Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 10 For the sake of our uncle-nephew relationship
In her previous life, Lu Jia woke up on this night. After resting and preparing for three days, she left by water under the cover of Qiu Niang and Xie Yi.

To avoid being tracked down by the Zhang family after they discovered her departure, she deliberately stayed in Tanzhou Prefecture for a few days before leaving.

During those few days in Tanzhou, she witnessed the major events at the Tonghuomen Wharf. When Li Er exposed Zhang Qi's secrets, she immediately thought of this incident and thus confirmed that Li Er was not lying.

At the same time, she also knew clearly that the one advocating for change this time was none other than her husband's grandfather from her previous life—ah, no, her little treacherous father's boss, the great villain Yan Song!

Grand Commandant Shen Bo returned victorious. Taking advantage of the Emperor's anger over the fact that Grand Commandant Shen's only son was in danger at the canal wharf, Yan Song proposed to reform the river transport system. Although the Xiang River was not a major north-south waterway, it was an important waterway for transporting grain from the south to the north.

Lu Jia was still unclear about Yan Song's purpose in proposing this policy, but under the strong wind blown by the imperial court, several wharves in Tanzhou Prefecture made adjustments based on local conditions: Tonghuomen Wharf would flood every spring and summer, which greatly affected the river transport in the jurisdiction. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Tanzhou Prefecture government ordered cargo ships from the north and south to moor at Shawan Wharf, dozens of miles away upstream.

As the future young mistress of the Yan family, and as one of the victims who always hoped for the Yan family's downfall, how could Lu Jia not know about the policies related to the Yan family, or in other words, the things that the Yan family had interfered in during the court, except for classified information? If she didn't actively keep track of the Yan family's movements, where would she get the opportunity to escape?

This matter is especially relevant to Tanzhou Prefecture, where she once lived.

When she married into the Yan family, although the national waterway system had been rectified, she was still aware of the general progress.

All the ships in Tanzhou Prefecture were to stop here. What did this mean?
This means that money will flow in like a river!
After Li Er revealed Zhang Qi's true intentions in harming Lu Jia, Lu Jia understood. The Shawan Wharf's business was already thriving, and its future prospects were predictable.

The past life proved this to be true. Since then, Shawan County's status has risen, and it has gradually become famous throughout the world for its reputation as "Golden Shawan".

The business opportunity is right here; who in business would ignore it?
Rice merchants, in particular, buy rice in their shops to sell to cargo ships traveling north and south, which then transport the rice to various places for resale.

More than 60% of the businesses at Shawan Wharf were in the rice and grain business. At this time, the news was coming from the Tanzhou government office. Who could sit still in such a situation?

For Zhang Qi and his wife, what was a niece compared to their money? Not to mention, they also had leverage over the fact that Lu Jia wasn't Qiu Niang's biological daughter. Pushing Lu Jia forward to benefit themselves was perfectly in line with their despicable nature.

Lu Jia let the duck she had caught fly away, and ended up losing more than she gained. There's no way the Zhang family will let her off the hook!
Xie Yi really couldn't understand what Lu Jia was thinking, but he couldn't ignore what she said, since she could pull his ear quite hard. Early in the morning, he invited Li Chang to the dock to carry rice, as usual.

Qiu Niang went to brush her umbrella ribs, while Lu Jia stayed in the room to continue "resting".

After breakfast, Lu Jia tidied up the courtyard inside and out, exchanged the needlework she hadn't had time to sell before falling into the water for some money, bought two bushels of rice, and then wandered around the stationery shop, picking out a few sheets of the cheapest paper. She still had some pen, ink, and inkstone left over from when Yi Ge'er was learning accounting, so there was no rush to buy more.

After buying her things, she carried her basket and strolled to the dock.

The Xie family continued with their daily routine, while the Zhang family had been in constant turmoil since last night.

Last night, Madam He was waiting for Zhang Qi to return to his room when she heard a series of wailing and howling coming from the Xie family. She assumed that Zhang Qi had scared the Zhang family and was in the room plotting how to quickly and accurately send Lu Jia to the Li family. But before she could finish her plan, Zhang Qi returned!

Upon entering, his clothes were dirty, his hair was disheveled, his face was covered in bruises, and he was limping. This frightened Mrs. He so much that she screamed repeatedly.

After she finished yelling and I heard the whole story, I almost collapsed to the ground.

