Though Elder Cheng regretted not heeding Miss Zhen’s words and acting too slowly, the Zhu family truly wanted to withdraw from Nanjing. While Zhu ink was still sustained with the help of the Li family’s liquid ink and could hold on for a while longer during the Tian family’s ink crisis, Zhu Gui had been thinking carefully lately.
He realized that ink alone was not enough to support Zhu Ink’s development in Nanjing. Selling the Nanjing ink shop and returning to develop in their hometown like the Wei family was inevitable. Therefore, the Zhu and Cheng families were now haggling over the price, with both sides having their limits. Soon enough, they reached an agreement, and the Cheng family successfully took over the Zhu family ink shop.
The Cheng family paid twenty percent more than initially planned, which was still within acceptable range.
Setting aside the transaction between the Zhu and Cheng families, the Tian family’s situation was growing increasingly chaotic.
It started with the spoiled liquid ink, but soon their regular ink also developed problems – cracking. This was mainly due to the price war the Tian family had waged earlier, forcing regular ink prices to rock bottom. Naturally unwilling to operate at a loss, they began cutting corners in regular ink production, especially with the binding agent, using far less than required. Combined with the dry summer climate, large batches of regular ink began showing signs of cracking.
The situation even caught the attention of the Ink Affairs Bureau, which had sent word to the Tian family demanding a thorough investigation into their ink quality.
The Tian family was now in complete disarray.
At the Tian Family Ink Shop.
“Where’s that Zeng fellow? I told you to find him!” Tian Er hadn’t slept for days, his eyes bloodshot and face unshaven, looking like a madman. Though bitter about the situation, he felt helpless facing the family’s current predicament. He just wanted to vent his anger, naturally on Zeng Yipin. If he could find Zeng Yipin, even cutting him into a thousand pieces wouldn’t satisfy his rage.
“Second Brother, stop shouting. Zeng Yipin’s family disappeared long ago,” Tang Ronghua said beside him, rubbing her temples in frustration. She was anxious too, but anxiety wasn’t the solution – they needed to find ways to resolve the situation.
“Of course, I knew it! I knew it was that Zeng fellow conspiring with that wretched Li girl to frame me! I’ll report them! Third Sister, have Mr. Fang submit a petition. I want to treat Master He’s secretary from the Nanjing Prefecture to dinner. I’ll also appeal to the officials at the Ink Affairs Bureau. This is all the Li family’s scheming and plotting. My Tian family merely fell for their trap. We’re innocent!” Tian Er seemed to have suddenly found a lifeline. Yes, it must all be that Li Zhenniang girl’s doing.
“Second Brother, why are you still trying to stir up trouble at a time like this? Yes, everyone knows the Li family is behind this, but what difference does it make even if we know? We walked right into their trap ourselves. Our priority now is to quickly resolve the returns issue and salvage our reputation. If we don’t solve these problems, the Tian family’s ink shop in Nanjing will truly be finished. And if it affects our tribute ink business, how will we face Elder Brother? We’ll become the family’s sinners.” Tang Ronghua said angrily. Second Brother was still so troublesome, not knowing what was important even at this critical moment.
She had thought Second Brother had matured, but now that problems had arisen, instead of solving them, he was just trying to shift the blame. Could blame even be shifted at this point?
“Returns? Why bother with them? Did I hold them at knifepoint to sign the contracts? They were greedy for the low prices, and if you’re greedy, you should be prepared for consequences. No need to deal with them.” Tian Er responded viciously, then turned to Manager Fang: “Manager Fang, tell those asking for returns that we’re not the Li family – they can’t just sign contracts and return goods as they please. Tell them if they insist on returns, they can forget about ever getting our tribute ink stock again.” After speaking, Tian Er’s face showed clear distress: “This is so annoying, I’m going drinking.”
With that, Tian Er tucked away some silver and left with Tian Si’er. Without a doubt, they were headed to the brothels in Qinhuai. He had completely adopted an avoidance mentality.
“Third Miss, this… this won’t do… If we follow Second Young Master’s approach, the Tian family’s business will become very difficult. We can’t go against public opinion,” Manager Fang said worriedly to Tang Ronghua after Tian Er left.
