Chapter 181: Follow-up
Editor: Atlas Studios
Fan Zijin did not abandon this business as Qi Xiuyuan hoped. Instead, he agreed with Mu Yangling to wait for the trade caravan to return before determining the number of rabbits to be slaughtered. Before that, Fan Zijin hoped that she would raise as many rabbits as possible. After all, he was still unwilling to give up this business that he had worked so hard at for so long.
Not only did he have to think of a way to open up business avenues, but he also had to find other business opportunities. Qi Haoran’s words enlightened him. Since he could not increase his political capital through studying and the 5th Division, he would accumulate more wealth. At the very least, he would not have to beg for money in the future, right?
As for what Eldest Cousin said about merchants being lowly, he would just pretend not to have heard it.
After Fan Zijin’s men went south, they would send news back to him every once in a while. When they arrived at the Jiangling Prefecture, the steward got someone to send back two pieces of black and red sandalwood.
When Fan Zijin received it, the corners of his lips curled up slightly. He said to Qi Haoran, “Who said that business is bad? At the very least, it’s easy to buy what you want. If business is to be mixed with politics, what do you think it will become?”
“A collusion between government and business!”
Fan Zijin rolled his eyes at him and snapped, “It’d be the Imperial Merchants, such as the Shen family.” Fan Zijin placed the logs properly and stood up. “General Yuan was able to lead the army for decades. Even if the Imperial Court repeatedly suppressed him, he still stood tall. Half of the credit goes to the Shen family. And the Shen family was able to become the number one Imperial Merchant in the world from their humble beginnings, largely thanks to General Yuan. Haoran, what if Eldest Cousin also has the Shen family behind him?”
“Then Big Brother will definitely occupy a higher position than General Yuan. He might even become a great general.”
Fan Zijin’s lips curled up. “I think so too, so let’s work hard towards this goal. Perhaps Eldest Cousin can really become the general of the world’s troops?”
“Then, I’ll be Big Brother’s number one general, and you’ll be the number one Military Advisor.”
The two cousins fantasized about the future, completely ignoring how impractical it all sounded.
Fan Zijin happily took the embroidery and wood to the Brocade Workshop.
Because the item was expensive and it was the Qi family’s business, the owner of Brocade Workshop personally welcomed Fan Zijin and Steward Zhu with the shopkeeper.
The sandalwood was wrapped in silk cloth, and there were only two pieces. As soon as they opened it, everyone smelled a faint sandalwood fragrance.
The boss said with a smile, “This is top-quality wood. Young Master Fan, you are indeed resourceful to be able to find such good stuff in Xingzhou Prefecture.”
Because emperors and nobles liked to use sandalwood as coffins, and sandalwood took a long time to grow, sandalwood was very rare in the country. Hence, it was very difficult to find this.
Even if there were, they were mostly sold to places where powerful people gathered, such as Lin’an Prefecture. Now that there were war disasters in the north, sandalwood was even rarer.
Normally, it would be very good if one could gather enough sandalwood to make a box. Now, he could actually find two pieces that were long enough to make a screen.
Fan Zijin smiled and said, “I’m just lucky. However, there are only two pieces of the sandalwood left, so you have to be careful with them. If anything goes wrong, I won’t be able to find any sandalwood here to replace it.”
The owner hurriedly said, “Young Master Fan, don’t worry. Our craftsmen are the best in the entire Xingzhou Prefecture. I’ll get them to work slower on the sandalwood and make sure that nothing will go wrong. Let’s take a look at the embroidery. I’m very curious as to what kind of embroidery is worthy of such wood.”
Fan Zijin looked at Steward Zhu, who took out the embroidery piece from a box and unfolded it for them to see.
As soon as the thing was opened, the shopkeeper’s expression turned a little ugly. He recognized that Mu Yangling had brought this thing here previously.
After Mu Yangling left, he had asked someone to keep an eye on her. Knowing that she did not sell the item in the end and took it back, he was even less anxious. He thought that the other party would definitely bring it back to Xingzhou Prefecture. When the time came, he would just raise the price slightly. He was not afraid that she would not sell it. Even if she really refused to sell it, he had a way to force her to sell it.
Unexpectedly, she actually sold it to the Qi family?
Could it be that there was someone backing her? However, she was wearing ordinary clothes that day, and her clothes were even a little dirty. She was a classic example of a poor person with no money. How did she manage to sell the item to the Qi family?
Fan Zijin glanced at the shopkeeper and saw the change in his expression. He smiled mockingly but did not expose him.
The shopkeeper of Brocade Workshop was not the only one who felt aggrieved because of Mu Yangling. The second shopkeeper of Prosperity Restaurant was also aggrieved because there was a problem with the pork in Fortune Gathering Restaurant that day, causing them to be unable to cook many dishes. It would have been fine if it was any other time, because the customers could just order other dishes. Prosperity Restaurant was not only famous for this.
However, that day, Boss Li bought four small wild boars from Mu Yangling. He raised two of them for the time being and immediately prepared the other two into dishes and placed them on the high platform. He announced that they were Red Taste Restaurant’s specialty dishes of the day.
Red Taste Restaurant and Prosperity Restaurant were opposite each other. The customers who were originally sitting in Prosperity Restaurant and waiting to order food saw this and went to Red Taste Restaurant to join in the fun. Those who weren’t loyal patrons of the Prosperity Restaurant felt that eating at Red Taste Restaurant might not be a bad idea. In any case, the dishes they wanted to eat in Prosperity Restaurant were not available that day.
Therefore, those who had gone over to watch the commotion did not return. What was even more amazing was that the two pots of dishes were bought by two tables of guests at a high price in the end. In the end, those dishes were even evaluated in public and were hailed as the most delicious in Xingzhou Prefecture.
As for the guests who were attracted, after eating the dishes from Red Taste Restaurant, they felt that the taste was comparable to Prosperity Restaurant. When they were about to go to the restaurant the next day, they saw that Red Taste Restaurant was still lively, so they changed direction and went to Red Taste Restaurant again.
On the third day, although some customers were still used to eating at Prosperity Restaurant, many people chose to go to Red Taste Restaurant. Some people even came directly to the Red Taste Restaurant after seeing that there were many people in Prosperity Restaurant.
Originally, Prosperity Restaurant had significantly better business than Red Taste Restaurant, but now, both sides were evenly matched.
The shopkeeper of Prosperity Restaurant naturally had to find out the reason, so he found Mu Yangling.
The little wild boars that had been made into a dish of ‘Fragrant Pork’ was sold to Red Taste Restaurant by Mu Yangling. However, the shopkeeper could not find trouble with Mu Yangling because she had come to look for them first and only went to Red Taste Restaurant after they rejected her.
Although it was an unwritten rule in this area that if one wanted to do business with Prosperity Restaurant, they could not do business with Red Taste Restaurant. However, it was unwritten after all. Even if Mu Yangling did it, they could not do anything to her.
Therefore, he could only look for the second shopkeeper. He had asked him to send her away, but since the other party had brought something good, why did he still push her away?
The second shopkeeper could not say anything. Since the head shopkeeper clearly wanted to use him as a scapegoat, he did not even have the chance to explain himself.
Mu Yangling did not know about these things. Right now, she was busy fertilizing and plowing the wheat fields. Being a huge project, this was not much easier than planting seeds.
Old Man Sun brought an oxen over to Mu Yangling and said with a smile, “Although you’re strong, you can’t be so hard on yourself. Come, this is your family’s share. I’ll come back to get it in three days.”