Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 114: Befriending

After County Captain Jiang helped them out, a few households in Da Feng Village showed goodwill towards them. When they saw them packing up their stall to head back, they would proactively greet them: "Brother Gu, you’re back from closing the stall, how was business today, pretty bustling, right?"

The one asking was Old Guo from Back Village.

Old Guo, who is sixty this year, has five sons and thirteen grandchildren. His family is thriving in numbers, but they are poor, still squeezing together in a clay courtyard, living off the fifteen acres of land they own.

He dreams of making his family wealthy. Seeing that the tofu businesses of the Qin, Gu, and Luo families were doing well, he thought of building a good relationship with them, hoping they would consider his family when they needed extra hands.

What about revenge from the Lu Family?

Pah!

His family can hardly keep the pot boiling; what is there to fear from the Lu Family’s revenge?

Third Grandpa chuckled, "Not bad, about the same as usual."

Third Grandpa did not specify how the family business was doing but instead said, "Brother He, we are buying soybeans, three cents per catty. If your family has soybeans to sell, you can sell them to us, we’ll buy any amount."

Old Guo was startled, originally squatting, he stood up and asked, "Is what Brother Gu said true? Your family buys soybeans for three cents a catty? No price pressing?"

Three cents per catty was the price grain shops were selling, but when they sold to the grain shops, it was three cents for two catties. The Gu Family’s offer was twice as high.

Third Grandpa smiled, "No price pressing."

Once Old Guo got the confirmation, he could no longer sit still, hurriedly saying, "Brother Gu, wait up, I’ll bring the soybeans from my home right now."

Old Guo hastily entered his courtyard, shouting, "Da Miao, Er Miao, San Miao, you rascals, hurry up and bring the soybeans to Uncle Gu’s house."

Meanwhile, Third Grandpa and others continued towards the old house at the edge of the village. After returning home, they told everyone about the soybean buying.

Mrs. Chen was grinding spices at Gu Jinli’s house. Knowing that the grain shop had raised the price of soybeans, she cursed Shopkeeper Tao, "I knew he was no good, looking all decent but rotten at heart, a crooked merchant feeding on the flesh and blood of us farmers, I curse his son to lack an anus and his daughter to have a miserable life!"

After cursing, she added, "It’s also not bad for us to collect the beans, can still press down the price."

She knew that the grain shop bought soybeans at a rate of two catties for three cents.

Third Grandpa said, "We are buying at three cents a catty, can’t press the price, but we must be careful when buying, can’t accept any moldy or bug-infested bad beans."

Mrs. Chen, upon hearing that they can’t press the price, immediately lost her enthusiasm, thinking how can she make a profit if they can’t press the price?

Third Grandma and others, upon hearing about the grain shop’s price increase, were angry too, but seeing the four hundred catties of soybeans Qin San Lang and others brought back, they felt that buying the beans was not bad after all, as they could decide the price as they pleased, and thus, they stopped worrying.

After resting for a while, Old Guo along with his eldest, second, and third sons, carrying the soybeans, came to the Gu family.

Old Guo borrowed a large scale from Village Chief He, and now holding the large scale, he said, "Brother Gu, we have brought the soybeans, please weigh them, see how many catties?"

Third Grandpa said, "Let’s check the beans first."

"Of course, of course, Brother Gu please have a look."

Third Grandpa and Father Luo inspected the three loads of soybeans at He Laoguo’s family. Seeing that the beans were well dried, not moldy, and not worm-eaten, he nodded and said, "The beans are good, let’s weigh them."

He Laoguo hurriedly let his three sons use the large scale to weigh the soybeans.

"Third Uncle Gu, a total of three hundred and twenty-six jin," said He Damiao, He Laoguo’s eldest son.

After hearing the weight, Third Grandpa calculated the amount of money and counted out nine hundred seventy-eight copper coins for He Laoguo: "Here, this is the money for the beans."