If they handled things as the Second Young Master suggested, the Tian family wouldn’t be able to stay in Nanjing much longer.
“Never mind my Second Brother. Manager Fang, give me your advice – how should we handle this aftermath?” Tang Ronghua asked Manager Fang with a worried expression.
“First, we need to appease the merchants requesting returns. After all, we still have tribute ink in hand – with proper communication, this shouldn’t be too difficult. Second is the financial issue. Recently, we borrowed large amounts from the Four Direction Money House for liquid ink production. Now that the liquid ink is useless, the money house will likely pressure us to repay. We need to notify the Elder Young Master quickly about this. The situation in Nanjing needs his leadership to handle, and he needs to explain things to the Ink Affairs Bureau as well.” Manager Fang advised.
“We’ll certainly notify Elder Brother, but it will take some time for him to arrive. Distant water can’t quench a present thirst. For now, find someone to smooth things over with the Ink Affairs Bureau, and ask them to wait until my Elder Brother comes to explain. As for the merchants requesting returns, give them their returns if that’s what they want. If Li Zhenniang can do it, so can I.” Tang Ronghua said through gritted teeth.
“But Third Miss, we don’t have much capital left in the accounts. Most of it was invested in liquid ink, and it’s all lost now.” Manager Fang said worriedly.
“I’ll figure out the capital issue.” Tang Ronghua’s eyes wandered as she spoke.
The Tian family’s troubles were snowballing. Zhenniang and Third Elder Cheng had privately discussed that only Tian Benchang could probably clean up this mess now.
Of course, Zhenniang wasn’t particularly celebratory about the Tian family’s current situation. While it might not matter much in Huizhou, this fighting in Nanjing gave Shanxi merchants and others a reason to laugh at Hui merchants.
In short, it wasn’t something to be too happy about. Of course, Zhenniang couldn’t be expected to sympathize with the Tian family either. After all, Tian Er had brought this upon himself – you reap what you sow, with no room for argument.
Zhenniang stopped paying much attention to the Tian family’s affairs.
What she cared about was the development of her ink shop. After this liquid ink incident, Nanjing’s ink industry was reshuffled. Zhu ink was out, Cheng ink was in, and Li family ink had shaken off its previous decline. With Tian ink’s troubles, the Li family was now showing signs of becoming Nanjing’s leading ink producer.
Of course, this was just a trend – there was still a long way to go before it became reality. After all, the Tian family was just at a temporary low point. With tribute ink in hand, once they stabilized this situation, the Li family still couldn’t compete with them.
Of course, Zhenniang had no intention of competing with the Tian family. If Tian Er hadn’t been so excessive, things wouldn’t have escalated to this point. In the end, the Li family would walk their path and develop steadily.
So, Zhenniang kept a clear head. Now that Tian Ink had problems, this was the perfect time for the Li family to launch several new inks and promote Li Ink to establish its reputation. This was the right path.
Therefore, while the Tian family’s troubles were causing an uproar outside, Zhenniang immersed herself in the ink workshop, researching the tile ink and Yu Mi great ink, trying to restore the ancient Yu Mi ink production method.
Of course, this restoration wasn’t just about recovery – it was about keeping the essence while removing the dross, plus making improvements. For example, while Yu Mi ink was as hard as jade and produced an extremely black color, it lacked luster and was too flat black. This was Yu Mi Ink’s shortcoming.
So the ink’s clarity and translucency needed improvement.
Of course, Zhenniang’s restoration of ancient Yu Mi ink was mainly because it was a good selling point – in modern terms, eye-catching, with good advertising effect. It would help promote Li Ink’s reputation.
Once Zhenniang got into researching ink, she truly forgot about food and sleep.
“Zhenniang, it’s already the hour of Zi. Pack up and rest. Researching ink isn’t something you can finish in a day or two. It’s not good for you to stay up late every night like this.” At night, Madam Huang came into the ink workshop with an oil lamp and saw Zhenniang still making smoke.
