Chapter 237: Chapter 237: Price War
237 Price War
Mrs. Zheng hurriedly pulled Lei Guang’s wife to sit on the warm bed-stove, then served her peanuts and tea.
Lei Guang’s wife was baffled and simply stood up, asking, "Mrs. Zheng, what is it that you called me here for? Just tell me straight!"
Mrs. Zheng chuckled. "Oh dear, you saw right through me. Here’s the thing."
She then pulled Lei Guang’s wife back to the warm bed-stove and whispered, "I recently raised a pig at home too, but I discovered yesterday that my pig is not as fat as your husband’s elder brother’s pig."
"You live in the same courtyard as your husband’s elder brother, so you must know how he and his wife raise their pigs. I figure that since we’re such good friends, you’ll definitely tell me, right?"
Mrs. Zheng started by paying Lei Guang’s wife a compliment, causing her to frown.
If this were the past, being praised like this by Mrs. Zheng, she would have immediately blurted out the truth. However, ever since Mrs. Wang’s son was arrested and still hadn’t been released, she felt her father-in-law was right: they absolutely shouldn’t try to curry favor with the Wang family. Therefore, lately, she had already started, intentionally or unintentionally, to avoid Mrs. Wang and the others. Furthermore, Zhao Dong had helped their family raise pigs this time, allowing them to earn some money and eat their fill after the locust plague. Her father-in-law, elder brother-in-law, and Elder Sister-in-law also warned her daily not to speak carelessly outside, and she had taken it all to heart.
Therefore, after frowning for a while, she smiled and said, "There’s really nothing special about it; you already know. It’s just the usual way we raise pigs."
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Zheng’s face fell, and she said angrily, "Lei Guang’s wife, what do you mean by that? And here I was, thinking of you as one of my own, yet you won’t tell me about this?"
Lei Guang’s wife had steeled her resolve not to be a blabbermouth this time. She immediately stood up and said angrily, "Mrs. Zheng, I thought of you as one of my own too! Didn’t I tell you? If you don’t believe me, just go to our house and see for yourself. We feed our pigs the same way as always: cutting pig grass and feeding them soybean cakes."
After saying that, she stormed out, slamming the door.
In the end, Mrs. Zheng failed to get any useful information from Lei Guang’s wife.
Still, she actually took Lei Guang’s wife’s words to heart and planned to go see for herself—not openly, of course, but secretly.
She first went to Zhao Dong’s Residence, but as expected, she was chased by Da Bao for an entire street.
Still not giving up, she went to other homes to look, but ultimately couldn’t figure anything out. Eventually, the matter was dropped.
「In the blink of an eye, three months had passed.」
Whether it was Zhao Dong’s pigs or Mrs. Zheng’s pigs, they had all matured.
At this time, Wang Fuhai from the Guang Ju Restaurant came again to buy pork.
This time, however, just as he reached the village entrance, he was stopped by Mrs. Zheng and a few others.
Mrs. Zheng looked at Wang Fuhai as if she were looking at a pile of money. She rushed over, excitedly calling out, "Shopkeeper Wang! Shopkeeper Wang!"
Wang Fuhai alighted from his horse carriage and looked at Mrs. Zheng curiously, asking, "Is there something you need?"
Mrs. Zheng hurried forward, smiled obsequiously, and said, "Shopkeeper Wang, are you here in our village to collect pigs?"
Wang Fuhai nodded. "Indeed."
Mrs. Zheng quickly said, "Oh, then you must come to our house! The pigs we’ve raised are incredibly fat, wouldn’t you all say so?"
"Yes, the ones we raised are excellent!"
"Shopkeeper Wang, please come with us to take a look."
Wang Fuhai raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you working with Zhao Dong?"
Mrs. Zheng nodded. "Yes, yes."
Only then did Wang Fuhai smile. "Then there’s no rush. I’ll be at Zhao Dong’s Residence. You can bring your pigs over later."
With that, he made to leave.
