During the orthodox years of the Ming Dynasty, there was a Zhou Ji satin house near Chaoyangmen in Beijing, and the shopkeeper of the satin house was called Zhou Datong.
Zhou Datong suddenly suffered a serious illness at the age of 40, and many treatments were ineffective. Zhou Datong knew that his life was not long, so he told his son Zhou Mao: "After I die, if you have any urgent matters, you can go to Baiyun Temple to find my friend Liu Shenxian. This person can do the math and can guide you."
Zhou Mao nodded frequently and wrote down his father's words.
A few days later, Zhou Datong died, and Zhou Mao became the new shopkeeper of Zhou Ji Satin Villa.
Zhou Mao was diligent in his work, but he knew nothing about business. The goods he bought were either unsalable or at a loss. In the hands of the new shopkeeper, Zhou Ji's business was getting worse every day, and it was closed in less than half a year. Zhou Mao was so worried that he was as anxious as an ant in a hot pan. At that time, he suddenly remembered his father's instructions when he was dying, and decided to go to Baiyun Temple to find Liu Shenxian for help.
The White Cloud Temple is located outside Xuanwu Gate, and Zhou Mao rushed there with many gifts.
Liu Shenxian, whose real name is Liu Guangzu, is the Taoist priest of Baiyun Temple. Because of his predictability, he is respected by everyone like Liu Shenxian. Liu Shenxian is more than seventy years old and has a childish appearance.
Zhou Mao came to the gate of Baiyun Temple and saw Liu Shenxian sitting under a big tree chatting with a group of villagers. After learning Zhou Mao's purpose, Liu Shenxian nodded and walked into the Taoist temple with his hands behind his back. Zhou Mao quickly followed behind.
Arriving in a secret room, Liu Shenxian lit three sticks of fragrance and sat cross-legged on the futon. Zhou Mao stood respectfully by the side, not even daring to let out the atmosphere.
Liu Shenxian closed his eyes, pinched his fingers and calculated, and then asked Zhou Mao, "How much silver do you still have?"
Zhou Mao thought for a while and replied, "I can still make 3,000 taels by appointment."
Liu Shenxian pondered for a while, and then said to Zhou Mao in a firm tone: "You do it immediately and buy a high-quality white cloth worth 3,000 taels."
Zhou Mao was stunned. Although he was not good at management, he had been the shopkeeper for almost half a year and knew that the demand for this high-quality white cloth was extremely small.
So Zhou Mao asked in confusion, "Uncle Liu, why did you buy so many fine white cloths?"
Liu Shenxian smiled slightly and said, "Hoarding is naturally for profit."
"High-quality white cloth, the whole city of Beijing can't sell a few horses a year. If you eat so much at once, it won't sell out until the year of the monkey and the month of the horse?" Zhou Mao reminded.
Liu Shenxian twisted his beard and said firmly, "The path of poverty has been clearly calculated, at least one month or two months, and at most half a year. The price of high-quality white cloth will definitely soar."
Zhou Mao was confused when he heard this and hurriedly asked why, but Liu Shenxian shook his head again and again, saying that the secret must not be leaked, so Zhou Mao just followed the plan.
Seeing that there was no result, Zhou Mao had to leave Baiyun Temple with suspicion.
After returning home, Zhou Mao could not sleep all night, and he doubted Liu Shenxian's words. But thinking of his father's usual caution and his dying advice, Zhou Mao finally gritted his teeth and decided to gamble according to Liu Shenxian's instructions.
The next morning, Zhou Mao called all the guys around him and asked them to buy high-quality white cloth separately. The guys were busy for three days, snapping up all the high-quality white cloth from satin houses in the capital. At this time, Zhou Mao still had more than 1,000 taels of silver on hand, so he asked the guys to go out of Beijing and buy high-quality white cloth in the surrounding areas. Sales of high-quality white cloth are limited, so production and reserves in various places are not much. In less than half a month, almost all the high-quality white cloth in major cities in Hebei has been bought by Zhou Ji Satin House.
Looking at a pile of high-quality white cloth piled up in the warehouse, Zhou Mao's heart was up and down. If these white cloths could not be sold, the last bit of money in Zhou Ji Satin House would be gone.
