Chapter 100
"Please excuse the mess here."
As the saying goes, whoever comes is a guest.
Even without asking, Zhang Fangyuan knew the visitor had come for the charcoal business.
Currently, their family’s warehouse had the largest stock of charcoal in the city. Although other merchants might not know this, seeing how much charcoal they had sold today, they naturally came sniffing around. Zhang Fangyuan just hadn’t expected them to arrive so quickly.
"Boss Zhang’s business is booming. We’ve come uninvited and disturbed you, so it’s our fault for being impolite. How could we blame you for the mess?"
Although the warehouse conditions were modest, Xu He still brewed a cup of tea and served it to the visiting merchant, ensuring proper etiquette. After serving the tea, he sat quietly to the side, listening to their conversation.
The visiting merchant was like a smiling tiger. Zhang Fangyuan found him somewhat familiar, and since the man knew his surname, he felt they must have met before, even though he couldn’t recall exactly when.
[A smiling tiger: a metaphorical expression used to describe someone who appears friendly, kind, or harmless on the surface but is actually cunning, ruthless, or dangerous underneath]
Coming from a farming background and having worked as a butcher, Zhang Fangyuan wasn’t like the typical merchant who enjoyed beating around the bush. He got straight to the point: "May I ask your name, sir? Have you come to buy charcoal?"
"My surname is Qin. I’ve heard that Boss Zhang has a considerable stock of charcoal. With the current weather, everyone is anxious. If there were more charcoal shops selling firewood, life would be easier for the common folk. Don’t you agree?"
Zhang Fangyuan listened to the roundabout speech and understood that the man wanted to buy charcoal at a low price to resell at a profit.
He wasn’t foolish. The worst of the weather hadn’t even arrived yet. The snowstorms would continue until February next year. Even though he had a large stockpile, he didn’t need to sell in bulk to other merchants to clear his inventory. He could sell it gradually until February, and even selling it piecemeal wouldn’t be a problem.
Selling a large batch at once would be good for quick returns, but the current charcoal prices were already double the usual rate. Even if he sold at a lower price to other merchants, it wouldn’t be much lower, and the final result would be that the merchants would double the price again.
While this would make a profit, many common folk who couldn’t afford the higher prices would suffer. Even after the disaster passed, with the common folk’s pockets empty, business would still be difficult for merchants.
This was something Zhang Fangyuan had already figured out from the start, so he said bluntly: "If Manager Qin needs charcoal for personal use, I can deliver it to your door. But if you’re looking to buy in bulk, I’m afraid I can’t cooperate. My stock isn’t that large."
The merchant surnamed Qin wasn’t angered by this response. It was expected, as everyone knew charcoal was so hot that it burnt the hand, and no one would easily give up their profits.
[[炙手可热 (zhì shǒu kě rè): lit. So hot it burns the hand; fig. Extremely popular or in high demand.]
He said, "The price is negotiable. Boss Zhang, rest assured, I won’t compete with you in Siyang. I’ll sell it in other counties."
The disaster hadn’t only affected Siyang. The surrounding small towns and markets were also affected. Due to the epidemic, travel was restricted, making it difficult for merchants to move around, but the surrounding areas were still accessible.
In other words, he wasn’t planning to profit from Siyang’s high prices but from other places instead. It was a thoughtful consideration.
But Zhang Fangyuan remained unmoved: "Boss Qin, I’ll be frank. I’m not selling in bulk not just because of profit, but also for the sake of the common folk. Please understand."
Seeing that Zhang Fangyuan was firm, the merchant surnamed Qin was surprised but knew there was no hope.
He paused for a moment, stood up, and cupped his hands in a gesture of respect. His earlier smile was gone, replaced by an unreadable expression: "Boss Zhang, you are truly righteous."
After a moment, he added, "Boss Zhang, you don’t seem to care about past connections. Nevertheless, I wish you continue success in your business."
Without waiting for Zhang Fangyuan to respond, the merchant strode out of the door.
The clerk saw him off, and Xu He stood at the door, watching the man get into his sedan chair. He couldn’t help but frown: "This might offend some people."
"Not every deal can be made. If someone holds a grudge over this, it’s not a sustainable way to do business." Zhang Fangyuan knew that maintaining charcoal prices to prevent further increases would inevitably upset some merchants, but it was impossible to please everyone. In that case, he would act according to his own principles.
What bothered him was the merchant’s cryptic words: "No matter what, we can’t open a loophole. Otherwise, we will offend even more people in the future."
Xu He nodded. In the following days, merchants came to visit every now and then, but all were turned away. Since no one managed to buy charcoal, the merchants, though grumbling, felt somewhat balanced and didn’t have much to complain about.
The Zhang family’s warehouse remained open every day, and the charcoal supply was steady. Their medium-grade charcoal was sold at thirty copper coins per catty. If other charcoal shops in the city priced theirs higher, they couldn’t sell. The common folk preferred to queue for an extra stick of incense’s worth of time (15 minutes) at the Zhang family’s warehouse rather than spend more money. As a result, the price of medium-grade charcoal in the city stabilized at this level.
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