Su Ji's quilt shop opened as usual in the early morning. The clerk had just removed the boards and prepared to put up the sign. Dozens of "customers" waiting outside the door crowded and forced their way in.
These people either wore curtain hats or covered their faces with black cloth, trying to hide their ears and steal the bell, thinking that the shop assistants would not recognize them.
"I want to buy five sets, one set for each person in my family."
"I'll buy three sets and five cotton-padded clothes!"
These people were quite overbearing. They deliberately sent two people to block the door, blocking all the real customers from outside the store. Su He, the store owner, was smiling on the outside, but he was very worried in his heart. I wonder if Li Siye had really found a way to deal with these people.
Without the power behind people, they would be doomed.
Until evening, there were still dozens of people blocking the door, clamoring to buy quilts and jackets.
The store had been emptied, and Su He quickly ordered the clerk to go to the warehouse behind to get it.
After a while, the clerk hurriedly came out of the backyard and whispered in Suhrab's ear: "Shopkeeper, all our inventory has been sold out."
The crowd's enthusiasm for buying was still so high, and they all shouted: "I want three cotton-padded clothes, please bring them to me! Two sets of quilts! I have plenty of money!"
Su He quickly waved his hands and said, "Sorry, there is no stock in the store, so we have to temporarily close the store to restock the supply. Once we have the supply, we will open the door to welcome customers."
While he ordered a waiter to immediately go to the city posthouse to find Li Siye, he calmed the customers' emotions. More than a dozen customers winked at each other, left one after another, and hurriedly ran to report the news to the host's house.
The shop clerk and the fake customer each went to report the news from two directions. It seemed to be a competition of speed, but it seemed not to be so. In this sunny winter in Kucha City, the white snow on the roof was melting into icicles, and everything seemed calm.
On the water surface, undercurrents are surging below.
"Li Shijun, the inventory in the store has been sold out, and the store manager Su He has ordered us to close the store."
"Dr. Xiao, the other party's inventory has been completely exhausted. We have received a total of more than 800 sets of quilts and more than 900 pieces of cotton-padded jackets."
Li Siye clasped his palms together and nodded calmly: "Very good, I can take the next step."
Xiao Ting raised the corners of her mouth happily: "Yes, tomorrow we will start selling quilts at a higher price. Remember to use the banner of Congling Shouchu. The quilts will be sold for 800 yuan a set and the cotton-padded jackets will be sold for 900 yuan. Come on.
If the Protectorate knows this news, he will be so angry that he will chop off Li Siye's head!"
"I've helped my stupid cousin invisibly again. For such a big help, he should contribute another sum of money to honor me."
Xiao Ting was sitting at the counter on the second floor of the leather goods shop, drinking tea comfortably, but just outside the door to the backyard of the shop, a sneaky figure looked around, standing on tiptoes to see the shadow on the second floor.
Lu Qian rubbed his hands that were stiff from the cold, took a breath of hot air and said to himself: "I knew that this shop is definitely good at Xiaoting, but you even kept it from me, my cousin. I respect you."
With so much silk and money, you treat me like this? Ah? Pretend to be poor in front of me? Sooner or later you will have to look good!"
…
Li Siye took advantage of the fact that it was still early, and hurriedly walked out of the post and came to the courtyard where Gao Xianzhi was in the Protectorate's Mansion.
The two guards guarding the door immediately stopped him: "This is the residence of General Gao, the garrison envoy of Qiuci. No one can enter."
Li Siye quickly took out a handful of copper coins from his arms and put them into the hands of his guards: "I am Li Siye, the envoy of Congling. I have something to ask to see envoy Gao Zhen."
The guard put the money into his arms as if nothing had happened, glanced down at Li Siye, nodded and said: "Wait, I will go and inform you right away."
The guard turned around and entered the courtyard. After a while, he ran out and said, "Go in!"
Li Siye walked into the courtyard, followed the stone path into the main hall, and after the guidance of the clerk in the hall, came to the partition door of Gao Xianzhi's study.
"My humble duty is to guard Li Siye in Congling. I want to see the envoy of Gaozhen."
"Enter!"
He gently pushed open the next door, kicked off his slush-covered boots, and entered the inner room wearing socks. A sour smell immediately filled the air.
Gao Xianzhi, who had just picked up the tea bowl, coughed violently, quickly covered the bowl, and then the iron tea lid tightly, covered his mouth and nose and said: "Okay, just stand where you are, and don't go any further.
"
Li Siye suddenly felt a little embarrassed. He quickly took out a cloth bag from his arms, knelt down and unfolded it on the carpet in front of him. Three gilded tea bowls were immediately revealed inside.
