Chapter 51: Business Talks in Mojue County Town

  Ma Chao and Chui An bid farewell to Guan Yu, who though reluctant to part with them, knew that his lord was a man of great deeds and would not stoop to retain him by any means.

  Guan Yu's mood was actually quite good. After Zhu Jia's five tigers' mountain stronghold was destroyed, he became even more convinced that his vision had been correct and believed that Ma Chao would definitely bring a better way out for the brothers.

  He led the mountain stronghold crowd to send Ma Chao and his men down the mountain. After going down the mountain, they walked for a while, looking at the distance from the other people in the stronghold already very far away, Ma Chao said: "Old Guan, when I come again next time, it will be the time for us to do great things together!"

  "I also believe that our lord can lead us brothers onto a better path!"

  Ma Chao nodded, "Alright then, Old Guan you can go back now, the brothers in the mountain stronghold are all waiting for you! And that little kid from Wu An, train him well, don't give me any face!"

  Guan Haiyi burst out laughing, "Don't worry about it, Master. You know that kid made a mistake yesterday and today you left without even letting him come over. I reckon he's probably cursing me in his heart!"

  Ma Chao smiled and said, "Old Guan, let's part ways for now, we'll meet again someday!" After that, Ma Chao rode his horse and left with Cui An.

  A few days later, Ma Chao and the others arrived at Donghai County in Xuzhou. To say that both Qingzhou and Xuzhou are coastal states, but Xuzhou gave him a feeling of being much more prosperous. Perhaps it was because there were fewer people in Xuzhou than in Qingzhou, or perhaps it was for some other reason, but whatever the reason, compared to Qingzhou, Xuzhou was much stronger. This point was deeply felt by Ma Chao, who had personally been to several states.

  After arriving in Lai County, the two still found a place to settle down first. The next day, Ma Chao led Cui An to visit Donghai Mian's family. As Donghai Mian's family was a prominent household in Xuzhou, it wasn't hard to find out where they were after asking around slightly in Lai County.

  Ma Chao and Cui An knew the specific location, so they headed towards the Miao Fu residence. Ma Chao still had his bundle on his back. In his opinion, when visiting someone's home, it was best to bring some gifts. The two of them were already uninvited guests, which was quite impolite.

  But after he went out, he changed his mind. First, there was indeed nothing in this place that Ma Chao could appreciate, and secondly, even if you bought it, it might not be of any use.

  The Mei family is a wealthy family, no matter how expensive the things you buy are, they may not be able to afford them. So Ma Chao finally decided it's better to save some money, after all Xu Zhou is not his final destination, there will be many places to spend money in the future, if he spends it all beforehand, he won't know where to get more money from.

  Fortunately, when leaving Guan Hai's village at that time, Guan Hai kindly sent Ma Chao a lot of wealth, and Ma Chao didn't decline, but just felt it was too heavy so he let Li Gong Cui An carry it. Nowadays, money is generally enough if not squandered, otherwise even more money can't withstand being squandered.

  So, taking all these into consideration, Ma Chao decided to go empty-handed. He thought it shouldn't be a big deal going empty-handed anyway. And so, he and Cui An arrived at the Miao residence. At the gate of the Miao residence, the servants were inquiring about the two men.

  "What brings you two here?"

  Ma Chao listened and immediately raised his good impression of the Miao family to another level. Looking at others, from the servants at the gate of the mansion, one can basically see the style of a family. Although the Miao family is a merchant family, the servants at the gate of the mansion are polite and courteous, without any slackness, which makes him very satisfied.

  He saw that the speaker was about twenty years old, "This young man invited him to trouble you to inform, just say Fufeng Ma Chao, Cui An came to visit Taigong!"

  Ma Chao had heard earlier that the Mi family was now headed by Mi Zhi Gong, who was also the father of Mi Zhu and Mi Fang. The old man is sixty-one this year, and he has been over forty when Mi Zhu was born. However, it is said that his health has not been good in recent years, and the family affairs have been gradually handed over to Mi Zhu for management.

  However, Ma Chao didn't look for Miao Zhi today but instead looked for this old man because he understood that although Miao Zhi had slowly taken over the affairs of the Miao family, major decisions still required this old man's approval.

  "Right, little brother don't forget to tell Old Man Gan that I have a very important matter to discuss with him!" Ma Chao added another sentence, he himself was not confident, whether or not Old Man Gan would see him was uncertain, now if he couldn't get in, then he could only think of another way.

