Chapter 88 Buying the Brocade Pavilion through Business
The next day.
After leaving the Lu family, Lu Zhaoruo took Dongrou, Lü'er, Shitou, Niqiu, and Shimozi straight to Jinxiu Tower.
The Jinxiu Building was located in a bustling area and was one of the best shops in Jizhou City. According to market prices, it was worth at least a thousand taels of silver.
Manager Chen's second wife, Madam Lin, was unfamiliar with business and was in a hurry to make money, so she was only willing to sell it for four hundred taels of silver.
This news naturally attracted a lot of covetous eyes.
The owner of Zhou's Embroidery Shop next door heard the news and came over, planning to lower the price to only three hundred taels, hoping to swallow this fat piece of meat.
Unexpectedly, Lu Zhaoruo directly asked for five hundred taels.
Firstly, she wanted to suppress Zhou Ji's limelight and prevent him from taking advantage of the situation; secondly, seeing that Lin was all alone and helpless, she felt compassion and was willing to give her an extra hundred taels of silver so that she could have more support for her livelihood in the future.
Hearing this from the side, Zhou Dongjia thought that this Madam Lu must have gone mad, and secretly sneered at her for being foolish and rich.
Lu Zhaoruo, however, did not care at all. She and Lin quickly invited a mediator to sign a deed of absolute sale on the spot. They then went to the county government office to stamp the document and pay taxes, completing all the procedures clearly and transparently.
After taking over Jinxiulou, Lu Zhaoruo did not rush to open for business. Instead, she called over all twenty embroiderers who had been left behind, inspected their skills and inquired about their personalities one by one, and finally selected only ten who were good at needlework and honest in character to stay. She gave the others more severance pay and sent them off properly.
What these embroiderers didn't expect was that Lu Zhaoruo also settled all the wages owed to them by their former employer, without missing a single penny.
As a result, the remaining embroiderers were both grateful and impressed.
When they heard about her suing her husband's family and smashing the memorial arch, they respected her even more and were willing to work diligently under her guidance.
Lu Zhaoruo then took one hundred taels of silver from each of her cloth shop and tailor shop as capital for her embroidery workshop.
They even spent money to make a new signboard, named "Lu Ji Embroidery Building", and the other two shops were also renamed "Lu Ji".
The embroidery instructors were not retired palace craftsmen, nor ladies of noble families, nor skilled craftsmen from foreign lands, but rather the Yang family, a skilled needleworker.
Yang was the widow who had seen Lu Zhaoru smash the "chastity arch" yesterday and returned to her husband's house proposing to "leave her husband's house and find another way to make a living."
Her name is Yang Yuexiu.
Yang Yuexiu left her husband's family and returned to her mother's family, but her mother's family made her live in the woodshed.
She was thinking about how to make a living in the future when Lu Zhaoruo came to her door in person.
The moment she opened the door, the figure standing in the blinding sunlight made her gasp...
It was none other than Lady Lu, who smashed the chastity archway in the street yesterday!
Lu Zhaoruo smiled slightly and handed over a piece of plain silk: "Lu's Embroidery Shop is short of a head needlework instructor, so I have come to invite you."
"This servant..."
She wiped her fingers on the hem of her clothes again and again before daring to accept the letter of appointment.
Upon unfolding it, the words "Instructor's monthly salary: five strings of cash, two sets of clothing for each of the four seasons" were clearly written in small vermilion characters.
"The master's kindness is immense..."
Her knees buckled and she was about to kneel down, but Lu Zhaoruo steadily supported her: "In the embroidered pavilion, you only need to perform the Wanfu salute."
In the dappled light filtering through the woodshed, Lu Zhaoruo's gaze swept over the moldy quilt in the corner. She recalled her past life, when ten years later, she was also asked to be an embroidery instructor. However, she was constantly tormented by her husband's in-laws and eventually committed suicide by jumping into a well.
She was a pitiful woman.
Lu Zhaoruo snapped out of her thoughts and said gently, "Pack your things and come back to Lu's Embroidery Building with me. From now on, the Embroidery Building will be your home."
