CH 31

At the beginning of this month, the Porcelain Chamber of Commerce will meet again.

All the Masters sat together, waiting for Lady Cui from the Jade Porcelain Workshop to come and denounce the obstruction with her.

Early in the morning, The Masters arrived one after another and negotiated the wording one by one, ready to threaten Lady Cui to let go. But after waiting until the meeting time was passed, they didn’t see any signs of Lady Cui at all.

The Second Master He was in a hurry and ordered his young servant boy to ask at the Jade Porcelain Workshop.

As a result, the young servant boy ran around and found that Lady Cui was not in the shop, but in the mansion on North Street. When he went again, the door of the North Street Mansion opened a crack, and a black-faced woman stuck her head out, pulled her long face, and said, “My Madam said that it’s inconvenient for her to talk to a brunch of Masters, so she won’t make herself unwelcome. Today, My Madam is feeling uncomfortable, so please don’t disturb!”

When the young servant boy’s face turned pale and sent the words back to the Porcelain Chamber of Commerce, he first saw those Masters look at each other, then foam with rage and broke into curses, saying that the Cui family’s Lady is really inauthentic. How does her husband discipline his wife normally? How can he allow her to be so arrogant and rude, and offend her peers?

However, after scolding to their heart’s content, The Masters were still helpless about how to solve the transportation of large quantities of clay.

A few days ago, there were still a few boats that could be deployed, but recently, they doesn’t know what was wrong with the Head of the Water Department and he even requisition the rest of the boats away. Seeing that the porcelain kiln hasn’t been able to get the supply materials and the production project had been suspended, the Second Master He’s voice rose.

The job of leading the Royal tribute is enviable, but if something goes wrong, it is also a great sin to lose its head!

He Zhen sat aside and listened silently, knowing that it was Lady Cui who had been given a cold shoulder by her father last time, so she decided to take revenge!

In that case, they had to soften their attitude and begged Lady Cui for accommodation to let the clay pass the shortcut of Shuangling Village.

But it is too embarrassing to ask her father to bow his head as it also damages the reputation of their long-established He family businesses. Thus, the third daughter of the He family naturally needs to mediate on behalf of her father’s actions.

So the next day, the third daughter of the He’s family prepared a box of ginseng, together with Nanyang’s bird’s nest and several large boxes of honey fruit, and went to the Cui’s Mansion on North Street to visit Lady Cui who was “sick”.

This time, Servant Li, the black-faced door-god, opened the door. He Zhen had been smiling and courteous since she entered the door. Looking at Lady Liu, who was half lying in bed and wrapped her forehead with a towel, she was just like a sister who had been friends for many years, holding her hand and inquiring about her wellbeing.

“Lady Cui, I haven’t seen you for a few days. How can you get so sick?” the third daughter of the He Family asked with a sad face.

Miantang half-wrapped her hair and lay weak and weary, it does look like she was feeling sick, sighed and said, “I have been suffering from a chronic disease for many years, and I tend to have a headache if I am not careful enough. I spent a lot of money in the Capital at the beginning and lose most of my husband’s family fortune. Fortunately, I met a good doctor who gave me a prescription. It’s just that the medicine has to be taken care of. I have to choose a place that is rich in water and plants, stay away from the noise of carts and horses, and rest carefully to preserve the efficacy. I guess I’m lucky. I managed to buy a good place a few days ago and only waiting for the medicinal herbs to be planted to renew my life… The Third Lady, I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to visit me!”

He Zhen barely squeezed out a few smiles when she heard the speech, but it was a little ugly. She didn’t expect that she just exchanged a greeting or two and that Lady Liu stopped all the words she prepared!

Listen to the meaning of Lady Liu, the land in Shuangling Village is used to grow life-saving herbs. Moreover, it is needed to keep away from the noise of carts and horses. The implication was that if anyone tried to pass through it, they would be considered harming Lady Liu’s life?

So after Liu Miantang recounted the pain of illness she was suffering from and asked what else He Zhen wanted to do here, the third lady who was always eloquent was a little hesitant.

