Chapter 135: Every Trade Has Its Rules
The Li siblings were eating when Sister-in-law Yin entered with a bowl of crab roe lion’s head meatballs, placing it on the table and smiling, “Try it, this is our third sister-in-law’s specialty.”
“Sister-in-law, have you eaten? Try a piece of fried bread? Sister Mei’s fried bread is delicious,” Li Jinzhu said with a smile.
“I’ve eaten. You eat yours, we’re not outsiders. Thank you, Second Sister. How does it taste?”
Sister-in-law Yin thanked Sister Mei for the small chair she offered, took the tea from Li Yuzhu’s hand, and craned her neck to look at Li Xiaonan, who had already picked up half a lion’s head meatball.
“Delicious, it melts in your mouth,” Li Xiaonan nodded quickly.
These lion’s head meatballs were indeed made with great skill.
“Our third sister-in-law rarely shows off her skills,” Sister-in-law Yin said, pursing her lips.
Li Xiaonan turned her head to look at Sister-in-law Yin.
Whenever Sister-in-law Yin mentioned her sister-in-law, she was either sour or annoyed.
“You little girl, why are you looking at me! Keep eating, there’s one for each of you. Your brother isn’t home, so eat his too,” Sister-in-law Yin said with a smile.
“Sister-in-law, you’re here for something, aren’t you?” Li Jinzhu asked with a smile.
“Yes, but no rush, I’ll wait until you’re done eating,” Sister-in-law Yin said with a smile.
Everyone sped up their eating. Sister Mei cleared away the bowls and chopsticks, and Sister-in-law Yin said with a smile, “It’s about the fine cloth business.
“Our fine cloth business is getting better and better. Lately, people from silk brocade shops have been peeking around. I ignored them, but today a steward from the silk brocade guild came to my shop to talk to me.
“First, he said that since our cloth shop sells fine cloth, we should have reported to the guild before opening. If everyone opened shops and sold fine cloth as they pleased, wouldn’t it be chaos?
“Then he asked which weaving workshop our fine cloth came from. Later, he said that by selling fine cloth at this price, we were disrupting the market. I said I’m just the shopkeeper, and I’ll tell our owner about this matter. Whatever needs to be done will be decided by our owner.”
Sister-in-law Yin looked from Li Jinzhu to Li Xiaonan.
“If we ignore them, what do you think they’ll do next?” Li Xiaonan asked, looking at Sister-in-law Yin.
“The guilds are all in cahoots with the government. For a large guild like the silk brocade guild, their head of the guild holds an official position, attached to the Weaving Bureau, supposedly a ninth-rank official. Normally, the next step would be for the government to come knocking,” Sister-in-law Yin said, looking at Li Xiaonan.
“Then let’s ignore them for now and wait and see?” Li Xiaonan said, looking at Sister-in-law Yin.
“Deal!” Sister-in-law Yin agreed readily.
“Just waiting?” Li Jinzhu asked with a frown, looking worried.
“Yes, we’ll wait for them to make a move, and then we’ll counter,” Li Xiaonan said with a smile.
“A Nan, Sister-in-law will ask one more question. Answer if you can, and if not, just pretend I didn’t ask. Does that distinguished person know about our fine cloth business?” Sister-in-law Yin asked in a low voice.
“Yes,” Li Xiaonan answered concisely and directly.
Sister-in-law Yin immediately burst out laughing and patted her clothing placket, “Then we’ll counter their moves. Who’s afraid of whom? I’ll be going back now. Tomorrow we’ll need to buy eggs and duck eggs, let’s go early while it’s cool.”
“Sister-in-law, walk slowly.” Li Xiaonan stood up and watched Li Jinzhu escort Sister-in-law Yin to the courtyard entrance.
Li Jinzhu returned and looked at Li Xiaonan. Before she could speak, Li Xiaonan said with a smile, “We expected this long ago. I thought someone would come looking for us within a few days of opening, I didn’t expect it to be so late.”
