people since I was a child. Haven't I lived this long?"
After saying that, he turned around and walked away.
Originally, Fang Linyan thought that no matter how thick-skinned the person was, he would not bother him, right? Unexpectedly, someone would always challenge the corresponding lower limit. Hu Xueming suddenly shouted hoarsely:
"How can you help me?"
Fang Linyan's heart moved, and he felt that he seemed to have overestimated the integrity and dignity of this seventh uncle, so he planned to do something cruel, but he didn't know much about "his" previous affairs, and he couldn't think of this seventh uncle for a while. Weaknesses.
But suddenly, Fang Linyan didn't know why, but on a whim, he turned around and sneered:
"You want me to help you, yes! Didn't you accuse me of what I did to your family Huiyin? I don't accept this tone in my heart!"
"If you can let her stay with me for one night, I will promise to help you mediate this matter!"
After saying these words, Fang Linyan glanced at Hu Xueming and found that his face had turned purple with anger. It was obvious that he was so angry that one couldn't help but worry about whether his cerebral blood vessels would be damaged next moment.
Explode...
Seeing this scene, Fang Linyan laughed loudly and realized that he finally got rid of the brown candy, so he walked away.
When he returned to Qiao's shop, he found that Mr. Qiao had come back and was chatting with Wang Wu and Mr. Song. As soon as he saw Fang Linyan, Mr. Qiao had already stood up and laughed at Fang Linyan.
road:
"Sixth Young Master, you are here. You don't know that our Qiao family has spent a lot of effort to help you purchase this batch of goods!"
Fang Linyan smiled and said:
"Master Qiao is joking. The Qiao family in Shanxi is connected to the world. You are too modest for such a trivial matter, aren't you?"
"I came here this time, but there is something I want to talk to Mr. Qiao about."
Mr. Qiao said:
"Okay, you say."
Fang Linyan said:
"The goods I have here are worth around one million in total, right?"
Mr. Qiao laughed and said:
"You entrusted our bank to purchase goods worth 700,000 taels before. In addition, I said I would compensate you yesterday. Even based on the value of the goods at that time, it was already almost 900,000 taels of sugar and kerosene.
.”
"Even according to the current market price, this batch of goods is already worth 2.8 million taels of silver. If the principal is excluded, there are still 2 million taels of silver."
Although Song Yuhe and Wang Wu had no doubts about Fang Lin Yan at this time, when they heard Mr. Qiao say two million eight hundred thousand taels of silver with their own ears, they couldn't help but look at each other in shock.
They really didn't expect that the infamous Young Master Hu Liu in front of them could really turn his hands into clouds and rain, and single-handedly stir up the Sino-Japanese War!
Fang Linyan said:
"I have an urgent matter here that cannot be delayed. I need to raise 500,000 taels of silver for Mr. Song to take away. Mr. Qiao is currently in charge of Dadetong. Isn't it convenient to make notes for 500,000 taels?"
Mr. Qiao's expression suddenly became serious, he pondered for a while and said:
"The rule in Dadetong is that I can make a final decision on the transfer of funds below 300,000 taels. But I can't make the decision on this matter. I have to send a telegram immediately to discuss it with my brother."
Fang Linyan smiled and said:
"It's okay, Mr. Qiao, please help yourself."
After about ten minutes, Mr. Qiao came back directly, smiled bitterly at Fang Linyan and said:
"My brother said that in principle there is no problem, but he has an additional request. He wants me to have a few words with you alone."
Fang Linyan smiled and said:
"No problem. Mr. Qiao, please find a place and we can go over and chat."
Then the two of them accused Song Yuren and Wang Wu, and then came to the quiet room next to them. Mr. Qiao hesitated and said:
"Mr. Mr. Laurent, the man you are helping Mr. Hu Liu, is really powerful. He actually received the news six or seven days in advance that the Japanese military headquarters was going to take action without permission! And he did it against the British!"