But it was a big deal to delay The Emperor’s task. Her family’s lives were tied to it. It was impossible to delay, she can only brace herself and say, “Lady Cui, you should also know that now the canal has been dug, and the ships have been requisite away. The clay supply in the porcelain workshop in our town is not available, which is a headache. But I heard that your family has shipped a lot of clay on the pavement. If it’s convenient, can you spare some to the He family business to relieve the urgent needs?”

Upon hearing this, Miantang frowned slightly in embarrassment and said, “If Lady He were asking for anything else, I’ll agree without a word. But it’s difficult for me if you’re asking for this alone. To be honest, our Jade Porcelain Workshop has also received a large list of orders recently and we’re in need of using the clay. If we’re to divide some to you, our order list will not catch up with the construction period. Wouldn’t it ruin the name of our Jade Porcelain Workshop that we finally build up?”

He Zhen had expected that she would refuse, and hurriedly said, “The price is easy to negotiate. We’ll just pay a high price.”

This willow lady obviously wants a rare commodity worth hoarding to corner the market, so it’s better to follow her heart and solve the urgent need of the He family first.

Anyway, as long as the canal is completed and the waterway is restored next year, there will be more ships, and there will be no way for Lady Liu to be in control anymore.

But there’s a thing, their He family is rich and can overcome this barrier, but other shops may not be able to take out much turnover money to buy the Cui family’s high-priced clay.

The Cui family using the method of a rare commodity worth hoarding to corner the market can indeed make some money, but it also completely offended other merchants in Lingquan Town. Let’s see how her family can survive in Lingquan Town in the future!

So no matter how high the price Liu Miantang wants, she will just accept it. Giving up money and silver will also ruin the reputation of the Cui family. With gaining victory with unstained swords, she will drive this foreign family out of Lingquan Town!

Liu Miantang listened to Lady He’s words about asking for clay at a high price, and said with a soft smile, “Look at what you have said. My husband is educated. Are we, the Cui family, people who pursue profits and forget righteousness? How can we be black-hearted to earn money from the villagers? Moreover, our family sells porcelain, we don’t want to change our profession to selling clay!”

Hearing this, the third daughter of the He family was a little unsure of what the willow lady was thinking.

After sitting for nearly half a day and until her lips were chafed, she finally made Liu Miantang relent on her words, “In fact, if we can earn more money in the Cui’s shop, those life-saving medicinal herbs can be bought from elsewhere… But the order list now in the shop is too small. It would be good if we could take some Imperial orders like your He family and other shopkeepers…”

When He Zhen heard this, she then understood what Liu Miantang meant. It turned out that she was an ambitious girl who wanted them to share the benefits offered by the Royal family!

Now that both sides have made their words clear, everything will be easy to handle. The third daughter of the He family frankly said that the matter is serious and she needs to go back to discuss it with her father.

Regardless of her infirmity, Lady Liu personally sent Lady He to the door and kindly asked her to discuss with her father, the Second Master He, quickly, otherwise if the medicine seedlings in her Shuangling medicine field were to grow up, she would be reluctant to pull out and open the road to the transportation of clay for the others.

When He Zhen went back and told her father what she meant, he was so angry that he hit on the table again and said that the Cui family had a big face. Don’t they look at what kind of foundation they have and wanted to undertake the imperial offering!

However, He Zhen persuaded the Second Master He, saying that since Liu Miantang wanted to earn The Emperor’s money, they might as well let her earn it as well. Moreover, the coloring technique in the Jade Porcelain Workshop is really good. If it can be used by the He family, wouldn’t it make the He family become more empowered and advance in status?

The Second Master He understood his daughter’s meaning. Anyway, the porcelain decorations contracted by the He family will eventually be named after the He family’s business name. No matter how capable she is, Liu Miantang is just a little pony for the He family to use. It’s not too late to find a way to deal with the Jade Porcelain Workshop after The Emperor’s wedding and Imperial offering.

The Second Master He knew that his daughter was scheming and did things more comprehensively than him. For the sake of this moment, he could only invite the woman surnamed Liu to join the club and get through the current difficulties.

Therefore, the monthly Porcelain Chamber of Commerce meeting in Lingquan Town broke the convention and met again on the second day after the third daughter of the He family visited Lady Liu.

This time Lady Liu came, but she was a full hour late.