"I heard that the envoy of Gaozhen likes to drink tea. I also heard that drinking tea with gold vessels can prolong your life. I specially presented three tea bowls to express my feelings."
Gao Xianzhi coughed and said, "Put your things away first. I'll ask you what you want me to do first. If I can't do it, I won't get any reward."
Li Siye was stunned for a moment. Are you so bold? He doesn't look like a stick at all, but more like a Northeastern person.
"Well, for Ambassador Gao Zhen, this is a piece of cake. He just needs to find a reason."
"What reason are you looking for?"
"Please ask Governor Gao Zhen to find a reason tomorrow to keep Xiao Ting with you for an hour."
Gao Xianzhi tapped his forehead with his finger: "Let me guess, do you want to avenge your personal vengeance, or do you want to retaliate? I will not do it to cover your crime."
"This is not to avenge private revenge, but to uncover the moths and crimes, and to clean up the market in Qiuci, so that hundreds of thousands of elders in Anxi can afford cotton-padded jackets, leather jackets, and quilts, so as to disrupt the market and drive up prices.
The profiteers have nowhere to hide.”
Gao Xianzhi slapped his palms heavily on the table: "If you want to retaliate for personal gain, you will retaliate for personal gain! Why are you looking for such a high-sounding excuse?"
"Even if I want to retaliate, if he is really upright and honest, and can distinguish between public and private affairs, can I grab him by his pigtails?"
Another smile appeared on the other party's face: "So, Xiao Ting, who has joined the army in recording affairs, is really hoarding and driving up prices?"
"If not, I will go and apologize to the Protector myself."
Gao Xianzhi snorted heavily: "If you can't bring down Xiao Ting, Xiao Ting will not let you go without me raising troops to investigate and frame my colleagues!"
Li Siye crossed his hands and bowed: "I know what the consequences will be, so I have full confidence."
Gao Xianzhi sighed: "You are obviously capable of charging into battle, but you want to learn how to engage in business and intrigue. Put your things down and go out."
Li Siye bowed and crossed his arms again, turned around and prepared to go out.
"etc!"
He was startled and turned around. Gao Xianzhi had already pulled out several linen foot bags from the wooden box beside him, and threw them at him: "Replace the foot bags on your feet! It makes me want to die!"
"
Li Siye hurriedly hugged it with his hands and fled from Gao Xianzhi's study in a hurry.
…
Another cold night is about to pass. This night, many Anxi poor people were shivering in their sleep, hugging their thin quilts, and many Anxi athletes guarding the city walls were slowly falling in the biting cold wind.
Unfortunately, they could no longer wait. If they waited one more day, more people would die because they could not withstand the severe cold.
In the early morning, Li Siye sat on the second floor of the wine shop opposite Lu Ji Fur Store, opened the window facing the street, wrapped in a large cotton-padded jacket, holding a cup of cold Sanle syrup in his hand, and stared at the shop door opposite.
There were only two Sogdians sitting on the second floor of the restaurant. They were shaken by the cold wind blowing through the hall. One of them angrily put the wine bowl on the low table, pointed at Li Siye and shouted: "Are you stupid?
! It’s such a cold day and the window is open! Close it quickly!”
Li Siye put down the wine cup and turned around: "What did you say?"
"I told you to close the window! You don't understand..."
He groaned in annoyance and threw down the cotton-padded jacket on his body, revealing a blue military attache's crotchless robe, leaning his elbows on the table.
The two Sogdians hurriedly left their seats and crossed their arms to apologize: "I'm sorry, Master Jun, let's find a seat downstairs."
They hurriedly carried the wine pot and wine bowl and fled downstairs.
Now that the second floor was much cleaner, Li Siye turned to look out the window. The clerk in the leather goods shop began to unpack the boards. The shopkeeper hung a wooden sign with the goods and prices on the wall, officially opening the store for business.
The two waiters started shouting: "Our store has launched new products, jackets and quilts made of cotton from Congling! It's warmer than sheepskin! In order to help the elders of Qixi survive the severe cold, we have a huge sale at a reduced price! Quilts cost 800 yuan a piece.
, a cotton-padded jacket costs 900 yuan!”
Li Siye wrinkled his nose in annoyance: "You are so greedy, you dare to double it!"
He immediately stuck out his head, made an action gesture to Fujimu who was waiting downstairs with his horse, and whispered: "Go and call Cao Canjun over immediately, ask him to bring more people, and cover the entire front and back doors of the store.