CHAPTER 455: 350, GENERAL OFFICE OF SALT MERCHANTS

The Little Yingtai at sunset is beautiful, the falling sun just hanging beneath the eaves of Yiliang Pavilion like a dazzling red lantern.

Chen Ji walked along the stone path of Little Yingtai, while Chen Yu followed behind him, chattering, "The Chen Family Salt Shop is a tough business, as tough as a grain shop."

Chen Ji asked indifferently, "You know a lot about the salt shop and the grain shop?"

Chen Yu replied with a hum, "It’s like the court, all intertwined. Although everyone is from the Ning Dynasty, the Chen family has its own ideas, and the Qi family has theirs. The salt shop appoints one Store Manager; his name is Chen Yue, a branch of the Chen family. Below him are seven second shopkeepers, responsible for accounting, managing people, overseeing salt permits, handling official salt transportation, overseeing salt-makers, managing the store... and managing private salt, none of them is easy to deal with. You must be careful, don’t let these old foxes lead you by the nose, lest you get caught in inexplicable disputes and lose your family tree."

Chen Ji asked puzzled, "We are rivals now, why are you telling me these things?"

Chen Yu casually broke off a willow twig and played with it in his hand, "You may not be able to defeat me, but if you can firmly grip the salt shop, it won’t be a wasted effort. That’s a business of several hundred thousand taels of silver; aside from the annual profits you have to hand over, you can still keep several thousand taels for yourself, enough for wealth and prosperity."

Chen Ji sighed, "You’re actually quite nice."

Chen Yu laughed heartily, "If you just sort out these tangled relationships, it will take three years. Three years later, I’ll have firmly held the grain shop in my hands, and the difference will be obvious. So, I don’t actually need to consider you as a rival."

Chen Ji was momentarily speechless, he bade farewell to Chen Yu, "Let’s rely on our own abilities, farewell..."

As he turned around, Chen Yu stuck to him again, "What’s the rush? I still plan to go to your Silver Apricot Garden for dinner."

Chen Ji was taken aback, how could someone be so boundary-less? He had already said goodbye, yet still refused to leave.

Chen Yu followed Chen Ji all the way into Silver Apricot Garden, smiling and greeting Xiao Man, "Xiao Man has grown so big!"

Xiao Man’s eyes brightened upon seeing Chen Yu, "Ah, why are you here?"

Chen Yu casually tossed a silver ingot to Xiao Man, "This time returning to the Imperial Capital in a hurry, I didn’t bring anything for a meeting gift, buy some rouge and powder for yourself."

Xiao Man happily tucked the silver ingot into her sleeve, "Young Master Chen Yu is handsome and kindhearted!"

Chen Yu laughed heartily, "I’ve been sunburned to the point of peeling, what’s handsome about that?"

Xiao Man laughed, showing her small tiger teeth, "Still handsome even when sunburned and peeling!"

Chen Yu, delighted, unexpectedly pulled out another ten-tael silver ingot and handed it to Xiao Man.

Chen Ji looked speechlessly at Chen Yu, wondering why he showers silver wherever he goes. No wonder Xiao Man said Chen Yu’s appearance was handsome and rare in the Imperial Capital.

Indeed, Xiao Man was looking at Chen Yu with eyes only for the silver... Xiao Man’s eyes brightened when she saw silver.

Chen Ji watched the two silver ingots in Xiao Man’s hand, silent for a moment, then turned to Chen Yu and said, "Young Master Chen Yu is handsome and kindhearted."

Chen Yu: "..."

Xiao Man: "..."

Chen Yu said to Xiao Man with emotion, "Three years not seen, your young master has gained some flair."

He pulled out a silver ingot to toss at Chen Ji, then brazenly lifted the hem of his official robe and sat on a stone stool, gesturing unceremoniously, "Xiao Man, pour some tea, I’m thirsty."

Xiao Man responded cheerfully, "Alright!"

Chen Ji felt that today seemed less like Chen Yu coming to his courtyard, but rather like he had arrived at Chen Yu’s... wouldn’t Xiao Man be secretly selling his information to Chen Yu?

He wanted to call out to Xiao Man, telling her not to take orders from Chen Yu, when he saw Xiao Man secretly making two gestures to him, an eight and a two.

Eight two split.

While Xiao Man boiled water to make tea, Chen Yu pointed to the other stone stool beside him, "Sit, don’t be polite."

Chen Ji sat down grumpily, "Do you have more to say?"

Chen Yu leaned in mysteriously, "Do you know why the Family Head was so cautious in choosing between you and me?"

Chen Ji shook his head, "No clue."

Chen Yu whispered, "Because he doesn’t plan to pass the position of Family Head to our uncle, but intends to skip a generation and pass it to you and me."

Chen Ji was stunned, "Uncle holds the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, a renowned scholar and Confucian in the court, why not pass it to him?"

Chen Yu seemingly knew something but kept it concealed, "Let’s not talk about this. Let me introduce the salt business to you, so you don’t stumble around like a headless fly."

At this time, Xiao Man came out carrying a tray and sat beside them to pour tea.

Chen Yu picked up a teacup, blew on it, "Do you know what the drawbacks of our Ning Dynasty’s salt tax are?"

Chen Ji rolled his eyes, "If you have something to show off, just say it, don’t be mysterious."

Chen Yu put down the teacup, wetted his finger, and drew a circle on the edge of the stone table, "This is the border army."

He then drew a circle closer inside the stone table, "This is the borderline salt merchants."

Then, Chen Yu drew a line between the border army and borderline salt merchants, "Originally, our dynasty implemented the ’Kaizhong Salt Policy;’ merchants transporting five measures of grain to the border could exchange it for a salt permit. A salt permit could be exchanged for two hundred jin of salt with no additional tax. Gradually, using the price of five measures of grain at the time, people set the price of salt permits, which is four maces of silver."

Chen Ji was enlightened, realizing this was where the anchoring price for salt permits came from.

Chen Yu pointed to the line between ’border army’ and ’borderline salt merchants,’ "But transporting grain to the border had high loss. So, smart merchants relied on their power and stopped transporting grain to the border army, instead directly paying four maces of silver to the Ministry of Revenue for a salt permit. Initially, everyone was happy, the court got silver, salt merchants got salt permits, no one lost out."