Chapter 078

Chapter 78: Buying a Shop Brings Opportunity

After receiving the porcelain ornaments Madam Wang had sent, Auntie Liu set them all out for Tao Yi Ran to admire, saying: “Madam is not playing favorites; these pieces are quite nice.”

Everything that could enter the marquisate’s storerooms was of good quality, and Auntie Liu was all smiles. Anyone would be pleased to receive a few valuable trinkets out of the blue, and Tao Yi Ran was no exception. But Auntie Cai stepped forward with a look of disdain and began to speak, saying that many items in the household storerooms were either the Old Marquis’s trophies of war or gifts bestowed from the palace, each of them priceless.

With a smooth face she continued: “Setting aside the ones in the Grand Matron’s hands, Madam alone manages countless pieces. I just heard that the Second Young Madam accompanied Madam to audit the storerooms today and left with several items for Qiu Shi Courtyard; I fear they were all carefully chosen.”

She added, still in a tone of warning: “The young madam has been unwell and cannot serve at Madam’s side, while the Second Young Madam is skilled at maneuvering, coaxing both the Grand Matron and Madam into favoring her; I fear the young madam will suffer losses.”

And then she pressed the point: “Sooner or later the Heir Apparent will be the one in charge of this marquisate; the young madam should think more carefully.”

[She was a step away from saying that everything in the marquisate belonged to Tang Rong, that Madam Wang should not carelessly send fine things to Qiu Shi Courtyard.] Tao Yi Ran’s pleasant mood vanished.

Auntie Liu cursed Auntie Cai in her heart for being a tongue-wagging stirrer of trouble; were such words to be said so bluntly? [Has she never heard that walls have ears?] Unable to manage both the young madam and an old woman who sowed discord all day long, Auntie Liu felt utterly exhausted. She made up her mind on the spot: she could not change her mistress, but driving out old Cai was not impossible. She would have to find an opportunity for Tao Yi Ran to give the order personally.

Next door in Qiu Shi Courtyard, Xin An, after a brief rest and just about to head to the storeroom, was met by Er Shan. He had started service in Qiu Shi Courtyard only yesterday; today he was already going out with the group, with Lai Lai taking him around to learn the streets of the capital.

Xin An asked evenly: “Do you need something?”

Er Shan bowed with clasped hands and reported: “The young master sent me back to tell the young madam that a shop in the capital is for sale. The location is excellent and the frontage is large, on Ying Hui Street, four units in a row.”

He added with some excitement: “If the young madam is interested, you can go take a look; the paperwork could be signed this evening.”

There had been no shop among the dowry the Xin family gave Xin An, mainly because they had no time to purchase one in the capital, so they had converted the value into silver for her dowry. Buying a shop had been on Xin An’s mind ever since, and she had asked Tang Rong to keep an eye out. She asked crisply: “Do you know whose shop it is?”

Er Shan shook his head and said: “I only know it belongs to one of the young master’s colleagues.”

“Very well,” Xin An decided; then she asked: “Do you know the way? In a moment you will take me to see it.”

Er Shan answered that he did: “Brother Lai Lai told me clearly.”

Xin An had Auntie Wang send someone to notify Wang Jin and Wang Fu to head to Ying Hui Street and wait; they would inspect the shop together. She also told Chun Yang to bring banknotes so that if the shop proved suitable, she could send a banknote to Tang Mo at once to secure it first and talk after.

Shops in the capital were not easy to buy, and competition for good ones was fierce.

Once all was prepared, she led the party out. Er Shan drove the carriage toward Ying Hui Road, his back ramrod straight with nerves; he drove as cautiously as a cat by a pond. Chun Yang laughed and tried to ease him: “Brother Er Shan, don’t be so tense, take it slowly.”

Er Shan answered with a clipped “Mm,” still tight with nerves, and in the end delivered Xin An safely and smoothly to their destination. When she alighted, Chun Yang even praised him, and his eyebrows almost flew off his face with delight.

The shop Tang Mo had mentioned was indeed excellent: four adjoining units with a courtyard behind, a sizeable footprint at a three-way intersection, spacious both front and back. Wang Jin and his son had arrived first and already made inquiries. Wang Jin reported in a low voice: “The owners are the Wang family. Their head is a fifth-rank military officer. They say he is short of funds recently and wants to sell this shop.”

