Lin Yuchan stepped forward to pick up the newspaper, skillfully finding today’s exchange rate, her hands trembling with excitement.

Two and a half pence per pound, which was four taels of silver per dan!

The price had doubled!

Currently, among the world’s major raw cotton producing countries, America ranked first, India second, and China only third.

America’s prolonged civil war had brought cotton exports to a standstill; now India too had suffered disaster, with the two cotton giants both having their throats seized.

China’s raw cotton had finally welcomed its last chance for redemption. Foreign merchants no longer dared to suppress prices and could only let them rise freely.

Four taels of silver per dan!

Lin Yuchan’s eyebrows and eyes were all smiling with delight. Although she knew that building her happiness on the suffering of the Indian people was somewhat unethical, this price had saved her life!

If this price had appeared ten days ago, it would have turned the dock upside down. But today, there were very few cotton merchants at the dock, and even if someone saw that price, they would only be surprised.

Someone chased after the white headscarf: “Hey, young man, did you write the price wrong?”

There was no response. The white headscarf was following orders and wasn’t responsible for explanations.

A dock laborer approached with a lewd smile, probably taking Lin Yuchan for some improper professional, staring at her with direct eyes, looking up and down, suddenly stretching out his foot to step on her skirt, then reaching out to touch her.

“Little lady, you’ve gone the wrong way, brother will take you back to the county town…”

Lin Yuchan quickly dodged that dirty hand and kicked that deserving-to-be-beaten thigh.

“Stay away from me! I’m busy!”

The laborer flew into a rage and gave chase.

Lin Yuchan turned and ran into a small storefront.

“Mr. Zheng!”

Zheng Guanying was quietly reading a copy of the Book of Changes. He was startled and looked up to see a bright young girl.

That blind laborer had blindly followed in, still grinning: “Little lady went the wrong way, the comprador gentlemen are all busy, if you want to play, come with me…”

Zheng Guanying frowned and looked.

The Indian bodyguards hired by Baoshun Trading House were each as strong as bulls, and because their homeland was suffering disaster, they were all in bad moods, so they hoisted that laborer onto their shoulders and threw him out eight zhang away with flair.

Zheng Guanying continued reading the Book of Changes with his head down, saying coldly: “What brings you here?”

As if changing into pretty clothes would earn her a good face. Dream on.

Lin Yuchan smiled and said, “You said that my raw cotton passed quality inspection and Baoshun Trading House would purchase it anytime. Well, here I am. According to today’s latest price, two and a half pence per pound, equivalent to four taels of silver per dan, with a ten percent commission, preferably settled in pounds sterling. Come on!”

Zheng Guanying was surprised and lifted his thin eyelids.

All these days, she had been stubbornly holding on without selling?

He hadn’t seen her at the dock recently and thought she had already given up and exited the game.

He put down his book and said flatly: “How much do you have? A thousand dan?”

Anyway, it was Baoshun Trading House’s money being spent; he was just the agent and didn’t feel the pain.

“Not quite.” Lin Yuchan answered with a smile, “But today I’m only selling one hundred dan. The goods are on their way, I’ve already had them transported here.”

Zheng Guanying said nothing more and pulled over a blank order form, beginning to fill it out seriously.

Lin Yuchan couldn’t help bouncing up and down, her eyes following his pen tip, the corners of her mouth overflowing with sweet smiles, quietly correcting: “Boya Trading Limited Company… yes, yes, Limited Company. The suffix is Ltd.”

This drew frequent glances from the nearby compradors.

None had ever seen a female merchant. Xu Run, the deputy comprador of Baoshun Trading House, adjusted his glasses and asked quietly: “Little Zheng, this… this lady is selling cotton? Isn’t she a family member coming to visit?”

Zheng Guanying turned and glared at him.

Family member? If his family had someone like this, he’d be annoyed to death.

Yin and yang have their way.

But there was no choice; words spoken couldn’t be taken back. As long as her cotton was qualified, he would buy it at market price anytime.

All because of that bit of competitive spirit, he had been bewitched into making this promise.

Lin Yuchan signed the bottom of the order form with trembling hands.

“See you tomorrow!” She smiled slyly and lowered her voice, “Boss Zheng of Xiangsheng Company, congratulations on your fortune, too.”

The next day, news of “Indian raw cotton production falling short of expectations, local cotton futures experiencing major fluctuations” quietly spread throughout the concession docks.

Shanghai port raw cotton prices climbed to four taels and one qian of silver per dan.

