The evil mother-in-law does not whitewash, she only abuses her children

The Zheng family was unwilling to see the charcoal they had hoarded at high prices go to waste.

After much deliberation, Mr. Zheng decided to ask for peace with Tong Huaqiong.

The so-called peace talks do not mean surrendering, but hoping to work with Tong Huaqiong to control the price of charcoal to a suitable level.

Both sides can take advantage of the cold weather to make a killing.

For example, two taels of silver per load.

Only half of the people in Pingchuan can afford this price. As a business, it is impossible to serve everyone. It is enough if half of the people can afford it.

As for the life and death of the other half, that was beyond Mr. Zheng's knowledge.

He is not their father, and their life and death have nothing to do with him.

Until he reached the coffin, Old Man Zheng felt that Tong Huaqiong priced a load of charcoal at thirty-five cents in order to challenge the Zheng family. After all, the Zheng family had framed Tong Huaqiong over Gu Jingzhe, and their eldest daughter-in-law Xu Zaohua almost tricked Tong Huaqiong over pesticides.

He felt that Tong Huaqiong did this in order to take revenge on the Zheng family.

He didn't believe that as a businessman, Tong Huaqiong would miss such a good opportunity to make money and instead let hatred blind his eyes.

Widow Tong was so careless that she set the price so low in the early stage that she couldn't raise it later.

After all, she was a country widow with limited knowledge. She opened a pastry shop and a department store by relying on brute force and a bit of luck, but she was unable to seize the opportunity to make a fortune.

Mr. Zheng felt that he had an obligation to analyze the pros and cons of the market to Widow Tong. As long as he took the initiative to show goodwill, Widow Tong would surely not refuse.

Mr. Zheng analyzed Tong Huaqiong from the perspective of business and grudges, but he did not analyze her from the perspective of social responsibility. Therefore, he was very confident that he could convince Tong Huaqiong to raise the price of charcoal.

......

After a few days, Pingchuan's charcoal fire was guaranteed, and Tong Huaqiong began to shift his attention from the charcoal fire to the cotton cloth.

Before, I was thinking about how to develop a marketing strategy for cotton fabrics.

There is no need to worry about it now, as the cold weather is perfect for promoting cotton cloth.

Tong Huaqiong ordered his men to place the cotton cloth produced by the weaving workshop in a prominent position in Jufulai.

Cotton cloth is dense, light and soft, and has strong cold resistance. More importantly, after technological improvements, its cost is low, so it is cheaper than linen.

As soon as the cotton cloth was launched, it attracted customers to buy it.

If Tong Huaqiong's own weaving workshop had not been fully focused on taking orders from the border, her cotton cloth would have been distributed throughout Ningcheng this winter.

However, although the amount of cotton cloth supplied to Jufulai was small, it did not hinder its reputation.

When Tong Huaqiong was pushing the cotton cloth to the market, the Zheng family sent a housekeeper to deliver the note.

Upon learning that it was Mr. Zheng who asked Tong Huaqiong to go to the restaurant to negotiate the price of charcoal, Tong Huaqiong directly refused.

It goes without saying that the Zheng family can't sit still anymore and they are looking for her to re-price the charcoal.

There was nothing to negotiate between her and the Zheng family.

Lu Zhaozhao had already set a trap on the charcoal fire to trap the Zheng family, so there was no room for Tong Huaqiong to negotiate with the Zheng family.

Tong Huaqiong also knew that the price of her charcoal was indeed very low, but she was not greedy. Compared with the price she earned from stockpiling charcoal, she was already satisfied with making five or six cents from each load of charcoal.

The extreme cold weather has brought so many disasters to the world. It is already good enough for her to make money from the disaster. If she makes more, she will feel sorry for God.

The Zheng family has come to this point not because of her, Tong Huaqiong, but because of the Zheng family's greed.

The 200,000 kilograms of charcoal that Lu Zhaozhao sold to the Zheng family was not too expensive. One load of charcoal cost eighty cents. Considering the current extremely cold weather, the Zheng family's charcoal should have been sold out if they added ten cents to one load of charcoal. However, they were not satisfied and increased the price of one load of charcoal from one tael of silver to ten taels of silver.

