On the third floor of Yuanming Building, there is a box without windows.

The maid who served the dishes went in and out lightly, not daring to disturb the silent foreign merchants in the box.

Dishes are ready.

The door was slammed shut from the outside.

The box was silent.

Round table with a wide variety of dishes.

The tables were full of guests, their eyes fixed on the food, but no one was the first to move their chopsticks.

The maids around them who were arranged by the restaurant to accompany them didn't dare to help them with food without permission, let alone say anything flattering to warm up the scene.

The atmosphere gradually solidified.

Until today, Wang Caozhi, who was the east, had a smile on his face, got up and raised his glass, and he reluctantly said: "Everyone, eat quickly, it's almost cold, don't waste food." ”

"The last thing that Dragon City lacks now is food, and you still need to save it?" The shopkeeper said coldly.

The air was silent.

Including Wang Caozhi, whose face was scornful, the sixteen grain merchants were silent, and their faces were solemn and depressed.

These days, their mood is literally the same as the price of food, which rises and falls.

I thought that even if this Jiangzhou was not a dining table, it was also a breakfast stall, and I could leave at any time after taking a bite.

But they never expected that this place would be a trap that was scheming everywhere and taking advantage of their greedy desires!

It's still the kind that closes the door and lets the dogs go!

Damn, a small disaster-stricken county in an inconspicuous small state in Jiangnan Province, can still do such a ruthless job? Can there be such a master in a small place?

It's a bit too much.

Everyone cursed in their hearts.

That's right, after these days of calmness, and witnessing the strange trend of the development of the situation, a group of grain merchants have reacted one by one, if there are still people who believe in the honest and sincere smile of the young county magistrate, then simply don't sit here to eat, next time sit at the child's table.

But even after knowing this, Wang Caozhi and other grain merchants couldn't help but feel a little bitter in their mouths.

This Longcheng County is a bureau with people at the right time, the right place and people to gather.

People calculated it at the beginning, pretending to be hospitable, and then being a banker, and going down in person, how can this be played?

Especially in this kind of xenophobic and conservative southern state and county, it is difficult for a strong dragon to suppress the head snake.

And most importantly, they themselves can leave Dragon City at any time, but the most precious food is locked here.

Vicious.

This cheap brother-in-law is ruthless enough!

Thinking of the events that have happened these days, Wang Caozhi couldn't help but wipe his hands with the hot towel that he used to wipe his hands before eating, and threw it to the wine companion orchid behind him.

In fact, he should have been vigilant a long time ago, especially when he first went ashore in Longcheng and met that Sister Ling Jiang at the door of this restaurant, he should have thought that the new county order that could make a noble daughter of the Xie family follow should not be a simple little white rabbit, but a personal disciple valued by Uncle Xie Xun......

The short young man was extremely remorseful.

The shopkeeper waved his hand irritably: "You all go out, don't get in the way here." ”

"Whoa."

The sixteen wine ladies who accompanied the guests in the box bowed their eyebrows and left one after another.

It stands to reason that they should talk about things after eating first, but at the moment, their hearts are weighed by tens of thousands of stones of precarious grain every minute and every second, and many grain merchants are not in the mood to eat at all......

Wang Caozhi glanced at the tall orchid who retreated beside him, which he specially picked to accompany the wine, not because Wang Caozhi liked this exotic style, but to take care of this orchid's business.

The first time he met Sister Ling Jiang in Yuanming Building, the latter came to visit this tall orchid, the full name of the orchid seems to be "Zhiying", and later Sister Ling Jiang seems to come to her often, and recently it seems that she is discussing to redeem her......

Wang Caozhi actually doesn't appreciate this kind of Hu style at all, and even thinks it's very ugly, maybe in the north of the empire, Guanlong and Beijing, there are Hu people living together, and the cultural atmosphere is relatively open, but in the southern provinces, the local family clans are strong, the aesthetics are biased towards tradition, and the atmosphere is also very conservative.

What's more, Wang Caozhi was born in the Langya Wang family, who valued the clothes of the Chinese family, and he estimated that if he dared to bring Hu Nu back to the family, even if it was just to be a concubine, at least one of his three legs would have to be broken.

So two days ago, I heard that the cheap brother-in-law not only bought a bearded girl to go home, but also had white hair, Wang Caozhi was in awe, and his admiration was like a surging river......