When Lady Liu came in, she apologized repeatedly, saying that women have a lot of things to do when they go out, and it takes a lot of time to groom their heads and faces, which has kept them waiting.

All The Masters of the Porcelain Chamber of Commerce greeted each other with smiling faces, saying that Lady Cui valued her colleagues in the Porcelain Chamber of Commerce, so she dressed up attentively. What a wonderful heart!

So the colleagues in Lingquan Town discussed politely and amiably with each other the distribution of the Imperial tribute orders again.

The most profitable work of coloring fine porcelain belongs to the name Jade Porcelain Workshop. This benefit was originally monopolized by the He family, so the Second Master He naturally didn’t want to cede it. However, the willow lady did not like the other benefits, and only demand an exorbitant benefit for it alone.

The other shopkeepers saw that Liu Miantang didn’t like their benefits. Naturally, they breathed a long sigh of relief and even helped Lady Liu to persuade the Second Master He to relent on his words.

The Second Master He’s face was so blue with anger that if his daughter He Zhen hadn’t been stepping on his feet under the table, he would have made a fuss at that time.

Finally, the He family give off this benefit, and Liu Miantang naturally was relieved. Firstly, she said sadly about her illness, and then sincerely said that she would not hesitate to pull out the life-saving herbs and delay her illness for the sake of the people in Lingquan Town and The Emperor.

Lady Liu was born charming, and she didn’t leave the house these days. The superior fragrant powder also whitened her face. This sad and delicate appearance tends to make people believe that it was Heaven being jealous of her beauty, and she was not going to live for long!

She had said until the Old Masters nodded again and again, and sincerely thanked Lady Liu for her broad mind of taking the overall situation into account.

But the Second Master He scolded in his heart, what nonsense herb? He sent someone to see it. It was clearly cabbage and scallions from all over the place! What kind of incurable disease can those cabbage and scallions be treated for?

When the negotiation was over, Lady Liu also received the order deposit from the Royal tribute in advance. The order deposit for this batch of colored porcelain lists alone was 800 taels of silver. If it was all finished, there’s still half of the money that could be taken.

Lady Liu didn’t know how much money and silver the order of the Royal tribute offered before. When she took the thick silver notes in her hand, she finally understood why those shopkeepers were so flattering to the He family before. It was the profits here that made people jealous!

Aside from the Jade Porcelain Workshop which had made a lot of money. Cui Xingzhou on the other hand, in the Military Camp, can finally relax his face with satisfaction after hearing the recent progress of the Water Department and waving the reporting official down.

However, the official had one more thing to report to The Prince, so he asked cautiously, “Your Highness, you ordered all the ships within a hundred miles of the county to apply. Now that most of the fortifications have been completed, can you ask those ships to relieve the corvee?”

In fact, the Water Department doesn’t have to be so urgent to recruit fishing boats. As for why he acted like this, Cui Jiu didn’t think about it too carefully then. Just in his mind, he flashed through the empty hole under the bed of the North Street house, and then with the benevolence of his thought, he did something convenient for the young woman who was ready to ask for the road money to pass through.

He didn’t pay much attention to what he had said before. Now, hearing the official mentioning it, he suddenly thought of it. He doesn’t know how the situation with Lady Liu is going.

However, the conscription of fishing boats for too long did have some impact on people’s livelihood, so Prince Huaiyang waved his hand and said that he could lift the corvee of some ships.

However, in his spare time, when he went to North Street for dinner, he learned from Miantang that she had blackmailed them successfully.

But after hearing that Liu Miantang undertook the affairs of the He family, he frowned slightly.

To be honest, he bought the shop just to calm her mind. He didn’t expect her to make the stop bigger and bigger in just a few months.

“Aren’t you afraid that the He family business will take advantage of the porcelain in your shop and use the name of your shop to punish you by acting like this?”

Miantang smiled sweetly after listening, “Husband is thoughtful, but our shop is contributing to the He family, and all works will be owned by the He family in the end. So if he wants to tamper with our porcelain, he will only ruin the name of his long-established shop. How can he not be implicated? Now that we have just established a foothold in North Street, we have to operate well. It will require you to suffer a little and condescend to others first. But one day, the name of our shop will be printed on the porcelain provided by the Royal Court! ”

Miantang made heroic words here, but Cui Xingzhou smiled, “If you like it, do it well with all your heart. Not for me, just for yourself. You should also operate steadily, which can be regarded as earning yourself an industry.”

