Chapter 45 Chapter 45 [VIP]
Chapter 45
As Qian Tong said, the cavalry surrounding the Qian family withdrew that afternoon.
The onlookers lost interest in watching the fun, and those who secretly hoped that the Qian family would follow in the footsteps of the Cui family were inevitably disappointed. The second master of the Lu family sat in the teahouse for several days, hoping that the soldiers would rush into the Qian family mansion, confiscate the property and exterminate the family, but what he finally heard was the news of the withdrawal of troops.
He was puzzled and asked the messenger, "Is Miss Qian Qi back?"
The servant nodded, "I'm back, bringing the son-in-law of the Qian family with me. We went to the harbor early this morning."
Just as he finished speaking, he heard a voice from downstairs, "Limited supply, clearly marked price, the same for everyone. Tea is in short supply this year, so be careful..."
It’s the third master of the Qian family.
It seems that the Qian family has really been unsealed.
Before Second Master Lu could retract his stretched neck, Third Master suddenly looked up, catching his gaze. He froze for a moment, as if he had spotted a rare visitor. "Hey, Second Master Lu."
Second Master Lu had no choice but to show up. He smiled and pretended to be curious, saying, "Why is Third Master Qian out today? Have all the soldiers surrounding the Qian family withdrawn? What's going on? We've been worrying about this outside..."
Master Qian San cursed in his heart, "Son of a bitch, rotten heart."
What was he worried about? Worried that the Qian family hadn't been apprehended by the government? Third Master Qian said affably, "The officials are worried that some remnant of the Cui family might come and retaliate against us, so they've sent people to protect the Qian family." He then asked, "Second Master Lu, do you think the Qian family's tea is more fragrant than the Cui family's?"
The natural fragrance that was snatched away.
Hearing his tone, it seemed like nothing had happened.
After a moment of joy, Master Lu smiled wryly, "It's fragrant, but it's a pity there's too little. With such a good market, Master Qian San should have Madam Qian Qi quickly think of ways to get more tea to sell. Shuzhou's tea is gone, but we still have Jian tea next door. Why not take advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune? Speaking of which, I really envy Master San. His family relies on this little lady, and they've been living a prosperous life these years..."
Third Master Qian was not annoyed, and said sarcastically: "Second Master Lu, there is no need to envy me. The Lu family also has a young lady. She has been busy expanding the Lu family over the years and has made an indelible contribution."
Mr. Lu no longer had the heart to argue with him, so he quickly responded with a few words and left the teahouse.
As soon as he got on the carriage, Mr. Lu's face changed immediately. Wasn't Mr. Qian's words a satire that the women of his Lu family could only bear children?
There is not a single male member in the Qian family, but there is a female demon. No one knows how this seventh lady escaped from the government. Cui Wanzhong, such a powerful figure, died without a burial place after a trip to the sea, but how come she came back safely?
Once the Qian family escaped from trouble, the Lu family lost their chance.
The Lu family's patriarch had been managing his connections with the imperial court for a while, but no one knew how well he was doing. He couldn't even be found these past few days. Second Master Lu lifted the curtain and impatiently asked the servant, "Have you found him? Where did the patriarch of the family go? No one knows."
No one really knows.
In order to get rid of the government officials, Lu Daozhong went to the port alone. Only the servants on the Lu family ship knew about it, but unfortunately they are all gone now.
Mr. Lu returned to the Lu family full of frustration.
As soon as I entered the room, I heard the housekeeper report, "Seventh Lady is here."
Who? Master Lu didn't react.
The housekeeper said, "They arrived half an incense stick ago, and the Second Young Master is receiving them."
Apart from Lu Daozhong, the only one who can support the business of the Lu family is Master Lu Er. The sons of the King of the Family are capable of inheriting the family business, but they are still a little too young to deal with emergencies. Upon hearing this, Master Lu Er hurried over.
Qian Tong was teasing a two-year-old child at the Second Young Master's knees and asked Second Young Master Lu, "Is this the Seventh Young Master?"