The box door was reopened.

The oppressive atmosphere in the room eased slightly.

Wang Caozhi silently glanced around.

There are grain merchants with sad faces.

There are grain merchants who have no love for life.

There were also grain merchants who were full of anger and got up and wandered around the house.

"Shopkeeper Wang Shao picked this box, but he bothered to choose one without a window, I'm afraid that some of us won't want to jump down?"

After not seeing him for a few days, Shopkeeper Li's face was much older, and the smile he squeezed out was also a little tired, and he joked.

Wang Caozhi spread his hands helplessly: "If you don't want to think of a way, you will have to queue up on the roof." ”

The short young man's face was a little tired, and he said to his friends:

"The current situation must be understood by all the seniors, so please have this meal, just to let you put aside your previous suspicions and temporarily restore unity, we can't scatter into a plate of sand anymore, otherwise we will all have to fly down from the upper floor in the end...... If you have any ideas, you can come up with them, and everyone will discuss them together. ”

"There's a fart idea!"

The shopkeeper kept moving around the house, turning back irritably.

The tall middle-aged shopkeeper is no longer the leisurely twisting of Buddha beads, and now he has two big dark circles under his eyes, as if he hasn't fallen asleep for two days and two nights, looking like a patient with advanced anxiety disorder.

His face was pale, and he gritted his teeth: "Pull out the rats who violated the agreement and secretly put grain at a low price, and what kind of business do you have without any concentration?" Unity, fart! ”

Wang Caozhi and the others had ugly faces, their eyes wandered away, and they were speechless in embarrassment.

Only 16 grain merchants came to today's gathering, because two small grain merchants had already dumped all their grain at a low price a few days ago, and secretly ran away by boat, and everyone only learned about it this morning.

However, these two small grain merchant ships turned around, and the remaining grain merchants all stored a lot of grain, especially Wang Caozhi, Ma Zhang, and Li Zhang, who had the most grain in the dock warehouse, totaling more than 100,000 stones, and the daily warehouse management fee and anti-aging fee alone were a lot of expenses.

And the price of grain in Longcheng, after the impact of the "five coins of grain", has plummeted to seven or eight dollars a bucket, and even the victims of the disaster are in tears when they see it.

What's more, this is not the end, just the beginning.

"So far, what's the use of talking about this, even if it is found out, what can it do, it will only increase infighting......

Wang Caozhi shook his head and sighed again:

"Now almost everyone in Longcheng County knows that we have more than 200,000 grain stocks, and they are waiting for us to reduce the price...... Food prices are unstable. ”

Shopkeeper Li cried with a sad face, "Then what should I do, I can't watch the grain become old, depreciated and worthless, and go to my grandmother's house." ”

Wang Caozhi raised his head and said seriously: "We have to start from the root, otherwise everything else will be in vain." ”

The horse shopkeeper's forehead twitched, "The root? What is the attitude of the Longcheng County Ya, you don't see it, it's all fucking masters of tai chi, kicking us around like balls! Fuck it, if you dare to do this in Jinling, Lao Tzu...... Lao Tzu is all smashed! ”

Wang Caozhi hurriedly got up to stop the shopkeeper who was about to kick the stool and smash the flower plate.

Everyone was speechless, you are useless to be a "box god of war" in front of us, do you dare to smash it in front of the young county commander and the blue-clothed catcher?

A young grain merchant with a round face muttered, "Do you want to stop asking for Ouyang County's order?" ”

Everyone was suddenly quiet, and their eyes exchanged silently everywhere.

Shopkeeper Li shook his head and said bitterly:

"It's useless, the old man has understood these days, and this Ouyang County Order, who loves the people like a son, is also pretending to be confused...... Eighty percent of all this was arranged by him, and that Yan Zhukuai should also listen to him, and he couldn't even say that the official document sent by Jiangzhou was ......."

The old grain merchant with a goatee paused, looking at the table full of delicacies and sighing.

The round-faced little grain merchant continued to shake his head:

"I understand it below. But the king of Hades is good, the little ghost is difficult, and he is trapped in this Longcheng County, what can we do? Without a hard background, it is difficult for a business to win the official position...... Let's admit it, go and give Ouyang County Commander a confession, give sincerity, see if we can pay a toll, or send some 'local products', so that we can eliminate the disaster and leave." ”

Another small grain merchant's face suddenly ached:

"Why do you have to pay...... The price of grain is lost like this, and all the money earned before is spit out, and a large amount of ...... is pasted upside down."

