Chapter 263: Business Prodigy

In the main hall of the restaurant, Chu Qiguang and Wang Cailiang had donned simple disguises and taken seats in an inconspicuous corner, where they attracted no attention.

On the stage, Sun Bin was shouting passionately at the top of his lungs.

"Chu Qiguang once promised all of you that the Azure Sun Trade Association will make one million taels of silver in its first year. I immediately said that his projection was too slow and that I would surpass that mark in just half a year. At the time, no one believed me, and many people laughed at me. However, I'm here to tell you that in the past two months alone, the Azure Sun Trade Association has made five hundred thousand taels of silver in profit from cotton sales!

"Next month, our goal is to make more than three hundred thousand taels of silver in profit, and our mid-term goal is to reach the one million mark by the end of November! Could Chu Qiguang have accomplished this? No, but I can!"

Chu Qiguang was completely unbothered by Sun Bin's inflammatory rhetoric. He had seen far worse during his time in business in his past life, and publicly criticizing one's predecessors to enhance one's own reputation was standard practice.

Sun Bin's bold declaration electrified the atmosphere in the restaurant. Everyone stared at the figures on the picture scrolls behind him, their eyes gleaming as brightly as polished silver.

Chu Qiguang could already envision Sun Bin's declaration spreading throughout Northern Mountain Manor in a matter of days. As a result, the stock price of the Azure Sun Trade Association was certain to soar.

However, Chu Qiguang was very curious about the profit figures Sun Bin had presented. According to his previous projections, such enormous profits should have been impossible.

"How did he get those profit figures?" Chu Qiguang asked, turning to Wang Cailiang.

"The cat fiends have already looked into it, and the figures have been heavily manipulated!" Wang Cailiang spat through gritted teeth. "Wu Wei has been abusing his power to delay payments to the cotton farmers until the end of the year. That way, the raw cotton they've used over the past few months has essentially cost them nothing. According to that method of calculation, revenue equals profit, so of course the profit figures are impossibly high!"

"Chu Qiguang once said that he was going to redefine the textile industry, but his methods are already outdated," Sun Bin continued. "One day, the Azure Sun Trade Association will make all textile manufacturers under the entire heavens tremble in fear, and that day will come in the near future! We have already developed wind-powered looms and spinning machines that are a hundred times more productive than their water-powered counterparts, and they can operate anywhere there's wind!"

Chu Qiguang almost spat out his tea upon hearing this.

"Is that true?" he asked, turning to Wang Cailiang with a bewildered expression.

"We don't know," Wang Cailiang replied with tightly furrowed brows. "Apparently, the Wu Clan has managed to develop wind-powered machines, but no one has seen them yet."

Chu Qiguang then asked about Sun Bin's background, to which Wang Cailiang replied, "From what I've heard, he used to be an accountant in Luo Province, but after arriving in Azure Sun County, he somehow managed to completely fool Wu Wei. For several months, he tended to Wu Wei's every need, showing up bright and early outside his door every morning with hot water and a hot towel..."

***

A month earlier, Wu Wei and Chen Zhu's interference had caused the stock price of the Azure Sun Trade Association to plummet from its peak of one tael one qian of silver per share to only two qian of silver.

Wu Wei had sent Sun Bin into the Azure Sun Trade Association, not really expecting him to be able to do anything, but to his surprise, Sun Bin proved to be even more capable than Chu Qiguang and gradually managed to raise the stock price again.

By this point, the stock price had risen to four qian of silver.

***

As Sun Bin continued to rant and rave on stage, it quickly became apparent to Chu Qiguang that he had no intention of actually improving cotton-production technology. Instead, he simply wanted to scam people out of their money by using false promises to artificially inflate the stock price.

"Are you not going to do anything about this, Brother Chu?" Wang Cailiang asked in a disgruntled manner.

"Let them do as they please," Chu Qiguang replied with a smile. "Remember how I told you to sell all our shares last time? I want you to start buying shares tomorrow, but do it discreetly so that Wu Wei doesn't find out."

Last time, Wang Cailiang had sold all their shares for more than one tael of silver per share. Now, he was about to start buying them back at the low price of four qian per share.

That night, Sun Bin, Wu Wei, and some of the wealthiest people in the entire county drank and made merry until late into the night.

The next morning, Sun Bin awoke to see a bunch of papers scattered across his desk. After asking the servant outside his room, he was told that he had written some things down in a drunken stupor the previous night.

Good grief, look at this terrible handwriting! I must've been really drunk last night!

The servant was none other than Chen Gang in disguise. After convincing Sun Bin that he had written everything on the desk himself, Chen Gang quietly departed with a faint smile on his face.

Although the handwriting was rather unsightly, it was still perfectly legible. Curious about what he had written while drunk, Sun Bin began reading through the papers with keen interest.

"Purchase cotton at high prices... Buy up all of the raw cotton in the entire province at above market price, but request to pay in installments... Sell all the cotton at low prices, but demand that the purchasing textile shops make annual payments in full..."

"Ha! I was definitely drunk when I wrote this," Sun Bin scoffed. "Buy high and sell low? What would that accomplish aside from reducing profit margins?"

Although he found the idea laughable and absurd, his curiosity compelled him to continue reading.

"Take over the market to raise stock prices... Seek investments from nobles through stock pledges... Attract multiple rounds of investments from wealthy clans and powerful officials..."

I wrote all of this while I was drunk?

Sun Bin was stunned into silence. The more he thought about it, the more feasible the entire plan seemed.

Could it be that I'm some kind of business prodigy? Who else could come up with something like this while drunk?

Over the next few days, Sun Bin painstakingly studied every step of the plan. By that point, he was already completely convinced that he had come up with all of this on his own.

After finalizing the plan, he presentede it to Wu Wei.

"Trust me, Master Wu! As long as we follow my plan, it won't take long for the Azure Sun Trade Association to expand throughout the entire Spirit Province! As long as the stock price keeps rising, we can continue bringing in money through stock pledges and investments, allowing us to profit from the wealthy and the nobility! Not only will we have an increasing amount of money to reinvest, but we'll also be able to turn all the wealthy clans and powerful officials in Spirit Province into our business partners!"

Wu Wei's eyes practically glowed as he listened to Sun Bin's grand vision, and he asked, "You came up with all of this yourself?"

Sun Bin nodded proudly.

Wu Wei clapped his hands together in delight and praised, "You really are a business prodigy! I knew I saw something in you!"

Purchasing all the raw cotton across Spirit Province at above the market price would require an enormous initial investment, so Wu Wei hesitant at first.

In the end, his greed got the better of him, as it always did, and he decided to go along with Sun Bin's plan.