So we’ve had enough conversations with the guy at this point to know what his business model involves and .... it makes absolutely no sense.

If he has insider information from the Qixing, why would he tell us about it? Surely people knowing about his info would increase the demand for the products he’s trying to acquire and hence actively work against himself.

Even if that’s not an issue, spreading this information would likely be a danger to himself if it is true, as whatever the legal framework in Liyue is, the Qixing would not want the general populace to think that they are making certain well connected merchants rich through rubbing shoulders with them.

Other than that, the amount of goods he’s asking for is nowhere near the amount someone would hoard if they were trying to benefit off of a price hike in the long run.

So, all in all, I don’t think he’s doing what he’s telling us what he’s doing.

The most likely case is that he’s just using his little venture to try and spread fake information and play the markets. Dressing up as ....weird as possible, pretending to be an extremely well connected person, doing a trade that’s sure to generate curiosity and gossip about what he says will spread around like wildfire.

He probably already has a hoard of everyday goods in stock and is waiting to dump them as soon as he sees the price increase he wants.

Whether such a ridiculous plan will work, who knows?