Chapter 273: Spoiled Scion

"Eight barrels is still a lot," Yuan Gang said. "How many noble personages are there in the palace? Can they finish it all? It'd be a shame to waste it."

Huyan Wei waved a hand. "It won't be wasted. Once the stuff goes into the palace, as long as there's enough to satisfy the nobles whenever they want some, other people will naturally divide up what's left. Who's going to stop the stewards from tasting it? There are plenty of mouths secretly opening inside the palace. When it comes to a little food, the people above generally turn a blind eye. It's not as though anyone will make an issue of it. Besides, this stuff doesn't keep for long. Better they eat it than let it sour and throw it away."

"But there's one thing I need to make clear first. The one thousand gold coins can only be the amount shown on the books. I have to kick two hundred gold coins back to the person in the palace who handles the matter. I've already hinted at that arrangement. Otherwise things couldn't have gone this smoothly. Consider it spending money to avoid trouble. It'll save us headaches later."

Shopkeeper Gao looked doubtful. "Eight barrels a day for one thousand gold coins a month... isn't that far too different from the price we're selling it for here?"

Huyan Wei gave him a contemptuous look. "Over an entire year, it's only a little more than ten thousand gold coins. You think the palace is short of that much money?"

Yuan Gang asked, "With the price inside and outside differing this much, aren't you afraid the palace will discover it and come looking for trouble?"

Huyan Wei stared at him. "Can what the palace eats possibly be the same as what people outside eat? Naturally the palace gets the best. Could we serve the noble personages inside the same cheap stuff we casually sell to commoners?"

"I can only make it this way," Yuan Gang said. "If we're selling tofu, then this is the tofu I can make. I don't know how to make some more aristocratic variety."

His energy was not meant for researching soy products. Tofu pudding was the only thing he intended to sell. He had never planned to develop anything else.

"..."

Huyan Wei was speechless. This man truly was stubborn as a single tendon.

"Heh!" Even Shopkeeper Gao could not stop himself from laughing. He seemed to understand what Huyan Wei meant.

Huyan Wei hooked an arm around Yuan Gang's shoulders. His bearded face bobbed as he shook his head. "Brother, His Majesty isn't stupid. This stuff is sold openly. Any trick in the price will sooner or later reach the emperor's ears. But whether anyone cares depends on who's earning the money."

"My father holds office as Supreme General and never reaches his hand out where he shouldn't. Compared with people who casually rake in hundreds of thousands or millions, who is going to say anything because he earns a little money like this? His Majesty certainly won't."

"I won't even bother talking about anyone else. You came from the border army. Some people were colluding from top to bottom to smuggle warhorses out of the country, and afterward they wanted to kill witnesses and silence mouths. How much nerve does that take? That's the kind of deadly windfall where people truly don't fear death."

"Our business is reasonable and lawful. We're earning a little money other people don't even care about. No one is going to trouble me over it. And why should they? The outside price being low while the palace price is high is exactly how things ought to be. What goes to the palace naturally has to be better than what gets sold outside. Who dares say that isn't reasonable?"

"I'm not telling you to invent some more noble kind of tofu. The batch sent into the palace just needs to be the freshest. Send it over as soon as it's made. Keep the work cleaner and more meticulous, and assign people specifically to watch it. We spend more effort and use more labor on it, so naturally what comes out is the best. Charging more for that is perfectly reasonable. Who could object?"

"If you insist on selling it to the palace at the same price as outside, that would be unreasonable. I have to spend money smoothing the way. Wouldn't I end up paying out of my own pocket? Why would I deliberately lose money just to send tofu into the palace? You understand what I mean now, don't you?"

Yuan Gang was hardly stupid. After hearing that much, how could he fail to understand? After all that circling and explaining, the tofu sent into the palace was actually no different from the tofu sold outside. It merely came with a different story.

The palace got "the best."

Even so, Yuan Gang still looked at Huyan Wei somewhat strangely. This fellow seemed remarkably enthusiastic about selling tofu. Usually he barely asked a question and never interfered, but the moment he did make a move, a tiny business somehow found its way straight into the imperial palace. That was not a road just anyone could open. Naturally Huyan Wei was enthusiastic.

His family had confiscated most of his share of the profits. Watching something sell this wildly while being allowed to keep only ten percent naturally made him think of ways to increase the volume. So his eyes had inevitably fallen upon the greatest wealthy household beneath Heaven: the imperial palace.

To ordinary people, the palace was mysterious. To him, plenty of people inside were acquaintances. If earning the money took little effort and was perfectly reasonable, why not earn it?

Yuan Gang asked, "Does the Supreme General know you're doing this?"

The reason Yuan Gang had chosen the Huyan family as the place to "cry injustice" in the first place was because he had investigated Huyan Wuhen and learned that the man's character was comparatively upright. Otherwise he would never have dared approach the Huyan household.

Huyan Wei countered, "Know what? Everyone says this stuff tastes good. Who can decree that people in the imperial palace aren't allowed to eat it? The palace came to me asking for tribute. Could I refuse?"

That settled it. Yuan Gang understood. Those were obviously the words this fellow planned to use on his own father. Huyan Wuhen probably would not know what to say after hearing them either.

Yuan Gang was beginning to understand why Huyan Wuhen had given this son only an idle post without real authority. The Supreme General probably knew something about his son's temperament. Give this fellow greater power and he would almost certainly create even greater trouble.

