Yu Yuan’s silver truly wasn’t wasted. When the tea server returned with the confirmed order slip, he was more than just a little enthusiastic toward them: “It’s all arranged. After this current piece finishes, yours will be next.” After speaking, he also brought in a plate of fresh fruit from outside, saying, “This is a humble gift from me to you. Please take your time enjoying it. I’ll be standing right outside the door—if you need anything, just call out.”
The tea server must be getting a commission.
Yu Tang surmised this, feeling more confident about what she needed to do.
She selected the largest plum and had Shuang Tao hand it to the tea server, smiling brightly as she said, “Don’t leave yet. I want to ask you about something.”
The tea server immediately came over and very properly stopped seven or eight steps away from her. Lowering his head respectfully, he said, “What would you like to ask? Whatever I know, I’ll answer. If there’s something I don’t know, I’ll go inquire for you right away.” He was extremely sharp.
This was perhaps why this teahouse could be one of the largest in the city.
Yu Tang pondered this in her heart, smiling as she asked him, “When I arrived, I saw many large ships on the Suzhou River. I heard people say these ships all come from Ningbo, loaded with imported goods. Do you know where imported goods are sold?”
Hearing this, the tea server’s spirits lifted. He quickly said, “Young Miss, you’ve asked the right person about this. In all of Suzhou, there’s no shop I don’t know. You saw the street in front of our teahouse when you came, right? It’s called Suhe Street. This street has the most teahouses, wine houses, and eateries. When you leave our teahouse, turn left and you’ll see an alley. In this alley, everything sold is snacks and fruit. You just keep walking straight, and when you finish walking through this alley, there’s another street. On that street, everything sold is imported goods…”
He spoke eloquently, clearly showing he was truly very familiar with Suzhou.
Yu Tang also asked one question after another, quickly learning where those engaged in maritime trade liked to stay, and how ship fleets announced their voyages.
Xiang Shi listened from the side and couldn’t help but nod secretly.
Before, when Yu Yuan praised Yu Tang as clever and capable, she hadn’t really believed it. After all, with her experience, she had seen too many capable women—like Madam Wei, like her stepmother, and those in-laws on her stepmother’s side of the family. But to be as capable as Yu Tang was truly rare.
Yu Tang was no longer merely someone who could manage an estate or review accounts. She was like a man, knowing how to deal with outsiders and how to unobtrusively ask for the information she wanted.
Not only was Xiang Shi surprised, but even Xia Pinggui and Xia Lian were extremely astonished.
Xia Pinggui thought: no wonder the second master of the house wanted to find an uxorilocal husband for the young miss—the young miss was someone who could preserve the family fortune. As for Xia Lian, she felt fortunate that Xiang Shi had such a sister-in-law. In the future, this sister-in-law not only wouldn’t hold Xiang Shi back, but could offer Xiang Shi advice and lend her assistance when needed.
Afterward, both treated Yu Tang even more respectfully. But of course, that’s a story for later.
Yu Tang obtained the information she needed and rewarded the tea server with a handful of copper coins. After sending the tea server out the door, she smiled wryly at Yu Yuan: “It seems we came to the wrong place.”
According to the tea server, those doing maritime business or sailing to Ningbo to haul goods all liked to rest at another establishment near the dock called Ping’an Wine House. Ordinarily, whatever news there was would be exchanged there.
Yu Yuan was easygoing and smiled, saying, “If we hadn’t come to this teahouse, we wouldn’t have learned this information. Besides, that Ping’an Wine House—just from the name, you can tell it’s the kind of place where laborers drink. I couldn’t very well take you two women to a wine house for a meal, could I?”
Women who frequented such places were mostly wandering performers or brothel women. Others who saw them wouldn’t show respect.
Xiang Shi nodded repeatedly, smiling: “Your brother is right. Though we came to the wrong place, we’ve still gained experience. When we return, we’ll tell Mother and Aunt about it. If there’s an opportunity, we’ll let them come see it too.”
Yu Tang felt their stay was too short—she was afraid she wouldn’t find an opportunity to speak with Jiang Ling.
However, haste makes waste. Everything had to be done step by step. Since they had come to listen to performances, they might as well enjoy them properly.
Yu Tang, Xiang Shi, and Yu Yuan spent the entire morning at the teahouse, and also learned a bit of news about the Song family from the tea server.
It turned out that after the Song family returned to Suzhou, they began building ships at Lake Tai. To finance this, the Song family sold both of their mulberry groves in Huzhou.
The Song family had originally made their fortune in silk. This was precisely the time for planting mulberries and raising silkworms. For the Song family to do this could be said to shake their very foundation—the price they paid was enormous.
Yu Yuan was stunned and asked the tea server, “Then, did the older generation of their family also agree?”
The tea server sighed: “What could they do even if they disagreed? I’m only telling you this because I can see you’re from out of town. The Song family is no longer the Song family of the past. Last year, the white silk they supplied to the Inner Court almost wasn’t selected. They only barely passed by pulling strings through a relative. You don’t know this, but the Inner Court’s business isn’t so easy to maintain. They reselect every three years. This time they found the right person and got lucky. But next time? Will that person still be willing to help? Will the person helping still have influence? All of this is uncertain!”
