Wen Siqing glanced at Yun Ruoxia a few more times. The price had been reduced from 580 wen to 530 wen, a direct reduction of 50 wen. For 10,000 bolts of cotton, that meant a reduction of 500 guan, which was roughly 7,000 jin of cotton.
He was overjoyed that no one could earn more money from her than she could, but reason pulled him back, forcing him to return to his professional demeanor.
Wen Siqing frowned, looking quite troubled.
"Second Aunt, I'm afraid this won't do. You've already cut the price to the bone. There's no profit in this. Even if you bring in another ten thousand bolts, it still won't work."
Because Yun Ling had previously analyzed the dye houses in Jiangnan for her, Yun Ruoxia remained calm and wasn't easily intimidated by Wen Siqing.
“If you can’t do it, then I’ll find someone who can. There are many dye houses in Jiangnan. Even if we lose your one, we can do business with others. You know how many people our show attracted before. Don’t even mention another 10,000 bolts, even if we bring another 30,000, it would be fine.”
"That's right, that's right. But what's the point of doing business if you're not even making enough money to support the dye shop's staff? Why bother with all that effort?"
"Don't you have any idea whether we can support them? The raw cotton cloth you sold us cost 480 coins a bolt. We want it dyed in a single color, which is just a matter of soaking it in a dye vat and dyeing it. The cost is in the dye and the manpower. It only came to 500 coins a bolt after all the calculations."
Yun Ruoxia, noticing the slight change in Wen Siqing's expression, continued:
"We are willing to give an extra thirty coins now, simply because we have known each other for a while, and to save ourselves the trouble of rebuilding relationships with others. If this is not acceptable, I will write to Ling'er and ask her to go all the way from Bianjing to Jiangnan to negotiate, so that I can avoid the trouble."
Wen Siqing's little scheme also failed, and he asked with a smile:
"Young lady, have you gone to Bianjing?"
"Yes, we went to Bianjing to discuss business. Speaking of which, it would be convenient to return via the Jiangnan region."
Wen Siqing gave an awkward smile; it seemed he couldn't win the argument now.
"Alright, Second Sister, you can leave this fabric here. I'll immediately write to Master He to inquire about his opinion. I'll trouble you to come again in five days. Is that alright?"
"Alright, then I look forward to your good news, sir."
Seeing that the matter was settled, Yun Ruoxia was about to leave when Wen Siqing stopped her. Now that business was no longer involved, the two should chat amicably as before.
"Does Second Sister have anything else to do today? We agreed to dine together often, but Second Sister has probably forgotten."
Yun Ruoxia didn't expect that this person would remember those words. They were just polite words, but he took them seriously, which was really frustrating.
"Something came up, and I'm in a hurry to get home."
"Has something happened at home?"
"No, nothing happened. We're just building a house, so we've moved to the neighbor's house. They must have already prepared my meal by now, and it wouldn't be good if I didn't eat it."
"Okay, then how about next time? How about you come back in five days?"
Yun Ruoxia was unsure how to respond, so she had no choice but to agree for the time being.
Overjoyed to receive a response, Wen Siqing wrote passionately after seeing Yun Ruoxia off, describing how he had debated with the scholars and how firmly he had maintained his stance, but he simply couldn't withstand the opponent's offensive.
Then he wrote about Yunling's potential and her abilities, making the promise as big as it could be. At the end of the letter, he added a small threat that Yunling would travel from Bianjing to Jiangnan. Thus, the mission was accomplished.
**
Autumn days are short and the sky darkens quickly. Yun Ruoxia hurriedly drove her carriage home after leaving the shop, while Yun Ling rode in her youngest son's donkey cart to their lodging.
In the blink of an eye, the entire sky darkened as if it had been splashed with ink. No one in the village lit candles, and the surroundings were quiet, indicating that everyone had eaten and rested early.
The youngest son slowed down the donkey cart, and as they approached the doorway, everything around them lit up as the candle was placed at the entrance.
Yunling glanced at the candle; it was new and had never been lit before. She guessed that since they were guests, she had gone to great lengths to light a candle to prevent them from bumping into it.
"There's food heating up in the kitchen, let's eat something and then go back to our rooms to rest."
"good."
Gangzi lit the candles, and the group headed to the kitchen. But halfway there, their youngest son was called away by his father-in-law inside the house. Yunling instinctively strained her ears and vaguely heard a sentence…
"I borrowed two quilts from the village chief, so you don't need to go anymore. After dinner, go to bed early."
Yunling was somewhat touched. They didn't have to do this, but they still did their best to treat others kindly, which was truly enviable.
Dinner consisted of the same dishes as lunch. Perhaps because they had heard that the cured meat was delicious, they made more of it, filling a large plate. Yunling took a few extra pieces and ate with great satisfaction.
After the meal, the three of them helped clean up the dishes. Gangzi didn't let Yunling touch the water, and he also spared Tangling from getting wet. The two of them then rubbed their hands together and went back to their room.
The bed was hard, and although a layer of linen had been patiently laid out on it, the two of them, who were used to sleeping on cotton quilts these days, still felt uncomfortable and uncomfortable.
To Yunling's surprise, the bedding was made of cotton and had a pleasant fragrance, which was delightful. She nestled in the quilt as if she were in a sea of flowers.
Although the room was small, it was warm and cozy once the doors and windows were closed. Since there was no ice to sleep with and no river breeze to enjoy, the warmth gradually enveloped her body, and Yunling soon fell asleep.
**
Yunling slept soundly, but Yun Ruoxia was a little uneasy. After dinner, she went back to her room to talk to Zhang. Since they had all moved to Granny Fan's house, which was not very big, they couldn't make too many demands. There were two rooms, one for the man and one for the woman.
Yun Ruoxia told Zhang about her negotiations with Wen Siqing that day, emphasizing the 10,000 bolts of dyed cloth and the price of each bolt, and then left the rest to Zhang.
"Ten thousand bolts of cloth, at five hundred and thirty coins per bolt, that's five thousand three hundred strings of copper coins?"
"Yes, does your sister-in-law have this many in her suitcase?"
Zhang had no idea how many there were. She rummaged through the boxes and pulled out a small box containing paper money. She took out all the paper money inside, counted it, and found there were only fifty-eight pieces. She quickly rummaged through another large box containing copper coins.
Inside, the copper coins that Yun Ruoxia earned from selling mushrooms and honey, along with Yun Ling's share and Yun Shenghua's wages, were stored in this large box, which the two of them would count together...
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