Mr. Lu felt a little embarrassed, but his tone was full of pride, and he replied, "Okay."
Really able to give birth.
The Lu family has two brothers. Mr. Lu Er has not married yet, but the head of the Lu family has completely filled this gap and has three sons and five daughters. Not only have the three sons married and taken concubines, but the five daughters have all been raised in the Lu family. They do not marry outside the family and instead recruit sons-in-law. The family is very capable of expanding and spreading. From the moment Qian Tong came in, his ears were filled with the sound of children playing, which never stopped.
When discussing business, Mr. Lu brought his children with him.
How can we talk about it?
Qian Tong lost interest after teasing her for a few times and waited quietly for Master Lu to come back. Perhaps he could see that she didn't like children, so the second master called the wet nurse and asked her to take the child away.
As the nurse carried the baby out, Master Lu came in. He glanced at the children playing in front of the door and scolded them, "This is the front hall, not a place for children to play. How can you play like this?"
Normally, Wang Shi, the head of the Lu family, likes children and often shows off the prosperity of his family to the guests. Over time, the people below have tacitly accepted this behavior, and whenever someone comes, they create an image of the prosperity of the Lu family's descendants.
After driving the people away, he walked into the house.
When someone came in, Wang Dong greeted them, "Second Master."
When Mr. Lu Er saw that it was really her, dressed in gold and jade, with a radiant face, he felt even more disappointed and asked, "Seventh Lady, what happened to the Lu family today?"
Qian Tong had already told the Second Young Master about his visit, and his purpose was clear: "To buy cloth."
Mr. Lu was stunned. If she wanted to buy cloth, she could just go to the shop outside the Lu family. Why did she need to come to him? "Did Miss Qi not find something suitable in the shop?"
"The ones in the shop don't suit me." Qian Tong directly has a batch of white cotton?
This is no secret. The Yangzhou cloth shop, headed by the Lu family, has almost monopolized the market in recent years. They only allow their own cloth to be exported and not allow other people's cloth to be imported.
A strategy of the Ma Yi Bureau has been imitated countless times.
Some time ago, a batch of high-quality white linen arrived from Kyoto. The texture was much better than ordinary white linen, and the cost was still lower than silk. As soon as the goods arrived, they were all bought up by Yangzhou cloth shops and made into high-end mourning clothes and mourning hats for use by families with better financial conditions.
However, even if the mourning clothes were the most expensive, how many people could die in the family in a year? Killing one thousand enemies resulted in eight hundred casualties. This batch of goods had been stuck in the Lu family's warehouse and could not be sold.
It can be dyed, but I'm not sure if it can be sold. I'm afraid the cost will increase and I'll end up with nothing.
What does she want these for?
Mr. Lu was not as patient as Lu Daozhong, and he sarcastically said, "Seventh Lady got the salt permit and the Cui family's teahouse, and now she wants to interfere in the cloth business? She's really ambitious..."
Qian Tong smiled and said, "Second Master, you misunderstood. Second Master also said that I have obtained the salt permit and now own the teahouse. I have more and more servants. Qingyi is a bit rough after all. It is suitable for the lowest class of people, but it is difficult to distinguish between talented people. I heard that this batch of white linen is of high quality. I am willing to pay the same price to buy all your stock."
all?
How many servants does she have and how much can she wear?
This year's tea is gone, and she just got the route from the Pu family. How could she be willing to go empty-handed? The Qian family's salt can be shipped by sea, but the salt produced by the Qian family's salt field is limited. Even if they want to smuggle it, there is nothing left to export.
Could it be that she wants to smuggle cloth?
Qian Tong didn't seem to expect him to become king, and he didn't want to wait any longer, so he asked, "When will the King of the Lu family come back? I'll go back when he comes back."
Mr. Lu also wanted to know where the king had gone.
He wanted to see the Qian family go to their own destruction, but the soldiers withdrew. Now the Seventh Lady Wang Dong came to the door and wanted to smuggle. Why couldn't he help her?
Mr. Lu Er responded, "Since Madam Qian has come here in person, I can still be the boss of this business. The cloth is in the warehouse, and Madam Qi can come and get it at any time."
