A life of two souls traveling through time

Chapter 109 Waiting for the opportunity

Ever since the dyeing workshop of the famous Jiangnan man Li was burned down by a fire, and Mr. Li was bedridden, rumors began to spread in Qile City. A month later, the public opinion unfavorable to the famous Jiangnan man Li became more and more fierce, and cloth shops in various places were also affected. Customers were gradually showing signs of loss, which made the shopkeepers in various places a little anxious, of course, except for Shopkeeper Yuan.

On this day, Shopkeeper Yuan was about to go to Li's house to see the master, but just as he stepped out of the door, he was stopped by a clerk from the cloth shop who came rushing over and said that some old customers were surrounding the cloth shop to demand an explanation. Shopkeeper Yuan couldn't help but get a headache after hearing this.

After Ange brought back some dyes as expected, Shopkeeper Lu of Wangcheng did not disappoint and secretly purchased a batch of dyes at the border of the nearby Yuhai Kingdom and quickly transported them back to Qile City. Fortunately, the famous Li in Jiangnan had the foresight to store the original fabrics and dyes separately, so that the original fabrics were saved from disaster and well preserved. With these two batches of dyes, it was not a problem to come up with two or three new styles, but the master still asked Shopkeeper Yuan to keep his mouth shut.

"Manager Yuan, you must tell us clearly today whether you, Jiangnan Mingli, are okay or not? We will be preparing the betrothal gifts for my son next month, and I paid a deposit six months in advance for your new style of silk."

"Yes, it's early spring now. When will the new cloth be available? My tailor shop is waiting too."

"I haven't seen Master Li for more than a month. There are rumors out there that Master Li might have already..."

"Pah, pah, pah, sister-in-law Wang, please don't curse Master Li!"

"It's what people outside say, not what I said..."

Surrounded by several people talking at once, Shopkeeper Yuan smiled and dared not say a word. It was not until everyone shut up and focused their eyes on him that Shopkeeper Yuan began to appease them respectfully:

"Please rest assured, although the dyeing workshop of Jiangnan Mingli was unfortunately destroyed and the loss was not small, my master is trying his best to save it, and the new style will appear as promised. This marriage has always been a big event. How dare we, Jiangnan Mingli with a century-old reputation, neglect it? Madam Zhou, please rest assured, I will send someone to deliver the new style of silk to the Zhou Mansion as soon as it comes out..."

Shopkeeper Yuan smiled and comforted the old customers in front of him one by one. Although they still had doubts in their hearts, they felt relieved when they saw Shopkeeper Yuan's calm and composed expression, and then they dispersed.

Shopkeeper Yuan finally resolved the issue at hand after a lot of effort. Before he had time to have a sip of tea, the shop clerk handed him several letters from shopkeepers from various places. He knew what the shopkeepers wrote without even reading them. He sighed, hurriedly drank a big gulp of warm tea, and then immediately left the cloth shop with the letters and ran towards Li's residence.

In the capital city of Liangdu, Mu Liang, who was dressed steadily and reserved, was waiting quietly in front of the Zhuo Mansion. His face had become much darker after a month of anxious running around. In addition, his sworn brother Li Yunye had been out of the capital for half a month and there was still no news, which made him worried all day long. He tacitly agreed to his sworn brother going to Xiyue Kingdom because he had no choice. He dared not write to inform his adoptive father and mother until now. He only hoped that his brother Yunye could return safely.

Yesterday, he unexpectedly received a letter from his stepmother, Madam Li, asking his stepbrother Li Yunye to take another letter from her to visit Madam Zhuo, the mother of the current Imperial Censor Zhuo Yanzheng, who was also his stepmother's aunt with whom he had seldom had contact in recent years.

