Chapter 272: Third Young Master's Business

Go back into the army?

Yuan Gang said nothing. He had gone to great lengths to establish an identity here. How could he possibly ruin it now?

When he first entered the State of Qi with Yuan Feng, Niu Lin, Yuan Huo, and Niu Shan, the five of them had happened upon an upheaval within the State of Qi's border army. They rescued more than ten soldiers who had narrowly escaped death and were being hunted down. After learning something of the circumstances, Yuan Gang immediately decided to make use of the opportunity.

The five of them selected five identities among those soldiers whose family backgrounds were suitable, assumed those identities, drew away the pursuers, and helped the real soldiers escape from the State of Qi. The five identities were ideal for impersonation.

They were all unknown rank-and-file soldiers. Apart from the detachment that had been wiped out, almost no one outside knew them personally. To their superiors and everyone else, they were little more than five names written on a roster. Even so, Yuan Gang had wanted to make the arrangement as secure as possible.

While drawing the pursuers away, he had deliberately exposed himself several times and taken risks so the people chasing them would see and remember their faces.

Afterward, the five men fled all the way to the Qi capital carrying a bellyful of "grievances."

Once they reached the capital, Yuan Gang did not simply grab the first person he saw and cry injustice. He first familiarized himself with the situation in the city. After confirming that Supreme General Huyan Wuhen was the most suitable person before whom to plead their case, Yuan Gang decisively abducted Huyan Wuhen's son—the Huyan Wei standing before him now—and used him as a hostage to obtain an audience with Huyan Wuhen. Who would have expected events to take an unexpected turn?

Huyan Wuhen had agreed readily enough while his son was still in danger. The instant Huyan Wei was safe, however, he abruptly ordered the five men seized! More than a hundred men rushed them at once, only to be scattered into chaos by the five.

"Stop!"

When crossbowmen appeared, Huyan Wuhen raised a hand and stopped the retainer cultivators beside him from intervening. Then he shouted down the attackers and looked at Yuan Gang and the others with open appreciation.

"No wonder you managed to flee all the way to the capital!"

Only then did Yuan Gang understand. The Supreme General had been testing them. He wanted to verify what ability had allowed these five men to escape layer after layer of pursuit and reach the capital alive. Even afterward, however, Huyan Wuhen still placed them under soft confinement.

Several days later, a group came to meet them. They were military personnel who had previously participated in the pursuit. Yuan Gang understood immediately. Huyan Wuhen was still verifying their identities.

He was also secretly surprised by the Supreme General's reach. The man had managed to find people who had seen them personally in such a short time. Afterward, their confinement was lifted. Huyan Wuhen wanted to transfer all five men beneath his own command. The five refused, saying they had become thoroughly disillusioned and wanted only to live as ordinary commoners. Huyan Wuhen did not force them.

He agreed, but told them to think it over carefully. If they ever wanted to return, they could come back at any time. That was how they had arrived at the present situation.

Seeing Yuan Gang remain silent, Huyan Wei urged, "Brother An, say something!"

Yuan Gang reached for another burlap sack, then stopped moving it. His voice was deep.

"Third Young Master, you know how we brothers barely escaped with our lives. We truly don't want to become tangled in those filthy intrigues again. The affairs of the great men above us are too complicated. We can't understand them, and we can't play those games."

"We finally managed to get free. We only want to live peaceful, steady lives now. We appreciate the Supreme General's goodwill, but we genuinely don't want to go back!"

These soybeans were what Yuan Gang had just gone out to purchase. He had only just returned when he happened to run into the disturbance outside. Huyan Wei sighed softly.

He could understand Yuan Gang's feelings, but still tried to persuade him. "Anywhere interests are involved, disgusting things are bound to appear. What matters is how you choose to face them. Running away isn't a solution either."

"My father values you this much. Countless people couldn't obtain an opportunity like this even if they begged for it. Are you really willing to remain a merchant for the rest of your life?"

Yuan Gang said, "There's nothing wrong with being a merchant. Things are fine as they are."

