Chapter Ten: Wherever You Fall, Rise Again
Page (1/3)
After the matriarch left the rice shop, Madam Zhu’s face turned ashen.
Madam Zhu summoned Aunt Li and relayed the rules the matriarch had set before leaving, but Aunt Li failed to grasp the gravity of the situation. “Madam, if we only pay forty taels each month, our accounts will still show a large surplus.”
Madam Zhu frowned deeply. “That was before. Now, our shop’s reputation has declined sharply. Neighborhood business has dwindled, we’ve offended the prefectural and county offices, and even fallen out with the family of the Provincial Commissioner... Among the city’s eateries and inns, who would dare risk offending the officials to continue doing business with us? It’s all over now...”
“Mother, you worry too much. Even if others stop dealing with us, Mr. Su Dong surely won’t. We just need to keep trading with him,” Zhu Hao said with ease.
Madam Zhu looked at her son in confusion. “Xiao Hao, what are you saying? Yesterday, when Mr. Su Dong was trading with us, he was arrested by the authorities. He must be furious. Will he really continue doing business with us?”
Zhu Hao replied, “How would we know without trying? The most important thing now is to find out where he’s staying so we can pay him a visit.”
“Mr. Su Dong should still be in jail, right?” Madam Zhu wasn’t sure.
Zhu Hao smiled, “Grandmother personally went to the county office. Since Second Uncle wasn’t detained, it means Mr. Su Dong chose to compromise. As long as we find his whereabouts, I and Mother will go visit him. If Mother can’t explain everything clearly, I will talk it through with him.”
Madam Zhu and Aunt Li exchanged puzzled glances.
Zhu Hao’s gaze was resolute. “Mother, rest assured. I know my limits. This trip is purely to discuss business. Even if the deal falls through, loyalty remains. He’s not an official, so he needs to protect his authority; businessmen prioritize profit. Even if we must apologize, we have to make the effort, right?”
At that moment, Madam Zhu felt completely helpless and could only follow her son’s plan, treating a lost cause as if it might still be saved.
...
...
Zhu Hao insisted that Su Xigui wouldn’t hold a grudge against them. How could that be?
When Su Xigui attended the “Calming Banquet” arranged by the Changshou County magistrate and inquired a bit, he quickly learned the truth about the previous day.
It involved a family feud within the Zhu household—an elderly member trying to seize the property of a widowed daughter-in-law?
If you want to fight, you can be ruthless, but for me to become a scapegoat? And to top it off, that old matriarch came to threaten me, forcing me to reconcile?
Such unbearable humiliation!
Just as Su Xigui returned to the courier inn, intending to rest briefly before leaving with his salt goods, his attendant reported that Madam Zhu had come to see him.
“She still has the nerve to come?”
Su Xigui’s anger flared.
The attendant asked, “Should I not let her in then?”
Su Xigui said, “Of course I must see her. The old one comes on strong; the young one should at least soften. This woman from the Zhu family is truly entertaining...”
Outside the inn, Madam Zhu, waiting for an audience, did not expect that a simple message would grant her entry so smoothly.
She had thought the other party would avoid meeting her.
Soon, she entered the inn with her son and came to the flower hall where Su Xigui was drinking tea.
Su Xigui did not rise to greet them. Holding his teacup, his expression was a half-smile. “Madam, your Zhu family’s methods are quite clever. I was doing business with you, yet your family members brought officials and arrested me in one sweep... Are you secretly colluding with them to trap me?”
Madam Zhu replied seriously, “Mr. Su Dong, please forgive me. I was unaware of this; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been locked in the county jail with you... I’ve come to apologize sincerely.”
Su Xigui said, “An apology? Compensation is in order. I was quite frightened that night...”
As he spoke, a half-grown boy suddenly slipped out from behind Madam Zhu.
Su Xigui was startled.
Zhu Hao grinned. “Mr. Su Dong, my mother and I came especially to apologize and brought you a gift.”
“You...”
Page (2/3)
Su Xigui glared at the attendant beside him, silently questioning why two people were let in at once.
The attendant looked helpless; after all, it was Su Xigui who allowed them in without clear instructions.
“No need for apologies. Just the gift will do,” Su Xigui said, then suddenly realized the situation was more complicated and curiously asked, “What gift?”
Zhu Hao replied, “A sack of salt.”
Su Xigui nearly choked on his anger.
I’m a salt merchant, and you bring me a sack of salt as an apology?
Are you mocking me sincerely?
Su Xigui glared at Madam Zhu. “Madam, is this how you intend to apologize?”
Madam Zhu was dumbfounded by her son’s behavior.
Zhu Hao, seemingly oblivious to their disdain, continued with a confident grin, “Mr. Su Dong, I have developed a method for sifting salt that can turn official salt into premium snowflake salt. But since we’re small-time merchants, we’re not experts. We’d like to consult you whether this snowflake salt qualifies as tribute salt, or if it could fetch a good price in provincial or capital cities like Shuntian or Yingtian.”
Su Xigui sneered, “Small-town folk really see the world through a well.”
Unhurried, Zhu Hao took down the small bundle from his back and spread its contents on the table before Su Xigui. He casually scooped up a handful of salt, which sparkled under the sunlight streaming through the window, crystalline and brilliant. When he released it, the pure white salt grains fell gently like snowflakes.
“Mr. Su Dong, precisely because we’re ‘well folk,’ we ask someone as knowledgeable as you to take a look... This is a sample. There’s still a large sack outside. Care to inspect it?”
