Walue was a stationed governor from the Dutch East India Company, not from the Netherlands, so his orders only worked in the company. However, for the merchants subordinate to the company, these orders were just “suggestions”, and whether to follow them or not depended on the interest. Therefore, they only worked on the staff.
The number of people before Huang Xuan’s stand didn’t decrease. Instead, the trading volume tended to rise. What surprised him was that people were unwilling to sell blubber, even though he had offered to buy it at last year’s purchasing price in Europe. He sold all the spice and 300 tons of grains within 24 hours. All of the samples on the stand had been taken, but Huang Xuan had been too busy to place new ones.
The crowd didn’t diminish until the next morning. Around the warehouse were lying in disorder the sailors, most of whom had come to carry stuff for extra money and few had been dispatched by the captain. When there was no work, they lay on the cold ground to rest.
Huang Xuan rubbed his eyes to lessen the fatigue. He had made 3500 florins, which he had put in the plane passage unbeknownst to the strong sailors, and was nervous and excited. Meanwhile, he worried about the jealous people’s reaction, should anybody find out and shout.
Luckily, nothing had happened so far.
Another batch of grains was moving out of the warehouse. Huang Xuan took a breath, looked at the register in his hands and asked, “Who’s Mr. Klee?”
Klee was the Big Nose Huang Xuan had met before. He walked over from the corner of the wall, bending from the waist. “Mr. Phillip, it’s me. Please don’t shout,” he grabbed Huang Xuan’s hand and said.
“Oh.” Huang Xuan shrugged. “Er… Mr. Klee?”
“Yes.” Sweats were penetrating from Klee’s nose. He looked at the warehouse behind him and said, “Shall we talk inside?”
“Here is OK.” Huang Xuan shook his head. He had always been alert and kept himself in the eyesight of the public, even while he was checking goods in the warehouse.
“It’s inconvenient here.” Apparently, Big Nose thought it would draw too much attention.
Huang Xuan shook his head again.
“Fine.” Klee bit his lips and turned his head toward the door. “I want to buy some sugar. How much do you have?” He spread his hands, in which was cane sugar.
“About 6,000 pounds or more. What’s wrong?” Huang Xuan had been wondering why the cane sugar had been sold so little while the spice had been sold out. He had thought that maybe it had something to do with the plane, but he didn’t know that somebody had taken all of the cane sugar samples.
“Name your price.” Big Nose was trembling, whether out of fright or excitement.
Huang Xuan squinted and thought about it as he tapped lightly on the wall. “Will you take all of the 6,000 pounds?”
“Yes.” The Dutchman was impatient. “Make me an offer. I don’t have much time.”
“I think we should wait for Mr. Juan. He wants this cane sugar too. You see, his fleet is arriving this afternoon.”
Klee wrinkled his nose. He didn’t like that Spanish name. He looked at Huang Xuan condescendingly and said, “Hoi, the guy who comes from the Java Island, I know you are trying to raise the price. Don’t play tricks on me!”
“Really?” Huang Xuan didn’t mind the low threat. Even the stupidest boy of the Huang Family wouldn’t have changed his mind because of it. He shrugged, picked up the register and was going to call the next person.
Klee had to cover the paper with his palm. He raised his the other hand and said deferentially, “I promise, my offer will please you.”
“Perhaps you can come this afternoon.” Huang Xuan didn’t remove that frostbitten hand but put his own hand holding the register behind.
“I am leaving with my fleet this afternoon. Do you understand?” Klee looked around. Nobody was paying attention to him. He had decided to leave Walue and go back to Europe. As long as he had these 6,000 pounds of sugar, he would able to lead a comfortable life in any European country. His whole property was 8,000 florins and some money for blubber. Walue was too old to make the right judgment: to buy blubber at last year’s price in Europe! Who would have done that?! Blubber wouldn’t be the most valuable goods if war took place, but grains would. Nobody cared about the damn strategic material, except for the old guy who had been carried away by the title of nobility.
“1,000 florins for every 1,000 pounds,” Klee couldn’t help making an offer. He was running out of time. No one knew when Walue would remember him.
Huang Xuan’s time was also limited, but he pretended to be cool. “Since Mr. Juan has reserved this sugar, I can’t sell it to you.”
“1,100 florins,” Klee quoted another price and stopped himself from looking around.
“1,400 florins.” This was Rolin’s suggestion. Since 14 florins were enough to buy a sheep, it would be fair to trade half a ton of sugar for 100 sheep. But at this moment, the tulips popped into Huang Xuan’s head again. 1,400 florins would only be able to buy one-fifth of Semper Augustus, which was crazy.
Klee wrinkled his big nose and haggled, “1,200. That’s all I have.”
