Sui and Tang Dynasties: Awakening the Supreme Skills at the Beginning

"This Cui family is too much. They even ordered the grain store not to sell us grain. Isn't this deliberately preventing us from making wine?"

"That's it!"

"We have to think of a way to prevent the Cui family's conspiracy from succeeding."

Everyone was talking about it.

"It doesn't matter," Li Zhen waved his hand. "There are many grain shops in the West Market. The Cui family doesn't have the ability to monopolize all of them. If the big grain shops don't sell grain to us, then we can go to the small grain shops and have a look!"

"Good boss."

Everyone's eyes lit up, the boss did have a solution.

The group turned into the alley and came to a small grain shop. Li Zhen looked up and saw a small flag in front of the door with the words "Li's Grain Shop" written in large crooked letters.

Mr. Li, it seems like we are destined to be together!

Li Zhen walked in. The shop was very deserted and there was not even a ghost behind the counter.

"Is anyone there? Shopkeeper..."

Wang Qingshan shouted at the back, and then a rough voice came from the backyard: "Here we are, sir, please wait a moment."

A moment later, a man came out from the backyard. Li Zhen and others were shocked when they saw him.

Is this a person or a wall?

He was wearing an extremely simple short white cloth jacket, and his arms were as strong as two pillars.

He stood in front of the counter, grinned widely and smiled naively, his voice as loud as a bell.

"Sir, what kind of food would you like to order?"

"What varieties do you have and how much do they cost? We need a large quantity!"

"How much does it cost, guest officer?"

"I want fifty bushels of rice, five hundred bushels of wheat, five hundred bushels of corn, and fifty bushels of flour!"

The big man gave a silly smile, this is a big business!

"Give me a price for these three kinds of food!"

Li Zhen said.

"The best rice in the market costs 60 wen a dou; the medium-quality rice costs 50 wen; the brown rice costs 40 wen. Here... I only have the medium-quality rice and the brown rice."

"Wheat is 45 wen a dou, corn is 35 wen a dou, and flour is 80 wen a dou. What do you think, sir?"

The big man was very nervous, fearing that the customer would think the price was too high.

Li Zhen smiled slightly. As expected, the Cui family could not cover this small grain shop.

"Okay, I want Chinese rice. Can you calculate how much it is?"

The big man was filled with joy, "Thank you very much, sir, but...but..."

"what happened?"

Li Zhen asked.

"We don't have that much wheat and corn in stock. Could you please wait a few days?"

The big man asked nervously.

"However much stock you have here, I want all of it!"

"Okay," the big man said happily.

He fiddled with the counting sticks with his thick fingers in a very clumsy manner, but it was obvious that he was not good at it. He made mistakes several times in a row and was so anxious that a layer of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"This... Sir, please wait a moment. My mother usually does the accounting, but she has been ill these days and is not convenient to come out. Sir, please wait for me to ask her how much silver you should pay?"

"Okay, go ahead!"

Li Zhen smiled slightly and waved his hand.

The big man took big strides and ran towards the backyard.

After a cup of tea, the big man came out again.

"Sir," the big man grinned, revealing a row of big teeth.

"My mother has calculated that I have less than 500 dou of various grains, totaling 24 strings of cash and 8 cents."

Li Zhen and the others looked at each other with joy on their faces. Five hundred buckets of food would be enough for them to use for a while.

"We brought two carriages. You need to hire two more to complete the task at once."

Li Zhen said with a smile.

"Business is a long-term partnership. If you are honest, I will buy all the food I need from you in the future."

"Okay, okay! Thank you for taking care of my business, sir."

The big man smiled innocently.

Li Zhen asked casually.

"What's your name, shopkeeper?"

"My humble name is Li Zhiyong."

"Oh, how old are you?"

"Sir, I just turned twenty."

Li Zhen was shocked. This guy looked to be in his thirties, but he was only twenty years old.

"Hehe, he does look a little old, mainly because he spent a few years in the military."

"Been a soldier?"

"My family was so poor that we couldn't even afford to feed ourselves, and I ate a lot, so I went to serve in the frontier army."

"After accumulating some small merits in the army and earning some money, I returned home and opened this grain store here."

“Is business okay?”

"Well... I won't hide it from you, my business is not good, I have been losing money all the time, and I am almost losing all my capital. I want to wait for my mother to recover and look for a job as a housekeeper. I don't have any other skills, except for fighting. Usually, eight or ten people can't get close to me."

Li Zhiyong raised his head with pride.

Li Zhen's heart moved.

Now that he has offended the Cui family, he might be in trouble in the future. If this big man could join his team, it would surely save him a lot of trouble. Although he already has the Luo brothers, there is no such thing as too many talents like this.

Thinking of this, Li Zhen said to Li Zhiyong.

"We will deliver the food together later. If your business is not doing well, come and help me! You will get a new salary of at least two taels of silver a month, including three meals a day."

Upon hearing that he would be fed, Li Zhiyong was overjoyed. He quickly imitated the scholars and bowed to Li Zhen, "Sir, I am a good fighter, but I also eat a lot. I am afraid you will dislike me for eating too much. Besides, I only have a mother at home. If I go to your place, I will bring my mother with me. I wonder if you..."

No matter how much you eat, you can eat it. Besides, aren’t there many big-bellied men here?

Li Zhen hesitated for a moment.

This guy looks good and filial, and I don't have to worry about him having affairs with his mother as long as he takes care of her.

"It doesn't matter. If you really want to come, pack your things and follow me."

"Okay," Li Zhiyong grinned.

"However, I may have to wait until my mother recovers from her illness. I wonder if you..."

Li Zhiyong said embarrassedly, scratching the back of his head.

"It's okay. It won't be too late for you to move in together after your mother recovers."

Li Zhen reached out and took out a silver ingot worth ten taels and handed it to Li Zhiyong.

"Here's the deposit. Go hire a carriage and we'll load the goods!"

"okay!"

Li Zhiyong's eyes lit up. He put the silver in his arms and led Li Zhen's men to the warehouse.

Then he turned around and walked out to the carriage.

Li Zhen waved his hand, and Wang Qingshan and others each picked up a sack and loaded it onto the carriage.

After a while, Li Zhiyong came back, followed by two carriages.

He glanced at Wang Qingshan and others, smiled, and walked into the warehouse.

When he came out, everyone was immediately surprised.

I saw that he was carrying two bags of grain on his shoulders, two bags of grain under his arms, and one bag of grain in each hand. His waist was not bent or his back was not hunched, and he didn't even breathe.

What a great strength! Everyone was amazed.

With the participation of Li Zhiyong, the goods were loaded very quickly.

"Mom, I'm going to deliver food to the guest!"

Li Zhiyong yelled towards the backyard, and a faint "hmm" sound came from the backyard.

A group of people pulled four carriages and walked out of the alley.

At the east end of the alley where no one could see, there was a window on the second floor of a teahouse, and a face appeared inside.

At this moment, the face was gritting its teeth at the convoy.