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Liu Changgeng and He shi had never thought of asking their sons to participate in the examinations because the two of them hadn’t ever seemed to put too much focus on their studies. Listening to the both of them speak, they laughed and nodded, “Alright, just go and try it out…. Don’t worry, your parents won’t expect you to pass!”
He shi then asked, “What do you need to prepare?”
Liu Shu smiled and said, “There’s nothing much to prepare. We just need to pool five people together to go for the exams. Also, we need a linsheng1 廪生/ Linsheng – a scholar who gets government issued rations. from our county to recommend us. But there’s no need to worry about that, I will get our teacher to help us. Since the exams are held in our county, there’s no hurry. There’s time to prepare everything.”
He shi nodded her understanding. Liu Sen, who had been playing at the side, suddenly piped up, “You need five people? Good, then I will go along as well. So that’s the three of us, we just need to find another two!”
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Nkw Fld oypd’v lhld vbl pzktbvlpv vbasod sqq cu vbyv. Tl vwadle yde pyke vs bla, “Ywx, usw qsatlv. R esd’v oydv vs cl y qwxy, kv’p vbl rakdnlpp obs okzz qyzz ellrzu kd zshl okvb xl yde oydv xl vs xyaau bla…. Eswzed’v vbyv osaj?!”
Everyone in the family was laughing so hard they cried at that. Liu Xu’er couldn’t even catch her breath. She wheezed, “Oh, my sides hurt!”
And just like that, it was settled. Liu Shu went to ask if Shi Cheng wanted to join them in sitting the exams. Shi Cheng thought it over, and then decided to go for it, so Liu Shu went to his teacher. His teacher was originally also a linsheng, but because he was lazy and hadn’t nominated any students for years, his status had been rescinded. But the teacher still knew of other linsheng, and could find someone to write them the recommendation. It wasn’t too difficult – they just needed to bring some gifts to thank them during the major festivals.
Earlier in the year, during the sixth month, the store had found four store assistants. These four were recommended by workers in the workshop. Everything about them and their character was known to the Liu family. The assistants were themselves rather clever, each about 12 years of age. They followed Liu Lin and Liu Tao at the store to learn for a few days.
At first, they had planned to only find a single store assistant for each of the stores, but ever since the workshop had started, the supply of goods had stabilised, and the store’s business had similarly stabilised. It was no longer like before, when items might suddenly sell out. Or perhaps an item would be low in stock. Now, whenever they opened, they had a good supply of goods.
And after the workshop assembly lines had been finalised, the goods in the store were also of a fixed variety. Since their store had been open for so many years, they had a strong and loyal customer base. So long as they needed anything from their store, their customers wouldn’t even consider going elsewhere!
Business was also rather stable – Liu Tao managed the old store. Because cheaper items were sold there, he would usually make about three to four taels of silver a month. During festivities, he could make about six or seven taels, up to 10 taels a month. And during the seventh month, with its many festivals, he could make 15 taels with no issue. This was because there was a good supply of goods – the instant they lacked anything, they could immediately top up the supply.
Liu Lin’s store, on the other hand, dealt with the more expensive products. Because of this, the store would usually earn double what Liu Tao’s did. There were times that it was many times the old store – during the seventh month, they could earn up to 35 taels of silver.
Because of this, Liu Xu’er decided to hire two assistants per shop. She had no intention of treating them harshly either. She didn’t believe in only providing meals for apprentices. She made it clear that she would give each of them 500 wen a month, the same as the workshop employees. Every year, their performance would be evaluated. If they had performed well, their salary would be increased in the following year. They would do this every year.
All of the newcomers were eager to please. Then, just before the Mid Autumn Festival, dajiuma and erjiuma checked in with He shi. Would it be possible to get their sons to work in the store as apprentices? There was no need to pay them – they just wanted to learn.
Although He shi was more than willing, she couldn’t immediately agree. She still needed to check in with Liu Xu’er and the family. Liu Xu’er also agreed. Dajiu’s He Zhongzhou and He Zhonghao as well as erjiu’s eldest son, He Zhongshuang all came to help out at the store. Each person was given 300 wen per month.
Their parents all wanted to refuse the money – they felt that they had already taken advantage of the situation and didn’t want to receive money on top of it. He shi had to spend a long time persuading them. Liu Xu’er had also smiled and explained clearly- they were just checking to see if they were cut out to do business. If they were, they could continue, but if not, they wouldn’t keep them.