Since Huang Xuan still had one more day, he looked at him and shook his head. “It seems that I have to wait for Mr. Juan.”
Klee blew heavily and clasped his fists so tightly that one could hear the clicks of the joints. Huang Xuan took another look at him carelessly. It would take someone who had a very strong backup force to attack a time traveler enjoying a 22nd-level authorization.
Big Nose left sullenly. He couldn’t risk all his assets to buy Huang Xuan’s sugar. Meanwhile, it was more likely to offend the East India Company.
Huang Xuan turned the register to the next page. Since he had never stayed up to work before, now he felt tired.
An Englishman traded a boat of Wales for half boat of wheat. Britain was an importer. Years later, it would import wheat from Norway. Huang Xuan had just made it happen earlier.
In the evening, Huang Xuan’s main work was purchasing because he had to spend all the gold coins. Presently, taking metal products home looked stupid.
He opened the door of one of the warehouses. He let the buyers check the goods themselves as he was waiting outside and watching the sailors singing the chant and moving the bags. A guy with green eyes was shouting, “Look out! Don’t spill!”
The captains willing to sell would unload the whales on the dock near the warehouse. After Huang Xuan had counted them, the sailors would take the money and moved them to the warehouse. Rolin would “steal” the whale meat from the dock or the warehouse by any means. He would even knock the dockers out. There was more than one lying on the ground sleeping anyway.
This was probably the merriest time for Green Bay in the past 10 years. Only the owners of the small boats were wearing long faces. Since their boats were so small, in this feast, they could only keep the blubber which was the most valuable part while the big ships weighing hundreds of tons were able to take the whole bodies back to the port and replenish fresh water. “After all, the price of the blubber has risen. The vacant position can be rented to others. We can have one more sail during this period. We won’t throw the other parts this time,” the small owners comforted themselves.
Huang Xuan didn’t know that he had changed many people’s lives. He was calling the names on the register with heavy eyelids. Then he was either taking money, or trading for or buying whatever whales he saw. He was too busy to notice whether they were Bowhead whales or Minke whales.
Another warehouse was filled with whales. Huang Xuan took a dry towel to wipe his face which had been frozen with frost. “Why isn’t there even anti-freezing cream here?” he complained.
“They should have given you blubber to cream your face.” It was Juan who had disappeared for one entire day. With his hair being stuck to the sideburns by the sea wind, he looked terrible.
“It was too fishy,” said Huang Xuan, sniffing. “I thought you wouldn’t come.”
“Did you keep the sugar I wanted?” Juan sounded anxious. He had come, although he had been aware of the risk that his ship might turn over.
Huang Xuan spread his hands and answered, “Although you didn’t offer me a deposit, I have kept them in the warehouse. However, I won’t promise I will sell it to you.”
“Thank you, dear pal.” Juan was thrilled. He opened his arms and wanted to hug Huang Xuan, but Huang Xuan evaded.
“1,400 Dutch guilders for every 1,000 pounds. You can also trade equivalent whales.” Huang Xuan wasn’t moved by Juan’s enthusiasm at all. In his opinion, every businessman was enthusiastic before quoting a price.
Juan exhaled. “We are friends, aren’t we?” he said, staring at Huang Xuan.
“1,400 Dutch guilders or I sell it to another person,” Huang Xuan responded bluntly, waving the register in his hand. “Come to me when you make your decision.”
While the Spanish man was still thinking, Klee rushed out from the warehouse. He looked around carefully, and then said to Juan with squinted eyes, “I will take it.”
Huang Xuan spread his hands again and shrugged. “Who wants the 6,000 pounds of sugar more? I offer 8,400 florins.”
“I!” the two answered at the same time and then stared at each other. “We made a deal first,” Big Nose said.
“It’s us,” Juan retorted. “I placed an order of the sugar first.”
“But you didn’t pay a deposit.” Obviously, Big Nose had overheard their conversation. He took out a pocket of coins and shook it. “See? I have brought the deposit.”
Juan raised his head and shouted, “Me too.”
Big Nose was a little scared, but he soon forgot the crowd around him. He held his head up and said slowly in Dutch, “It is mine.”
Juan wanted to retort again, but Huang Xuan interrupted them. It seemed that 1,400 was high enough; otherwise, Klee wouldn’t have considered it for so long. Hence, there was no need to raise the price any further. “Since at present, I need the whales more than Dutch guilders, whoever brings me more whales earlier gets the sugar. How about that?” he proposed.
“No problem.” The two looked at each other.
“But it’s too far to transport the blubber here…” said Juan.
“It’s OK to leave it on the ship.” Huang Xuan loathe staying here and pretending to be stocking. “Every 1,000 pounds as a unit. Whoever brings the goods first gets the 1,000 pounds of sugar. OK?”
“Sure.”