At the end of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 16 Bet
Gao Bufan returned to the horse market and found that it was more lively than before, but there were very few people buying horses. Gao Shou and Gao Ren didn't sell any of them. Gao Bufan turned around and greeted him.

"Master, it's too difficult to do business now." Gao Ren took the meat buns, and complained while devouring them.

Gao Bufan said calmly: "Now there are floods and famines everywhere, the world is difficult, and it is normal that the business is not easy to do. If you can sell two or three horses today, it is not bad."

Gao Shou took a bite of the pancake, stared at the stable not far away and said angrily: "The market is not good, and these bastards from Feiyu Racecourse are still here to snatch the business. Just now, two customers have already planned to buy it." I heard that the price over there is lower, but I went there again, and I was so angry that I wanted to shit!"

Gao Bufan hurriedly asked, "How much cheaper is it over there?"

"It's about [-]% lower!" Gao Ren wiped the oil from his lips, and suggested: "Master, let's lower the price a bit, or else we really can't compete with others."

Gao Bufan couldn't help frowning his sword eyebrows. Although a rough horse is worthless, it is not without cost. The handling price of a rough horse at Feiying Racecourse is usually eight taels of silver, which is more than half cheaper than ordinary field horses. It is the same price as a donkey mule. It's quite low. If it drops by another half, there will be basically no profit to be made. Presumably, the cost of Feiyu Racecourse is similar to that of Feiying Racecourse. They sell such a low price, which is clearly malicious competition. In the professional terminology of later generations It is low-price dumping, which is illegal, but the Sui Dynasty did not have the World Trade Organization, and people were willing to low-price, even dumping at a loss!
"Oh, dare young master Gao went to buy food just now. I have long heard that Master Gao is approachable and shares joys and sorrows with his servants. Today, I saw that it was so true, and I actually bought food for my servants myself. I admire him!" Steward Ma said Walking over with that horse face, smiling like a chrysanthemum, it's annoying to look at.

Gao Ren immediately pinched his nose and retched twice, shouting: "Oh, his grandma, stepping on horse feces while eating, it's disgusting, bah bah bah!"

"Ouch, it stinks to death, and you won't be able to eat well, idiot!" Gao Shou retched exaggeratedly, then turned around and pointed his butt at the horse.

The face of Guanshi Ma's horse turned red and white, but Gao Bufan raised the meat bun in his hand in a friendly manner, and said with a smile: "Don't worry about the two of them, Guanshi Ma, they both raise horses. Who hasn't seen horse shit? Do you want to?" Some horse shit... oh meat buns?"

Gao Shou and Gao Ren almost burst out laughing, shrugging their shoulders and giggling strangely.Manager Ma smiled dryly and waved his hands: "Young Master Gao kindly accepts it. Only dogs in our Feiyu Racecourse eat meat buns."

The laughter of Gao Shou and Gao Ren stopped abruptly, and they both showed anger, but Gao Bufan said with a smile: "Then there must be a lot of dogs in Feiyu Racecourse, no wonder they are so fat and strong, good dogs!" A glance at the two strong men behind Ma Guan.

Steward Ma was immediately speechless. He sold horses in the county town this time, which was similar to going to the gym, so he specially brought a few more thugs to prevent accidents, and they were all selected strong men, one by one. Big and round, at this time Gao Bufan was obviously alluding to them.

"Aha, Young Master Gao is really good at joking." Manager Ma couldn't take advantage of the bickering, so he chattered and changed the subject, "I wonder how many horses Young Master Gao has sold? I'm lucky, I just sold them Two horses!"

Gao Bufan shrugged: "Not a single one was sold!"

Steward Ma immediately became complacent again, and hypocritically said: "Oh, the market is not good now, and rotten horses are even harder to sell. Otherwise, Master Gao should return as soon as possible, so as not to waste time. Come back in two days, then I should After selling the horses, I will return the stables to you."

After Guanshi Ma finished speaking, the two thugs behind him laughed very cooperatively, their well-developed pectoralis major muscles trembled, very arrogant, really like the dog father in the cat and mouse.

Gao Bufan raised his eyebrows, and said indifferently: "All the products produced by our Feiying Racecourse are high-quality goods, even the rough horses are the best quality among the poor horses, worth ten taels of silver a horse, unlike the rotten horses produced by your Feiyu Racecourse, which can only be sold for six dollars. Seven taels of silver for a horse."

Manager Ma laughed when he heard the words: "It turns out that Young Master Gao is not only sharp-tongued, but also good at bragging. Your rotten horses can't be sold for eight taels of silver, but you can still sell them for ten taels. Tsk tsk, but you can get it!"

Gao Bufan said firmly: "Don't you believe the horse manager? Then let's make a bet, I have sixteen rough horses here, and they will all be sold for ten taels of silver. If they are sold out before noon, they will all be given to you."

Guanshi Ma was overjoyed that there was such a good thing, he twisted his beard and looked at Gao Bufan and said, "Is this true?"

Gao Shou and Gao Ren were a little anxious when they heard it, but they also knew that with their young master's ingenuity, they would definitely not make a loss-making business, so they continued to listen patiently.

