Chapter 98 Goodwill The new Khan and the princess inspected their banner and brought...

The new Khan and the princess inspected their banner and brought news of the caravan, which spread like the wind to the felt tents near and far.

The young captain and his three servants rode past in a hurry. When they saw people and felt tents, they stopped for a while. When they saw the shepherds in the wilderness, they shouted loudly: "A caravan is coming. They are at the Aobao. Ask your wife to go with you to see if there is anything to buy."

The shepherd shook his ears and hummed twice perfunctorily. He was in no hurry to go back, but continued to watch the sheep graze at a leisurely pace.

As usual, he watched the sun move far to the west before he slowly drove the sheep back home.

The shepherd's wife, Nuomin, was hanging clothes in front of her yurt, looking up at the sky from time to time. Finally, she saw him and ran over quickly: "Have you heard? A caravan is coming. It is said that there are a lot of new goods. Buhe, let's go and take a look right away."

Seeing Nuomin's smiling face, shepherd Buhe snorted and took off his old hat to fan himself: "It's just a caravan, why are you so happy?"

A few years ago, two traveling merchants passed by here, and Buhe and Nuomin were also very happy.

"Finally a merchant is here. We can exchange some things."

The merchant looked very honest and said in Mongolian with a Central Plains accent: "This place is so far away. I still have some goods. I will sell them to you at a lower price so that I can go back home."

“Is it really that cheap?”

"Really, I'm not lying to you."

The honest merchant took out the goods one by one and said, "Look, what fine material! And this white porcelain bowl is so beautiful! This is a bowl that only the nobles can use!"

"Oh, oh, oh, what a beautiful red cloth, what a beautiful bowl."

Nuomin turned the red cloth over and over to look at it. The cloth and the little girl carefully touched the white porcelain bowl. The couple looked at each other and immediately said, "We are the last one here. There is no one else (actually it was a lie, there are two more felt tents to the west). Sell it to us at a lower price."

The honest businessman was in a dilemma: "Is that so? Then it seems I can only sell it to you."

"Yeah, you tell me, what's the lowest price? My sheep are all outside." Bu He was very active. He pulled the honest businessman outside to see the sheep, his tone full of pride.

"My sheep are big and fat, and I am taking very good care of them!"

The honest businessman narrowed his eyes and was very satisfied: "Very good, I will sell it to you at a lower price, just as we are friends."

Bu He laughed and patted his shoulder: "Good friend! Nuomin, take out the milk tofu and cut it for your friend to eat."

Finally, Buhe and Nuomin happily bought the honest merchant's goods, exchanging two sheep for the red cloth and three sheep for the porcelain bowl.

The beautiful dress made of red cloth dyed the entire wooden basin red as soon as it entered the water. It started to crack after being worn twice.

The white porcelain bowl was indeed a porcelain bowl, but later Buhe went out to play in a crowded place and suspected that he had been cheated. Others would pay at most a sheep to buy a porcelain bowl. When he came back, he was very angry and accidentally broke the bowl into two pieces.

Hearing that a merchant was coming again, Bu He was just indignant: "Last time, that merchant smiled so sincerely and said he was a friend, but what happened? What a piece of junk he sold to us!"

Nuomin sighed, and obviously thought of what happened last time. So he stopped talking and made milk tea for the children.

But the next day, when Nuomin was working outside her yurt, she saw two familiar women returning home with bags full of things. Her children were particularly envious and followed them for a long distance.

When Buhe came back, Nuomin asked, "Should we go and have a look? The children's clothes are too short, and... I also want to buy a new robe."

"No." Bu He said without raising his head.

"This time it's a caravan following the new Khan and the princess. It can't be that bad. Let's go and take a look."

"No—go—"

Seeing this attitude, Nuomin was annoyed: "Whatever you say!"

She called the children to her side and said, "Eji will take you to see what's going on at the caravan."

The child cheered.

Nuomin went out to get the horse, put the child on the horse's back, and got on the horse himself. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard Buhe shouting from behind: "Wait a minute."

"What?"

"Who knows who this person is? I'll follow you." Bu He said with a dark face.

They rode their horses and headed to Aobao immediately. The caravan was stationed there and was said to be leaving tomorrow. So even though it was already dusk, there were still a dozen herdsmen gathered there, and there were also children playing in the tents.

Buhe looked at the felt tents of the caravan for a while.

The conditions of the people on the grassland can be seen from their felt tents. The better off the family, the whiter and newer the felt tents are. On the contrary, the tents of the poor are tattered. The felt tents of this group of merchants looked quite neat. What surprised him was that there was a lavender flag in front of the felt tents. There was a crescent moon pattern on the flag, and it seemed that there was something written on it.

If he knew Chinese characters, he would know that it was written "Dashengkui", but just looking at the purple flag was enough to make him remember it.

Nuomin dismounted with the child and walked towards the simple stalls set up outside by the merchants.

Buhe also dismounted and led the two horses. He found that there were several hitching posts beside them, which was convenient. He tied the horses and walked towards his wife and children. He saw Nuomin reaching out to touch a piece of bright red cloth.

As soon as he saw this familiar color, anger rose in his chest.

