After chatting for a while, both Madame Gong and Madame Yao returned to their respective shops. Before leaving, Madame Yao took two pieces of Qingyun ink, appearing worried she might miss out on a good deal if she didn’t accept them.

“Elder Sister, why did you say we’re giving away ink as a promotion? Those two ink sticks are worth two qian of silver,” Hua’er said. “In my opinion, even selling them at the same price as Luo Family’s ordinary ink would be better than giving them away for free. Madame Gong is fine, but Madame Yao is extremely penny-pinching and loves taking advantage of deals. I wouldn’t be surprised if she sends her shop assistant to get more soon.”

Hearing Hua’er’s words, Zhen Niang laughed. Indeed, Hua’er had captured Madame Yao’s essence perfectly in just a few words. However, when it came to lowering prices, Zhen Niang said to Hua’er, “We absolutely cannot lower the price. Once reduced, it would be difficult to raise it again. Li ink uses the finest craftsmanship among all ink workshops and has the highest production costs. If we can’t maintain our prices, how can we continue doing business?”

Intending to teach Hua’er, Zhen Niang explained things clearly, stating that the Li Family wouldn’t engage in self-destructive practices like the Tian Family.

Just as Hua’er nodded in understanding, Chang San, the assistant from the neighboring fabric shop, rushed into the ink shop: “Miss Zhen, I heard you’re giving away ink as a promotion?”

Everyone at Li Family Ink Shop laughed at his words – Hua’er’s prediction about Madame Yao had come true.

Hua’er rolled her eyes and said irritably, “The promotion has ended.”

“Miss Hua’er, please help me out. Our mistress sent me here, and if I return empty-handed, I’m bound to get scolded.” Chang San clasped his hands together, looking helpless.

“Go get it,” Zhen Niang said to Hua’er.

Hua’er went behind the counter and after some time, brought out two pieces of Qingyun ink. Handing them to Chang San, she said, “Here, these are the last two.” Then, deliberately raising her voice, she added, “Tell your mistress the promotion is over. There won’t be anymore if she comes again.”

“That’s fine, that’s fine,” Chang San agreed readily, caring only about completing his task. He ran back to report to his mistress.

Zhen Niang shook her head with a smile. There were many people like Madame Yao – it was just one of life’s many facets, not worth overthinking.

However, considering the shop’s business, while the liquid ink sales had started well since opening day and made quite an impact, the other ink products weren’t selling as expected.

Take the Qingyun ink, for example. It used to be their best-selling product, but due to Tian Family’s price war, it wasn’t selling at all now – everyone complained about the high price.

“Miss Zhen, we’ve been open for several days now, but nothing except the liquid ink is selling,” Zheng Fuli anxiously said while working the abacus. “Most people don’t care about quality, only price. Those who don’t mind spending money prefer the Imperial Tribute ink brand. So even if we price our high-end ink lower, people still prefer to buy Tian Family’s more expensive ones.”

Business could be quite interesting sometimes. Price-conscious customers only bought the cheapest options, while those of certain status seemed to only choose based on a brand name or high prices – two extremes.

Therefore, even though the Tian Family kept raising their high-end ink prices, having the Imperial Tribute ink title meant they had no trouble selling, and other ink shops couldn’t compete.

As a result, while the Li Family’s liquid ink had somewhat impacted the Tian Family’s ordinary ink sales, they couldn’t compete in the high-end ink market. This meant they couldn’t hurt the Tian Family’s core business.

The Imperial Tribute title represented authority.

“This can’t be rushed. Let me think about it carefully,” Zhen Niang said.

Zheng Fuli understood that business wasn’t something that could be solved in a day or two, so he said, “Let’s all think about it.”

“Miss Zhen, how’s business?” At this moment, Zhu Gui, the owner of Zhu Family Ink Shop, came in and asked while looking around.

“Except for the new liquid ink, nothing else is selling. Even my ‘Han Xizai’s Night Revels’ collection ink sits here with many admirers but no buyers – everyone says it’s too expensive,” Zhen Niang replied helplessly.