Sure enough, Gao Bufan said with a smile: "If Guanshi Ma doesn't believe it, we can ask someone to notarize it, but if we sell one less horse, Guanshi Ma will lose one less horse, and if we sell two horses, we will pay two horses. And so on."

Manager Ma was silent when he heard the words, and his mind quickly calculated.

After all, he came from a business background, so Manager Ma quickly clarified the relationship. According to Gao Bufan's algorithm, if eight horses are sold before noon (there are still eight horses left), then the two sides will be considered a tie. If you sell less than eight horses, you will make money, and if you sell more than eight horses, you will lose money.

"Okay, I'll bet with you!" Steward Ma gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, but secretly sneered in his heart. It will be noon in less than two hours. He couldn't believe that Gao Bufan could sell eight poor horses. What's more, if you want to sell it at a price of ten taels of silver, the poor horse on your side only sells for six or seven taels of silver, and an idiot will come here to buy a poor horse with ten taels of silver.

Gao Bufan gave a thumbs up and praised: "Okay, Guanshi Ma is really quick to speak, and has a sense!" After speaking, he waved to the tax collector not far away and said: "Uncle Jiu, come here."

The tax collector happily walked over: "What orders does Young Master Gao have?"

The name of this tax collector is Gong Jiu, who is in charge of horse market management and taxation work. He is in charge of several tax collectors.

Gao Bufan pointed to the steward Ma and said: "Hey, this is the steward of Feiyu Racecourse, called Mashi, Uncle Jiu should know him, right?"

Gong Jiu nodded embarrassingly, why didn't he know him? Not long ago, he received the favor fee from Steward Ma, so he turned a blind eye to the fact that Feiyu Racecourse occupied the stable. Now Gao Bufan asks, this guy is still high Bufan wants to raise a teacher to inquire about the crime, so he has a guilty conscience.

Gao Bufan smiled and said: "Since Uncle Jiu knows each other, I won't introduce you. It's like this. I want to make a bet with Guanshi Ma. I want to ask Uncle Jiu to be a witness. Afterwards, I will give Uncle Jiu a tael of silver for his hard work. how?"

Gong Jiu is a gambler himself, and has a lot of gambling addiction. As soon as he heard the word "gambling", he felt as if he had been beaten, not to mention that there was a reward of one tael of silver. He immediately patted his chest and said: "No problem, Master Gao ordered , even if I go through fire and water, I will not hesitate, oh yes, what are you betting on?"

Manager Ma also knows what kind of guy Gong Jiu is, so he is not worried that he will favor Gao Bufan, and said with a smile: "Master Gao wants to bet on selling horses with me, he has a total of sixteen rotten horses here, bet he will sell them before noon, And each one has to be sold at a price of ten taels, if you can't sell all of them, the rest will be given to you."

Gong Jiu was stunned for a moment, and said suspiciously: "This is clearly a bloody business, Young Master Gao really wants to gamble?"

Gao Bufan laughed and said: "Guan Ma hasn't finished talking yet, how many poor horses I sell before noon, Guan Shi Ma has to lose money and lose a few poor horses."

Gong Jiu scratched his head and said, "Wait a minute, all the leftovers sold by Mr. Gao will be given to Mr. Ma. As much as Mr. Gao sells, Mr. Ma will be compensated..."

Gong Jiu pinched his fingers for a while and was clueless, grinning to reveal two rows of yellow teeth, his face looked sore, this primary school student's arithmetic problem stumped him, and finally asked with a sneer: "Who wins and who loses?"

Gao Bufan blinked and said: "Uncle Jiu doesn't care who wins and who loses, you can just do a notarization, anyway, the hard work of tax money and one or two taels of silver will not hurt you."

Gong Jiuyi slapped his thigh and said with a laugh: "That's right, whoever earns and who loses is none of my business, as long as I have a lot of money, it's fine, what are you waiting for, let's start!"

"Wait a minute!" Steward Ma cast a glance at Gao Bufan and said, "I almost forgot, Master Gao has prepared a babysitter, right?"

Gao Bufan smiled and said: "This young master's bet with Guanshi Ma is just a temporary idea, and I will ask for a babysitter when I come, not to mention that even if I hire a babysitter, I have to pay taxes in real money, so why bother me?"

Gong Jiu nodded and said: "Young Master Gao is right. The horse tax is [-]% and I can recognize any cats and dogs in this county. If Young Master Gao asks for babysitters, I will not be able to recognize you? So don't worry about this matter. , I, Gong Jiu, dare to guarantee it with my life."

Guanshi Ma was relieved when he heard the words, nodded and said: "Of course I can trust Brother Gong, well, I have gambled, but there is no evidence for empty words, we have to prove it with words."

Naturally, Gao Bufan didn't care, Gong Jiu asked the tax collector to fetch a pen and paper, and both parties signed and pledged, and the betting agreement was formally established.

After Ma Guanshi signed the papers, he looked up at the sun that had already risen so high, and said with a smile on his face: "Oh, it seems that it will be noon in a few hours, Master Gao has to hurry up, or else It would be bad to give away my sixteen horses for nothing, haha!"

(End of this chapter)