418: 407 418: 407 The three of them discussed for half the day but couldn’t come up with a good solution, leaving Manbao with no choice but to angrily devour all the meat on the table while internally querying Keke, “Keke, do you have any good ideas?”

After searching through a series of case analyses on marketing in the Encyclopedia Hall, Keke said, “If the host wants to establish a monopoly, why not buy up all the wheat in the village?”

Manbao’s eyes widened slightly as she asked, “Where would I get so much money?”

Keke replied, “This is a limitation of the host’s own resources, something I had foreseen and am powerless to change.”

Manbao felt that Keke had become malicious, so she viciously grabbed another chopstick full of dishes, gulped it down, and then turned to look at Bai Shanbao, “How much money do you have?”

Bai Shanbao defensively asked, “What for?”

“What if we buy up all the grain in the village?”

Bai Shanbao’s eyes bulged, “How much money would that need?”

Bai Erlang said, “Didn’t you say that everyone is waiting to eat the wheat and wouldn’t easily sell it?”

Manbao pondered, “What if we buy the wheat and then trade it with them?”

Bai Shanbao added, “And give them some money too, how much would be appropriate?

Five wen for one dou?”

“That’s too little,” Manbao scorned him, “You’re really stingy.”

“It’s not being stingy, if we give too much, they’ll be suspicious.

Last year when their family traded wheat seeds with yours, it was one jin for one jin.”

“That’s different, they traded wheat seeds to plant, we’re trading to make a lot of money,” Manbao retorted.

“It’s the same to them,” Bai Shanbao interjected, “If we don’t trade with them, the wheat seeds will just turn into food and end up in their bellies anyway.

Besides, have you thought about what happens if we can’t sell them?

We might end up having to sell the wheat at an even lower price than we bought it for, which means we would lose more than just five wen per dou, possibly a lot more.”

Bai Shanbao said, “That’s why I don’t want to give even one extra wen, I’m thinking of trading one jin for one jin.”

“Oh right,” Manbao only then considered the risk, belatedly realizing, “What if Uncle Bai doesn’t buy the wheat seeds?”

“Then we’ll just sell the wheat as is, what else can we do?” Bai Shanbao spread his hands.

Bai Erlang was a bit confused, having not understood a word of Bai Shanbao’s long speech, so he bluntly asked, “So are we making or losing money in the end?”

Both Baos said in unison, “It depends on your dad!”

Manbao said, “If your dad buys, then we’re making money.”

Bai Shanbao said, “If your dad doesn’t buy, then we’re losing money.”

“Is the loss big?”

After pondering, Bai Shanbao said, “Not only will this harvest be lost, but the upcoming summer and autumn harvests would be losses too.”

After all, in a village of over sixty households, more than fifty had exchanged seeds from the Zhou Family, so with that many families growing wheat, even if each family planted five or six mu, that was a significant amount.

Upon hearing this, Bai Erlang became upset, “Then why bother doing it at all?

We might as well just sell the wheat cheaper to my dad, if not one hundred and twenty wen then just one hundred.”

Bai Shanbao reproached him, “Lack of ambition!”

Manbao also said, “It’s only losing the harvest for a year or two, and it’s Shanbao’s money, he’s not charging interest.

Taking the risk could mean earning a lot of money, so why not do it?”

Bai Shanbao said, “Who said I’m not charging interest?”

“Charging interest for lending money to your own people, how stingy!”

Bai Erlang also scoffed, “Stingy!”

Bai Shanbao: “If you all keep this up, I won’t play with you anymore!”

For the sake of money, Manbao indicated her willingness to bow her head, so she immediately appeased him by serving him some more dishes.

Bai Erlang, on the other hand, was quite determined and snorted as he turned his head away, saying, “I have money too.”

Manbao asked, “How do you have money too?”

“My New Year’s money, my mom has always been holding onto it, and there’s quite a lot now.”

“Can you actually get your New Year’s money from your mom?” Manbao expressed her doubt, “My sisters-in-law never give out the New Year’s money they collect from my nephews and nieces, not even if they throw tantrums.”

“Are your sisters-in-law embezzling it?”

Manbao sighed, “My sister-in-law said, ‘Don’t you eat for free, wear clothes for free, and get treated when you’re sick for free?

The money has all been spent on you.'”

The two boys stared at Manbao, who was standing on the low bed with her hands on her hips, and then burst into laughter.

Bai Erlang assured her there was no need to worry, “I know where my mom hides her private money.

If she doesn’t give it to me, I’ll just sneakily take it.”

Both Bai Shanbao and Manbao hesitated, “It’s not good to steal, is it?”

“It’s my New Year’s money, how can it be stealing if I’m taking what’s mine?”

“What do we say to Uncle Bai when he comes?” Manbao asked.

“Just tell him straight,” Bai Erlang responded.

“No way!” Both Baos rejected in unison.

Bai Shanbao explained, “If our uncle finds out, he’ll definitely send someone immediately with the money to buy the wheat from the villagers.”

Manbao nodded, “We must stall for as much time as we can.”

Bai Shanbao said, “We also need to buy grain, sigh, who knows how long it will take to find some.

The grain store clerk said no one wanted to sell grain, where am I supposed to ask Manor Head Bai to buy from?”

Manbao also sighed, “If only we could buy directly from Uncle Bai, his family’s grown so much winter wheat they can’t possibly eat it all, they surely have to sell it, right?”

“Exactly, my family definitely has to sell grain.”

Manbao and Bai Shanbao exchanged glances, then turned towards Bai Erlang, whose eyes sparkled eagerly as he exclaimed, “Are you planning to buy grain from my family and then trade it for wheat seeds to sell back to them?”

“Not at all!” Bai Shanbao smacked his head, “You’re so dense.

If we really did that, our uncle would be furious.”

Manbao said, “That would be what a profiteer does, and we are not profiteers.”

“So why are you looking at me?”

Bai Shanbao humphed.

Manbao then said, “You’re really dense.

Of the three of us here, besides your family, who else has a lot of land, who grows a lot of winter wheat?”

“Your family.”

Manbao puffed her cheeks, reluctantly acknowledging her Junior Brother, and pointing to Bai Shanbao, said, “His family!”

Bai Erlang looked at Bai Shanbao, “His family only has a few mu of land, which was given by my family.”

“You’re so dense, my family doesn’t have land here, but we have it elsewhere.”

“But doesn’t it take time to transport it?”

“It does, so we absolutely must drag out the time, you can’t let slip a word,” Manbao thought for a moment and said, “No, you’re too dense.

Instead, you tell your dad that you’ve decided to work hard on your studies and will stay with Shanbao for the next couple of days.”

Bai Shanbao expressed his disdain, “I don’t want to live with him.”

Manbao insisted, “For the sake of our money, you must live with him.”