Chapter 13: There are always mountains higher than the other
The crowd of onlookers suddenly went wild.
"Wow, there are people like this?"
"Yes, you asked your daughter-in-law to pay back others' money earlier, but you didn't ask others to pay back your daughter-in-law. Are you not going to stop until you take away the shop?"
"It's clearly bullying an orphan and a widow!"
“Who dares to do business with the Zhu family in the future?”
The neighbors couldn't stand it anymore and started talking loudly in front of Zhu Jia. Several village elders nearby looked at each other in surprise. They didn't expect the Zhu family to eat in such an ugly way.
Zhu Wanjian yelled, "What does this have to do with you? Get out of the way and don't delay me from doing my job!"
He was about to go out when he saw Uncle Zhong and Yu San coming in from the main gate.
In front of everyone, Uncle Zhong said to Zhu Niang, "Madam San, the debt has been collected."
" What?"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Wanjian became furious and went forward to snatch the bag from Uncle Zhong's hand.
Butler Liu didn't even have a chance to help.
Preventing others from paying back their money is despicable, but it is reasonable and legal, but now directly robbing them...
Are you bullying the onlookers because they don't have eyes?
Zhong Shu had been mentally prepared after being reminded by Zhu Hao. He dodged the attack by twisting his waist and then handed the silver bag to Zhu Niang.
Zhu Niang opened the black cloth bag, revealing the silver ingots inside. She smiled with satisfaction and straightened her back and said, "Mom, there is enough money."
Zhu Jia's face was dark at this time, and her eyes were murderous.
Steward Liu walked forward calmly and said, "Madam, have you confirmed that you have enough silver? The silver doesn't seem to be of very good quality. According to the 95% discount, you need to prepare at least 42 taels and 1 qian of silver. Is that ok?"
Zhu Niang stared in astonishment: "Butler Liu, you haven't even looked at the silver I prepared, and you're already saying that the silver is not of good quality?"
Butler Liu smiled and did not argue with Zhu Niang.
Zhu Wanjian rolled his eyes: "Who can tell for sure about silver? What if it's adulterated? I think the discount is 95% too high, 90% is about right!"
"Wow!"
The onlookers were in an uproar again.
So many people came to bully the orphans and widows, and they came up with all kinds of twisted excuses. They always have an explanation.
Now, even with the silver depreciation issue, there is something strange going on?
Someone simply shouted: "You can just give me a 50% discount! I'll take it back and melt it down, and it'll be more than a 90% discount..."
Zhu Niang ignored Zhu Wanjian's provocation, took out the silver she had prepared long ago, weighed out 42 taels and 1 qian by herself, and came to the old lady: "Mother, the silver is discounted at 95%, you see..."
"Ninety percent off! No negotiation."
Zhu Jia was a ruthless person who spoke little, and her eyes seemed to be choosing people to devour.
Zhu Niang hesitated for a moment, then took out two taels and three coins from the counter and handed them to Butler Liu: "Please weigh it, Butler Liu. You can't regret it once you leave the door."
Butler Liu didn't believe that Zhu Niang could come up with forty-four taels of silver.
But after weighing, there was no problem at all.
Zhu Jia's face flushed red, and she glared at Zhu Niang fiercely, "Old Third's family, I let you return to the Zhu family because I am considering your future. Even if your husband is gone, you can still teach your children if you can't be his wife. As a virtuous woman, why do you have to come out and show your face in public and bring disgrace to our Zhu family? Our Zhu family is a family of Jinyiwei, and we cannot tolerate any taint in our family."
Zhu Niang was unmoved, and said firmly, "Mother, let's follow the rules. I want to maintain the things left by my late husband as much as possible. Besides, this shop and the house behind, plus the dozens of acres of land outside the city, are worth less than one thousand taels of silver even if they are all sold. I can earn back the money in two years and have more than enough... Isn't it good to live a steady life, mother?"
Zhu Wanjian said disdainfully: "If you leave it to your family to run, will you not be able to earn back the money or something? It will show that you are capable?"