The pit they dug buried the entire Zheng family, and they began to negotiate with Tong Huaqiong.

Tong Huaqiong is not stupid, so how could she possibly use her own reputation to act with the Zheng family?

The Zheng family probably doesn't know that Tong Huaqiong is waiting for the Zheng family's charcoal to fall into her hands and then buy it out.

Tong Huaqiong didn't mind letting Mr. Zheng know so that he could be mentally prepared.

Tong Huaqiong said to the Zheng family’s housekeeper: “I don’t want to cooperate with the Zheng family. If the Zheng family’s charcoal can’t be sold, why not sell it to me?”

The Zheng family's housekeeper returned the same way he came.

Old Master Zheng and the Second Young Master Zheng sat at home anxiously waiting for news.

"how?"

Seeing the butler coming back, Mr. Zheng stood up with an expectant look on his face.

"My lord, Manager Tong did not accept the invitation." After saying this, the butler stood aside with his hands hanging down.

"What do you mean by no answer?"

Soon, Mr. Zheng realized that Tong Huaqiong was refusing to cooperate with the Zheng family.

Mr. Zheng was furious.

"Dad, since Widow Tong refuses to accept my toast, let's..." said the second son of Zheng.

"Can you tell me how to make her drink a punishment?" asked Mr. Zheng.

The second young master Zheng had a bitter face.

He doesn't know it at all, he's just talking nonsense.

Mr. Zheng sat back in his chair and said, "County Magistrate Liu has found out that we are behind the high price of charcoal and has sent people to warn us. If we interfere, I'm afraid County Magistrate Liu will not let us go."

"I underestimated Widow Tong. It is said that the Lu family and Prefect Yao are also her backers."

The second master Zheng's eyes were dark and unclear.

A small county magistrate can threaten the Zheng family. If his relationship with the fifth prince is solidified, why would he be afraid of County Magistrate Liu?

At this time, the second son of Zheng was thinking about the 100,000 taels of silver he had promised to the fifth prince's mother's family.

In the past few days, the fifth prince's mother's family has sent people to urge him.

If the money can't be raised, I'm afraid this relationship will be severed.

"Dad, what should we do next?" asked the second master Zheng.

Mr. Zheng gritted his teeth and said, "The price of charcoal has been reduced!"

Soon, all the major shops of the Zheng family began to sell charcoal at a reduced price.

But every household already had charcoal, and the price of Zheng's charcoal could not be reduced to 35 cents per load. In addition, the Zheng's shop had lost its reputation, so no customers would come even if the price was reduced.

The fifth prince's mother's family was getting more and more anxious about the 100,000 taels of silver from the second son of Zheng. The second son of Zheng was unable to raise the money in a short period of time, and finally he could not bear it anymore and told old man Zheng.

Originally, Mr. Zheng was furious when he heard that his youngest son needed 100,000 taels of silver, but after hearing his son's story, his expression relaxed.

In order for his son to marry the prince for the sake of the family, Mr. Zheng had to transfer money from the shop in Ningcheng, and add his personal belongings, there was still a shortfall of 30,000 taels of silver.

Mr. Zheng decided to use Mrs. Zheng's jewelry again.

If we pool together we can get a hundred thousand taels.

"Dad, I embezzled the money from the three shops in Ningcheng... and used it to hoard cotton and grain." The second young master Zheng stammered.

Mr. Zheng raised his voice and shouted, "How dare you?"

The second son of Zheng said: "I thought that the extreme cold weather would not only increase the price of coal, but also the price of cotton and grain, so I..."

Mr. Zheng slumped down in his chair, looking dejected.

"How dare you? Why didn't you consult with me before you embezzled the money?" Mr. Zheng wanted to beat his youngest son to death. "The charcoal is already in our hands. Are we going to raise the price of cotton and grain as well?"

This is what Mr. Zheng thought originally.

First, the price of charcoal was raised. People who couldn't afford charcoal would naturally be frozen and need cotton clothes. He could sell the cotton he had stored. As for food, he spread rumors that the extreme cold weather would affect spring ploughing. People would panic and buy food. At this time, the Zheng family raised the price of food and took the opportunity to continue making a lot of money.

It's a perfect closed loop.