Though Old Pi knew that Lu Cheng's talent for refining medicine was one in a million,
with so many people crowding around him, he still didn't feel very confident.
Only when Lu Cheng came downstairs did Old Pi finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Fifty portions of Blood-Activating Powder weren't much, and each portion was only about the size of a palm.
But when they were laid out in front of everyone, Old Pi's credibility immediately rose by quite a bit.
Those who had been doubtful put their concerns aside and held up their silver, urging Old Pi to start selling.
As Old Pi struck the copper gong beside him with a clang, the scene instantly erupted.
Before he could even speak, someone immediately ordered five portions.
Once one person stepped forward, the rest couldn't hold back.
One person ordered five portions, another ten. Anyone ordering just three was met with a complaint that they were wasting everyone's time.
"I'll pay two taels for the ready-made Blood-Activating Powder!"
Suddenly, someone shouted. The noisy crowd fell noticeably quieter.
Waiting another five days could save four mace of silver, and most people would indeed choose that option.
But when someone suddenly offered to buy the ready-made Blood-Activating Powder, it was as if everyone's thoughts had been pulled back in a different direction.
On closer thought, it made sense.
Though these so-called "presale" pills were cheaper, this was the first time they were doing this. What if something went wrong?
For people unwilling to take even the slightest risk, spending two taels on a portion of freshly made Blood-Activating Powder was still a good deal.
After all, the market price was three taels, and even other reliable sources charged around two.
With that, quite a few people decided to buy the ready-made stock too.
This scene was far beyond Old Pi's expectations. For a moment, he didn't know how to respond.
"This..."
In a situation like this, the worst thing was to seem unsure.
Since they had ready-made stock and someone was willing to pay extra for it, why not sell it?
Old Pi's hesitation immediately made some people suspicious.
Even those who had been holding up their silver to place orders began to have doubts and lowered their hands.
"Are you selling or not? Say something!"
"Exactly. Don't tell me you only have these fifty portions?"
The gloomy-eyed people who had been standing among the crowd seemed to have found an opening and began shouting one after another.
Old Pi shook his head repeatedly and was just about to say, "We're selling," when Fatty pushed through the crowd, holding up a contract:
"Where's the Blood-Activating Powder I ordered? Fill mine first! Mine first!"
Old Pi immediately understood.
Relieved, he turned to the man who had offered two taels and said:
"Sorry, sir. These portions have already been spoken for. If you want to buy some, you'll have to queue up behind the others."
The man left reluctantly.
Before Fatty could even take away his ten portions, several others pushed their way in as well.
All fifty portions were handed over in the blink of an eye.
As Fatty and the others took all fifty portions of Blood-Activating Powder, the scene instantly erupted.
The onlookers had been made half-suspicious by that man's question. Now, seeing people actually receive their orders, and remembering that the Black Market stood behind the deal, they had nothing to worry about.
They raised their silver again and surged forward.
Fatty and the others' five contracts had originally been meant to build excitement, but instead they ended up solving an unexpected problem.
The two hundred portions due in five and ten days were snapped up in an instant.
The portions due a month later were also selling quickly.
Almost everyone bought five or ten portions at a time.
Some had already begun plotting to resell them, signing contracts for fifty portions in a single order.
It wasn't just people from the Black Market who came flooding in.
People outside kept hearing the news and rushing to the Black Market as well.
Before long, Old Pi's shop was packed shoulder to shoulder.
Half an hour later, all the portions had sold out.
Even Old Pi was astonished by the result.
After the crowd dispersed, the group returned to the shop Lu Cheng had rented.
Old Pi flipped through the hurried sales records he had just written down:
"Five-day delivery: one tael and six mace each, one hundred portions, totaling one hundred and sixty taels. Eighty taels received so far."
For each contract, half the money had to be paid to the Black Market, so of the one hundred and sixty taels, they had only received eighty.
Liu Chang'an quickly stacked out eighty taels of silver.
"Eighty taels, all accounted for."
Liu Wan'er wrote "eighty taels" in the ledger.
Old Pi continued:
"Ten-day delivery: one tael and five mace each, one hundred portions, seventy-five taels."
Liu Chang'an replied:
"Seventy-five taels, all accounted for."
Old Pi went on:
"One-month delivery: one tael and four mace each, two thousand portions, one thousand four hundred taels."
This time, Liu Chang'an took quite a while to stack it out.
"One thousand four hundred taels, all accounted for."
Liu Wan'er summed up:
"One thousand five hundred and fifty-five taels in total."
Looking at the large chest of silver, Old Pi and the others swallowed more than once.
Lu Cheng nodded and said to everyone:
"Right now, we have one hundred and ten sets of medicinal ingredients, one hundred and ninety portions of Blood-Activating Powder, and more than three hundred taels of silver."
"The three hundred taels, together with the eighty taels we'll receive in five days, will all go to Old Pi to buy ingredients for Blood-Activating Powder."
"That will give us a total of one thousand and sixty portions of Blood-Activating Powder, enough to cover the deliveries coming up."
"As for this silver..." Lu Cheng patted the chest containing more than one thousand five hundred taels.
"We'll keep using it to get contracts from the Black Market."
"We're getting more?" Fatty asked.
The others all looked at Lu Cheng as well.
Lu Cheng nodded and laid out the next steps of the plan:
"One thousand five hundred and fifty-five taels can get us at least two thousand two hundred contracts from the Black Market, for delivery a month from now."
The others silently worked out the numbers and found that Lu Cheng was right.
Each contract required half its value to be paid in advance to the Black Market as a guarantee, which came to seven mace of silver per portion.
So their current funds really could get them two thousand two hundred contracts.
Old Pi asked:
"And then? Aren't we just going to be left holding those contracts?"
Lu Cheng nodded.
"The next step is to use the contracts we hold ourselves to get things moving."
"With the Black Market guaranteeing these contracts, and the first hundred portions of Blood-Activating Powder delivered on time in five days, no one will question our credibility."
"We'll use those two thousand-odd contracts as collateral at pawnshops."
"That will get us three thousand and eighty taels of silver."
"Then we repeat the process. Three thousand and eighty taels will become six thousand one hundred and sixty taels."
Old Pi stared for a long moment, then slapped his thigh.
"Brilliant! That's money making money!"
"If we keep pawning and buying, buying and pawning, won't we be able to raise a million taels?"
"Hiss!"
Everyone except Lu Cheng sucked in a breath.
Lu Cheng looked at Old Pi as if he were an idiot and shook his head.
"Wouldn't that just mean paying interest to the Black Market and the pawnshops for nothing?"
The Black Market charged half a tenth in interest, which came to seven fen of silver per contract.
And the pawnshops charged even more than the Black Market, collecting interest based on how much time had passed.
Given enough time, the interest could even exceed half the amount.
Old Pi asked in confusion:
"Then what do you plan to do?"
Lu Cheng replied:
"Six thousand taels will be enough. At that point, we'll move on to the second step of the plan."
Before you continue