Chapter 305

Chapter 306: Softheartedness Won’t Do

The grocery shop’s business could not be called a daily torrent of gold, but it was certainly a hen that laid steady golden eggs. Having spent even more than Xin An, Madam Liao was naturally anxious to keep opening new shops to earn extra during the festival season.

Seeing that Xin An still had not found a suitable property for a new shop, she arranged for people to search, and they really did find a fine place.

Standing before the address Madam Liao had given, the two of them stepped down from the same carriage. At the gate, Xin An could hardly believe it and said: “Sister Xu, you call this a shop?” Before them was clearly a compound. Entering the main door and circling past the screen wall, they found a square courtyard. No one lived there, and the place had grown a little bleak with dust.

Madam Liao smiled, her eyes bright: “Just tell me whether this place is good or not.”

The street where the compound sat was not only crowded with ordinary folk; there was also an Imperial Academy nearby, and pedestrians came and went without end.

“We took careful stock,” she continued, speaking as she led Xin An around the yard for a full look. “Within the three surrounding streets there are six general stores. Without exception they are cramped and dim, and their goods are incomplete.”

“But these few streets hold more than a thousand households. That is a great many people, and there ought to be one large general store.”

She laid out how they would open the shop. Gesturing at the buildings, she said: “This yard is bright and spacious. If we knock down the walls that face the courtyard and convert the rooms into shopfronts, we can make six rooms. Then we can display the goods clearly by category. Add one more section specifically for brush, ink, paper, and inkstones to accommodate the students. The paper from Lin Prefecture is quite good…”

As she explained, Xin An understood that she meant to build the largest general store in the capital: “When the time comes, set a few tables in the courtyard and arrange for someone to boil free tea. That will draw in the students, and once the students come, the adults in households with children will follow. Business will naturally pick up.”

Madam Liao laughed and asked: “Free tea?”

Xin An said, matter of factly, that tea was abundant along the Huai River. Inferior grades were hardly worth anything: “Since it is free, we cannot expect to serve fine tea, can we?”

Madam Liao proposed with interest: “In that case, why not open a tea shop directly? We sell tea anyway. Set aside a separate area. Whenever new tea arrives, host a tasting here. More people will come by reputation.”

“If our own stock is insufficient, we can also take other teas on consignment. That too is an income stream.”

Xin An smiled: “It seems Elder Sister Liao already has the plan in her heart. If it is settled, then let us do it. Can this property be bought outright?”

Smiling, Madam Liao drew a deed from her sleeve: “I acquired it earlier. Does that set your mind at ease?”

Xin An understood. Everything had already been prepared; all that remained was for her to take a look and nod: “Then let us talk about the initial capital.”

The shop on Ying Hui Street was hers, with Madam Liao having put up the greater share of the capital. Now the roles were reversed, and Xin An did not hesitate to match in kind.

There are far too many cases of friends going into business and parting ways halfway through. For the two of them, business was just something done along the way. There was no need to haggle over tiny gains and losses, and in any case, she was not short of money.

After lunch they agreed on the general particulars, leaving the remaining details to their stewards to hammer out. Fang Da was very eager. With two great mountains at his back, doing business felt almost too easy to him. The current ventures no longer satisfied him; he was impatient to grow bigger and stronger.

“From here it is up to the stewards,” Madam Liao said as she stood beside the carriage, offering a few last instructions before climbing in to return home. “I have matters at the household and will not linger. If anything comes up, send word.”

Xin An drew a deep breath. To go out and return with a new deal struck was an unexpected delight: [What an unexpected bonus.]

As Coachman Cao Gui urged the horses along, the noise and bustle outside made Xin An keep lifting the curtain to look. She said, amused: “It really is nearly the New Year. They have already started setting up stalls to write the couplets.”

“Later we should get more little lanterns and hang them in the courtyard to make it festive.”

Chun Yang and Chun Lv were complaining about the capital’s bitter cold and praising the winter along the Huai River. Xin An’s lips curved: [In a few more months I will be going back. Just thinking about it makes me happy.]

Her gaze fell on a few men squatting at the foot of a wall, several baskets of charcoal before them. Looking more closely, she saw that one of the men was missing part of an arm. Remembering why Madam Wang had been slow to distribute charcoal, she formed a suspicion and told Cao Gui: “Go to Madam Wang’s residence.”

At that moment, Madam Wang was angry, her face full of impatience as she looked at the mother and two children before her: “This year’s charcoal allotment is a full double of last year’s. How can it not be enough?”

The woman bent a flattering smile: “Madam, our family is large, so it truly is not enough. See, these two children have fallen ill from the cold.”

One was a boy and the other a girl. The boy wore a new outfit, with two trails of snot under his nose. The girl wore obviously ill-fitting patched clothes; the wrists peeking out were dark and rough, and several fingers were covered with chilblains.

Madam Wang sneered: “This is only the second snowfall. You used up that much charcoal already?”

“Liu family, when the charcoal was distributed, I made things perfectly clear. Tell me yourself, where did that charcoal go?”

The woman kept smiling, never stating where the charcoal had gone. She only said that life was too hard, and that her father-in-law and her husband had been crippled while fighting for the Imperial Court. Between the lines she asked for more, then made the two children kneel and kowtow, looking as if she would not leave today without more charcoal.

Madam Wang was angry, but she had no good way to deal with such a person. She was weighing whether to give her some privately when a voice sounded by her ear.

“If they were injured for the Imperial Court, then they ought to seek compensation from the Imperial Court.”

The Wang household’s steward led Xin An in. She stood three steps from the woman and said: “Madam Wang has gone to the trouble of preparing sufficient charcoal for you to pass the winter, hoping you would live peacefully through this season. Yet you took the charcoal and resold it, and now that it is gone you come to demand more. What do you take this place for, a benevolent hall?”

Lifting her eyes to Madam Wang, she added: “Madam, in my view, have a carriage brought around and send them directly to the Ministry of War. Perhaps the Ministry of War will provide her with charcoal.”

Madam Wang knew Xin An intended to frighten the woman, and she immediately ordered the steward to prepare the carriage. The woman clearly panicked and made an excuse to leave, but Xin An gave a cold laugh: “Since you are here, to go back like this would be a pity, would it not?”

The woman thought Xin An was going to give her something. Her eyes roved over Xin An’s figure. Xin An said: “Send for her husband to come and take them home. Tell him this is the last time. If there is a second, the Marquis’s residence will strike him from the aid registry.”

Madam Wang nodded. The steward immediately escorted the mother and her children out, had them kept under watch, and personally went to fetch the husband.

Madam Wang invited Xin An to sit and take tea, then spoke earnestly: “Handled like this, they will likely bear you a grudge. That does your reputation no good. If they make a scene at the Marquis’s residence, you…”

After spending time with her, she had come to know Xin An’s disposition and feared she might suffer for this matter.

Xin An set down her cup and said: “You worry too much.”

“To be softhearted with such people is the worst thing. I suppose this is not the first family to come knocking?”