Chapter 30: Tea Currency

As for the wife of the fourth son, Ye Hongrong, who caused a big problem, she should bear most of the responsibility for her husband’s mistake. However, she is a reckless person who values money more than life. If they mention borrowing her dowry silver and jewelry, she would cause a huge uproar. So it’s better not to stir up that hornet’s nest. At this time, it’s better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Ye Chongming ignored the old lady. He would never touch the women’s private property unless he was absolutely desperate.

Moreover, Ye Yaming’s words had a deeper meaning.

He asked, “You only mentioned filling that part of the gap. What about the money for pre-ordering tea from the growers?”

Three thousand taels might not be a lot of money in normal times, but it was really difficult to gather right now.

“You can discuss with Granduncle and have him issue a certificate called ‘tea currency’ to the growers,” Ye Yaming said. “This tea currency is similar to a silver note and is guaranteed by the money shop. The growers can take the tea currency to the money shop and exchange it for cash, corresponding to the name and amount you left there.”

“Tea currency?” Ye Chongming was stunned, digesting Ye Yaming’s words, and hesitated, “Will this work?”

“Those growers have been cooperating with our Ye family for decades and have a deep relationship with us. Plus, the tea currency can be exchanged for cash and is guaranteed by the money shop. They should be willing to pre-order spring tea this way. You can also tell them that if they keep the tea currency until next spring and exchange it directly with you, they can get an extra hundred coins for every ten taels of silver.”

She quickly added, “Of course, this number is just a suggestion. You can discuss with Granduncle and decide on a suitable amount of interest.”

Ye Chongming thought for a moment and said, “There shouldn’t be any problem with the growers.”

Not to mention giving them tea currency issued by the money shop, which can be exchanged for cash; even if we give them nothing, based on the Ye family’s business integrity and decades of cooperation, most growers would do us a favor and pre-order next year’s spring tea for us.

But this favor can only be used once. After doing us this favor, if the growers have any issues in the future, we can’t blame them. The growers might also slack off on the quality of the rough tea, leading to endless troubles.

So, giving tea currency is much better than giving nothing.

However…

He said, “The problem now is the money shop. Your Granduncle won’t agree to this. Doing this is more dangerous than lending us money privately. Growers talk a lot, and once the news spreads that they can exchange a piece of paper for cash at Baofeng Money Shop, do you think the depositors won’t panic?”

“Once this panic spreads, everyone will rush to Baofeng Money Shop to withdraw their money, and Baofeng Money Shop will be finished.”

Ye Yaming wouldn’t have suggested this without considering these issues.

She said, “This matter will definitely spread. Grandfather, don’t forget that Meng Chengwei is still watching us. He will definitely make a fuss about this, and Baofeng Money Shop will face a run.”

“Then why did you suggest this?” Ye Chongming looked at her suspiciously, then his eyes lit up, “Do you have a good solution?”

Ye Yaming’s eyes curved into a sly smile, “What if Baofeng Money Shop not only doesn’t charge depositors a fee but also gives them interest for every deposit? Wouldn’t a lot of people rush to deposit their money at Baofeng Money Shop?”

Ye Chongming and Old Madam Ye were stunned.

“Where would the interest come from?” the old lady asked.

“From the tea merchants,” Ye Yaming said.

Ye Chongming’s eyes brightened, deep in thought.

Ye Yaming asked, “Aren’t many tea merchants short of funds every autumn and have to find ways to borrow money to pre-order next year’s spring tea?”

Ye Chongming nodded, “Exactly. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be in such a difficult situation. Borrowing a bit of money from relatives would solve the problem.”

Because the tea business is highly profitable, every tea merchant wants to pre-order as much spring tea as possible in the autumn. So they spend all their available funds on tea. After getting the spring tea, they can’t sell it all before the Mid-Autumn Festival, as the period before and after the New Year is also a peak sales season. To pursue high profits, they have to keep the tea until the Spring Festival.

In other words, the funds invested in the Mid-Autumn Festival of the previous year can’t be fully recovered before the Mid-Autumn Festival of the following year, making tea merchants short of funds every autumn.

As the saying goes, “Help in emergencies, not in poverty,” let alone lending money for business. If you make money, they get nothing; if you lose money, their money is gone. Moreover, tea merchants need large sums of money, and who would lend you tens of thousands of taels for business?

Therefore, tea merchants can’t borrow money from relatives and friends. Even if they ask, they won’t get any, and it would only embarrass them.

Tea merchants can only carefully plan and scrape together enough money to pre-order tea. Those who are cautious will pre-order less spring tea; those who are more aggressive will be anxious every Mid-Autumn Festival.

Other tea merchants are like this, and so is the Ye family.

“What if Baofeng Money Shop is willing to lend money to tea merchants, only asking for a certain amount of interest? Would tea merchants be willing to borrow this money?” Ye Yaming asked.

As Ye Yaming asked step by step, Ye Chongming had a certain guess. He slapped the table hard, “Good idea,” startling the old lady.

In all their years of marriage, she had never seen her husband so unstable.

Ye Chongming immediately stood up excitedly and quickly walked towards the door, “I’ll go discuss this with your Granduncle right now.”

The sixty-year-old man showed the agility and impatience of a young man.

“Grandfather,” Ye Yaming quickly called him back, “Should we continue making osmanthus tea?”

Ye Chongming slapped his forehead and stopped.

“Yes! Why not? I’ll give the order to buy osmanthus flowers and loose tea tomorrow morning. We’ll make as much as we can with the available raw materials; the more, the better,” Ye Chongming said.

He thought Ye Yaming’s idea was excellent.

Given Granduncle Mei Zhonglin’s personality, he would definitely agree. And since the Ye family came up with such a good idea, Mei Zhonglin would naturally lend them a large sum of money.

In these times, many people don’t trust money shops and prefer to bury their gold and silver in a broken jar under the bed. It’s safer, and they don’t have to pay a deposit fee to the money shop.

But now, if depositing money at the money shops earns interest, making money from money without the stigma of usury, why not?