It was the Dragon Boat Festival again. Shen Yuning felt a bit dazed. Time flew by year after year, but her Xuanzhi had disappeared without a trace, as if evaporated from the world. He was nowhere to be found in the capital, nor in Yun County, nor in any of the Rongchang Commercial Houses.
Uncle Zhang and Shen Fugui wanted to console her, but they didn't know where to start.
The only thing that could lift their spirits a bit was that the mastermind behind the frame - up of Little Lady Cen had been found. It was the Yu Family, a well - known merchant family in the northeast. It turned out that the Rongchang Commercial House had done so well in the northeast that it had aroused the jealousy of the Yu Family. Originally, due to the fact that the owner of Rongchang was a rural lady, they didn't dare to act rashly. But when kind - hearted Little Lady Cen walked into their trap on her own initiative, they took advantage of the situation.
Now that the truth had come to light, the head of the Yu Family was executed after being punished, and the family members were either exiled or sent to the music and dance troupe. The case was finally closed.
Uncle Zhang felt extremely relieved. He taught his two children a lesson: "You can see that people shouldn't be greedy at all. Look at the Yu Family. When we met the owner of the Yu Family in the northeast before, he was quite polite. Who would have thought that he was such a person in private? It's most important to be upright."
Weirui nodded. She turned to look at her aunt, but saw that her aunt didn't look the least bit happy. She couldn't help but be a bit curious: "Aunt, the evil people have been punished. Why aren't you happy?"
Shen Yuning stared blankly out of the window: "The scapegoat is gone, but the real mastermind is still at large. How can I be happy?"
Uncle Zhang was taken aback and quickly asked: "The real mastermind? Do you mean that the Yu Family was not the mastermind?"
Shen Yuning nodded: "The Yu Family is also in the cloth business and is the head of the Chamber of Commerce in the northeast. But in that area before, the weather was bad, and most of the cloth and clothing materials were transported from other places. The local output was not much. And our Rongchang Commercial House in the northeast didn't hinder their business at all. On the contrary, because we strongly supported sericulture, the cloth business in that area was booming more than before. The Yu Family didn't need to do such a thing to suppress us."
Weirui frowned and thought for a long time. She tentatively asked: "Maybe the Yu Family wanted to dominate the market?"
Shen Yuning smiled: "Weirui is still young, but she can think so far. Think about it some more?"
Weirui thought for a while and shook her head: "No. If it were ordinary cloth merchants, the Yu Family might have done something to suppress them. But our Rongchang's business is just ordinary. The purpose of opening a large number of stores is just to solve the difficulty of women's work. It's just well - known. There are many cloth merchants in the northeast, and there are many who do better than us. The Yu Family really didn't need to deal with us."
Shen Yuning nodded and smiled, then said nothing more.
Weirui quickly asked again: "So, aunt, who on earth wants to harm us?"
There was a sense of melancholy in Shen Yuning's eyes: "Yes, who on earth?"
The next day, an old acquaintance came to visit.
Now, Master Wan was dressed in an ordinary cloth robe, which was different from a few years ago when he wore gold and silver and wanted everyone to know that he was extremely rich. Now he looked like an ordinary family's master.
But the few tall and imposing bodyguards behind him, following him with straight faces, made people understand that this ordinary - dressed master was by no means an ordinary person.
Shen Yuning asked about the war that had been going on for more than two years. As if grasping at straws, she asked Master Wan if he had seen her rascal of a younger brother during his many trips to Wuyun.
Master Wan looked a bit melancholy: "Your younger brother has a striking appearance. If I had seen him, I would surely remember. But what I do is just to purchase food and supplies in various places. Most of the people I see are people like Lord Chen. I really haven't seen many people in the army."
Hearing this, Shen Yuning quickly said: "So, it's Lord Chen who has contact with the army? If I get the chance later, I'll ask him."
Master Wan didn't know how to console her about the loss of a loved one. He just gave a few perfunctory words of comfort, then lowered his head to drink tea and said no more.
It was Weirui, who was sitting upright. Seeing her aunt in a daze, she couldn't help but look up and give Master Wan an apologetic smile: "Please don't blame us, Master Wan. Our uncle is missing, and all of us in the family are extremely worried. May I ask why you've come today? Is there a problem with the goods in the store?"
Hearing the little girl's voice, Master Wan looked up. Before, he thought that this young miss of the Shen Family was rather plain - looking and a bit dark - skinned, not half as good - looking as her aunt. But now, seeing her again, he found that the girl had grown into a beauty.
He smiled gently and shook his head: "After I finished the matters in the court, I stayed in Wuyun for a while. As soon as I came back, I heard that something had happened to your commercial house."
Only then did Shen Yuning come back to her senses. She said indifferently: "Thank you for your concern, Master Wan. But now the case has been solved and closed. We're fine."
Master Wan subconsciously glanced outside the house and whispered: "Do you think, Rural Lady, that this matter was really done by the Yu Family?"
Shen Yuning remained calm and pretended to be naive: "The Ministry of Justice has investigated it. Can there be any falsehood?"
Master Wan knew that the woman in front of him was pretending not to understand, but seeing her coquettish appearance, his heart skipped a beat, and he no longer had the heart to probe. He immediately told her everything: "It's not the Yu Family. It's the Qiao Family."