He Laoguo, excitedly taking the silver coins, almost teared up: "I’ve grown soybeans all my life, and this is the best price I’ve ever gotten. Brother Gu, rest assured, from now on, my family will sell our beans to you first. If your family doesn’t want them, I’ll sell to others."

Regardless of what other families think about the Qin, Gu, Luo, and Tian families, He Laoguo felt that these families truly had real skills. Which of those who fled famine could get acquainted with the County Magistrate and befriend the magistrate’s son-in-law?

Which one could start a business? Especially a fresh and profitable business?

He Laoguo, interested in getting along with families like the Qin, Gu, Luo, and Tian, then said to Third Grandpa: "Brother Gu, if your family is buying beans, watch out for Fourth Son He and He Daqian’s families. Those are the notorious poor families from the He clan, they mustn’t swindle you."

Third Grandpa also wanted to maintain good relations with honest people like He Laoguo, so he had Third Grandma bring out a plate of bean dregs cakes, distributing them to He Laoguo and his three sons. While eating and talking, within the span of 30 minutes, they got to know quite a bit about the He family.

Having a sensible nature, He Laoguo gave all the necessary reminders and then happily went home with his three sons and the silver coins.

As he was leaving, he also told Third Grandpa: "Brother Gu, if your family needs to use a large scale, you can rent one from He Shiliu’s house. He Shiliu has a large scale, and it only costs one copper coin to use it once."

Village Chief He’s large scale is free of charge, but now it is uncertain what sort of attitude Village Chief He has and if he would help the Gu family. Therefore, it is better to spend some silver coins to rent a large scale from He Shiliu’s house.

"Eh, I understand, thank you for the reminder, Brother He." After seeing off He Laoguo and his family, Third Grandpa stayed at home, waiting to collect beans.

Gu Jinli then took over bean tofu production from Gu Dashan and Gu Jin’an, letting them go work on the barren land.

Before dark, another household in the village came to sell soybeans, it was He Laoguo’s younger brother’s family. They were also poor and sold four hundred jin of soybeans, carrying away twelve hundred and two hundred copper coins, joyously heading home.

In less than half a day, they had collected a thousand jin of soybeans.

Because of the soybean purchase, after counting the money in the evening, Third Grandpa did not distribute cash, but instead said: "More people will come tomorrow to sell soybeans, let’s not divide the silver coins now, we should save them to buy more soybeans."

Mrs. Chen felt a pang in her heart: "Third Uncle, we have already collected a thousand jins of soybeans today, that’s enough. Let’s not buy anymore tomorrow. We can’t use that much."

Gu Jinli said, "We must buy these soybeans, and in large quantities too, even tens of thousands of jins wouldn’t be too much."

She explained, "Why does Manager Tao dare to raise the prices? Because he monopolizes the grain shop in the entire town, he has cornered the soybean supply. We didn’t buy soybeans from him today, and he isn’t worried. But if he knows we are buying soybeans, he will definitely get anxious. Then he will act, using his connections to start purchasing large amounts of soybeans."

"Qingfu Town is only so big, and there are limited soybeans. By the time we want to find more, there won’t be any left. We need to buy a lot now before Manager Tao makes a move, only then can we outcompete him."

This matter is just a beginning, Manager Tao certainly has more tricks up his sleeve.

The adults were persuaded, and although Mrs. Chen was distressed about not getting money tonight, she still agreed.

Aunt Tian, timid and worried, asked Gu Jinli, "We are outsiders. If Manager Tao incites the people of Qingfu Town not to sell us soybeans, what should we do?"

Gu Jinli replied, "If Qingfu Town has no soybeans, we can go to the neighboring two towns to buy them. If that doesn’t work, we can go to the county town to buy. Soybeans aren’t something precious; if one family won’t sell, there will always be another that will."

In any case, this was nothing to worry about. Only Manager Tao thought he was all high and mighty, thinking by raising the price of soybeans, he could control them.