Chapter 86: Smiling like he picked-up gold

On the way back, Liu Yanping had already heard from Liu Yanan about the Lu family’s division. Just now, seeing the money pouch in Liu Yu’s hand, he raised his eyebrows. Could it be that he had handed over the divided silver to his sister?

Seeing one person blushing and running away while the other smiled as if they had picked up gold, no, Lu Chengxiao, even if he picked up gold, wouldn’t smile like that.

Liu Yanping and Liu Yanan felt complicated inside.

Their sister was about to become someone else’s.

Liu Yanping couldn’t stand Lu Chengxiao’s appearance and slapped his shoulder, saying, “Snap out of it. If you keep smiling like that, it’ll sour us both. Later, I’ll have to persuade my mother to keep Yu’er for a couple more years.”

The three of them had a good relationship now. Lu Chengxiao gave him a playful elbow, and after some joking around, Liu Yanping asked seriously, “Why did you divide the family before even getting married? Is it because of this trip to Zhejiang?”

Liu Yanping was also a sly fox. He had been to Lufeng Cloth Store several times, especially yesterday when he discussed the fabric trading matter. He had seen Lu Erlang’s reaction. How coincidental was it that the Lu family suddenly divided at this time? Naturally, he had some speculations.

Lu Chengxiao shook his head. “The root cause is that the path I’m going to take in the future is different from that of my elder brothers. My father wants to give us at least the same starting point and let us brothers play to our strengths and pursue our own paths.”

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When the three entered the inner courtyard, both Wei Shi and Chen Shi were engrossed in conversation. First seeing Liu Yu hurriedly entering the west wing, and now seeing these few, Wei Shi hurriedly said to Chen Shi, “My second son Yanping is back.”

As she spoke, she waved her hand to let Liu Yanping in.

Liu Yanping came here to pay his respects to Chen Shi. Chen Shi praised his manners and asked Wei Shi, “I haven’t asked yet. Where did Yanqing and his brothers go to school? I see that their manners are excellent, as if they have been specially trained in the grand academy.”

They were very similar to Lu Chengxiao. At least her eldest and second sons didn’t have such good manners.

Wei Shi shook her head. “They attended a private school in town for a few years. They are more martially inclined, and their academic performance is average. As for manners and etiquette, I won’t hide it from you. Whether it was their father, uncle, or me, we were all taught by my mother-in-law. Yanqing and Yanping were fine, having been taught by their grandmother and father for several years, but Yanan was too young at the time and didn’t receive much guidance.”

The education of the three sons was all Wei Shi’s responsibility.

This piqued Chen Shi’s curiosity, so she asked Wei Shi, “May I ask, who are your ancestors?”

Wei Shi shook her head. “I was bought by my mother-in-law out of kindness during the famine years. At that time, my father-in-law had already passed away.”

However, there was a rule in the family that outsiders couldn’t join the military, so Wei Shi speculated that perhaps her father-in-law had been in the military before. This uncertain matter was not something she could easily talk about.

While they were talking, Liu Yu had already calmed down and come out. She was always lively and active. Seeing that Lu Chengxiao and his two brothers didn’t have any tea in front of them, she was about to go to the kitchen.

But Babao, who had visited the Liu family several times, was also clever. Seeing his young master and the Liu brothers coming in, he went to busy himself first. Just as Liu Yu was about to go, he had already brought the tea in, including a cup for Liu Yu.

Chen Shi couldn’t help but laugh and said to Wei Shi, “Are these two from my family like this at your place too?”

To consider herself half of a host, able to arrange tea serving for guests on her own.

Wei Shi only praised, “They are already part of the family, and Babao is clever and capable.”

This praise made Babao’s heart blossom with joy.

After a while, they all sat together, and Chen Shi brought up the main topic, asking about the arrangements for Lu Chengxiao and Liu Yanping’s trip to Zhejiang.

Hearing that they were going to visit a dyeing workshop in Yuanzhou the next day to finalize the colors and patterns for cooperation, and with Liu Yu accompanying them, Chen Shi’s smile grew deeper.