Find relatives to help?
Could they have asked the Pei family?
Yu Tang was pondering this when she heard the tea server continue: “But the Song family won’t look for problems with themselves. They only say that someone is making things difficult for them. They’re single-mindedly planning to finish these three years of business and then stop, switching to maritime trade instead. In my view, if the Song family continues like this, they’ll probably decline!”
Who would have thought this tea server would have such insight!
Yu Tang regarded him with newfound respect.
The Song family did seem to gradually decline in this way.
Yu Yuan didn’t know this, though, and felt the tea server was being alarmist. He said, “Why do you say that?”
The tea server frowned: “There are plenty of families in our Suzhou doing business with the Inner Court, but which ones have actually made money? The tributes to those head eunuchs of the Inner Court’s twenty-four departments aren’t enough, not to mention the long line of departments like Canal Transport, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Works. But being an imperial merchant brings prestige and status! Everyone knows you can deal with people in the palace. When you go out, even ordinary families will show you respect. Can money buy that? Moreover, if your goods can be presented as tribute, they must be the finest in the realm. Won’t everyone want to buy from your family? Abandoning this business is like telling everyone your family is failing, that you have no one in the Inner Court to support you anymore, that your family is past its prime. When a wall falls, everyone pushes it down. In no time at all, the family fortune will collapse—it would be strange if it didn’t!”
Even a tea server understood this principle—there was no reason the Song family wouldn’t know.
For the Song family to make such a choice, didn’t they also have some hidden circumstances?
Could it be related to changes in the Pei family?
However, before the Pei brothers became officials, the Song family had already been doing business with the Inner Court. They should have had their own connections, shouldn’t they?
Yu Tang couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard she thought, so she stopped trying. She tentatively asked the tea server, “I heard that in your Suzhou there’s a family surnamed Jiang who wants to do maritime business and is recruiting investors everywhere. Are these people reliable?”
The tea server’s mouth twisted: “So you’ve heard about that too! Their family used to sail ships—hauling imported goods from Ningbo to Suzhou. These past few years they’ve probably made some money, and now they don’t know the limits of heaven and earth and want to make a big fortune. We Suzhou people are all waiting to see them make fools of themselves!”
Yu Tang was bewildered.
In her previous life, she had heard Lin Shi say that whenever the Jiang family set sail, people would fight to invest, even breaking their heads to get a share.
Clearly this was another case of something being exaggerated after it succeeded.
Then wouldn’t it be quite simple for them to invest at this time?
Yu Tang’s mind immediately became active.
She asked the tea server, “Do you know where the Jiang family lives?”
The tea server quickly glanced at Yu Tang but addressed Yu Yuan: “They live in Dongjiang Alley, not far from here. However, this person is truly unreliable—crude and stingy in character. People who’ve dealt with him call him an ‘iron rooster.’ If you really want to do business with them, you’d better keep your eyes wide open and be careful not to be deceived.”
Though Yu Yuan didn’t know how Yu Tang had learned about the Jiang family, at this moment, he had to speak up for Yu Tang no matter what. He smiled and covered for Yu Tang, saying, “We just heard people mention it on the road and were a bit curious, so we’re asking.”
The tea server breathed a sigh of relief: “The Jiang family’s reputation isn’t very good. You’d do well to be careful.”
Yu Yuan thanked him. Just then, the performance they had ordered finished, and the tea server needed to bring the famous performer up to receive their reward. The topic was dropped there, with no one mentioning it further.
After leaving the teahouse, Yu Yuan found a rather famous wine house for lunch. Yu Tang then decided to go take a look at the Jiang family.
She told Yu Yuan, “I heard about it from the inn’s server yesterday. Besides, ‘hearing is false, seeing is true’ in all matters. We came here specifically to inquire about these things anyway. No matter what others say, let’s go take a look first. Nothing succeeds on the first try.”
Both Yu Yuan and Xiang Shi agreed. Yu Yuan also said, “You really are lucky. We all stayed at the same inn, but yesterday no one told us about these things.”
Yu Tang felt awkward and guiltily pulled Yu Yuan to change the subject: “Should we inquire more carefully about the Jiang family’s share募集? How much money counts as one share? Do they only want silver, or can one invest with goods? When does their family plan to set sail? Who have they hired to manage things on the ship?”
“Yes, yes, we should!” Yu Yuan said hurriedly.
Xiang Shi covered her mouth and smiled from the side, saying, “Little Sister, you truly don’t concede to men. Look at the same matter—your brother knows nothing, yet you’ve inquired so thoroughly. When we were coming here, I was thinking that since you wanted to do this business, I would just accompany you to gain experience. But now it seems this venture of yours might actually succeed. Little Sister, if you don’t mind, count me in for one share as well.”
For Xiang Shi to say she wanted a share, it was most likely her own private savings!
Yu Tang was very surprised. She was both grateful for Xiang Shi’s trust in her and worried that if this Jiang family venture didn’t succeed, it would implicate Xiang Shi.
After all, the information she had heard in her previous life now seemed not to be so accurate.