Chapter 98: Opening day

Things went much smoother than they expected. Manager Xu was extremely familiar with the management and market over there. He led them through, and renting the stall went very smoothly. The position they got was also excellent, at a price of four taels per day.

Manager Xu was afraid that Lu Chengxiao and Liu Yanping might not understand the intricacies, so he specifically said to them, “Don’t think four taels a day is expensive. In fact, selling goods in such a location is much faster than taking a remote location for two taels a day. Comparatively, it’s more cost-effective. It’s your luck. This area of the southern market mainly sells silk fabrics. Large quantities of fabric merchants still need a few days to arrive, and good positions are still available now.”

Lu Chengxiao quickly said, “I understand this principle. Thank you, Manager Xu, for your thorough help.”

Seeing that he understood, Manager Xu just smiled and didn’t say much more.

After paying the rent and receiving a receipt and a key with a tag, Manager Xu thanked the market manager and then led the two of them out of the southern market. Along the way, he instructed them, “This market is different from others. It opens early and closes early. It closes at noon. I heard you discussing with my master at home. This trip brought over a thousand pieces of cloth. That’s not too much, and the stall can accommodate it. Tonight, at the fourth watch, go to the dock to find the porters to deliver the goods. At the fifth watch, move everything to the stall. This prevents running out of stock halfway through selling, or finding out that the colors are insufficient, and rushing back to the warehouse, wasting time.”

The two remembered and walked until they were close to the Jiangyou Guild. Lu Chengxiao took out two taels of silver that he had quietly prepared on the way and handed them to Manager Xu, saying, “Today, we’d like to thank to Manager Xu for making this trip and guiding us. This is a token of appreciation. Please also convey our thanks to President Liu. After we finish selling this batch of goods, we will come to express our gratitude.”

Manager Xu felt something being pressed into his hand, and he could tell it was a small ingot of two taels of silver. He was surprised.

He had received favors from others before, but this was two taels in one go, and he was just a manager… Manager Xu hurriedly wanted to decline, “This is too much!”

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Nw Ubldtmkys yde Nkw Zydrkdt jdlo vbyv bl oyp tkhkdt vblx yehknl, ps vblu ypjle, “Pslp Yydytla Dw byhl ydu pwttlpvksdp qsa wp?”

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Mbyv vld sa voldvu rlanldv rasqkv kp vbl rasqkv xyatkd obld pkzj xlanbydvp plzz tssep.

Rv pllxp vbyv, zkjl Nkw Zydrkdt, kq usw byhl nypb vs cwu tssep qasx vbl hkzzytlap kd Zydtpbyd Akzzytl, usw sdzu dlle vs ryu vbl pyxl yp vbl nzsvb hldesap, obknb kp vos bwdeale yde plhldvu old rla rklnl, obknb kp vld rlanldv nblyrla vbyd obyv bl oswze tlv qasx vbl olyhkdt osajpbsr.

Mbl vos sq vblx kxxlekyvlzu wdelapvsse vbyv vbl vos vylzp sq pkzhla tkhld vs vblx olal alyzzu osavb kv, ps vblu bwaaklezu vbydjle Yydytla Dw.

Yydytla Dw qlzv vbyv bl bye dsv alnlkhle vbl vos vylzp sq pkzhla kd hykd yde pxkzle yp bl cke qyalolzz vs vbl vos.

Lu Chengxiao and Liu Yanping exchanged a smile, feeling that this trip was incredibly smooth, and they even had a plan for the return journey’s goods.

Both of them hadn’t eaten yet, and the four people in the warehouse were also hungry, so without delay, they quickly found a restaurant, ordered food, and waited for it to be prepared. They asked the waiter to deliver the food to the warehouse.

In this area, it was quite common for merchants to have meals delivered, so they arranged for the food to be collected an hour later and bid farewell.

They had walked for nearly two hours, unfamiliar with the place, and the four people in the warehouse were eagerly awaiting their return. They also brought them their dinner.