Yang Yuexiu's tears fell onto the plain silk in her hand.
Lu Zhaoruo originally wanted to help her and prevent her from suffering the tragic fate she had in her previous life...
Who would have thought that the woman they couldn't save in their previous life would actually step out of that cannibalistic mansion on her own?
After bringing Yang Yuexiu back to "Lu Ji Embroidery Building", Lu Zhaoruo transferred Yunniang from the "Tailor Shop" to be the manager of Lu Ji Embroidery Workshop, in charge of all business affairs.
Manager Chen from the cloth shop was transferred to be the warehouse manager because he was an expert in "material inspection".
Then, she assigned jobs to everyone around her: the literate and honest Stone was to be the accountant; the cunning and calculating Mudfish was to be in charge of purchasing and acting as a broker; the honest and strong Stone Mill was to be the guard; and the kind and timid Green was to be in charge of embroidery quality inspection and receiving guests in the boudoir.
In addition, five clever servants were hired.
Everyone settled down, feeling at ease, and determined to work hard under her guidance.
After arranging all this, it was already evening. She should go to Anle Tower to host a banquet for Gu Xian and Xiao Yeming.
Anle Building.
Holding a lamp, An Linglong personally led Lu Zhaoruo up to the third floor.
The flickering lamplight cast a glow on their clothes, and a subtle fragrance wafted through the corridor.
Her gaze swept over Lu Zhaoruo almost imperceptibly, a smile playing on her lips: "Madam Lu, your bearing is truly that of an immortal being."
After a slight pause, she chuckled and said, "Yesterday, the commotion you made when you smashed that chastity archway was quite something, and all the women in the city were secretly delighted."
Lu Zhaoruo had a close relationship with her in her previous life and knew her background.
An Linglong was originally Gu Xian's aunt. Later, she married into the Imperial Academy in the capital and became the wife of the eldest son, Zhao Yuan.
Although Zhao Yuan held a sinecure as a minor official and was somewhat literate, he was timid and incompetent, especially since he relied on his mother for everything, making him a true "son of the mother."
Although An Linglong came from a merchant family, her older sister married into a noble family, and the An family had a wide range of businesses and a strong foundation.
She was originally a magnanimous and forthright person. After marriage, seeing her mother-in-law repeatedly taking concubines for Zhao Yuan, she finally could not bear it any longer and asked for a divorce directly.
After the divorce, she returned to her mother's home in Jizhou with all her dowry.
Her parents treated her like a precious jewel and never criticized her for the conventional "womanly virtues."
With her savings accumulated over the years, she took over the Anle Building and ran it with great success.
Those who used to gossip behind her back now address her respectfully as "Manager An".
However, when she returned from her trip to the capital, the smile on her face was rarely seen.
She never remarried throughout her life, and fortunately, she was able to enjoy a peaceful and wealthy old age.
Although An Linglong is now thirty, her charm has only increased rather than decreased. In every smile and frown, she exudes a composure and radiance that young women cannot imitate.
Lu Zhaoruo pulled herself out of her thoughts and smiled: "If we're talking about true charm, you are the only one who shines in this Jizhou City. At the age of thirty, you are more dazzling than those sixteen-year-old girls."
She lightly twirled the teacup between her fingers and said, "My smashing of the memorial arch was just a momentary impulse, but it is An Niangzi's open-minded way of living that truly shatters the stubborn stone weighing down on women."
An Linglong laughed out loud: "Such a sweet little mouth, it really makes one feel comfortable."
She pushed open the carved lattice door, and the drizzle carrying the scent of mugwort drifted into the room: "We women should have our own way of living. Why should we be bound by those rules of etiquette and chastity?"
As she spoke, she stepped aside to give way to the view, and pointed with a smile to the window of the waterside pavilion: "This room was reserved by my nephew before dawn. He ordered all of Anlelou's best dishes. Even the wine is his privately stored fine wine of ten years. He said that today, Lady Lu is hosting a banquet for guests."
Lu Zhaoruo smiled slightly: "I'm sorry to trouble Master Gu with this."
As soon as the two entered the room, they heard a series of unhurried footsteps outside the door.
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