Chapter 136 A Very Important Thing
Yu Jingsheng took New Year's gifts and went out of the city to visit Mr. Li. After seeing him off, Su Chengniang returned to the house and saw her daughter sitting by the bed, talking softly with her son. She felt a surge of relief and walked over with a smile.
When Yu Qingci saw her mother return, she asked, "Did Father leave?"
"Um."
Su Chengniang nodded, checked her son's injuries, and then sat down and said, "Were you worried that I would argue with your father again?"
Yu Qingci smiled and said, "Actually, this matter is not Father's fault. Father has always been very caring towards my younger brother. Father is also very saddened by this incident. He will do his best to find out the truth. Mother, just take good care of my younger brother."
Su Chengniang sighed deeply and said, "Sigh! Don't just speak well of him. After being married to him for so many years, don't I know what kind of person your father is?"
To put it nicely, he's loyal and righteous; to put it bluntly, he's indecisive. If this incident really was caused by a villain, we're newcomers, so we should be able to figure out who did it. I'm just afraid your father will soften his heart and take it lightly, leaving my child to suffer the consequences.
I regretted it when I asked you to marry into the general's mansion in my place. I shouldn't have agreed to let your father take you and your brother back to the capital. Even if you never acknowledge your ancestors, wouldn't it be better to live freely in your hometown of Youyang?
It's better than my perfectly healthy daughter becoming a widow and my son being harmed and lying in bed; just thinking about it makes me miserable.
Seeing their mother start to cry again, the siblings quickly tried to comfort her. After crying for a while, Su Cheng's mother stopped and said:
Qingci, you should go back. Your brother is fine now, and I will take good care of him, so you don't need to worry. As for you, although your mother-in-law is easy to talk to, we can't go too far. We still need to consider the General's Mansion.
"Once you get back, just have someone send me a message if anything comes up. I'll also keep you updated on your brother's situation every now and then. Is that alright?"
Although she was very reluctant, Su Chengniang still tried to persuade her daughter.
Yu Qingci knew she couldn't stay outside for too long, so after thinking about it, she nodded in agreement.
But they lingered until evening before finally taking Tong'er and Granny Pei and boarding the Su family's carriage to leave.
After leaving Liuli Lane, Yu Qingci did not intend to go straight back to the mansion. Previously, the shops that she had brought with her as part of her dowry and the shops in the General's Mansion were all managed by Mama Pei outside. Now that she finally had a chance to go out, she planned to take this opportunity to visit a few shops.
Let's start by looking at the shops that are part of our dowry.
Wherever she went, Yu Qingci would put on a veil and, with Tong'er's help, go inside like an ordinary woman shopping, strolling around and browsing.
None of the shopkeepers or employees had ever seen Yu Qingci, the real master of these shops, but they were all very attentive and hospitable to the customers who entered, which pleased Yu Qingci greatly.
They went inside and stayed for a while before Granny Pei came in from outside.
They were all very familiar with Granny Pei, the shopkeeper, and knew that she represented her mistress. When she came in, they all greeted her warmly, served her tea and water, and introduced the shop's situation, which made it convenient for Yu Qingci to observe carefully from the side.
The mistress and servants quickly toured the shops that were part of the dowry. Yu Qingci was clearly very satisfied with the current state of the shops and immediately thanked Granny Pei, saying that she would definitely give Granny Pei a big red envelope when she got back.
Seeing that she was unusually happy, Granny Pei did not refuse and simply thanked the young mistress for the gift.
Next were the properties under the General's Mansion, but it was already getting late, so we could only visit a few important ones, starting with the cloth shop.
On the carriage, Granny Pei told Yu Qingci the general situation.
Although the General's Mansion doesn't have many shops, the situation is more complicated than that under Yu Qingci's name. As soon as the family was divided, Yu Qingci immediately began to clean house. Anyone who had any connection with the second and fourth branches was removed. Now, apart from a few honest and law-abiding old people, everyone else has been replaced.
Most of the staff have already been replaced, and apart from the cloth shop that runs Xiaguangjin, the other shops have not shown any improvement in the short term.
Some shops, due to their location and previous issues, remain deserted all day long even after new management has taken over; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe them as practically empty.
Yu Qingci listened quietly, her mind already racing with calculations.
The cloth shop has been doing very well lately because it has been selling Xia Guang brocade, and it has also sold a lot of other new silks in the shop.
The price of Xia Guang brocade remained high, making many cloth shops and embroidery workshops in the capital extremely envious. However, the General's Mansion still held its former prestige, and now it had the powerful marriage alliance of the Marquis of Nanping. Therefore, their shops were not something that ordinary people could touch. Most merchants could only be envious, but they could only watch with envy.
The capital city has no shortage of power and influence. Those large cloth shops with strong backing and swift action have been transporting Xia Guang brocade back from the south and have begun selling it.
Following this trend, the price of Xia Guang Jin will soon drop.
After quickly visiting all the shops, Yu Qingci had a better understanding of the situation.
They wandered around all afternoon until it got dark and the shops in the market started to close before heading home.
The carriage slowly started moving, and Yu Qingci lifted the curtain and casually looked outside. This street was one of the busiest streets in the capital, with various upscale shops on both sides. At this moment, the shop assistants in each shop were coming out one after another to put up the door panels and prepare to close up shop.
She happened to see a two-story shop with five rooms on the side of the road, and the three big characters "Shili Xiang" (meaning "fragrant for ten miles") were very eye-catching on the signboard in the center.
Yu Qingci's heart skipped a beat as she recognized that this was the wine shop owned by Qiao Shilang's family, the Qiao family's maternal family, and that the shop was quite well-known in the area.
She suddenly remembered something very important.
Nowadays, apart from a few particularly precious sakes, most shops sell cloudy yellow wine. Based on the degree of turbidity and taste, the wines are divided into several grades. It can be said that apart from wealthy families and noble clans, ordinary people across the country buy and use almost all of these different grades of yellow wine, which are not much different from each other.
However, in my previous life, right after the New Year this year, the Qiao family's wine shop suddenly started selling a clear and bright yellow wine. This wine was mellow and smooth on the palate, with a long-lasting aroma, which was completely different from the yellow wines from other wineries on the market that were cloudy in color and bland in taste.
When this wine was first sold, it quickly stood out among the major wine shops in the capital because of its clear color and, most importantly, its low price. As a result, the Qiao family's wine shop became famous in the capital, and the Qiao family made a fortune selling this wine in just a few years.
At that time, she was working hard every day to earn money to support her husband's family. After learning about this, she secretly envied him for a long time.
It wasn't until many years later that it was rumored that the sudden clarity of the rice wine brewed by the Qiao family was due to someone adding lime to it.
Thinking of this, Yu Qingci's heart suddenly started pounding. Since she knew what was going to happen, could she exchange this enormous wealth for her?
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