At this time, Zhenniang wasn’t making oil smoke but pine smoke, and it was pine from Shaanxi. Zhenniang had made a simple pine smoke kiln using a large vat. To change Yu Mi’s great ink’s transparency, she had to first study its smoke material.
While researching, Zhenniang made another discovery – the pine from Shaanxi was far inferior to Huangshan pine. The smoke she had been making wasn’t clear enough and didn’t show any of the blackness that Yu Mi ink exhibited. This was the current obstacle Zhenniang faced. She had studied that tile-shaped Yu Mi ink – it used Shaanxi pine smoke, cow horn glue, and several very ordinary additives, with no blackening materials. So where did the ancient Yu Mi ink’s blackness come from?
“Second Aunt, I’m almost done.” Zhenniang looked up after pondering this puzzle for a while.
“Alright, I’ll wait for you. Finish within two-quarters of an hour and go rest.” Madam Huang knew Zhenniang’s temperament – if no one watched her, she might research through the entire night.
“Second Aunt…” Zhenniang scratched her head, knowing it couldn’t be resolved in two-quarters of an hour.
Madam Huang gave her a rare stern look, and Zhenniang could only smile: “Okay, okay, two quarters it is.” So she quickly focused on the smoke burning in the vat.
Just then, they heard a commotion outside in the street, followed by Ge Qiu’s sharp voice: “Catch him! Don’t let him escape!”
What’s going on? What’s all this noise in the middle of the night? Zhenniang and Madam Huang exchanged glances. They both left the smoke room and went to the outer area.
Since Zhenniang hadn’t rested, several workers in the ink workshop hadn’t rested either. Zheng Fuli and Ergou were in the outer area staring at each other. The two had disliked each other since their time at the Huizhou ink workshop.
Mainly, Zheng Fuli couldn’t stand Ergou’s loose mouth and rascal behavior, while Ergou despised Zheng Fuli’s false propriety. Their grudge went back to childhood, though after years of fighting, neither could get the better of the other.
Now, hearing the commotion outside and finding it distasteful to keep staring at Zheng Fuli, Ergou immediately said to Madam Huang and Zhenniang: “Second Madam, Miss Zhen, I’ll go take a look.” With that, he darted out.
He returned shortly, entering the ink workshop with a gleeful expression.
“Haha, these past few days Sister Ge Qiu has been busy collecting raw silk. Her Second Mother Cao has been watching the silk shop, but that Ge Dana fellow, having a beautiful wife at home but not appreciating her, went to brothels for pleasure instead. Madam Cao couldn’t bear the loneliness and got involved with Huang Lang. Somehow the news reached Sister Ge Qiu’s ears, and today she specifically brought people to lie in wait to catch them in the act. But Huang Lang still managed to escape. Haha, there’s going to be quite a show at the Ge family!” Ergou said with schadenfreude.
“Pah! You rascal, how dare you speak of such scandalous matters in front of Second Madam and Miss Zhen? Aren’t you afraid of polluting their ears? Wait till Ugly Woman teaches you a lesson.” At this point, Ma Sao came over, first laughed at Ergou’s words, then scolded him disapprovingly.
Second Madam was a widow, and Miss Zhen was an unmarried lady. Even if such things needed to be mentioned, a brief reference would suffice. It wasn’t proper to speak so openly about it.
Madam Huang waved her hand to show it wasn’t a big deal, and Zhenniang, having grown up around the city gate area rather than as a proper young lady, had seen and heard plenty of such things and wasn’t bothered. However, she was thinking about the Ge family – if they had caught Huang Lang on the spot, it might have been better. Not catching him might lead to complications.
Of course, this was just a vague feeling, nothing clear.
“Ah, my smoke!” Just then, Zhenniang suddenly remembered the smoke still burning in the smoke room – it must have been overcooked by now. She hurriedly turned back to the smoke room to check the temperature and smoke. Lightly pinching some soot between two fingers, she found it indeed overcooked, with a burnt smell, but…
Looking at the color of the smoke on her hands, she noticed it was considerably blacker than when the temperature had been just right. Could it be that ancient Yu Mi ink used overcooked smoke?