Chapter 94

Chapter 94

After returning home, Pei Mu and Zhong Yizhu took a full day to rest before starting to tackle the mess left behind from the shop being closed for so many days.

The Bamboo Fragrance Shop in Songyun County reopened after being shut for over half a month. Customers who'd been waiting for days came flooding in, and merchants looking to stock up came rushing over, too—it was even crazier than opening day.

Fortunately, Zhong Yizhu had prepared ample stock, so they didn't run out early and have to close up, though the merchants' orders would have to be pushed further down the line.

Because some people had previously bought goods to resell and found they sold extremely well, this round of orders was much larger than before.

Zhong Yizhu looked at the signed contracts—there wasn't a hint of the grind of making incense day and night in his eyes, just the pure joy of making money.

On the other end, at Spice Street, Pei Mu had arranged for Li Sun to help with sales. He'd noticed on his earlier trip to Quzhou Prefecture that Li Sun, though a bit timid, had guts and was sharp. And since it wasn't planting or harvest season, his family was happy to let him take the gig.

The bidding war Liu's Fragrance Shop had stirred up among the spice vendors had turned into a nasty free-for-all. Two spice stalls had already gone under, and the other stall owners had been worn down by the infighting. Meanwhile, the Pei family's little spice stall was doing great.

After Pei Mu returned, he continued to have Li Sun manage the stall while he spent a few days checking out storefronts with a broker, settled on a mid-sized one, and opened a Quzhou spice shop.

The little stall at the West Market kept running as usual, while the new shop mainly handled big clients, plus merchants and regular folks who wanted to tag along with Pei Mu's caravan to Quzhou Prefecture.

Yang Luo and Fang You both started learning martial arts from Pei Mu, and Zhong He did too. Even though Zhong Yizhu had already given him back his indenture contract, he still chose to stick around.

He didn't want Kong Dashan getting tangled up with him again, and as a young man with no land or property to his name, his master treated him well. Zhong Yizhu and Pei Mu were willing to give him work, and if he saved up some silver, maybe he could buy a few mu of land and find himself a husband.

At the end of June, Pei Mu led the caravan off to Quzhou Prefecture, while Zhong Yizhu took Zhong He and strolled through the West Market with freshly made sugar figurines in hand.

Gong Laosi didn't have his stall there anymore. A while back, he'd saved up enough to open an ornament shop. On opening day, Zhong Yizhu and Pei Mu both went to set off firecrackers—it was a real party.

Zhong Yizhu walked past the stall he used to run. The new stall owner there also sold incense, but business didn't seem to be doing too well. Someone paused by the stall, and the owner quickly asked, "What does the customer need?"

Xu Lan snapped out of it and waved his hand. "No need."

His clothes were decent quality but looked pretty worn up close, and he had no jewelry or anything on. In the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the West Market, his hands were empty—he hadn't bought a thing.

The stall owner, already cranky from not making a single sale all morning, saw this shabby customer who only looked and didn't buy, and couldn't help sneering: "If you can't afford it, don't block the way. You're bad luck for my stall."

Xu Lan's face changed. Forget the fact that he'd only paused for a second while lost in thought—even if he had looked, he hadn't touched or asked anything, so this guy had no right to talk to him like that.

Xu Lan sniffed and let out a derisive laugh: "A bad workman blames his tools. The incense you sell has a messy, clashing smell that gives people headaches. No wonder nobody buys it."

The stall owner was furious and embarrassed. Since market rules kept him from throwing a punch, he quietly pulled out a slingshot after Xu Lan turned away, planning to hit him from behind when no one was looking.

But before he could do anything, his wrist stung with pain.

He looked up and found a young man gripping his wrist so tight he couldn't get free. Just then, a clear voice rang out nearby: "Officer! This guy's causing trouble here!"

In the end, the clerk fined the stall owner and made him apologize to Xu Lan. Once Xu Lan got his bearings, he quickly thanked Zhong Yizhu and Zhong He.

In less than a year, their situations had changed so much. Xu Lan let out a silent sigh.

Back then, the head of the household had been stuck between a rock and a hard place too—if he didn't do what the Boss said, he'd be fired. But he listened, he did it, and still ended up getting thrown aside in the end. Xu Lan felt like he'd done Zhong Yizhu wrong. This "I'm sorry" was a little late, but at least he finally had the chance to say it.

He gave a slight bow and turned to leave, but Zhong Yizhu called out to him: "Master Xu, please wait. Would you have some time to sit with me at a restaurant outside for a bit?"

Xu Lan turned around, surprised, and looked at Zhong Yizhu, who smiled and made the offer: "Our incense shop needs a manager. Would Master Xu be interested?"

Xu Lan's eyes went wide, and his usual composed expression cracked: "This... are you joking?" He hesitated. "Or did I get it wrong—are you talking about my husband?"

Zhong Yizhu tilted his head: "Why would it be him? I'm obviously talking about you."

Xu Lan's heart had never pounded this fast before. He nodded hard and followed Zhong Yizhu out.

...

From summer to fall, then winter to spring, the days flew by in a blur of work.

A year later, someone finally showed up at the Zhong's Fragrance Shop on the main avenue of Rongyang Prefecture—the shop that had been sealed up, then unsealed, but had sat untouched for so long.