Unexpectedly, the Xie family has fallen to this state, practically meat on the chopping block for the Zhang family. Just when things were about to go smoothly, they actually rebelled!
They even dug a pit for them!
"How dare they! They beat up Li Er and then make us take the blame! I'm going to fight them!"

Having not slept a wink all night, Madam He still couldn't contain herself; she felt like tearing Zhang Qiuniang's heart apart.

In her opinion, this must have been Qiu Niang's idea! Even before they were married, she disliked this sister-in-law who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Now that their positions have finally been reversed, why is Zhang Qiu Niang still so arrogant?

Zhang Qi grabbed her: "Now that Li Er has explained the whole story, everyone on Xichun Street knows that we schemed against that widow and her orphan. If you keep going to their door like this, won't our Zhang family be cursed to death? Not to mention anything else, what about Yi-ge'er's wife? What about Ru-jie'er's marriage to the son of Magistrate He?"

"So you can swallow this insult?" Madam He slammed her hand on the table, her angry shouts as jarring as the jostling cups. "Zhang Qiuniang is so vicious! Does she even respect you as her brother? Does she treat you like a brother? Does she consider our Zhang family her own family? Go out and ask around, what married woman would treat her own brothers so cruelly?"
"It's precisely because of their marriage that I can't let them, mother and three, lord it over us!"

Zhang Qi gritted his teeth, his face ashen.

Of course he couldn't swallow this insult, but even if he couldn't, he was forced to swallow it.
Seeing his disheveled appearance covered in bruises, Madam He didn't dare to stir up any more trouble.

But she was unwilling to accept it!
"The Li family's warehouse is gone. If we can't buy a warehouse, how will we expand our shops? After the old man died, I don't know what happened, but the income from the counter has been decreasing year by year. Before the New Year, we had to withdraw the deposited silver from the bank to buy grain. Have you forgotten? If we don't seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a fortune, how will we turn our lives around? Others will be eating meat, and we'll only be drinking soup!"

Speaking of money, Zhang Qi felt a sharp pain in his heart: "If it weren't for that girl Jia'er jumping out and calling me 'Uncle,' I would have definitely persuaded Li Er. But she acted so convincingly that I couldn't explain myself. Now that she's hit me, even if the Li family knows the truth, they won't admit to hitting the wrong person. They can only continue down this wrong path!"
"So, she's the most vicious one!"

Thinking about it this way, Zhang Qi, who had originally wanted to wait a while, could no longer hold back.

What my wife said makes some sense. We couldn't do anything about them last night, so why can't we handle them today?

He didn't argue with the neighbors last night because there were too many people around. Now that it's broad daylight, he wants to see which of those poor bastards would give up their dock jobs to come to the Xie family to stand up for them.

While no one's around, let's see if he doesn't vent all the pent-up frustration he's suffered!
Thinking this, he immediately got up, limped out the door and headed towards the Xie family's house.

After finally reaching the west wall, I shook the door, only to find it bolted shut from the Xie family's side!
He was so angry that his left tooth ached, so he had no choice but to drag his injured leg to the gate. He saw that the gate was crooked and dilapidated; that damned Li Er had smashed it down the night before, and half a door panel was still hanging there!
Damn it! Now he has to fix the door because of this!
This made him so angry that his right tooth also started to hurt.

He angrily called for help, then opened the door again. A gust of wind blew in his face, almost causing him to strain his back!
Why?

It stinks!

Someone had splashed a huge puddle of excrement on the open ground in front of the door, and when the wind blew, it immediately filled his nose with the smell!

This pile of shit stinks like it's been passed down through generations, making him vomit up the medicine he just drank.

Upon hearing the commotion, the servants who rushed to help immediately stopped five steps away when they saw what was happening—well, this vomiting will only make it stink even more!
...When Zhang Qi pounded on the door, Lu Jia had already returned from the dock.

Not only that, she also sat behind the small square table and wrote and drew on several sheets of paper.

"You brat, my Zhang family has raised you for years, and this is how you repay me? Do you think I can't do anything to you?!"

Zhang Qi brought in seven or eight people. With that kind of force, they could easily handle not only Lu Jia, who was powerless, but even ten of her.

“Uncle has difficulty walking, so please sit down and talk slowly.”