Zhou Mao sent people out to inquire every day and learned that the market price of high-quality white cloth had not moved at all. Seeing that three thousand taels of silver were about to be soaked in soup, Zhou Mao was so anxious that he sighed all day long.
Just as Zhou Mao was on the verge of despair, someone knocked on the back door of Zhou's house late that night.
The person who came was eleven or twelve years old, a little Taoist boy beside Liu Shenxian.
Xiao Daotong said to Zhou Mao, "Grandpa Liu asked me to tell Shopkeeper Zhou to increase the price of high-quality white cloth ten times from tomorrow. Don't give a penny off!"
Zhou Mao thought he had heard something wrong. The backlog of white cloth could not be sold at the purchase price. If the price were increased ten times, would anyone want it?
Xiao Daotong saw Zhou Mao's thoughts and added, "Grandpa Liu also said that tomorrow afternoon, customers who buy high-quality white cloth will flock to him."
After saying this, Xiaodaotong immediately got up and said goodbye.
Zhou Mao thought Liu Shenxian's words were incredible. But the next morning, he still increased the price of the fine white cloth tenfold. The guys were all dumbfounded, thinking Shopkeeper Zhou was confused.
After breakfast, people came to Zhou Ji Satin House one after another to inquire about the price of high-quality white cloth. But after seeing the price clearly, they all pouted and left. Zhou Mao was so anxious that he was scratching his head, while the guys secretly laughed.
After noon, the situation changed. Countless customers suddenly flocked from all directions, scrambling to buy high-quality white cloth from Zhou Ji Satin Shop. Some people thought white cloth was ridiculously expensive, so they haggled with Zhou Mao, who remembered Xiaodaotong's advice and did not give a penny. Seeing that there was no room for negotiation, these people had to reluctantly take out the money.
Customers who bought high-quality white cloth came in batches, and the guys at Zhou Ji Satin Shop were sweating profusely. Zhou Mao was surprised and delighted, feeling like he was daydreaming. But in addition to being happy, he was very puzzled. Why are so many customers rushing to buy high-quality white cloth?
Zhou Mao felt curious and pulled a middle-aged customer to inquire about the reason.
The man, the head of Feng Shangshu's family, told Zhou Mao: The Empress Dowager is gone this morning, and from tomorrow onwards, all the civil and military officials and their families will have to serve the national mourning. During the mourning period, they must be fully clothed, so they have to buy high-quality white cloth for clothes and hats. When they learned of the Empress Dowager's death, the officials immediately rushed to buy white cloth. However, the high quality white cloth in the major satin houses in the capital was out of stock, and even the surrounding provinces and counties could not buy it. Looking for it, they finally found that Zhou Ji satin house had a large number of high-quality white cloth, so they came to buy it one after another. Missing national mourning is a big crime, so while the price of white cloth is ridiculously high, officials have to bite the bullet and buy it.
After listening to this explanation, Zhou Mao suddenly realized, and secretly admired Liu Shenxian's predictability.
When he was busy holding the lights, all the fine white cloths in Zhou Ji's satin house were sold out. After deducting the capital, Zhou Mao made 27,000 taels of silver, so happy that he couldn't even find it in the north.
A few days later, Zhou Mao came to Baiyun Temple again with heavy gifts.
Zhou Mao bowed to Liu Shenxian and said gratefully, "Thank you, Uncle Liu, for your ingenious plan to save Zhou Ji Silk House."
Liu Shenxian waved his hand and said, "There is no need to be polite, nephew Ling Zun used to be kind to me, and now the poor way is tied up."
Speaking of which, Liu Shenxian closed his eyes again and started counting. Zhou Mao kept his voice calm and waited respectfully by the side.
After a while, Liu Shenxian opened his eyes and said to Zhou Mao, "You can buy medium white cloth for another 30,000 taels of silver and sell it at twice the price next spring."
This time, Zhou Mao nodded frequently, convinced by Liu Shenxian's words.
After coming out of Baiyun Temple, Zhou Mao immediately sent people to various places to buy medium white cloth. After several months of busy work, he finally bought a medium white cloth worth 30,000 taels of silver. Next, Zhou Mao began to wait for the arrival of spring.
In the spring of the following year, the price of medium white cloth really rose sharply. Zhou Mao took advantage of the situation to sell his inventory and netted 30,000 taels of silver.