“The Tian Family is just stirring up trouble, making a mess of the ink market. At least you have liquid ink to keep you going. My shop is so quiet you can hear sparrows chirping inside,” Zhu Gui said angrily. The Wei Family had returned to Songjiang, and the Tian Family needed no mention. Even the Li Family, though in a weaker position, had a stronger foundation than the Zhu Family. His situation was the most difficult.

Hearing Zhu Gui’s words, Zhen Niang suddenly had an idea. She turned to him and asked, “Would Master Zhu be interested in selling liquid ink?”

Hearing this, Zhu Gui became uncomfortable: “Miss Zhen, that’s not right. No matter how bad Zhu ink is doing, we can’t sell Li ink in our shop.”

Realizing Zhu Gui had misunderstood, Zhen Niang quickly explained: “Master Zhu misunderstands. I mean that Li Ink provides the formula, and Zhu Family produces it under your brand.”

“Is this for real? Are you joking?” Zhu Gui asked with wide-eyed surprise.

“How could I joke about such things? However, there are conditions,” Zhen Niang said seriously, confirming this wasn’t a joke.

“What conditions?” Zhu Gui asked anxiously. If he could get Li Family’s liquid ink technology, perhaps Zhu ink could hold on.

“Going forward, Zhu Ink will pay a one-tenth formula usage fee for each bottle of liquid ink sold. Using our current price as an example, at one hundred wen per bottle, the formula usage fee would be ten wen per bottle, for ten years. After ten years, Zhu Ink won’t need to pay anything,” Zhen Niang explained, essentially applying the concept of patent royalties and usage terms from later times.

Earlier, from Zhu Gui’s tone, she had realized Zhu Ink was struggling to survive. If Zhu Ink withdrew from the Nanjing market now, only Li Ink would be left to compete with Tian Ink.

At that point, Li ink might be too weak on its own. Therefore, it would be better to keep Zhu ink in the market, working together to establish the liquid ink market first, thus creating a foundation for future development and finding a weakness in Tian Family’s position.

The liquid ink technology wasn’t particularly difficult – it mainly involved preventing decay, settling, and solidification, requiring only two or three additives. While others might not figure it out in a year or two, with samples of their liquid ink, other ink shops could solve these technical challenges in three or four years. Therefore, it made more sense to share the formula now – ten years of usage fees would exceed what the Li Family could earn from monopolizing the technology.

After all, Li Family’s production capacity was limited.

As an insider in the ink business, Zhu Gui could roughly calculate the profit margins of Li Family’s liquid ink. Using the Tian Family’s ordinary ink at seven qian per jin as an example, one ink stick weighed about eight qian, making it worth seventy to eighty wen. One ink stick could produce much more ink than the Li Family’s bottle contained, so from this perspective, the Li Family’s liquid ink was considerably more expensive than the Tian Family’s ordinary ink, especially since a bottle of Li Family’s liquid ink cost twenty to thirty when more than a stick of Tian ink.

However, liquid ink was a novel product that was convenient to use, and the porcelain bottle design was excellent. The packaging made the whole product look refined, justifying the hundred-wen price tag. Additionally, since ink sticks were sold by jin, and Tian Family’s lowest-grade ink cost seven qian per jin, which wasn’t a small amount for ordinary households, plus the necessary expense of an ink stone, many customers calculated that although Tian ink was cheaper, they still preferred to buy Li Family’s liquid ink.

This meant Li Family’s liquid ink had very high-profit margins, even after accounting for the cost of the porcelain bottles.

Zhu Gui estimated that while the bottles looked good, they weren’t made of high-quality porcelain, so they probably cost around twenty wens each. This left eighty wen, and with all costs and taxes deducted, production costs wouldn’t exceed fifty wen, leaving thirty wen in profit. After paying Li Family’s ten-wen formula usage fee, there would still be twenty-wen profit – a twenty percent pure profit margin, which was viable.

However, when negotiating prices, there was always room for discussion. While Zhu Gui had already decided this was a worthwhile business opportunity, he still wanted to negotiate the fee: “The formula usage fee is too high. Liquid ink is a new product selling at high prices now, but when we introduce ours, the price might need to drop. One-tenth is too much – half that would be more reasonable.”