The run-down shop got a full renovation. The moment the Bamboo Fragrance Shop sign went up, people started asking when it would open.

A young man, sleeves rolled up and wiping down the storefront, answered with a smile: "We open on the tenth of June. Everything in the shop will be twenty percent off that day. Everyone's welcome to come by."

After the visitor left, Yao Le lowered his voice and called out excitedly toward the back of the shop: "Boss, we've already had several people come by to ask just this morning. Can you imagine how packed it'll be on opening day!"

Zhong Yizhu was checking the shelf displays and laughed at that: "This is the main drag of Rongyang Prefecture—if it's not busy here, it's not busy anywhere. But getting people to come in and look is easy; keeping them is where Manager Yao's skills come in."

Yao Le held back his excitement, his delicate face looking steadier than his years: "Don't worry, Boss. I won't disappoint you."

Zhong Yizhu wasn't worried at all, of course. Xu Lan had been mentoring Yao Le for a year, and Yao Le was someone who really put in the work. He'd gone out and found someone to teach him to read and write, learned how to appreciate and make incense from Zhong Yizhu, and learned how to manage a shop from Manager Xu. He was young, but his skills were in no way lacking.

Everyone figured Zhong Yizhu would send Xu Lan—older and more experienced—to run the shop in the prefecture. But for one, Xu Lan's family was settled in Songyun County, and he preferred to stay there. And for another, Yao Le's dad's illness had gotten worse a while back, and Yao Sheng had closed his shop to bring him to the prefecture for treatment. The good news was the doctor in the prefecture said it could be cured; the bad news was it had been left too long, and curing it would take a lot of work.

So having Yao Le take charge in the prefecture was the perfect solution. He could take care of his dad, and with no family of his own holding him back, he was bold enough to take risks. The only worry was that an unmarried young man caring for a sick dad might attract people with bad intentions.

But there was a fix for that too.

Pei Mu's spice business had done really well over the past year, and with his half-security-escort gig on top of that, he was making just as much as the incense shop.

Pei Mu's spice stall had opened in Rongyang Prefecture even before the Bamboo Fragrance Shop. He planned to wait until the Bamboo Fragrance Shop had made a name for itself in the prefecture, then reopen the Zhong family's original spice shop too.

That shop would need someone to run it. Pei Mu planned to do the same as with the Songyun County shop—also take on escort jobs to Quzhou Prefecture. In that case, Yao Sheng was perfect for the job.

He was sturdy and knew martial arts, so he could scare off troublemakers and make people trust the caravan's strength. Pair him with a clerk who knew spices and bookkeeping, and the setup would be complete.

When Yao Sheng heard the news, he didn't hesitate for a second before closing up his pork shop. He couldn't even put into words how grateful he was to Pei Mu and Zhong Yizhu. He knocked his head on the ground twice and raised his hand to swear: "Don't worry, as long as I, Yao Sheng, am here, I'll protect both shops with my life."

Zhong Yizhu and Pei Mu quickly helped him to his feet. They trusted the two brothers' character, which was why they were willing to make these arrangements to help them out. Besides, when other shops opened in the prefecture, there'd be other people too—it wasn't like they were handing the whole prefecture's business to one family.

The whole family showed up for the opening of the prefectural shop. Zhong Yizhu and Pei Mu once again wore the matching outfits Sun Yunniang had made, the ones that looked like wedding clothes. They didn't have any old friends in the prefecture to set off firecrackers, but Yan Wenqin hired a lion dance troupe to celebrate—it was quite a show.

When the red silk came down, the words "Bamboo Fragrance Shop" came into view. A year had passed, and most people had long forgotten about the Zhong family mess. Some people thought it was curious that the boss was a young man; others had bought Bamboo Fragrance Shop stuff from traveling merchants and remembered it fondly; and some just came to check out the new shop. Either way, the place was packed—business was booming.

A man in ragged clothes passed by the shop, glanced at it twice, and hurried off. The Zhong Yizhu of today was someone even the Liu family didn't dare mess with, let alone him.

The Liu family had shown their true colors after the Zhong family fell. While he was still laid up in the clinic, they'd demanded he hand over the incense formulas. That was when he realized—the Liu family wasn't content with just the spice trade. Marrying Zhong Youtong had been about getting the Zhong family's incense formulas all along.

Back when the authorities had seized those four Zhong family shops, a lot of people wanted them—the Liu family included, hoping to use the Zhong formulas to open three Liu's Fragrance Shops just like the originals. But they didn't get their wish.

Word was that the Yan family from the east side of town was planning to buy, and everyone else quickly backed off. No matter how much the Liu family hated it, they couldn't afford to offend the Yan family.

No one had expected the shops to end up in Zhong Yizhu's hands.

Some people are just born to do business. Just like Second Young Master Liu, who'd ambitiously taken the incense formulas from him—the shop he opened was just as half-dead, no better off than Zhong Yizhu had been.

Zhong Yourong couldn't help but wonder—what if they hadn't given Zhong Yizhu such a hard time back then? What if the Zhong's Fragrance Shop had been handed over to Zhong Yizhu to run? Would they all still be living the good life? Would their family not have fallen apart?

But there's no such thing as "what if."