Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 16 Imperial Envoy
When Lu Jia placed the shop's property deeds on the table, Zhang Qiuniang and Xie Yi, who were behind the dining table, were both stunned.

When Lu Jia finished explaining the whole story, the mother and son were so surprised that they forgot to catch their breath...

That day, Lu Jia said he would wait for Zhang Qi to come to their door. Qiu Niang was worried that the Zhang family would cause trouble, so she naturally wouldn't agree with him. Xie Yi didn't take it to heart either. In his mind, although Lu Jia wasn't a pushover, he wasn't strong enough to stand up to the Zhang family on his own.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Qi came to the door so quickly. Not only was Lu Jia unharmed, but she also sent him back. After sending him back, he came again and begged Lu Jia to help him buy a warehouse. In the end, she actually gave up the shop!
How did she do that?
Lu Jia, of course, didn't reveal how she got the information, so neither she nor her son could figure it out.

But that's not important to Lu Jia. What's important is that with this shop, their current predicament can be changed.

“We will start from here and gradually restore the Xie family to its former glory.” Lu Jia held the land deed with unwavering determination. “We must return to where we came from.”

"But this shop was originally run by the Zhang family. Although we have the house and land deeds, they are now occupying the space. How are we supposed to run it?"

"Besides, we don't have the capital right now. Buying goods, hiring helpers, accountants, managers, and feeding so many people three meals a day are all considerable expenses."

"Also, what kind of business should we start? Ever since the Xie family moved to the capital, we haven't been able to take care of things here, so we don't have any regular customers. We have to start all over again."

"Having a shop alone won't alleviate our predicament."

Speaking of this, Qiu Niang sighed again.

It's certainly a good thing to be able to get the shop back, but there's still a long way to go before it can generate income.

"Mother, don't worry about this. I've already made plans. On the way out of the Liu family with Zhang Qi, I made it clear to him that he needs to vacate the shop within three days. Otherwise, I'll find a way to make it impossible for him to continue doing business."

"Given the current situation, instead of opening the shop, we'll rent it out."

“I’ve inquired about it. Although our shop isn’t in the best location, it’s not too bad either. The market price for a long-term lease is fifteen taels of silver per month, but I don’t want to lease it long-term. So, if we negotiate down the price, it’ll be around ten taels.”

"Ten taels of silver is more than enough for us to live on, and we might even have a surplus."

"I will naturally take this shop back in the future. As for what business to choose, our Shawan mainly deals in rice and grain. Our Xie family originally came from the rice and grain business, so we will naturally choose this business as well."

"The most important thing right now is to get the shop ready and rent it out as soon as possible. Then I'll go and familiarize myself with the rice wharf. Once everything is ready, we can start setting up the shop."

Lu Jia spoke methodically throughout, and Qiu Niang nodded frequently as she listened. However, she disagreed at the end: "You said you're going to the dock? The dock is a mixed bag of people. How can a young lady like you go there? Let Yi Ge go!"

"Yes, yes, yes! I'll do it, I'll do it!" Xie Yi quickly put down his bowl and chopsticks. "I'm the only man in the family, I have to do this!"

“You know you’re the only man in your family,” Lu Jia said, looking at him intently. “Are you really planning to spend your whole life hanging out with these shady characters?”

Xie Yi was stunned: "What else?"

"You're hopeless." Lu Jia slapped the back of his head. "What you should be doing is learning something else, like studying or practicing martial arts. You need to learn a skill to protect yourself and save your life, instead of thinking that just running a shop is enough!"

Xie Yi's head hurt from being hit.

But he got used to it.

Qiu Niang said, "Learning some martial arts moves is fine, but studying is out of the question. In this world, there's nothing good about being an official. The cabinet ministers and high-ranking officials of the six ministries have all died several times over the years."

“Which of them isn’t well-read and a talent among talents? We’ve already suffered from the political infighting. There’s nothing wrong with just keeping our family’s wealth and living an ordinary life.”

The Xie family had been doing very well in business in the capital for years, but suddenly lost all their wealth because they offended someone, or more precisely, because they chose the wrong side. Ten years ago, Censor Yang Tingye impeached Yan Song for "five treacherous acts and ten major crimes," but was instead framed, imprisoned, and eventually beheaded.

The classmate who invited Master Xie to Beijing to open the shop was named Liang Jun, a student of Yang Tingye. The day after Yang Tingye was imprisoned, his students were successively detained on various pretexts.

Two years later, Liang Jun was also imprisoned because she did not give way to Yan Song's grandnephew on the street. This was interpreted as dissatisfaction with Yan Song's treatment of Yang Tingye and harboring ill intentions towards the Yan family.

Although the Xie family was just a group of merchants, far from being significant enough for the Yan Party to target them, there are always more people who would kick someone when they're down than those who would help them in times of need. There were plenty of people in the capital who would willingly serve the Yan family.