Li Jinzhu slowly exhaled, and after a moment, let out a long sigh, looking at Li Yuzhu, “Before Xuedong passed the Xiucai exam, I thought that once Xuedong became a Xiucai scholar, our family would have nothing more to worry about or fear.
“Then there was Yinzhu’s marriage. Ever since it was settled, I’ve been on edge. Now, Yinzhu and Erlang are doing well.” Li Jinzhu paused, then raised her hand to pat Li Xiaonan, “But my heart is even more anxious now.”
Li Xiaonan wore a fawning smile.
“Father said that life is about overcoming one hurdle after another, one after another. When we were in Xiao Li Village, no matter how difficult it was, we got through it. A Nan is very smart, Sister, relax,” Li Yuzhu said with a smile.
“This little rascal is just too smart,” Li Jinzhu raised her hand high, but then lowered it to stroke Li Xiaonan’s head, “A Nan, you need to be sensible. At most, take on seven-tenths of the work with ten-tenths of your effort, do you hear me?”
Li Xiaonan nodded continuously.
………………………………
The Pingjiang Silk Brocade Guild sent someone to Yueyang Cloth Shop. They waited with bated breath for two or three days, but neither did anyone from Yueyang Cloth Shop visit, nor was any human affection offered, nor was any message delivered.
Several silk brocade shops on the same street as Yueyang Cloth Shop, or a few streets away, visited the guild at least once a day to inquire about the progress, which made President Shi of the silk brocade guild very angry.
By noon on the third day, President Shi could no longer wait and sent someone to invite several senior guild members to discuss.
“What’s the background of this Yueyang Cloth Shop?” a senior guild member asked with a frown.
“It’s Yueyang Preserved Egg Business,” President Shi replied irritably.
“So they’re relying on the favor they get from sending preserved eggs to villas and the prefectural yamen?” another senior guild member said with a scornful pout.
“We need to find out,” another senior guild member suggested with a frown.
“Haven’t you found out by now?” the senior guild member sitting below President Shi glared at President Shi.
“Then let’s find out first? We’ll talk after we find out?” President Shi ignored the senior guild member who questioned him and swept his gaze over everyone, saying irritably.
“Old Cui is right, we should have found out long ago. What time is it now! Alas, during the time of the old president, such a thing never happened!” a white-bearded senior guild member poked the ground with his crutch, sighing.
Each generation is worse than the last.
President Shi glanced sideways at the white-bearded senior guild member and ignored him.
“Little Yu, when you delivered the message, did you make it clear?” a senior guild member asked, staring at the youngest senior guild member, Yu Xing, sitting at the very bottom.
“I made it clear,” the young Yu Xing nodded.
“They’re too bold!”
“Indeed, they don’t take the guild seriously at all. No matter what, this is an official guild!”
“No matter what Yueyang Cloth Shop is, or what their background is, they can’t act like this. This is simply defying the law!”
“I said it, President Shi is too soft-hearted. Look, look, trouble has occurred!”
……
The senior guild members chattered, some poking the ground with their crutches, others banging on tables, the hall a cacophony.
President Shi rubbed his temples in extreme annoyance.
The senior guild member opposite President Shi looked at him and said, “The biggest issue for our guild is taxes. Yueyang Cloth Shop must be using tricks to evade taxes when collecting cloth from weavers. This is a violation of the law. The president must quickly inform Prefect Liu and ask for his instructions.”
“Yes, that’s absolutely right. You accompany me to the prefectural yamen.” President Shi stood up, cupped his hands, and raised his voice, “Everyone! I’m going to the prefectural yamen with Old Yu Xing to discuss this matter. You can stay here or go home and wait for news.”
Amidst another clamor from the senior guild members, President Shi and Old Yu Xing came out one after another and headed straight for the prefectural yamen to request an audience with Prefect Liu.
Ah, old debts are not repaid, and new debts are added!
I will definitely clear my debts this month, tomorrow, tomorrow!
