Chapter 16: Trouble at Zhichunli, a fake product appeared
"You're close to the farmers outside the city. The flowers you buy every day in Zhichunli, as well as your famous custom-made boxes in Kyoto, all come from the farms. Merchants want to undercut their prices, so you, Shopkeeper Jiang, secretly transport the farmers' flowers into the city and display them on your counter in Zhichunli without anyone noticing. You also send these rejuvenating creams and custom-made boxes to the back residences of Kyoto officials."
"Manager Jiang knows that merchants will come knocking on your door sooner or later. This move not only allows him to use the officials' wives to open up sales channels for you, but also to seek protection for you. The officials' wives value your things, Jiang Yanli, which means they value you as a person."
"This way, those merchants will know that you are blocking their way to wealth. Even if they are angry, they will not dare to openly challenge Zhichunli."
Lu Tingwan's most secret plan was exposed by the person in front of her. She was not afraid, but instead became interested in this person.
She slowly raised her head and moved her gaze towards the silhouette.
"This is Lord Han's speculation, and it doesn't mean anything."
"I'm right." Cheng Xianzhi looked at her closely, leaving her with nowhere to hide.
Lu Tingwan had no choice but to avoid it. At this moment, she didn't want to show her weakness and responded to his gaze.
"So, what exactly do you want to ask me, my Lord?"
"Shopkeeper Jiang is a meticulous person. He was able to single-handedly turn Zhichunli into the leading rouge shop in Fenglin Lane, despite being surrounded by wolves. He must have more than just these tricks."
"You can be more ruthless, Manager Jiang." The wolf was staring at her at this moment, as if it would be devoured if she did not respond.
"My Lord, what do you want me to do?"
“When people are at their wits’ end and surrounded by enemies, what do they choose?”
"Your Excellency, there is no need to show off your proficiency to me."
He smiled evilly, "A trapped beast will devour."
Lu Tingwan understood and said seriously, "My Lord, you are trying to use Zhichunli as bait to lure out the person behind this."
"Manager Jiang is a smart man. I accepted your conditions last time, so shouldn't I change them this time?"
"Sir Han, you are the commander of the Imperial Guards. I am alone now, sitting in the chair of the Ministry of Justice and drinking the tea of the Ministry of Justice. Sir, you are not negotiating with me at all." Lu Tingwan said, "I am afraid I have no choice."
"That's why you say that Manager Jiang is a smart man." Cheng Xianzhi raised his hand to support his head and looked straight at her. A breeze blew in from the window, and the incense on her body seeped into Cheng Xianzhi's nostrils in the air-filled room.
"Since Manager Jiang is so considerate, I look forward to hearing from you." Cheng Xianzhi smiled in a way that was unknown to others.
"But if the fish takes the bait and the net doesn't come, won't my bait be completely eaten? Can you save my life, sir?"
"Didn't you just say you had no choice?" Cheng Xianzhi stood up and didn't want to keep him any longer. Lu Tingwan finished his last sip of tea and prepared to leave.
A subordinate from the Ministry of Justice came to report, "Sir, the man we captured last night refused to give up."
Cheng Xianzhi said calmly, "Since you don't want to talk, there's no need to keep it. Do you still need me to teach you?"
Lu Tingwan's legs went weak as she stepped out of the door. What did he mean? Was he going to kill someone? If she was useless, would he kill her too?
Luo Yunchu was waiting outside, and only then did she realize that her back was wet.
"How is it? What did Lord Han say to you?"
Lu Tingwan didn't tell him. Instead, she collected her thoughts and asked him, "Master Luo, have you ever met Cheng Xianzhi, the governor of the Imperial Guards?"
Luo Yunchu didn't know why she asked this. "No, Cheng Xianzhi is well-known, but he only hangs around among the important officials in the court. We are not officials in the court, so naturally we don't see him very often."
"But this man rarely goes out. Even when he investigates cases, his men are out on the road. I heard he only goes to the Ministry of Justice's prison to interrogate people at night. Every midnight, screams echo through the dungeon. That's why he's called the Living Yama. Why are you suddenly asking about this?"