The merchant who was guarding the stall was talking about the advantages of this cloth with a smile: "The fine cloth woven in Jiangnan has very beautiful colors and is particularly good for making robes. It is very eye-catching from a distance. Madam, you have good taste!"

Bu He suddenly said, "The cloth I bought last time got torn after wearing it twice."

He had a loud voice to begin with, and his voice was particularly clear when he shouted like that. Several herdsmen around him who were selecting goods turned their heads.

The merchant's smile froze for a moment, then returned to normal: "My friend, this is the first time our caravan has come to this grassland. You may have recognized the wrong person."

"Who is your friend!" Bu He's voice became louder and louder. "You talk nicely, but the things you sell are useless. You 'Hu Zha' have always been like this!"

The "Hu Zha" he said was a variation of the Chinese word "buddy". At this time, it sounded a bit weird.

The man guarding the stall was indeed a worker from Dashengkui. When he heard him being called, he became a little anxious: "Every wrong has its perpetrator, and we didn't provoke you!"

"Oh, you're all the same."

The herdsmen nearby, who had also been cheated by traveling merchants, resonated with what they heard and lowered their heads to discuss.

The noise was so loud that even Wang Xiangqing, the head manager of Dashengkui, and Zhou Qinnan from the Fan family, who were inside the tent, heard it and hurried out.

Wang Xiangqing asked in fluent Mongolian: "What happened? I'm the manager, can you tell me?"

When the guy saw them coming, he explained with grievance: "They said that a businessman cheated them last time, and they insisted that we were the same!"

"Don't use that tone when talking to guests." Wang Xiangqing's face darkened. "If you don't change, I will deduct your bonus."

The framework of Dashengkui has many rules set by the princess. For example, senior clerks can get "personal shares" and receive dividends from the total revenue of the business, while ordinary clerks receive basic monthly wages plus commissions and bonuses.

When he heard about the bonus, the guy curled his lips, took a deep breath, and put on his standard smile again.

Bu He saw that the merchant leader-like man took care of his own people first, and vented his anger: "I was just cheated by you Hu Zha, and you can't say it! I even brought the tattered robe with me, just wait!"

As he said this, he ran back and forth in one breath and took out a robe from the felt bag carried by the horse. He brought this here specially, intending to question the man and at the same time prevent his wife from being bullied again when she wanted to buy more things.

Bu He shook the faded robe and said, "Look, the color was beautiful before, but it turned red after it was put into the water! And look at this hole, it was torn apart just the next day when I put it on!"

The onlookers saw with their own eyes the ugly and torn robes and began to whisper to each other. Some of them who had just bought cloth kept turning the cloth in their hands over and over again, even holding it up to the sun and pulling it. What if this was just as Bu He said and it was ruined after they bought it back? What should they do?

Wang Xiangqing also noticed the actions of others, frowned, and said with a smile: "My brave man, can you let me take a closer look at this robe?"

"Look, I'm afraid you'll look at me!" Bu He stuffed the ragged red robe into his hands, his tone was quite complicated, "The person who sold me out had the same nice attitude as you, and he even said I was his friend! In the end, he was just deceiving his friend!"

While Wang Xiangqing was checking the torn red robe, he saw out of the corner of his eye that a woman dressed as a maid turned her head and walked away. He thought to himself that there was trouble.

The maid saw the attire and guessed that the princess had sent someone to supervise. The princess was very concerned about this aspect. She was not the kind of noble who just ignored the boss and only cared about collecting some dividends every year. She believed that seeing is believing. Therefore, when conditions allowed, she would come to take a look in person. Even if she could not pay attention all the time, she would suddenly send an "imperial envoy" to take a look. If there was anything that was not done properly, she would ask Dashengkui to correct it immediately.

Now that this has happened, I think the princess will know about it soon.

Wang Xiangqing knew what was wrong with the quality of the robe at a glance. It was indeed of poor quality, and the dye used was not good enough to dye it properly. However, he still took the robe and examined it carefully and repeatedly, thinking of a solution in his mind.

To be honest, this is an unprovoked disaster. The merchants in the past cheated people, how could it be related to Dashengkui! Dashengkui has never cheated anyone! However, in the eyes of these simple herdsmen, it is inevitable that they will have such an impression of "once bitten by a snake, you will be afraid of the rope for ten years". If not handled properly, it may damage the reputation of the business.

Zhou Qiniang, who was standing next to him, quietly left for a while and came back with a small box in her hand. She said to Bu He in a halting Mongolian voice: "I'm sorry that this happened. This...is not our product, but I'm willing to help you mend it. Can I?"

Bu He looked at her suspiciously. "Are you going to do it again? Should we produce something?"

"No, you don't have to pay for anything!" Zhou Qiniang gestured, "I will definitely fix it for you."

Bu He nodded: "It's up to you."

Zhou Qinnan breathed a sigh of relief and took out her sewing kit to start mending her clothes. However, there was no proper place to sit for the moment, so she simply sat on the ground with her legs sideways.

The herdsmen nearby didn't pay much attention at first, thinking that sewing clothes was nothing special.

But when they saw Zhou Qinnan using scraps of cloth to mend the completely torn parts, and that the needle and thread were moving, and she was actually embroidering patterns, they were immediately surprised.