The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Chapter 422: The Crazy Shell [(1)]

On June 16th, just after 3 am, in a flower hall in the inner courtyard of Prince Beijing’s Residence, Shuirong, a rare figure, laid alone on a soft couch. Although his eyes were closed, he was tossing and turning, unable to sleep soundly.

Suddenly, a faint sound of footsteps came to Shuirong's ears. He immediately sat up straight and asked in a loud voice, "Why? Has it already been counted?”

The visitor was originally cautious and afraid of disturbing him. At this moment, as soon as Shuirong asked, he quickly flew up to him and said happily, "Congratulations, Your Highness. Out of the more than 20000 golden shells that Manager Liu intercepted yesterday, 17% were of medium quality, and even more than 10 were of high quality.”

Upon hearing this, Shuirong was overjoyed and didn't care about his untidy clothes. He got out of bed and said, "Thanks to my Brother-in-law's advice, I'm afraid I don't even know that there is such a way to collect money in the world.”

The person on the opposite side of the relationship was not the other person; it was Wei Rusong, who was once interrupted by Sun Shaozu.

Seeing the courtesy of the Prince, Wei Rusong hurriedly dodged to the side, waved his hand, and said humbly, "I dare not take credit for this. If it weren't for Manager Liu from the mansion who thought of intercepting the merchants who were trafficking in pottery, pearls, gold, and shells outside the city, we wouldn't have been able to get a share from you, Your Highness.”

It turned out that when Wei Ruolan, his younger brother, learned about pottery, pearls, gold, and shells, Wei Rusong began to take advantage of the situation to make a profit. However, when he sent someone to conduct market research, he unexpectedly discovered that Prince Zhongshun’s Residence was the mastermind behind Sun Shaozong's speculation.

At that time, Wei Rusong was in a dilemma.

The cheapness of Prince Zhongshun was not easy to gain. If he made a small fuss, it was just a matter of paying it back. If he accidentally crossed the border and offended Prince Zhongshun, wouldn't it be an overjoyed tragedy?

But since it was Prince Zhongshun behind the scenes, did it not prove that this pottery, pearls, gold, and shells were profitable?

It was not easy to catch a divine opportunity; how could they miss it?

After hesitating repeatedly, Wei Rusong finally found his Brother-in-law, Prince Beijing. The others were afraid of offending Prince Zhongshun. But Shuirong, who had the Eldest Princess as a backup, was not afraid!

As expected.

Due to following the trend of repairing the garden last year and accidentally damaging its vitality, Shuirong, who heard of an opportunity to fill the gap, didn’t hesitate to accept it.

It was just that the golden shells on the market had already been swept clean by Prince Zhongshun’s Residence. The thousands of baits scattered outside were just a drop in the bucket. If there was no ”capital,” how could they share a piece of soup with Prince Zhongshun?

The two of them were very upset about it for a few days.

Fortunately, a steward surnamed Liu in the Royal Mansion quickly came up with a solution.

Although the over 100,000 pieces of pottery, pearls, gold, and shells that were originally transported were all searched by Prince Zhongshun at the price of cabbage, the news about the high mountains and distant waters was not good. There must have been some late-arriving merchants on their way back to the Capital.

As long as they set up checkpoints on the official roads that must pass by outside the city and buy the subsequent golden shells in advance, wouldn’t they be able to make a windfall with Prince Zhongshun?

In this way, Prince Beijing’s Residence has gradually collected over 60000 gold shells, and with the recently acquired 20000 gold shells yesterday, it has quietly approached the 90000 mark. However, since it was half-buying and half-grabbing, the average price for purchasing these gold shells was only five coins per piece.

Now, through the joint efforts of two Royal Residences, the price of medium-grade pottery, pearls, gold, and shells has risen to around 1426 silver coins per piece, and the price of inferior products was also around 1230 silver coins.

That was to say, in just one month, the Royal Residence has only paid tens of thousands of taels of silver for speculation and has already earned over 200000 taels of silver at market price!

Moreover, this was only for now. With the daily upward trend of the pottery, pearls, gold, and shells, by the end of the month, it was possible to say that the price would rise to 25 taels or even higher!

Thinking of the beautiful future of money, Shuirong happily paced back and forth. However, after a moment, he couldn't help but worry about gains and losses. He hesitated and said, "Brother, with the accumulated golden shells in our hands and those searched by my Imperial Uncle, there can be almost 200000 coins. Although there is a market in the city at present, once our two families start releasing goods, will it…”

Wei Rusong chuckled and said disapprovingly, "I'm afraid you are too worried. Nowadays, almost everyone in the city values this item, and with hundreds of thousands of people competing to buy it, 200000 golden shells may not be enough.”

“Furthermore, the golden shell in the hands of Prince Zhongshun is much more than ours. With his money-loving nature, can he watch the price of the golden shell plummet? We just need to keep an eye on Prince Zhongshun's Residence, enter and exit together with him, and this business is designated as a steady profit and no loss.”

After hearing this emotional and reasonable relief, Shuirong's heart immediately calmed down and immediately ordered eagerly, "Then send someone to spread the news outside and strive to carry the middle-grade golden shells to thirty taels of silver per piece by the end of the month, and the lower grade ones to no less than twenty taels of silver.”

“Noted, Your Highness.”

Wei Rusong responded with a tone of expression and said, "Actually, in the evening, I had already sent someone to bribe a beggar. Tomorrow, he will start to boast.”

“The beggar probably doesn’t need a long time before he picks up the pottery, pearls, gold, and shells and makes a fortune overnight. Not only can he buy a woman in the mansion, but he can even buy the identity of the Beggar Security position, and the news will spread throughout the city. By then, this pottery, pearls, gold, and shells will naturally have a big surge.”

As he said this, he laughed bitterly again, "Speaking of it, the beggar is still in the memorial archway set up by Sun Erlang. I'd like to see how his Beggar Security system can continue to be implemented after the news spreads!"

“This…”

At first, Shuirong nodded repeatedly upon hearing this. But upon hearing it, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "Brother, Ruolan has suffered from Sun Shaozong's actions several times before. I think this person is a powerful character. Now that our situation is good, why do you still bother to provoke him? In case something goes wrong...”

“You worry too much, Your Highness.”

Wei Rusong shook his head disdainfully and said, "That Sun Erlang looks like a strong suit, but he's actually just a dog kept by Prince Zhongshun. Even if he dares to cause trouble for us, how dare he rebel against Prince Zhongshun's thoughts?”

Upon hearing this, Shuirong also felt that this statement was reasonable.

After all, a few days ago, Sun Shaozong was still sending people to investigate the matter of the pottery, pearls, gold, and shells, but suddenly he gave up. According to common sense, he was obviously afraid of the power of the two Royal Residences.

Therefore, he didn't take it seriously and stretched out his waist, yawning and saying, "Since everything is in the hands of you, Brother-in-law, I will go take a nap first and make up for it.”

Wei Rusong bowed slightly and said confidently, "Your Highness, please go to the backyard to rest. I guess by the time you wake up from your dream, the high-quality golden shell will have already crossed the threshold of fifteen taels.”