105 Pear

"Brother Xu, come and cripple his right hand!"

Shen Suqin stood on the carriage, his gaze slowly sweeping over the various fabrics in front of him.

Most of these fabrics are finely crafted, showing that they were made with great care; they're all pretty much the same quality.

She scanned the bag twice, then pointed to one with the most intricate patterns and said, "You'll do. Come over here."

Aunt He, who was chosen, pushed the person next to her back, took two steps forward, grabbed the cart shaft, and nodded excitedly.

She was a bit plump, with rosy cheeks and a very loud voice; she seemed like a straightforward person.

Shen Suqin told her to come find her at the largest inn in Huize later, and then let Aunt He leave first.

Huize County is a typical water town. A river runs through the center of the county town, with weeping willows on both banks and small boats on the river carrying a variety of goods and hawkers calling out their wares.

The carriage wheels creaked and groaned as they rolled over the cobblestones.

Shen Suqin leaned against the car window, lifting the curtain to look at the street scene on both sides.

Pei Tingfeng rode over, blocking her view, and asked, "Now that we've found them, when are we going to change course and head to Xizhou?"

Fearing that it would delay important matters, he urged Shen Suqin on the way.

"Now that I'm here, you should at least let me inspect Xingyuan and Shenji," Shen Suqin said.

Pei Tingfeng was speechless.

As night fell, they stayed at the largest inn in Huize.

Shen Su, the imperial envoy, summoned the managers of Xingyuan and Shenji, and was talking with them in the main hall.

"How is Xingyuan VIP business doing?" Shen Suqin asked.

In order to generate revenue, she had previously asked Xingyuan to expand its customer base.

"We renovated the private rooms upstairs and opened a few each month as you requested, along with some novel and rare ingredients. This has attracted many VIPs to make reservations, and the profits are indeed quite good," the manager said. "However, with the private room business, business on the first floor has been a bit worse. I sent someone to inquire, and the regular customers feel that since we've started catering to VIPs, the prices of the dishes upstairs will inevitably increase sooner or later, so they're patronizing less."

Shen Suqin frowned; this was somewhat different from what she had expected.

"And what about the customers in the private rooms? Very few of them are truly powerful and influential, right?" she asked.

The shopkeeper gave an awkward smile and honestly replied, "Yes."

It seems Yan Lin was right; once the customer base expands, Xingyuan's reputation will indeed suffer.

Shen Suqin's face darkened slightly. This couldn't go on, but he couldn't just change his mind so quickly. He ordered the private room business to be shut down immediately.

"You go back first, I'll figure out a way to resolve this," she said to the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper bowed respectfully, "Please rest, boss. Please let me know if you need anything."

After seeing the shopkeeper off, Shen Suqin looked at the manager of Shenji Precious Goods.

She didn't interfere much with Shenji Zhenhuo, leaving it all to Su Yubai to manage from beginning to end. She only took a closer look at it when the accounts were settled at the end of the year, and knew that Shenji now had about a hundred branches, all of which were doing well.

"Master, Shenji is short of goods these days." Before Shen Suqin could speak, the manager complained, "Every time, we are given priority to supplying the big shops in the capital and prefectures. We small shops can only get a little bit that slips through our fingers. It's not enough to meet our demand."

Shen Suqin finally heard some good news, and her brows relaxed: "This is a small matter. When I return to Ningyuan, I will have someone expand the workshop. In the end, you won't be short of goods for too long."

The steward chuckled, "Then I'll have to trouble you, sir. I'll be waiting here for news."

"Don't worry, don't worry."

Pei Tingfeng listened attentively from behind while Shen Suqin was discussing matters.

Pei Tingfeng had always handled the transactions between Shi Ye and Shen Suqin, so he knew very well how much the national treasury had benefited over the years, and he also knew how much Shen Suqin was worth.

“I thought you would delegate these small tasks to your subordinates,” he said to Shen Suqin after the manager left.

Shen Suqin poured herself a cup of tea. "Originally, I wouldn't have bothered with it, but it's on my way here."

“Actually, I don’t quite understand,” Pei Tingfeng said, sitting down opposite her, “why do you like making money so much?”

