Chapter 22

It all started when the Zhang family tried selling cotton clothes by chance.

The eldest son of the Zhang family, Zhang Qiquan, rarely went to the county town. On one of his trips, he inadvertently caught sight of a little beggar girl living in a dilapidated temple. He looked at her closely and happened to see her coming out hugging a pile of cotton jackets.

Curious, he guessed that the little beggar had bought them for someone else. He went inside and chatted with the boss, only to find out that the girl had bought them in bulk at an extremely low price. Back in the village, his mother and daughter-in-law were passionately discussing the cheap cotton clothes for sale at the village entrance. He took a look and sure enough, they were from the little beggar.

Zhang Qiquan's mind sprang into action.

"Cotton clothes sold for 14 wen after buying for 12 wen are so popular. This business is pure profit!" He discussed with his family, "If a little beggar can sell them, why can't we? It's money either way."

His wife Liu Cui muttered, "But isn't it inappropriate to steal a child's business?"

Zhang Qiquan laughed. "Precisely because she is a beggar, she can't do anything even if we take her business. At most, she'll glare and shed some tears."

Moreover, each jacket earns 2 wen. 50 jackets would be a whole 2 taels. Who could resist such temptation?

After sending his mother to scout out the dilapidated temple, Zhang Qiquan gathered all his family's savings and rushed to the county to buy the remaining 40-plus grey cotton jackets from Jiang Sheng at the negotiated price.

At the crack of dawn, he started selling them at the village entrance.

Seeing the village women loving them and even inviting relatives and friends from neighboring villages to buy, Zhang Qiquan was overjoyed, waiting to count his money.

But a pile of flowered cotton jackets ruined his plans.

Grey cotton jackets were cheap precisely because they were ugly. Jiang Sheng sold the flowered cotton jackets at the same price as the grey ones. Naturally, no one wanted the grey ones anymore.

Immediately, the crowd gathered around the Zhang house swarmed over to Jiang Sheng.

Some felt the quality of the flowered jackets, some repeatedly asked about the price, and some held them up high and low to examine them, eyes full of amazement.

What's more convincing than a live advertisement?

Jiang Sheng smiled and reported the price, "It's 14 wen, no bargaining. Pick whichever one you like."

One side was grey and dusty; the other bright and colorful with a live advertisement. The choice was obvious. The village women scrambled wildly until only 3-5 flowered jackets were left out of the original 50.

Zhang Qiquan's advertising had inadvertently attracted aunties from neighboring villages. Otherwise, Jiang Sheng wouldn't have sold out so quickly.

And so, two polarized scenes unfolded at the entrance of Shili Town village.

On one side, Zhang Qiquan glared at the grey, dusty jackets, standing alone with no one interested.

On the other, Jiang Sheng beamed happily, counting her money as latecoming aunties lamented missing the chance, squeezing the last two jackets left.

Zhang Qiquan was furious with resentment.

But Jiang Sheng calmly counted her copper coins without fear.

After holding back several times, Zhang Qiquan finally couldn't resist charging over.

Before Jiang Sheng could react, her brothers lined up in front of her: Fang Heng, Zheng Ruqian, Wen Zhiyun, Chang Yan.

Even the paralyzed Xu Mo frowned at the temple entrance, shouting, "What are you trying to do in broad daylight?"

But they were too young, not fully grown.

Especially compared to the adult Zhang Qiquan, they looked so tender and weak.

"What am I trying to do? I'm trying to hit you!" Zhang Qiquan raised his arms.

He didn't take these children seriously. An adult like him could take on six children alone.

Fang Heng lowered his eyes. His grip on the staff tightened and his arm slowly sank.

With his years of martial arts training, he could guarantee this strike would crack the man's skull.

In a flash, just as Zhang Qiquan's slap was about to land and Fang Heng's staff was swinging down, Liu Cui rushed over.

"What are you doing? You stole their business, and they stole it back. What more can you say?" Liu Cui yelled angrily. "We have no skills if we can't sell them, but we can't hit people!"

Zhang Qiquan's eyes turned red. "This was our entire family's savings. If we can't sell them, we'll have to face the northwest wind this New Year!"

"Then keep selling! Why hit their children when you stole their business? Stealing business and hitting their kids, why did I marry a bastard like you?" Liu Cui cried, collapsing to the ground.

Zhang Qiquan had raised his head arrogantly but now slowly squatted down, hugging his head helplessly.

He had wanted to profit from the opportunity but now had lost even the New Year money.

The poor are worthless. Either accept their fate and farm for a living, or occasionally get smart ideas that backfire horribly.

Are they destined to live in poverty? Destined to never eat white steamed buns, meat, or wear silks and satins?

Jiang Sheng stared wide-eyed. Although Zhang Qiquan was no saint, she saw a strange thing in him that would stay with her for years. She could say with certainty that vague, ambiguous thing was an indomitable spirit, a rebellious attitude.

It was truly precious.

At some point, Chang Yan in his flowered jacket approached Zhang Qiquan and said flatly, "11 wen each. We'll buy them all."

Zhang Qiquan jerked his head up.

Chang Yan analyzed, "We'll continue selling grey jackets tomorrow. 12 wen to buy, 12 wen to sell. For you to sell, it has to be 11 wen. Rather than sell to others, why not sell to us?"

Money not in hand isn't money.

It was rare for someone to want them all and pay upfront. Liu Cui grabbed Zhang Qiquan's arm to get him to agree.

grey jackets at 11 wen each totaled 441 wen.

After negotiation, Chang Yan stepped back as Jiang Sheng and her brothers brought the grey jackets over. They exchanged money for goods.

The 11 wen grey jackets were even cheaper than buying wholesale from the county.

The pity was, with the 14 wen flowered jackets preceding them, the greys definitely wouldn't sell for 14 wen anymore.

Jiang Sheng sighed to herself.

But Chang Yan shook his head. "They have to be sold for 14 wen. Tomorrow."

"Why?" Not just Jiang Sheng, all the brothers were puzzled.

With the flowered jackets before them, how could the greys possibly sell for 14 wen? The villagers weren't fools.

But Chang Yan didn't explain further, just returning to the dilapidated temple.

He was clever and smart but talked too little.

Jiang Sheng was mystified but followed him into the temple, pressing, "Fifth brother, explain clearly. Why must the grey jackets be 14 wen?"

Xu Mo was copying books. At her words, he set aside his brush and ink. "I think it's for accountability."

"You sold for 14 wen yesterday. Today, the Zhangs could sell for 13 wen, but you can't. You need to be accountable to yesterday's customers."

"As for how to sell the greys back to 14 wen, you'd have to ask little fifth."

After Xu Mo finished, all eyes fell on Chang Yan's face.

Faint pink tinged his fair cheeks but he remained calm.

After a long pause, Chang Yan said just two words: "Free gifts."