Although Zhang Heng was in a panic, he forced himself to keep up appearances in front of Jiang Luohan, mustering a smile. "Don't worry, Sister Luohan. I can handle this little matter. How many do you need? I'll have someone fetch them right away."
He quickly did the math. The stock of high-quality Qi Nurturing Pills in the storeroom might be running low, but sparing a few dozen should be no problem. He'd deal with the immediate issue first, then replenish the stock once things improved in a few days.
At that, Jiang Luohan looked pleased and said as though it were only natural,
"Previously, Zhang Yu used to bring me an average of two pills a day to help me cultivate.
"Prepare enough for three months at that rate."
"Two pills a day? For three months?"
The smile froze on Zhang Heng's face. He wondered if he'd heard wrong. "Sister Luohan, are you saying... Zhang Yu gave you two Qi Nurturing Pills every day for three whole years?"
"That's right."
Jiang Luohan nodded, her tone as calm as if she were talking about something perfectly ordinary.
"He started giving them to me not long after he returned to the estate, and never stopped until he went to prison. The quality was always excellent, and they helped me a great deal."
"Two pills a day... two pills a day..."
Zhang Heng repeated unconsciously. His mind raced as he recalled the costs and sale prices of the Pills he'd seen in Dingsheng Workshop's accounts that day. A number that made his scalp prickle quickly came to mind.
A top-grade Qi Nurturing Pill sold for eight hundred taels at Dingsheng Workshop, with a production cost of about four hundred taels.
Even if he counted only the production cost...
Two a day meant eight hundred taels in costs!
Thirty days in a month meant twenty-four thousand taels in costs!
Twelve months in a year meant two hundred and eighty-eight thousand taels in costs!
Three years... meant eight hundred and sixty-four thousand taels in costs!!
At retail price, three years' worth came to 1.73 million taels of silver!!
Zhang Heng felt a rush of blood shoot to his head. His vision darkened, and his chest tightened with distress.
He'd known that Zhang Yu had given Jiang Luohan many gifts and racked up enormous debts, but those figures had been abstract.
Now that he was actually getting involved in business and had a more concrete understanding of money and goods, hearing the details—two pills every day for three years—made him truly grasp the suffocating extravagance and stupidity of it all!
"Zhang Yu, that spendthrift, that idiot."
Zhang Heng finally couldn't hold back. His voice rose in a furious, shocked growl, twisting with anger.
"An eight-hundred-tael pill! That's forty-eight thousand taels a month, and over a million taels in three years.
"He just... just handed them out like candy?
"Did he have any idea what that money could do?
"How many troops could it support?
"How many businesses could it buy?"
He simply couldn't understand it. Zhang Yu was nothing but an unfavored, "useless" Eldest Young Master of the Marquis Estate. Where had he gotten so much money?
Even if he'd had some hidden means, spending like that was outrageous.
No wonder he'd racked up hundreds of thousands of taels in debt to the Wang Family.
He was nothing but an idiot with no sense of calculation, who only knew how to curry favor with women.
Zhang Heng and Jiang Luohan should actually have been grateful. Zhang Yu had delivered the Qi Nurturing Pills every three days, and the transactions were too fragmented for him to communicate with the Wang Family in time and draw up a sky-high IOU.
Otherwise, if that million-plus taels had gone on an IOU, it would have been enough to bankrupt the Marquis Estate.
Zhang Heng's loss of composure made Jiang Luohan furrow her brows slightly. She thought he was overreacting.
In her eyes, Zhang Yu giving her Pills was only natural. It was his duty to curry favor with her.
How much they'd cost was Zhang Yu's concern. What did it have to do with her?
Now that Zhang Heng was in charge of Dingsheng Workshop, wasn't it only natural for him to provide a few Pills for his future wife?
Why make such a fuss, even resorting to insults?
"Brother Heng,"
Jiang Luohan said coolly, warning him,
"Mind your words. Zhang Yu is in the past.
"You're in charge of Dingsheng Workshop now. Don't tell me you can't even supply this little bit of Pills?"
Jiang Luohan's faintly displeased tone brought Zhang Heng to his senses. He realized that he'd lost his composure.
He quickly suppressed the turmoil and heartache in his chest, forcing out a smile so miserable it looked more like a grimace.
"Sister Luohan, you've misunderstood. I... I was just startled by that idiot Zhang Yu's extravagance.
"Of course, it's only right that I provide for your cultivation."
That was what he said, but inside, it felt as if his heart were bleeding.
Three months meant one hundred and eighty top-grade Qi Nurturing Pills, which would cost seventy-two thousand taels to produce.
Dingsheng Workshop was already facing a crisis. Every coin and every pill was precious.
But he'd already said it. For the sake of appearances, he couldn't refuse.
"Shopkeeper Qian."
Zhang Heng gritted his teeth as he instructed Shopkeeper Qian, who was waiting nearby. "Go get one hundred and eighty of the finest Qi Nurturing Pills from the storeroom and pack them for Miss Jiang."
"Y-Young Master,"
Shopkeeper Qian said with a troubled expression, leaning close to speak in a low voice,
"the storeroom's supply of high-quality Qi Nurturing Pills... has already fallen below fifty. The earth fire has been unstable these past few days, making them difficult to produce, and we also have orders to fill for several old customers.
"And we're afraid we won't be able to replenish the stock fast enough, either."
"What?"
Zhang Heng's expression darkened even further.
He hadn't expected things to have gotten so bad that they couldn't even scrape together one hundred and eighty Pills.
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