Shen Suqin was somewhat puzzled. "Is this so hard to understand? Just like how you are full of thoughts about the people of the world, I also have my own things I like."

"But making money through business..."

"The lowest of the low?"

“No,” Pei Tingfeng shook his head, “I always feel that you should do something more…more valuable.”

Shen Suqin curled her lip, "What is valuable? To me, the value lies in simply being alive, in the greatest value imaginable."

"What kind of twisted logic is this? A great man is born into this world and must accomplish something great in order to make his life worthwhile."

"Tsk, according to you, those who can't accomplish anything have come all this way for nothing?"

Pei Tingfeng remained silent, which was clearly an admission of agreement.

"Come on, there are more than ten million people in the world, and only a few truly important matters. If everyone were to do great things, who would farm and weave? To put it another way, if you ask a starving person to worry about the country and its people, he'll starve to death tomorrow. What's the point of asking him to worry?" Shen Suqin poured him a cup of tea and pushed it towards him. "If you ask me, your so-called great undertaking is simply living life according to your own heart. You go and work for the people, and I'll go and earn my money. We'll each do our own job."

"If everyone only wants to make money, wouldn't the world be in chaos?"

"That's your problem. Why do you want everyone in the world to only want to make money and not think about anything else? Is it because everyone is too poor and has no money? Lord Pei, when the country is peaceful and prosperous, everyone will naturally seek to improve themselves. You don't need to worry about that. Just focus on the national economy and people's livelihood."

At this point, Pei Tingfeng fell into deep thought.

After a long pause, he said, "You've thought it through so clearly, it's a pity."

Shen Suqin laughed loudly, "What's the pity? I'm now the so-called Commissioner of the Three Departments, ready to serve the court. I just haven't figured it out yet, otherwise why would I be meddling in this?" She murmured, "Alright, call the weaver I found during the day over here, I want to ask her a few questions."

Pei Tingfeng stood up.

He was gone for almost half an hour. Just as Shen Suqin was getting impatient, he led Aunt He in, followed by a little girl who was peeking out from behind.

Shen Suqin looked at Pei Tingfeng with a puzzled expression.

“She came with Aunt He and refuses to leave,” Pei Tingfeng said.

Upon hearing this, Aunt He quickly pulled the little girl behind her over and grabbed her arm, saying to Shen Suqin, "Madam, her name is Li'er. She is the most skilled weaver in Huize, and she is very famous."

Shen Suqin looked her up and down. "You brought her here, aren't you afraid I'll abandon you and choose her instead?"

Aunt He's face stiffened.

“No, no,” the woman named Lixiang knelt down with a thud and said to Shen Suqin, “Madam, please don’t use Aunt He. I, I just came to take a look, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

When Aunt He saw her kneeling down, she grabbed her arm and tried to pull her up. But she couldn't pull her up no matter how hard she tried, and since Shen Suqin didn't say anything, she simply knelt down herself and said to Shen Suqin, "Madam, she is indeed better at weaving than I am. It is her good fortune to use her. Please use her."

Shen Suqin and Pei Tingfeng exchanged a glance, both seeing the scrutiny in each other's eyes.

"Why did you help her?" She got up and helped the two of them up.

“I…” Aunt He turned to look at the person next to her. Seeing that she was bowing her head and not speaking, she hardened her heart and said, “My sister is gentle. Her family treats her badly. I’m afraid she will be tortured to death if this goes on. Madam, please take her away.”

Upon hearing this, Shen Suqin's expression deepened. She took a step back, walked up to Li'er, and tilted her head to look at her neck.

Where the collar was covered, a dark bluish-black mark, like a grotesque spider, was coiled on the side of the neck.

Shen Suqin looked up, turned her head away with her thumb, then slipped her fingers inside her collar and slightly opened it, glancing down at her.

"You're married? Your husband abuses you?" she asked Lixiang.

"No," Li'er answered softly, "I haven't promised anyone yet, it was my sister-in-law who hit me."

How old are you?

Seventeen.

"Seventeen and you're still not allowed to marry?"

"Her family had previously betrothed her to a wealthy man named Wang in the east of the city as a concubine, but before she could marry into the family, Wang died of old age. The Wang family demanded the return of the betrothal gifts, but her family refused. The two families quarreled, and Li'er's reputation was ruined, making it difficult for her to marry," Aunt He said. "Later, the Wang family sent people to their door to seize her. Not only did they steal her money, but they also beat up her family."