After all, the shop and the house should be given to her together after this. If Lady Liu manages well, she is the one benefiting from it.

It is rare for Cui Xingzhou to have so much leisure to teach people, but in Miantang’s ear, her husband is encouraging her to do things boldly.

With her husband’s trust, she couldn’t help but look at him with bright eyes like one’s sidelong glance has the moist gleam of the autumnal waves.

Cui Xingzhou was used to her looking at himself like this, and leisurely took a chopstick of fish and put it into her bowl, “Eat quickly, didn’t you say you’ll go back to the shop to check the porcelain you sent?”

Miantang also felt that her just eyes were too rash, which was not in line with being a virtuous wife. She laughed playfully and then hurried to eat.

She did want to go out later, but when she saw her husband coming back, she wanted to have dinner with him, which delayed her plans.

After Miantang finished her meal and rinsed her mouth with bamboo salt, she cleaned up a little and was ready to go out.

Cui Xingzhou happened to be going out too. In addition to having a meal from Servant Li, the most important thing for him to come to Lingquan Town today is to pay a visit to a senior official of the Central Court who has returned home. So looking at the time, he also went out with her together.

The Prince’s carriage was just about to pass by the Jade Porcelain Shop. Cui Jiu hesitated for a moment, thinking that since it was on the way, regardless of her, it was not very good to leave her going alone, so he asked Miantang to get in the carriage together.

Miantang went out with her husband for the first time. She was feeling the sweetness in her heart and properly sat beside Cui Jiu. She felt that the carriage was full of a faint bamboo-like scent of her husband.

When the carriage drove out from the North Street entrance, the people who took the lunch break had not returned thus, the street looked a little empty. The carriage moved slowly along the stone road towards the porcelain shop.

However, when it was turning to a quiet street corner, several big men suddenly jumped down from the high walls on both sides of the road. Two of them came forward and grabbed the coachman’s neck.

The other few stood at the entrance of the alley and be on the lookout. Their division of labor was orderly. At first glance, they were experts in road robbery.

One of them pulled off the curtain one by one, didn’t look at Cui Xingzhou, just held up a sharp sword, pointed to Liu Miantang’s throat, and said with deep pity, “Lady Liu, it’s fine if you left at the beginning, but why did you secretly hide the silver money that our Young Master had finally raised? Now there are mistakes and omissions in the accountant, and our Young Master has said that as long as you are willing to return it, he will let bygones be bygones!”

Liu Miantang was confused by this. She raised her eyebrows and said, “Who is your Master? What did I take? Did you recognize the wrong person?”

Seeing that Liu Miantang didn’t admit it, the big man only sneered twice. He was too lazy to talk nonsense and just wanted to pull Liu Miantang off the carriage and tie her up.

As for the man sitting next to Liu Miantang, he didn’t even look. Yun Niang told them in advance that Lady Liu is now married to a businessman, an embroidered pillow-like man, a lazy dandy, he should be the one. A trader, naturally, has to cherish his life. If he dares to move, he will immediately poke a hole in his body!

But just when his hand could touch Liu Miantang, the embroidered pillow-like man beside her spoke slowly, “I don’t know how much money she took from you, but I’ll return it on her behalf.”

The leading man was about to laugh when he heard this. He raised his eyebrows and said viciously, “Thirty million of the snow-like silver teals, can you afford it? Get out of my way!”

As soon as he pulled the sword in his hand, he wanted to scratch the face of the embroidered pillow-like man.

But as soon as the big man’s wrist was stretched forward, the handsome, effeminate young man who lives off a woman unexpectedly stretched out two fingers and clamped the thin sword body, and then with the help of a knack force, he pulled the big man into the carriage.

Liu Miantang had just touched a pair of copper bells that Servant Li put aside for her earlier on. This bell was sent by the highly skilled Doctor Zhao Quan, who asked her to hold it when she was free and rebuild her wrist muscles and bones.

