Exile after Divorce? Empty the Scumbag Husband First!-Chapter 278 - 270: How Many People Profit from Others’ Misery
Ruan Mian smiled, "We are all on the same side. Manager Yi has worked so hard and wholeheartedly to supply me. How could I covet this small profit?"
Manager Yi quickly replied modestly, "How could this be a small profit? These things are so precious to us in the north! What’s more, the weather is bad this year. There are no harvests, and we have no grain to sell in Runing! If we want to buy, it’s ten times the usual price."
He sighed deeply, lamenting his earlier failure to buy more, "There are still some leftovers in my family’s granary, but not much. Now, we can only eat frugally. It would be good if we could just get through this winter quickly."
The grain price rose so high, Ruan Mian truly did not expect it.
This is largely related to the weather, and of course, some merchants also play a part.
How many people are seizing this opportunity to profit from people’s hardships?
Thinking of this, Ruan Mian decided to help Manager Yi once more, "Shopkeeper, I still have quite a bit of grain in my cellar. This time, you should take some back with you, don’t let your family suffer."
Manager Yi was stunned, and gratefully refused, "Absolutely not, Miss Ruan. Your family has so many people. Taking their food is like taking their lives. Our granary can still hold out a bit, you shouldn’t..."
"It’s fine, Manager Yi, I’ll definitely be alright, so I’ll spare some for you. Don’t worry. Besides, we will have more business with each other in the future. What if you starve and something happens? What will I do about my future business?"
Hearing her say this, Manager Yi’s eyes were wet with gratitude. Receiving help in difficult times was a kindness he could not repay.
Ruan Mian casually invited him to sit down and immediately stated. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
"In difficult times, people should help each other. Manager Yi did not despise me as an exile back then and was willing to trust me like that, I have remembered it in my heart."
"For a person like you, shopkeeper, who keeps their word and is upright, I’m certainly willing to lend a helping hand. However, I heard you mentioned just now that the grain price in Runing City has more than doubled tenfold. Such a sky-high price, is no one in the city governing it?"
Speaking of this matter, Manager Yi sighed deeply.
"After the previous magistrate died of illness, the court dispatched an official named Wen Yuan here. But this Mr. Wen, as I see it, is not a clean official. He let the grain price continue unchecked, even claiming that once the disaster is over, it will naturally return to normal."
"Villagers have gone to lodge complaints, beating drums, but all were punished with flogging. Of course, those who profit from people’s hardships have existed since ancient times. It’s not just Runing City; all the way south, grain prices in nearby small towns have risen. The prices just vary, and the common people have no way out."
Oh, so it was this Wen Yuan.
As he pondered, Manager Yi also mentioned, "Right, I forgot to tell Miss Ruan something. This Mr. Wen said that in the future, anyone doing business out of Runing must pay additional merchandise taxes. Although it’s not much, I have to inform you."
This is clearly scraping profit from merchants, but because the amount is small, many turn a blind eye.
After all, a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake. In this territory, whoever has a higher official position has the power of speech.
Merchants are not surprised by this anymore.
"Ever since this Mr. Wen took office in our Runing, many things changed, and business is not as easy as it used to be."
"Moreover, I’ve heard that many small brothels in the city and underground casinos have the handiwork of Mr. Wen."
"He, a magistrate, secretly invests money in such shady businesses?"
In this era, the status of merchants is low, and he is unafraid to dirty his own feathers by investing, could it be that...
Ruan Mian’s eyes twitched slightly, quickly linking that since he was involved in the Princess’s assassination plot against Ah Huai, it meant he was also part of the rebellious faction.
Engaging in these risky businesses without caring for his reputation was likely to amass wealth for the Fifth Princess’s treasury.
Because of this, she looked at Manager Yi and instructed, "Shopkeeper, this matter cannot be left to develop unchecked. Once all the merchants in Runing are controlled by this Mr. Wen, the entire Runing City will be ruined."
"Indeed! But we are just merchants without power or influence, how can we have the ability to compete?"
"No rush for now. Although merchants are small in strength, the people’s power is formidable. I’ll give you an idea, you do this for now."
After speaking, she leaned over and whispered something into Manager Yi’s ear.
Then she reminded him, "You can send me messages at any time. Once I’ve dealt with my family matters, I’ll find a chance to come to Runing City and meet with you. By then, we will see how big Mr. Wen’s industry can get."
Manager Yi nodded repeatedly in agreement.
Before he left, Ruan Mian took out a lot of grain from the space and enough clay coal and loaded them onto their carriage.
Only then did she return to her house.
She thought that since the northern border’s weather was bad, the nearby garrison couldn’t have escaped unscathed.
No wonder the transport didn’t go to deliver down jackets to the garrison these past two days. It must be that something happened over there.
Thinking of this, Ruan Mian specifically hurried to the garrison to meet with her aunt.
She first went to the medicine shop and found that there were more people coming to get medicine than usual, even the consulting doctors were too busy.
Upon inquiry, she learned that due to the bad weather, many people had caught colds or fevers, and even the number of elderly people dying in the city had increased.
Once her aunt arrived, she knew the reason for Ruan Mian’s visit and pulled her to the backyard to talk.
"Now with the blizzard disaster, grain prices in the city have multiplied. People can barely afford to eat, where would they have extra money to buy our warm clothing? Now only the medicine shop has some business."
"I even thought about selling grain. There’s certainly profit to be made in this situation. But I’m not a profiteer! One must have a conscience. Profiting from others’ suffering by stepping on their hardships, how immoral!"
Ruan Mian couldn’t help but laugh. She knew her aunt was a kind-hearted person, and such a thing shouldn’t be done.
However...
"As long as we don’t sell at high prices."
"Selling not at high prices means we won’t earn much, it takes time and effort, and others might envy and resent us. Moreover, the crops in our village fields have all died of frost. Even if you have a lot in your space, with such high demand, if word gets out about your space’s secret, wouldn’t it be a loss for nothing? Others will surely suspect."
Ruan Mian had already planned for this.
She told her aunt her idea, and after hearing it, her aunt was greatly surprised, looking at her incredulously, "Will this method work?"
"We don’t even have cutting tools. Trying to make something bigger might be difficult."
"If we can’t make it that big, we can just gather little by little, no pressure." She finished speaking and took paper and a pen from the shopkeeper, drawing a greenhouse design under her aunt’s watchful gaze.
These were adjacent small greenhouses expanded to several dozen acres of farmland.
