readsfreenovel Chapter 250 How can you do business like this?
Chapter 250 How can you do business like this?
When the oxcart from the Shen family arrived at Zhangjia Village, this was the scene they saw: some people were taking watermelons back from Zhangjia Village, while others were receiving silver from Zhangjia Village.
Manager Qin found Zhang Youtie
"Brother Zhang, what happened in the courtyard?"
Seeing Manager Qin, Zhang Youtie sighed helplessly.
“Didn’t someone outside offer 20 coins per pound? Just now, someone came to return the watermelons. The watermelons had already been taken away, but they wanted to return them, so I gave them an extra 5 coins per pound.”
Upon hearing Zhang Youtie's words, Manager Qin was greatly alarmed.
"Brother Zhang, how can you do business like this? Your heart is far too kind. The money and goods are exchanged; how can you go back on your word?" He paused, glanced at the people queuing outside, and continued...
“Even if Brother Zhang is doing this for the sake of the villagers, he shouldn’t do it this way. Business is business, and personal feelings are personal feelings. Besides, your family has no watermelons to sell this year. You came to the Shen residence before because of the villagers. Brother Zhang, do you know that a small favor is appreciated, but a large favor is resented? You don’t owe those outsiders anything.”
Seeing that Manager Qin's face was flushed with anger over this bizarre incident, Zhang Youtie knew he was upset on his behalf and quickly spoke up to comfort him.
"Actually, I'm not as kind as you say. I also want to take this opportunity to test who I can befriend and who I can't use anymore. After all, we'll be sending watermelons to the palace through the Shen family's channels every year. I'm afraid there might be some people with ulterior motives who might cause trouble. If something happens to the watermelons sent to the palace, our sins will be enormous." As he spoke, he glanced into the courtyard.
"Wouldn't this filter out honest, trustworthy, and reliable people?"
Hearing him say this, Manager Qin followed his gaze, pondered for a while, and felt that Zhang Youtie's words seemed to make a lot of sense.
"Brother Zhang, has the news that the Emperor specifically requested watermelons from Zhangjia Village not yet spread?"
"Well, nobody knows. If they did, they probably wouldn't dare to do it."
Zhang Youtie sighed, wondering if those people would regret it once the news got out. Because anyone who took the money or returned the melons today would never be sold melon seedlings by the Zhang family again.
Seeing that the work wouldn't be done today, and not knowing how many watermelons would be left, Steward Qin led his men back. Zhang Youtie wanted them to stay for dinner, but the courtyard was in such a mess that Steward Qin had no appetite, and he was also in a hurry to get back and report to his wife about the matter.
People came one after another to take away the watermelons. Zhang Youtie watched from inside the house. Most of them were from other villages, but there were a few from his own village as well. Everyone had a beaming smile on their face, just like when they received the silver a couple of days ago. Zhang Youtie and Liu Shi simply watched quietly from inside the house as everything unfolded outside.
Xia Yu saw that his parents were not happy and knew that they were not actually distressed about the money they had spent. What made them so silent was probably their feelings for each other. His father always considered the villagers' needs, but for the smallest benefit, they would put him in a very difficult position.
Is this a deal already negotiated with the Shen family? So what? What does it have to do with them? They only know whoever offers the highest price, and that's where they'll sell their watermelons.
After lunch, Grandpa Zhang arrived. Seeing the dwindling number of watermelons in the yard, he frowned and went inside.
"Dad, what brings you here?"
When Zhang Youtie saw his father come in, he quickly got up to offer him a seat.
"It's nothing, I just came to take a look. I heard that the oxcart from the Shen family left without taking a single melon today?"
"Well, I don't know how many more people want to return the watermelons, so I didn't stop them and went back first."
"Hey, isn't the agreement we signed with the Shen family enough?" Old Master Zhang asked.
"It's hard to say right now. There are still quite a few people in the village who haven't withdrawn their melons yet. The melons that mature later should be about ready."
"There's over a thousand catties at the old house; I'll bring it to you in a bit," the old man said, taking a puff of his pipe.
"Father, then I'll give you the price of twenty cash per catty," Zhang Youtie quickly said upon hearing his father's words.
"What nonsense are you talking about! We're all family, don't talk about money. We never planned to sell it anyway, we're keeping it for our own consumption. It's just food, what difference does it make whether we eat it or not?" After saying that, he sighed deeply.
"You must have lost a lot of money today, right?"
"It's not much, I still have this much silver," Zhang Youtie said hesitantly.
"Although you are not short of money now, you have dozens of people in your family who need your money, and there are many places where you need to spend money."
After speaking, he gestured with his chin towards the people in the courtyard outside.
“Those people, even if you don’t give them a single penny, they won’t have anything to say. But since you’ve already given them a penny, it’s good that you can tell whether they’re human or ghost. Right now, your fourth brother is going to the capital to take the exam, and we don’t dare touch the cash at home. You can take the watermelons from the old house to fill the Shen family’s quota. Also, all the chili peppers from this year’s wheat field are for you.”
"Father, how can that be? I can't accept your things." Zhang Youtie quickly refused upon hearing the old man's words.
“Take this. Your mother and I discussed this. I calculated the money you have, because building a house isn't enough. How much can you earn selling shrimp every day? It's good enough to feed your whole family.”
Actually, Old Master Zhang wasn't wrong. If they only considered the Zhang family's publicly stated income, building a house and supporting so many people would indeed be difficult. But Zhang Youtie had the silver notes given to him by Shen Jingheng. In his daughter's words, that was a very generous benefactor.
Although he didn't understand why his daughter called Lord Shen "Shen's Thigh," he remembered the term after hearing it a few times.
Zhang Youtie had money in his pocket, but he couldn't tell his father; that feeling was quite unpleasant. So he silently stopped talking, which was tantamount to acknowledging what Old Master Zhang had said.
Another hour or so passed. Uncle Ma calculated that no one had come for about an hour, so he took the notebook in his hand and went to find Zhang Youtie.
"Master, this is the account book I just wrote down. The villagers from other villages have all taken the watermelons, and two families from our village have taken them. Then seventeen families came to ask for compensation. The names of the people here are those who haven't come to take the watermelons or ask for compensation so far." Uncle Ma knew that Zhang Youtie was illiterate, so after saying this, he read out the names of the people who hadn't taken the watermelons or asked for money to Zhang Youtie one by one.
"The village chief's family, Zhang Dashan, Zhang Dahe, Wang Youcai, Zhang Tianliang, Old Man Wang, Zhang Tianming, Zhang Qishan, Zhang the Cripple, Zhang Dazhuang..." Zhang Youtie listened to Uncle Ma read out the names, most of which were people who were usually close to his family. However, it was quite unexpected that Old Man Wang's family did not come to ask for money, after all, his mother, Liu, had fought with Wang.
(If you've forgotten who Old Man Wang is, here's a reminder: he's the family that messed up Xia Yu's watermelons before.)
"Let's wait a little longer. It's not dark yet, and maybe someone else will come," Zhang Youtie said calmly after listening to Uncle Ma's report.