  The servant immediately went to report after hearing Ma Chao's words. Although he also knew that Ta Gong was not in good health, Ta Gong had long since said that if anyone came looking for him, they would be reported immediately. The servant did not dare disobey, and whether or not he saw them was Ta Gong's business. But if he didn't report it and was found out, the consequences would be severe. Losing his job would be the lightest punishment, so the servant understood very well that he couldn't afford to slack off at all.

  Met Zao Taigong, and the servant conveyed Ma Chao's words, also mentioning Ma Chao's age and appearance.

  Zhang Taigong listened to the end, thinking in his heart that Ma Chao and Cui An were two people who didn't know each other at all, nor had they ever heard of each other. Moreover, among the people he knew, there was no one with the surname Ma or Cui, so it couldn't be an old acquaintance.

  As for saying that there is something important to discuss, this does have some meaning. If it's really a big deal, then it's necessary to meet up. However, if they're just saying this because they're afraid you won't see them otherwise, then that's not very good. In any case, no matter what the reason is, one thing is certain: the other person must have something to discuss with you. Whether it's an important big deal or something else entirely, only meeting up will reveal the truth.

  Today, I have to say that this old man is not bad. What's not bad? His mood is good, and his spirit is also good. Of course, this old man won't see just anyone, or it's not easy to see him. But today, Ma Chao happened to catch a good time, the old man thought that since he didn't have anything else to do, why not see these two kids? Let's take a look at what big things they want to find him for.

  "Go and invite them in!" Zou Taigong ordered his servant, who nodded and retreated to invite Ma Chao and the others.

  Before long, the servant led Ma Chao and his men to the reception hall of Zou Taigong. Ma Chao looked at the old man in front of him and observed carefully.

  Taigong Wang was indeed around sixty years old, with a somewhat sickly complexion, but overall gave the impression of being in good spirits, especially his eyes, which were quite bright and piercing. It can be seen that although this old man is advanced in age and his body is not as strong as before, he is still sharp-minded, truly living up to the saying "old ginger is still spicy".

  Ma Chao hastily paid his respects, "Fu Feng Ma Chao, has seen Taigong!" Beside him, Cui An also paid his respects, this time he reacted quite quickly. Ah yes, how could he not be quick, Ma Chao had instructed them three times beforehand.

  At the same time Ma Chao was observing Zou Ci, Zou Ci was also observing them. The first impression Ma Chao gave him was four words: a dragon and phoenix among men.

  For nearly forty years, Mazi Gong traveled north and south, and it can be said that he had met countless people. However, there were only a few people like Ma Chao who could give him such a feeling. In the past, those who gave him this feeling were either famous scholars or powerful officials in the imperial court. Today, he felt the same way about a teenager, which made him sigh that he was indeed old. Nevertheless, he paid attention to Ma Chao and wanted to see if his feelings were correct or not.

  Cui An gave him the feeling of being a great general, absolutely a man who can dominate the battlefield.

  "You two don't have to be so polite!" said Old Man Zhang.

  Ma Chao and the other two thanked him and sat down. At this time, they basically knelt on the floor, but Ma Chao had mixed with them for so many years that he was already accustomed to it.

  After seeing the two sit down, Old Man Mei asked: "I heard from someone that you young friend have something to find me about, but I don't know what it is?"

  Taigong Wang was a rather easy-going and humorous person, referring to himself as an old man. As for calling Ma Chao "young friend", it was because the impression Ma Chao gave him made him involuntarily look up to him.

  "To be honest with you, I have come this time indeed for a major matter that needs to be discussed with the Grand Duke!"

  "Little friend, please speak!"

  "The young master wants to cooperate with Tai Gong on a business deal." Ma Chao said with a smile.

  Old Man Tuo raised an eyebrow, "I don't know what kind of business you're talking about, young friend?"

  "This, I dare to ask you, old man, if there's such a business, it's hard to calculate the exact profit, but as long as you're willing to invest, the more you invest, the more profit you'll make. Moreover, this business won't violate any laws, it's a legitimate business, so are you brave enough to do it?"

  Tai Gong laughed loudly after Ma Chao finished speaking, "My young friend is joking! If there's such a good business opportunity, not to mention an old man like me, but all the merchants under the sky should be eager to do it!"

  He paused for a moment before continuing: "However, according to what you said, the more money is spent on this book, the more profit it will bring. Is this not just a gamble?"

