Chapter 163 - 162: The Condition
Chen Shouheng was stunned, his cheeks growing warm. He never imagined Patriarch Zhou would be so bold.
He could only steel himself and awkwardly open his mouth to accept the pastry, swallowing it so quickly he couldn’t even taste it.
Seeing his expression, Zhou Shuwei finally let out a soft, satisfied laugh, as if pleased with her successful teasing. Her mood was clearly excellent.
She picked up a silk handkerchief to wipe her hands. Her tone was teasing, yet held a deeper meaning. "Your Chen Family has truly impressed me. I underestimated you before. For a humble family from the countryside to have such schemes... to play two tigers like the Jiang Family and the Celestial Sword Sect in the palm of your hand, pitting them against each other in a fight to the death."
"You flatter me, Patriarch. It was just a coincidence," Chen Shouheng replied with utmost sincerity.
"Putting this scheme aside, even your strength exceeds my imagination. Snow Fairy, Wu Tributor... neither of them is someone to be trifled with."
She paused, her phoenix eyes narrowing as she studied Chen Shouheng with a probing gaze. "Your father... what exactly is his current level of strength?"
A wry smile appeared on Chen Shouheng’s face. "To be honest with you, Patriarch, before all of this began, I always believed my father was just an ordinary member of the gentry. I didn’t even know he practiced Martial Arts. As for his current strength, I have no way of knowing."
Zhou Shuwei stared at him for a moment. Seeing that his expression didn’t seem fake, she rolled her eyes. A smirk played on her lips. "Fine. If you don’t want to say, then don’t."
Chen Shouheng seized the opportunity to change the subject, cupping his hands in a salute once more. "I came here today not only to express my gratitude, but also to discuss another matter with you, Patriarch."
"Oh? And what might that be?"
Zhou Shuwei leaned back languidly against her chair and picked up her scroll again, her question seeming like a casual afterthought.
"I would like to trade a shipment of grain for some silver taels, Patriarch," Chen Shouheng said.
"Grain?"
The motion of Zhou Shuwei turning the pages of her scroll paused. She looked up at him, a flicker of interest in her eyes. "How much?"
"Fifty thousand stones," Chen Shouheng announced.
Chen Li had not hidden the details of County Magistrate Zhang Heming’s visit from a few days prior.
Four thousand mu of fertile fields—in Chen Shouheng’s eyes, it was an incredibly good deal.
The problem was that to purchase this land, the official price was around one hundred and twenty thousand silver taels.
He had a rough idea of the family’s finances.
There was no way they had that much silver.
If his own family couldn’t afford the purchase, then the deal was meaningless.
The Chen Family wouldn’t see a single real benefit from it.
His father had said he would figure out a way to raise the funds before the transaction.
But Chen Shouheng knew very well that raising such a massive sum of silver would be no easy task.
He immediately thought of the fifty thousand stones of grain that his senior brother, Sun Zhengyi, had left for him.
Grain from Mirror Mountain, even after the prices fell slightly following the autumn harvest, was still at a high of four silver taels per stone.
Not long after bringing Gouwa back, he had gone to the County Magistrate’s Office and purchased the residence where the grain was stored for a price of eight hundred taels of silver, plus another three hundred taels in "tea money."
The grain was now in his possession.
But Chen Shouheng couldn’t figure out how to quickly offload such a large shipment.
After all, it was just as his father had said: if he were to open a grain shop and sell it off slowly, how long would it take to sell fifty thousand stones of grain?
By the time he sold it all, the opportunity would be long gone.
And so, he thought of the Zhou Family.
Only a Noble Family of their stature had the capacity to absorb such a massive quantity of grain in one go.
At his words, Zhou Shuwei put down her scroll. She sat up a little straighter, her gaze landing on Chen Shouheng’s face.
After a moment of contemplation, she suddenly arched an eyebrow, a smirk playing at the corners of her lips. "Fifty thousand stones? Hah... don’t tell me it’s that shipment from the Tian Family?"
Chen Shouheng jolted and snapped his head up, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Patriarch... how did you know?"
’Sun Zhengyi was dead and the Tian Family had been annihilated. No one was supposed to know the origin of this grain.’
Seeing his reaction, Zhou Shuwei chuckled, clearly amused by his surprise. "What’s so difficult about that? A mere County Magistrate... even if he had the gall to be so greedy, where would he get the silver and manpower to absorb fifty thousand stones of grain? He was nothing more than a public-facing puppet for a few other families, tasked with receiving and storing it. The shortfall in grain isn’t just noted in his records; it’s all recorded with perfect clarity in those families’ ledgers."
Her tone was casual, yet it carried an absolute confidence and a piercing insight that saw through everything. "This is a fine shipment. But right now, it’s a hot potato. Plenty of people have their eyes on it. However..."
She changed her tune, her gaze once again growing languid. "But since Young Master Chen is the one asking, the Zhou Family can grant you this favor. Tell me, what price are you looking to get?"
Suppressing his astonishment, Chen Shouheng considered for a moment before saying, "The current grain price in the Commandery City is around three taels per stone. I’m willing to go slightly below the market price..."
Before he could finish, Zhou Shuwei interrupted him, raising a single, slender finger and wagging it gently. "One tael."
Chen Shouheng’s brow furrowed instantly. "One tael? Patriarch, that... that price is far too low. In Mirror Mountain, the price is currently as high as four taels per stone. Even here in the Commandery City where prices have stabilized, it’s still around three. One tael per stone is truly..."
"One tael it is."
Zhou Shuwei’s tone was soft, but firm. "The origins of this shipment are too sensitive. It can’t be moved in the short term, and we’d even be taking the risk of antagonizing the other families. If it weren’t you, my Zhou Family wouldn’t even be willing to touch it; the risk is simply too great. This price is more than fair."
Chen Shouheng’s expression darkened. Selling at one tael a stone would only net him fifty thousand taels of silver, leaving him seventy thousand short. This was nowhere near what he was hoping for.
The atmosphere in the courtyard instantly became heavy, as if even the fish swimming in the pond had slowed down.
Just then, Zhou Shuwei was the one to break the silence.
She languidly shifted into a more comfortable position, her phoenix eyes glinting as she watched him with a half-smile. "Alright, fine. Seeing as your Chen Family is in dire need of funds, I’ll take a step back. Two taels per stone. Fifty thousand stones, for a total of one hundred thousand taels of silver. Young Master Chen, that number should be satisfactory, shouldn’t it?"
Chen Shouheng quickly did the math in his head.
Two taels a stone was still far below market price, but with one hundred thousand taels of silver, plus their family’s savings, it would be enough to cover the urgent purchase of those four thousand mu of government land.
His expression relaxed slightly. Just as he was about to nod in agreement, he saw the corners of Zhou Shuwei’s mouth curve into an even deeper smile as she added, "However, this price comes with a condition."
"A condition?"
Chen Shouheng’s heart skipped a beat. ’I knew it,’ he thought, ’there’s no such thing as a free lunch.’ "Please state your condition, Patriarch."
Zhou Shuwei’s gaze drifted over him as she spoke slowly, "I want you to enter the He Niu Martial Arts Academy with me to cultivate your Martial Arts, under the guise of being my Guard."
"He Niu Martial Arts Academy? With you?"
Chen Shouheng was taken aback. He had never heard that name before, but what shocked him even more was the request itself. "Patriarch... what is the meaning of this? Forgive my ignorance, but as the head of the Zhou Family, why would you need to go to a Martial Arts Academy to train? And what about this vast family business...?"