Her jiujiu, jiuma all nodded their agreement and repeatedly offered their thanks. When her cousins came over, their parents didn’t allow them to stay with Liu Xu’er, instead getting them to stay at Fourth, Liu Changshi’s place. The main reason was that there were many people at Liu Xu’er’s home, and since Liu Sen was still schooling, they worried that when He Zhongzhou and the rest went over, they would keep wanting Liu Sen to play with them. They didn’t want to cause Liu Sen’s studies to lag.
During this same period, Shi Cheng was pondering how to arrest Shiyusi’s momentum. When he found out that Juxianlou planned to rear fish in a pond, he knew that they planned to increase the number of fish dishes offered, and compete with Shiyusi. Honestly, at the beginning, he had planned to do the same.
But when he knew that Juxianlou’s manager was such a bully and had even frightened Liu Xu’er, nearly causing an incident, he was enraged. He planned to first take care of Juxianlou!
After thinking it over for a few days, it was nearly the Mid Autumn Festival.
Although the Mid Autumn Festival was a time for the family to come together, there were still a lot of people out and about. Furthermore, although Feng town was just a small place, travellers going from Chang’an to the capital would have to pass the area. The road was an extremely important trade route between west and south, so there were always a lot of foreigners in Feng town. The restaurant’s business would be booming during the Mid Autumn Festival.
After so many years, Shi Cheng was extremely familiar with this.
Since his plan to secretly raise fish had been unwittingly exposed, Manager Wei had gone back and rethought his strategy. He decided instead to strike first, and quickly! So as per his agreement with the Village Head, he had hurried back the next day to tidy up the pond and started to rear some fish in there. At the same time, Juxianlou had started to slowly increase the number of fish dishes. Originally, Manager Wei had planned to suddenly push out over 10 fish dishes during the Mid Autumn Festival. That way, they would catch Shiyusi off guard, and render Yuelou helpless!
But his plans were leaked, so he could only just start to push the dishes out before the Mid Autumn Festival. These few days, he had slowly been introducing them.
And it worked! Juxianlou’s dishes were cheaper than Shiyusi’s, so the townspeople, who had just acquired a taste for fish had slowly started to move over to Juxianlou to have fish, and their business was doing better.
Shi Cheng watched everything coldly and began to formulate a plan.
Today, he changed into a jewel blue robe, with gold clouds embroidered over it. A folding fan in his hands, he brought two people and headed to Shiyusi, and swaggered into the restaurant.
Sitting at a table in the main hall, he rapped it smartly and his servants called out, “Why is no one attending to a guest?”
If this was an ordinary guest, the restaurant’s waiter would have immediately hurried to greet them! But this was Yuelou’s Young boss – everyone knew that? They were in the same line, so why did he come?
A few of the restaurant’s waiters warily eyed Shi Cheng, while an assistant had run to the back to look for the manager.
Very quickly, the store manager emerged. He stood at the door and glanced at Shi Cheng. This Young boss was seated, waving his fan, dressed all in silks, his hair pinned with a green jade piece – he was sitting there in style!
The manager couldn’t be certain of his purpose for coming here. It was only 9am, not yet time for a meal. But he didn’t look like he was here to make trouble either – he had only brought two people with him, what kind of trouble could he make?
But why was he here? The manager’s heart thumped. He straightened his back, cleared his throat and made his way across. Although Shi Cheng was young, he had a reputation in Feng town’s business circles. The manager would not and did not dare to underestimate him. In a measured pace, the manager came to Shi Cheng, smiled and bowed. “Young boss, welcome.”
Shi Cheng smiled and stood up, “Manager, thank you.”
The manager stretched his hands out and gestured for him to sit. Then he called for the waiter to bring a pot of good tea over before smiling and asking, “Young boss, thank you for gracing this humble establishment with your presence. Was there a reason for coming by?”
Shi Cheng smiled and pointed at the seat opposite with his fan. “Have a seat manager. I have reasons for coming here. I wanted to discuss something with you.. We can slowly talk it through.”
The manager was suspicious, but still couldn’t guess at his intentions. So he sat down – he wanted to see just what he was trying to pull.
Shi Cheng gently smiled and said, “Manager, Juxianlou’s Manager Wei has been busy these past few days. You should be aware of that right?”
Shiyusi’s manager’s heart sank. Juxianlou had been pushing out a new dish daily, and all of their dishes were of fish! And it was even cheaper than theirs – how could he not know? He was still trying to plan a counterattack!
The manager smiled and said, “What I need to know, I definitely know. Since you ask… Do you have any advice?” He started to ask.
Shi Cheng smiled, “I don’t dare to call it advice, I just have a small idea.”
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