After finishing the business at hand, Zhou Mao came to Baiyun Temple to ask Liu Shenxian for advice. This time Liu Shenxian asked Zhou Mao to go to various places to purchase a large number of inferior white cloth.
Zhou Mao happily asked, "Uncle Liu, when can these inferior white cloths be sold?"
Liu Shenxian said: "At least one or two years, and at least three or four years."
Zhou Mao asked again, "How many times the price will it be sold?"
Liu Shenxian shook his head again and again, and said gloomily: "You must never increase the price, you can only make small profits but quick turnover."
Speaking of which, Liu Shenxian looked up at the sky and sighed, tears rolling down his eyes. Zhou Mao was startled and hurriedly asked Liu Shenxian why he was sad. Liu Shenxian was silent and waved his hand to signal Zhou Mao to leave.
Zhou Mao carefully exited the White Cloud Temple and was very puzzled. Looking at the situation, Liu Shenxian seemed to have something to hide. But no matter what, Zhou Mao was convinced of Liu Shenxian's ingenious calculation, so he ordered people to go everywhere to purchase inferior white cloth.
Sixty thousand taels of inferior white cloth piled up like a mountain, so Zhou Mao specially built a large warehouse for this purpose.
Time flew by, and another four years passed. At that time, it was the invasion of foreign troops. The orthodox emperor led 300,000 Ming troops to face the battle. Due to command mistakes and traitors in power, more than 200,000 Ming troops were trapped in Tumu Fort, and eventually all troops were wiped out. The bad news came, and the cries in Hebei were so loud that nine out of ten families held funerals. In a moment, inferior white cloth became a hot commodity. In just a few days, the stock of white cloth in Zhou Ji Satin Village was sold out.
With these three rich experiences, Zhou Mao admired Liu Shenxian. He decided to worship Liu Shenxian as his teacher and devote himself to learning divination.
Zhou Mao picked up an auspicious day and prepared a generous gift to Baiyun Temple to learn from Liu Shenxian.
After listening to Zhou Mao's plea, Liu Shenxian shook his head repeatedly and said, "Divination is all a lie, and the poor way does not understand at all."
"Don't understand divination?" Zhou Mao was taken aback and asked in confusion, "Then, why did the old man expect things like God, and the three pointers made me a windfall?"
Liu Shenxian pointed at her head and said with a smile, "The poor way is as predictable as God, it all depends on it!"
Then Liu Shenxian gave three reasons for the unexpected:
Liu Shenxian's nephew was a court physician who specialized in treating the Empress Dowager. Liu Shenxian learned from his nephew that the Empress Dowager had a sudden stroke a month ago and only escaped after rescue. The stroke is very easy to recur, and patients usually do not live for half a year. Once the Empress Dowager died, the Manchu Dynasty had to rush to make filial piety clothes, which must be sewn with high-quality white cloth. Usually, the demand for high-quality white cloth is very small, so there are not many stocks in each satin house. After grasping the above situation, Liu Shenxian asked Zhou Mao to buy all the high-quality white cloth in each satin house and throw it at ten times the price when the country was mourned...
Then Liu Shenxian instructed Zhou Mao to stock up on medium white cloth, which was also the result of good analysis. Liu Shenxian often traveled around and saw that the drought in the major cotton-producing areas was severe, and after the drought, there would be a plague of locusts, and cotton production would be greatly reduced. The cotton harvest was poor, and the price of cotton cloth naturally rose. This had little impact on the rich, as they mainly wore silk and satin. The poor sewed and mended for another year, and it didn't matter. The most important thing was the middle-class people, who bought several new sets of clothes every year, and the materials were mostly medium cotton cloth. White cloth can be processed into various colors of fabric, which sells best, so Liu Shenxian asked Zhou Mao to buy a lot of medium white cloth in advance.
In the end, Liu Shenxian looked far ahead and let Zhou Mao do the business of inferior white cloth. After the orthodox emperor ascended the throne, the officials of the imperial court were fighting each other, and the national strength was declining. At this time, the tribes in the north were eager to move, and the war of aggression was about to break out. Liu Shenxian expected that the Ming army would lose this battle, and that the Ming army would be killed in large numbers, and countless families would hold funerals. The soldiers were all from poor backgrounds, and their families could only use cheap white cloth for filial piety. Therefore, Liu Shenxian foresaw that inferior white cloth would be in short supply.