PCJ – Chapter 345 Speculation and Profiteering

“Actually, we’re here to discuss business,” Yuan Renqiang said.

“What business? Are you here to steal something from our factory? Everyone knows it’s the production season for the Meizi’ao Tea Factory,” Zhang Qigao sneered coldly.

The people from Meizi’ao also wore unfriendly expressions.

“No, no. We really are here to discuss business. Isn’t it true that you haven’t sold any tea from the Meizi’ao Tea Factory yet? We want to take on the sales for your factory. We have some connections and can help sell your tea,” Sun Dinggui quickly added.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Qigao hesitated a bit because he knew that the tea from the factory was all stored in the warehouse. The previous batch of Mingqian tea hadn’t sold out, and this time, the Yuqian tea had a higher yield, meaning more products were piling up.

“Who told you that our Meizi’ao tea couldn’t be sold?” Zhang Youping scoffed.

“Everyone in the county knows that not a single leaf from your Meizi’ao Tea Factory has been sold yet. The county tea factory’s tea is being contracted by us now,” Sun Dinggui boasted unintentionally.

“Do you believe I’ll beat you to death?” Zhang Qigao immediately flexed his muscles at Sun Dinggui.

The situation was intimidating. Upon seeing the fist, Sun Dinggui remembered his situation—he was in a pigpen! And not just any pigpen, but a wild boar pen. If he angered these rough locals, they might just close the door and let the pigs in, and that would be disastrous.

“I believe, I believe,” Sun Dinggui quickly pleaded.

“With just you three, you think you can contract the county tea factory’s tea?” Zhang Youping looked at the three, seeing them as nothing more than second-rate drifters from Gezhuping Town. There was no way he would believe they could secure the county tea factory’s tea.

“We don’t have money, but some people do!” Sun Dinggui said.

Just then, Zhang Jiaohua pushed the door open and walked in. He had just returned from school and was planning to let the wild boar out. He didn’t expect so many people to be in the pig farm.

“Dad, what are you doing? Don’t you dare lay a hand on my wild boar!” Zhang Jiaohua thought Zhang Youping was planning to catch the wild boar for slaughter.

“You silly child, who would dare touch the wild boar in this pig farm when you’re not here?” Zhang Youping chuckled.

“Then what are you all doing? Hey, are they here to steal our wild boar?” Zhang Jiaohua noticed the three people tied up in the pigpen.

“Like they would have the guts! They were talking big and planning to fight. We caught them to teach them a lesson,” Zhang Qigao said.

“Should I call the mountain dogs in?” Zhang Jiaohua got interested.

“Forget it. If they don’t know their place, just throw them over there,” Zhang Jingbing pointed at the large wild boar.

Sun Dinggui glanced at the boar. Oh my, that was no pig—it was clearly a water buffalo!

“Be honest! Who sent you to our tea factory to collect tea?” Zhang Jiaohua asked sternly. But no matter how stern he sounded, his voice always carried a hint of youth.

Zhang Jingbing couldn’t help but chuckle, and Zhang Qigao kicked him on the butt.

“I’ll tell, I’ll tell. It was a person from Zijiang. He spoke with a Zijiang accent.”

It turned out that not long ago, someone from Zijiang had come to Xintian County and found Sun Dinggui, asking him to go to the Xintian County Tea Factory and the Meizi’ao Tea Factory to buy tea. The Xintian County Tea Factory had a lot of accumulated tea due to a lack of sales channels and was under significant financial pressure, eager to sell the tea. Although the price offered was slightly low, it still allowed for some profit, so the Xintian County Tea Factory readily sold all the tea to Sun Dinggui. Sun Dinggui made quite a bit from this.

Having tasted the sweetness, Sun Dinggui heard that the Meizi’ao Tea Factory hadn’t sold a single leaf. It wasn’t hard to investigate this information; the tea from Meizi’ao had to be transported out via truck from the town, as it wasn’t feasible to use tractors. After all, tractors jostled too much and could seriously damage the tea. He found out that Meizi’ao’s tea had not been shipped out at all, but what Sun Dinggui didn’t know was that the reason Meizi’ao’s tea wasn’t for sale wasn’t because of poor sales channels.

