The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 707 - 706

Chapter 707: 706

Wang Yongzhu looked at Shopkeeper Wu with a smile that was not quite a smile, making Shopkeeper Wu’s old face burn with embarrassment, and he stopped talking.

Just as he was about to say something, the carriage came to a halt, and the coachman outside said, "We’ve arrived at the inn!"

Shopkeeper Wu hurriedly got off the carriage, and Wang Yongzhu followed suit, jumping down as well.

Looking at the inn, it seemed somewhat familiar; wasn’t it the same inn where Boss Zhang had treated them to a meal?

Wang Yongzhu followed Shopkeeper Wu into the inn without any change in her expression, heading to the private room on the second floor.

The door to the private room was closed, and a young servant dressed in a green padded cotton jacket stood at the door. Seeing Shopkeeper Wu leading Wang Yongzhu upstairs, he gave a piercing look before nodding at Shopkeeper Wu.

Then, bowing toward the room, he announced, "Young Master, Shopkeeper Wu has brought the guest."

After a while, a leisurely voice came from inside the room, "Let them in."

Shopkeeper Wu’s face didn’t look too good, and he turned back to Wang Yongzhu with a look of apology. He hadn’t expected the Ninth Young Master to be so disrespectful. The Wang Family Young Lady wasn’t one of his subordinates, and they were about to discuss business. What kind of behavior was this?

In her heart, Wang Yongzhu scoffed. This was the so-called Ninth Young Master trying to intimidate her with a show of power.

Perhaps he thought since she was a peasant girl, she would be unfamiliar with such settings and this type of scene would overwhelm her, causing her to lose her composure first.

Seeing Shopkeeper Wu’s apologetic and embarrassed face, Wang Yongzhu remained expressionless. She was there to sell the dye workshop and the batch of fabrics, but it wasn’t necessary to sell them to Shopkeeper Wu, was it?

If pushed too far, selling to Shopkeeper Wu’s competitor was not out of the question.

Ever since that Ninth Young Master had appeared, Shopkeeper Wu had to be respectfully subservient as a subordinate, but the relation between herself and his employer was, at most, mutually beneficial. Did she need to be so servile?

Shopkeeper Wu gestured to Wang Yongzhu with a clasped hand, making a motion of invitation, "Miss Wang, please come in."

With a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, Wang Yongzhu gave Shopkeeper Wu a glance and stepped into the private room.

Upon entering, she saw a red-clad man lying on the upper seat, dazzling and captivating, like a painting of a beautiful person just by lying there.

She paused for a moment. In all honesty, this man in red was the most beautiful individual she had seen since becoming Wang Yongzhu. More exquisite than Song Chongjin, with skin as white as jade, his was not the type of modest beauty but rather a breathtaking, vivid allure.

After considering for a moment, Wang Yongzhu thought if she described him with the term "flower boy" from her previous world, this man in red would certainly be a passionately blooming peony, ostentatious and domineering, capable of stealing one’s gaze in an instant.

If any other woman had seen such a stunningly beautiful man, she would likely have been so enchanted as to become completely disoriented, even forgetting her own name.

However, Wang Yongzhu, influenced by her family’s aesthetics since she was young, had very traditional and orthodox tastes.

She preferred men who were handsome, powerful, and exuded a masculine spirit.

She disliked this kind of man the most, those who were prettier than women, overly delicate, and appeared extremely fragile.

Now, looking at this Ninth Young Master, not only was his demeanor detestable, but his appearance also hit all of Wang Yongzhu’s points of revulsion; she felt not the slightest bit of affection for him.

Had it not been for the sake of the upcoming business negotiation, Wang Yongzhu would have really wanted to turn around and leave.

Thinking of those thousands of taels of silver, Wang Yongzhu decided to endure it a bit longer, and planned to take a good look at Song Chongjin in the evening to clear her eyes.

Shopkeeper Wu followed in and introduced with a stiff face, "Ninth Young Master, this is the Wang Family Young Lady. Miss Wang, this is our Ninth Young Master."

Wang Yongzhu couldn’t be bothered to say more to Shopkeeper Wu and that Ninth Young Master, whose mere sight made her irritable and want to cover his face with a cloth, and she simply nodded perfunctorily, "Good day, Ninth Young Master."

The Ninth Young Master responded even more perfunctorily with a grunt, without even lifting his eyes.

Wang Yongzhu was not polite either, she sat down at the table and cut to the chase, "My purpose here today is to ask the Ninth Young Master and Shopkeeper Wu whether you still want the Riches Dye Workshop and that batch of fabric? If not, I might as well make other plans."

Shopkeeper Wu waited a moment, and seeing that the Ninth Young Master remained silent, he hurriedly replied, "Of course, we want it! It’s just that we need to negotiate the price a bit more. My dear niece, our boss is also informed about the suggestion you mentioned last time and is very interested, but now we face a problem. There are many places producing counterfeits of the Auspicious Fabric. Those who have never seen or bought our Auspicious Fabric might be easily deceived."

"Now our Auspicious Fabric is just getting started. If it grows bigger and bigger in the future, the number of counterfeits will probably increase. By then, it might damage the reputation of our Auspicious Fabric! I’ve been worrying about this issue these days."

Shopkeeper Wu said this with a frown.

Wang Yongzhu was initially startled; what was so difficult about this? In her time in modern society, there were many kinds of anti-counterfeiting and certifications. It was unexpected that in this era, counterfeiting was still such a difficult issue, perhaps because people hadn’t yet considered it.

She immediately had an idea in her heart and smiled, "Shopkeeper Wu, if I have a way to make Auspicious Fabric unique and reduce the chances of it being copied, would our dye workshop and fabric receive a satisfactory price from you?"

From what Shopkeeper Wu just said, since they want her dye workshop and fabric, why not directly talk about the price? Why mention counterfeits? Wasn’t it just a reminder for her?

If it were an ordinary person, they would certainly think of sharing in the prosperity with the Auspicious Dye Workshop and would be willing to make concessions for a rich dividend.

But Wang Yongzhu refused to do so! The boss behind Shopkeeper Wu sometimes did business in ways that were less than honorable; one couldn’t tell when they might get plotted against.

She remembered the favor she owed to Shopkeeper Wu, so she would continue to work with him for a while.

But that didn’t mean she would pin all her hopes on her personal relationship with Shopkeeper Wu. In the business world, business is business and favors are favors.

Since Shopkeeper Wu had reminded her about the counterfeits, she could use that to outmaneuver them in return.

Once she sold the dye workshop and fabric and had silver in hand, what couldn’t she do?

As soon as Wang Yongzhu said this, not only was Shopkeeper Wu stunned, but even the Ninth Young Master, who had been silently drinking without a word, twitched his ear and finally looked up at Wang Yongzhu.

The Ninth Young Master had always held himself in high regard. Even though Shopkeeper Wu was always praising how wonderful the Wang Family Young Lady was, he felt that a peasant girl, even if she had the talent to concoct a few dye recipes, what of it?

He had seen what peasant children were like.

The descendants of the farmers on his own estate, both boys and girls, were all tanned black, with yellow teeth, unkempt hair, and their fingernails full of mud, and they were very ill-mannered.

This young lady from the Wang Family couldn’t be much better.

Therefore, even though he said he wanted to meet her, he didn’t take it seriously. He was just giving old Shopkeeper Wu a knock, suggesting he shouldn’t get too proud just because he had achieved a little.

After all, no matter how capable he was, he still relied on the Lee Family!