Chapter 16: Imperial Envoy

Chapter 16: The Imperial Commissioner

When Lu Jia laid the shop's property deeds and land titles on the table, Zhang Qiuniang and Xie Yi, sitting behind the dining table, were stunned.

By the time Lu Jia finished explaining the whole story, the mother and son were so shocked they even forgot to breathe...

That day, when Lu Jia said he would wait for Zhang Qi to come to the door, Qiuniang's mind was filled with worries about the Zhang family causing trouble, so she naturally could not agree with his approach. Xie Yi hadn't taken it to heart either; in his mind, while Lu Jia was not a pushover, he wasn't strong enough to fight the Zhang family single-handedly.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Qi arrived so quickly. Not only was Lu Jia unharmed, but he had even sent him away. After being sent away, Zhang Qi returned, begging Lu Jia to help him buy a warehouse, and in the end, he actually yielded the shop!

How did she do it?

Lu Jia, of course, did not reveal the full details of how she obtained the information, so neither the mother nor the son could make sense of it.

But this was not important to Lu Jia. What mattered was that with this shop, their current predicament could finally change.

"We will start from here and let the Xie family restore its former glory step by step," Lu Jia said, holding the land title with unwavering determination. "We will return to where we came from."

"But this shop was originally operated by the Zhang family. Although we have taken the deeds, they are still occupying the space. How can we operate it?

"Besides, we have no capital right now. Buying stock, hiring helpers, an accountant, a manager—the daily meals for so many people will be a significant expense.

"And what kind of business should we run? Ever since the Xie family moved to the capital, this place has been neglected, so there are no old customers to speak of. Everything must start from scratch.

"With nothing but an empty shop, how can we alleviate our plight?"

Speaking of this, Qiuniang sighed again.

Getting the shop back was certainly a good thing, but there was still a long road ahead to make it generate money.

"Mother, you don't need to worry about this. I have already planned it out. On the way out from the Liu family's place with Zhang Qi, I spoke plainly to him. I told him to vacate the shop within three days, otherwise, I would find a way to make it impossible for his business to continue.

"Given the current circumstances, if we don't open a shop ourselves, we will lease it out.

"I've looked into it. Although our shop isn't in the prime location, it's not bad either. For a long-term lease, the market price is about fifteen taels of silver a month, but I don't want a long-term lease. Even if we press the price down, it should be around ten taels.

"Ten taels of silver is more than enough to support our daily lives, and there will even be a surplus.

"I will naturally reclaim this shop in the future. As for what trade to choose—our Shawan primarily deals in grain, and the Xie family originally made its living in the grain trade, so we will naturally stick to that industry.

"The priority now is to tidy up the shop as quickly as possible and lease it out. After that, I will go and familiarize myself with the grain wharves. Once everything is sufficiently prepared, we will set up the shop."

As Lu Jia spoke in an orderly manner, Qiuniang nodded repeatedly, but by the end, she disagreed: "You said you're going to the wharves? The wharves are a chaotic mix of all sorts of people. How can a young lady like you go there? Let Yi-ge go!"

"Yes, yes, yes! I'll go, I'll go!" Xie Yi hurriedly put down his chopsticks. "I am the only man in the family; I must do this!"

"You know you are the only man in the family," Lu Jia looked at him deeply. "Do you plan to spend your whole life mingling with those kinds of people?"

Xie Yi froze. "Then what else?"

"Have some ambition." Lu Jia tapped the back of his head. "What you should do is learn something else—reading or martial arts. You must learn a skill to protect yourself and save your life, rather than thinking that just guarding a shop means everything is settled!"

Xie Yi's head throbbed from the hit.

But he was used to it.

Qiuniang said, "Learning some moves is fine, but forget about studying. In these times, there is nothing good about being an official. The ministers in the Grand Secretariat and the high officials of the Six Ministries—how many generations have passed, and how many have died?

"Are they not all well-read and the elite among the elite? We have already suffered the bitterness of factional struggles. It is not a bad thing to just guard our family estate and live an ordinary life."

The Xie family's business in the capital had once flourished brilliantly. Their sudden downfall and loss of wealth was because they had offended someone—more accurately, because they had picked the wrong side. Ten years ago, the Censor Yang Tingye impeached Yan Song for "five treacheries and ten crimes," only to be framed, imprisoned, and ultimately executed.

The classmate who had invited Old Master Xie to the capital to open a shop was named Liang Jun, a student of Yang Tingye. The day after Yang Tingye was imprisoned, his students were successively detained under various pretexts.

Two years later, Liang Jun was imprisoned because he failed to yield the road to Yan Song's grand-nephew on the street, which was interpreted as dissatisfaction with Yan Song's handling of Yang Tingye and an ill intent toward the Yan household.

Although the Xie family was merely a merchant family and far from significant enough for the Yan faction to target, there are always fewer people who provide help in times of need and many more who kick someone when they are down. The capital was full of people willing to sell their souls to the Yan family.

