Chapter 60 Buying Grain?

As Zhao Mu kept talking more and more outrageously, Qin Jian was left completely dumbfounded.

Not to mention him, even Wang Wu, Wen Zhi, and the city guards standing nearby were all struck speechless with their jaws dropped.

However, far from showing any restraint, Zhao Mu continued speaking with an endless and eloquent stream of words.

"Brother, don't for a second think I'm just pulling your leg. Besides, you don't even need to spread these words yourself. Just find a few beggars and storytellers to drop a few lines here and there, and these things will gradually spread on their own!"

"Moreover, if those people want to eat our tiger meat, they won't just be able to buy it with money!"

"We have to impose limits on it. Do you know what hunger marketing is?"

"For instance, if a person needs a pound of meat to fill their stomach, we simply won't sell them a full pound. We'll only give them eight ounces, or even six ounces!"

"They want to eat more? Too bad! Sold out! My man, that's all your single ass is allowed to buy!"

At first, Qin Jian only found Zhao Mu's words somewhat amusing. Although the gimmicks were clever, they ultimately seemed like nothing more than a source of entertainment.

Yet, as Zhao Mu went on with his subsequent remarks, Qin Jian's expression gradually grew serious.

What Zhao Mu was describing was far beyond a mere exclusive trick for selling tiger meat this one time!

This was clearly a foolproof manual for winning at business!

With these ideas from Zhao Mu, Qin Jian felt his chest swelling with excitement to the point of bursting!

Even after this tiger was sold out, he could use the exact same method to run the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion in the future!

Take, for example, the pickled cabbage fish that Zhao Mu had passed on to him!

Want to eat pickled cabbage fish in the future?

Too bad!

You have to come early!

You might even need to make a reservation in advance!

Our Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion will only make fifty portions of pickled cabbage fish a day. For those without a reservation who arrive late, we simply will not serve you!

In this way, the business of pickled cabbage fish would undoubtedly become even more booming!

Furthermore, this would conveniently solve the trouble of having insufficient chefs and inadequate ingredients.

"Little brother, why don't you just come and work with me?"

Gazing fixedly at Zhao Mu, Qin Jian said with excitement, "If the two of us join forces, we can definitely turn the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion into the largest restaurant in all of Taiping County, and even the entire realm!"

He was genuinely moved by a desire to recruit talent this time. Although the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion had been the best restaurant in Taiping County even before Zhao Mu appeared, ever since Zhao Mu entered the picture, the restaurant's business had risen to a whole new level!

The pickled cabbage fish alone was enough to pack the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion to capacity every single day.

The other restaurants in Taiping County were practically being squeezed out of business by him.

If he could manage to source a large quantity of chili peppers, he could also introduce the chili-oil white-cut chicken and spicy chicken that Zhao Mu had taught the restaurant's chefs.

By then, let alone Taiping County, even the nobles from the prefecture and provincial capitals would come flocking from afar!

And he would be able to expand the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion to the prefecture capital, the provincial capital, and even the imperial capital!

Zhao Mu had not expected that he was merely tossing out a casual idea to Qin Jian, only for Qin Jian to try and recruit him yet again.

If he were to follow Qin Jian, his survival going forward would certainly become much easier.

At the very least, he wouldn't have to worry every day about how to transport fish into the city and how to avoid the refugees.

However, he was not someone who enjoyed living under another person's thumb. Besides, even if he could go with Qin Jian, what would happen to Huang Wan, Wang Wu, Wen Zhi, Feng Qin, and the others?

He certainly couldn't make an exorbitant demand and expect Qin Jian to feed all these people for free.

He had already built his own enterprise now, and he could not simply step back from it.

"Elder brother, let's not speak of this matter again."

Zhao Mu smiled and politely declined, saying, "If brother has any matters you can't make up your mind on, feel free to come to me. But as for opening a restaurant together with you, I'm afraid it might eventually harm our friendship if things go wrong, and that wouldn't be good."

Thinking about it, Qin Jian realized that was true. Since ancient times, countless sworn brothers had gone into business together, only to end up making little money while completely destroying their friendship.

Although he was confident that with Zhao Mu's assistance, the business of the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion would only grow larger, Zhao Mu's mind was made up, and it was not his place to say any more.

"Alright then, this tiger will be left in my hands today."

Sighing, Qin Jian said, "Tomorrow morning, I'll bring the silver from the sale to you."

Zhao Mu smiled slightly and asked, "By the way, earlier I heard elder brother mention that a grain transport cart was intercepted outside the city? What is that all about?"

Qin Jian replied, "It's just a few grain merchants. Seeing more and more refugees gathering outside the city, they inevitably grew worried and tried to transport their grain inside. In the end, they were targeted on the road by refugees driven desperate by hunger, and a few carts of grain were looted."

A thought flickered in Zhao Mu's mind, and he asked, "Does elder brother happen to know where they are storing their grain outside the city?"

Startled for a moment, Qin Jian lowered his voice and asked, "Little brother, could it be that you also want to rob those people's grain?"

Zhao Mu immediately shook his head and said, "Their desire to transport the grain into the city is simply out of fear that it will be looted and they'll end up with nothing. Like those refugees, I also want this grain, but I am willing to pay for it; I won't rob them."

Qin Jian let out a breath of relief. As long as Zhao Mu wasn't planning to rob the grain, it was fine.

Robbing grain might allow people to survive in the moment, but sooner or later, a reckoning would come.

"Little brother, you must think this through carefully."

Pondering for a moment, Qin Jian lowered his voice and said, "Even if you buy this grain, I've heard that people have already started causing trouble at the storage sites. Even if you actually purchase the grain, with so many refugees outside the city, you might not be able to hold onto it."

Zhao Mu smiled and replied, "Elder brother can rest easy. Since I dare to speak of buying grain, I certainly have the confidence to protect this batch of provisions."

He knew Qin Jian was worried about him, afraid that his hard-earned money would go down the drain.

Moreover, the reason those grain merchants were in such a rush to move the grain into the city was clearly because the storage locations were no longer safe.

Even if he took over, he would face the exact same problems as those grain merchants.

While Zhao Mu did harbor grand ambitions of helping the world, the current Great Qi Dynasty was already rotten to the core.

Relying on himself alone, there was simply no way he could save all the refugees across the entire realm!

Perhaps an opportunity would arise in the future, but certainly not now.

Rolling his eyes slightly, Zhao Mu whispered, "However, elder brother, the situation outside the city is clear to everyone, so there is no way I can purchase this batch of grain at the original price. Therefore, I will need my elder brother to help me maneuver and negotiate a bit on the price."

Qin Jian immediately nodded and said, "That's a small matter. I'll handle it for you!"

What Zhao Mu was doing could be considered taking advantage of a crisis, but as the saying goes, Jiang Taigong fishes and those who are willing take the bait; he believed those grain merchants would surely agree to part with the grain at a low price.

He just wondered how much Qin Jian would ultimately manage to shave off the price for him.

"Elder brother, I'll leave this tiger with you. The rest of us will head back first."

After exchanging the flatbed carts with one of Qin Jian's attendants, Zhao Mu prepared to leave with Wang Wu and the others.

At that moment, the gate guard surnamed Li suddenly called out to stop him.

"Young Master Zhao, please wait!"