On the third floor of Yuanming Building, there is a private room without windows.

The maid who served the dishes walked in and out quietly, not daring to disturb the silent group of foreign wealthy businessmen in the box.

The dishes are all served.

The door was closed tightly from the outside.

The box was silent.

Round table with a wide variety of dishes.

The guests sitting around the table stared at the delicacies, but no one was the first to move their chopsticks.

The maids around them who had been arranged by the restaurant to accompany them did not dare to help them pick up food when they saw this, let alone say sweet words to warm up the scene.

The atmosphere gradually solidified.

Wang Caozhi, who was the host until today, had a smile on his face. He stood up and raised his glass. He reluctantly said, "Everyone, eat quickly. It's getting cold. Don't waste food."

"The most indispensable thing in Dragon City now is food. Is there any need to save money?" Shopkeeper Ma said coldly.

The air suddenly became silent.

Including Wang Caozhi, who had a stern look on his face, the sixteen grain merchants remained silent, with solemn and depressed expressions on their faces.

These days, their mood is just like the price of food, which rises and falls.

I thought that even if Jiangzhou was not a dining table, it was still a breakfast stall, and I could take a bite and leave at any time.

But they never expected that this place was actually a trap carefully planned to take advantage of their greedy desires!

It’s still the kind of thing where you just close the door and let the dogs out!

Damn it, a disaster-stricken small county in an inconspicuous small state in Jiangnan Province can actually do such ruthless work? Can a small place have such an expert?

It's really a bit too much.

Everyone was cursing in their hearts.

Yes, after these days of calmness and witnessing the strange development of the situation, many grain merchants have reacted one by one. If anyone still believes in the young county magistrate with an honest and sincere smile, then they might as well not sit here to eat.

Yes, I'll sit at the children's table next time.

But even after knowing this, Wang Caozhi and other grain merchants still couldn't help but feel a little bitter in their mouths.

This Longcheng County is a bureau where people, time, place and people are all gathered together.

They plan the game at first, pretending to be hospitable, then act as the dealer, and then end the game themselves. How is this going to work?

Especially in the southern states and counties where people cling to groups, are exclusive, and have conservative rural customs, it is hard for a strong dragon to defeat a local snake.

And the most important thing is that they can leave Dragon City at any time, but the most precious food is locked here.

ruthless.

This cheap brother-in-law is so ruthless!

Thinking of what happened these days, Wang Caozhi couldn't help but use the hot towel he used to wipe his hands before meals, wiped his face hard, and threw it to Hu Ji, the hostess behind him.

In fact, he should have been alert a long time ago, especially when he first landed in Longcheng and met Sister Ling Jiang at the door of this restaurant. He should have thought that the new county magistrate who could be followed by a noble daughter of the Xie family should not be

The simple little white rabbit might be the direct disciple that Uncle Xie Xun valued...

The short young man felt extremely regretful.

Shopkeeper Ma waved his hands irritably: "All of you, go out and stay out of the way."

"Here."

The sixteen wine concubines who were accompanying the guests in the box bowed their eyebrows and left one after another.

Logically, one should finish the meal first and then talk about things, but right now, their minds are weighed down by tens of thousands of stones of food in danger every minute, and all the grain merchants are not in the mood to eat at all...

Wang Caozhi glanced at the tall orchid who had retreated beside him. He had specially chosen this person to accompany him while drinking, not because Wang Caozhi liked this exotic style, but to take care of this orchid's business.

He met Sister Ling Jiang for the first time at Yuanming Tower. The latter came to visit the tall Hu Ji. Hu Ji's full name seemed to be "Zhi Ying". Later, Sister Ling Jiang seemed to come to see her often.

, it seems that they are still discussing to redeem her life recently...

In fact, Wang Caozhi did not appreciate this kind of Hu style at all, and even thought it was ugly. Maybe in the northern part of the empire, Guan and Long capitals, there were Hu people living together, and the cultural atmosphere was relatively open, but in the south, the local aristocratic families

The clan is powerful, the aesthetics tend to be traditional, and the customs are very conservative.

What's more, Wang Caozhi was born into the Langya Wang family, which valued Chinese clothing. He estimated that if he dared to bring Hu Nu back to the family, even if it was just to be a concubine, at least one of his three legs would be broken.

So two days ago, when I heard that the cheap brother-in-law not only bought a bearded girl home, but also had white hair, Wang Caozhi was in awe, admiring him like a torrential river...

The box door was closed again.

The oppressive atmosphere in the room relaxed a little.

Wang Caozhi glanced around silently.