“Half a tenth won’t work – it’s too little. My Li Family spent years researching this. How about this: one-tenth for the first four years, then half a tenth for the remaining six years,” Zhen Niang proposed, making the terms more reasonable.

“No, one-tenth for the first three years, half a tenth for the remaining seven years,” Zhu Gui countered.

The bargaining had begun. Zhu Gui had calculated that Miss Li wanted to help the Zhu Family cooperate with the Li Family to compete against the Tian Family, which gave him leverage in negotiations.

“Well done, Master Zhu. Fine, I agree to your terms – one-tenth for the first three years, half a tenth for the remaining seven,” Zhen Niang nodded.

“Not at all. Seeing how Miss Zhen conducts business, I truly feel like the younger generation is surpassing the old,” Master Zhu laughed heartily.

“Done, I’ll take this deal,” Zhu Gui immediately concluded.

“Good, let’s draft an agreement,” Zhen Niang said.

Hua’er, not understanding the intricacies, only knew that her elder sister was offering their best-selling liquid ink formula to the Zhu Family. Wasn’t this like putting money directly into the Zhu Family’s pockets? She anxiously tugged at Zhen Niang’s sleeve.

Zheng Fuli pulled her aside to prevent her from disturbing Miss Zhen.

Hua’er didn’t understand the deeper implications.

Having received instruction from Old Steward Shao, Zheng Fuli had sufficient business experience. Hearing the conversation between Miss Zhen and Master Zhu, his eyes lit up. Ten years of formula usage fees, one-tenth per bottle for the first three years, and half a tenth for the remaining seven – Zheng Fuli knew the liquid ink sales figures best. This contract would make the Zhu Family a treasure bowl for the Li Family.

Moreover, Zheng Fuli thought further ahead – there weren’t just the Zhu and Tian families in the ink business. There were countless large and small ink workshops. If they selected several more major ones and licensed out the liquid ink formula, this income alone could support half of Li Family Ink Shop’s future.

This was worthwhile business.

After the Li and Zhu families reached this preliminary agreement with a draft, specific terms like audit rights needed to be discussed with Zhu Gui’s family members. Once everything was settled, they would find a mediator to sign the formal contract.

Zhu Gui was eager and left immediately after reaching the general agreement with Zhen Niang, hoping to finalize everything as quickly as possible to help the Zhu Family temporarily escape their difficulties.

As Zhen Niang was seeing Master Zhu out and about to return to the shop, she saw Luo Jiu coming from the nearby money shop, holding a teacup and strolling toward their ink shop.

Zhen Niang stopped at the doorway and called out with a smile: “Brother Luo seems to be doing business quite leisurely, making others envious.”

“Not at all. I see that although Miss Zhen is busy, you’re enjoying it,” Luo Wenqian replied with a smile, then changed the subject: “By the way, Miss Zhen, there’s something I’d like to ask you about.”

“What is it?” Zhen Niang asked curiously, knowing that Luo Jiu’s information network was far more extensive than hers.

“I heard your uncle acquired quite a bit of land recently. He’s holding quite a lot now, which must be quite a burden. As it happens, I’m looking to buy some land. Could you ask your uncle if he’s interested in selling?” Luo Wenqian said.

Zhen Niang found this strange and asked, “Why didn’t you buy when land was cheap? Why think about buying only now?”

“I didn’t want land before, but General Qi came by recently, saying he had a group of retiring soldiers, many without homes or land. He asked me to help settle them, which is why I thought about buying land,” Luo Jiu explained.

This put Zhen Niang in a difficult position. The Yihousheng Money Shop had helped the Han Family buy the land and weather their crisis, so logically, her uncle should prioritize selling land to Luo Jiu.

However, although these lands were still in her uncle’s possession, they had already agreed to sell them to the Xu Family at a fair price. Such a large land transaction needed to be handled quietly and gradually to avoid drawing attention, which was why the transfer hadn’t happened immediately. They were waiting for things to settle down before proceeding slowly.

Therefore, there wasn’t much land available to sell to Luo Jiu.