Lin Yuchan kept her word and came to Baoshun Trading House’s purchasing point again, selling another hundred dan while bringing Boss Zheng a gift box of preserved fruits.

On the third day, prices rose sharply to four taels and eight qian of silver per dan. When foreign merchants learned that Indian cotton was completely waterlogged and textile mills in Europe were pressing urgently for orders, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and buy goods, beginning to compete with each other and drive up prices.

Lin Yuchan sold five hundred dan of cotton. Unable to hire enough laborers, she took to the field with Chang Baoluo, Aunt Hong, and Aunt Nian, all helping together, supervising as bundles of raw cotton were loaded onto Baoshun Trading House’s steamship.

The cold autumn wind howled fiercely, everyone was sweating from the hard work, and every face glowed with radiance.

Chang Baoluo kept patting his chest, still shaken: “Miss Lin, thank goodness you didn’t listen to me, thank goodness we didn’t sell last week… From now on I’ll keep my mouth shut and just work, if I give random advice again just treat it as background noise…”

Aunt Hong and Aunt Nian carried more cotton than the men, and with each bundle they loaded, they muttered under their breath: “Four taels eight qian, four taels eight qian, four taels eight qian…”

For the first time in their lives, they experienced the feeling of “money flowing like water.”

At the same time, they thought, if Boya, just a small business, could make such a big move, how much silver must be piled up in the warehouses of those big trading houses with steamships coming and going daily?

When Lin Yuchan went to sign forms and collect money, all of Boya’s employees, big and small, surrounded her, several pairs of eyes staring intently at the pen in Zheng Guanying’s hand, afraid he might write a wrong number.

This annoyed Zheng Guanying greatly. He glared at this one, then at that one, wanting to have the bodyguards throw out a few, but suddenly couldn’t help smiling and shaking his head, letting it go.

All country bumpkins who hadn’t seen the world.

But no one looked askance at these country bumpkins. Because the other Chinese cotton merchants present were each crazier than the next. Someone had a stroke from excitement on the spot, and as he was being carried to the medical clinic, he was still mumbling: “Clear inventory! Clear inventory!”

On the fourth day, Chinese cotton merchants belatedly realized the situation and swarmed from nearby villages to sell competitively, pulling the price down considerably, back to four taels of silver per dan.

Lin Yuchan judged that under such high price temptation, more and more Chinese merchants would come to sell goods, and cotton fields would also speed up harvesting. The price was unlikely to rise again.

She decisively cleared out all remaining cotton in one go. The warehouse was empty, and she immediately terminated the lease.

The landlord was also very happy to terminate it, not even charging for the remaining half month. Because many rural cotton merchants were queuing up to rent his warehouse.

After deducting commissions and various taxes, she recovered three thousand taels of silver, filling all previous costs at once.

Of course, the trading house wouldn’t pay all at once. Lin Yuchan received only half in hand, with the other fifteen hundred taels agreed to be settled after the New Year.

With these fifteen hundred taels, she instructed Chang Baoluo: “Pay the orphanage wages. Continue collecting second-crop cotton, we’ll continue selling.”

Now, without the burden of upfront investment, as long as the purchase price was above two taels per dan, she could make money.

And under the cloud of reduced Indian raw cotton production, it was almost impossible for prices to return to two taels per dan.

Lin Yuchan ran to the British Consulate, donated ten taels of silver for the poor Indian children, then booked a large private room at Renhe Restaurant, hired a popular ballad singer, and treated all Boya’s hired workers and employees to a grand feast.

“I’m so regretful, today’s price is five taels of silver per dan. I shouldn’t have sold early…”

In the private room of Yixing Teahouse, Lin Yuchan bit the tip of her chopsticks, lamenting like Xianglin’s wife over and over, but the corners of her mouth kept turning up, wearing a satisfied smile.

Su Minguan moved the chopsticks in her hand, cooperatively consoling her: “You’ve already earned three thousand taels, A’Mei, be content.”

“I’m foolish, I could have waited until today to sell… hehe hehe…”

“Alright, once you’ve made your bet, don’t look at prices anymore. You’ve already doubled your profit…”

“I regret it…”

Su Minguan stood up and said politely, “Shipping is busy, I still have business.”

She quickly grabbed his sleeve corner and smiled obediently: “I just want to hear you talk, I haven’t heard enough.”

The young girl was in high spirits, radiant, her hair combed smoothly and lustrous, her eyes carrying rare sweetness.

