Chapter 189: Scheme and Struggle (III)

Chapter 189: Scheme and Struggle (III)

Outside the Bright Moon Tower.

Qi Hongzhuang removed her windproof cloak, soaked through with the cold air, and handed it to Guo Guzi behind her to shake the cold off.

Her gaze shifted slightly, and she noticed the clerk at the front desk, toying with his abacus while slouching to one side, sneaking glances at her from the corner of his eye.

Sensing Qi Hongzhuang's stare, he quickly averted his eyes, clacking the beads harder, almost sending them flying off the rods.

Having worked as a spy for years, Qi Hongzhuang had long mastered the art of keeping her face unreadable.

She calmly withdrew her gaze, ascended the stairs, and was led by a waiter into a private room.

Yet, no sooner had she stepped inside than she cracked, biting her lip to hold back a laugh.

Le Wuya, dressed in a fitted rose-red jacket, stood by the window, gazing down at the bustling crowd in the street.

Hearing the curtain rustle, he turned around, smiling before speaking: "County Mistress, perfect timing—the pot's just boiling."

The outfit was so loud it bordered on tacky, yet on him it somehow worked, matching his bold, flashy looks and personality.

Qi Hongzhuang took her seat.

Being in the dyeing trade, she could tell at a glance that the fabric was fine-quality Yunjin brocade—though not as prestigious as Shu brocade, its unique color stood out even more than vivid crimson.

She remarked, "That's a sharp getup."

Le Wuya gave a smug little wiggle, clearly fond of the attire: "A gift from someone."

Qi Hongzhuang found it hard to look at him directly, turning her head away: "What about the cloth I sent you, Prefect? Not to your liking?"

Le Wuya: "You know, tit for tat—I passed it along."

Qi Hongzhuang let out an "Oh": "So you two swap clothes?"

"Yes," Le Wuya nodded matter-of-factly, then asked her, "Should we put the tofu in now? Tofu needs a thousand boils, fish ten thousand—that's when they're at their best."

"Put it in."

Qi Hongzhuang usually didn't pry into other people's business, but the man before her bore a striking resemblance to an old acquaintance, and old habits died hard—she couldn't help but ask: "Who is it? That scholar always by your side?"

The moment the question left her lips, she silently dismissed the guess.

That kid was clearly a straight-laced gentleman; this getup wasn't his style.

Sure enough, Le Wuya lowered his head to stroke the fabric, shaking his head: "Shou Yue? Even if he could afford it, I wouldn't let him blow money on this."

Qi Hongzhuang thought of another mischievous and cunning lad—a gentleman's shell with a kid's heart inside, with dimples that made every grin look like a smirk.

This loud fabric did have his fingerprints all over it.

"I won't stand on ceremony, County Mistress," Le Wuya said, already digging in. "I've made inquiries on your behalf. The one in cahoots with the Lin family, who've agreed not to sell you dye, is the Bai family over in Puluo Prefecture."

"...The Bai family?" At the shift to business, Qi Hongzhuang shoved her curiosity aside. "Which Bai family?"

Le Wuya glanced at her, caught off guard, and winced as the hot tofu burned his mouth: "The head of the household is Bai Jin."

Qi Hongzhuang raised an eyebrow.

She mulled it over as she poured him some hot tea.

Only after sliding the cup in front of Le Wuya did she speak: "No wonder I dug around forever—first through rivals, then through middlemen—and came up empty..."

"Yes, who'd have guessed that butcher Bai would barge in and throw a wrench in things? Buying up all that smartweed—what, is he planning to feed it to his hogs?" Le Wuya, famished from his efforts, took a quick sip of tea and fished a piece of fresh fish from the steaming pot. "Tongzhou's got no shortage of merchants. If you started from scratch, County Mistress, unless you turned Tongzhou upside down, you'd work your way through every shop until your own place went under and turned into a butcher's stall before you ever got to the Bai family."

"...Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Qi Hongzhuang let out a sigh. "So how'd you manage to dig this up, Prefect?"

Le Wuya dodged the question, giving her the answer but not the how: "Bai Jin's a horny bastard. He recently took three concubines—bought off a passing flower boat for a hundred fifty taels. A guy named Su Yanzhi bought out their contracts and got their status changed to commoners at the local yamen. This Su Yanzhi..."

At that point, Qi Hongzhuang had already pieced it together: "Oh, it's their family."

"You know them?"

"The head clerk over at the Shi Xingbang estate." Her eyes turned cold and sharp. "...The Shi family of Puluo—have you heard of them, Prefect?"

"Of course, they've paid a good deal in taxes this year." Le Wuya spat out a fish bone. "They're a big name in weaving and dyeing around Tongzhou."

The dye merchants in Tongzhou all had their own patrons and were constantly at each other's throats, and they paid Qi Hongzhuang little mind—she stayed in her lane and never sold her cloth outside Tonglu.

Qi Hongzhuang's title of County Mistress was just for show; local officials and clerks might give her a bit of face, but that was it—none of them were about to back her.

She was well aware of this, and since entering business, she'd stayed put in Tonglu, tinkering with patterns and colors, never branching out or stirring up trouble.

But lately, she seemed to have lost her mind—getting bold, making moves left and right, making it obvious she wanted to take her brand beyond Tonglu.

They'd all seen what her "Tonglu Snow" could do.

This young widow, riding on her squeaky-clean reputation as a filial princess, with her unique patterns, vibrant colors, and fair prices—with her eye on expansion, plenty of dye merchants started getting nervous.

The Shi family made the first move.

From what Le Wuya knew, Sister Qi had always been a perfectionist—meticulous with her flowers, precise with her blade, and thorough when playing his fake wife.