The round-faced little grain merchant said coldly:

"What do you say? This bureau is stuck in our Longcheng Yamen, this is the root cause, the county order is the key inside, if you don't take money to open the way, why should people move the knife on your neck to bleed? In fact, we should have thought of this a long time ago, we wasted so much time and lost so much food. ”

"No, no, I mean a different way...... How many beauties to send to Ouyang County? ”

Wang Caozhi and several grain merchants shook their heads in unison: "It won't work, Ouyang County is not close to women!" ”

"And he likes names? Then let's weave a few Wanmin umbrellas and send them to the county government. ”

Wang Caozhi shook his head, "He seems to attach great importance to disasters and floods, and he has always been short of food. ”

Shopkeeper Li glared, "Then we can't donate all the food, then it's better to sell it cheaply!" ”

The shopkeeper red-eyed and slapped the table:

"It's a big deal to fight with him, my Ma just doesn't sell it cheaply, and I don't need him to burn it when the time comes, Ma will come by himself! I would rather burn the raw rice in vain, and I would not give it to these poor ghosts in vain! ”

"Don't be impatient, don't be impatient, don't be impatient......"

Shopkeeper Li and others hurriedly persuaded.

Some small grain merchants couldn't help but take the lead in urging Wang Caozhi:

"Wang Shao's shopkeeper, isn't Ouyang County Order your brother-in-law, you go and intercede, see if you can get to the bottom of it, what does the county order want, don't care if it's a robbery or not, you have to leak something, right?"

"Yes, if you don't do it, you can go to the Xie family sister to intercede and blow the wind on the pillow."

Wang Caozhi's old face turned red suddenly, and he didn't know if his colleagues were mocking him or serious...... In fact, a few days ago, he often went to Xie Lingjiang to find out, but the latter ignored him.

"Ahem, this contemptible brother-in-law...... is more iron-faced and selfless, and he is a righteous gentleman, and it is difficult for me to do it. ”

The short young man sighed, and then found a topic: "But yesterday evening, I went to the county government to see my brother-in-law. ”

Everyone suddenly fell silent, and whispered, "What does the county order say?"

Wang Caozhi nodded:

He said...... Everyone is a guest from afar, doing business in Longcheng, and the county government will definitely help if they can help it...... He also said that he had also heard about the recent grain prices and asked me to go back first, and he said that he would give us an answer in the next few days. ”

There were also a few small grain merchants in the box who were also stunned and said: "We went to find the county magistrate the day before yesterday, and the county magistrate also told us so, let us be calm and not be impatient, and say that the county government will definitely help if it can help......

Everyone's faces were suddenly disappointed.

"Help!" The shopkeeper had red eyes, as if he had been ravaged by a scumbag, and gritted his teeth and said, "Isn't it just delaying time and watching food prices fall to the end?" Who doesn't know what their county government thinks? ”

The atmosphere in the box fell silent again, everyone was helpless, their faces were different, and the shopkeeper stopped and turned around, facing everyone, gritting his teeth.

At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door, breaking the silence, and everyone turned their heads to see that a gray-clothed little guy came in, hurriedly ran to the side of the shopkeeper Li, and whispered a few words.

Shopkeeper Li was stunned when he heard this.

Wang Caozhi and others asked worriedly: "What's the matter?" ”

Shopkeeper Li's eyes showed a look of disbelief:

"Ouyang County sent someone to say that all the food that the old man was robbed of by the refugees on the outskirts of the city has been recovered...... Let the old man find time to go over and take it away. ”

"All back? Real or fake? Didn't those gang of arresters fool us, and they were really handling cases? The crowd was amazed.

"Not only that, but there is one more thing ......" Shopkeeper Li swallowed his saliva and said:

"The county ordered us to ask sixteen grain merchants to go to the county hall this afternoon to discuss matters, and he said that about the problems encountered by the grain merchants in the county, he and the county government will give a satisfactory explanation to all parties!"

Everyone looked at each other.

This Ouyang County Order...... Why are you still so enthusiastic?