When Shen Xiling awoke the next day, Qi Ying had already left for court. She woke up in her own room, and when she stirred, Shuipei and Fengshang outside the door heard the movement and both came in to attend to her washing and grooming. Shen Xiling hadn’t expected that she had slept so soundly the previous night that she didn’t even know how she had returned to Woyu Courtyard, which inevitably made her feel somewhat embarrassed. She asked Shuipei and Fengshang about this matter.

Upon hearing this, both maids covered their mouths and laughed. While laughing, Fengshang answered, “How else could you have returned? Naturally, Young Master carried Miss back.”

Upon hearing this, Shen Xiling’s pretty little face turned completely red.

He carried her back…

…She had actually slept so deeply that she didn’t feel anything at all.

With her cheeks flushed pink, Shen Xiling quietly blamed herself while secretly making excuses for herself, thinking that perhaps staying by his side made her feel too secure—why didn’t he wake her up? It wasn’t all her fault anyway.

This day was crisp and clear with high autumn skies and light clouds. After having her morning meal, Shen Xiling felt somewhat lazy, perhaps suffering from autumn fatigue, so she rarely decided to rest for a day and not go out to check on her businesses.

Indeed, she had no mind for other matters today. The scenes from when she was together with that person last night kept lingering in her heart. His words and actions remained vivid before her eyes, making her feel sometimes joyful and sweet, sometimes inexplicably restless and worried. Her heart could no longer hold anything else.

She had originally planned to rest well today, go to Wangshi to pick out a couple of books as a pretense to cover up the fact that she was secretly lost in thought, thus avoiding the embarrassing situation of being teased by Shuipei and the others. However, before she could even reach the door of Wangshi, she heard Zijun say that Liuzi had brought Song Haotang to the gates of Fenghe Courtyard.

This was quite an unusual occurrence.

Speaking of this Song Haotang, he could be considered fortunate. Three years ago, he was merely handling cloth dyeing matters in the fabric shop, but later gained Shen Xiling’s favor because of white cotton weaving. Shen Xiling felt he was honest and faithful, and having traveled extensively in his early years, he had considerable experience. Over these few years, she had particularly promoted him. From purchasing estates to opening branch stores, she consulted him on many matters. Now he had even more standing than Shopkeeper Lu.

He was a capable person who rarely came to Fenghe Courtyard. Since he had come now, there must be some matter at hand. As soon as Shen Xiling received word, her autumn fatigue immediately disappeared completely. She immediately had Zijun invite them to the main hall.

After getting ready and arriving at the main hall, Shen Xiling saw Song Haotang with his brows tightly furrowed. Her heart naturally tensed, and after taking her seat, she asked, “Mr. Song has come in person—could there be some trouble with the business?”

Song Haotang greeted Shen Xiling properly, not even bothering with the tea the maids had served him. With a rather grave expression, he cupped his hands toward Shen Xiling and said, “I presume to visit and disturb you—please don’t blame me, Miss. There is indeed a troublesome matter…”

The troublesome matter Song Haotang spoke of was quite complex when broken down.

The batch of white cotton textiles released a few years ago had fine texture and low prices, which attracted common people’s pursuit and caused quite a sensation in Jiankang City. The small fabric shop also benefited from this, being rescued from the brink of half-death. Later, Shen Xiling took advantage of the continuing momentum and opened several branch stores in succession, which had now become quite successful.

However, although white cotton textiles were a novel item, merchants by nature pursue profit. After she took the lead, other fabric shops gradually followed suit, making competition inevitable.

Shen Xiling wasn’t surprised by this. Business was originally like this. She had neither the intention nor the ability to monopolize this trade. Money should be earned by everyone together—it was only natural. But it wasn’t so easy for other merchants to immediately get a share of this business, because white cotton cultivation had not yet spread throughout Jiangzuo at that time, and the source of raw materials itself was limited. This became a barrier for others to enter.

Based on this, Shen Xiling came up with another way to make money.

Master Tian’s estates in the Min and Guang regions were vast, with enormous amounts of white cotton planted—far more than Shen Xiling’s few fabric shops could consume. So she simply bought up all his surplus accumulated white cotton and resold it to other fabric shop managers in Jiankang City. She also had Meng Yingying teach them the weaving methods for white cotton textiles, with the condition that she would take twenty percent of their profits as compensation.