This time, Shen Yuning was really confused: "The Qiao Family? My commercial house has never had any contact with the Qiao Family. Although the Qiao Family's business is spread all over the Great Zhou, they seem to value money more. Most of their stores are in prefectures or large towns. And my commercial houses are all opened in poor counties and villages. There really shouldn't be any conflict."
Master Wan sighed: "It may be because of a casual compliment from the emperor the year before last."
He told the truth. It turned out that the war with the Yunfan and Daye had emptied the already empty national treasury. The year before last, there were natural disasters in many places, and the court needed to allocate grain for disaster relief. But the Ministry of Revenue had no money or grain. What could they do?
The emperor swallowed his pride and personally summoned several well - known merchants. The Qiao and Wan Families were naturally among them. The Wan Family only sat there as a spectator because they had spent money supplying food and supplies to the army. They were not forced by the emperor to donate more of their wealth. But as the first imperial merchant family, the Qiao Family naturally had to show something.
The Qiao Family suddenly took out half of their fortune, and they were not very happy about it. In order to crown someone, the emperor specially conferred the title of rural lady on the legitimate daughter of the Qiao Family and said that he hoped that Rural Lady Qiao would learn from Rural Lady Shen of the Rongchang Commercial House, who was a good rural lady for the country and the people.
These words made the legitimate young miss of the Qiao Family extremely angry. You know, although their family was a merchant family, they were the first imperial merchant family appointed by the founding emperor and felt superior. Miss Qiao always thought that her status was comparable to that of the official ladies in the capital. She even looked down on ordinary small - family official ladies.
Now being compared by the emperor with a country girl and being the one who was outshone, wasn't it infuriating?
Shen Yuning was a bit amused: "The Qiao Family retaliated against me because of such a small thing? This is really strange."
Master Wan was quite speechless. Probably only this young girl in front of him would think that being repeatedly praised by the emperor was just a small thing.
Before he left, he told her a few more things: "The Qiao Family is not easy to deal with. Our Wan Family has suffered a lot at their hands. We know very well that they have excellent means. And because they have relationships with many important court officials... You may not know that for several generations, the daughters of the Qiao Family have all married into high - ranking families. They would rather be concubines than marry ordinary people. The most famous one is the concubine in the Prince Rong's Mansion now. Sometimes when the Princess of Rong goes out, she even takes her with her."
Shen Yuning vaguely remembered that when she went to banquets when she was a child, she met the female relatives of the Prince Rong's Mansion. There was indeed a charming woman beside the princess, and others didn't really like to talk to her. It seemed that Aunt Xue had said to them that this concubine was from the Qiao Family.
At that time, her eldest cousin and she were quite surprised and didn't understand why the prince would take a merchant's daughter as a concubine.
After Master Wan left, Shen Fugui asked: "Yuning, this Master Wan's surname is Wan. What's his name?"
Shen Yuning was in a daze for a moment and then realized that they had known each other for many years, but she didn't even know Master Wan's name, nor did she know what position this Master Wan held in the Wan Family.
Before she could think further, Zhang Rong came in with a gilded invitation and handed it to Shen Yuning: "A maid outside sent this. She said it was an invitation for Rural Lady Shen to attend a banquet."
Uncle Zhang's eyes lit up. He looked at the gilded invitation and marveled: "Oh my goodness! I've never seen such a thing before. It turns out that the invitations used by rich families are so amazing! This thing must not be cheap. I wonder if I can sell it for some money later?"
Shen Yuning took it and saw the words "Qiuyang Marquis Mansion" written on the outside. She smiled slightly: "The invitations of each mansion are about the same. Fastidious families will print them themselves. And no one will sell this. Usually, they'll let the servants keep it."
When she opened it, she found that it was Xue Yuxin who had sent her the invitation, inviting her to participate in a horse - racing event the day after tomorrow. Along with the invitation, there was also a pass to the horse - racing field. That was a royal horse - racing field, and ordinary families couldn't get in. Without a proper background, Shen Yuning would definitely not be able to enter if she went on her own.
Zhang Rong was a bit confused: "Such an occasion is a place for rich and official people to amuse themselves. What does she want you to go for?"
Shen Yuning understood a bit. Probably Xue Yuxin had wanted to see her for a long time since she came to the capital. But on the one hand, due to the case she was involved in, it was not convenient for them to meet. On the other hand, she was afraid of causing trouble at home. That was why she had made an appointment with her in a crowded place like the horse - racing field, so as to avoid the second branch of the Xue Family thinking that she was deliberately getting involved with the Qiuyang Marquis and clinging to power.
Weirui looked at her aunt eagerly: "Aunt, you have to quickly prepare a suitable dress. I've heard that the high - ranking ladies wear and carry very precious things. When we usually go to different places and meet the daughters of the prefects and county magistrates, they all look very precious."
Shen Yuning vaguely remembered that when she went out with Xue Yuxin when she was a child, Aunt Xue always dressed them up beautifully, for fear of lacking something and being criticized. Now thinking about it, with her status at that time, even without the gorgeous clothes and jewelry, others wouldn't have looked down on her. But now, even if she dressed up like a celestial being, probably no one would look at her twice.