Huyan Wei was speechless. On this point, he felt his father had miscalculated somewhat. His father's original plan had been to let these men experience a little of worldly reality and run into some walls. Naturally, they would then understand what choice they ought to make, which was why he had not forced them. Nor had Huyan Wuhen believed a tiny snack business could amount to much. Who could have imagined that a little snack shop would become so prosperous and actually make good money?

Even Huyan Wuhen had been left speechless. He had already given his word and could hardly take it back, leaving him no choice but to send Huyan Wei over every few days to try persuading them again. Looked at from another angle, however, the behavior of these men had also dispelled some of Huyan Wuhen's doubts. There was no longer much reason to worry that they had come with some hidden objective.

They had no interest whatsoever in becoming officials and wanted only to live as ordinary commoners. Naturally, that also reduced the possibility that they were spies trying to infiltrate the army. Huyan Wei looked at Yuan Gang again.

A burlap sack weighing more than a hundred jin was something the man picked up and moved around as casually as though it were nothing. The sight of that strength made Huyan Wei's teeth ache. He could still remember the time Yuan Gang took him hostage. One punch from Yuan Gang had knocked his mount over and killed it on the spot.

Ferocious!

His father had taken one look at Yuan Gang afterward and declared that the man had the makings of a fierce general, then furiously cursed the border army's dirty intrigues for burying genuine talent.

Then again, with Yuan Gang's character and way of doing things, he was the sort who would rather break than bend. Someone like that could easily offend his superiors. From that perspective, his father also felt it was perfectly understandable that Yuan Gang's talent had been buried. His father appreciated the man and wanted to recruit him. Yet somehow, the whole thing had backfired and turned into this!

"Ah!" Huyan Wei sighed.

Seeing Yuan Gang still refuse, he could only change the subject. "How many servings did you sell today?"

After finishing the unloading, Yuan Gang called, "Shopkeeper Gao."

A short elderly man soon hurried out from the front of the Tofu House. He came over and repeatedly bowed. "Third Young Master. Proprietor."

Yuan Gang glanced at the sky. Evening was already approaching. "How much did we sell today?"

Shopkeeper Gao beamed. "We've already matched what we'd sold by closing time yesterday. I haven't calculated the exact figures yet, but we've sold twelve barrels already."

Yuan Gang lifted his chin slightly toward Huyan Wei. The meaning was obvious. You heard him.

Huyan Wei looked blank. "How many servings are in one barrel?"

Normally, why would someone like him bother paying attention to details like that?

Shopkeeper Gao smiled. "Third Young Master, each serving isn't large, only a small cup. One barrel holds roughly a thousand servings. Twelve barrels definitely puts us above ten thousand servings."

Huyan Wei immediately grinned so broadly he could hardly close his mouth. He began doing the sums in his head. Ten copper coins per serving. Ten thousand servings meant one hundred thousand copper coins, which came to ten gold coins. Costs would amount to two gold coins at most. That meant the net profit was probably around eight gold coins.

Eight gold coins in profit in a single day was by no means a small amount. That would be considered good money for any shop. And judging from how quickly sales were growing, breaking ten gold coins in daily profit would be easy! He never would have imagined this at the beginning.

When Yuan Gang first told him that while feeding soybeans to horses in the border army, he had accidentally come up with this snack and wanted to sell it as a business, Huyan Wei had looked down on the idea.

Yuan Gang said he was relying on Huyan Wei's support and that Huyan Wei had also helped secure the location, so he would give him half the business. Whatever money they made afterward would be split evenly. At the time, Huyan Wei had repeatedly said there was no need. To put it plainly, he had looked down on the business.

He had not believed it could make much money. Even if it did, he assumed the profits would not be enough to cover the scraps of his usual expenses. Yuan Gang insisted on giving him the share. Unable to refuse such repeated generosity, Huyan Wei eventually agreed almost perfunctorily.

Who could have imagined it?

No matter how he thought about it, he could never have expected a little snack to become this wildly popular. The money it earned had far exceeded anything he had imagined.

At present, Huyan Wei merely held some nominal post in the army and received a modest salary. His household also gave him an allowance from the family accounts. There was no helping that.