This became a long-term business that was also time-saving and effortless—she calculated very shrewdly.

However, not everyone was willing to do such business.

Those scattered small fabric shops, having no connections to find estates that could supply white cotton, were mostly willing to cooperate with Shen Xiling. But those large fabric shops with extensive connections naturally didn’t want to give profits to others for nothing, so they didn’t buy into Shen Xiling’s account.

This was of course reasonable, and Shen Xiling didn’t force it. Over the past year, she had focused on gathering business from small fabric shops. Little by little, it accumulated into a very considerable income. Moreover, now that she had acquired her own estates, the price of white cotton was even lower than what she purchased from Master Tian, making this business even more profitable.

However, there was another problem within this.

Shen Xiling and the small fabric shops under her care bought white cotton either from Master Tian or from Shen Xiling’s own estates, so naturally the prices were cheap, and the final cost of the textiles was also low. Although those large fabric shops that refused to cooperate with Shen Xiling could buy white cotton, over these few years the market for these textiles had been steadily rising. The estates everywhere weren’t foolish—they naturally knew there was profit to be made, so they all raised the prices of white cotton. This resulted in Shen Xiling’s textiles being much cheaper than those from other shops, and by careful calculation, significantly cheaper.

This was naturally good news for Shen Xiling, but bad news for those large fabric shops.

When the managers of the large fabric shops saw that their textiles were expensive with thin profits and sold in small quantities, how could they be willing to accept this? So they brought this matter to the weaving guild, accusing Shen Xiling’s fabric shops of selling at cut-rate prices and disrupting the trading order of white cotton textiles.

This was naturally nonsense.

Merchants pursue profit and naturally use every means possible to earn profits. Shen Xiling had seized the initiative and taken the first step ahead of others, so naturally she benefited. Those large fabric shops were now acting this way simply out of jealousy—if they couldn’t rise up themselves, they would rack their brains to drag others down.

The so-called guild was also a novel thing that had only emerged in recent decades, a product born from the current prosperity of commerce in the realm. It was supposedly intended to mediate disputes among peers, purify industry practices, and protect industry interests.

It sounded nice, but wherever there were people, scheming and corruption were inevitable. The various guilds in Jiangzuo were also manipulated by the large establishments in their industries—they were merely changing their appearance to compete for profits. This weaving guild listened to the one-sided words of those large fabric shops, and to please the large establishments behind them, they ordered Shen Xiling and the small fabric shops under her protection to raise prices—quite unreasonable and domineering.

Although Shen Xiling had a good nature and had always been kind to others, in business matters, she wasn’t a pushover. How could she do whatever others told her to do? There was always heavenly law and justice in the world. She conducted business properly and legitimately—everyone should rely on their own abilities. Making her raise prices and give up profits was absolutely impossible.

Who would have thought that this weaving guild would act so outrageously? The reason Song Haotang suddenly came to visit today was because a small fabric shop that had aligned with Shen Xiling had been vandalized by a group of people today. The entire shop was now in chaos, and the shopkeeper was currently sitting on the street crying and wailing, determined to hang himself.

Upon hearing this news, Shen Xiling immediately furrowed her brows and first asked, “Did they only vandalize the shop, or did they also hurt people?”

Song Haotang wiped the sweat from his forehead and answered, “This time they only vandalized the shop, but reportedly they also left words saying that if he didn’t learn the rules, next time wouldn’t be so easy.”

After hearing that the shopkeeper wasn’t hurt, Shen Xiling breathed a slight sigh of relief, but her expression still darkened.

She was indeed different from her childhood self. Back then she was gentle and quiet, soft and weak, and even when bullied, she would endure and restrain herself. Now, however, she had developed a temper. Perhaps because she had stayed by Qi Ying’s side for so long, she unconsciously became more and more like him. At this moment, with her face darkened, she faintly made those beside her feel some pressure.

Everyone dared not make a sound. Shen Xiling remained silent for a while by herself, then got up and walked toward the door, saying, “Let’s go. Let’s go take a look first.”

