Chapter 97: Negotiating Terms
The head shopkeeper of Jin Le Fang didn’t dare underestimate the young lady in front of him at all.
If it were before, seeing such a young lady managing a shop, he would have looked down on her. But several recent incidents had all resulted in losses for their Jin Le Fang. Without any real ability, how could she turn danger into safety every time? Clearly, this young lady was no ordinary person.
Chen Fugui’s methods were so despicable that even those experienced old foxes in the business world might not have seen through his schemes. Not only did this young lady see through them, she also turned her unfavorable situation into a tailwind that propelled her to soar.
The younger generation is to be feared; we must not underestimate them.
“Jing’er, serve tea,” Su Yaoguang instructed.
Jiang Jing nodded and went to the nearby tea room to brew tea.
The head shopkeeper rebuked Chen Fugui: “Kneel down and apologize!”
Chen Fugui was already fat, but now his face was even more swollen than before, and there were multiple bruises on his body, showing he had been tortured somewhat.
He obediently knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Su Yaoguang: “Boss Su, I was wrong. I won’t dare do it again. Spare me this time!”
Jiang Jing brought over the tea.
Zhang Zhaodi and the others stood guard nearby, fearing these people would bully Su Yaoguang.
Zhang Zhaodi said sarcastically: “We won’t mention the first time. Though your methods were shameless, you at least paid the money. But the second time, you actually bribed two local ruffians to slander us. Is that something a simple ‘I was wrong’ can forgive? We should report to the government office right now, hand you over to the government office, and let them judge your crime.”
“Chen Fugui is from our Jin Le Fang. As the head manager of Jin Le Fang, I failed to manage my subordinate well, so I bear responsibility too. Today we sincerely came to apologize and want to make friends with Boss Su, turning our grudge into friendship. Boss Su, what would it take to resolve this grudge?”
“The shopkeeper is so sincere, and we’re not the type to press an advantage. I can let this matter go, but let me say this upfront. This man has dishonest conduct. If he causes trouble again, the shopkeeper must hand him over to the officials for investigation, and then we’ll settle both new and old accounts together. For now, as long as he wears a sign and stands at our shop doorway for a day, I’ll call this matter settled. As long as Jin Le Fang doesn’t provoke us again in the future, we won’t cause trouble for Jin Le Fang.”
“What kind of sign?”
“What he did to wrong our Peach Blossom Workshop, and his guilt and apology toward our Peach Blossom Workshop, all must be written clearly.”
“Shopkeeper, make me wear a sign, this…” Chen Fugui pleaded with the shopkeeper for help.
The shopkeeper also knew this was very humiliating, even more embarrassing than making them pay compensation in silver. But they were the ones at fault, and the other party’s demand wasn’t excessive, so they had no reason to refuse.
“Fine, let him stand here.” The shopkeeper said, “Jin Hua Jin Hang, you two stay behind to watch Chen Fugui.”
The shopkeeper left two confidant shop assistants to stay here and watch Chen Fugui, fearing he would commit another wrong.
“Boss Su, any other instructions? If you have any conditions, just name them. Regarding compensation…”
“Actually, the culprit of this matter is Chen Fugui, and it has nothing to do with the shopkeeper or Jin Le Fang, right? Jin Le Fang is the number one cosmetics shop here and has no need to quibble over such small gains and losses with a newly opened shop like ours. Chen Fugui is narrow-minded, committed a wrong, and implicated your Jin Le Fang. You’ve already been punished. I have nothing to make you compensate for. If you really want to compensate, just manage your own people well.”
“Boss Su is really just letting this go?”
“Of course, once a word is spoken, even four horses can’t chase it back.”
“Boss Su is truly magnanimous.” The shopkeeper looked at Su Yaoguang with admiring eyes. “In that case, thank you, Boss Su.”
After the shopkeeper left, Wang Huanzhi wrote down Chen Fugui’s misdeeds on the sign and made Chen Fugui hang it around his neck, standing at the doorway for all to see.
Many people saw Chen Fugui standing there like a dog, with something hanging around his neck, and curiously gathered to see what had happened.
The illiterate asked the literate, and the literate read the words aloud.
“So the incident a few days ago was caused by him. This man is really shameless. Unable to develop new products himself, he bought our cosmetics, repackaged them in his shop’s bottles, claimed them as his shop’s new products, and sold them to regular customers at several times the price. If Peach Blossom Workshop hadn’t exposed his scheme, those old customers would have suffered big losses. Having lost his opportunity to get rich, he bore a grudge and hired people to frame others. Shameless, truly too shameless!”
“Jin Le Fang’s head shopkeeper is still quite honest. This second shopkeeper is no good. Fortunately, it was discovered in time. Jin Le Fang should feel fortunate.”
“Peach Blossom Workshop’s owner just let Jin Le Fang off like this? That’s too generous!”
“I heard them say that Jin Le Fang’s shopkeeper specially came with compensation gifts to apologize, asked what compensation Peach Blossom Workshop’s boss wanted, and Peach Blossom Workshop’s boss said that as long as this person stands at their shop doorway for a day, the matter is settled, as if it never happened.”
The people outside were discussing animatedly.
Zhang Zhaodi didn’t understand Su Yaoguang: “Daughter, Mom doesn’t get it. That shopkeeper asked how much compensation we wanted, so why didn’t you ask for any?”
“Then Mom, how much compensation do you think we should ask for to be appropriate?” Su Yaoguang asked while working on a new product.
“Hmm… It can’t be just one or two taels. Twenty or thirty taels would be about right.”
“Twenty or thirty taels—that amount of money is fine, but taking it would make it seem like our Peach Blossom Workshop took advantage of their Jin Le Fang. Everyone sympathizes with the weak. Jin Le Fang’s business is bad now, and the shopkeeper has good relations with people usually. Everyone in the city knows what kind of person he is. This trouble was caused by Chen Fugui, but in the end, Jin Le Fang not only loses business but also pays compensation in silver. In the end, Jin Le Fang only loses some money but gains a good reputation for keeping promises. Our Peach Blossom Workshop already has good business, and many in the city envy us. If we take Jin Le Fang’s silver at this time, when we were originally in the right, it would instead seem like our Peach Blossom Workshop is greedy for money and extorting them.”
“One or two taels of silver isn’t worth us bearing a greedy reputation, and twenty or thirty taels would lose us goodwill from bystanders. It’s better to be generous and cultivate a reputation for magnanimity and openness, letting more people know that our Peach Blossom Workshop acts uprightly with a broad mind.”
“Yaoguang is right. With that man standing at the doorway, more people know the whole story, and the people will stand even more on our side. Now the people outside are all praising Yaoguang for her magnanimity. Despite such a big incident, she didn’t make things difficult for Jin Le Fang and shook hands in reconciliation with Jin Le Fang’s shopkeeper.” Wang Huanzhi said.
“Wangshu, what are you standing here looking at?” Su Yaoguang followed Zhou Wangshu’s gaze.
Zhou Wangshu turned around and said, “Tomorrow I return to the academy. Tonight is the last lantern festival. I want to go take a look.”
