Chapter 8 Made Money

  Hou Shan's handling of the matter was quite skillful, especially after being driven by financial interests. He brought Li Meng and others to the so-called Wang family salt merchants. Li Meng's salt did not contain sand or stones, making it a high-quality sea salt. The salt merchants were also unwilling for their source of goods to be controlled solely by Mu Xun, the inspector, and welcomed new sources of supply, especially those like Li Meng who directly boiled and harvested sea salt from the coast.

  The salt merchant thought he should give some sweet treats, and with Hou Shan's good eloquence, one catty of salt was sold for one or two silver coins. Li Meng and the others brought eighteen catties of salt this time, and without counting the small change, they directly gave twenty taels of white silver.

  Twenty taels of white silver, Li Meng's reaction was still good, but Zhao Neng and Chen Liu Zi's eyes were already wide with wonder, looking like they had never seen such a large sum of money before. The salt merchant was very satisfied with their salt goods and directly said that if they were all of this quality sea salt, he would welcome them to come again next time.

  As they walked out of the salt warehouse, Hou Shan followed Li Meng, wanting to speak but hesitating, only smiling. Li Meng was stunned for a moment before reacting, laughing and handing over a small piece of silver, which he couldn't calculate its value in wen, but seeing the other's grateful expression, he knew it was enough.

  In Hou Shan's eyes, Li Meng and his men were undoubtedly generous bosses, and he wanted to get along with them well, hoping to do business with them again next time. Li Meng and Zhao Neng wore tattered clothes and had some rustic demeanor, but Hou Shan didn't have any intention of deceiving them. The leader, Li Meng, was very mysterious and profound, and the single-edged swords and iron rulers he pressed under his body in the car were also intimidating.

  After sending Hou Shan away, looking at the sky still early, I thought that after strolling around, I could also hurry back home. A group of people simply took a stroll and relaxed.

  As Hou Shan walked away, someone approached and asked:

  "Li Meng, we both sell salted goods, just give that Chinese person a few coins and be done with it, why bother giving so much."

  Li Meng smiled and stopped in his tracks to answer:

  "You and I are not familiar with the local market, coming here, if that salt merchant has the intention of pressing prices to deceive us, you won't sell, can't push it back to the Xue family, might as well find an intermediary, give them a bit more money, after all, that intermediary is more familiar with the market than we are."

  The person who asked the question scratched his head, and Li Meng continued:

  "I'm also uncertain, if Hou Shan and the salt merchant are in cahoots to deceive me, I'll be helpless, so I can only take a gamble this time."

  "Brother Li said that, haha, my dad also said that if Brother Li hadn't been scared out of his wits when he was five years old, he would be even smarter than us!"

  Everyone was convinced by these words, and Chen Liu Zi shouted loudly in the crowd "Whatever Li Da Ge does, he must have his reasons". In a group of people, the one with the most power and brains will naturally get the support of their companions and become the leader. Nobody noticed that they had unconsciously changed their address from "Li Meng" to "Li Da Ge".

  Li Meng was somewhat surprised, thinking that his change was too sudden. In the Wei camp, it only took a month to go from foolish to intelligent. Today, he did something big on the road and afterwards showed such a clear head, but he must not reveal any flaws.

  Although these companions are all honest military dependents, they don't suspect anything, but I still need to be cautious. Li Meng has heard that dealing with evil spirits and sprinkling dog blood is light, usually they are burned to death on a fire or thrown into the sea in a pig cage, but absolutely must not show too much.

  Moreover, the past events mentioned by that young man happened to fill in the gaps. In the merged memories, how he was scared silly was very vague. It wasn't until this person brought it up that I vaguely remembered that Li Meng had witnessed his parents being killed by pirates and was traumatized as a result.

  As Li Meng fell into deep thought, Zhao Neng stepped forward and slapped the back of his head, saying in a loud voice "What's with this unhappy look", then walked to Li Meng's side, put his arm around Li Meng's shoulder and said with a smile in a low voice:

  "Li Meng, quickly take out the silver and divide it among everyone. These people are all thinking of buying something to bring back home, let's take advantage of the early hour and buy everything before heading back."

  Li Meng turned around to see that everyone had an eager expression, even the usually calm Zhao Neng. The people from the salt warehouse handed over the money directly to Li Meng, who was apparently the leader, and he quickly smiled and distributed it among his companions on the street corner.

  The other party actually gave some silver fragments. Originally, the salt warehouse said that they could give more copper coins, but Li Meng refused. This is not a historical knowledge or experience, but rather the idea that precious metals are better than copper coins. If it weren't for the scattered silver fragments, it would be difficult to divide the money.

  Everyone got one or two liang of silver, and they all went away happily. Zhao Neng had pushed a lot of salt, so he got two liang of silver. Just as he was about to turn around, Li Meng called out to him. Li Meng pulled Zhao Neng's hand over, put his own extra one liang of silver into Zhao Neng's hand, and said with a smile:

  "Brother Zhao, I don't know what to buy either, you decide and get something for Grandma!"

  One thing that stands out clearly in my memory is that for all these years, Zhao Nai's mother has been helping to take care of our daily needs. This kindness is truly unforgettable. Even though Li Meng is not the same person as before, I am still deeply moved. Although we are not related by blood, she has been helping us with such warmth and generosity.

  Zhao looked down at the silver in his hand, everyone knew how much money was needed to buy things, but Li Meng mentioned his own mother, he also understood what Li Meng meant, and for a moment he felt moved, not saying much, patted Li Meng's shoulder with his hand, and followed him to buy things.

  Aomeng Town was a bustling place for these military dependents, but for Li Meng from modern times, it was really not interesting at all.

  There are hundreds of households here, and only a few brick-and-wood houses, which are just those salt warehouses. The rest are all rammed earth walls with thatched roofs. People on the road wear slightly better clothes than those in our guard posts, but still limited. The roads are naturally dirt roads, and since it rained a few days ago, the surface is not so dusty.

  There are several thatched cottages outside which are painted with white lime, and those are the shops in this town. A small town can't be expected to have much, and it's only because of the salt merchants collecting salt that it has become prosperous. If you really want to find some enjoyment, nearby Jiaozhou is also a rich and prosperous place, wouldn't it be better to go there?

  Li Meng casually found a stone by the side of the road and sat down, looking at the dilapidated streets and houses, the people with vegetable-colored faces, and the laughter of his companions could be clearly heard from far away. Li Meng closed his eyes, the salty smell in the air was particularly strong, this is a sign that the sea breeze has blown over.

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  Thank you everyone, new book is on the charts, please recommend and collect support, thank you everyone, tomorrow there will be two more chapters.