Yun Ruoxia originally thought that embroidering handkerchiefs was a tiring task for the eyes, so she wouldn't let Yun Chu touch them again after selling these few. Anyway, the family wasn't short of money, so she kept quiet and let Yun Chu decide whether to sell them for thirty-five or thirty coins.
To their surprise, their concessions were seen as attempts to bully them, and they were directly challenged. Yun Ruoxia couldn't hold back any longer and started cursing, hands on her hips.
"If you weren't so poor that you couldn't even afford a single jade pendant, I would have really thought that all the embroidery workshops in the county belonged to your family. If you're no good, don't blame the road for being uneven. You're all trash."
Yunling raised her little hand and clapped to cheer.
Yun Chu frowned and said, "Master, when I took out the embroidered handkerchief, you offered to give me thirty-five coins for each one. Later, after some argument, it was reduced to thirty coins for each one, which I agreed to. Now you're going back on your word and saying you don't want it. That's not in accordance with the rules."
"What rules? Here, I am the rule. If you don't want it, you don't want it. Move along and don't block my business."
The boss was initially quite polite, but Yun Ruoxia's words were like an insult, and how could she possibly swallow that?
Yun Chu wasn't angry and continued, "It is indeed the owner's rule in the embroidery shop, but it is the county magistrate's rule in the county town. If we can't reach an agreement, we can go to the county government office to argue it out."
Hearing this, the owner couldn't help but laugh in anger. "Are you going to report this to the authorities? Don't be ridiculous. Do you have any written proof that I absolutely had to buy your embroidered handkerchief? Or do you have any witnesses? You're all in cahoots. If you can't provide evidence and file a false report, you'll get thirty lashes."
Lian was excited and thrilled. She could almost see Yun Ruoxia and the others being whipped on the bench. She even wished she could be the executioner, raising the long fire stick high and bringing it down heavily to vent her anger.
It would be a lie to say Yun Ruoxia wasn't nervous. When had she ever been to a place like the county government office? Besides, she didn't know if the owner had any connections there. If he did, wouldn't they be asking for trouble? And selling handkerchiefs was such a trivial matter; could it really be reported to the authorities?
Yun Ruoxia became increasingly panicked and tried to pull Yun Ling and Yun Chu away. It was just a loss, nothing serious. She could just yell back when they got out the door.
Yunling wouldn't leave; she wanted to stand up for her older sister and not let anyone bully Yun Chu.
Yun Chu naturally believed that she had not done anything wrong, so she was unwilling to leave. Instead, she straightened her back and retorted, "I don't have the evidence you mentioned. I just want to talk to the magistrate. Thirty coins for a handkerchief, sold for fifty or sixty coins, or even as high as one hundred coins. They come frequently, and with the embroiderers in the embroidery shop, the profit must be considerable. I just don't know if you have paid this year's commercial tax in full. The magistrate should also want to know."
The owner was completely stunned. She never expected that such a young boy would try to calculate business taxes with her!
She definitely paid, but who in this world is blinded by greed? If things really escalate to the county government, she might get skinned alive. Besides, what good reputation would she have if she went to the county government? Wouldn't her embroidery shop's business plummet?
Good heavens, how did she end up offending this group of people? The more she thought about it, the more panicked she became, fearing that she would suffer a greater loss for a small matter. So she quickly put on a smiling face.
"Young lady, look, I'll take this embroidered handkerchief. Thirty-five coins, no, forty coins each. Let's not talk about anything else. What do you say?"
Yunling popped her head out and replied, "Oh, my sister won't mention it again, but I heard it."
Yun Ruoxia quickly chimed in, "What a coincidence, I heard it too."
The landlord's right eyelid twitched, and he glared at Lian Shi fiercely. If it weren't for this woman's interference, she wouldn't have ended up in such a state. Just thinking about it made him angry.
"Fifty-five coins per piece, that's the highest price I can offer."
Yun Chu only wanted justice, and since the master had given it to her, she didn't want to make a fuss any longer, so she nodded in agreement.
Seeing that Yun Chu had no objections, Yun Ling and Yun Ruoxia naturally pretended that nothing had happened.
Lian was furious. Originally, she was only five coins short, but now she was twenty-five coins short. If Liu found out, she would definitely twist her ears off.
Thinking this, she was consumed by rage. Already sleep-deprived, she rolled her eyes and fainted. The other two wives, seeing this, wished they could disappear into the ground and hurriedly helped Lian Shi away.
Yun Chu finally received 275 coins, which was the first time she had ever earned money. Her hands trembled slightly as she held the coins, but she was quickly won over by Yun Ling.
"Sister, let's go eat some fresh meat wontons, they're even better than Mother's."
"real?"
Yun Chu was somewhat surprised, after all, Zhang's cooking skills were highly praised in the village. Even the most ordinary wontons could be made into something amazing, and there were even better ones than hers.
Before long, Yun Chu finally understood why Yun Ling said that. The fresh meat wontons were indeed delicious. It was so delicious to order a bowl with money she had earned herself. Without realizing it, she even ate all the soup.
"Sister, you were really amazing just now."
"Yes, Sister Chu, how did you come up with that idea?"
While counting the copper coins to settle the bill, Yun Chu replied, "Father is the accountant and deals with commercial taxes most often. Although I don't know the ins and outs, I know that Father hates getting entangled with the people in the county government, so that's why I said that."
Yun Ruoxia nodded. "I was thinking of scolding them to vent my anger, and then going to other embroidery shops to sell them for a high price, so that those snobbish people would look down on me."
"Aunt, you're not as clever as your older sister this time."
Yun Ruoxia was stunned, completely bewildered.
Yunling continued, "The eldest son's family has always been stingy and calculating. They're so calculating they can even kill a blade of grass. They don't even go to the embroidery shop, so how can you expect to get a high price?"
Yun Ruoxia slapped her thigh in exasperation, suddenly realizing, "Oh right, how could I not have thought of that? I thought it was about selling mushrooms. Yun Chu's acupuncture skills aren't exactly top-notch. If she were to sell them elsewhere, they might not even fetch this price. Thank goodness!"
"What's more infuriating than a handkerchief that used to cost only thirty coins suddenly costing fifty-five coins? If I were the owner, just looking at it would feel like a knife cutting into my flesh."
Yun Ling's words made Yun Chu and Yun Ruoxia burst into laughter. The three of them straightened their waist bags and set off for Yunxiang Bookstore.
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