He started by killing his abusive father, and from then on, he embarked on the road to wealth.

Chapter 119 Buy it or lose it

Du Chong sneered, "I've had plenty of soldiers die under my command. Why don't you try and see if we'll be wiped out first, or if you'll be beheaded first?"

Upon hearing this, Han Sheng knew that the other party didn't even bother to pretend and had directly revealed their identity.

His chest heaved for a moment, and he felt a stinging pain in his eyes from the sight of the large sword flashing in front of him.

With his life hanging by a thread, he finally bowed his head to the group of refugees he had looked down upon.

He forced a smile and bowed deeply, "I misspoke just now, please forgive me, Chief."

He straightened up. "In that case, I happen to have brought more than twenty men with me. Could each of them buy a bushel of grain?"

Meng Fuqing, who had been listening in, spoke up: "Of course, but since you just offended our boss, the grain price... let's just go with the price in the city's grain shops."

Upon hearing this, Du Zhong's face twitched, but he tried his best to keep a gloomy expression and not break character.

Han Sheng was so angry that he was breathless. "May I ask who you are, young lady, that you are able to be the head of the household?"

Before Meng Fuqing could speak, Du Zhong said in a deep voice, "My son works under Miss Meng. Do you think she can make decisions?"

Han Sheng was so surprised that he took two steps back. He remembered Meng Fuqing's two different faces, one inside the city and one outside, and felt a surge of anger at being deceived.

He glared at Meng Fuqing fiercely, his face expressionless but his teeth clenched as he said, "In that case, we won't buy the grain. Farewell."

After saying that, he turned to leave, only to be met with several cold glints of light. This time, a large knife was placed directly against his neck.

“You tried to force me to buy just now, and now I want to force you to sell. Is that too much to ask?” Meng Fuqing walked up to Han Sheng.

Her voice was clear and melodious, but to Han Sheng it sounded like the whisper of a demon: "Young Master Han, is that right? Please think carefully. We can still give you grain now, but if you insist on leaving, you'll have to leave your money and your life behind. Which do you choose?"

Han Sheng had not expected that this group of people would still dare to act this way after knowing that they had connections with the government. At this moment, he was ashen-faced.

His pale lips parted slightly, but he finally relented, "I'll buy it."

Du Zhong laughed loudly, "Someone come quickly to weigh the grain for Young Master Han and help him load it onto the cart!"

In the end, the twenty carriages that Han Sheng brought only carried a little over two hundred catties of grain. After settling the bill and paying the money, the group frantically shook the reins as if fleeing, and their figures quickly disappeared from sight.

Having witnessed all of this, Dou Xiucai had mixed feelings. He guessed that these people were mountain bandits, but he didn't expect them to behave more properly than the grain shops in the city.

Chen's Grain Shop had a long-standing relationship with wealthy families in the city. These wealthy families had stockpiled grain, and it wasn't impossible for Chen's to obtain grain from them; it was just that they colluded with each other.

They would splurge a little bit of grain, like a beggar, through their fingers, driving up the price of food. People would get up early and work late, queuing all day and still not be able to buy any.

Ordinary people are fooled by them in this way, but they can't do anything about it. The bloated and smug people watch with great laughter and enjoy it immensely.

Meng Fuqing's appearance gave a glimmer of hope to the people who could no longer endure the hardship.

Therefore, after Han Sheng and his group left, he immediately stepped forward.

"Boss Du, Miss Meng, I, Dou, am only here to buy grain. I will buy even a bushel and will not haggle."

"May I ask how many people are in your family, sir? Do you have any relatives in the city besides your own?" Meng Fuqing asked.

Dou Xiucai was used to being called "Master Xiucai" by others. He had thought it was only natural when Meng Fuqing called him "Master Xiucai" before, but now when he heard it again, he felt a chill run down his spine.

"No, no, Miss Meng, you can just call me 'Scholar Dou'."

After calming himself down, he remembered the question Meng Fuqing had asked him. Although he didn't know what the other party's purpose was, he still answered honestly.

“My parents are still alive, and my four brothers have all started their own families. If it weren’t for the large number of people in my family and the exorbitant price of grain in the city, I would not have risked leaving the city.”

Meng Fuqing continued, "May I ask if Brother Dou used all the money he brought today to buy grain?"

The greeting "Brother Dou" brought the two closer, and Dou Xiucai's tense mood instantly relaxed a lot.

"Yes, I thought I'd buy more when I found out the price was lower than in the city..." He realized something was wrong and hesitated before asking, "What does Miss Meng mean?"

“Brother Dou trusts me, so I’ll do you a favor. I’ll give you as much grain as the silver you’ve prepared can buy. However, I have one condition.”

Upon hearing this news, Dou Xiucai felt as if he had struck gold, and his whole body felt light as a feather.

“…Miss Meng, just give your instructions.”

Dou Xiucai used the silver he brought with him to buy three or four hundred catties of grain, which looked much more impressive than Han Sheng's empty caravan.

On his way back in the mule cart, he wasn't worried about being robbed by refugees, because there were four men on horseback escorting him from behind the cart, sent by Du Zhong.

But as he was walking, his mule cart was stopped by someone.

Before Dou Xiucai could even ask a question, the person blocking his way spoke first.

"We are refugees who were queuing to buy grain at the grain store. We overheard your conversation with that young lady and came here specifically to ask if the scholar's cart was loaded with grain?"

Unlike the city dwellers, the refugees who received the news could leave the city at any time. They also wanted to know if the low-price grain sale was reliable, so they followed along.

After leaving the city, they first encountered Han Sheng and his group. From a distance, they only saw a group of empty carriages and a group of angry people. They didn't dare to go up and ask, assuming that the little girl was lying.

Unexpectedly, they encountered Dou Xiucai's mule cart loaded with a lot of grain, which gave them hope, so they came to inquire.

Dou Xiucai nodded. "This is the grain I bought from Miss Meng. Because I was the first one, they sold more. As more people bought it, each person could only buy one dou of grain."

As soon as he finished speaking, the lead refugee eagerly asked, "How much is the grain?"

"Half the price of grain in the city."

The refugees immediately erupted in excitement.

As Dou Xiucai walked along, people noticed the pile of things on his cart and asked him about it. He then told them the truth.

He returned home in a swaggering manner, and almost everyone in and around the city heard that grain could be bought outside the city.

His actions constituted acceptance of Meng Fuqing's conditions.

Before long, a large number of people gathered at the gate of Yezhou City. When the garrison asked, they all said they wanted to leave the city.

Fearing that these people would cause great trouble, the garrison had no choice but to close the city gates and prohibit the people from passing through.

On the other side, Han Sheng, who had already returned to the city, truthfully reported the situation outside the city. The grain shop owner paced back and forth in the room in anger. After thinking for a moment, he couldn't swallow his anger and informed his master.

The news reached the ears of the officials in Yezhou, who also learned that the people in the city had gathered at the city gate.

They sent scouts out of the city to investigate Meng Fuqing's group. They were all astonished to learn that the group had all the necessary manpower, provisions, horses, and weapons.

Knowing that this group might be a tough bunch, the Yezhou officials dared not act rashly before news came from the capital.

After discussion, they decided to send someone out of the city to negotiate with the leader of that group.