Shen Qingwan had never met someone as shameless as this before.

Even if others offered her a high price, she was unwilling to sell, let alone “share” some with him.

In business terms, “buying some” and “sharing some” had entirely different meanings.

“Buying some” meant that the buyer could set the price and purchase as much as they wanted.

But “sharing some” meant that the goods would be sold at cost price—what they were bought for, they would be sold for the same price.

This type of transaction usually happened when a supplier had a large stock that a single store couldn’t handle, so they would share some with other stores.

Essentially, multiple businesses would pool their resources to purchase the stock together.

Yet now, Zhou Buren wanted to take the grain from her at cost price—wishful thinking at best!

“Mr. Zhou, you must be mistaken. I barely have enough grain for myself, let alone extra to share with you. In fact, two thousand stones of this grain are reserved for the Jin family because we have partnered to open a porridge shelter outside the city. Both families contributed equally in silver. If Mr. Zhou also wishes to help the refugees, I would greatly appreciate it. How about we collaborate and open another porridge shelter outside the city tomorrow night? What do you think?”

Shen Qingwan’s lips curled into a faint, elusive smile.

Zhou Buren felt a sudden unease in his heart.

What a cunning brat!

Not only did he fail to secure any grain, but the boy even tried to get him to contribute half.

Did he really think Zhou Buren was as foolish as Old Man Jin?

Shaking his head, Zhou Buren scoffed, “Shen Dongjia (Owner Shen), you must be joking. My Zhou family is nowhere near as wealthy as Jin Yuanwai’s (Wealthy Jin’s) household. We once tried offering free porridge, but we had to stop after a few days. Meanwhile, your grain shop is thriving, while the rest of us have no business at all. Cutting off others’ livelihoods is quite excessive.

Why don’t you just sell all the grain in your store to me? I’ll take it all—at two taels of silver per stone. That’s double your current price. Isn’t that better than struggling to sell it at eight wen per catty?”

Zhou Buren was getting anxious, but Shen Qingwan remained composed, an impressive trait for someone so young.

“Mr. Zhou, do you really think I can buy this grain at just eight wen per catty? Do you think I set that price arbitrarily? Why not sell it for forty wen instead?

You are a businessman, and all you see is profit. But you don’t see the starving refugees on the roadside, nor do you see the malnourished citizens in the city.

Right now, the south is suffering from a severe drought, the imperial court is plagued by internal strife, and the border is at war. Yet all you care about is exploiting the people to fill your own pockets.

Have you ever considered what happens when you push these refugees to the brink? They will fight back.

If the border soldiers go hungry, how will they win battles? How will they defend our land? If Beirong invades and breaks through the city gates, how much wealth and grain do you think you can keep? With your weight, I doubt you’d even be able to run away.”

Shen Qingwan glanced at Zhou Buren’s massive frame.

Previously, she thought Bai Erye was already quite fat, but looking at Zhou Buren, she finally understood what “one mountain is higher than another” meant.

Zhou Buren had to be at least two hundred jin (approx. 100 kg).

With that much body fat, he probably wouldn’t starve even if he were forced to flee for ten or fifteen days.

Zhou Buren was left speechless, unable to refute her words.

He had come to cause trouble but ended up being lectured instead.

He felt stifled and irritated, yet he couldn’t deny that the boy made some valid points.

But he wasn’t responsible for border soldiers going hungry, nor was he the cause of the refugees’ suffering.

He had even donated grain recently.

Why should he pity those people?

He earned his money through skill, and if he wasn’t ruthless, how could he have made a fortune?

“If you won’t sell, then forget it. No need to ridicule me. Since you want to play the philanthropist, I’ll wait and see how long you can keep it up,” Zhou Buren huffed and stormed out.

Shen Qingwan wasn’t the type to lecture others for no reason.

The only reason she spoke to Zhou Buren like this was that she could tell—despite being a cunning merchant—he wasn’t entirely ruthless.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come directly to negotiate; he would have resorted to sabotage instead, like setting fire to her shop or playing dirty tricks.

But instead, he chose to confront her openly.

That alone showed that while he had his flaws, his actions were still within reason.

People naturally seek to avoid harm and seek benefit.

In times of disaster, if he chose to help, that made him a good person.

But if he chose to remain indifferent, that didn’t necessarily make him a bad person either.

Businessmen were profit-driven by nature. While they exploited the people’s silver, they did so legally, through skill—not by stealing or robbing.

That’s why Shen Qingwan merely spoke with him but had no intention of taking action against him.

On his way back, Zhou Buren mulled over their conversation.

He couldn’t deny that Shen Qingwan made some valid points, but he still didn’t agree with his methods.

That being said, he had lost interest in making trouble for the boy.

He might not be inclined to do good deeds himself, but he also shouldn’t stop others from doing them.

The boy was right about one thing—when cornered, even a rabbit would bite. And refugees?

If they were truly desperate, they might rise up and riot.

If tens of thousands of refugees stormed the city to loot supplies, his Zhou family would be caught in the chaos as well.

After all, there weren’t just a few thousand of them—there were tens of thousands of displaced people yet to be properly resettled.

If things got out of hand, even the city guards wouldn’t be enough to maintain order.

Thinking this through, Zhou Buren felt somewhat relieved.

The next day, after finishing up at the shop, Shen Qingwan returned to the village.

She had been away for more than ten days and missed the children.

They weren’t her biological kids, but after raising them for so long, she had grown attached—just as one would even to a dog, let alone two adorable children.

This time, she brought back two large carts of grain. While she had been away, the villagers had gone to Suzhou City to buy grain from Tianxia Grain Shop.

Only then did they learn—from Lu Youfu—that Shen Qingwan was the shop owner.

Lu Youfu had also made an exception for the village, selling them a large amount of grain at once to save them the trouble of making repeated trips.

When he told Shen Qingwan about it, she had no objections.

This time, she brought back twenty stones of grain, intending to distribute it all to the villagers so they could have a proper meal.

To her, twenty stones of grain wasn’t much.

But to the villagers, it was life-saving.

Even though they earned wages for working with her, they were still too frugal to buy grain freely.

Most families only ate one meal a day—drinking some water in the morning before heading to work, eating a meal at noon, and then skipping dinner to save food.

Sleeping through the hunger was their way of enduring hardship.