He pinched two fingers together to show the margin as he added: “The asking price is twenty percent higher than comparable properties.”

Wang Jin found it somewhat steep. Xin An searched her memory; she had a hazy impression of the Wangs, but it was fuzzy. That a military officer was strapped for cash was normal; perhaps there was truly an urgent need.

A stewardly-looking man stood at the door, craning anxiously toward every approaching carriage. Wang Jin said that was the person with authority to decide. Xin An stepped down, intending to tour the shop herself. Before her foot touched the ground, the steward trotted over and bowed: “Greetings to the Second Young Madam.”

Xin An inclined her head and said pleasantly: “Shopkeeper, there is no need for so much ceremony.”

Inside, the shop proved even larger and brighter than she had imagined, with goods arranged in neat rows. It was a sizeable general-goods store. She asked without preamble: “Is it not a pity to sell such a good shop?”

The steward’s surname was Wang, and his expression turned bitter as he answered: “To reply to the young madam, the shop is excellent in both location and layout, and business has been sound. If the master of the house were not in urgent need of silver, how could he bear to sell?”

He seemed about to say more, then swallowed it. Xin An made a circuit and then asked: “Why is the price twenty percent above the market?”

The shopkeeper said it was set by the master: “Perhaps he truly cannot bear to part with it.”

Xin An smiled faintly and examined the layout again. In her memory the capital would only grow more prosperous, and later still shops would be hard to come by, with prices climbing step by step. A good shop was not easy to secure. She concluded decisively: “We will not haggle. Let us settle it as is.”

Shopkeeper Wang was overjoyed. Chun Yang produced two banknotes of one hundred taels each as deposit. Xin An stated the terms clearly: “We will pay the balance when we sign the papers, and we will handle the red deed at the yamen ourselves.”

The shopkeeper accepted the banknotes, wrote a receipt, and surreptitiously wiped away a tear, full of reluctance. He then ventured: “Young Madam, the master’s meaning is this: there are still people living in the rear courtyard, and some goods piled there. Could you allow the people and the goods to remain for one more month?”

He promised at once: “We will find housing as quickly as possible and move out.”

Xin An tilted her head. Wang Jin and his son went straight to the back to look; when they returned, their faces were not good. Wang Jin reported: “There are twenty to thirty people living there, mostly elderly, women, and children; nearly all the old men have some disability.”

All at once, distant memories snapped into sharp focus. Xin An asked quietly: “Is your master the Huaiyuan Commander?”

She followed with a second question: “Are those in the rear old soldiers discharged from the battlefield?”

Huaiyuan Commander Wang You kept many disabled veterans who had no one to depend on. Xin An remembered that later Wang You ran into trouble, and hundreds of old soldiers knelt to plead for him; the scene was striking, and the Emperor was so moved he pardoned Wang You’s offense. The key was that Wang You’s father had once served under the marquisate’s Old Master Tang; in other words, these disabled veterans had ties to the marquis’s household. In her previous life, Wang You had never come to the marquisate to ask for help; there must have been hidden reasons.

Steward Wang did not deny it; he only watched Xin An with tension in his eyes. Xin An smiled lightly and nodded: “That is acceptable.”

Steward Wang bowed gratefully. Xin An said no more, boarded the carriage, and returned to the residence. When she alighted, she told Er Shan to ask Tang Rong to come home early that evening.

After entering the compound, she went straight to see Madam Wang.

Madam Wang, her doubts pricked, asked first: “How did you come to be looking into this family?”

Xin An explained the matter of buying the shop: “There are twenty to thirty people living in the rear courtyard, all veterans discharged from the battlefield and disabled besides. I am not yet very familiar with affairs in the capital, and thinking of the marquisate’s past, I worried there might be some connection between the Wang family and our house.”

She laid out her reasoning with calm clarity: “If there is no connection, all the better. If there is, then we should think of a plan. First, it would be a virtuous deed; second, it is in itself a good act; third, we would avoid leaving any hidden danger.”