Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 467 Stirring
For Madam Xie to say that she could solve all the problems in one go... is a bit too arrogant.

How could a teenage girl possibly fight against Han Si and the people behind him?

The merchants began to ponder their own thoughts, wanting to discuss them with those around them, but as soon as their eyes met, they frowned and looked away.

Xie Yuyan wasn't in a hurry. After everyone's expressions returned to normal, he said, "Right now, the biggest problem for me is joining the Bianjing Guild, isn't it?"

"Even if you join a guild, you'll still be forced to pay a lot of exemption fees, be conscripted for labor, and be assigned goods to purchase by the imperial court. If you fail to do any of these things, you'll be punished by the guild. The more shops you open, the more trouble you'll have. If the shops don't make money, I won't be able to recover my investment, and sooner or later I'll be dragged down."

"If you only open one or two shops, you can't immediately promote your porcelain in a place like Bianjing. Once the hype surrounding Buddhist porcelain fades, the best opportunity to sell porcelain will be gone. If you can't ride the wave, you can only accumulate little by little. As I said, it will take at least a year to gain a foothold in Bianjing."

Xie Yuyan paused for a moment at this point: "Since this road is so difficult to travel, why should I still insist on opening a shop?"

"Does not opening a shop mean I can't sell porcelain?"

These words stirred something within the merchants once again.

"For a new kiln, the most important thing is to send the fired porcelain to the market as soon as possible to build up enough reputation for the kiln. As long as this is done, nothing else matters."

"In my opinion, all the problems will be solved if we just give up some of our profits."

Madam Xie relinquished her profit-making method by having other porcelain shops sell her porcelain on her behalf.

"My porcelain has gained a reputation in Bianjing, so my porcelain shops in other prefectures will be able to operate more smoothly, right?"

A merchant named Wu Tieshan said, "The most profitable items are decorative porcelain. This type of porcelain sells the most in Bianjing. Once your porcelain gains a reputation, your decorative porcelain will be able to sell. You won't lose money on this deal."

"Besides, with so many shops selling your porcelain, even if the porcelain industry wanted to manage it, they couldn't possibly punish us all."

Sure enough, someone jumped out to flatter her. Xie Yuyan nodded and said, "I was originally isolated and helpless in Bianjing, but as long as I have business dealings with everyone, I will have allies. It's too far-fetched to talk about feelings between merchants. It's more direct to talk about interests. This is the first advantage of doing business with me."

Everyone looked at Xie Yuyan.

One of the merchants said, "Is there perhaps a second benefit?"

More and more people joined in. Xie Yuyan continued, "Helping me sell porcelain might offend the guild and the head of the guild, but everyone here has already been targeted by the guild, so there's no need to worry about any bad consequences. Joining forces with me will only benefit you."

"Because the guild might try to persuade you not to sell my porcelain in order to deal with me. If any of you want to surrender to the porcelain guild, you can give up your business with me, use me as a pawn, and negotiate some terms with the porcelain guild or exchange me for some money."

"This is the second benefit I'm giving to everyone."

"In this way, no matter who wins or loses the battle between me and the porcelain business, you will not lose out, right?"

Xie Yuyan smiled slightly: "Since I've just arrived in Bianjing, I'll use this to make a financial connection with everyone."

After he finished speaking, the room fell silent again.

However, this time was different from before. Soon someone said, "Isn't the lady afraid that someone will openly agree but secretly try to kill her? After all, such things have happened before."

The man looked at Zhou Guangyuan as he spoke.

Zhou Guangyuan's face immediately darkened: "Jiang Laoqi, what do you mean by that?"

Jiang Qi asked, "How did Zhao Dazheng die? Who betrayed him?"

Zhou Guangyuan stood up abruptly: "You suspect me? What did we say back then? We agreed to go to the yamen together to sue the Han family, but on that day, none of you came; only I went to find Zhao Dazheng." "Before I even entered Zhao Dazheng's courtyard, I saw people coming to the yamen. If I had leaked this information privately, would I have appeared there at that time, arousing suspicion?"

“I’ve kept this in my heart for a long time,” Zhou Guangyuan said, looking at everyone in the room. “But since Zhao Dazheng died, no one has dared to mention it.”

"I dare to say that now, do you dare?"

The other merchants had complicated expressions and remained silent.

Zhou Guangyuan snorted coldly and sat down again. Before anyone else could speak, he looked at Xie Yuyan and asked, "If I agree to sell porcelain for Madam Xie, how will the money be calculated?"

Xie Yuyan said, "The porcelain I gave to Master Zhou was 20% lower than the price."

Zhou Guangyuan pondered for a moment and then asked, "When should we sign the documents?"

Xie Yuyan pointed to the table not far away: "The documents are ready."

Zhou Guangyuan readily agreed, "I'll sign."

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Qi immediately responded.

The two people who had just been arguing agreed to sell the porcelain first, and the rest of the people in the room slowly stood up afterward.

Zhou Guangyuan signed the document and pressed his fingerprint on it. Then he looked at Xie Yuyan and said, "Madam Xie said that porcelain fired in a coal kiln is cheaper."

Xie Yuyan nodded: "Exactly."

“I hope you won’t break your promise,” Zhou Guangyuan said. “Don’t arbitrarily raise prices just because you put the porcelain in our shop to sell.”

Xie Yuyan laughed and said, "The porcelain from the Shitan Kiln in Daming Prefecture is not only sold to Bianjing, but also to many other prefectures. If the price of porcelain is chaotic, my kiln will lose its reputation. I will not let that happen."

Zhou Guangyuan said, "Since that's the case, I have nothing to worry about. Once the porcelain from the Daming Prefecture kiln arrives, it can be delivered to the Zhou family shop at any time."

Zhou Guangyuan put away a document, greeted Xie Yuyan, and then quickly left with his men.

Then there were Jiang Qi and others.

All the merchants who came today signed the documents because, just as Xie Yuyan said, they wouldn't lose money no matter what. Since it was a sure-fire deal, why wouldn't they do it?
Once everyone else was out of the room, Xie Yuyan led Mother Yu and Su Man into the inner room.

Xie Yuyan looked at Su Man: "Send a message to Lord Wang and ask him to investigate Zhao Dazheng."

Just now, Zhou Guangyuan called out Zhao Dazheng's name under the guise of "anger," which was also a hint to her that something was amiss.

"Tell Lord Wang that he can wait a while; the porcelain industry in Bianjing is about to be thrown into turmoil."

Actually, this time, she wasn't talking about business, but rather stirring up trouble and reminding these merchants who were opposed to the porcelain industry that the porcelain industry and the forces behind them were currently focusing their attention on her. If they had been preparing, then it was time to make their move.

If any of them were intelligent, they would understand the meaning behind her actions.

So Zhou Guangyuan relayed the message to her.

Next, Zhou Guangyuan and his group will likely have other arrangements.

There is another chapter tonight