Lu Chengxiao was instructed again, “Originally, we said we would take 300 taels for the business, with 100 taels as backup. Now that the family has been divided, you should be more conservative this time, leaving some room for yourself. Don’t let Yu’er suffer if she accompanies you in the future.”

Lu Chengxiao glanced at Liu Yu again, with a smile in his eyes. Seeing Liu Yu avoiding his gaze, he turned to Chen Shi and Wei Shi and said, “I’ve already saved 100 taels aside. This time, I’ll only purchase 200 taels of fabric, leaving 100 taels for dyeing and expenses on the road, just to test the waters.”

Liu Yanping and Liu Yanan suddenly realized that the remaining 100 taels might have been left in their sister’s hands, and the two brothers couldn’t help but smile.

Liu Yu only looked at her second and third brother’s expressions and knew that her eldest brother had guessed it. Feeling embarrassed in her heart, she didn’t dare to show it in front of Chen Shi and tried to remain calm.

Chen Shi didn’t notice anything unusual, but Lu Chengxiao did. He didn’t want Liu Yu to feel uncomfortable, so he turned to Liu Yanping and said, “Your fabrics are collected in the village, right? Maybe I’ll come along and take a look.”

“All right, why not? Before you came, I was just at a villager’s house. Perfect, you can also see how the goods here compare to what you’ve ordered at the workshop.”

Liu Yanping agreed immediately, and the three of them said goodbye to Wei Shi and Chen Shi and left together.

Liu Yu breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Shi didn’t understand what was going on and thought her foolish son was beyond help. It was rare for them to sit together and have a conversation, so going to see woven fabrics was too distressing. But then she thought about tomorrow’s trip to Yuanzhou and felt it wasn’t the right time to bring it up. She pulled Liu Yu aside and asked about her ready-to-wear business. She also went with Wei Shi to see the half-finished embroidered products of Liu Yu.

Hearing that they were consigned at Cui Erniang’s Embroidery Shop in Changfeng Town, she made up her mind to go and support them.

~

Liu Yanping and Liu Yanan led Lu Chengxiao and his servant to the patriarch’s house of the Liu family. When Lu Chengxiao arrived, the grandchildren and granddaughters of the patriarch and the old lady of the family were all sitting in the courtyard playing with hemp. Seeing Liu Yanping leading in a young master dressed in brocade, the old lady quickly got up to greet them.

The patriarch heard the commotion inside and also came out to welcome them. His gaze fell on the faces of Lu Chengxiao and his servant. He had seen the young master a while ago on the Liu family’s land. Now seeing Lu Chengxiao’s current attire, he vaguely guessed something and asked Liu Yanping, “Could this be the young master of the Lu family who will accompany you on this business trip?”

The young master of the Lufeng Cloth Store in the county, in the eyes of the patriarch, was like a big merchant such as the Lufeng Cloth Store, which he looked up to. Therefore, he was a little excited.

Liu Yanping smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. “You have a discerning eye.”

Lu Chengxiao paid his respects to the patriarch and the old lady of the Liu family, making the patriarch anxious and at a loss for words. However, the smile on his face never faded.

Mrs. Lu was about to go and make tea, get some melon seeds and peanuts. She asked Lu Chengxiao to thank her, saying they had just had tea at the Liu family’s house and were there to look at the weaving. He repeatedly declined, and the Liu patriarch let it go, leading the group into the weaving room to see the fabric.

The daughter-in-law of the Liu patriarch was a skilled weaver in the village. After they saw the looms and the weaving process, the Liu patriarch brought out some finished fabric.

Lu Chengxiao carefully examined several pieces of finished fabric. Liu Yanping, standing beside him, asked with a smile, “How is it? The quality isn’t worse than what the workshop produces, right?”

Lu Chengxiao nodded and asked the Liu patriarch, “Are there many people in the village with skills like Sister-in-law’s?”

