Chapter 161: Failed Negotiations
” Yo-You!” Lian Luoqiu was thoroughly angered. ” You were playing with me till now?”
” Was I?” Jia Hao shook his head. ” It was you who was trying to negotiate, Miss Lian. My price was fixed at thousand taels of gold from the start.”
” I am confused. I thought Cai Yuxie told you that.”
Lian Luoqiu trembled from the anger, but she kept her calmness. ” Young Lord Jia, One must not bite more than one can chew.”
” Miss Lian, Beggars can’t be choosers.” Jia Hao replied with a smile. ” If you don’t buy from us, It’s fine. We were going to have a loss anyway.”
” But the thing is…What about you? Can you take the loss?”
” Not to mention, You think I don’t know? That the thousand taels of gold per three liang is still profitable for you?” Jia Hao grinned. ” Come on, even I know basic arithmetics.”
” So, I won’t chat for long. Thousand taels of gold per three liang of silk. And on top of that, 70% loan write off of current year’s interest.”
” What?!”
Lian Luoqiu was stunned. ” Impossible! A thousand tael of gold is still manageable. But loan write off for this year?”
“It’s also manageable. As for how to do it, I shall leave it to you.’ Jia Hao spoke nonchalantly.
” Young Lord Jia, You are virtuous as the sun and a wise scholar. Shouldn’t you give a lady some leeway?” Lian Luoqiu spoke in a low voice, trying to please Jia Hao.
” Oh? I thought I was an impotent man and couldn’t compared with Third Prince Li Yuan?” Jia Hao replied with a smile. But that smile was like dagger stabs.
Lian Luoqiu’s face turned stiff. ” Young Lord Jia, That was just a harmless joke.”
” I am also making a harmless deal here.”
” Young Lord Jia, Let me be honest.” Lian Luoqiu looked at Jia Hao. ” You are a live in son in law who married to into Cai Family to be the shield of Cai Yixue.”
” You are just a shield, and nothing else. Why are you going so much length for them?”
” Cai Yixue never fulfilled her duty as a virtuous wife.”
” How did you know that?” Jia Hao was amused.
” Otherwise, You wouldn’t have slept with Xu Chenlan.”
” Oh, Looks like Miss Lian is keeping tabs on me?”
” That’s not the matter.” Lian Luoqiu looked at Jia Hao. ” Cai Family is already on their last leg. Even if Patriarch Cai became the magistrate, it was nothing before the power of the Imperial Family.”
” And the current Imperial Family is not favorable towards the Cai Family.”
” I don’t care about the Imperial Family, you see?” Jia Hao smiled. ” Let me ask you something.”
” Who has more power? The Imperial Family of Great Yan? Or…The Emperor himself?”
” So, just because a few people in power don’t like the Cai Family, doesn’t mean they are doomed.”
” You are making a big mistake, Young Lord.” Lian Luoqiu’s voice was completely placid.
” One should only pick the side of the winners. And believe me, Cai Family is doomed sooner or later.”
” People might be going for the winners, Miss Lian. But I am someone who makes people winners.” Jia Hao smiled.
” And believe me, Since I am standing with the Cai Family, I am not going to let it lose.”
” Very well.” Lian Luoqiu smiled coldly as she got up. ” It would be tragic to see the death of a young scholar, Young Lord.”
” I believe you have finalized the deal?” Jia Hao smiled. ” Thankfully, I have brought a pair of Imperial Contracts with me. Let’s sign right now.”
Lian Luoqiu’s body trembled as she signed the contract. She felt like her heart was bleeding. After all, not only she is giving three times of profit to the Cai Family, but she is also forced to reduce the yearly interest amount of their loan.
‘ Good! Very good! Enjoy what you can. Soon enough, I shall laugh on the ruins of the Cai Family.’
‘ And you, Jia Hao… I will personally see you off.’
Everything was going well. There wasn’t a single thing wrong, and Cai Family was going all downhill.
However, the moment Cai Yixue married a random mortal scholar, everything seemed to change. The Cai Family was on the sudden rise, and the methods of the Cai Family changed drastically.
Lian Luoqiu knew it was none other than Jia Hao. However, she simply couldn’t understand how he managed to do that.
‘ Ghost flames? Curses? All of them are bullshit. We just need to get the evidence, and Cai Family will be finished.
” Then, I shall be leaving.”
” I won’t see you off, Miss Lian.”
” Hmph!”
Lian Luoqiu got up as she left with a cold face. ‘ Take! Take as much as money you want! In the end, It will return back to us,’
‘ Jia Hao, Cai Yixue, you shall regret!’
After Lian Luoqiu left, Cai Yixue entered the room. ” She was very pissed.”
” I would be surprised if she wasn’t.” Jia Hao laughed wryly. ” But Wife, Why does that girl hate you so much?”
” Haah, How can I say?” Cai Yixue sighed as she took a seat.
” Lian Luoqiu was someone whom I grew up with. In terms of beauty, talents, etiquette and intelligence, we always tried to best each other.”
” She is an ambitious woman. And, I adire her for this. Her circumstances are something which compels her to be ambitious.
” It happened three years ago. We were in the capital, attending an imperial banquet. The Third Prince Li Yuan saw me, who caught his eyes.”
” Lian Luoqiu always admired Li Yuan. When she saw Li Yuan trying to court me, she couldn’t help but become jealous. To attract Li Yuan’s attention, she tried to humiliate me.”
” However, It quickly backfired on her.” Cai Yixue sighed.
” Prince Li Yuan thought that Lian Luoqiu was my enemy. So, if he harms her, I would be pleased and go out with him.”
” And, he did something which made Lian Luoqiu humiliated before everyone else.”
” What an obsessive woman.” Jia Hao couldn’t help but mutter. ” And that bastard Li Yuan, I doubt he is anyone but a good person.”
” He isn’t.” Cai Yixue shook her head. ” However, After the Crown Prince, Li Yuan is the strongest prince who holds military power to defend grassy prairies.”
” Again, struggles of the imperial family, eh?” Jia Hao became amused.
” You don’t need to be worried, Wife. I will handle everything.”
” For now, Call all the villagers and tell them that we are going to give them 20% more of the initial price.”
” Other than that, our food shops also going to open tomorrow. Ask the villagers to spread the word.”
Jia Hao talked to Cai Yixue about the future plan. Cai Yixue nodded as she understood everything. She got up and left, as she had tons of work to do.
However, a setence of Lian Luoqiu still stung in her heart.
‘ Am I… I can’t give marital happiness to him?’