"Her brother and sister-in-law were so angry that they took it out on the pears... Sigh." Aunt He could only sigh at the end.

The room fell silent for a moment.

Aunt He thought that the lady in front of her was afraid of getting involved with the Wang family and was unwilling to help. Just as she was about to suggest going back first, she unexpectedly heard someone say from the other side: "There is something I think you need to know first."

Shen Suqin paused for a moment, then said, “My name is Shen Suqin. I don’t know if you know Xingyuan Restaurant and Shenji Department Store. I am the owner behind them.”

Aunt He and Pear gradually opened their eyes wide.

"I've come to find you, Weaver, to recruit workers for the newly established clothing workshop in Jinzhou. If you find someone, they will need to come with me and their family to the northern border. Of course, the settlement allowance will be substantial. Think it over carefully. If you are willing, I will send someone to escort you north."

"You, you are that lady?" Pear's voice trembled.

Shen Suqin raised an eyebrow. "If you're talking about the one who wrote 'Ode to the Eastern Liang Dynasty,' then that's me."

"It's you! It really is you!" Li'er almost jumped up. "I like you so much, you're so amazing." She stared at Shen Suqin with bright, childlike eyes. After a long while, her face gradually turned red. "You're so amazing."

Shen Suqin smiled, "Really? Many people say that."

After saying that, she said to Aunt He, "You know the situation. I need a lot of weavers, as many as you want. As long as they are willing to go north, just call them over."

Aunt He was very excited, but she quickly calmed down and asked hesitantly, "How will the wages be calculated?"

"Fifty coins a day, including food and lodging."

"Huh?" Aunt He thought she had misheard. They only earned twenty coins a day at the local weaving workshop, which was considered high. "Really fifty coins?"

She could hardly believe it.

“It really is fifty coins. The man next to me is the Vice Minister of Revenue. He can vouch for me.” Shen Suqin pointed at Pei Tingfeng.

Pei Tingfeng stood silently to the side the whole time, and Aunt He and the others had almost forgotten that he even existed.

I never expected that someone so young would become a vice minister, such a high-ranking official, an extremely important one.

“She can be trusted,” Pei Tingfeng said.

Pear and Aunt He nodded blankly.

"It's getting late, you should go back and rest. If you want to come north with me, bring your luggage tomorrow. Lord Pei and I have important matters to attend to and won't be staying in Huize for long."

Yes, yes.

After seeing the two off, the moon was already high in the sky, a pure white jade disc hanging in the vast and distant heavens, serene and profound.

The next morning, before the inn in Huize even opened, the gate was already crowded with women carrying bundles.

They stood quietly on the street, waiting for the door to open so they could follow the lady north. Their eyes were bright, as if they could already see a new life waiting for them.

However, Aunt He, who was standing at the very front, looked worried.

As the first ray of sunlight fell on the bluestone slabs in front of the steps, the door opened, and Shen Suqin appeared behind it.

She glanced around and estimated there were about twenty people, which was quite a lot.

"Aunt He, did you find them all overnight?" she asked Aunt He.

"yes."

Shen Suqin noticed something was off about her voice, turned to look at her, and saw that her forehead was a little red. She then looked beside her and saw that Li'er was not there, so she tentatively asked, "Li'er's family won't let her go?"

Aunt He's eyes reddened. "Her sister-in-law tied her up and threw her into the woodshed, not letting her go out."

Where are her parents?

"She died long ago. Now she lives with her brother and sister-in-law." Aunt He was her neighbor and used to be on good terms with her mother. "When they heard that Li'er wanted to go north, they were in a hurry to find her a husband. They said that whoever offered a hundred taels of silver as a betrothal gift would be sent to Li'er's door."

"Go and save her, I can't save her."

Shen Suqin was furious and said coldly, "Take me there. I don't believe she would dare to snatch someone from under my nose."

Pei Tingfeng had just come downstairs when he heard the last two words. Just as he was about to ask a question, he saw her hurriedly follow the crowd.

"Hey, Grandma, where are you going?" He chased after her out the door. "Come on, hurry up, we can't let anything happen to her."