The Liu patriarch pondered for a moment and replied, “I’m not sure about the other families, but among our Liu family, out of more than fifty households with looms, at least twenty-five have this skill. Most of the other thirty or so households are also quite good, except for a few who are a bit careless. Overall, the quality is not bad.”

If the fabric was woven too poorly, even fabric merchants wouldn’t buy it, and it would be hard to pass off subpar work. Sooner or later, the looms would have to change hands.

Upon hearing this, Lu Chengxiao’s eyes lit up, and he asked the Liu patriarch, “Could you take me to see other households with good or average skills?”

The Liu patriarch was delighted and packed away the fabric, leading the group out.

Knowing that Lu Chengxiao was interested, Liu Yanping asked with a smile, “On this trip, do you want to purchase from our village too? Our village is large, with many weaving households. I alone can’t take on so much fabric.”

Lu Chengxiao nodded and said, “Not this time. I need to control the risk. If our business deal goes well this time, I’ll come to your village to buy some next time.”

Most importantly, because of his relationship with the Liu family and his acquaintance with the Liu patriarch, and because his family owned a fabric store in the county, people in the village were willing to sell fabric to him on credit. This meant that he could do more with less money next time.

Patriarch Liu was leading the way and heard their conversation. He was even more excited. Although Liu Yanping couldn’t take on much fabric because his limited resources wouldn’t allow it. They could only handle as much as they could afford. Even if they were on credit, they wouldn’t exceed their capabilities too much.

But if there was one more family like the Lu family, then in the future, they could sell fabric from their family or even the village at a price thirty wen higher than what fabric merchants paid to the Lu and Liu families.

Thirty wen more per piece of fabric meant they could produce more than sixty pieces of fabric from the hemp harvested in one season. One season was worth five guan, and three seasons would bring in four or five more guan in revenue.

Four or five guan was a large sum of money for farmers. If it weren’t for Liu Yanping’s lack of capital, who would give him an extra thirty wen per piece of fabric? It wasn’t something he said; it was just a stroke of luck. Didn’t every household with a loom in the village have someone going to the Liu family these past few days? Even the other families in the village seemed to have heard the news vaguely. There were even some who came to inquire.

The Liu patriarch led Lu Chengxiao and the others to visit another five or six families in the village. Among them was the Liu Chunshan family.

This was perfect; their identities matched.

The son of the owner of the Lufeng Cloth Store in the county, it was no wonder the Liu family suddenly started doing fabric business. If the two families were going to be related, it wouldn’t be surprising for the young master of the Lu family to do business with the Liu family.

Liu Chunshan’s wife was excited. If things continued like this, it was only a matter of time before the Liu family opened a shop in the county. If they really opened a shop in the county, she couldn’t help but feel her heart pounding. Then she would have a stable livelihood.

She made up her mind to do well and make the Liu family willing to take her along when they opened the shop. With this in mind, she became even more precious of her current job.

She knew her limits and didn’t mention her speculation about the Liu family’s intentions today to her family. After all, a girl’s reputation was precious.

But even if she didn’t say it, Lu Chengxiao and the others followed the Liu patriarch to visit several households in the village. As soon as they left, the news spread throughout the village. The two young men who often helped out in the fields during busy farming seasons, one was the son of the owner of the Lufeng Cloth Store, and the other was his servant.

This was something else, wasn’t it?

This was much more shocking than just hearing that Liu Yanan was doing business with the son of the owner of the Lufeng Cloth Store.

The son of the owner of Lufeng’s store would come to help with the farm work during busy times and was doing business with the Liu family. How could the villagers not think more about it?

Originally, during the busy farming season, some people suspected that this attendant was going to marry Liu Yu. Now that it was confirmed, he was not only helping with the farm work but also doing business with Liu Yanping. Wasn’t this marriage?

After all, it was never heard before that the Liu family even knew such a big family as the Lu family. It was only after Liu Yu returned.

For a while, the news of selling fabric to Liu Yanping made the people in the village even more enthusiastic. Marriages in the village were all connected, and soon, except for the Liu family, other families also heard the news and started thinking about it.

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