Now, this pair of bells can be used. She only held them high and smashed them on the top of the big man’s head while Cui Xingzhou pulled the big man in.

Miantang’s skills of recognizing acupoints are very accurate. Although her hands are not strong enough, it is enough to make the big man roll his eyes and faint.

This is the first time that Cui Xingzhou saw her beating people with his own eyes. She looked soft on the outside but precise in acupoints.

At this time, the sound of fighting outside the carriage also continued. Just as Miantang was about to look, the back of her neck sank and her eyes blacked out.

After Cui Xingzhou knocked her unconscious with a hand gesture of a knife, the secret sentry outside also went out together and took the interceptors.

“Your Highness, everyone has been caught!” The secret sentry knelt and reported to Cui Xingzhou.

Prince Huaiyang waved his hand and motioned them to bring the man for interrogation.

Although there were only a few words just now, it was enough for Cui Xingzhou to figure out the possibility.

Liu Miantang was too brave. When she ran away, she not only took away a box of jewelry and silver notes, but also a large amount of stolen goods from the Young Master Ziyu!

Thirty million snow-like silver teals is indeed not a small amount. That Young Master Ziyu was able to keep his equanimity and only asked for it now!

Cui Xingzhou set up his house in North Street for so long that he finally caught a decent fish and shrimp, which did not waste his patience.

At present, with this situation, he had arranged for another time to pay a visit to the senior official who returned to his hometown from the Imperial Court.

Because those thieves had oppressive (feudal) officials that are specially used for integration, Cui Xingzhou didn’t have to do it himself, so he sent the unconscious Miantang back to the mansion first.

As a result, as soon as the carriage arrived at the door, he saw Marquis Zhennan, Zhao Quan leading his servant boy popping his head in and looking about at the door.

When he saw Cui Jiu take the unconscious Lady Liu down from the carriage, Zhao Quan was startled and thought that Lady Liu’s old disease had relapsed. When he heard that it was Cui Jiu who knocked her out, he was immediately angry.

Marquis Zhao had long regarded the young lady as a woman in his mansion. How could Cui Jiu be willing to do such a cruel thing? At that moment, he raised his eyes and said, “Your Highness is used to beating and scolding soldiers in the Military Camp. How can you bare to be a vicious person manipulating such a charming woman from behind!”

Cui Xingzhou originally thought that Miantang would wake up on the way, but he didn’t expect that Miantang had been breathing disorderly and seemed to fall into a nightmare, so he was also a little worried. He just frowned and said, “I just used a knack to make her fall asleep. My strength is not hard. Come and take a look at what happened to her?”

With that, Cui Jiu took Liu Miantang into the room in big steps, rolled up her sleeve, and showed her jade wrist for Zhao Quan to check her pulse.

But when Zhao Quan’s fingers were about to touch, Cui Xingzhou’s eyebrows frowned, and he felt that even a disloyal woman should not be touched at will.

Thinking about it, he took out a sweat handkerchief from his arms and covered it on her white wrist.

Zhao Quan felt that it was superfluous for him to take off his pants and fart. He couldn’t help staring at him and wanted to take away the sweat handkerchief for a more careful diagnosis. But when he came into contact with Cui Xingzhou’s slightly narrowed eyes, he dared not to be rash and only check her pulse through the sweat handkerchief.

Miantang’s pulse and breath are a little disordered. It can be seen that the previous congestion syndrome has not dissipated. It seems that he needs to strengthen the conditioning of decoction and medicine.

After checking on her pulse, Zhao Quan wrote another prescription and gave it to Servant Li to boil the medication for Lady Liu. Then he solemnly told Cui Xingzhou that the woman’s body bone was originally fragile, and it must not be treated again as it is today.

If it was the usual, Prince Huaiyang will only sneer. How can a person like him who does everything by hook or by crook pity a woman who has been disloyal by the anti-bandit?

But this time, Prince Huaiyang didn’t sneer, but listened in silence, and then nodded slowly.

When Zhao Quan came out of North Street, he was still in a trance. He always felt that something was wrong with his friend who he had known for many years. But he didn’t know exactly where it was.

Miantang fell into a muddy dream, in which someone showed her an account, and then asked, “Lady Liu, what do you think we should do?”?