“Let’s go, we’re leaving.” Tian Benchang finally stopped coughing, with an indescribable stuffiness in his heart. It turned out that from the very beginning, while he was calculating others, others were calculating him too. This time he had taken quite a fall.
At this point, he didn’t want to stay a moment longer. He took the contract and quickly left the Li ink shop with Manager Fang.
Zhen Niang watched Tian Benchang’s departing figure with a smile. She had told him not to ask, but he insisted on asking. Look at how upset he was, Zhen Niang thought, rubbing her chin.
Beside her, Manager Shao was also smiling happily, feeling quite vindicated.
After this, the Li family began processing that batch of reprocessed ink for the Tian family. By the time this batch of ink was finished and delivered, autumn winds were already whistling.
The weather had turned cold, and Zhen Niang wore a lined jacket. Because of the dust in the ink factory, she had wrapped her head in a scarf, looking every bit like a village girl. However, she carried herself with a natural and unrestrained air.
At this moment, she was counting the ink to be shipped from the warehouse. During this period, the Li family’s profits had come mainly from reprocessed ink.
What worried Zhen Niang was that the sales of the Li family’s pine oil ink and lampblack ink hadn’t been improving. Now, merchants from other regions were all drawn by the imperial ink reputation, and even the Cheng family’s sales had declined significantly this year.
This was why everyone with ambition fought for imperial ink rights – the benefits were obvious. Just by association with the imperial ink name, orders would pour in from everywhere. The ink factory wouldn’t have to worry about sales at all.
“How much-unsold ink do we have in storage?” Zhen Niang asked Zheng Fuli beside her.
“Quite a lot. With the White Lotus sect causing trouble in recent years, plus bandits robbing travelers, our mountainous Huizhou region isn’t very safe for travel. We’ve seen fewer merchants coming directly to us for goods compared to previous years. Now all the major ink factories have opened ink pavilions in other commercial ports, directly expanding their sales channels there,” Zheng Fuli said.
Zhen Niang nodded. Opening ink pavilions in other commercial ports was indeed a necessary path. She had heard from her grandfather that the Li family once had an ink pavilion in Nanjing, but after the imperial ink incident back then, they had to give up even the Nanjing pavilion to pay compensation.
As they were talking, they suddenly heard someone calling out.
“Miss Zhen, Miss Zhen!” Er’gou was furtively waving at Zhen Niang from a distance, his shifty appearance like that of a street loafer making people frown.
To be fair, Er’gou was quite competent at tasks – as long as you gave him instructions and ignored his uncouth manner, he could get things done passably well.
Zheng Fuli was particularly displeased, but Er’gou was too thick-skinned, and because of Chouma, he couldn’t drive him away. There was nothing he could do about this troublemaker.
“Master Zheng, please watch over things here,” Zhen Niang said to Zheng Fuli, then patted the dust off herself as she walked over, asking Er’gou: “What is it? Why are you being so sneaky?”
“Nothing much, just saw you’ve been busy until now, thought you should take a break,” Er’gou said casually.
Zhen Niang couldn’t help but glare at him.
“Don’t, don’t glare! I have something to report,” Er’gou quickly said, seeing Zhen Niang’s glare.
“Is it about Deputy Workshop Head Li?” Zhen Niang asked. This Deputy Workshop Head Li was naturally Li Jincai, whom she had asked Er’gou to watch.
“Miss Zhen is truly perceptive,” Er’gou offered flattery.
Zhen Niang was exasperated, almost wanting to kick him. “Just tell me.”
“Recently, Deputy Head Li has been frequently going to Huiyuan Bank with Manager Zheng,” Er’gou said.
“Do you know what they’re doing there?” Zhen Niang asked. Recently, with the reprocessed ink business doing well and Li Jincai learning in the accounting office, it was normal for him to accompany Manager Zheng to the bank. However, when it came to Li Jincai, Zhen Niang always assumed the worst, so she had to ask for details.
“I’m not sure about that, but I discovered they’re quite friendly with the Sun family’s eldest son. The three of them often go together to a street by the Lian River – that’s no ordinary friendship,” Er’gou said with a snort.
“The three of them go to a street by the Lian River. What street? What do they do there?” Zhen Niang asked confused. Er’gou usually spoke clearly, why was he being so vague now?
“Well, well, well, you know… you’re a young lady, it’s not proper for you to hear about such things,” Er’gou scratched his head, appearing reluctant to explain.
Seeing his manner, Zhen Niang finally understood. She remembered there was a street of brothels by the Lian River – the three men had been visiting prostitutes. She secretly spat in disgust and said, “Never mind that just keep watching him closely. Don’t you have a sweetheart working as a maid there? Help me find out what they talk about.”
Er’gou wasn’t exactly a good character either. Zhen Niang had heard more or less about how the workers joked about him, and he had quite a few “sweethearts.”
“Miss Zhen, you’re wronging me! Though my old hag of a mother does have some connections with them, I’ll help you find out,” Er’gou protested shamelessly.
Zhen Niang ignored his nonsense.
“By the way, let me warn you – that Deputy Workshop Head has big ambitions. He’s been winning over workers in the workshop every day, and now many speak well of him,” Er’gou added.
Having grown up among courtesans and street life, he was quite perceptive about people’s intentions. Every move Li Jincai made showed his attempts to win people over. His ambitions weren’t small – this couldn’t escape Er’gou’s watchful eyes.
“I’m well aware of this, why else would I have you watch him?” Zhen Niang nodded. Chouma had asked her to look after Er’gou, and since Er’gou was competent at tasks, Zhen Niang trusted him quite a bit. Plus, she needed his help with certain matters, so she didn’t hide these things from him.
“That’s true,” Er’gou nodded, then suddenly added: “Oh right, one more thing – I think Deputy Head Li might have a lover outside.”
“What do you mean?” Hearing this, Zhen Niang frowned. After the Suzhou incident, this fellow still hadn’t learned his lesson. Was he now pursuing someone close to home?
“The night before last, I saw Deputy Head Li secretly packing some food and supplies and going to the vegetable market area. He went into someone’s house and didn’t come out. That house belongs to a young woman surnamed Su, with a Suzhou accent, living with a child about a year old,” Er’gou said.
He wanted to say that the next day, Li Jincai looked weak in the knees, obviously having been thoroughly exhausted.
But such things couldn’t be said to Miss Zhen, though holding it in caused him some distress.
Hearing Er’gou’s words, Zhen Niang immediately understood what was happening. So Li Jincai had brought Madam Su and her child here – no wonder he was so desperate to find a way into the ink factory. This way he could stay in the city to take care of them.
This fellow had grown quite bold.
“Keep watching him, and report to me if anything happens,” Zhen Niang ordered coldly.