"No, I just feel that Han Jinzhang is so cruel and scheming," she thought thoughtfully. "How ruthless must Cheng Xianzhi be?"
In the darkness, the Ministry of Justice stretched to an endless expanse of dark passages. Every step seemed like a step towards the abyss. A gentle voice blew away the veil behind him, "Don't be afraid. I'm here for you. Nothing will happen to your Zhichunli, and neither will you."
Lu Tingwan was stunned for a moment, met his gaze, and smiled.
Cheng Xianzhi's words to her today were like a huge rock. She had originally chosen to run the shop out of fear of getting involved in the turmoil of the struggle, but it seemed as if there was a force somewhere trying to drag her into the storm.
I was taking one step forward and wanted to turn back, but found that there was no way back.
After returning to Zhichunli, Lu Tingwan locked herself in the study. Feng Xin brought her some food, but she didn't touch it. She then carefully calculated the accounts of Zhichunli again, deducted all expenses, and added that the rejuvenating cream and customized boxes had sold well in the past half month.
The shop's profits increased tenfold compared to the first month. Luo Yunchu set aside her share and left it untouched. The remaining amount was enough for her to cover her future expenses.
Originally, she had not planned to implement this plan, but she started thinking about it after returning from the Ministry of Justice today.
After midnight, the lights in Zhichunli's study were still on, and the desk was covered with papers with densely written words, crossed out, and then rewritten.
Her eyelids were almost unable to open, and finally she took the piece of rice paper that satisfied her and dug out the abacus beads from under the messy scraps of paper.
The moon quietly passed over the roof beams. After midnight, the lights in the study went out, and the figure disappeared in Fenglin Lane and went towards Cheng Mansion.
At the corner of the street, a pair of black pupils were hidden in the darkness.
According to the contract, the farmers had to transport five loads of goods into the city every day after the third month. Thanks to the matchmaker hired by Jiang Ling, the farmers' skills improved, and the amount of rejuvenating cream and rouge they could supply to Zhichunli increased every day.
Customized sets and rejuvenating creams are popular in Kyoto, but due to limited supply, most people cannot afford them.
Lu Tingwan posted a notice in Zhichunli for this purpose.
Anyone who spends fifty taels of silver a day in Zhichunli will receive another silk handkerchief. This is not limited to one person. If several people get together and can buy fifty taels, they can only get one silk handkerchief. One silk handkerchief represents the qualification to purchase a customized box and rejuvenating cream.
The handkerchief that had been taken back was put to use again.
As a result, the five dan of flowers delivered each day were not enough to sell, and they were sold out before noon. Lu Tingwan increased the order with the flower farmers, agreeing to deliver ten dan per day. This solved the farmers' dilemma of unsold flowers, and they no longer had to worry about the city merchants undercutting their business by lowering prices.
Lu Tingwan's Zhichunli alone can handle the supply from the farm.
This incident caused a lot of uproar, and people in the Chamber of Commerce began to pay attention to Zhichunli.
A group of people dressed as hooligans broke into Zhichunli with wooden sticks. The uninvited guests made it impossible for Zhichunli to receive customers normally. The customers were confused and made way to guess what had happened.
Lu Tingwan was immersed in a conversation with a customer about the effects of the rejuvenating cream when she was startled by the shouting and the sounds of porcelain bottles breaking in the store.
The thug leader was seen threatening people with a stick, spouting vulgar language, "Who's the boss? Come out here!"
The younger brothers behind him all pressed forward: "Get out!"
The man continued his outrageous remarks, sweeping across the flowers displayed on the counter until entire rows of porcelain fell to the ground and shattered. "Get out here! This shabby rejuvenating cream sold by this unscrupulous shop has ruined my wife's face! I'm going to have you reported to the authorities. You're a dishonest businessman, swindling and cheating people out of their hard-earned money. Get out of here!"
Feng Xin quickly approached Lu Tingwan's side and said, "Sir, these people are causing trouble. What should we do? Why not report it to the police?"
Lu Tingwan heard this but didn't panic. He said calmly, "Have the shop assistant appease the customer first. I'll handle it."