Moreover, in no more than three years, Hai Rui would return to investigate land matters. Although General Qi and Luo Jiu had good intentions for the retired soldiers, a general and a merchant jointly buying land to support soldiers could be viewed suspiciously if interpreted broadly.

While Hai Rui was upright, he was inflexible. Therefore, Zhen Niang felt that buying land in Nanjing to settle retired soldiers wasn’t appropriate at this time.

So Zhen Niang continued: “Although my uncle has land, those parcels were already promised to be sold to the Xu Family at a fair price. I’m afraid we can’t change that arrangement.”

Hearing Zhen Niang’s words, Luo Wenqian first showed surprise, then frowned: “What? Is the Xu Family so domineering? Wasn’t what they did to your uncle before enough? Now they’re coming to take advantage again? This is too much! Do they think that just because Judge Hai isn’t here anymore, they can do whatever they want?”

A murderous glint appeared in Luo Wenqian’s eyes as he spoke in a cold voice.

“It’s not entirely the Xu Family’s pressure. It’s mainly because we agreed to it before – we can’t go back on our word,” Zhen Niang explained awkwardly.

“What nonsense! Can’t go back on your word? The Xu Family wronged the Han Family first – keeping one’s word is right with gentlemen, but must one keep faith with petty people?” Luo Wenqian was unhappy, the cold glint in his eyes not dissipating for quite a while before his expression returned to normal. “Oh, if that’s the case, never mind then. I have matters at the shop to attend to. I’ll take my leave and not disturb Miss Li further.” With that, Luo Jiu turned and left with a stern face.

Being tall with long legs, he was out of Li Family Ink Shop in just a couple of steps. Zhen Niang was left speechless, wanting to explain that buying land in Nanjing to settle retired soldiers wasn’t appropriate and that it would be better to buy land in Anqing Prefecture. She had heard land was cheap there, and many people had left to work in the salt industry in Lianghuai, leaving much land abandoned – it would be a good place to settle retired soldiers.

But before she could say any of this, Luo Jiu was already out of sight. She couldn’t help but smile wryly – how could someone turn hostile so quickly over a single disagreement?

Even these explanations would have been difficult to make. Explaining might have seemed like making excuses to avoid the request. Therefore, speaking or not speaking both felt pointless.

This situation gave Zhen Niang a headache and she tapped her forehead in frustration.

The Northern territories had made Luo Wenqian strong but had also shaped his domineering and fierce temperament. Moreover, being born a young master, his temper naturally wasn’t very good. In Luo Jiu’s view, after the Xu Family had hurt the Han Family so badly, there was no reason to sell them land at a fair price, even if they weren’t seeking revenge.

Therefore, he saw the Han Family’s actions in one of two ways: either they were currying favor with the powerful, or at least they lacked backbone. While merchants needed to be flexible, when someone had slapped you hard before, how could you still turn your cheek afterward? That didn’t sit well with him. Furthermore, the Xu Family’s eldest master had contributed significantly to his family’s downfall.

Years ago, when the Luo Family obtained the Imperial Tribute ink rights, the Xu Family wanted a share, but the Luo Family refused. The eldest Master Xu held a grudge, and when Luo Longwen’s incident occurred, Master Xu naturally kicked them while they were down, leading to the Luo Family’s complete downfall. Otherwise, while the Luo Family might have struggled, they wouldn’t have been reduced to just him alone.

Therefore, he had a blood feud with the Xu Family, and while he could try to understand the Han Family’s actions, he felt their paths diverged too much to work together.

His interest had suddenly waned.

But he didn’t know that Han Yigui originally didn’t want to sell the land to the Xu Family again. After all, there were many officials and nobles in Nanjing – while the Xu Family ruled in Songjiang, they couldn’t have their way in Nanjing. As long as the Han Family didn’t keep the land and give the Xu Family leverage, there was nothing the Xu Family could do to them.

However, Zhen Niang supported Madam Han Li’s decision, as these lands were a time bomb for the Li Family. Zhen Niang didn’t want the Xu brothers to escape the great calamity three years later.

In a way, this was a trap Zhen Niang was setting for the Xu Family, but these things couldn’t be explained or clarified.