Born into a household like his, certain social obligations were unavoidable. The people he dealt with were hardly ordinary, and looking too shabby would be inappropriate. His military salary alone was nowhere near enough.

After calculating his official pay, the Huyan family supplemented him to a total of one thousand gold coins in spending money per year. There was no possibility of giving him much more.

The household was large, and he was hardly the only person it had to support. They still had to live according to their means.

Besides, Huyan Wuhen was not the sort of man who constantly stretched out his hands to grab money wherever he could. He was comparatively upright, and the Huyan family did not have a foundation that allowed endless extravagance. Even so, one thousand gold coins a year was hardly a small amount. For ordinary commoners, that represented ten million copper coins. Many would never earn that much in their entire lives.

So long as he did not behave too wildly, spending two or three gold coins a day entertaining friends in the capital was entirely sufficient. Even if he visited Among the White Clouds for pleasure, spending several gold coins in one trip already counted as lavish. Nor could he spend every day lounging around Among the White Clouds. He still had official duties, while food and drink at home cost him nothing.

So one thousand gold coins per year was more than enough. It was already the spending level of a son from a wealthy and powerful household. And then, completely by accident, the Tofu House appeared. It had been open for only a little over half a month, yet business improved day after day. The Tofu House had already become famous.

A few days earlier, when his brothers and sisters gathered, they had been unable to resist asking about the shop's profits.

The moment they heard the numbers, every one of them became envious, all saying that Third Brother had struck it rich and now possessed income of his own.

For the sake of keeping the accounts clear, Yuan Gang had insisted that Huyan Wei personally appoint the shopkeeper responsible for the front counter, operations, and bookkeeping. At first Huyan Wei had looked down on the idea.

Once he realized there would truly be substantial income, and after Yuan Gang repeatedly pressed him to do it, he stopped being polite. Shopkeeper Gao was precisely one of his people. Huyan Wei had been happily thinking about the profit distribution at the end of the month. He had barely enjoyed that satisfaction, however, before his father summoned him and asked a question. Was Huyan Wei planning to pocket this new income himself, or was it going into the Huyan household's common accounts? Huyan Wuhen's decision was simple.

Of whatever Huyan Wei earned from the Tofu House, he could keep ten percent personally. The other ninety percent had to enter the Huyan household's common accounts. His usual family allowance would continue unchanged. Once his father had spoken, what could Huyan Wei do? He could only agree.

That was why he had come over today and, for once, voluntarily taken an interest in how much the shop had sold.

Even if he personally received only ten percent of the profits from his half-share in the Tofu House and had to hand the rest over, the better the shop sold, the more money his own portion still became.

From his personal perspective, since Yuan Gang had made the business this profitable, Huyan Wei did not want him going back into the army at all. His father's calculations, however, were made from an entirely different height and according to an entirely different set of concerns. Huyan Wei could not defy him. So he still had to help his father persuade Yuan Gang.

After doing some quick calculations, Huyan Wei muttered thoughtfully, "Put that way, eight barrels a day would be enough."

Yuan Gang and Shopkeeper Gao looked at each other. Neither knew what he was muttering about.

Yuan Gang asked, "Third Young Master, what do you mean by eight barrels?"

Huyan Wei grinned. "Remember the crock I had someone take away yesterday? Yesterday, I specifically worked some connections with one of the palace stewards and had him present it to the noble personages inside for a taste."

"The response was good. Everyone said it was delicious."

Smack!

He slapped his palm and laughed with delight. "The deal went through! They want us to send a batch in four times a day—morning, noon, evening, and night—so the nobles in the palace can have it whenever they please. The palace will pay us one thousand gold coins a month for the goods!"

Yuan Gang and Shopkeeper Gao both froze. At present, the shop was selling only about ten gold coins' worth in an entire day. At that rate, even over a month it would bring in only three or four hundred gold coins. Yet the palace was offering one thousand gold coins a month?

Yuan Gang asked, "That much? Can the palace even eat it all?"

Huyan Wei shook his full beard and gave a thief-like grin. "That's why I said eight barrels are enough. Two barrels in the morning, two at noon, two in the evening, and another two at night. That's all we need to send into the palace!"

[End of Chapter 272]