His face flushed with red clouds as he asked stiffly: “What do you want to hear me say?”

“Just that last sentence you said, say it a few more times…”

“Shipping is busy, I still have business?”

“No, no, the sentence before that.”

Su Minguan’s face darkened. He shook his head helplessly, leaned down to her ear, and told her:

“You earned three thousand taels. Doubled your profit. Double profit. So sharp. Miss Lin, impressive, congratulations on your fortune, double profit…”

His face remained calm as ancient well water, but he deliberately lowered his voice, adding a soft breath that blew by her ear like a magpie feather brushing lightly, lingering and passionate, rich and fervent.

Just a sentence or two made her feel comfortable all over, smiling broadly, nodding repeatedly.

“Eh, hehe, you flatter me…”

She just wanted that pleasant voice to praise her! Three-hundred-sixty-degree surround sound! Making up for all her hardships during this period!

But after listening to three or four more sentences, her face began to heat up, infected by the restlessness in his voice.

“Alright, that’s enough…”

Su Minguan’s voice grew even lower as he cupped the back of her head, his lips almost touching her ear, whispering:

“A’Mei, you’re amazing, you bring honor to us Guangdong people. A’Mei… you’re so white.”

She suddenly felt her whole body burning hot, as if electricity passed from her ear to her back, and the chopsticks in her hand dropped to the floor with a clatter.

“That’s not what I asked you to say…”

“A’Mei, you haven’t kissed me in a long time, I’m almost forgetting that taste.”

“…”

“A’Mei…”

“I’ve… I’ve heard enough…”

“I haven’t said enough yet. A’Mei, I dreamed of you last night. Guess what we were doing?”

Each word was spoken with pure innocence and desire. She completely surrendered, nearly suffocating in his omnipresent aura, covering her hot face and trembling lightly in her back, pleading in a thin voice: “Stop talking…”

Where had he learned this, saying such shameful things so seriously?

Peeking out from between her fingers, Su Minguan was looking at her with a smile full of revenge, arrogantly meeting her gaze.

She quickly pressed her fingers together, regretting her actions.

How had she provoked such a pervert!

She heard Su Minguan chuckling softly, his tone returning to normal as he clarified: “I didn’t lie to you. I did dream of it. You were teaching me to measure cotton fiber length. When I couldn’t do it right, you hit my hands with calipers.”

Lin Yuchan: “…”

It was clear what kind of image she had become in his eyes after her recent obsession.

The moment had passed. She smiled sheepishly, finished the remaining tea, slowly calmed her mood, and tugged at Su Minguan’s fingers.

“I have something to tell you. Do you have time?”

Su Minguan quietly hooked her palm and pushed open the door, walking through halls and rooms to the dock behind Yixing.

The long stretch of dock had originally belonged to several different shipping companies, but had now been entirely acquired by Yixing and slightly renovated along the shore to become a walkable pathway.

Cold wind brushed their faces, water waves reflecting the icy sunlight. There were hardly any boats on the river.

This was peak cotton season. Merchants traveled back and forth with gains and losses, but those doing transport always had money to earn, truly weathering any storm.

The boat workers and laborers had all gone out to work. Only two or three people were clearing silt from the waterway, standing up to greet their boss before continuing their hard work.

Lin Yuchan walked properly alongside him and began: “This money-making had quite a bit of luck involved.”

She was self-aware. This was her first time dealing in bulk commodities, doing it in a stumbling, muddy way, barely avoiding losses.

The price changes in cotton were completely beyond her control. If her subordinates hadn’t been mentally strong and had persuaded her more, or if tea profits hadn’t been stable enough to support her spending, she wouldn’t have been able to wait for cotton prices to soar.

This profitable outcome could only be considered barely passing an entry exam, successfully obtaining an admission ticket to raw cotton trading.

Making a big profit of three thousand taels with doubled returns was just interesting to hear about – she absolutely couldn’t become truly inflated about it.

Her goal was to make Boya’s raw cotton production line like tea – a stable, profit-making industry.

Su Minguan passed by dock berths one by one, checking maintenance manuals hanging on them while responding with “Mm,” multitasking as he picked up her conversation: “So your previous hoarding without selling was pure gambling?”

His eyes carried a hint of amusement, clearly not believing her.

He knew she acted steadily and rarely did things based on luck.

“Well, not entirely.”

Lin Yuchan smiled slightly and suddenly changed the topic, pulling out a stack of letters from her clothes.

“Letters Mr. Rong sent from Singapore and Ceylon.” She smiled, “I haven’t shown them to you yet.”

