Chapter 47 - 23: Anticipation
Chapter 47: Chapter 23: Anticipation
After sending Gao Yao away.
Fang Rui began to wander through the Black Market by himself. He made a complete circuit but found no pork lard, eggs, or meat, buying only thirty jin of cornmeal in the end.
That’s right, cornmeal. With the soaring profits from his finished medicines, he had become well-off, and the Fang Family was returning to the days of having cornmeal as their staple food.
’I need to buy at least one or two of these things—meat, eggs, oil, soybeans...—to improve our lives. If I can’t buy from independent farmers, then I’ll just have to find the resellers.’
A glint appeared in Fang Rui’s eyes.
Wandering around to buy things like meat, eggs, and oil from independent farmers was a matter of luck.
But going to the resellers was not.
——This was how they made their living. They waited here every night to intercept independent farmers, snapping up their goods to resell at a markup.
So, the resellers generally had stock on hand—pork, chicken, rabbit meat, soybeans, pork lard, eggs... they would have at least one or two of these items.
For customers, it was a matter of taking what you could get.
「A short while later.」
Fang Rui walked away from a reseller’s stall, carrying a burlap sack.
It was a decent haul.
He had bought out the man’s entire stock, which consisted of: a small jar of pork lard, three jin of dried mushrooms, and a large rooster.
It cost a full ninety large coins, almost one tael of silver, to buy it all.
’Even though I spent all of today’s profit from selling medicine, and even had to chip in over ten large coins... I’m not worried.’
Fang Rui was quite calm. ’My family actually had some savings before, but I didn’t dare touch them as long as my income from the medicine wasn’t increasing.’
’But now that I’ve developed a new finished medicine formula, business is booming and profits have soared. I’ll be making at least ten-odd taels of silver a month... That gives me confidence. There’s no need to be so frugal anymore.’
’It’s just the quality of this stuff... What a rip-off!’
The corner of Fang Rui’s mouth twitched.
He had inspected his purchases: the pork lard was fine, with no issues; the dried mushrooms were a bit crumbly; and the rooster was on the older side.
That’s just how things were with resellers—the variety was incomplete, and the quality was inconsistent.
And this was after Fang Rui had shopped around, picking the reseller with the best value for his money.
Want better service?
You could.
You could go to the provisioners of the great families. There, you could order things unavailable on the open market: pork, chicken, donkey meat, pork lard, beef tallow, chicken eggs, duck eggs...
They could even procure Treasure Swords and Sabers for you.
The selection was complete, the quality was top-notch, and the service was absolutely impeccable... But, in correspondence, the prices were much higher, far more expensive than at the resellers’.
Fang Rui had made a point of asking and discovered they wouldn’t entertain any transaction under two taels of silver.
This made him sigh deeply. ’I’m just a poor devil.’
He left the Black Market.
As always, Fang Rui remained vigilant. After a frantic sprint, he suddenly emerged from a back alley. He checked his surroundings; no one was following.
’Then again, this is just the beginning, the first day the new medicine has been out...’
’Besides, I only prepared a few medicine packets today, so the profit wasn’t too eye-catching. Once this stabilizes, it’ll be a business that brings in more than ten taels of silver a month!’
’With the Ninth Grade strength I’ve revealed so far, it will be a real stretch to protect this venture.’
Fang Rui had long since broken through to the Seventh Grade, but in the eyes of the observant in the Black Market, he was still the Ninth Grade cultivator from before.
That level of strength was not enough of a deterrent to protect such a profitable business.
When the profit outweighs the risk, people will take desperate measures... In this day and age, there was never a shortage of desperados!
’However, if I revealed Eighth Grade strength, it would be more than enough to protect my own business... But it’s not like I can just go around bragging about it...’
Otherwise, people would just think he was bluffing!
’So, the best way would be for a target to show up, for me to knock them down and make an example of them to establish my authority... No need to rush it. Sooner or later, some greedy fool will get ambitious...’
A glint appeared in Fang Rui’s eyes. ’And when they do, I’ll just chop them off!’
Seeing that it was getting late, he stopped dawdling and sped up on his way home.
...
When he got home, Fang Rui went straight to the cellar. He moved the huge stone aside, led Mrs. Xue of the Fang Family and Fang Ling back into the house, and lit an oil lamp.
The flame flickered, casting a dim, warm, yellow light that filled the small house.
Fang Rui set down the burlap sack and took out its contents one by one. "Cornmeal, pork lard, dried mushrooms, a big rooster..."
"Wow!"
Fang Ling stared, her eyes wide with astonishment.
Mrs. Xue of the Fang Family clutched her chest, her eye twitching each time he brought out another item. "Why is it all cornmeal?! And also: pork lard, dried mushrooms, a big rooster..."
"I... You... Brother Rui, are we giving up on getting by?"
She was clearly distraught over Fang Rui’s extravagance.
In her eyes, how much money must these things have cost in this day and age? If he had bought Sorghum Flour instead, how long could they have eaten on that?!
"I developed two new types of medicine today... Business is booming, and the profits have shot up... This is nothing. Mother, you need to change your way of thinking."
Fang Rui explained that the profits from his finished medicine had soared, concluding, "Our family’s life will get better and better."
"Better and better!" Fang Ling clapped her little hands.
"I... I’ll try to change!"
Mrs. Xue of the Fang Family was not stubbornly set in her ways. After all, if it were possible, what mother wouldn’t want her children to eat a little better?
"Also... Brother Rui, from now on, you’ll be in charge of household affairs, like the purchasing..."
As she said this, her expression was tinged with melancholy—the feeling of loss that comes when your children have grown up, become sensible, and no longer need you.
But at the same time, a sense of relief and pride blossomed within her.