After everyone finished speaking, Yu Li gestured for everyone to be quiet before looking at Master Qu.
"Rest assured, Master Qu, I will not wrong an innocent person, nor will I wrong a guilty person!"
"Thank you very much, Governor Yu!"
Master Qu cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, but his smile was forced and insincere.
"So, what everyone just mentioned, did Master Qu make any promises about that?"
"this…"
Master Qu wished he could slap himself a few times. He must have been so bored that he made such a promise.
However, there were too many witnesses present, and he could not deny it. He could only nod and say, "I did make a promise, but Governor Yu, please listen to me. This kind of itching problem is actually very common. Before sanitary napkins were available, when women had their periods, which woman didn't experience itching after using a cloth bag? And which woman wouldn't go to the pharmacy to buy Chinese medicine? Now, just because of this, you're blaming our Qu Family Cloth Shop? It's really not convincing!"
Upon hearing this, Yu Li's lips unconsciously curled into a slight smile.
"So, Master Qu thinks that whether we use cloth bags or sanitary napkins from your Qu family cloth shop or Zhou family cloth workshop, the itching problem is unavoidable?"
Master Qu nodded and said, "Exactly! This is due to the woman's natural physical condition, and has nothing to do with sanitary napkins!"
"So it seems that Master Qu also admits that itching occurs regardless of whether sanitary napkins from Zhou's Cloth Shop or Qu's Cloth Shop are used?"
Seeing Master Qu nod in agreement, Yu Li smiled and nodded, but suddenly his eyes sharpened and his voice turned cold.
"Master Qu, it's true that women used cloth bags when they had their periods, and they did experience itching afterwards. But those cloth bags were homemade, so they could only blame themselves. However, now that the Zhou family's cloth shop and your Qu family's cloth shop are selling sanitary napkins to replace cloth bags, if the itching problem occurs again, then you must take responsibility!"
"And as everyone just mentioned, Zhou Family Cloth Shop's sanitary napkins have a disinfection process. Does your Qu Family Cloth Shop have one?"
"..."
While Master Qu was still in a daze, Yu Li sneered: "Judging from Master Qu's appearance, he's obviously done for! So, it's inevitable that anyone who used the sanitary napkins from your Qu family's cloth shop would experience itching!"
"Governor Yu, you can't say that!"
Master Qu immediately explained, "Disinfection? I've never heard of that before! Besides, these sanitary napkins are made of cotton and cotton clothing. When have they ever been disinfected? So why would we need to disinfect them? If you ask me, this is just a gimmick deliberately created by the Zhou family's cloth workshop!"
"A gimmick? If using this gimmick will prevent women from experiencing itching, then the Qu Family Cloth Shop can use any gimmick they want!"
After saying that, Yu Li immediately said, "Now that Master Qu has admitted that the itching was caused by using sanitary napkins from the Qu Family Cloth Shop, then Master Qu should keep his promise!"
"..."
Master Qu's thoughts had been following Yu Li's lead, so he unknowingly admitted it, and now it's too late to back out.
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately chimed in, "Pay up!"
Yu Li spoke again: "Master Qu, I have witnessed all of this with my own eyes. If you want to go back on your word, I will not allow it!"
"..."
Now, Master Qu was completely disheartened.
The crown prince abandoned him. He wanted to save himself, but things had gotten too out of hand, and he had made a promise before. He had driven himself into a dead end and now had no chance of survival.
"It seems that Master Qu has tacitly agreed. Then Master Qu should do as promised!"
He then turned to the crowd and said, “First, we’ll offer a tenfold refund for any counterfeit product. Everyone can come to the counter in order to get a refund, based on the receipts for the sanitary napkins you bought at Qu Family Cloth Shop! Then, everyone can also get a refund for the Chinese medicine you bought! As for other promises, such as Qu Family Cloth Shop closing down or giving it away to Zhou Family Cloth Shop if problems arise, I think they’re too frivolous and don’t count. What do you all think?”
"This kind of shady shop should be shut down! But even if you offered it to the Zhou family's cloth shop, they probably wouldn't want it!"
"Absolutely! Even if it doesn't close down, we will never buy anything from here again!"
"Not only will we stop buying them, but I will also tell everyone I know not to buy them!"
"Yes, once we get out, we'll tell everyone, tell no one to come here to buy anything!"
"..."
These words were like the last straw that broke the camel's back; upon hearing them, Master Qu's heart truly died.
With a promise of ten times the price back for counterfeit products, most people spent 100 coins to buy ten packs of sanitary napkins. A few bought more, such as 20 or 30 packs each. However, the total number of sanitary napkins they sold over the past few days was fixed. They sold 1,000 packs on the first day and worked overtime on the second day, selling 4,000 packs by noon.
A total of 5,000 items were sold, priced at over 50 taels each. If the price was 10 times the amount if any item was fake, that would be over 500 taels. But that's just the small part; the real big expense is the cost of the medicine!
A person would spend about 500 coins to buy Chinese medicine. If it was fake, the compensation would be ten times the price, so each person would have to pay 5 taels of silver. Qu Family Cloth Shop sold 5,000 sanitary napkins to about 400 or 500 people, which would amount to about 2,000 taels!
So, adding it all up, the Qu family cloth shop will have to pay nearly three thousand taels of silver in compensation alone, which is no small amount!
In an effort to save himself, Master Qu originally intended to use his own money to cover the losses. After all, the Qu family's cloth shop had been losing money recently due to a price war with the Zhou family's cloth shop and being cheated by a "foreign merchant." There wasn't much silver in the books, not enough to cover the losses.
However, he still had a lot of money in his personal possession, and if he took it all out, he could barely pay it off.
When Prince Yu gave up on him earlier, it was probably because he had made a promise to close down the business and give the Qu Family Cloth Shop to the Zhou Family Cloth Shop. However, Governor Yu did not make him fulfill this promise, so he still held onto a sliver of hope, thinking that as long as he paid back the money, he could regroup, discuss with Prince Yu, and start doing cotton-padded clothing business again, continue the price war, and the Zhou Family Cloth Shop would eventually be unable to withstand it.
However, because of the sanitary napkin incident, his reputation among the people of Ruzhou was completely ruined. He believed that these people were so angry now that they would definitely do what they said and boycott Qu Family Cloth Shop starting today!
Even if he loses all his money, if he tries to do business again, the people won't buy his products, and he'll still go bankrupt.
If that's the case, why would Yu's heir change his mind and continue to help him?
If that's the case, and he uses his own money to compensate, the Qu family's cloth shop will still go bankrupt in the end. Wouldn't he end up losing both his money and his reputation?
Having thought this through, Master Qu had already made his plans.
"Governor Yu, I cannot compensate for this silver!"
"..."
————
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