The Story of a Destitute Noblewoman Farming

In the evening, Young Master Zhang also came back. They had been out looking for people all day. The two of them put together the information they had collected today and compared the prices.

"Miss Lu, it seems that besides the village you mentioned having the cheapest price, the merchant I contacted today offers the lowest price. I wonder how much you want to buy the goods for, Miss Lu. I'm worried that the price in that village isn't enough for us to split. I think why don't we buy from that merchant?"

"I don't have much cash on hand, and I won't buy much, so I plan to collect some in that village, and buy the rest from other places. Does that vendor have a fixed place to sell goods? Is he a local? Will he cheat?" Lu Linlang heard him say that the lowest price the man gave was even lower than the one given by the shopkeeper today. Lu Linlang had a bad feeling in her heart.

"That man is from Zhuozhou Prefecture, and he was introduced by someone I've done business with before. He won't cheat me. If he dares to cheat me, I will definitely find his home. I paid the deposit tomorrow. Let him bring the goods first and I will pay the rest."

"How much deposit does he want you to pay?" Lu Linlang had also seen many scammers' tricks. When she heard that a deposit was required, although this was very common in Daqi, she still asked.

"He said these goods are low-cost. He doesn't have cash on hand, but he has channels, so I need to give him half of the deposit in advance. Miss Lu, if you want to buy it too, you don't need to pay a separate deposit. I've negotiated with him. I'll give him half of the deposit, and then he'll deliver the goods together with your share."

"I always feel like there's something fishy going on here, Master Zhang. Since you have other familiar friends here, why not find a few strangers to investigate? Don't give out so much money so easily."

"Miss Lu is right. I can't be too anxious. I was planning to open a cloth shop in Chongshui. If this person is trustworthy, it will be a channel for me to get goods in the future. If not, then I will lose half of the wealth I brought this time. It's not worth it."

Young Master Zhang is able to manage the business at home, and he is not someone who doesn't listen. After Lu Linlang said it so many times, he calmed down and felt that everything was just a coincidence.

Thinking about the news of the falling price of fabrics in Zhuozhou Prefecture, which was also revealed to him by the businessman he had cooperated with, he really wanted to prove himself, so he thought of opening a fabric shop. However, the purchase price given by the previous shop was too high. After hearing this news, he thought of coming to Zhuozhou.

Young Master Zhang was no longer as excited as he was at the beginning. He was thinking about how to calm the man down while conducting his own investigation.

The next day, Lu Linlang asked someone to inquire about the situation in Aunt Qiao's village, and asked Ma Da to contact the coachman who brought them to Yuelai Inn that day. The coachman had been traveling in Zhuozhou Prefecture all year round and was more familiar with the villages there than they were. He also had many fellow coaches, and this kind of people were well-informed. As long as they were paid enough money, they could tell them everything.

Young Master Zhang also calmed the man down, saying that he wanted more goods and wanted to bargain with him.

When the man heard this, he naturally started complaining again, saying that it was very difficult for him to go to the countryside to collect the goods, and that he had a group of brothers who went to collect the goods with him. Seeing that he really wanted it, he lowered the price a little bit.

Young Master Zhang only said that he had a good friend who came to sell goods with him, and he had to go back and discuss it with his friend, and then tell him after it was confirmed.

Lu Linlang took people to continue shopping. She took Lu Dashui and his group to look at scraps of cloth. There was another street near Zhinu Street where ready-made clothes were sold. Where there were ready-made clothes, there were naturally scraps of cloth.

Those scraps of cloth are valuables in other places, but in Zhuozhou, perhaps because people are used to seeing large quantities of cloth, they don't take these scraps of cloth very seriously. They are usually given as gifts to buyers or taken home to mend. You can get a big bag of them for a small amount of money.

Lu Linlang spent two taels of silver to get this news from the waiter of the inn. That day, Xing'er went to buy ready-made clothes and saw piles of cloth scraps in the shop. Lu Linlang was looking for something cheap and salable for the villagers who followed her, and she thought of those cloth scraps.

A few people entered a shop and found that the shopkeeper was directing people to pick up the leftover scraps of cloth from making clothes. These scraps of cloth came in several colors, and even the materials were of different quality, but the only drawback was that they were too broken. Few were the size of a palm, and some were only the size of a finger.

Before coming, Lu Dashui and his companions listened to Lu Linlang's words and used the money they brought to buy these scraps of cloth that others looked down upon, and took them back to have their family members process and mend them. Even if they couldn't make a whole set of clothes, they could patch them up and sell them. Those women with skillful hands would also rush to buy them.

"Boss, how do you deal with these scraps of cloth? The colors are pretty, but they are too fragmented." Lu Linlang came in to look at the clothes, and also took a look at the embroidered insoles, handkerchiefs and other items displayed in the shop.

I bought some of each and found the embroidery work was really good and the prices were not expensive. I could use them as samples.

"Miss, although these scraps of cloth in our house look small, if you are patient, you can still piece them together to make a piece of clothing. If you like, why not sell them to you for a hundred coins a bag?" The shopkeeper was a very smart man. Naturally, he guessed that Lu Linlang had other intentions, so he deliberately raised the price of the cloth.

"Shopkeeper, please don't take advantage of me because I'm young. These scraps of cloth are just different materials and colors. You can't even make a pair of insoles with them. If you want to make clothes, you'll have to work yourself blind to get a patchwork quilt. Forget it, I don't think you're sincere, so I'm leaving."

There was no way Lu Linlang would agree to the price he mentioned, and she was about to take her people away immediately. When Lu Dashui and his group heard that such a big bag could be bought for only a hundred coins, their eyes lit up, but after hearing what their host said, they all lowered their heads, not daring to show their joy.

"Hey, hey, hey, little girl, I didn't realize you were so knowledgeable. Forget it, for this pack, how about eighty cents?"

"Thirty cents, boss. Look at you guys making clothes, you try not to waste fabric. The rest are just scraps. They're not worth much to begin with. You don't have to give them as gifts to others. You can make a little more money by selling them to me. Clear out these groceries and you'll make a lot of money."

"Oh, forget it, fifty cents, how about that? Thirty cents is too little."

"Thirty cents. You don't have to deliver the goods to our door. We can carry it ourselves." Lu Linlang refused to give in.

"Okay, okay, thirty cents is thirty cents, but I have quite a few here. If you only want one pack, it'll be fifty cents a pack. If you want more, I can give you thirty cents a pack."

In the end, Lu Dashui and his companions happily left carrying a dozen bags of cloth. The shopkeeper even called out to another shopkeeper he knew and asked Lu Linlang to buy a few bags from other shops.

It was already dusk when they arrived at the inn. They saw Young Master Zhang looking around the inn, and he didn't feel relieved until he saw Lu Linlang and her group return.

"Miss Lu, I was indeed cheated. That person is in cahoots with someone I worked with before. He has been trying to cheat me out of my money for a long time. If you hadn't reminded me, I would have been cheated today."