Crossing the Mountains

Chapter 158 Arouses Temptation
With Tan Huai Ke so aggressively seizing business, the other incense shops naturally refused to sit idly by and began to actively try to save themselves.

Their first tactic was to accuse her of forcing customers to buy incense by setting a threshold of one hundred taels of silver. However, they soon discovered that the more they publicized her reputation for "forced sales," the better business became for Wangchen Incense Shop. The powerful and wealthy were eager to spend their silver to qualify for the purchase of precious incense, fearing that they would fall behind.

Then they came up with another idea: to imitate Tan Huaike's rare and expensive fragrances, hoping to follow in her footsteps. However, they weren't particularly skilled at making fragrances, and most of the fragrances they bought from outside were old-fashioned styles. They could only produce a maximum of two new products a year, so riding the wave of Tan Huaike's popularity was quite a challenge.

Even so, they still went ahead and took the plunge.

The two incense shops combined their purchased spices and hired a professional incense maker to blend and press them according to Tan Huaike's formula. While the result was indeed roughly the same, this whole process significantly increased costs. To avoid losses, their prices had to be higher than Wangchen Incense Shop's, making them completely uncompetitive. Therefore, they had to reduce the amount of rare spices like ambergris and musk, resulting in an unbalanced aroma and leading others to ridicule them for their poor imitation.

Tan Huaike told Tao Ying that she knew some of the brokers who maliciously inflated prices were also sent by these shops, engaging in buying and selling for profit, aiming to make a quick buck from her and also ruin her reputation. However, after she set a threshold of one hundred taels of silver, such reselling became unprofitable, and they had no choice but to swallow their anger and give up.

After several rounds of ups and downs, the owners of these incense shops were exhausted.

Tan Huaike winked mysteriously at Tao Ying, leaned closer and said, "The owners of two shops came to see me a few days ago. Guess what they want to do?"

Unable to contain her curiosity, Tao Ying leaned closer to her and whispered, "What do you want to do?"

Tan Huaike said, "They came to sue for peace, asking if I could supply them with a large quantity of my incense products at a low price so that they could help sell them. This would not only relieve the pressure on my small shop, but also allow them to get a share of the profits."

Tao Ying's eyes widened: "You agreed? You can't agree so easily. Once their business improves and they figure out the formula and can make incense themselves, they'll turn around and dump you. They might even smear you behind your back."

“That’s exactly what they said, of course I can’t agree to that.” Tan Huaike looked at Tao Ying approvingly. “So I also made demands of them: if they want to do business with my spices, they must use my signboard and obey my orders…”

"Let them open branches of the Forget-Dust Incense Shop!" Tao Ying immediately understood. "All the goods will be sold through you, and you will be in charge of the quality control, including the formula, pricing, purchase threshold, and customer retention. You will be in charge of all of these aspects, so we won't have to worry about them discarding us after we've served our purpose!"

"Yes, it's like I'm taking over their shop to run my own business."

"Excellent method!" Tao Ying couldn't help but get excited, even imagining the future. "Then Wangchen Incense Shop needs to expand its channels for purchasing spices as soon as possible, and we also need to recruit more incense makers... uh..."

She suddenly stopped.

Wait, didn't I come here to buy Huan Yi Incense to show off to my rival? How did we end up talking about this? What does the Forget-Dust Incense Shop have to do with me?
Seeing her annoyance, Tan Huaike gently waved his bamboo fan, expressing his intentions: "Miss Tao, I would like to invite you to run the Forget-Dust Incense Shop together. Would you be willing?"

Tao Ying's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Pointing at herself, she said, "Huh? Me? I'm a young lady from a noble family, and I'm going to run an incense shop with you? What are you thinking?" Tan Huai Ke said calmly, "We Mohe people have never looked down on merchants. Although Da Xuan has always considered merchants to be a lowly profession, and exorbitant taxes are levied on them, after years of war, the officials in the court have also discovered that doing business is the fastest and most peaceful way to accumulate wealth."

"The reason His Majesty wants to select imperial merchants is precisely to give them a legitimate opportunity to rise to prominence and to willingly earn more gold and silver reserves for the country and the military, right? Nowadays, the official families in Andu all have some businesses under their control. Who dares to say that they have no connection with merchants?"

Tao Ying retorted stubbornly, "So what if it is? Do you think it's easy to support the sons of noble families? They all eat fine food, dress luxuriously, and even use the most sought-after incense. How can the government's salary be enough? But you're being too abrupt. Why would I be so foolish as to give up being a proper young lady and run a shop?"

The smoke from the incense sticks curled upwards. Tan Huaike smiled and said, "Because I know you like doing business, just like me. Otherwise, how could you have acquired three shops in Andu, acting as the behind-the-scenes owner of a lacquerware shop, a tavern, and a cloth shop, and then spent a fortune to buy five shops next to mine in Zhangye County? It's clear that you're quite fond of this business and very bold."

Tao Ying slapped the table listlessly: "You...you investigated me?"

Tan Huaike frankly admitted: "Ever since you came to see me last time, I've been paying a little attention. To be honest, part of the reason I extended this invitation to you was also out of personal motives."

"Lord Tao is my uncle's superior. Regardless of your marriage to my uncle, I have never wanted to antagonize you. Rather than having us clash in some pointless place, why not join hands and do something more interesting? Of course, if you have no interest in the spice business, I won't force you; it's just a suggestion."

"You're quite honest; are you trying to curry favor with my grandfather?"

"Miss Tao, you flatter me. How could I possibly curry favor with the Grand Herald?" Tan Huai Ke chuckled. "I want to curry favor with you, so that I can prepare for the selection of imperial merchants. If you are willing to join, we can complement each other and suddenly have more bargaining chips to compete with others."

"I...I need...let me think about it." To say she wasn't tempted would be a lie. In Tao Ying's mind, Tan Huai Ke was not only her brother Xiao Zhuo's sweetheart, but also a very intelligent and resourceful businesswoman. She had to admit that one reason she came to buy Huan Yi Tent Incense was because she was very curious about Tan Huai Ke's current business methods.

"Alright, I will patiently await your reply." Tan Huaike fanned away the last wisps of smoke from the incense pills and said meaningfully, "My 'Joyful Tent Incense' is truly tempting, isn't it, Miss Tao?"

"I...you..." Hearing her teasing tone, Tao Ying blushed and retorted, "I never expected that Boss Tan would use such a flirtatious tactic on me!"
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As Tan Huaike expected, Tao Ying agreed.

This gave her more capital to expand her incense shop business—first, she persuaded the owners of two other incense shops to turn their shops into branches of Wangchen Incense Shop, and then she found more ways to purchase spices and recruited and trained more incense makers.

In just three months, Wangchen Fragrance Shop has become the largest spice shop in Andu.

As a result, Tao Ying also made a fortune and even personally participated in the operation of the shop. With her endorsement as the daughter of an official, even more powerful and wealthy people sought after their spices.

Just then, Yu Sufeng approached Tan Huaike again.
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Next chapter: What worries could a merchant with the title of "Imperial Merchant" possibly have?