Revenge Does Not Require Acting in Person
When she returned to her West District courtyard, Serena Feng was already pondering how to discreetly leak the scandal at the House of Earl Everley.
Serena was certain that after she left, the Everley household would issue gag orders, or even kill the maids and servants present, to keep the matter quiet. The Everleys probably believed she would swallow the humiliation and say nothing, since the second son’s filthy words had damaged her reputation, and if word got out, she’d be the one disgraced.
Too bad for them—the Everleys were destined to be disappointed. If Serena really cared about such things, she might as well not bother living. She’d just begun to form a plan when Jada Tang came to report that Vincent Summers had arrived.
"He couldn't have come at a better time." Serena’s lips curled into a devilish smile. She’d just been thinking that Vincent was the perfect person to stir up the Everley scandal; letting him expose it would benefit everyone involved.
Serena was sure that with Vincent’s intelligence, even a tiny hint from her would prompt him to investigate what happened at Everley today. He’d inevitably pass the story on to Ninth Royal Uncle and the Walker Clan.
She didn’t need to lift a finger against Everley herself.
Vincent had come to discuss grain with Serena. Thanks to her methods, he’d recently stockpiled a sizable reserve.
"Serena, grain prices on the market have dropped by seventy percent. Do you think I should stop now?" His question made it clear he didn’t want to stop at all.
Serena’s grain-buying strategy for Vincent was simple: have him dump all his reserves onto the market at once, creating a false glut, then drive the price down, down, down...
At first, the price cuts triggered a buying frenzy—even the big grain merchants rushed in to snatch up stock. But...
Vincent’s grain reserves wouldn’t last long if sent to General Warren Yu’s frontier army, but on the open market, they were a tidal wave—he had enough stock to launch a full-blown price war. No matter how many buyers flooded in, he could keep the shelves full.
Grain prices changed day by day—today’s rate was lower than yesterday’s. Even those wanting to stock up hesitated, afraid they’d buy too soon and miss an even better deal.
With grain getting cheaper every day, buyers vanished. The big merchants panicked, dumped their reserves, and flooded the market. Prices crashed, demand dried up, and even at rock-bottom rates, few people bought more—everyone’s pantry was already full. Some regular families even started selling off their own hoarded grain.
People were scared—if grain stayed this cheap and abundant, their own stockpiles would be worthless. Better to sell now while prices were still halfway decent than risk being stuck with a pile of useless grain.
In modern terms, this was predatory dumping—a giant squeezing out the little guys with overwhelming resources. Vincent’s maneuver had forced small and mid-sized grain merchants straight into bankruptcy.
Even the major grain houses couldn’t hold out—they were hemorrhaging losses. Without backing from the great clans, some might have gone under completely. They’d stockpiled at high prices, but now had no choice but to sell, or risk their grain going moldy in storage.
Prices had plunged from twenty copper coins a jin to just seven—a giveaway price. Vincent took some short-term losses, but quietly doubled his reserves by scooping up cheap grain.
Grain was one of those things that, even with money, you couldn’t always buy when you wanted it.
“That’s enough—cut it off here. You want grain, not to squeeze profits out of the people. If you keep up this price war, it’s the common folk who’ll pay the price.” Serena’s voice was calm, her mood subdued—partly an act, partly real guilt.
As a modern woman, Serena understood exactly how destructive dumping could be. Ordinary people might enjoy cheap grain at first, but once the big players wiped out the competition, prices would shoot up—and the ones left suffering would be the commoners.