Farm Girl's Manor
Chapter 319: Will You Miss Me (6)_1

Chapter 319: Chapter 319: Will You Miss Me (6)_1

Seeing that he had no objections, Xiao Ruiyuan cleared his throat in a seemingly casual manner and said, "Keep an eye on the Mo’s Family in Liu Yang Village as well. If they run into trouble and you can solve it, then take care of it. If you can’t... find a way to help them solve it!"

Mo’s Family in Liu Yang Village? Was it that Mo’s Family in that Liu Yang Village? Xiao Eleven was somewhat puzzled. Why had his master issued such a strange command?

Xiao Ruiyuan’s face darkened, and he said icily, "What, is this matter difficult to handle?"

"No, no, no, your subordinate will obey the command!" The skin on Xiao Eleven’s head prickled, and without time to think further, he hastily agreed.

Xiao Ruiyuan nodded in satisfaction, waved his hand grandly, indicating that he could leave.

Xiao Eleven, even after stepping out of the study, still hadn’t figured out why his master had issued such an order. This was not something he could ask others about. Fortunately, Liu Yang Village was no dragon’s den or tiger’s lair, and it wasn’t anything particularly challenging; arranging for two ordinary Hidden Guards would suffice.

In the study now alone, Xiao Ruiyuan gently opened a side drawer of the desk and removed a palm-sized small square box. Opening the box, a common apricot-colored purse lay quietly inside. The purse was well-preserved, without a single wrinkle, looking as if it were new.

It was the very one that Mo Yan had sent Little Flower with as a messenger.

Xiao Ruiyuan took out the purse, looking at the black cat embroidered with black silk thread on it, a deep smile flashing in his eyes. Finally, he closed the box, tossing it back into the drawer. The purse, which was not particularly attractive, was carefully tucked into his robe.

Mo Yan, still discussing with Lizhong whether or not to raise the price of grain, had no idea that the purse she had used once as an envelope was now being treasured by someone else; otherwise, her recently calmed emotions would have been disturbed once more.

"Grandfather Li, have all the rice shops in the city raised their prices?" Seeing that the ledger showed nearly eight tael silver more than yesterday, Mo Yan felt no joy.

Lizhong’s face also looked rather grim: "I checked all the rice shops today, most have raised their prices by one to two Wen, a few doubled. The ones with smaller increases still have some inventory, and the ones with bigger hikes have recently shipped in at a much higher cost."

Touching the Ancient Jade Mark in her palm, Mo Yan fell silent for a moment. She roughly knew that as long as the war did not end, grain prices would continue to rise, so many were stockpiling while the prices were still reasonable. Surely no rice shop was doing poorly now.

If her family didn’t raise their prices, it would surely arouse suspicion from other shops, making them think she had a cheaper source for grain. In the short term, that would be alright, but if the conflict dragged on too long, grain prices would definitely increase further.

For the sake of maximizing profits, those shops would certainly keep an eye on their ’cheap grain channel.’ This could expose her secret, which was absolutely unacceptable!

Yet the cost of her own family’s grain was almost nil, and she found she could not take advantage of the situation to profit from the nation’s crisis.

Lizhong, unaware of her concerns, thought she was worried about no one buying if prices went up, and suggested, "Our shop has just opened; our foundations are shallow. If we don’t follow the price increase, we will suffer significant losses over time. Let’s raise our prices a bit according to our purchase cost, the customers will understand."

Mo Yan nodded reluctantly; there seemed to be no better way to avoid suspicion for the time being. However, she couldn’t let the earnings go completely unchecked.

"Then let’s raise them. For staples like glutinous rice, corn, and flour, we’ll raise the prices according to the majority of the other rice shops. We won’t raise the price of rice for now, but we’ll limit sales, allowing only five catties per person per day."

"Limit sales?" Lizhong frowned at Mo Yan, quite perplexed. The best-selling item in the shop was rice, which accounted for most of the daily income. If they didn’t raise the price and limited sales, they would lose a significant amount every day.

Mo Yan nodded, "Let’s do that for now! If the other shops’ prices go up later, we’ll raise the price of rice by two Wen and continue to limit sales." By doing this, it would not be so conspicuous, and other shops would simply think Mo’s Fragrant Rice was using this as a chance to build a reputation.

Lizhong shared this view. Seeing that she was resolute and apparently would not be swayed, he no longer pursued the matter. After all, this strategy was beneficial for the shop’s reputation, much like those long-established brands that had built an excellent reputation and a large customer base over the years.

The next day, Mo’s Fragrant Rice switched out their price tags and hung a big sign at the door announcing the sales limit.

Regarding the rice price increase, the customers had no objections, but they were vexed that they could only buy five catties of rice per day without a price hike. Five catties of rice was only enough for a family of five for a day and a half, enough for a seven to eight-member family for one day—didn’t they have to visit daily?

The more well-to-do families would have preferred a price increase over a sales limit, so they kept complaining to Lizhong while buying rice. Lizhong could do nothing but keep explaining with a forced smile, hoping they would understand Mo’s Fragrant Rice’s intentions.

Those of more modest means thought Mo’s Fragrant Rice was quite generous; they only needed to make one trip daily to save ten Wen, which over a month could afford their children a nice set of clothes!

They felt that with such a generous owner, they would certainly not be given inferior for superior quality grain or sold rotten grain, so they were happy to come daily.

When news of this reached other rice shop owners, many laughed at Mo’s Fragrant Rice’s owner as a fool who had money but didn’t know how to earn it, but none suspected that Mo’s Family had other channels to acquire cheap grain. As a result, for some time afterward, Mo Yan was able to continue transferring grain from the Space into the warehouse.

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