Zhu Jia shook her head and stopped talking to her "stubborn" daughter-in-law.
She stood up, walked to the door, and looked at the people watching.
"Listen carefully, my husband is a captain of the Jinyiwei, and our family has strict traditions. If he fails to teach the younger generation here today, he will show up in public and bring disgrace to the family. I will not be able to stop him even if I don't discipline him strictly."
"I am here to make it known that if anyone dares to do business with her in the future , even if it is just rice, grain, and official salt, it will be equivalent to going against the Zhu family. My Zhu family will never let them have a good life!"
Zhu Jia wanted to take back the house, but she failed after several attempts. This time she decided to take a radical approach. If she can't threaten her daughter-in-law, why not threaten you common people?
Qian Chuanzi jumped out first, "What the old lady said is right. Nowadays, a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent. Isn't it better for her to stay at home and take care of the children? Zhu Niang, you should listen to the advice of your elders!"
"Qian Chuanzi, what do you want to do here? You think Zhu Niang is more honest than you in business, and you can't compete with her, so you come out to make trouble, right?"
"Who among us doesn't know that Zhu Niang is a good person? What did she do to bring disgrace to our family?"
"This is called finding a pretext to accuse someone of a crime!"
The neighbors were filled with righteous indignation and felt sorry for Zhu Niang.
Zhu Jia was too lazy to argue with these common people. She knew very well that most people were timid and cowardly. They were just talking big, but if they were really asked to come and buy things, how many of them would dare to enter?
As long as her daughter-in-law's shop is doing badly, her goal will be achieved.
Before leaving, Zhu Jia turned her head and squinted at her daughter-in-law, saying sinisterly, "Third daughter-in-law, since the rules have been set, you should follow them. I hope you will take good care of yourself! Let's go!"
Then a group of people went away in a mighty manner.
…
…
"Hahaha, interesting, really interesting."
At this time, on the second floor of the teahouse diagonally opposite the rice shop, someone was watching the scene in front of him with great interest.
Seeing Zhu Jia leaving the rice shop covered in dust and dirt, the man couldn't stop laughing.
It was Su Xigui.
The accountant standing by asked in confusion, "Boss, did we lend money to that mother and son just to watch this family fight each other?"
Su Xigui cursed: "You blind man, do I need you to teach me how to do business? This is called a trick! You obviously have money, but you don't give it to me at the beginning, and then you hit me in the head in the end. The tricks in this are not worth understanding..."
The accountant was scolded and was a little unwilling: "Boss, aren't you afraid that the mother and son will use this method on us?"
"Why should I worry about this? It doesn't matter if you have tricks or not in this world, as long as you follow the rules, this little Anlu is really a place with hidden dragons and crouching tigers. I thought the old lady of the Zhu family was already a top figure, but now it seems... there are always higher mountains than mountains."
Su Xigui finished watching the show and was about to leave.
Suddenly, someone came up the stairs quickly and walked to the tea table in two steps.
"Boss, Governor Huang sent a letter asking you to return to the provincial capital as soon as possible." The visitor said breathlessly.
Su Xigui frowned: "What's the matter? I haven't finished discussing the business here yet."
The man said, "Huang Fantai sent a message that bandits and riots are frequent in Jiangxi, Jiangxi, Huguang and other places. It seems that there is a strict organization that specializes in robbing passing merchant caravans. Serious cases of casualties occur from time to time."
Su Xigui nodded: "If my guess is correct, it may be related to the unrest in Gan...Okay, I will leave now and go back to Wuchang Prefecture to see what happened."
The accountant asked, "Boss, what about our refined salt business with the Zhu family?"
"Just find someone to deal with it. Don't give less than a pound of salt. When you pay the salt, make sure the accounts are clear. Don't make a loss."
Su Xigui smiled as he said this: "If they can't pay it back and need to take away the land and houses, it will be easier if I'm not in Anlu. I don't believe that the local government can still protect the Zhu family, right?"
The accountant nodded in relief: "The boss is right. If you really can't pay it back, we will take the land and house and no one can say anything."