Given how she ran things, her dye business was bound to put quality first.

Previously, her operations were small-scale, and the smartweed the Lin family grew was plenty for her.

The Lins had made their money growing indigo, and they relied on their own people for everything—so getting info out of them was nearly impossible.

The Shi family zeroed in on two weak points—"sole supplier of Tonglu Snow's dye" and "the Lins' ironclad secrecy"—and used the butcher Bai as a go-between to quietly cut her off, dead set on nipping her momentum in the bud.

Le Wuya joked, "Seems your recent moves have been too bold, County Mistress. Someone's trying to choke you out."

"My throat's not that easy to choke."

Qi Hongzhuang picked up her chopsticks, grabbed a piece of meat, and chewed slowly, a smile creeping onto her face.

"Good. Thank you, Prefect. Now that I know who it is, this gets a whole lot easier."

Her gratitude was entirely sincere.

At first, she'd figured a rival had bought off the Lins.

But after investigating, she could never pin down which competitor had connections to the Lins.

As a result, Qi Hongzhuang couldn't tell if someone was pulling strings behind the scenes or if the Lins had just gotten greedy, seeing her push to expand and jacking up their prices to squeeze her.

Which left her with no angle to counter or crack the standoff.

Le Wuya's intelligence was indeed a great help to her.

"Now, some people see that the County Princess is about to rise, and naturally they don't want you to take a share of the pie. The first thing they'll do is ruin your reputation while you're still finding your footing." Le Wuya analyzed the situation for her step by step. "Other dyeing and weaving shops are large, well-established operations, so they don't need to be so particular about materials. They'll use whichever dye is cheap and effective, unlike you, County Princess, who insists on sticking with the Lin family alone, which leaves you vulnerable to having your lifeline cut off."

Qi Hongzhuang humbly accepted Le Wuya's advice.

She knew that if she wanted to expand in the future, she truly couldn't rely on the Lin family as she had in the past.

Le Wuya continued, "This Lin family is truly short-sighted. I don't buy it that with the Shi family's countless supply channels, they could really keep buying the Lin family's top-grade indigo year after year with so much money. If I were the head of the Shi family, seeing how dependent you are on the Lin family, to prevent you from making a comeback, after driving you back to Tonglu, I'd turn around and find an opportunity to deal with the Lin family. All they'd have to do is set a fire, or find a way to tamper with the Lin family's indigo plants. Once the Lin family falls, you'd have to use ordinary indigo, and then I'd copy your patterns. Even if the cloth is slightly inferior, as long as I sell it a few cents cheaper than you, before a year or two is up, I could squeeze you out completely."

Qi Hongzhuang knew that the cutthroat nature of commerce was exactly as Le Wuya had so casually laid out.

She sighed, "The Lin family isn't necessarily short-sighted. Even if the Lin family is a brand with fifty or sixty years of history, in the end, they're nothing more than indigo farmers. The head of the family, Lin Xiaokun, only has an uncle serving as County Vice Magistrate in Mi County. Even if he could foresee what comes next, he can't help but toe the line, because behind the Shi family stands the Prefect of Puluo..."

At that point, she suddenly froze and looked at Le Wuya.

Le Wuya, having eaten his fill, held a cup of hot tea and sipped it noisily along the rim, a sheen of sweat on his forehead, his expression and posture radiating pure comfort and contentment.

His eyes, moistened by the steam, looked even more lustrous, with an undeniable charm: "So, who's got more clout—the Prefect, or me?"

Qi Hongzhuang looked around and suddenly understood.

She realized why Le Wuya had abruptly invited her to grab a hotpot at the crowded Mingyue Tower.

"County Princess Qi, in a day or two, buy some meat from the Bai family's butcher shop and pay a personal visit to the Lin family." Seeing that she understood his intention, Le Wuya smiled at her through the mist of steam. "This time, go and lay out the stakes nice and calm to the head of the Lin family, then discuss a big deal. How about that?"

Qi Hongzhuang felt a warmth in her heart.

He meant that he would allow her to leverage his authority, to lay out the pros and cons, using a mix of carrot and stick to win the Lin family over—turning them from a supplier into a steadfast partner, working side by side.

"I don't want to drag you into this unless I really have to."

Since Le Wuya was so generous, Qi Hongzhuang didn't hold back and spoke frankly: "The fact that you, Prefect, issued me the official maritime permit hasn't been widely publicized yet. Though rumors are circulating, mid-sized merchants like the Lin family probably don't know yet..."

"Then let them know this time. Say something polite—if he's willing to continue cooperating, everyone's happy; if he's not, we'll ditch him. You, County Princess, are a gardener by trade, so sooner or later you'll be able to grow the indigo you need. By then, maybe you'll even take over Lin Xiaokun's business too!"

Seeing him speak with such enthusiasm and vigor, Qi Hongzhuang was tempted but still hesitated: "But your official reputation..."

The reputation of colluding with merchants was hardly a good one.

Le Wuya waved his hand dismissively, quite philosophical: "If I've reached this rank in office and still expect everyone to sing my praises, that would be wishful thinking. I'm not silver—not everyone loves me."

Qi Hongzhuang grew anxious: "But public opinion can be a killer—enough slander can ruin a man..."

"So-called official reputation is nothing more than grasping the four words 'heaven's will and the people's heart.' As for the common folk—the people's hearts cannot be deceived. Time reveals a man's true nature. They see what kind of person I am and will judge accordingly."

Le Wuya pointed playfully at the sky: "As for His heart... whatever he hears about me, that's what I become."

Unfortunately, that most trusted Changmen Guard's ears are currently being sweet-talked into a stupor by yours truly.