Chapter 169 Selling Pearls
Because he suddenly thought of a sentence, "The ancients were just technologically backward, not stupid!"

Wang An believes that the reason why there were no specialized pig slaughterhouses in ancient times was definitely because there were no large-scale pig farms.

Large-scale pig farming is definitely profitable, and Wang An doesn't believe that the ancients would not see this.

Then why are there still no pig farms?
There is only one problem, that is, there must be serious problems in large-scale pig farming, which makes it impossible to implement this idea normally.

Wang An thought of a sentence he saw in an agricultural science program in his previous life, which was that when any poultry or livestock are raised on a large scale in a closed area, various animal diseases are bound to occur.

For example, various problems such as swine fever, chicken plague, canine plague, etc.

These problems were solved through systematic study in the back room and with the help of advanced medical methods.

But in the Ming Dynasty, once African swine fever breaks out in a pig farm, we can't hope that Peppa Pig can eat the herbs herself, right?

Thinking of this, Wang An suddenly became discouraged.

Since large-scale pig farming is not realistic, Wang An can only focus on setting up a slaughterhouse.

Pigs are hard to raise, but they must be easy to buy, right?

At that time, I will send people to purchase live pigs from the countryside. After slaughtering the river pigs, the worthless scraps and offal left over will be used to make oil. As for other parts with higher practical value, I can set up a pork jerky business to sell it, or I can directly wholesale them to the butchers.

Nowadays, most butchers in Beijing need to go to the countryside to purchase pigs for slaughter before dawn, and then sell the slaughtered pigs in the early morning. The process is quite hard.

And his main purpose is to obtain pig offal and scraps for making oil. It is not necessary to get a high profit from the other parts of the slaughtered pigs, as long as the profit is enough to keep the slaughterhouse running.

With small profits but quick turnover, I believe the butchers in the capital will welcome this strategy.

Wang An immediately started looking for a venue.

The slaughterhouse does not need to be very large. It only needs to have its own well to conveniently draw water for washing the pigs.

Such a place was easy to find. Wang An randomly picked a yard and successfully obtained the land deed by spending thirty taels of silver.

However, at this time, new problems emerged.

Wang An ran the coal warehouse for a winter and earned about 6,000 taels of silver so far, of which 3,000 taels were kept as dividends for Chongzhen, which means that Wang An only had 3,000 taels to use.

All of the three thousand taels of silver will be invested in the chemical plant, including reserve funds for purchasing live pigs.

As a result, Wang An was short of cash. As a person of later generations, Wang An was well aware of the possible risks of investing all his funds.

Therefore, he must have some liquid funds on hand, and Wang An thought of Wei Zhongxian's treasure again.

The next morning, Wang An and Er Gou brought the pearls from Wei Zhongxian's treasure to a pawnshop.

After showing the pearl to the shopkeeper, he pretended to be disdainful and quoted a price of 1,000 taels of silver, and immediately said, "It's just a worthless pearl!"

As he said this, he was about to issue a pawn ticket to Wang An.

Wang An was so anxious that he jumped up three feet high, reached out to take the pearl back, and said with a smile: "You are such an interesting shopkeeper. I haven't even agreed to sell it yet, and you want to issue me a pawn ticket?"

The shopkeeper's eyes were fixed on the pawn ticket in Wang An's hand. He had already begun to drool, but he pretended not to care and said, "Why don't you come and join in the fun?"

"And I've already given you a very high price. Let me tell you, if you miss this opportunity, you'll never get it again." Wang An ignored him and turned away.

The shopkeeper got anxious now. He came out from behind the counter and hurriedly stopped Wang An, saying, "Young man, why are you in such a hurry? The price can be negotiated, right?"

Wang An sneered, even though he didn't think he was a connoisseur of good things.

However, the pearl that Wei Zhongxian left him was as big as the chess pieces played by old men in parks in later generations. It was almost the same size as the night-shining pearl in TV dramas.

It is so rare to get such a big pearl these days, and it is impossible to buy it for just one thousand taels.

The shopkeeper saw that he couldn't scare Wang An, so he gritted his teeth and said, "Sir, tell me the number. If it's suitable, I'll take it down!"

Wang An had no idea what the appropriate selling price was, and he knew the shopkeeper was trying to trick him when he heard his words.

It's just like going to a used car market to sell a used car. The car dealer looks at it for a long time and doesn't offer a price, but instead asks you how much you want to sell it for.

If my father knew the market situation, why would he come to you?
He just wants to test whether you know the market situation through this sentence. If the price you offer is too low, he will buy it.

They may even lower your already low asking price.

If the price was too high, he would try to lower it.

This way of asking questions is well-founded and you will never suffer any loss.

Wang An was too lazy to pay attention to him and turned around to leave.

The shopkeeper seemed like a scoundrel at this moment. He stood in front of Wang An and said with a sly grin, "I think you are an expert in this business. I won't play tricks on you. Show me the pearl again and I'll give you a real price."

Seeing that what he said made sense, Wang An handed the pearl to him.

The shopkeeper pretended to go back behind the counter, looked at the pearl for a while, and suddenly took the hand holding the pearl out of Wang An's sight and put it inside the counter.

Wang An noticed something was wrong at the first moment. He immediately moved his eyes and stretched out his hand and said sternly: "What do you want to do, shopkeeper? Return the pearl to me immediately!"

Unexpectedly, the shopkeeper's expression changed immediately. He threw something out from the counter and said, "I'll return it to you. But you think my Tianbao Pawnshop can't accept any garbage when you get a crooked, rotten pearl?"

Wang An was too lazy to pay attention to him. He caught the thing in a hurry, but was immediately dumbfounded when he took a closer look.

I gave him a pearl as big as a chess piece, but what he got back was an ordinary pearl as big as a little finger, with a twisted shape and very poor quality.

No one wants a penny on the street.

Wan An immediately got angry. He never expected that he would encounter unscrupulous businessmen in the Ming Dynasty.

He immediately slammed the table and cursed: "You profiteer, I advise you to return the pearl to me immediately or you will be in trouble!"

Unexpectedly, when he slapped the table, the teacup on the table immediately fell to the ground and broke into pieces.

The shopkeeper, seeing this, glared and yelled, "Ada and Er, are you guys going to die? Haven't you noticed that some low-class people are causing trouble in our shop?"

Two people immediately jumped out from behind the shop.

(End of this chapter)