“No, this Cortex Fraxini is wrong…” Master Gong suddenly exclaimed, holding a piece of Cortex Fraxini and a small bag of its ground powder.
“How can it be wrong? I checked this Cortex Fraxini very carefully when I bought it,” Sun Wenjie, one of the Li family workers, rushed forward indignantly.
Earlier today when the incident escalated, Sun Wenjie had been muttering with Li Gao and Li Sheng, who had come to Nanjing with him, about how the Li family was in trouble.
But unexpectedly, the problem had suddenly landed on his head. Since he had purchased this Cortex Fraxini, if it proved problematic, he would be the one to blame. Naturally, he had to defend himself.
At this point, Old Master Li and others gathered around, each taking a piece of Cortex Fraxini to examine carefully. They hadn’t noticed anything earlier, but now that Master Gong had pointed it out, everyone could see the problem upon closer inspection. The Cortex Fraxini looked excellent on the surface, with an especially strong medicinal smell—one wouldn’t notice any issues without careful attention.
But those who truly understood would realize that the medicinal smell itself was the problem. These pieces of Cortex Fraxini had clearly been reprocessed, deliberately infused with fragrance, and then dried again.
Old Master Li took a small paper knife and gently scraped the surface of the Cortex Fraxini. Soon, the outer layer was removed, revealing spots of mold underneath.
“Wow!” The crowd gasped in unison—it was indeed a problem with the Cortex Fraxini.
Zhen Niang looked at Master Gong. Since all of the Li family’s medicinal materials came from the Gong family, now that the Cortex Fraxini was confirmed problematic, Master Gong needed to explain.
However, Master Gong shook his head: “Miss Li, this Cortex Fraxini wasn’t purchased from our shop.”
“What’s going on?” Hearing this, Zhen Niang turned to glare at Sun Wenjie. The Li family ink workshop had always bought their medicinal materials from the Gong family pharmacy—this was a long-standing arrangement. Who gave Sun Wenjie the authority to make his own decisions and buy from elsewhere?
“The Gong family pharmacy didn’t have any Cortex Fraxini when I went to buy materials.” Sun Wenjie had no defense now, his face pale, his lips trembling several times before these dry words came out.
Master Gong slapped his forehead apologetically: “That’s true. I hadn’t seen any Cortex Fraxini that met my standards recently, so the shop was out of stock. Although we had a little left, that was reserved and not for sale.”
“If the Gong family pharmacy was out of stock, why didn’t you come back to report to me instead of making your own decision to buy elsewhere? How could you treat material procurement so casually?” Zheng Fuli said with frustration. He had requested Sun Wenjie from the soot room because he needed help, and also because Sun Wenjie was from the main family line—Zheng was also considered part of the main family. Additionally, the Sun family had asked him to look after Sun Wenjie, so he had brought him to his side to learn bookkeeping and run errands, as a favor. Who would have thought that a moment of carelessness would lead to such a disaster?
“How was I supposed to know there were so many details to consider…” Sun Wenjie said with reddened eyes. Buying Cortex Fraxini seemed like a small matter, not a bulk material purchase. When the Gong family didn’t have it, he had initially planned to report back to the ink shop but then thought that failing at such a small task would make him look foolish. So he simply bought from another pharmacy instead—how could he have anticipated this outcome?
Thinking about it, a surge of frustration welled up, and he gritted his teeth, straightening his neck: “I caused this problem, I’ll take responsibility.”
“This isn’t something you can take responsibility for alone.” Zhen Niang looked at his demeanor irritably, then waved for Li Gao and Li Sheng to take Sun Wenjie away—his case would be dealt with later. While Sun Wenjie was at fault, he wasn’t the only one to blame.
These pieces of Cortex Fraxini had passed through several hands from purchase to ink production, yet no one had noticed the problem, including herself. This meant that although the Li family had always emphasized quality, after more than a year of smooth sailing, everyone in the Li family ink workshop had become somewhat complacent—quality control hadn’t truly been taken to heart.
There was a fault—the entire Li family was at fault.
Thus, the situation became clear. There was indeed a problem with the Li family’s materials. The Li family naturally apologized to the Shen family and agreed to remake a batch of ink for them.
“What did I tell you? The Li family uses inferior medicinal materials,” Tian Er gloated from the side.
“Young Master Tian, stop fear-mongering. Yes, the Li family had an issue with their materials this time, but justice is in people’s hearts. Look at all the materials the Li family brought out—which one wasn’t top quality? As for this Cortex Fraxini, the Li family was deceived when purchasing materials,” someone in the crowd spoke up in their defense.
People around nodded in agreement. Cortex Fraxini wasn’t worth much money—the Li family had already invested in so many premium materials, so why would they care about saving a little on Cortex Fraxini?
Thus, although it was confirmed that there was a problem with the Li family’s ink-making materials, this incident had generally given everyone a detailed understanding of the Li family’s material usage, actually making them more confident. At least they knew where the Li family had gone wrong and wouldn’t blindly believe rumors anymore.
“Miss Li, how will you handle these moldy ink sticks?” The scholar pointed to the problematic ink at the entrance.
Zhen Niang had her plans for these ink sticks. The Li family couldn’t bring these problematic pieces back inside—the Tian family was still watching like a tiger eyeing its prey. If this batch of problematic ink was brought inside, who knew how the Li family would handle it? New rumors might spring up.
