Early in the morning, winter is approaching.
The flowers, plants and trees in Zhou Mansion were all covered with a thin layer of frost.
However, no matter how cold the weather was, it could not cool Zhou Huai's disappointed heart.
Like the selection of cloth merchants, this selection of grain merchants is enough to disrupt the existing layout of grain merchants in Jianghuai County.
So, this is a crisis and an opportunity.
Faced with this kind of thing, all the grain merchants in Huainan should unite and jointly resist the grain merchants in Jiangnan.
As the number one grain merchant in Huainan, the Zhou family had a high chance of taking the top spot and being elected as the Imperial Merchant in one fell swoop.
But this time, due to some accidents, the Zhou family's existing grain has dropped a lot, and they may not be able to compete with An's, the largest grain merchant in Jiangnan.
However, the only thing that cannot compare is the existing grain reserves. In terms of annual output, the Zhou family still has a slight advantage.
Therefore, as the head of the Zhou family, Zhou Huai does not intend to just give up on the selection of grain merchants.
But what should we do?
It's very simple, borrow food!
Isn't it just existing grain? The Zhou family doesn't have it, but there are many grain merchants in Huainan, so other grain merchants will naturally have it, just borrow it.
Of course, this food cannot be borrowed randomly.
Those big grain merchants who are similar to Zhou Ji also have to participate in the imperial merchant selection, so naturally they will not borrow them.
However, there are still many small grain merchants in Huainan who have no hope of being selected by the imperial merchants!
As long as he borrows or even buys all the grain they have, Zhou Ji will still be very competitive in the selection of imperial merchants.
Zhou Huai originally thought that with the good reputation he had accumulated over the years, there would be many people willing to do this favor for him.
But the reality was far beyond his expectation.
He traveled throughout Huainan and visited more than ten small grain merchants, but only three agreed to borrow grain!
Moreover, the heads of these three families had a close friendship with him.
In other words, except for these three old friends, no one planned to lend him food!
Seriously... Zhou Huai doesn't think his popularity can be so bad. The only possibility is that someone is causing trouble secretly!
As for who it was, he couldn't tell.
On the side, Zhou An's face drooped for a moment when he saw his father was so melancholy, unable to feel happy.
Everyone in the world says that most children from rich families are playboys.
But in fact, there are very few such people.
He has received the highest quality education since he was a child, so how could he become a arrogant playboy?
Even if it does exist, it should be rare.
Most children from rich families will share the family's worries.
Just like Zhou An, he knew that his mother died young and his father was alone. He had to support himself and run the shop. It was really not easy to be able to do this.
Therefore, he is very obedient and sensible when urinating, and he is what others say is someone else's child.
The purpose is to make his father worry less about him.
When he grew up, he worked hard and studied hard. Because his father's greatest wish for him was to obtain fame and become an official in the court.
His family background is very similar to Shen Liangfu's, so the two can play together.
Seeing his father's sad face at this time, Zhou An was naturally anxious.
It's a pity that although he has had some exposure to this family business, his father has always made the final decision.
Now even his father can't solve it, so what can he do?
Just when the father and son were staring at each other, helpless.
There was a knock on the door of Zhou Mansion!
The person who came here was a field member, the largest grain merchant in the entire Huainan County besides the Zhou family.
Besides, besides Tian Yuan, he also has a pretty good relationship with Zhou Huai.
In the beginning, the two of them started a business together. Over the years, Zhou Ji and Tian Ji grain merchants have also supported each other, which allowed them to go through all kinds of difficulties and get to where they are today.
When field members arrived, Zhou Huai naturally wanted to entertain them well.
"An'er, go make tea quickly."
Zhou An agreed and went down, leaving the scene to the two old people.
"Brother Zhou, I heard that Zhou Ji couldn't get enough ready food this time?"
"Well, to be honest with Brother Tian, there are locusts passing through the several acres of my fields. The originally good rice has been completely ruined. Now, I really can't produce much ready grain."
"Then what should we do? The selection of Huangshang is about to take place. If you, Zhou Ji, fall down, how can we compare to Jiangnan An's?" Tian Yuanwai said, with worry between his brows.
Zhou Huai felt uncomfortable after hearing this and snorted coldly:
"In my opinion, the appearance of the locusts is particularly strange. There is probably someone behind it!"
"Poltergeist behind the scenes? Brother Zhou is saying that someone deliberately released these locusts?"
"Otherwise, why are only my few acres of land affected? Other fields are intact?"
"When you said that, I vaguely remembered that a few days ago, I saw a few figures dressed in black in your field. They acted sneakily. They all wore masks and did not show their true colors."
"I'm afraid that he is the evil person in your mouth."
"Why didn't Brother Tian tell me earlier?"
"The Jiangnan County security officer came to see me that day and saw me together. He said he would tell you, but I didn't take it to heart, but who would have thought..."
Zhou Huai has been ups and downs in the business world for so many years, and Tian Yuan has already talked about this, how can he still not understand.
"Brother Xian, what you mean is that he is from the An family in Jiangnan?"
"Hey, Brother Zhou, what's the point of talking about this now. We have no evidence. Even if it is really An's fault, reporting it to the official will not do anything to them!"
"The top priority is to get through the selection process for the imperial merchants."
"Hmph! What a man named An, who is worthy of my brother on weekdays, but he did such a thing in private. He is really unworthy of a man."
"He does this kind of thing just because he wants to be elected as the emperor merchant, but I don't get what he wants!"
"Brother Tian and I are both grain merchants in Huainan, and we have a close relationship. Zhou Ji and Tian Ji cooperate a lot, and we don't differentiate between you and me."
"Since I, the weekly secretary, can't be elected, why don't I lend all the food I have to Brother Tian so you can be elected?"
When Tian Yuanwai heard this, he was stunned for a while.
After waking up, he quickly shook his head and said: "How can this be done? How can it be done?"
