Chapter 376 - 377: Countermeasure
Chapter 376: Chapter 377: Countermeasure
Ancient Wen Heng also knew that finding a shop in Shangjing was difficult, especially in prime locations. Everyone held onto them tightly.
He never expected that just to see the Huang family become a laughingstock, and with the thought of making a quick profit, these people would actually be willing to let go of the shops they held.
"That’s about enough. If you don’t want to open your own businesses in those shops, find a trustworthy brokerage to sublet them."
Jin Qianqian nodded. No matter how grand her ambitions were, she wouldn’t dare to rashly operate so many storefronts at once.
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「Huang Mansion」
Mrs. Huang summoned her daughter-in-law and granddaughter-in-law before her. "Tell me, what are we going to do about this? I helped you vent your anger, but now our mansion’s shops are in imminent danger. If we let that Mrs. Gu Jin keep pressuring us, everyone in this household will have something to say about it."
Mrs. Huang Qian gritted her teeth and glanced at Xiao Shiyu. Although her daughter-in-law’s dowry shops were important, the mansion’s own shops were the main source of income. Not only were they in better locations, but the entire household’s annual expenses depended on them. If something really happened to them, even the old master would have to intervene.
Xiao Shiyu was panicking inside as well. "She’s just a newly appointed Imperial Merchant, yet she dares to be so arrogant, stirring up trouble all over Shangjing. Some people must have been dissatisfied with her for a while now. I’ll go find a few madams later. I’m sure they’ll be willing to help."
"What we should be worried about now is whether she’ll try to squeeze us out of business, just like she did before?" Mrs. Huang’s cane struck the ground heavily.
"How exactly did you two offend her back then? To make her cling to it so tenaciously." Thinking back on it now, what the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law duo had said at the time might not have been the whole truth.
If it were just a simple argument or a conflict of interest, the wife of a mere fifth-rank official wouldn’t have the guts to pick a fight with the Minister’s Mansion.
She had been too quick to believe one side of the story a few days ago, and now everyone was watching them become a laughingstock.
"Mother, it’s not actually that bad. She just spent a fortune buying up all those shops. She might not have enough working capital left to keep competing with us."
"Besides, Mrs. Gu Jin’s reputation is already ruined. This is just her last stand. Her own backyard is about to erupt in chaos." Even as Mrs. Huang Qian said this, she felt her words were a bit far-fetched.
Back then, they had only wanted to tarnish her reputation a little and make her tone it down.
They just never expected her to be so stubborn and actually fight back!
To be honest, she had no confidence at all. If this situation really blew up, she and her daughter-in-law would become the pariahs of the entire Huang family.
"Second Sister-in-law makes it sound so simple," Madam Huang said as she walked in with several stewards.
"Mother," Madam Huang said, bowing to Mrs. Huang with forced patience despite her anger.
"Eldest Daughter-in-law, what are you doing here?"
"If I didn’t come, the Huang family would soon be eating dirt." Madam Huang snorted coldly at Xiao Shiyu and her mother-in-law.
Mrs. Huang Qian shot back immediately, "Don’t be so sarcastic, Sister-in-law. Even if our family were reduced to eating dirt, it would be because of your mismanagement as the one in charge."
Madam Huang pointed to the Store Managers who had come in with her. "Do you have any idea what the Huang family is facing right now?"
"All of Shangjing is waiting to see us become a joke. At every shop, people are just watching, waiting to see how she’s going to compete against us, so they can swoop in and pick up the scraps."
With that, Madam Huang had someone place the account books on the table. "Mother, all the shops have been losing money these past few days. You tell me what to do about this."
"But her shops haven’t even opened yet. How could they be affecting us already?" Mrs. Huang flipped through a few pages, realizing she had truly made a mistake this time.
Madam Huang was speechless. ’Didn’t you just look at the ledgers? What’s the point of asking that?’
"Have someone go and fetch Mrs. Gu Jin!" Realizing she had really messed up this time, Mrs. Huang’s first thought was to summon the woman to the mansion and give her a good scolding, her tone full of contempt.
Madam Huang was incredulous. "...If you want to summon her, you go. I’m washing my hands of this. I’ll just go to Father later and hand over the account books."
"You..." Mrs. Huang relented first. "Then what do you suggest we do? Someone is acting wild right on our doorstep. We are the First-Grade Minister’s Mansion. Are you telling me we should be afraid of a mere doctor?"
Madam Huang shook her head. ’My mother-in-law comes from a minor family, so her perspective is truly limited.’ Although she had managed the household since the day she married in, she had never really looked up to this mother-in-law of hers.
’Now that she’s caused a disaster, she wants to dump the mess on me.’ "This whole affair was started by Second Sister-in-law and my niece-in-law. Have them prepare a gift, and you should pay a proper visit to apologize and clear up the misunderstanding. Wouldn’t that solve it?"
"I’m not going! I don’t even know who she is," Mrs. Huang Qian said, immediately shaking her head. "Eldest Sister-in-law, you can send her an invitation to come to our mansion to discuss it."
"Hah," Madam Huang let out a laugh of pure frustration. "Your Second Branch caused this disaster, and you expect me to clean up your mess? There’s no logic in that, no matter how you spin it."
"If you’re not willing to go and resolve this, fine. At worst, I’ll just have the Store Managers close up the shops and rent them all out. From now on, everyone can just live off the rental income from those few storefronts."
’In any case, I have my own substantial dowry. The ones who would truly suffer would be the rest of the large family, not me.’
The three generations of in-laws in the room were not fools. The comfortable life they currently enjoyed in the mansion was all thanks to the family’s shops, which Madam Huang managed so successfully.
All eyes turned to Xiao Shiyu. After all, she was the one who had started this whole mess.
"I’ll send someone to apologize to her," Xiao Shiyu finally conceded, gritting her teeth.
She wanted to use the Minister’s Mansion’s official rank to crush the other party, but unfortunately, they weren’t the ones calling the shots in the mansion right now.
Besides, they were still hiding this from the head of the household. Otherwise, given his personality, he would probably make a grand show of disowning them for the sake of righteousness. He might even tie them up and drag them to apologize, just to earn himself a fine reputation.
The more she thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt, and the feeling showed plainly on her face.
"Don’t look like I’m forcing you. You were the ones who handled this improperly from the start. I told you to back off when the rumors first started spreading."
"But you two always think I can’t stand to see you do well, and that’s why this situation has gotten worse and worse."
"Mrs. Gu Jin’s reputation might be tarnished now, but is there anyone in Shangjing who doesn’t know what really happened?"
"If we keep this up, it will be our mansion that looks like we’re bullying others excessively."
"Whether she takes a concubine or is filial to her in-laws, what business is that of our mansion?"
The more she spoke, the more Madam Huang’s anger flared. Right there in front of them, she began discussing countermeasures with the stewards.
They had to figure out how long the shops could hold out if the other party really did try to squeeze them out of business, just as she had done to Xiao Shiyu’s dowry shops.
Xiao Shiyu’s face was a mixture of colors. Her eldest aunt-in-law kept using her dowry shops as a point of comparison, and the ridicule in her words was all too obvious.