Tianliangyuan

Chapter 95 A Huge Loss

What else can Gu Xiangdong do but lower his head and pretend to be a quail?

The emperor may dislike his own sons, but as a subject, he cannot speak ill of any of his princes; otherwise, well…

Your heart is hard to fathom!

Before we knew it, it was the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month. The previous heavy snow had not melted, and then two more days of blizzards followed!

Even in Beijing, where the response was swift and accurate, many people still perished this time.

Some people even die in their sleep, becoming corpses without a sound.

Some people, who had previously been reluctant to repair their roofs, were trapped underneath in the middle of the night and, suffering from typhoid fever, gradually lost their breath.

This time, it's a real disaster.

On the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month, there were tens of thousands of disaster victims in Youzhou alone, where the capital city is located.

The number of casualties reported from various locations continues to rise.

Xu Zhaozhao sent Gao Da Kui to inspect various places. If there were any families who could not afford coal, he instructed them to burn firewood for warmth. If they really couldn't bear to part with it, they should at least eat two full meals a day. At any time, life is more important than material possessions.

Because of the snow disaster, the atmosphere in the entire capital was somewhat gloomy. Even by the end of the twelfth lunar month, when the imperial court had sealed off the capital, every household seemed rather pessimistic, lacking the excitement and joy of the past.

Because of the snow disaster, the Marquis's mansion did not celebrate the New Year in a grand manner.

Families like theirs are naturally unaffected by the snow disaster; they have no worries about food and clothing, and even coal supplies are plentiful.

Xu Zhaozhao had previously ordered people to purchase large quantities of charcoal or firewood, mainly for the sake of the Marquis's personal guards.

After the blizzard, Xu Zhaozhao's earlier decision proved to be wise.

Each of the Marquis's personal guards was entitled to two loads of charcoal and two loads of firewood.

I can't guarantee anything else, but at least I can ensure that the whole family has a hot meal.

At this time, money no longer seemed so valuable.

Because of the blizzard, almost all prices rose, but the price of cotton cloth actually fell.

In addition to continuing to sell ordinary coarse cloth, Xu Zhaozhao's two cloth shops now also sell more natural linen and white coarse cloth.

Of course, to avoid any appearance of impropriety, these two types of fabric were sold separately in a temporary shop.

This kind of fabric is usually bought when a family is about to hold a funeral.

Shops specializing in funeral supplies only sell burial clothes, not mourning clothes. Xu Zhaozhao had previously ordered people to weave a lot of natural-colored cloth because of this.

Now, it comes in handy.

Xu Zhaozhao wasn't aiming to make a fortune from this; she simply hoped that since the people were dead, they should be given a final moment of dignity.

After all, no family would have their sons and grandsons dressed in brightly colored clothes to show their filial piety at a funeral.

Jiang Ning was the one who had the most uneasy holiday.

She had stockpiled so much cotton fabric, and it was all the thick kind, the kind that's perfect for autumn and winter, but now she couldn't sell it at all. How could she not be anxious?

Jiang Ning not only occupied all the money in her shop, but also added a large amount of money herself, and pawned a lot of jewelry for this purpose.

But now, it looks like they're about to lose everything.

Time flies, and it's already mid-January. Jiang Ning is walking down the street and sees that other shops are doing brisk business, but her cloth shop is deserted. She is so angry that she chokes on her own blood and almost faints.

The shopkeeper was at his wit's end; he had tried every possible method.

Nowadays, cloth prices have not only increased, but cloth that was bought at a high price of nine coins per foot is now being sold for only six coins and no one is interested. It seems that the company is about to lose everything.

“Miss, these cotton fabrics must be disposed of as soon as possible. Otherwise, when it rains in the spring, the fabrics will get damp and the color will become uneven. At that time, they may not even be able to be sold as defective fabrics.”

Jiang Ning asked in confusion, "How could the colors be uneven? If you had just kept all these fabrics safe, there wouldn't have been a problem?"

How could a young lady who has never worn this kind of cotton fabric understand the intricacies of it?

Jiang Ning finally understood the shopkeeper's helpless explanation. How could she bear the thought that a whole warehouse full of cotton cloth might become completely useless?

“Miss, although the weather is still cold, it is clearly showing signs of warming up. No matter how cold this winter is, it will generally warm up slowly after the first month of the lunar calendar. By March or April, all this cloth will be completely unusable.”

Jiang Ning never expected that her first attempt to make money using her prophecy would end like this.

If she had known this would happen, she should have stockpiled food in the first place.

Unbeknownst to her, the Prince Zhong and the Second Prince were also feeling remorseful at that moment.

There was no other reason than His Majesty mentioned in court that he had heard the two of them had previously purchased a large amount of grain, and that they must have a considerable amount of grain stored up, which could solve the court's urgent needs.

How could Prince Zhong and the Second Prince dare to say a word against such a thing?

They're not fools. His Majesty has clearly stated that they've stored up grain, which means their secret grain purchases can no longer be kept secret.

Since that's the case, why not try to curry favor with His Majesty? At most, it'll just cost us some money, but it will restore our image in His Majesty's eyes.

Thus, the dreams of Jiang Ning, the Loyal Prince, and the Second Prince to make a fortune through the disaster were completely shattered!

With the grain provided by Prince Zhong and the Second Prince, the resettlement of refugees outside the capital city naturally played a significant supporting role.

Xu Zhaozhao had already ordered people to boil ginger soup in the twelfth lunar month, with a little brown sugar added. The refugees outside the city were grateful to receive a bowl of hot soup to ward off the cold.

The snow disaster was quickly contained mainly because the imperial court reacted swiftly and accurately, and the cooperation and obedience of many powerful families below were also crucial. Therefore, it did not have a significant impact on the economy of the capital.

Emperor Yong'an was very satisfied with this and praised Xu Han, Gu Xiangdong and other ministers at the grand court assembly. Of course, Prince Zhong and the Second Prince, who contributed grain, also received a few days of goodwill from the emperor.

Jiang Ning was the only one who couldn't sell her cotton cloth until early February, and she was almost going crazy.

Xu Zhaozhao arranged for someone to buy the cotton cloth from Jiang Ning's hands in one go at an extremely low price.

One penny per foot, regardless of color, material, or thickness, buy it all at a fixed price.

Jiang Ning was already completely panicked and at a loss.

A bolt of cloth costs forty copper coins. She currently has tens of thousands of bolts of cotton cloth stockpiled. If she could convert them into cash all at once, her financial burden would be greatly relieved.

Several cloth shops had been contacted before, and they offered quite good prices, but they could only buy one or two hundred bolts of cloth, which was far from enough for Jiang Ning.

Now that she had a big customer, even though the price was low, she could get cash immediately, so she immediately ordered everyone to sell it.

The shopkeeper felt the price was too low, but he also knew that if he delayed for another month, he might not even be able to sell them for that much. So he gritted his teeth, signed the contract, and sold them all.

At this point, Jiang Ning's dream of getting rich was shattered. He had invested nearly four million yuan, and now he only had a little over four hundred thousand yuan left. He was devastated.