Chapter 13: Buying Out the Entire City
Little did anyone know that by now, Yu Luo was no longer the Yu Luo she once was.
She was not someone whose image could be changed about the Yu family with just a few words from Lan.
Yu Luo found a secluded spot and set up a makeshift village. When she reappeared, she had completely overhauled her appearance from head to toe, transforming into a debonair young gentleman.
After asking around, she located the largest grain merchant in Liangdong City.
White rice, white flour, yellow soybeans, mung beans, red beans, corn, and brown rice—Yu Luo left nothing untouched. Not to mention all the treasures scavenged from the Chancellor’s mansion, just the cash on hand from the Guo An Marquis Mansion alone she managed to collect was several tens of thousands of taels; and that’s not counting the other gold, silver, jade, antique calligraphy, and paintings.
There were several large boxes of gold and silver from the Chancellor’s mansion. Yu Luo estimated that they contained at least around 200,000 taels of silver; in addition, the ready-made silver bills amounted to roughly another 200,000 taels.
Perhaps this was just the property openly displayed by the Chancellor’s mansion—in reality, there might have been far more hidden away. Yu Luo even suspected that the Guo An Marquis Mansion might have other hidden assets. Otherwise, when Yu Zhengqing learned that the Marquis’s storehouse had been completely ransacked, he wouldn’t have remained so calm.
“This Young master, all the goods are in this warehouse. You pay with one hand and I’ll deliver with the other. When done, I’ll give you the key to the warehouse so you can have your men transport everything.”
Looking at the enormous granary, Yu Luo felt an overwhelming urge to take everything for free!
But remember that doing business wasn’t easy—and unlike those corrupt officials in the Chancellor’s mansion—she promptly paid the remaining silver to the merchant and accepted the merchant’s key.
“Your men can all withdraw now. Later, I’ll have someone take over. When that happens, the key will be stored inside, and you can retrieve it yourself.”
“Alright, alright, young master, you’re very straightforward—I appreciate that.”
The merchant added, “In that corner, there are still thousands of taels of sprouting potatoes and sweet potatoes. If you don’t mind, you can have those too. This is our first venture into the potato trade; we managed to bring in over ten thousand taels, and the rest—around a thousand taels that weren’t sold—have started sprouting. Those sweet potatoes are from last year and were just waiting to be processed. Seeing that you’ve bought plenty of coarse grains, you’re probably connected with some farms. They can be taken back to feed the livestock as well.”
“Very well, thank you, merchant.”
In a one-day clearance sale, although the merchant gave significant discounts, within a day he managed to sell all the stock, and once the cash was in hand, they could go on to stock up on new goods. The merchant was more than delighted.
Once the merchant left, Yu Luo waved her hand grandly and stored everything in the granary in her system space.
After pondering for a moment, she decided to re-lock the warehouse door, fearing that the merchant might come back and notice how quickly everything was being moved out, which would arouse suspicion.
“System, does your storage space have a preservation function? If I buy some meat to store, will it spoil?”
[It has a preservation function. You may buy as much as you like.]
Reassured, Yu Luo relaxed completely and proceeded to purchase all the vegetables and meat available at the market. She even didn’t leave out those vendors selling livestock—cows, sheep, horses, donkeys, chickens, ducks, and geese.
After that, she went to several general stores and completely cleared out their merchandise. Finally, she visited a seed shop. Fortunately, not only did she buy a large quantity of vegetable and grain seeds, she also managed to obtain several varieties of fruit tree saplings.
Once all this was done, she headed to a cloth shop. Her system had stored many brocaded fabrics, but those fabrics were nothing more than flashy, useless items. In the harsh climate of the wild lands—with scorching sun and fierce sandstorms in summer—those luxurious brocades were neither as comfortable as cotton nor as durable as coarse cloth.
Yu Luo bought hundreds of bolts of cotton cloth in various colors, as well as some sturdy coarse fabric. She also purchased many finished garments, cotton-padded jackets, leather boots, cloth shoes, and several sets of this year’s new cotton, new quilts, and more.
After checking the time, with still some time remaining before the evening bell, Yu Luo immediately added extra silver so that the cloth shop could sew a thick cotton quilt with several layers of waterproof oiled paper, topped with a soft straw mat.
For nights spent sleeping outdoors on the ground, such a thick bedding would ensure that their three-person family wouldn’t be too cold. If time weren’t so short, she’d even consider making a tent.
Next, she went to a steamed bun shop and bought all the remaining 300 meat buns, vegetable buns, and plain steamed buns of the day. Once out, she bought roast chicken, roast duck, braised beef, cakes, candies—everything edible.
Afterwards, she visited an ironworks and bought everything: iron pots, pot lids, scissors, kitchen knives, sickles, plows, hoes, rakes, and axes—the ready-made tools. Yu Luo purchased them all.
She had everything sent to the granary before the end of the day.
After more inquiries, she found a place that made furniture. She bought all the ready-made tables, chairs, stools, cabinets, beds, wooden basins, and bathtubs. She even bought several sets of furniture-making tools, thinking that with her father’s dexterous hands, perhaps these tools would allow him to build a house once they reached the wild lands.
Finally, she visited an old store selling bamboo products: Baskets, shoulder baskets, racks, dustpans, steamers… Anything that could be useful, she bought in bulk, and if it was ready-made, she purchased it immediately.
It was said that in the wild lands, aside from a few surviving trees, there was practically no bamboo; daily necessities would be extremely scarce. Yu Luo thought it through: if, with her system and her parents’ golden finger, she might even become a small landowner in the wild lands someday. Therefore, these items were indispensable.
The moment she stepped into the bamboo shop, Yu Luo immediately noticed two stone mills outside the door. Thinking that perhaps, given her father’s interest in agriculture, it might be entirely possible to cultivate a piece of land in the wild lands, these stone mills would be absolutely necessary.
“Sir, is this stone mill for sale?”
“What?! Young master, you must be joking! This stone mill is for our own use.”
“Then, sir, do you know where I can buy one of these?”
“Walk to the end of this street, then turn left. There’s a stone carving shop that also does this kind of work. If you’re lucky, you should be able to purchase one.”
“Then I’ll go take a look. If they’re not available, you—sell me these two stone mills so I don’t let you suffer a loss!”
Seeing that it was almost time before the end of the day, with many merchants waiting to deliver goods, Yu Luo didn’t dare delay.
“Alright, alright. If you’re in a hurry, just bring someone to come and take them away later.”
Yu Luo jogged over to the stone shop. As soon as she entered, she saw the entire room filled with stone carvings.
“Young master, what would you like to buy?”
“Do you have grinding stones? Both large and small, preferably also something for pounding garlic…”
“Yes, yes, yes, yes…”
Yu Luo didn’t even have time to haggle; she immediately instructed for the items she had selected to be loaded onto a carriage and taken over to the granary. Upon leaving the stone shop, she glanced at the neighboring ceramic shop.
As soon as she entered, she saw water jars, ceramic pots, ceramic bowls…
Once everything was arranged and delivered to the granary, Yu Luo could see from afar that many delivery men were waiting for her to open the door.