There was a grain merchant with a sad face.

There was a grain merchant who looked hopeless.

There were also grain merchants who stood up and wandered around the house with angry faces.

"Master Wang, Mr. Wang, put a lot of effort into choosing this private room. He specifically chose one without a window. Isn't it afraid that some of us might not be able to think about jumping in?"

After not seeing each other for a few days, shopkeeper Li looked much older and his smile was a little tired, so he joked a little.

Wang Caozhi spread his hands helplessly: "If we don't think of a way, there will be a queue on the roof."

The short young man looked a little tired and said to his friends and businessmen:

"You seniors must all understand the current situation, so I'm inviting you to this meal just to let you put aside your past grudges and temporarily restore unity. We can't be scattered into a mess anymore, otherwise we will all have to fly down from the stairs in the end.

...If you have any ideas, you can bring them out and let us discuss them together."

"What a fucking idea!"

Shopkeeper Ma kept walking around the room and looked back angrily.

This tall, middle-aged shopkeeper is no longer as leisurely as he was when he was twirling Buddhist beads. Now he has two big dark circles under his eyes. He seems to have been awake for two days and two nights, looking like a patient with an advanced anxiety disorder.

His face was livid, and he gritted his teeth: "Find out the rat who violated the agreement and secretly released grain at a low price. How can we do business without any determination? Unity is a waste!"

Wang Caozhi and others looked ugly, looked around, and were embarrassed and speechless.

Only sixteen grain merchants came to today's gathering, because two small grain merchants had sold all their grain at low prices a few days ago and secretly escaped by boat. Everyone only found out this morning.

However, these two small grain merchant ships turned around, and the remaining grain merchants all had a lot of grain in stock. Especially Wang Caozhi, Shopkeeper Ma, and Shopkeeper Li, who had the most grain in the dock warehouse, totaling more than 100,000 dan.

It is the daily warehouse management fee and the anti-aging fee is a huge expense.

However, the price of food in Longcheng has plummeted to seven or eight yuan a dou after the impact of the "five-qian grain". Even the victims shed tears when they saw it.

What's more, this is not the bottom, it is just the beginning.

"At this point, what's the use of talking about this? Even if we find out, what will happen? It will only increase internal fighting..."

Wang Caozhi shook his head and sighed again:

"Almost everyone in Longcheng County now knows that we have more than 200,000 grains in stock, and they are all waiting for us to lower the price. Now that we have entered the rainy season, the grain will become old if we put it away, and there is not much left to consume...

…Food prices cannot be stabilized.”

Shopkeeper Li said with a sad face, "What should we do? We can't just watch the food become stale and become worthless. Let's go to grandma's house."

Wang Caozhi raised his head and said seriously: "We have to start from the root cause, otherwise the rest will be in vain."

Shopkeeper Ma's veins twitched on his forehead, "The root cause? What's the attitude of the Longcheng County Government? It's not like you haven't seen it. They're damn masters in Tai Chi, kicking us around like balls! Damn it, what if?

If you dare to do this in Jinling, I...I'll be screwed!"

Wang Caozhi quickly stood up to stop Shopkeeper Ma from kicking the stool and punching the flower tray.

Everyone was speechless. It's useless for you to be a "box war god" in front of us. Do you dare to smash it in front of the young county magistrate and the blue-clad policeman?

A young, round-faced grain merchant muttered: "Should we not go to Magistrate Ouyang again?"

Everyone suddenly became quiet, and their eyes were silently communicating with each other.

Shopkeeper Li shook his head and said bitterly:

"It's useless. I've finally figured it out these days. Magistrate Ouyang, who loves his people like a son, is also pretending to be confused... All of this was probably arranged by him. That Captain Yan should have listened to him, and even

It’s impossible to say that all the sealing documents sent from Jiangzhou are..."

The old grain merchant with a goatee paused, looking at the table full of delicacies and sighing.

The round-faced little grain merchant continued to shake his head:

"I understand. But the King of Hell is easy to meet, but the kid is difficult to deal with. We are trapped in Longcheng County. What can we do? Without a strong background, it is difficult for Shang to win the official position... Let's admit defeat and go and help

Magistrate Ouyang is cowardly and shows his sincerity to see if he can pay a toll or give us some 'local specialties' so that we can get rid of the disaster and leave."

Another small grain merchant's face suddenly hurt:

"Why do you still have to pay... The price of food has dropped like this, I have vomited out all the profits I made before, and I still have to pay a huge amount..."

The round-faced small grain merchant said coldly:
To be continued...