  "No, it's not a gamble, nor do you need to go gambling. This is a legitimate business, as long as Old Man Dai dares to invest the capital, the final profit will be beyond your imagination!" Ma Chao said confidently.

  Tai Gong seemed to have been infected by Ma Chao's confidence as well, and he hastily asked: "May I ask what business the young friend is in?"

  This was already his second time asking, but Ma Chao would certainly not easily tell him, he also had his own plans.

  "This is what Xiaozi said about cooperating with Tai Gong!" Ma Chao said slowly.

  No, compared to him, who is anxious now, it's great to have the initiative in his own hands.

  "Yes, old man, of course I know. The business is a partnership between Xiao You and me, we'll put up the capital together to do this deal!"

  Now Zou Taigong was eager to know what business he wanted to do, and as a result, he was in a hurry and fell into Ma Chao's trap.

  "This one, Old Man, if we're talking about the cost, I don't have this kid!"

  After finishing speaking, Ma Chao casually threw the bundle onto the case. The meaning is that you see, we just have this bundle, all things are here, if you can take something as capital, then take it at will.

  He has a lot of money, but it's really not enough to do this big business. Moreover, he intentionally put most of his money in Cui An's place, and now there is very little left in his own bag.

  Old Man Tai saw the situation and his nose almost didn't breathe, thinking to himself: Ah, you don't have any capital. What business can you do without money? You still ran to me talking nonsense, I thought you were going to invest a lot of money in business. But he naturally wouldn't say it out loud.

  "Little friend, you're not joking, are you? How can we do business without any capital?" Old Lady Ma wanted to see how Ma Chao would respond.

  "Grandpa, I don't have the capital, but you do. We cooperate with you providing the funds and me providing the information, isn't that a form of cooperation?"

  Ma Chao spoke very easily, giving people a feeling of equal cooperation.

  "Letter, information?" Although he had heard the word for the first time, Cao Cao slightly thought about it and understood what it meant. He thought to himself, "Ma Chao, you little rascal, not doing business is a waste of your talent." No, no, that's wrong, you are doing business, aren't you discussing information cooperation with me? This is indeed a clever trick to swindle the white wolf with empty hands.

  "Right, the young man provides information, and Old Man Tai comes up with the money. Isn't this a great collaboration? What kind of business can bring such benefits, Old Man Tai doesn't know, but as soon as he says it to you, you invest the capital, and in the end, we reap the benefits! Our cooperation will be a success!" Ma Chao seemed to have already seen the scene of dividing the money.

  Tai Gong is indeed not an ordinary businessman, Ma Chao's meaning he all understands, and didn't think it was unacceptable, only at this time being outsmarted by a younger generation, he has some unresigned heart.

  He gritted his teeth and said, "Alright, let's just go along with what you've said, little friend. We'll cooperate on this matter!"

  "Still, I believe you are wise and will never regret today's decision!"

  Ma Chao presented a flattering speech, and the old lady seemed to be very pleased. That's like saying, "Ah, I'm indeed wise and powerful, no need to say more."

  "Little friend, since we've collaborated, what about this profit..."

  "Alright, alright, Uncle Taigong. We can't take too much advantage of you either. Since you've invested the capital, I think a 50-50 split would be fine!" These words coming from Ma Chao's mouth sounded as if someone had taken advantage of him.

  Old Master Ta heard this and almost fell over, really, having lived for 61 years, he had never seen anything like it. His face was too thick-skinned, even thicker than his own skin, almost as thick as the city wall's corner. And yet he still had a 50-50 split, how did this kid have the nerve to say it out loud?

  Ma Chao took a look at the old man and didn't want to add fuel to the fire, "Old man, this kid is just asking for an outrageous price, you can just return the money on the spot, isn't that how business cooperation works?"

  Ma Chao gave Taigong Wang a white eye, meaning that at his age, he didn't need to say more. The two then began their tug-of-war and finally ended with a 3:7 split of the spoils, with Ma Chao getting three and Taigong Wang getting seven.

  30% profit is the bottom line, originally糜太公 still wanted to continue suppressing a bit, but 马超 said that if the share was any lower, he would not cooperate, no choice but to settle for 30%, who let him grasp the information.

  After reaching an agreement, the old man asked the question he had been expecting for a long time. This time, Ma Chao didn't play dumb and straightforwardly said what business they were going to do.

  "Our cooperative business is simple, just two words: Hoarding grain!"

  After hearing Ma Chao's words, Old Man Miao almost fainted.

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