Moreover, today’s incident had grown quite large, and material quality was of utmost importance to an ink workshop. The Li family needed to take this as a warning. This incident must be remembered by everyone in the Li family.
After some thought, Zhen Niang turned to Er Gou: “Er Gou, find some people to bring out the workshop’s large furnace, stone mortars, and other ink-making equipment to the entrance…”
Er Gou immediately waved over several people, and soon all the ink-making tools from the workshop were brought outside.
“What is the Li family planning to do? Make ink right here?” The spectators outside wondered curiously about what Zhen Niang had in mind, discussing among themselves.
“Everyone, today’s incident was indeed caused by our Li family’s negligence in ink production. While it’s important to correct mistakes, it’s even more important to take this as a warning. Therefore, I plan to crush all these problematic ink sticks and remake them into one massive ink stick, which will stand at the entrance of our Li family ink shop, recording today’s events as a mirror and warning. From now on, we guarantee that not a single problematic ink stick will leave the Li family ink shop.” As Zhen Niang spoke, she waved her hand, and Er Gou led over a dozen ink workers who began vigorously smashing the ink with hammers.
Immediately, the entire entrance of the Li family ink shop was filled with the thunderous sound of hammering ink—quite a spectacular scene.
“Excellent!!!” The crowd, seeing this, became excited and cheered loudly.
The furnace at the side was blazing, and the crushed ink was placed in large pots to steam and remove the glue, then rebound with new glue and pounded. The group of ink workers labored, sweating profusely.
After more than two hours, a giant ink stick cast in an oversized mold stood at the entrance of the Li family ink shop. This would later become the famous “Warning Ink” of the Li family.
By this point, the Shen family had no more complaints; they even felt somewhat embarrassed. When problems arise, they should have first negotiated and resolved things mutually. However, after hearing rumors about Li ink using inferior materials, they assumed the Li family was deceiving them.
Naturally, they hadn’t been polite and had demanded an explanation in public. This approach had been somewhat extreme.
Even the scholar nodded in agreement. The quality of this batch of ink was quite good—his previous negative ink evaluation had been based on the assumption that the Li family lacked integrity in their business practices. Looking at it now, it was merely an accident, and they had overreacted.
Instead, the Li family’s approach—being completely transparent, acting with sincerity, and taking this as a warning—truly lived up to the words “honesty and trust.”
Especially this young mistress of Li ink—she was quite quick-witted. What should have been a major crisis for Li Ink had been turned around by her handling, no easy feat. He might as well support her completely.
“Miss Li, please bring a brush and some gold powder,” the scholar stood up and said to Li Zhen Niang.
Zhen Niang looked at him. Come to think of it, since the Shen family’s arrival, no one had introduced who this man was. But thinking about the ink evaluation the Shen family had given to the Li family earlier, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind—could it be Shen Shixing? She became excited and, without asking anyone else to do it, rushed to get the brush and prepared gold powder herself.
The scholar took the brush, dipped it in gold powder, and wrote on the standing giant ink stick: “Gold is easy to obtain, Li ink is hard to seek; The legacy of Tao Zhu, Forever flourishing.” The signature that followed was: “Jiajing forty-first year Zhuangyuan, Shen Shixing.”
“It’s Master Shen!” Someone in the crowd exclaimed.
“It’s Zhuangyuan Shen. It seems the Li family has turned misfortune into blessing.”
The Li family people were also quite excited. From the initial “Today is not as good as the past, the reputation hardly deserved” to now “The legacy of Tao Zhu, Forever flourishing.”
Zhen Niang’s heart had been on a roller coaster, and she finally let out a long sigh of relief. With this giant ink stick standing here, plus Shen Shixing’s ink evaluation, this storm was over. It might even elevate the Li family’s reputation to a new level.
Tian Ronghua, standing in the crowd, couldn’t help but marvel at how Li Zhen Niang had turned such a disadvantageous situation around.
Actually, from the moment he learned that Li’s family’s worker had bought spoiled medicinal materials, Tian Ronghua had planned everything. First, he spread rumors about the Li family using inferior materials in their ink. When these rumors reached the Shen family’s ears, they would naturally become suspicious. Then, when problems appeared with the Shen family’s ink, they would feel deceived by the Li family and make a big scene of it.
Once the incident escalated and the material problems were discovered, the Li family’s reputation would be completely ruined.
But unexpectedly, things had taken such a strange turn. The earlier public display of materials aside, although it was ultimately proven that the Li family’s materials were problematic, even if their other materials were excellent, it couldn’t hide this fact.
The clever part was what came after. He had been waiting for the Li family to take back this batch of problematic ink, planning to spread rumors that they were reprocessing the problematic ink into liquid ink for sale. This would severely impact the Li family’s liquid ink sales, and simultaneously, he could collaborate with other ink shops to demand the Li family waive their formula usage fees.
But unexpectedly, Li Zhen Niang had pulled this move right under everyone’s nose, completely blocking his next step. Moreover, now they had Master Shen’s ink evaluation.
From now on, this giant ink stick recording today’s events would not only avoid harming the Li family’s reputation but would become a beautiful tale about Li ink.
At this moment, Zhen Niang also spotted Tian Ronghua in the crowd, and her eyes narrowed. Having such an opponent was quite good—it could prompt one to constantly self-reflect and move forward.