Chapter 88 Are we scammed? (1/2)

Chapter 88 – Are we scammed?

After the demonstration had ended, Tong gathered up the citizens who had come to the auction house and taught them the cooking methods on the stage.

He also reminded them that these spice and ingredients could be bought at SE shops around the city, and the utensils at WM shops. The price was cheap as a small 50-gram spice bottle would be sold for 5 coins if the buyer was a citizen with identification token, but it would cost 50 coins if a merchant from another city came here to buy it from the shop.

The citizens had the privilege to buy everything in the shop at only 10% of the market price!

They repeatedly nodded and dispersed to spread the news with their friends and families back home.

…

Meanwhile, Feng Ji and the Yuan family representatives, who had no idea about the citizen privilege, returned to their camp outside of Julu City walls. Because their troops could not enter the city and weapons were prohibited, the Yuan escort troops had to camp outside.

All traders, who had been in the auction hall this morning, were busy begging the Yuan family members for a share of the concession or tried to reserve a portion of goods that they could buy.

Feng Ji grinned from ear to ear watching the sight of the frantic greedy merchants. They competed with each other to appeal to him and his representative members, which exhilarated Feng Ji. He loved being in the spotlight and got all the attention to him.

Feng Ji eventually bragged with the workers and claimed the credit of this auction and the profits that they would gain in the future. It was him who forced the representative into bidding the concession right and won it in the end.

He sneaked a glance at Tian Feng, who was the leader of the current caravan, with his mocking eyes. Feng Ji still held grudge against Tian Feng.

'See? It is me who can bring out the greatness of our Lord! For someone who doesn't even have the balls to enter the city, you can suck your thumb and watch me step on you to the top! I'll reclaim what's mine!'

After two months of isolation imprisonment in the Yuan guess house, he was released and allowed to continue serving the Yuan family. However, he had to climb up from an ordinary servant position again.

Feng Ji swore that he would take back his position as the head butler back from Tian Feng and crushed him underfoot. It should be him who stood above everybody else in this branch family, not a newcomer.

…

Tian Feng ignored the prideful Feng Ji and helped his aide and the staffs jotting down the order reservation from the merchants. He would send Feng Ji inside the city again to negotiate the first lot of spice and other goods that they would buy from Julu for reselling.

Tian Feng had to admit that Feng Ji had contributed greatly for winning the concession right from the auction, even though it cost them half a million taels of gold.

However, the benefits that the Yuan family could reap from this was massive. The price tag for 50 grams bottle of spice was 50 coins, but they could buy it from Julu City for 10 coins each. If they resold it in other cities, they could get more than 50 coins for certain. Thus, the profit from this trade was 400% of the investment at the minimum.

With another 200,000 gold investment, they could recover their invested capitals back in no time.

Despite all the profit that they could get in the future, Tian Feng was worried.

'Why did Zhang Tong sell this to the outsiders? What did he gain from this? Gold? Trying to amass the fund for raising armies? This is too odd. They cut down the taxes to garner the favor of the people. They showed that their financial status was healthy. Yet, why are they amassing the fund with this means? I can't understand Zhang Tong's logic. Is he stupid? Of course not. He's up to something that I don't understand.'

Within Tian Feng's brain, simulations and analyses of Tong's action were being processed while the right hand of Tian Feng was writing down the lists of merchant names and the number of goods that they reserved.

Feeling helpless and unable to come up with the logic behind Tong's action, Tian Feng stopped his hand and broke away from the task. He returned to the inner camp to ask for an opinion from a certain person.

…

Te Langpu had been sitting idly around the caravan, gazing at the nervous merchants with cold eyes.

He accepted the invitation of Tian Feng to increase his security and ensured that he could not be assassinated by Tong. As a result, he had to merge his guards from his caravan with the Yuan Family escort troops. For his properties, he retained everything that belonged to himself. The rest of the servants was given to Tian Feng.