As it was just a warehouse without living conditions, they didn’t care much. They spread an oilcloth on the ground and sat down to eat, while also sharing their harvest from this trip with the others.

Upon hearing that the stalls in the southern market had all been rented out and they would hire porters at the fourth watch to transport the goods, the four were first surprised and then delighted. They bombarded Lu Chengxiao and Liu Yanping with questions, finishing their meal in the process. After the waiter returned the food containers, they closed the warehouse door from the inside and sat on the oilcloth to take a nap for a few hours. By the fourth watch, they were all awake.

Although it was still dark outside, they could see lights at the docks. Lu Chengxiao and Liu Yanping went to find porters together. Soon, they led six cart bearers back. After loading six carts, they locked the warehouse door and headed to the southern market.

Upon arrival, they found that many new merchants had arrived early as well. Within a moment, the rear entrance, exclusively for merchants, opened, with tax officials standing guard. Anyone entering needed to show their tag, and each cart needed to be inventoried before entry.

After unloading the six carts, Liu Yanping and Lu Chengxiao sorted the goods while the other four took the cart bearers back to the warehouse for the second round. They repeated this process until dawn, finally getting all the goods into their stalls. Before they could even breathe a sigh of relief, they heard a drumbeat. Lu Chengxiao and the others hadn’t figured out what was happening when they noticed the tension among the merchants in the adjacent stalls. It was a state of readiness.

The six of them looked at each other in confusion. Liu Yanping, being more upbeat, approached a nearby stall and asked, “What’s the drumbeat for?”

The person at the stall saw that these were a group of inexperienced youngsters and quickly reminded them, “Hurry back to your stall. The market is open, and customers are coming in.”

Liu Yanping nodded in a daze and quickly returned to their stall. Before they could understand what the phrase “customers are coming in” meant, a noisy crowd rushed in, flooding the area!

Lu Chengxiao and the six others: !!!??

Even Lu Chengxiao, who had been to Shengze once before, was a bit slow to react. Were they here to snatch goods or to buy goods? Was he really here to sell goods?

Doubting life!

Then, the six of them quickly realized the power of a stall that cost four taels of silver per day. It was indeed a snatch and grab situation. They were swarmed by people asking for prices, counting goods, and paying silver!

The whole southern market was buzzing. Merchants from neighboring stalls, even those further away, were all shouting. Yes, they were standing on stools shouting because they couldn’t see the customers behind the crowd without standing high.

Lu Chengxiao and the others didn’t have a cash box, no change, no abacus. They were pushed to the front of the stall by dozens of people urging them to price the goods. They reluctantly entered a state of big sellers.

Liu Yanping reacted faster. He grabbed two wooden stools that were originally in the stall, placed them in front, and imitated the posture of the boss in the opposite stall. “Plain colors are four hundred and eighty wen per piece, patterned ones are five hundred wen per piece! Buy ten pieces and get a discount!”

Liu Zhang and the others, hearing the loud voices coming from above their heads, were at first dumbfounded, then burst into laughter, and joined in the shouting.

Fortunately, Lu Chengxiao had plenty of spare funds on hand. He took out twenty taels of loose silver as change and exchanged five guan of copper coins from the neighboring stall. Without a cash box, they flipped one of the stools against the wall behind the stall, stuffed an oilcloth into it, and made a makeshift money box.

The market was bustling with all sorts of people – merchants buying goods, porters delivering goods, and petty thieves trying to sneak in.

But once the stall’s cover was pulled down, outsiders couldn’t enter, so the peculiar makeshift money box was relatively safe. Moreover, the six youths, except for Babao and Liu Zhang who weren’t particularly good at fighting, were all skilled in martial arts, so they weren’t afraid of trouble.

One transaction, two transactions, three transactions… They lost count after a while. The six of them wished they had twelve hands each. But within an hour, the stall, which had been crammed full of goods, was now one-third empty. Business was brisk and inexplicably fast-paced. All six of them had entered a state, a state of inexplicable excitement and fervor.

