Today, Su Yuanyuan's goal wasn't just Hanyu Zhai. Carrying so much silver was rather inconvenient. To ensure a smooth getaway, Su Yuanyuan "took a step back" and left the one thousand taels of silver pieces behind. She only took the thirty - thousand - tael silver notes and divided them into two parts, asking two maids to keep them properly.
Everyone thought: This little girl is quite shrewd for her age. By putting the silver notes on the two maids who knew martial arts, who would dare to have ideas about her money?
Then, under the envious gazes of everyone, Su Yuanyuan left Hanyu Zhai contentedly with her maids.
Before leaving, she sighed deliberately and said, "I didn't expect that in such a large Shengjing City, there isn't a decent jewelry store. The so - called excellent 'Hanyu Zhai' actually sells fake goods. It's really extremely disappointing."
Finally getting rid of Su Yuanyuan, the shopkeeper of Hanyu Zhai whispered something in the clerk's ear. Just as he was about to quietly rush to Pingyang Marquis Mansion to tell Su Qingyu about this, he didn't expect that as soon as he turned around to sneak into the back hall, he was blocked by other customers in the store.
"Shopkeeper, where do you think you're going?"
Looking at one pair of cold eyes after another, the shopkeeper's back was soaked with cold sweat.
"Dear customers, our shop has already compensated that girl with silver. What are you planning to do?"
"Humph, what are we planning to do?" A woman snorted. "Do you think you can just compensate that girl with silver and it's all over? Now it's time to settle our accounts!"
"I've bought a lot of jewelry here before. This hairpin on my head and this jade bracelet on my wrist are both from Hanyu Zhai. And I just checked. The hairpin and the jade bracelet on me are all fake!"
"I trusted your Hanyu Zhai so much, but you treat us regular customers like this. If you don't give us an explanation today, this store won't be able to stay open!"
"I, the young master, hate most those who practice fraud. Men, smash all the fake goods in this store!"
At the order, the servants beside the young master immediately stepped forward and smashed the jewelry on the shelves one by one to the ground.
Other angry customers also followed suit.
For a moment, Hanyu Zhai was completely in greater chaos. Whether it was the jewelry on the shelves, the stone carvings as ornaments, or the abacus the shopkeeper used for accounting, all were smashed to pieces by the extremely angry customers.
Some people gathered around the counter, shouting and demanding that the shopkeeper compensate them.
The one thousand taels of silver that Su Yuanyuan left were completely divided up by these customers. Moreover, many customers forced the shopkeeper to write IOU notes on the spot for compensation. Each amount of compensation demanded was astonishing.
Finally seeing off all the customers in the store, the once - good Hanyu Zhai now looked like it had been through a storm. There were hardly any intact places left.
As for the shopkeeper, his hair was in a mess, his clothes were wrinkled, and there were several bruises on his face at some unknown time.
Looking at the mess on the ground and the curious passers - by outside, the shopkeeper quickly told the clerk to close the door. He stuffed the IOU notes for compensation into his pocket and rushed to Pingyang Marquis Mansion on horseback.
...
In Lingxiao Courtyard of Pingyang Marquis Mansion.
The shopkeeper of Hanyu Zhai knelt on the ground. Drops of cold sweat slid from his forehead and soaked into the ground.
Su Qingyu sat on the seat, looking through one IOU note after another in her hand. Her face was cold and ugly, and her hands trembled slightly with anger.
"... That little girl exposed our selling of fake goods in front of everyone. To calm things down, I had no choice but to compensate her with silver. She originally wanted us to compensate her with ten thousand taels of gold, but after my argument, we finally only compensated her with thirty - thousand - tael silver notes. Finally, we managed to send that ancestor away..."
"However, the other customers in the store were not willing to let it go. They followed suit. Not only did they smash our store, but they also forced me to sign these IOU notes..."
With a loud "bang", it was the sound of Su Qingyu sweeping the teacup on the table to the ground.
"Only" compensated with thirty - thousand - tael silver notes?" Su Qingyu gritted her teeth, stepped forward and slapped the shopkeeper hard. The force was so great that the shopkeeper was knocked to the ground.
"All these add up to a full five million taels of gold in compensation. Do you want to bankrupt Pingyang Marquis Mansion?"
"Why didn't you send someone to report to me in time when the incident happened? Hmm?"
The shopkeeper only felt his cheek was swollen and red, but he didn't dare to touch it. He could only kneel on the ground again and say, "My employer, please calm down. It's not that I didn't want to report. It's just that those people didn't give me a chance from beginning to end. There were two maids who knew martial arts beside that trouble - making girl. We were no match for them at all..."
Su Qingyu's chest heaved violently. She was so angry that she almost went crazy on the spot.
Just because of this, she had to compensate five million taels of gold! Five million taels! It was gold! Not silver!
She had only taken over Hanyu Zhai for half a year. By using this means of passing fakes off as genuine, she had only earned four or five hundred thousand taels of gold. Even if she added the rewards she had received over the years since returning to Pingyang Marquis Mansion and her share as a marquis's daughter, it was far from enough to fill this hole.
Where could she get so much silver to compensate the customers all of a sudden?
And the compensation was a minor matter. What if they came to the door to make trouble or even reported it to the Queen?
Although every time Hanyu Zhai had new products, she would specially send someone to deliver the latest - style jewelry to the ladies, princesses, county princesses in the palace in person, and all the ones she sent were genuine. These people could testify for her. But there were still some fake goods bought by ordinary wealthy families.
And there were clear regulations in the laws of the Great Chu that if a merchant was found to have committed fraud such as passing off inferior goods as high - quality ones with conclusive evidence, he would be lightly punished by being publicly executed and having his property confiscated, and severely punished by being beaten to death in public.
Today, so many people had witnessed the selling of fake goods in Hanyu Zhai. There was no way to cover it up. If she didn't come up with a countermeasure, only severe punishment awaited her!
Su Qingyu closed her eyes tightly and took a few deep breaths. After her anger had subsided a little, she opened her eyes and said to the shopkeeper, "You go and report this to the authorities."
The shopkeeper was shocked and quickly said to Su Qingyu, "My employer, no! If we report it to the authorities, only prison punishment awaits us!"
"You go and report it to the authorities. The reason is..."
Su Qingyu bent down and whispered something in the shopkeeper's ear. After hearing this, the shopkeeper's eyes suddenly brightened. "My employer, it's a brilliant move! In this way, we can get out of this unscathed. It's just a pity for those two people..."
"There's nothing to be pitied about. If you handle this matter well, you'll still be the shopkeeper of Hanyu Zhai. If you don't handle it well, you know the consequences." Su Qingyu threatened coldly.
The shopkeeper quickly said "yes", indicating that he would definitely handle this matter well.
Su Qingyu sat back on the chair. Looking at the IOU notes beside her, a trace of venom flashed in her eyes. She asked, "Do you know which family's young lady that trouble - making girl is today? How dare she be so blind as to look for trouble with me?"