She excitedly read to him: “Mr. Rong says he also discovered Yixing Commercial House in Singapore’s Chinese community, ostensibly selling durian. He even went in to claim kinship and was cheated out of a meal – one durian cost five pounds… Only then did he learn that the Hongmen there had long since parted ways with mainland China and become local gangsters…”

Su Minguan listened with interest to her complete account, then gave her a small, sharp look, urging: “You still haven’t answered my question.”

Lin Yuchan smiled and unfolded another letter.

“Mr. Rong heard in Ceylon that the entire Indian region suffered floods. This was two months ago.”

Su Minguan’s expression shifted, his gaze sharp as he looked at her small red lips, waiting for her to continue solving his puzzle.

Lin Yuchan: “As you know, cotton’s maturation period fears rain. And India is currently the world’s largest raw cotton exporter. When I received the letter, I realized India’s cotton exports would definitely be impacted this year, and Chinese cotton prices would correspondingly rise. But Shanghai’s cotton prices kept falling, which was abnormal.

“So I dared to stubbornly persist in large-scale hoarding. And those trading houses – especially British ones – also got news of India’s disaster through other channels. They anticipated cotton price rises, so before the market reacted, they used every means to suppress Chinese merchants and collect goods at low prices. They almost scared me into retreating.

“Ordinary Chinese merchants don’t care about world affairs, only knowing how to go where prices are high. Foreign merchants travel between Shanghai and Ningbo, going wherever prices are low to collect goods. Chinese merchants either sell locally at low prices or chase prices, running around everywhere, being worn out physically and mentally, while foreign merchants take advantage.

“So, cotton prices remaining depressed was indeed due to foreign merchant manipulation.”

This entry exam wasn’t without gains. Lin Yuchan felt she had initially glimpsed the reasons behind cotton price volatility.

If India had a good cotton harvest this year, or if cotton production met expectations, then the dog-walking game between Chinese and foreign merchants could continue indefinitely. After all, foreign merchants had fixed textile mill orders and fixed purchase quantities. As long as they bought appropriate amounts daily, they could obtain sufficient goods according to plan.

Until the North China Herald also published news of India’s disaster, which immediately causing market upheaval. Some foreign merchants with poor information were temporarily at a loss and hastily increased purchases, disrupting the rhythm for several days, causing Shanghai cotton prices to surge madly for several days before slowly stabilizing as supply caught up, reaching a new equilibrium point.

Among Chinese merchants, perhaps one in a hundred paid attention to world news. People only cared about how much their cotton could sell for. As for what other major cotton exporting countries existed in the world, or what India even was, ordinary small and medium traders knew nothing about this.

In comparison, foreign merchants and trading houses that followed current events, acted steadily, and had clear goals held crushing advantages in the market.

………………

Su Minguan slowly listened to her complete analysis, unconsciously stopping, the ship maintenance manual held in his hands, having long forgotten about the inspection.

Miss Lin had once again impressed him.

He was naturally intelligent but never arrogant. Whenever he interacted with people, he reminded himself to notice what new things he could learn from others.

This awareness had made him advance rapidly in his early commercial ventures. Languages, culture, market patterns, miscellaneous economic theories, shady behind-the-scenes operations and unspoken rules… he absorbed it all.

Later, he gradually discovered that there was less and less to learn from ordinary opponents.

Those unremarkable local merchants were like walking money-making machines, stubbornly following years of old conventions, repeatedly walking the same mediocre path.

But she was different. She could have stuck with that bit of tea technology and lived comfortably for life.

Yet now, when she talked about Indian cotton, that confident, logical manner made it seem like India was in her backyard!

Su Minguan felt an inexplicable sense of dissatisfaction rise in his heart and quietly asked for instruction: “How do you know about India’s cotton export situation?”

Seeing one brief letter, she could immediately deduce so many things?

It couldn’t all be knowledge gained from those few months at the customs house. If the customs house was that impressive, he’d swallow his pride and apply there too.

Lin Yuchan looked somewhat puzzled and said casually, “I just naturally thought of it.”

The education she’d received from childhood had accustomed her to thinking in terms of the entire globe. Unlike the indigenous residents of the Qing Dynasty, who despite efforts to open their eyes to the world, often had to consciously adjust their mindset to realize that there were countries beyond their own, that they weren’t the center of the world.