After Liang Jun's accident, Old Master Xie immediately took out money to help his friend, which impacted the Xie family's business, eventually forcing it to close down.

Meanwhile, the money the Xie family spent seemed to disappear into thin air, bringing no change whatsoever. On the contrary, Old Master Xie was beaten up while seeking an opportunity to rescue Liang Jun. After returning home, he fell ill and never recovered, passing away three months later with resentment in his heart.

Lu Jia's adoptive father, Xie Zhang, was a scholar. After suffering such blows one after another, he was filled with grief and indignation, but he was powerless to resist the powerful. Beset by internal and external troubles, his health also collapsed.

It was only after Zhang Hong heard about this that he immediately sent people to the capital to bring them back, which allowed Xie Zhang to live a few more years.

In his previous life, after the Lu family returned to the capital, they visited Liang Jun in prison. After eight years of torment, the once illustrious and respectable censor was now emaciated, his teeth all gone, and his speech still slurred. Upon hearing that Lu Jia was a young lady from the Xie family, tears immediately streamed down his face. Then, with his already festering fingers, he wrote a string of Xie's old master's name on the ground.

When he was young, Liang Jun, who came from a poor family, was helped by Master Xie, which enabled him to pass the imperial examination, enter officialdom, and see a bright future ahead of him.

He, in turn, helped the Xie family, enabling their business to reach new heights.

They were originally two close friends who supported each other, but one of them became a dead man long ago, while the other became a living dead man in prison.

From this perspective, Qiu Niang's negative attitude is understandable.

The Yan family father and son held sway in the imperial court, and unless one became their lackey, no one could guarantee a peaceful end.

Lu Jia witnessed this fact firsthand in her previous life.

So Lu Jia didn't say anything more.

The next day, the first step was to supervise the Zhang family to vacate the shop.

The Zhang family was naturally unhappy about giving up such a large piece of meat. However, they had already acquired the warehouse, and even greater profits awaited them ahead. They had been very busy these days, and besides, Zhang Qi was genuinely afraid that Lu Jia would cause trouble later, so he didn't say much.

They were just a bit slow; it was supposed to take three days, but it took them five days to reluctantly clean everything up.

On the day she moved out, Lu Jia posted a notice about the rental on the front door.

That's right, it's only available for rent for six months.

If she rents out shops long-term, what can she do with the ten or twenty taels of silver she earns? Lu Jia isn't after enough to fill her stomach; she's after wealth, to become a rich man!

Without plenty of money, how could she learn skills from Xie Yi? How could they fight their way back to the capital? How could they establish themselves there? How could they accumulate the strength to return to the Lu family as the eldest daughter?

Sufficient money is a prerequisite for achieving everything.

She has to run her own business.

Now that the Jiang family has found Tanzhou, they might find her whereabouts at any time.

She still couldn't understand why the Jiang family was relentlessly pursuing her. But since that was the case, she had to clear her name and the Xie family's names before the Jiang family discovered her.

In fact, Lu Jia is confident.

In the past two weeks, as she had told Zhang Qi, 30% of the ships at Tonghuomen Wharf had arrived, the number of ships on the river was gradually increasing, and more and more people were passing by the wharf.

With such a thriving customer base, even short-term rentals of six months should be profitable. Whether someone truly wants to succeed is another matter.

In the first two or three days, there was indeed a constant stream of inquiries. Some people didn't make a purchase because they couldn't afford the rent, while many others wanted to buy it outright, given its prime location.

In short, there were still many people willing to participate, and Lu Jia and Qiu Niang had talked themselves hoarse.

Strangely, after two or three days, more people came to look, but fewer people asked questions. A few days later, the number of visitors decreased by more than half. Later, not only did no one come to inquire anymore, but almost no one even came in to browse.

This is strange. Such a nice storefront, why are these people acting like they're hiding from evil spirits?
When he returned home that evening, he ran into Li Changye.

Li Chang helped Xie Yi chop firewood in the yard, and the two chatted as they worked:
"I heard that the imperial envoy who came this time is someone important. With his arrival, everyone in the county government and the prefectural government has been extremely busy."

Upon hearing the words "Imperial Envoy," Lu Jia immediately stopped in his tracks—that's right, it's already March, the Imperial Envoy should be here soon.

She remembered that the official sent by the court to supervise water transport in the two lakes was a fat, big-eared official surnamed Zhang. Not long after she returned to the capital, she learned that the imperial envoys sent out were appointed by the cabinet, which meant they were essentially lackeys of the Yan family.

After thinking for a moment, she went up to him and asked, "How many days has the imperial envoy been here? Where is he staying?"

"They've been here for two or three days, staying right here in our Shawan County government office. You didn't know? The guy next door has practically been plastered all over the county government office wall these past few days!"

Xie Yi glanced in the direction of the Zhang family as he spoke.

(End of this chapter)