“Do you know why Zijiang needs so much tea?” Zhang Youping asked curiously, feeling there was something more to it.

“I don’t know. But I think I heard him tell the driver that they were taking the tea to the Zijiang Tea Factory. He originally said it behind our backs, but he didn’t realize that a little kid was one of us. I just wanted to know where he was taking the tea. If I found out about this channel, I could bypass him and sell the tea directly, making even more money. I didn’t expect they were planning to take the tea to the Zijiang Tea Factory. I found it strange; why would the Zijiang Tea Factory want our county’s tea?” Sun Dinggui was cunning and didn’t expect this to have any real effect.

“This is speculation and profiteering! If the police find out, you’ll be arrested and thrown in jail,” Zhang Youping snorted.

Sun Dinggui panicked, “But I’m doing a good deed! The county tea factory couldn’t sell its tea, and I’m helping them find a sales channel!”

In these times, reselling goods without permission could truly lead to charges of speculation and profiteering.

“Whether it’s speculation and profiteering is not for you to say, nor for us. It’s up to the police department,” Zhang Youping turned and left. Everyone followed him out, leaving Sun Dinggui and the other two behind in the pigpen.

“Uncle Qigao, do you think the wild boar would bite off the parts of them that urinate?” Zhang Jiaohua deliberately asked loudly.

Zhang Qigao knew the kid was trying to scare the three second-rate drifters and laughed, “If it bites, it bites; that would save trouble for the future.”

Sun Dinggui panicked, “Hey, hey, I’ve told you everything! You can’t leave me here!”

“Please spare us!”

“Don’t go!”

……

No matter how much Sun Dinggui and the others cried out, the people from Meizi’ao showed no sympathy. How dare they come to Meizi’ao to cause trouble? If they didn’t teach them a lesson, they would think the people from Meizi’ao were easy to bully.

The wild boars were curious about the three people occupying their nest. After waiting a long time with no sign of them leaving, they couldn’t help but gather around. Luckily, this group of wild boars had been tamed by Zhang Jiaohua and usually wouldn’t attack people. Of course, if someone thought they were easy to bully and sought trouble, they would quickly let that person know why flowers are so red.

“Snort, snort…”

A group of wild boars kept nudging the three people lying on the ground. Li Fa was so scared he lost control of himself, and a strong stench immediately filled the pigpen. Even these wild boars couldn’t stand it. These wild boars were quite clean; they usually relieved themselves in the gardening area and knew to cover it with soil. Although there was a slight odor from the wild boars, the pigpen was much cleaner than usual.

The wild boar herd scattered, keeping their distance, clearly disgusted by the three people.

Zhang Youping quickly reported the situation to Luo Changjun. Upon receiving the news, Luo Changjun took it very seriously and immediately rushed to the county tea factory to confirm the situation.

“Director Luo, there’s indeed such a situation. Our tea is not well-known and not recognized by consumers in the market. Plus, our purchase price is relatively high, causing our selling price to be higher than similar products. Therefore, we are indeed at a disadvantage in sales. The sales of Mingqian tea have been very weak, leading to more than half of the products being piled up. Now that the Yuqian tea is coming, with the increase in production, our sales pressure is even greater. We have a lot of accumulated products. At this rate, we won’t have the funds to pay the tea fields for the tea collection. Just at this moment, a few locals came to us to buy tea, and although the purchase price was slightly lower than our factory price, they were willing to pay immediately. This solved our urgent problem. We didn’t expect the city tea factory would use this method,” said Zhou Sanbao, the director of the county tea factory, helplessly.

“But if the tea field finds out about this matter, how should I handle it? You can’t let them sell the tea to the city tea factory while you’re selling the products there,” Luo Changjun said angrily.

“We didn’t know that those locals were buying tea for the city tea factory,” Zhou Sanbao had actually suspected this for a long time, but the financial pressure from the accumulated products weighed on him like a heavy burden. When an opportunity to relieve himself arose, he didn’t hesitate to grasp it.