“Thank you.” She suddenly looked up and said very sincerely to Su Minguan, “The Flower Cloth Guild didn’t succeed, but you accompanied me on several trips. When I was hoarding cotton, you didn’t throw cold water on me like others or give me random advice…”

Su Minguan found this somewhat baffling. What was there to thank him for?

He simply couldn’t be bothered pointing fingers at others.

But he said smugly: “Even if you lost everything, it wouldn’t matter – you could come keep books for me.”

Lin Yuchan’s bit of gratitude instantly flew to outer space as she chased after him to punch him several times.

They reached the end of Yixing’s dock. Lin Yuchan suddenly noticed a small new gangplank had been set up here, with a flat hand-rowed boat tied to wooden posts, a copper coin flag hanging on the boat. A white-bearded boatman was crouched on the boat, smoking a pipe.

“What’s this for?” she asked curiously.

It was not a cargo boat. It was for passengers.

The boatman heard her and looked up, laughing loudly: “Ferry service! River crossing costs nothing! Yixing Shipping treats you! Miss, do you need to cross…”

Halfway through speaking, he saw Su Minguan beside her. The boatman quickly shut his mouth, chuckled twice, and waved at Su Minguan.

“Boss, I wasn’t slacking! Our ferry service just started, and our reputation isn’t big yet! Wait three or four months, when everyone comes for free river crossings, I won’t be this idle!”

Lin Yuchan was extremely surprised and circled halfway around Su Minguan, deliberately looking him up and down.

“Oh my, Boss Su, you’ve transformed? Started doing charity?”

Su Minguan snorted coldly and called back to the boatman: “If you know the reputation isn’t big, why aren’t you going along the river to advertise? Especially go under that Wells Bridge and steal their customers! Make them unable to collect bridge tolls!”

The boatman laughed heartily in agreement and rowed away.

Only then did Lin Yuchan suddenly understand. Su Minguan’s tall and glorious image lasted one second before returning to that petty, vengeful merchant appearance.

He had long disliked the Chinese bridge toll at Wells Bridge and had once boasted in dreams that when he had money, he’d build a bridge to compete with Wells Bridge, making those toll collectors completely unemployed.

Building a bridge wasn’t within his current capabilities, but allocating a boat to establish a “charity ferry” point to divert some of Wells Bridge’s passenger flow – this cost was merely a drop in the bucket for the current Yixing.

He was also slowly realizing his dreams.

“Besides,” Su Minguan saw her silly smile and added in a low voice with a smile, “I have a three-year wager on my shoulders, need to make Yixing ‘break out of the circle’ quickly. Remember?”

Doing simple charity was also very good for building a reputation.

She nodded and asked softly: “How’s it going?”

Was the downstream development going smoothly?

Su Minguan shrugged, indicating it was going fairly well.

Lin Yuchan was about to say something more when he suddenly smiled slightly and gently pushed her back, turning her around.

“A’Mei, I’m sorry. Tomorrow the Luna maiden voyage carries passengers, I need to pack and coordinate arrangements, can’t stay with you long.”

Lin Yuchan’s eyes dimmed as she said reluctantly, “But I haven’t finished telling you the important matters. My cotton profits this time still had lucky elements. If I hadn’t received Mr. Rong’s letter from Ceylon, I wouldn’t have had such confidence to withstand pressure and hoard cotton. Moreover, cotton price fluctuations at various ports are still controlled by foreign merchants. I’ve already asked Chang Baoluo’s in-laws to help investigate foreign merchant activities in Ningbo. I suspect foreign merchants at various ports are coordinating. I want to figure out exactly how they operate…”

Su Minguan heard her speak rapidly like setting off firecrackers, trying to say everything at once, and helpless laughter appeared in his eyes.

“Who told you not to come earlier. I don’t have time today. When I return, I’ll accompany you to puzzle over these things, alright?”

His tone was very gentle, his eyes soft like the white waves flowing in the Suzhou River beside them.

Those in transport made water their home, drifting in the blood vessels of this great land, chasing the wind, connecting the endless abundance of this territory, moving visible and invisible wealth. But simultaneously, coming and going through wind and rain, risking their safety, each safe return made life seem more lovely and precious.

Lin Yuchan seemed to just realize he was leaving, feeling a bit disappointed, softly saying “Mm.”

Su Minguan wasn’t quite satisfied with her attitude.

He asked: “Are you very willing to let me go?”

Lin Yuchan quickly said, “I’m not.”

“Really?”

She nodded.

“Show some sincerity.”

After saying this, he turned his head to look at her, his eyes carrying a hint of suggestion.