Chapter 16: The Long Road to Gold
After leaving the bun shop, Su Luo purposefully asked Zhou Chongwen to take her to the rice and grain store, where she inquired about the grain prices in detail and compared them with the product . She then fell into deep thought. She even didn't notice that Zhou Chongwen didn't take her to ride in the carriage, and obediently followed him back to the village. Zhou Chongwen felt that something was wrong, and his intuition told him that Su Luo was eyeing the money. Not a month later, but now.
After thinking carefully about the conversation between Su Luo and Bao Zixing, and thinking about her behavior of asking about the price of rice and flour, Zhou Chongwen inferred that Su Luo should want to invest in a steamed bun shop and then ask Bao Zixing to be a consultant. Su Luo said that he would help him in the future. Although Zhou Chongwen felt that Su Luo's move was a violation of the agreement in spirit, it was a more pragmatic idea after all, so he neither supported nor opposed it. However, if someone really came to claim the money in the future, he would definitely ask Su Luo to pay it back first.
If Su Luo knew his idea, she would probably look at him with disdain and point out his small-peasant mentality. He looked down on people! How could a bun shop be Su Luo's target?
After returning home, Su Luo took a small wooden stick and did the math again. One tael of silver could buy one stone of high-quality white rice, while medium and low-quality white rice were cheaper. She paid attention to it at the time and found that one stone was roughly equivalent to about 200 kilograms.
To put it in round numbers, one thousand taels of silver can buy 200,000 kilograms of top-quality white rice, and even more of medium-quality and low-quality white rice.
Su Luo couldn't figure out how much two hundred thousand kilograms of rice would be, but if he packed the rice into bags of one hundred kilograms, there would be two thousand bags.
By comparison, we know that the grain price in Zhuxian Town is one or two cents more expensive than that in Baolai Village. Baolai Village mainly develops small handicrafts, and farming is not their strong point. The grain price in the village is definitely not the most reasonable. From this point of view, if she can find a direct source of supply in Jiangnan Rice Country, her one thousand taels should be far more than 200,000 kilograms of high-quality white rice.
That's right, Su Luo was not interested in the steamed bun shop, but in Bao Zixing's brother, the guy who had first-hand information about Jiangnan grain merchants. He was cheated, but his network of connections was still there, and Su Luo wanted to borrow his old business to find a reliable supplier for herself. Her capital was not large, only one thousand taels, but she was confident that this thousand taels would earn back double or triple by the middle of the year.
This amount should be just a small number that is not worth mentioning in the eyes of big grain traders, but for Su Luo, it is the key to whether she can be a successful time traveler. Moreover, she must put the plan into action as soon as possible. If it is too late, the price of rice will probably rise.
Having made up her mind, Su Luo thought about what she should do next. Even though she had no business experience, she knew that the purchased goods had to be stored somewhere and the storage time did not have to be too long. Now it was early February, and if she stored them until early May, her one thousand taels would become two thousand or three thousand taels.
Su Luo's intuition told her that Zhou Chongwen would oppose this matter, but if she was asked to wait another month, early February would become early March, and coupled with the transaction and shipping time, time would be very tight, so she decided to bribe Zhou Si first and ask him to make some concessions to see if the agreement could be changed to three or five days.
Su Luo couldn't figure out why she did this. As an Earthling four hundred years later, they had very little credibility left, not to mention a verbal agreement that was not binding. But she couldn't ignore Zhou Chongwen. She would rather beg and plead to change Zhou Chongwen's mind than see a trace of contempt for herself in his bright eyes.
I don’t want him to look down on me. This is the abnormal self-esteem of a time traveler.
So Su Luo went to Zhou's house and asked Zhou Chongwen if he still wanted to marry Miss Xie.
Zhou Si answered casually, "A man should get married when he is old enough, but I have no money, and I can't afford to give Miss Xie a better life." He added at the end, "I don't agree with you using the money in advance."
Su Luo opened his mouth for a long time, but no sound came out. Can this guy read minds?
While she was in a daze, Zhou Chongwen had packed his small cloth bag and was ready to go to the town to set up a stall. Su Luo followed him closely, swearing that she had no intention of touching the money, at least not now. She also reiterated that she was just concerned about his private life, and was afraid that Miss Xie would let someone else take the money during the silent period, which would be a loss.
Zhou Si was calm and said, "If I get it, I'm lucky. If I don't, it's my fate."
Su Luo said, are all gentlemen like this? Facing the girl he likes, he can be so calm about his future. Zhou Chongwen did not deny it. Su Luo came to the conclusion that gentlemen are not from Earth.
The bribery effort failed, but this did not delay the implementation of Su Luo's plan. The persuasion work could be done slowly. Even if it failed, it would only take a month at most, and she could make other preparations during this period.
First, he contacted the boss of Baozi and told him his idea. The boss was happy to take a job for his brother, so he immediately wrote a letter to ask the brother to come back for a meeting. After the initial intention was reached, Baozixing generously invited Su Luo to eat steamed buns and talked about the future with her, including agency fees, shipping costs, handling labor costs, etc. Su Luo half opened her mouth and forgot to swallow the steamed buns. She didn't consider these at all. Finally, the storage issue was mentioned. Su Luo quickly said that I have considered it and plan to rent a warehouse, which will not take too long.
Bao Zixing also said that a granary is different from a warehouse. An empty room can be called a warehouse, but a granary must be ventilated and fireproof, and must be off the ground and moisture-proof. There are only two professional granaries in the town, Qinji and Huisheng, which control the grain wholesale market in Zhuxian Town.
Having said this, Bao Zixing hurriedly stood up, turned around and walked out, saying, "I have to catch the messenger back."
Su Luo was startled, "Why do you want to get back?"
Bao Zixing smiled bitterly, "From what I heard from you, I know you have never done business. I am also anxious to find a way for me to make a living, but I can't hurt you. When the time comes, you can bring the grain back. Let's not talk about whether there is a place to store it. If you open a grain store in Zhuxian Town, who will you sell it to? Those two families are very rich, and they will squeeze you to death even if they move around."
Su Luo finally understood, and smiled to signal him not to rush, "I really have never done business before, I'm just learning bit by bit. I don't buy grain to sell in Zhuxian Town, I just want to store it in the town first, and I will have my own place to sell it."
