Master Shen excitedly spun in place, then quickly turned to that person and said, "No, let’s go out together, I need to see what’s happening outside."
With that, Master Shen immediately led the person out of the house and headed straight to the grain store with a food sack.
The two disguised themselves as commoners, looking like they were going to buy grain. Someone asked, is that really necessary?
Yes, because, as it’s said, the marketplace is like a battlefield. If you want to get firsthand information, you must make arrangements. Master Shen and his men were the Suzhou Shen Family’s vanguard.
They quickly arrived at the Antai Grain Store.
By this time, a long queue had formed in front of the Antai Grain Store, stretching five or six miles, with more people still joining the line, and some even started fighting for not being able to queue.
Master Shen just stood by and watched with his men for a while, before the Antai Grain Store suddenly put down the board after about two hours.
Seeing that the Antai Grain Store had put down the board, people immediately shouted, "Shopkeeper, why close the board? We haven’t bought our grain yet!"
Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper poked his head out and said, "The warehouse is empty, we’re out of grain for today."
Upon hearing this, the crowd was in an uproar. Then everyone started clamoring. At this moment, two shills arranged by Zhou Peng came out and angrily shouted, "How can there be no grain? Didn’t Antai Grain Store always claim to sell at fair prices?"
"Yeah, why did you stop selling all of a sudden? Are you planning to hoard grain and sell it on the black market? You people are really heartless!"
"That’s right, that’s right, Shopkeeper, sell the grain! Everyone is waiting to buy grain!"
Upon hearing this, everyone in the crowd shouted, "Open the door, sell the grain, open the door to sell the grain!"
Hearing the agitation outside, the shopkeeper remained calm, as he anticipated this would happen.
The shopkeeper, surnamed Chen, originally from Xiantao Village, should be called uncle by Chen Jie due to their relations. He used to do business in the city, but later, as Chen Jiusi expanded, he came to join him.
Seeing he had some skills, Chen Jie put him in charge of the grain store business there.
Manager Chen, unperturbed in crisis, said, "Open the door."
The young staff member replied, "Shopkeeper, if we open the door, I’m afraid they will rush in."
"What are you afraid of!"
Manager Chen said, "Open the door."
Upon hearing this, the staff directly opened the shop door, and then they saw Manager Chen walking out and saying, "Dear villagers, dear elders."
"It’s not that Antai Grain Store doesn’t want to sell grain, but rather we have no grain at the moment, please go home."
Upon hearing this, the people outside were in an uproar. No grain?
The citizens immediately panicked, and Zhou Peng’s operatives exchanged a glance, then started inciting the crowd: "You heartless shopkeeper! How could such a large grain store like Antai have no grain? Are you planning to hike prices to secretly sell high-priced grain?"
Realizing this, the citizens responded, "Yeah, is Antai Grain Store planning to sell high-priced grain?"
With this thought, Manager Chen shouted, "Everyone, everyone, there is no such thing as high-priced grain, we really have no grain anymore, all our grain was stored in the east warehouse, and you can see it’s burned to ash, where else would we have any?"
Upon hearing this, the citizens paused, indeed, the east warehouse was reduced to rubble, so it’s normal that Antai Grain Store would have no grain.
As they were thinking this, the two provocateurs shouted, "Who knows if what was burnt in your east warehouse was grain! Maybe you staged all this yourselves, just to sell at a jacked price on the black market for dirty money!"
Manager Chen said urgently. Hearing this, the provocateur yelled, "Stop wasting words, you say you don’t have it, but that doesn’t mean you don’t! Don’t listen to their nonsense, they are all heartless, let’s rush in, if they don’t sell grain, we will seize it ourselves!"
"Right, seize it ourselves, charge, rush in with me!"
Inciting the crowd, a group of people directly charged towards Taian Grain Store. Seeing this, Manager Chen immediately shouted, "What are you doing? This is Fishing Guild property, you can’t..."
"Move aside, Old Deng..."
The leading Beggar Sect disciple directly pushed Manager Chen aside. Manager Chen fell to the ground, the store staff went to help him, while the citizens surged, with a loud crash, breaking down even the wooden door of the shop, rushing inside with their heads high.
"Charge, I have to see if there’s really any grain in this store!"
A group of people charged into the grain store but were disappointed to find the entire store was empty, no grain at all, empty, completely empty!
"No grain, really no grain anymore."
The citizens, seeing the empty shop, felt as if the sky had fallen. Antai Grain Store truly was out of grain, what could they do now.
They were filled with panic in their eyes.
On the other hand, two Beggar Sect disciples exchanged grins filled with devious delight, great, really no grain, now we can make a fortune.
The other Beggar Sect disciple wanted this disciple to leave.
But the disciple didn’t know what he was thinking, and he said directly, "I have to achieve unparalleled merits for the Gang Leader."
The other disciple said, "Don’t act recklessly."
The Beggar Sect disciple laughed, "The people are on our side, look at how many there are, haha, let’s wait for the credit."
With this in mind, the disciple shouted, "Folks, the absence of grain here must be because Chen Jiusi transferred it! Everyone, grab your weapons, charge with me, flatten the Fishing Guild Headquarters, there’s definitely grain there, charge!"