First Phoenix Lady - Chapter 36

The shop named “Mingyu An Porcelain” was the best-located store among Tang Chujun’s dowry properties.

The storefront was at the East Market Santang Street Intersection, a bustling area with heavy foot traffic.

This shop had always been the most profitable over the years, until a strange thing happened this year. The reported revenue remained high, but there was no sign of actual silver.

Just as Wei Cailing had said, the goods were bought and sold at the same price, which meant they were busy for nothing and made no profit.

All the shops in the Capital were managed by Qin Mama under Tang Chujun.

Shopkeeper Yang mainly submitted quarterly reports. As for the impressive numbers on paper but no silver being handed over, he had his own explanation: “The porcelain business is sluggish these days. The major households in the Capital already have all they need, so demand has dropped, and An Porcelain is hard to sell. Fortunately, we lowered the prices just enough to maintain sales volume.”

Qin Mama only checked the accounts. Seeing nothing wrong, she relayed this explanation to Tang Chujun.

Tang Chujun had always been rather muddle-headed and paid little attention to such matters, so she didn’t think much of it and let it go with a few casual instructions.

As a result, Shopkeeper Yang became increasingly greedy. He stopped all shipments from Anzhou and focused solely on selling counterfeits.

The purchase price of the counterfeits was low, but the price recorded in the account books was made to match that of the genuine goods. The difference in between was pocketed by someone.

The shop had been closed for several days, but today the doors stood wide open.

Tied to the pillars at the entrance were Shopkeeper Yang and his entire family.

By now, the crowd watching was three layers deep, packed with people.

Shopkeeper Yang was so frightened his legs went weak, crying bitterly, “Please, Master, spare me! I won’t dare do it again!”

Shi Anxia stood quietly to the side, wearing a veil, watching as the shop assistants took down the “Mingyu An Porcelain” signboard.

The crowd murmured among themselves, “Did the shopkeeper commit a crime?”

“Surely they’re not closing the business altogether? Why are they taking down the signboard?”

Everyone knew that for merchants, taking down the signboard for no reason was a major taboo. Either the owner was changing, or the business was bankrupt-no one would touch the signboard otherwise.

While everyone was speculating wildly, Bei Hui spoke out in a clear voice, “Everyone, our Mingyu An Porcelain is an old establishment. Thanks to your support, thousands of households in the Capital have An Porcelain bowls and plates at home. This should have been our honor, but recently, we uncovered a shameful matter. Shopkeeper Yang secretly substituted inferior goods for quality ones, replacing An Porcelain with Gan Porcelain.”

At these words, the crowd erupted in shock and discussion.

What was even more surprising was that Bei Hui took out a stack of sales receipts and waved them, “Please spread the word: anyone who purchased An Porcelain from our shop this year can bring their receipt and receive double compensation. Especially for major buyers-if you’re too busy, we’ll send someone to your home to apologize.”

Immediately, some in the crowd turned ashen-faced. They had bought porcelain here at low prices and reported the full An Porcelain market price to their masters, pocketing the difference themselves.

They never expected the owners of Mingyu An Porcelain to go this far!

And they even reported it to the authorities!

The crowd parted to make way-the officials had arrived!

Bei Hui stepped forward and bowed, explaining the situation, “Officer, this is Shopkeeper Yang. He just tried to flee with his entire family, but we caught them and brought them back. Now we hand them over to you for judgment.”

Shopkeeper Yang wailed and sobbed.

Wife Yang, seeing that the owners were serious, began to cry loudly, “The masters are treating their staff harshly! Even if we haven’t done great deeds over the years, we’ve worked hard! To send us to the authorities just like that-you don’t treat us as people!”

The onlookers, sympathizing with the weak, all nodded in agreement.
“If he quits, just let it go. Why bother sending him to the authorities? Isn’t that forcing someone onto a dead end?”

“It’s not easy to make money these days!”

“Exactly! The rich have no idea how hard it is for working folks.”

Bei Hui showed not the slightest hint of fear, and raised her voice, “Over the past year, Shopkeeper Yang has embezzled more than five hundred taels of silver!”

The crowd gasped, “That much!”

“He must be handed over to the authorities!”

“How could anyone swallow such a huge sum! Heh, if it were me, I’d run too!”

Shopkeeper Yang burst into tears, “No, I didn’t embezzle that much! I only took ten percent! The rest wasn’t me!”

That was an admission! As good as nailed down!

Bei Hui spoke clearly, “Shopkeeper Yang, the owner has treated you well. I asked you three times a few days ago, giving you enough time to confess your mistake, but you chose to run away! We have no choice but to report you to the authorities. I hope you will go with the officer and voluntarily confess your accomplices and the source of the counterfeit goods. Otherwise, even if the owner has to appeal to the Dali Temple, she will see this case through to the end!”

The officer understood, and made a mental note to remind the chief judge to handle the case fairly and not bend the law for personal gain. Otherwise, this family would keep appealing up the chain!

After Shopkeeper Yang and his family were taken away, the matter was not yet over.

Bei Hui announced, “Every piece of Gan Porcelain in this shop is one wen! Each person is limited to one piece! Please line up and don’t crowd!”

The whole place erupted!

One wen! Gan Porcelain is only worth one wen! Gan Porcelain is only worth one wen!

All over the Capital, people were saying that the owner of Mingyu An Porcelain had gone mad. Because her goods had been swapped by the shopkeeper, who used cheap Gan Porcelain to replace the valuable An Porcelain, she decided to sell all the Gan Porcelain for just one wen each!

Those who managed to snatch a piece of Gan Porcelain for one wen couldn’t stop grinning, all saying that the owner was honest in business, selling things for what they’re truly worth.

In fact, even if Gan Porcelain wasn’t as good as An Porcelain, it wasn’t worth only one wen. It simply wasn’t as prestigious as An Porcelain, but for ordinary families, it was still quite respectable to use.

Gan Porcelain came from Gan Zhou, and was not well-known. No one bothered to imitate it, nor did anyone want to go all the way to Gan Zhou to buy and sell it.

So, there were very few shops selling Gan Porcelain in the Capital-almost a monopoly. As long as one did business honestly, it was a decent livelihood.

But it was absolutely wrong to target Mingyu An Porcelain, provoking Shi Anxia. She could ruin the reputation of Gan Porcelain completely, drive all sellers out of the Capital, and not let them have even a sip of soup.

Shi Anxia watched the whole process with great interest and didn’t feel tired at all.

The counterfeit goods in the shop were all sold out, the people left in high spirits, and the sky had completely darkened.

Shi Anxia wanted to eat Plum Blossom Cake from Nanluo Alley, so she took a detour to buy some. On her way back to the residence, she passed through Nangu Alley and was suddenly blocked by a large black dog.

The big black dog had its ears perked up, was skin and bones, and its eyes glowed with a faint blue light.

The carriage slowed, and the coachman tried to steer around it.

But the big black dog slowly moved to the side, still blocking the carriage’s path.

For some reason, the dog’s legs suddenly gave out, and it knelt on the ground, looking very pitiful.

Shi Anxia lifted the curtain and observed for a while, then instructed the coachman, “It must be hungry. Take some Plum Blossom Cake and toss it over for it to eat.”

The coachman agreed, took the Plum Blossom Cake handed over by Bei Hui, and stood at a distance, “Don’t move, I’m giving you something to eat.”

But as soon as the big black dog saw someone get down, it immediately stood up again, looking quite imposing.”