Su Xigui’s mind began calculating.
“Master, you see...” The attendant, familiar with his style, offered him a way out.
Su Xigui’s face darkened. “Bring it in.”
Zhu Hao called out, and a man carried in a sack of salt weighing about fifty pounds.
Su Xigui rose from his seat, personally opened the sack, plunged his hand deep inside, grabbed a handful, and examined it long and carefully in the sunlight. The more he looked, the more astonished he became. After a while, he returned the salt to the sack.
“Did you really sift this yourselves?” Su Xigui asked incredulously.
Zhu Hao answered, “Yes, we did.”
Sifting and drying sound similar, but Zhu Hao was honest; even if Su Xigui discovered the truth later, he couldn’t accuse him of lying.
Who told you not to consider the possibility of drying salt?
“The salt is good, but it still falls short of tribute quality...” Su Xigui said, plucking a few grains to taste. He chewed them a few times, expressionless.
“If you can share the sifting method, perhaps I could continue trading with you.” Su Xigui’s face flushed, perhaps feeling he had revealed his intentions too blatantly.
“Mr. Su Dong, we are frogs at the bottom of the well, but you are not. We haven’t even started trading, and you’re already coveting our method... That’s harsher than how our own family treats us.”
Zhu Hao said, “Let me put it this way: if Mr. Su Dong is willing to cooperate and supply us with official salt, we can sift it and sell it back to you. Whether you use it as tribute salt or sell it in the big cities, it’s none of our concern!”
Hearing this, Su Xigui was furious.
He had already dealt with that sly and ruthless elder from the Zhu family early in the day, and now here was this sharp-tongued kid.
“Mr. Zhu, your name is Zhu, right? You sure know how to talk. Just with your few words, you think I’ll listen to you?”
Su Xigui spoke through clenched teeth.
He seemed fierce, but it was just a scare tactic for a child.
A child? Zhu Hao?
What a joke!
In terms of mental age, Zhu Hao could easily be Su Xigui’s teacher.
Zhu Hao wore a disappointed expression. “Before coming, I thought this deal would be easy to close, but Mr. Su Dong cares too much about face... It’s really unnecessary. What’s more important than making money? If you’re not interested in cooperating, we’ll just find other salt merchants...
“Sigh, I told Mother that Mr. Su Dong has the broad-mindedness of a prime minister; our trade volume would grow, and wealth would flow in!”
At this, Zhu Hao tugged Madam Zhu, who had watched the whole scene, “Mother, let’s go.”
Su Xigui was angry but had nowhere to vent.
Seeing Madam Zhu and her son leave, he could have forcibly detained them, but having just been schooled by Zhu Jia, he knew that making things difficult for a chaste widow and her son would only ruin his reputation if it got out...
“Wait!”
Su Xigui quickly switched back to his business demeanor.
Zhu Hao turned with a smile. “Mr. Su Dong, have you reconsidered?”
Seeing Zhu Hao’s smug expression, Su Xigui glared back but felt a sense of calm.
This attitude—if you don’t cooperate, then forget it—is just a last resort. After all, he’s just a kid... inexperienced. If he’s proud now, he shouldn’t show it later.
“I’ll buy your snowflake salt. You won’t sell it locally?” Su Xigui asked.
Zhu Hao replied, “Of course not. Why sell to locals if we have other markets? Besides, ordinary people can’t afford snowflake salt. We’ll keep some for retail, but all the good sifted salt will be sold to you. After all, you have the resources and clout.”
“Hmph!”
Su Xigui withheld his opinion.
Zhu Hao pressed on, “We’ve thought it through. With our abilities, we don’t deserve to keep doing this business long-term. If we cooperate with you for a while and get our family business back on its feet, I’ll sell you the secret sifting method... Then, before long, you could dominate the snowflake salt market in all of Ming.”
“Mr. Su Dong, you have no reason to refuse, right?”
Su Xigui was an honest businessman.
If there’s profit, everything is negotiable.
Under Zhu Hao’s lead, the supply and purchase agreements were quickly settled. Then Zhu Hao said, “Before the trade starts, we need to borrow some silver for working capital.”
Su Xigui sneered, “You want to borrow money from me? On what basis?”
Zhu Hao said, “To be frank, this morning my grandmother came and demanded forty taels from the family monthly. If we can’t pay, she’ll take the shop and the formula. We’re not borrowing for nothing—we’ll mortgage some property deeds and borrow two hundred taels at once... That should be fine, right?”
Su Xigui thought it over carefully, then nodded. “I’ve inquired about your family’s situation. Selling your property should fetch a thousand or eight hundred taels easily, so borrowing two hundred is no problem. Bring me two hundred and twenty taels—two hundred as the mortgage loan, twenty as a gift.”
“Master, this... isn’t proper,” the accountant who had just arrived objected.
Usually, loans require repayment with interest; no one just gives money away.
Even Madam Zhu was surprised.
Before coming, Zhu Hao mentioned that they must expand their business to withstand the family’s increasing pressure. The more capital they have, the better. The Zhu family won’t be reasonable; since they agreed on forty taels monthly, with May’s end approaching, the demand for this month’s payment was inevitable.
With the property as collateral, Su Xigui couldn’t refuse the loan, but the extra generosity was unexpected.
“You’re very generous, Mr. Su Dong. We’ll leave the property deeds and take the silver. Wishing you prosperous business.”
Page (3/3)