If anyone were to lay a finger on Shen Suqin, Xiao Pingchuan would definitely fight them to the death.

Shen Suqin hurriedly walked towards East Street under Aunt He's guidance, completely unaware that a hundred or so armed guards were following behind her.

These black-armored guards exuded a murderous aura, and their footsteps were more powerful than those of others, frightening the street vendors into retreating.

The Wang family's gate was tightly shut. Li'er lay in the woodshed with her arms bound, her mouth gagged, and her teeth were almost bleeding from biting them.

She could hear her sister-in-law talking to the old butcher on East Street in the next room, asking him if he was really willing to take out a hundred taels.

The old butcher was a well-known bachelor on East Street. He was in his fifties, with a pockmarked face, and he spent all his money on prostitutes in Spring Breeze Lane.

Pear didn't want to marry him. She was desperately trying to break free of the ropes, and she didn't give up even though her wrists were rubbed raw and bloody.

She knew that if she could just run out of that door today, her life would be different.

She used her shoulder to push herself up from the ground, turned her back and rubbed the rope hard against the brick wall, leaving a bloody stain on the corner brick.

Just as the rope was about to snap, the door to the woodshed opened.

She turned her head to look, and the bright light outside made her squint, unable to see who was outside.

"Smack!"

Suddenly, she received a hard slap across the face and was sent flying far away.

“Hey, don’t fight here,” her sister-in-law shouted in a high-pitched voice. “Take your fight home, don’t kill someone in my house, or her brother will come back and nag me again.”

The old butcher chuckled and, taking the opportunity to speak, reached out to take her hand, saying, "Sister-in-law is right."

The woman pushed him away and urged him to take the person away quickly, "Hurry up, the husband will be back soon, and then it will be hard to explain."

"Yes, yes, yes," the old butcher bent down and picked up Pear from the ground. Even in such a short time, he didn't forget to take advantage of her first and put his hand in a place he shouldn't have.

Pear was both anxious and embarrassed, her face turning bright red with anger.

She already possessed a delicate, tearful beauty, and now her face was flushed, making the old butcher's eyes widen. He couldn't wait to find a room and get things done right then and there.

"It's just a short walk, Lao Yang, don't embarrass yourself," the woman said disdainfully.

The old butcher snorted and said in a deep voice, "I want to fuck her to death right now, you get out."

"No, my man will be back soon."

“I’ll add money,” the old butcher said, taking out another ten taels from his pocket and tossing it to her. “Get out and close the door behind you.”

The woman picked up the silver from the ground, smiled ingratiatingly, and without even glancing at Pear, told her to serve her well before leaving.

Pear felt nauseous from the smell of the man in front of her. She shrank back in despair, but he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms.

Feeling the smoothness in his palm, Butcher Yang grinned maliciously, tore open Pear's clothes, and teased, "Your sister-in-law has already sold you to me for 110 taels of silver. That's enough for me to sleep with several prostitutes in Spring Breeze Lane. You're valuable, you're really valuable."

Pear struggled desperately to keep him away.

Not getting his way, Butcher Yang slapped Pear again hard, knocking her to the ground.

"Why are you hiding? This body of yours will be mine sooner or later, you can't escape it."

Pear was trampled under his feet, barely breathing. "She should be gone by now," she thought. "She said she wouldn't stay in Huize for long. I guess I should just accept my fate..."

Suddenly, the door to the woodshed was kicked open.

Pear's eyes were half open when she saw the person who should never be here.

Shen Suqin kicked open the door to the woodshed. The room was dimly lit, and she could only barely make out a tall man inside.

Without a second thought, she took two steps over and kicked him.

Unexpectedly, the other party seemed to have some strength. Not only was he not kicked, but he also grabbed Shen Suqin's ankle.

"Who are you?" Butcher Yang turned around and glared at her impatiently.

He was stunned by that one glance.

He had never seen such a beautiful woman, especially with her foot in his hand.

“This young lady has quite a fiery temper,” he said, stroking Shen Suqin’s ankle. “She’s got guts.”

Shen Suqin abruptly pulled her leg back and slapped him twice hard, coldly saying, "Brother Xu, come and cripple his right hand!"