Mrs. Zheng was dumbfounded and repeatedly tried to stop him. "Hey, don’t go! Please, come to our house and take a look first!"
「Meanwhile, at the Zhao Family’s residence...」
"This is terrible! Terrible!"
Shi Tou rushed into Zhao Dong’s house in a panic, yelling, "Brother Dong, this is terrible! Terrible!"
Zhao Dong was in the courtyard, fussing over the tea and snacks he was preparing for Wang Fuhai. Seeing Shi Tou dash in so frantically, he immediately teased him.
"Hold on, stop yelling. Your Brother Dong is perfectly fine."
"Aiyah, no." Shi Tou panted heavily and continued, "It’s not that you’re not fine."
Zhao Dong said, "Well, there you go. I’m perfectly fine, so what are you panicking about?"
Shi Tou was so anxious, sweat beaded on his forehead. "Aiyah, no, Brother Dong! That Mrs. Zheng and her group actually went and stopped Shopkeeper Wang’s horse carriage at the village entrance, insisting that Shopkeeper Wang go to their homes first to collect pigs!"
Zhao Dong wasn’t too surprised; this Mrs. Zheng was capable of such things.
"Aiyah, Brother Dong, why aren’t you worried?" Seeing Zhao Dong completely unconcerned made Shi Tou even more anxious. "If Mrs. Zheng pulls Shopkeeper Wang away, who are we going to sell our pigs to?"
Zhao Dong sighed and patted Shi Tou’s shoulder. "What’s there to panic about? Never mind whether their pigs can compare to ours; Shopkeeper Wang, given his character, isn’t someone Mrs. Zheng can just pull away!"
Just as these words landed, a burst of laughter came from the doorway.
"HAHAHA, as expected of my Brother Zhao! You truly understand me."
As his voice fell, Wang Fuhai walked in smiling. "Brother Zhao, it’s been a few days. I trust you’ve been well!"
Zhao Dong quickly put down what he was doing and greeted him with a smile, "Brother Wang, I’ve missed you dearly!"
Wang Fuhai chuckled. "HAHA, then after we conclude our business today, we must have a good drink to celebrate."
Zhao Dong was puzzled. "Celebrate what? Is there some great news?"
Wang Fuhai patted Zhao Dong’s shoulder. "It certainly is great news! Our boss wants to sign a long-term agreement with you. From now on, your village here will be our Guang Ju Restaurant’s pork supplier."
After saying this, he added meaningfully, "So, you’ll need to step things up and cultivate more. In the future, we’ll be coming to procure meat at irregular intervals."
Zhao Dong nodded. "Understood, understood."
After the two addressed each other as brothers and exchanged some pleasantries, Zhao Dong asked Wang Fuhai how many pigs he wanted, then had Shi Tou go notify the villagers.
Shi Tou was still in a daze. Hearing Zhao Dong call him, he finally came to his senses. "Alright, I’ll go right away!"
And he trotted off.
Mrs. Zheng’s attempt over there came to nothing, and she was seething with undirected anger.
However, their anger didn’t last long. Because of Guang Ju Restaurant, many other restaurants and taverns now knew that the pork came from Zhao Village.
After a few days, several bosses, having heard of their reputation, came specifically to buy pork.
Last time, Wang Fuhai hadn’t bought all the pigs, and each family still had two or three left. Zhao Dong stepped forward, negotiated with one or two of the bosses, and sold a few more.
Just as Zhao Dong had settled on a price with the third major boss and they reached the crucial point of weighing the pigs, something unexpected suddenly happened.
The boss backed out of the deal!
Zhao Dong and the others were completely baffled. Only later did they discover that Mrs. Zheng and her group were up to their tricks. They had sold their pigs at a price five coin money lower than Zhao Dong’s group, snatching away their business!
"PAH! How shameless! To resort to such methods!"
"Exactly! I’m furious! That Mrs. Zheng is truly despicable. Brother Dong, they’re undercutting our prices. What should we do?"
"Maybe we should lower our prices too?"
Everyone else was infuriated by Mrs. Zheng.