Chapter Fifteen Borrowing Money

  At the wine table, Lu Hong became completely backgrounded, Wu Kai was enthusiastically discussing some brewing techniques with Gao Yuan, and when he got to the exciting part, he couldn't help but slap his thigh and laugh loudly, at this moment, Wu Kai didn't look like a county magistrate at all, but rather a wine merchant.

  "Director Wu, I think the method you just mentioned for selling wine can be improved." After drinking a few cups of self-brewed high-proof liquor, Gao Yuan also had some intoxication.

  "Oh, if it's about brewing skills, you Wu Kaitai are an expert, but when it comes to selling wine, my family has been in the business for generations, how can I not be better than you?" Wu Kai said discontentedly.

  Gao Yuan chuckled and said, "I didn't say it before, but this wine of ours, has Wu Daren thought about how to sell it?"

  "Can't you come up with something new?"

  "Of course!"

  "May I hear the details?" Wu Kai's eyes widened and he clasped his hands together, at this moment, Gao Yuan was no longer just an inexperienced young man in his eyes, but a substantial partner.

  Gao Yuan smiled and brought over a jar of Wu's family wine, pouring half a bowl for himself and half a bowl from his own wine. "Sir, can you tell the difference?"

  "Of course it's big!" Wu Kai said discontentedly: "Otherwise, why would I cooperate with you?"

  Gao Yuan smiled and lined up several bowls in front of him, pouring some Wu family wine into the first one, then adding some high-proof liquor to it, and repeating this process for each subsequent bowl, with the amount of Wu family wine decreasing and the amount of his own family's wine increasing until the last bowl was filled entirely with his own family's wine. At this point, the wine in each of the several bowls was clearer than the one before it.

  "Sir, understood? This first bowl is the original wine from your family, I don't know how much it was sold for per catty in the past?"

  "Five cents!" Wu Kai stretched out a finger and measured the wine bowls on the table. "I understand what you mean, this second bowl will naturally sell for six or seven cents, this third bowl will start at ten cents, and the fourth bowl will cost twenty cents!" Wu Kai's eyes grew brighter as he counted up, "This last bowl, I'll even sell it for one yuan per catty, I'm afraid someone will still buy it!"

  With a loud slap, High and Far joined their palms together. "Lord Wu, you didn't go into business but instead became an official, what a great loss for the business world."

  "If I didn't take this official position, how could the Wu family monopolize the wine business in Fufeng and have everything go smoothly?" Wu Kai laughed.

  "Not bad, not bad, officials and merchants are in cahoots, only when they are in cahoots can they monopolize the market and reap huge profits." Gaoyuan nodded repeatedly, deeply convinced. "This wine is sold in such a way that it's natural to have distinctions, dividing the wine into grades. Those with status will naturally not buy low-grade wine. The more expensive our wine is, the more face they'll save, so, Lord Wu, this best wine can't be produced too much. We must always let outsiders buy more and we sell less. As for other things, the more the better!"

  "What a wonderful plan! What a wonderful plan!" Wu Kai burst out laughing. "My Wu family has been selling wine for generations, but it turns out that we're not as good as Gao Xian's nephew, who can enlighten us with just one sentence. From now on, let's make a fortune together!"

  "Everyone gets rich, everyone gets rich!" Gao Yuan laughed and said.

  Lu Hong couldn't get a word in edgewise and watched the two of them chatting enthusiastically with some annoyance, thinking to himself, "A pair of sly businessmen!" Looking at Wu Kai's lofty and grand discussion, he thought it was strange that his nephew had grown up before his eyes but hadn't discovered this talent.

  The wine had been drunk to the dregs, Wu Kai instructed his family's senior servant to fetch the contract and then stood up to bid farewell, Gao Yuan also stood up and followed suit to bid farewell to Lu Hong. Today was originally meant for sending wine to Lu Hong to show filial piety, but unexpectedly it turned into a big business deal in the blink of an eye, although with only half shares, as long as this business is done well, it's hard not to get rich.

  Two men went out together. Wu County Magistrate was about to get on the carriage when Gao Yuan stepped forward and grasped Wu Ke's sleeve, "Magistrate Wu, I have one more thing to ask of you, will you agree?"

  "Tell me, young master!"

  Gao Yuan sniffled and said apologetically: "In two days, I'll be preparing to take office. However, I heard from Uncle that the troops I'm going to lead have been owed half a year's salary. Without pay, it won't be easy for me to do my job. I was thinking of borrowing some money from you, sir, to tide me over. It can be deducted from my shares later, would that be alright?"

  "Haha, we just started cooperating and I haven't even seen the goods yet, you're already coming to collect interest!" Wu Kai laughed loudly, "How much do you want to borrow?"

  "A thousand yen!" The tall and majestic lion opened his mouth wide, ready to haggle over the price.

  "This money, your uncle can also afford it, why look for me to borrow?" Wu Kai was lost in thought.

  "It's precisely because he's my uncle that it's hard to bring up the topic!" Gaoyuan smiled and said: "Besides, Uncle's household doesn't have any business dealings, how could it compare to Governor Wu's lively affairs? Even if Uncle agreed, Aunt would probably be unwilling. I don't want to leave and then have a fire start in Uncle's backyard!"

  Gao Yuan said with interest, Wu Kai smiled and said: "One thousand yuan is not a large sum of money. Anyway, you have the money to pay back now. Tomorrow, I'll let Master bring it over together."

  "Thank you so much, sir!" Gaoyuan was overjoyed and bowed deeply. "Working with you is truly a pleasure."

  "It's a pleasure working with you!" Wu Kai said: "You have many tricks up your sleeve. Hmm, this wine is indeed good today, but I still want to ask, can the quality of this wine be improved?"

  "Sir, isn't this quality enough?" Gaoyuan didn't say yes or no, but laughed loudly and strode away.

  Watching the distant figure going far away, Wu Kai stroked his beard and said, "Interesting, interesting!"

  Back home, Zhang Yi quickly fixed the ear door and lingered around it for a while. Gao Yuan still didn't dare to knock on the window next door. In the end, he decided to have a good sleep first, as there was still much to do tomorrow. It seemed that his own ascension day would be postponed for two days. Speaking of which, he also needed to forge two handy blades.

  It was just dawn when Gao Yuan was woken up by Zhang Yi, saying that the steward of Wu County's household had brought a cartload of copper coins over and was now moving them into the house. Zhang Yi was scared out of his wits and could only run to call Gao Yuan.

  "Really anxious!" Gaoyuan muttered a few words in a low voice, got out of bed, and took out the two weapons he had drawn last night from the table. "Zhang Yi, when someone sends money over, you take the money, then take this sample, go find the best blacksmith in town, use the best materials to forge these two weapons for me. The style on top, length, thickness, weight I've all marked out, no mistakes allowed. I'll pay triple the price, the faster the better!"

  "I get it!" Zhang Yi now admired Gao Yuan with utmost respect. He was sleeping at home, and someone actually delivered money to his doorstep, and it was none other than the steward of the Wu County Magistrate's family, the most prominent household in Fufeng.

  Ye Jing'er was also frightened and ran back home in a hurry, the newly opened ear door made it convenient for her to rush back, she told Ye Shi about Wu County's family sending money to Gao Yuan, but Ye Shi didn't seem surprised, only saying: "What a pity, it's a waste of Wu's family's advantage, but Gao Yuan is indeed clever, this is the best solution now." Ye Jing'er was stunned for a while and still didn't understand what her mother meant.