Shopkeeper Gao smilingly added, "Actually, the greatest cost in making this tofu is the sugar. For the batch sent into the palace, we can save even that. The palace has no shortage of sugar. Whether someone likes it light or strong, sweet or salty, they can season it to their own taste. That lets us save another portion of our costs."

Sugar was certainly not cheap in this age.

Huyan Wei's eyes lit up. He gave Shopkeeper Gao a thumbs-up. "Old Gao, I didn't misjudge you. Worthy of the name Gao!"

Yuan Gang raised an eyebrow. Birds of a feather really did flock together. No wonder these two had ended up on the same side.

Shopkeeper Gao chuckled, wearing the expression of a man who had just been praised too highly. Then he added, "Third Young Master, lately quite a few wealthy households have sent people to ask whether we can deliver directly to their doors. They mean something similar to the palace arrangement you just described, though they don't need deliveries as frequently. They'd like us to send a fixed amount to their residences every day."

Huyan Wei laughed. "Some of my friends have come asking me about that too. They say having a little of this for breakfast every morning is quite good and want us to deliver a set amount to their homes each day. I came here partly to tell you about it and have you make the arrangements."

Shopkeeper Gao said, "Third Young Master, I have another idea."

"Speak!" Huyan Wei swept out a sleeve expansively.

He was in an excellent mood. Money was about to be made.

Shopkeeper Gao said, "I've watched the situation for a while. The capital is enormous, and our location is remote. Most people actually don't want to travel this far just to buy something. It's too troublesome."

"This tofu can already be carried around in barrels. I suggest we set up sales points in every district of the capital and send one or two barrels to each place every day. The capital is this large, with this many people and so many restaurants and inns. You can imagine how much we'd sell."

Huyan Wei's eyes shone. His face took on a dreamy look. "If the entire capital starts eating our tofu, earning a hundred thousand gold coins a year wouldn't be a problem!"

He abruptly turned his head and shouted, "This is such a good opportunity! Only a bastard turns down money that's there for the taking. What are you dawdling for? Get moving! Do you know how much money we're losing for every day you delay?"

He looked more impatient than anyone else. Yuan Gang stared at him, puzzled. Why did this man's manner suddenly remind him of Yuan Fang?

Shopkeeper Gao said, "Third Young Master, with the manpower we have now, we're barely keeping up with the present situation. Supplying the palace alone means recruiting more people, never mind selling throughout the entire capital. We'd need many more hands."

"Then hire them!" Huyan Wei looked as though he were asking whether this really needed to be taught. "We're about to make serious money. Why would we care about paying a few extra laborers?"

"I'll arrange it," Yuan Gang said.

What none of them knew was that this was precisely why he had begun selling tofu in the first place. The people under him should start arriving one after another soon. They needed legitimate identities, and he needed a suitable way to place them throughout every corner of the capital so they could watch for the slightest stir. Whether Master Dao ultimately needed them or not, Yuan Gang intended to make every possible preparation in case he did. Having one more layer of preparation was never a mistake.

He had been waiting for a suitable opportunity to raise the idea himself. Shopkeeper Gao bringing it up first made things even better. In truth, even Yuan Gang had never expected the tofu to become this popular.

Huyan Wei asked again, "Is the site large enough? This neighborhood is remote and property is cheap. If we don't have enough room, I'll have the people nearby move out and buy every house around us. I can find someone to advance the money first. Once the shop has enough cash, we can pay it back."

Shopkeeper Gao nodded. "I think that would work. Proprietor, what do you think?"

Yuan Gang silently nodded as well. Once his people arrived, they would need places to stay.

"Good. Leave that to me. Tomorrow I'll send people to negotiate with the nearby households. We'll try to take the whole area within three days. You two don't need to worry about it." Huyan Wei waved a hand, taking the matter on himself. "Anything else giving you trouble?"

Yuan Gang reminded him, "Third Young Master, not many people plant soybeans these days. If we expand on this scale, the soybeans available in the capital definitely won't be enough."

Huyan Wei thumped his chest. "Leave that to me too. I'll have people contact suppliers elsewhere. If there still isn't enough, then we'll make do through this year. Next year I'll have the steward at home arrange for people to plant soybeans specifically for us. We'll grow as much as we need."

"I refuse to believe that if we pay money, no one will plant them. That's nothing. Any other problems? Say them all now and we'll solve them together. I don't have time to run over here every day!"

Shopkeeper Gao offered another reminder. "Third Young Master, Proprietor, there's one thing we absolutely have to guard against. Our tofu isn't expensive. We only make serious money once the volume grows. We need to keep the recipe secret. We can't let someone steal it and compete with us."

"They dare!" Huyan Wei's leopard eyes widened, killing intent appearing on his face. "Let any bastard who isn't afraid of death try it!"

"Our tofu is already being sold into the imperial palace. Everyone knows this is my family's exclusive business. Let anyone try stealing it from me. Every shop that opens, I'll smash!"

"Since when does a thief who steals someone else's property have the moral high ground? My Huyan family has always restrained itself and never reached its hands out recklessly. Now we're running one perfectly lawful business. Let anyone try cutting off our road to wealth!"

"I'm saying it here today: throughout the entire State of Qi, only the Huyan family is doing this business. Let some idiot who doesn't know whether he wants to live or die try opening a second one. Do they think the Huyan family's iron cavalry lives on vegetables?"

Yuan Gang looked at him twice. A textbook spoiled scion. A notorious young master of the capital.

[End of Chapter 273]