The money box quickly filled up, not with copper coins, but with ingots of silver. They didn’t even have time to listen to the clinking of coins as they tossed them into the makeshift money box. Truly, they had never experienced such excitement before.

In the midst of this frenzy, time seemed to pass even faster. When they heard the familiar sound of the gong again in the morning, they didn’t need to ask anyone; all six of them guessed it was closing time.

Was it really closing time already?

Looking around the stall, the entire place was almost empty, with only about twenty-six or twenty-seven bolts of cloth left on the table. It felt like they had just fought a thrilling battle. They all smiled as they sat or leaned against the counter.

The market manager had been banging the gong and shouting, “Closing time! Close the doors and leave!”

Lu Chengxiao also shouted, “We have a few bolts of cloth left, clearing out at a fixed price of four hundred and fifty wen per piece!”

Several other stalls in the aisle, also left with just a few items, immediately followed suit, and the sound of clearance sales echoed one after another. As a middle-aged man with a group of porters hurried past, he heard Lu Chengxiao’s shout and quickly glanced at the bolts of cloth on the table. Then, he halted in his tracks. “Clearing out at four hundred and fifty wen per piece?”

Lu Chengxiao laughed heartily. “Yes, it’s the last few pieces, selling at a loss!”

The man gritted his teeth. “Four hundred wen per piece, I’ll take them all.”

The market manager’s gong sounded closer. The man knew that these merchants wouldn’t want to take any remaining cloth back, so he was pushing for a hard bargain.

However, this hard bargain was still profitable for Lu Chengxiao and the others. After several hours of immersion, they had learned this fast-paced negotiation tactic on their own. Initially appearing hesitant and struggling, Lu Chengxiao said, “Four hundred and twenty wen.”

“Four hundred.”

Gritting his teeth, the man agreed, “Fine, four hundred it is.”

Immediately calling Babao to tally, Lu Chengxiao said, “Twenty-seven bolts, with a discount, ten taels and eight qian.”

“Ten taels! Round down the remainder.” The man wanted to haggle further.

Babao refused first. “No, then I’ll take it back.”

Seeing Lu Chengxiao shake his head, indicating that it couldn’t be done, the man reluctantly took out the silver, then called the porters and swiftly loaded the cloth onto the cart. When the market manager urged him to hurry up, he just said, “Alright, alright,” and quickly left after loading the goods.

Once he was gone, the six of them exchanged glances and burst into laughter.

With the last batch of goods sold, looking at the empty stall and the large bundle of silver, they didn’t need to count; even estimating by the number of bolts of cloth, it was about seven hundred and fifty taels.

After buying five hundred and twenty taels worth of raw cloth, plus dyeing cloth and other expenses along the way, they had about seven hundred and fifty taels on hand now. Except for Babao, who was just running along, the five of them had earned a net profit of about two hundred and thirty taels of silver.

Yes, in a while, we’ll also have to pay over twenty taels of seating tax based on the transaction amount. Once the taxes are paid, this business deal will be considered successfully completed.

But even so, it’s cause for celebration. We’ve made over two hundred taels on this trip.

The closing time now only applies to buyers. Sellers can still tidy up and finish in their stalls. So, the group decided to gather and count the silver. As expected, apart from the initial capital Lu Chengxiao used for change, the amount was pretty close to what they anticipated, with the difference being the discounts they offered at the end.

Lu Chengxiao rolled up the silver coins and said, “Let’s go pay the taxes first. After that, we’ll go to the bank, exchange these for banknotes, and split it up. We’ve rented the warehouse at the dock for two days, so we’ll go and cancel one day’s rent. Then, we’ll make a trip to the guild to give Chairman Liu a token of appreciation, spend the night at the guild, and head to Wuxing early tomorrow morning.”

Everyone cheered. What could be better than dividing the money? They went to the tax office to pay the taxes, and didn’t mention going to the bank.

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