The vandalized small fabric shop was on the right bank of the Qinhuai River, and the shopkeeper’s surname was Feng.

When Shen Xiling was young, to avoid being looked down upon, she mostly had Liuzi handle business negotiations on her behalf. Later, when she grew up, she gradually began to handle things personally. She had met this Shopkeeper Feng once, during their initial contact. Later, after reaching an agreement, the specific matters were handled by Song Haotang, so she hadn’t seen him again.

Who would have thought that this second meeting would be so dramatic: this Shopkeeper Feng was seven feet tall and over forty years old, yet now he sat at the shop entrance crying like a young child, attracting frequent glances and discussions from the people coming and going on Jiankang City’s main street.

Shen Xiling’s carriage stopped in front of his fabric shop. She first lifted the window curtain to look outside and saw that his fabric shop had been vandalized beyond recognition. Not only were the fabrics torn and soiled, scattered everywhere, but even the wooden frames in the shop hadn’t escaped harm—they were smashed to pieces, leaving debris all over the floor.

Although Shen Xiling had only been in business for three years, she already understood the hardships of this path. Being a merchant wasn’t easy, especially for small shopkeepers whose businesses weren’t large—they always faced greater hardships. Shen Xiling had poured countless efforts into her own business. If today it were her fabric shop that had been vandalized like this, she would certainly be heartbroken. Putting herself in his shoes, she naturally understood Shopkeeper Feng’s current distress.

She couldn’t sit still for a moment. With Shuipei’s assistance, she quickly got down from the carriage. Song Haotang and Liuzi had already gotten down from another carriage and had helped Shopkeeper Feng up from the ground.

Shen Xiling saw that he was crying with tears all over his face, and his face was also bruised. Her heart felt even worse, and she could only try to persuade him to go inside and sit down to recover.

However, Shopkeeper Feng was probably somewhat exhausted and disoriented at that time, showing no reaction to Shen Xiling’s consolation. Seeing this situation, Shen Xiling knew that saying more would be useless at the moment. She exchanged glances with Song Haotang and Liuzi, and both men understood her meaning. They then supported Shopkeeper Feng from left and right, bringing him into the room. Shen Xiling followed behind, while Shuipei and Fengshang closed the fabric shop door behind her.

Shopkeeper Feng took quite a while to regain his senses.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he first saw the devastation all over the shop floor. When he raised his head and saw that the person before him was Shen Xiling, he burst into another bout of sobbing, crying while speaking to Shen Xiling in broken phrases: “Miss Fang… Miss Fang, you must seek justice for me…”

He was emotionally agitated and couldn’t suppress his grief. Fearing he might have some incident, Shen Xiling quickly had Shuipei and Fengshang pour water for him to drink. Liuzi was clever and, seeing that he probably couldn’t drink water at the moment, simply took the teacup and half-gently, half-forcibly made Shopkeeper Feng drink the water, barely managing to calm him down a little.

Seeing him quiet down, Shen Xiling also gently comforted him: “Please rest assured, Shopkeeper Feng. Since I initially reached agreements with everyone, I will never avoid responsibility when troubles arise. The guild acts so domineeringly—how are they different from mountain bandits? Jiankang City is at the foot of the Son of Heaven, so naturally there are laws and regulations. Shopkeeper Feng, don’t panic. We are in the right in this matter, and we will certainly be able to seek justice.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Shopkeeper Feng, who had just calmed down, became agitated again. He kept shaking his head and said to Shen Xiling, “At the foot of the Son of Heaven? Laws and regulations? Seek justice?”

He asked these three questions in succession, then laughed bitterly and asked Shen Xiling, “Does Miss Fang know who is behind the weaving guild?”

Having been in business for three years, although Shen Xiling had not yet had much dealings with guilds, she had long heard of their reputation. Hearing Shopkeeper Feng’s question, she was silent for a moment before answering, “It’s a branch of the Fu family, Fu Hong.”

Author’s Note: Shen Wenwen, typical of being different when her husband is around versus when he’s not. When husband is around: I’m a delicate little kitten. When husband is not around: Taking charge of everything like a dragon.