Lu Tingwan walked down the stairs and approached the gang leader. He stared at him and said, "I'm the shopkeeper. Why can't we talk it over nicely? Why do you have to be so rude?"
"Are you the shopkeeper?" The man glanced at her and sneered, "You're such a young thing, you look like a woman. No wonder you're so involved in this cosmetics business. You haven't even grown all your hair yet."
Bastards! Lu Tingwan secretly spat in his heart, but smiled: "Brother, are you here to buy something?"
"Buying something? The fakes you sold in Zhichunli have ruined people's faces with them. Are you going to give me an explanation?"
"Is there such a thing?" Lu Tingwan sneered. "You keep saying you're using stuff from Zhichun, but there's no proof. Who would believe you? We've all bought a lot from Zhichun. Even the nobles in Kyoto would pay a fortune to get it. How come you're the only one who has a problem using it?"
"Words are not enough. You have to provide evidence. If the things in Zhichunli are really bad, I, Jiang Yanli, will give an explanation."
"Yes, yes, you have to produce evidence."
"We've all used it, so why is there nothing wrong?"
Most of these individual customers are old customers. Lu Tingwan is the shopkeeper and has good relationships with people, so everyone naturally supports her. However, they are still cautious and are not in a hurry to take sides.
The leader, noticing that things were going wrong, raised his voice slightly and asked the people behind him, "Why not?"
Seeing a woman walking out of the crowd with a veil covering her face, the leader pulled off her veil.
"This is the evidence. It's because of the rejuvenating cream from your Zhichun that I ended up like this. Why don't you admit it?"
Half of the woman's face was red and swollen, with tiny, peeling, dry skin stuck to it. White pus spots were visible to the naked eye, and they were shiny and oily, which was truly shocking.
There was constant discussion among the crowd.
"How did it get so serious? Did you really use the rejuvenating cream to make your face look like this?"
"Yeah, who would dare to buy things from Zhichunli in the future? Besides, it's not easy to buy the rejuvenating cream, and I have to suffer after buying it. I won't buy it anymore, please do as you please."
A young man in the crowd turned and left Zhichunli. This incited half of the guests who had gathered in Zhichunli to leave in frustration, and those who remained were all waiting for this good show.
The leading thug raised his hand and pointed his stick at Lu Tingwan's nose. Feng Xin went to stop him, but Lu Tingwan raised his hand to protect him. "Brother, you only brought a woman with a rotten face. How would I know that this person is using the things from my Zhichunli? I didn't see it either. Did anyone of you see it?"
"You..." Seeing that Lu Tingwan was not easy to bully, the leader became anxious and raised his hand. Just as the stick was about to fall on his head, he used a hidden sword to knock the stick out of his hand.
Everyone looked and saw Luo Yunchu coming in with Tianshu, and Tianshu put away his hidden sword.
The leader of the riot cursed loudly, "Who is so blind as to ruin my good deeds?"
"I don't know if he has good eyesight or not," Luo Yunchu didn't look at the man directly, his eyes fell on Lu Tingwan, "If you want to cause trouble in Zhichun, you have to ask me, Luo Yunchu, for permission."
"It's Master Luo. I heard that Master Luo is the boss behind Zhichunli. This guy has finally fallen on hard times and is trying to blackmail Master Luo." People in the crowd were whispering.
Lu Tingwan smiled and straightened his back.
"Luo Yunchu?" The leader read out the name and then sneered, "He's just a lowly brothel owner, yet he's worthy of calling himself Young Master Luo. This businessman just loves to flatter himself. In my opinion, he's nothing but a nest of snakes and rats."
Luo Yunchu was not in a hurry. He clenched his sleeves tightly, wishing he could shoot an arrow through the throat and kill this person who spoke so arrogantly.
Luo Yunchu pressed his fingertips against Tianshu with his folding fan, "Merchants are lowly, but you are standing on their territory right now. I'll allow you to wield your power for a moment, but we still need to discuss this matter clearly in front of everyone."
"Of course, if you are sensible and explain the identity of the person behind you, we in Zhichunli can also let bygones be bygones, just as if a mad dog without an owner barked at the wrong grave today. Otherwise, we can go to the government office and have a clear discussion."
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