Because Old Master Xie had immediately spent silver to help his friend everywhere after Liang Jun's incident, the Xie family's business also suffered a blow, eventually forcing them to close.

At the same time, the silver the Xie family spent vanished like a stone in the ocean. Not only did it fail to bring any turnaround, but Old Master Xie was also beaten while seeking ways to rescue Liang Jun. He fell ill upon his return and passed away in resentment three months later.

Lu Jia's adoptive father, Xie Zhang, was a scholar. Suffering such successive blows, he was consumed by grief and indignation. How could he possibly contend with such power? Under internal and external pressures, his health collapsed.

It was only later, after Zhang Hong heard the news, that he immediately sent people to the capital to bring them back, which allowed Xie Zhang to live for a few more years.

In her past life, after the Lu family returned to the capital, they had visited Liang Jun in prison. After eight years of purgatory, that once-distinguished Censor was now a withered shell of a man, his teeth fallen out, his speech blurred and unintelligible.

Upon hearing that Lu Jia was the young lady of the Xie family, his tears flowed uncontrollably, and he used his decayed fingers to write Old Master Xie's name on the ground.

In his youth, the impoverished Liang Jun had received aid from Old Master Xie, which allowed him to pass his exams, enter officialdom, and see a bright future.

In return, he had helped the Xie family, elevating their business to several new heights.

A pair of friends who had supported each other—one had long since become a corpse, and the other had become a living dead man in prison.

From this perspective, it was understandable why Qiuniang was so pessimistic.

The Yan father and son held sway in the imperial court; unless one became their lackey, no one could guarantee they would live to see the end.

Lu Jia had seen this fact with her own eyes in her previous life.

Thus, Lu Jia said no more.

The next day, she set about the first step: supervising the Zhang family to vacate the shop.

Having spat out such a large piece of meat, the Zhang family was naturally unwilling. However, they already had the warehouse in hand, and even greater profits awaited them ahead. They had been very busy lately, and moreover, Zhang Qi was truly afraid that Lu Jia would cause trouble, so he didn't waste any words.

They were just a bit slow. They had originally agreed on three days, but it took them five days to move out reluctantly.

On the day they moved out, Lu Jia posted the lease notice on the main door.

That's right, she was only offering a six-month lease.

If she went for a long-term lease, what could she do with the ten or twenty taels of silver earned from renting the shop? Lu Jia wasn't aiming for a full stomach; she was aiming for wealth—to become a great tycoon!

Without vast amounts of silver, how could she teach Xie Yi skills? How could they fight their way back to the capital? How could they establish a foothold there? And how could they accumulate the strength to return to the Lu family as the young lady?

Sufficient silver was the prerequisite for everything.

She had to do business herself.

Since the people of the Jiang clan had already found Tanzhou, there was no telling when they might find her whereabouts.

To this day, she couldn't figure out why the Jiang clan was pursuing her so relentlessly. But since that was the reality, she had to build herself and the Xie family up before the Jiang clan discovered her.

In truth, Lu Jia had confidence.

Over the past half-month, according to what she had told Zhang Qi, about thirty percent of the vessels passing through the wharf gates had arrived. The river was becoming increasingly crowded with boats, and the number of people passing by the storefront was growing.

With such prosperous foot traffic, even with a short six-month lease, there would surely be suitable business. Whether she could actually secure it was another matter.

For the first two or three days, people indeed came to inquire incessantly. The reasons they didn't settle were partly because they couldn't afford the rent, but more often because they wanted to buy the place outright, given its prime location.

In short, there were many interested parties, and Lu Jia and Qiuniang's lips were worn dry from haggling.

But strangely, after two or three days, while many people were still looking, fewer were inquiring. A few days later, the number of visitors dropped by more than half. Eventually, not only did no one come to inquire, but even the people wandering in for leisure almost disappeared.

This was wrong. With such a good storefront, why were these people acting as if they were avoiding an evil spirit?

That evening, when she returned home, she ran into Li Chang, who had also arrived.

Li Chang was helping Xie Yi chop wood in the courtyard. The two were chatting while they worked

"I heard the Imperial Commissioner who arrived this time has a significant background. Since his arrival, the people in the county magistrate's office and even the prefectural office have been busy enough to keep their feet from touching the ground."

Hearing the words "Imperial Commissioner," Lu Jia's footsteps stopped instantly—that's right, it was already March; it was time for the Commissioner to arrive.

She remembered that the official sent by the imperial court to supervise water transport in the two lakes provinces was a stout, big-eared man named Zhang. Shortly after she returned to the capital in her past life, she learned that the group of commissioners sent out were all appointed by the Grand Secretariat, which essentially meant they were the lackeys of the Yan family.

After a moment's thought, she walked up. "How many days has the Commissioner been here? Where is he staying?"

"He's been here for two or three days, staying right in our Shawan County Magistrate's office. Don't you know? The neighbor has been practically glued to the magistrate's office walls these past few days!"

As Xie Yi spoke, he glanced toward the Zhang family's direction.