The next day, Old Master Li Six took Li Jinhua to visit each branch of the family, thanking the clan brothers for supporting Aunt Jinhua. Li Jincai followed behind them, looking haggard and wearing a constant placating smile.
Watching from the side, Zhen Niang thought this man was either extremely incompetent or extremely patient. Based on the clan records, it was the latter.
“Jinhua, listen to me. Though your husband has returned, don’t be foolish like before, letting him do whatever he wants. You must stay vigilant. Keep all the family money, property deeds, and land contracts in your own hands. Don’t loosen your grip even slightly. When a man has no money, he can’t slip through your fingers,” Zhao Shi pulled Li Jinhua aside to give her advice.
“Thank you, sister-in-law. I’ll remember. I’ll watch him closely and never give him a chance to betray me again,” Li Jinhua replied with a stern face.
One learns wisdom from mistakes.
Zhen Niang knew that while Sixth Granduncle was alive, Li Jincai would behave himself. She worried about what would happen after her Sixth Granduncle passed away, and whether Aunt Jinhua could control Li Jincai. She made a mental note to have her elder brother and cousin Zhengsheng keep a close eye on him then.
It was better to be cautious.
Subsequently, the Li family’s sixth branch bid farewell and returned to Li Village.
“Alright, back to work,” Zhao Shi waved to the family.
Over the next few months, the Li family entered a period of rapid development. Their silkworm business flourished, and with the recent growth in the textile industry, silk prices had risen, bringing up cocoon prices as well. The profits from two seasons of silkworm raising covered the family’s living expenses for a year.
Of course, the income from silkworm cocoons was only part of the Li family’s earnings these months. The most successful venture was the Li brand coal stove. Her elder brother and cousin Zhengsheng made an excellent team—her brother led the brothers near the city gate in manufacturing the stoves, while Zhengsheng shed his Taoist robes and applied his persuasive talents. With Zhen Niang adding some modern marketing techniques, the Li brand coal stoves quickly became popular in Huizhou.
Although imitators appeared as soon as the stoves came out, Zhengsheng followed Zhen Niang’s advice to emphasize the Li brand from the beginning, establishing xstrong brand recognition.
Thus, even with some capable merchants entering the market, Li brand stoves still held half of Huizhou’s market share.
The stove business generated the bulk of the Li family’s income these months, but to expand production, they reinvested most of their profits. After all, they had started small, but now Li Zhengliang had formally quit his job at the oil mill and built a factory outside the city with its kiln, becoming a proper manufacturer.
As a result, the Li family didn’t have much surplus cash, but their development was evident.
Soon it was late autumn.
Zhen Niang rose early one morning and, after completing her morning chores, shouldered a shallow wooden display case and took Xi’er out to sell ink at Si Bao Street.
The wooden case on her back was similar to the cigarette racks street vendors used before liberation. She had specifically asked her elder brother to make it for selling ink.
After accumulating several months’ worth of soot and trading some for pine soot from the ink factory, she had produced various inks.
Initially, the ink wasn’t selling well. After all, ink-making had been largely standardized since the Ming Dynasty. Even in modern times, apart from some mechanical processing improvements, there haven’t been significant breakthroughs in ink itself.
Of course, there were developments in formula diversity and refinement, but getting people to recognize quality required the right opportunity and patience.
Zhen Niang wasn’t in a hurry. The family’s finances had improved considerably, making life much easier.
“Second Sister, I want to eat stone cake,” Xi’er stopped at the entrance of Si Bao Street, where a small shop had set up a large coal stove with a flat pan on top. Three large cakes sat in the pan, each pressed down with a round green stone. The cook’s hands hovered in the air, five fingers pressing on the stones, rotating them. The stones pressed the cakes paper-thin, with oil sizzling and a fragrant aroma of bean paste and meat making mouths water.
This was Huizhou’s special stone-pressed cake. Xi’er couldn’t move another step once he saw it.
Zhen Niang was also salivating—in her previous life, she would always buy these cakes when visiting Shexian. She took out some money: “Boss, two please.”
“Coming right up!” The vendor called out, taking two palm-sized pieces of oiled paper and wrapping the bottom of the cakes before handing them to Zhen Niang and Xi’er.
The cake’s outer skin was pressed very thin by the stones, with the fatty meat bits inside completely rendered into oil, making the entire cake translucent with grease. When bitten, the outer skin was crispy while the oil-soaked bean paste inside was particularly soft—absolutely delicious.
The siblings enjoyed their cakes thoroughly. Then they set up their stall under a locust tree, opening the wooden display case and laying it on the ground. The compartments held various types of ink.
From pine soot ink to oil soot ink and lacquer soot ink, she even had two medicinal ink sticks. Though not the premium Eight-Treasure Five-Gallbladder medicinal ink, these were still excellent for treating fire sores.
“Young lady, selling ink again?” Just as Zhen Niang finished setting up, a plump woman in her thirties carrying a basket walked by.
“Yes, are you going to buy vegetables, Aunt?” Zhen Niang quickly stood up to greet her. She had been selling for several days, and this woman was already a regular customer.
From the first day of selling, this aunt had bought one piece to try, and then returned each following day, saying her family liked it and wanted to buy more to give to relatives.
“Mm,” the woman nodded and said, “Give me another stick of oil soot ink.”
“Certainly!” Zhen Niang replied happily. This woman bought ink every morning while shopping for vegetables, helping her make her first sale of the day.
Zhen Niang took out two cardboard boxes and packed two sticks of oil-soot ink for the woman.
After the woman paid and left, a commotion broke out nearby, drawing many people’s attention.
“Uncle, what’s happening?” Xi’er, who loved the excitement, pulled at a passing man to ask curiously.
“A White Lotus sect priestess is catching ghosts,” the man replied.
“Catching ghosts? For whose family?” Zhen Niang also asked curiously.
“For Zheng San Niang from the Zheng restaurant family. They say she’s possessed by a ghost, so her two brothers invited a priestess to catch the ghost. Let’s go watch!” The man hurried off without further discussion.
Hearing this, Xi’er couldn’t sit still and said to Zhen Niang, “Second Sister, can I go look?”
Meanwhile, Zhen Niang was thinking—Zheng San Niang from the Zheng restaurant? Isn’t that Aunt Zheng Lamei? Her heart twisted. Ghost possession was pure nonsense.
The White Lotus sect had a long history, with some members practicing true kindness, maintaining vegetarian diets, and helping to cure illnesses. But some used the sect’s name to swindle money and harm people.
“Alright, let’s go together,” Zhen Niang replied, unable to sit still herself. She packed up the stall, shouldered the wooden case, and hurried along with Xi’er, following the crowd.
Soon they reached the Zheng family restaurant.
The entrance was surrounded by onlookers.
Zhen Niang pulled Xi’er to the steps of a neighboring general store to watch over the crowd. They saw Aunt Zheng tied to a chair while a White Lotus priestess waved a sword in front of her.
“What exactly happened here?” Zhen Niang asked the general store owner.
“What else? The Zheng family restaurant hasn’t been doing well lately, and the elder Madam Zheng recently joined the White Lotus sect. Somehow they got it in their heads that there was an evil ghost driving away their fortune god, so they invited this priestess to look into it. As soon as she arrived, the priestess claimed the evil ghost had possessed San Niang. Isn’t that nonsense? Just because she has some sores on her face? The priestess insists they’re ghost sores, evidence of possession. Now they’ve tied up San Niang and are tormenting her. It’s truly sinful!” The store owner shook his head as he explained.