——
Qian Tong was busy for several days, dyeing cloth.
On the day the fabric was dyed, she wore an apricot-colored short-sleeved gown and went to see Prince Song. Behind closed doors, she asked him, "Do you think it looks good?"
Ever since he called her "Tong'er" on the day he came back, the two had not seen each other since then. They were busy with their own things. She was busy destroying the Lu family, while Song Yunzhi kept his word. He had been registering her for the past few days and had already obtained the official certificate for the cloth pile. He had just received it and was placing it on the wooden table. He looked at her when he heard her say that.
Qian Tong walked up to him, raised his sleeve, and tugged at it. "Look, Prince! This is such a good thing from Kyoto, cheap and durable, and it's been ruined by these profiteers. To monopolize the cloth trade in Yangzhou, they'd rather keep it at the bottom of a box and make it into mourning clothes than give it to the people. That's why prices are so high in Yangzhou. It's because these profiteers are driving up the prices..."
She kept calling them profiteers as if she wasn't one of them.
She wanted to ask if it looked good, but Song Yunzhi fixed his gaze on her and inquired carefully. After she finished speaking, he nodded and replied with one word, "Yeah."
Qian Tong thought he was responding to his point, so he reported the battle situation of the past few days to him. "I bought all these cloths and dyed them in various colors. I had the black cloth cut into double-breasted half-sleeves. Summer is coming, and coarse cloth will easily scratch the skin. The people in the wine and salt piles do rough work. Wearing this material will absorb sweat and keep you cool..."
She planned: "Once this batch is ready, we will buy some more and distribute them to the refugees. Summer is coming, and the refugees can't stand the heat, and they are wandering the streets without clothes. What will it look like..."
The girl cast aside her cunning and radiated a touching kindness, reminding Prince Song of the common people and widows she had cared for. His heart softened, and he replied, "Okay."
"This color on me..." Qian Tong paused, then raised her eyes and looked at him gently, a barely perceptible blush on her cheeks. She seemed to find it difficult to speak, and lowered her eyes, saying, "Mother has already chosen a date for our engagement."
The marriage between the two had been discussed in advance, so there was nothing surprising about it. However, the shyness in the girl's pupils was too obvious at this moment, and Song Yunzhi was also a little shocked.
Although it was a trade-off, the girl in front of him was the one he would spend his entire life with. Thinking of this, a tingling sensation suddenly spread through his heart, as if being brushed by a feather. His heart was hanging, as if waiting for something to fall to the ground.
At this moment, he still hasn't understood that this feeling is just one of the seven emotions and six desires in the world. It has appeared in the records of books a long time ago, and it is expected.
He listened to her soft voice and slowly said, "In half a month, on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, my birthday will be. Mother said someone calculated it and it's an auspicious date. We'll have an engagement banquet at the Qian family. I want the maids to wear this color at the banquet. I want to use this to tell the people of Yangzhou that this fabric is not as unlucky as the cloth merchants say, but is actually very auspicious... What do you think, Prince?"
Song Yunzhi heard what she was asking him and replied, "Okay."
Qian Tong received his affirmation and immediately called Fu Yin in. "Hurry up and have someone cut some cloth. Use the cloth I have on my body. Each of the maids in the Qian family will have one. When I get engaged to my son-in-law, you will all wear them."
Fu Yin was waiting for her letter and nodded quickly, "Okay, I'll go there."
As soon as Fu Yin left, Qian Tong also stood up and left. "Then I'll go tell the cloth merchants from out of town to buy as much of the material as they have."
"Wait." Song Yunzhi stopped her, stood up and handed her the certificate on the wooden table. "It's already been done. Remember what I told you before. You can use tricks, but you can't break the law or do anything reckless."
"Okay..." Qian Tong nodded perfunctorily, took the voucher and looked over it over and over again. Then he raised his head, his eyes sparkling with stars, and said admiringly: "Your Highness is really amazing. I don't know how arrogant the Lu family has been over the years because they held this piece of paper in their hands."
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