Unlike her behavior the night before, Lu Jia spoke softly and gently as she welcomed Zhang Qi into the hall, and even brewed a pot of tea.

Zhang Qi, certain that the man was afraid of him, grew even more imposing. He walked in, took the head seat, and swept his gaze across the man, saying, "Since you don't treat me like your uncle, then don't blame me for being ruthless. Originally, we planned to let go of the three hundred taels of silver the Zhang family would give you for registering your marriage with the Li family. Now that that's fallen through, you have half a day to return that money!"

Lu Jia said, "I have no money."

"No money?" Zhang Qi sneered, glancing around the Xie family's mansion. "Then use this mansion to pay off the debt!"

"If I don't have a house, where will I live?"

"That's your business!" Zhang Qi retorted angrily. "A life for a life, a debt for a debt—that's only right and proper!"

Lu Jia raised an eyebrow: "What if I want to renege on my debt?"

Zhang Qi felt a lump in his throat, and his teeth started to ache with anger!

He took a deep breath: "I have an excellent relationship with Magistrate He in the county government. If you want to renege on your debt, then you'll have to see if the yamen's disciplinary rod is willing to do so!"

At this point, he slammed a piece of paper onto the table.

Needless to say, this was the very document that He had shown to Qiu Niang.

"My reputation as Zhang Qi has already been ruined by you. As the saying goes, 'When you have too many lice, you don't feel itchy.' Even if everyone in Shawan County points fingers at me, I will still fight this lawsuit!"

The angry shouts nearly blew the roof off.

Lu Jia picked up the tea: "You're still colluding with the Tongzhi?"

After saying that, she looked down at the ground and smiled, put down the cup, and said slowly, "I calculated that this house was bought for five hundred taels of silver. If the ships from the Tonghuo Gate really stopped here, it should be worth double, about a thousand taels."

"A thousand taels can buy half a shop at the dock, which is indeed not a small amount."

Zhang Qi scoffed, "You can't bear to part with it? That's none of your business!"

Lu Jia looked at him: "If you had a storeroom now, the extra silver you could earn would be far more than just one or two houses, right?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Qi met her intrigued gaze: "What do you mean?"

Lu Jia took a sip of tea: "What I mean is, I have a way to get my hands on the warehouse."

Zhang Qi stared at her for a long time, then threw his head back and burst into laughter: "Have you lost your mind?!"

"You think you can get a warehouse? All the warehouses in Shawan County have already been reserved. Even if I offered a lot of money, I still couldn't get one. Do you have a way? You can't even come up with three hundred taels of silver. Do you have the money to buy a warehouse?"

"You little brat, you dare to play me for a fool! Do you think I'm stupid?!"

At this point, he slammed his hand on the table and stood up: "Men, prepare a sedan chair! Take me to the county government office to beat the drum for petitioning the emperor. I refuse to believe that the government won't award me these three hundred taels of silver!"

Of the eight servants he brought, four immediately fled. The other four stood behind him, blocking Lu Jia's path, as if they were about to drag her to the yamen to be flogged.

Lu Jia remained unmoved: "I don't have money. If I did, this opportunity wouldn't be yours. You're only focused on the petty gains in front of you. Those who do big business, who doesn't aim higher?"
"Don't forget who our Xie family did business with in the capital back in the day. Although we've declined, it's only been a few years. Those old acquaintances in the capital are still around. What's a little information to us? It's just something we orphans and widows couldn't use back then."

"But judging from your attitude now, even if I could actually get a warehouse at the dock, you might not want it. So just pretend I didn't say anything."

These words left Zhang Qi speechless.

All he did was to get a storage room.
Although he absolutely refused to believe that this young girl possessed such abilities, he couldn't help but feel uneasy thinking about how the Xie family had managed to return to Tanzhou in the first place...

“I’m only giving you this opportunity because of our uncle-nephew relationship,” Lu Jia said, standing up before he could speak. “There are people everywhere who want to seize warehouses these days. If you don’t want it, then I’ll go and connect you with someone else.”

"They are more than grateful to me."

"Unlike you? You didn't learn your lesson after being beaten. You came over here slamming your fist on the table and glaring at me for three hundred taels of silver. Three hundred taels? If you really wanted money, I wouldn't even bother to look at such a small amount!"

With that, she snorted and walked toward the threshold.

This is a really long chapter today, so please give me some votes!


(End of this chapter)