During this crisis of Jiangnan's famous Li family, although Madam Li was in the Plum Garden, she was also worried when she heard the maid telling her the rumors outside. Mr. Li didn't want to talk to her much, and his son was thousands of miles away. She could only think of ways to do something for the Li family and her son, but what could she, a woman in the boudoir, do? Although her mother's family was once a wealthy businessman in Jicheng, it declined due to family infighting ten years ago. Her parents also passed away two years later. There was also a brother who became indifferent to the world after his parents passed away and went to seek immortals and Taoism. He has been missing until now.

Therefore, the only people she could count on now were her aunt and cousin who lived far away in the capital. When she was a child, her father was in debt due to business failures. To avoid the debts, her mother took her brother and herself to live in her uncle's house for a few years. Her uncle had only one son, and her aunt treated her like her own daughter. Even after she grew up and got married, her aunt often corresponded with her. Her cousin, who was two years younger than her, only wrote to her and sent her things to relieve her boredom before she got married. After she married into the Li family, she never received his letters again. Occasionally, she only heard from her aunt's letters that he had passed the imperial examination and had a smooth career promotion to the capital. In recent years, she learned that her aunt had also lived out her life in the capital, but she spent her days in the Li Mansion and no longer had the courage to write to her aunt often. Unconsciously, they gradually lost contact.

Now, Madam Li asked her son to try to establish a good relationship with her aunt, hoping to use their past friendship to see if she could get her cousin, who is now the current censor, to help the Li family.

Mu Liang lost hope at his adoptive mother's proposal. Although he knew that the Zhuo family often patronized the business of the famous Li family in Jiangnan, he had heard a little about this censor whom he had never met. He heard that he was always unkind and especially disliked dealing with businessmen. Therefore, he also understood why his adoptive father ignored such a big relative.

"My old lady invites Manager Mu to come into the house for tea."

Just when Mu Liang was feeling melancholy, the servant who had delivered the letter came out again and respectfully asked Mu Liang.

"Good work."

Mu Liang curved his eyebrows, nodded slightly and smiled at the servant in front of him, then followed the servant into Zhuo's mansion.

Shopkeeper Yuan hurried to Li's house. At this time, Li Xingyuan, who had just recovered from a serious illness, was writing a letter to Mu Liang in the study. Seeing Shopkeeper Yuan's worried face, he hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?"

"Master, these are letters from shopkeepers from all over the country. They must be worried about the recent rumors." Shopkeeper Yuan placed several letters in front of Li Xingyuan and said in a worried voice.

Li Xingyuan opened the letters in front of him one by one and read them. As Manager Yuan had expected, the rumor about the bad reputation of the famous Li in Jiangnan spread everywhere within a month. Even Wangcheng in the far north was no exception. The speed was so fast that it was obvious that someone had spread it deliberately.

"Master, we can't wait any longer. Some old customers who placed orders today believed the rumors and came to the shop to question us. I had to spend a lot of time to calm them down, but this can only keep them calm for a while!" When Shopkeeper Yuan saw that the master remained silent after reading the letter, he could not help but speak again.

"Ange's situation should be about the same." Li Xingyuan frowned slightly and nodded. He was as anxious as the other shopkeepers. Originally, he wanted to wait for news from Butler Fang, but now the rumors were spreading too fast and he could not wait any longer.

"Manager Yuan, send someone to the farm immediately to get three new samples and bring them back. Tomorrow, we will directly distribute the new products to the four cloth shops in Qile City."

"Release new products right away? No need to prepare in advance?" The master's words made Manager Yuan a little surprised.

"The rumors from all over the place have warmed up our Jiangnan famous Li and attracted people into the store. We just need to put in new products tomorrow." Li Xingyuan knew what Manager Yuan was worried about, so he smiled calmly.

"Great! It turns out the master is waiting for the right opportunity!" Shopkeeper Yuan finally realized that he had been so anxious these days that his mind was not clear.

"Ask Ange to pack the same three new styles and ship them to stores overnight."

Shopkeeper Yuan was so excited that he accepted the master's order, then ran out of Li's house and found a few shop assistants to go to the farm together.