Chapter 979 Material from the Imperial Workshop
“Nonsense, how could I do such a thing? Why should I frame this shop for no reason? I have been doing this for a long time, and I know some people in this business. In the past, I would go to other places to buy goods. This is my first time to do business with this shop. I heard that the goods in her shop were good, but I didn’t expect they would cheat new customers!”
The middle-aged woman flew into a rage but couldn’t get rid of Yujie’s hands. So, she could only goggle in anger and barked.
“Then say it, why didn’t you see these stains when receiving them?” Shao Wanru said calmly as if she didn’t notice the middle-aged woman’s struggling red face.
The middle-aged woman shouted, “They were rolled up together. How could I see them all?”
It was possible for so many goods to be wrapped together. Someone in the crowd nodded and said, “Yes, if there are many goods, basically all of them are pressed tight together, let alone the wholesale goods. Those sincere shopkeepers would be generous enough to give more pieces of material, expecting that they may do business together next time!”
“That’s how business is usually done. It’s never supposed to be a one-time deal, so there are always giveaways. As the saying goes: a kind and gentle manner brings in money. It’s not necessary at all to check each item when there are too many goods. Most of the time, the customers would merely take a brief look at the batch. If they do business with some shops with a good reputation, they would only examine a few important items!”
Hearing that some people in the crowd were defending her, the middle-aged woman became more and more exhilarated. She pointed at Madame Dong with the other hand, shouting and cussing with her eyes bulging, “She looked like an honesty shop owner, so I didn’t bother to all the goods. I didn’t expect her to deceive me and give me those useless materials. What should I do? I have to support my family!”
The middle-aged woman, seemingly also a good actor, intended to clap her legs while accusing in tears. However, Yujie clutched one of her hands, deliberately putting forth some strength. Thus, even before she could start her performance, she gritted her teeth in pain. Not in the mood to shed tears, she could turn around to pull back Yujie’s hand.
Yujie, maintaining her calm composure, exerted more strength to grab the middle-aged woman. On the contrary, the middle-aged woman was distracted. It seemed that she was holding Yujie’s hands with great force. Her exaggerated action aroused some people suspicious.
Did she fake it?
“The embroidery doesn’t seem like a product from this shop!” Shao Wanru asked smoothly.
“No way. It belongs to this shop!” The middle-aged woman gritted her teeth. “If you don’t believe me, you can compare it to theirs!”
This item was made of the material from the b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop, so she was not afraid of the comparison.
......
“Are they also from the b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop?” Shao Wanru picked up two more toggle-and-loop b.u.t.tons on the ground, looked at the broken threads in them, and asked.
“Of course, they are from the b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop. If you don’t believe me, you can check it out!” The middle-aged woman said loudly. These things were indeed from the b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop, no matter how many times they checked it.
“Miss Zhang, take a look at this!” Shao Wanru ignored the middle-aged woman and handed the b.u.t.ton in her hand to Zhang Qilan. Zhang Qilan took it and frowned slightly.
With those broken threads, the b.u.t.ton appeared to be crudely made. Upon taking a closer look, she saw those dense and exquisite st.i.tches on it. It didn’t look like a shoddy piece of work at all. How could the b.u.t.ton get broken threads when having been so carefully processed?
“Er... Could these threads be deliberately cut off?” Luo Xiaowan leaned over to take a look and asked in a low voice.
“That’s possible!” Zhang Qilan also thought of this possibility and nodded repeatedly. “Yes, it may be that someone deliberately broke the st.i.tches. See, the other st.i.tches remain closely packed!”
Hearing what they said, some people picked up a b.u.t.ton curiously. After looking closely at it, they all felt that their words made sense.
“How could these st.i.tches break so easily when they had been delicately handled?”
“They wouldn’t. I’ve made b.u.t.tons with less dense st.i.tches, and they could remain on the clothes for a long time!”
“The remaining st.i.tches can be the evidence!”
Many people echoed.
The middle-aged woman was a little fl.u.s.tered. Before she could say anything, Shao Wanru had already picked up a piece of crumpled cloth. She looked at the cloth, turned to Madame Dong, and said, “Are these pieces of cloth from your shop?”
At this time, Madame Dong had already stood up. She came over, picked up the cloth, and looked at it. Then she shook her head repeatedly and said, “No, it’s not from our shop. There is no such material in our shop!”
“If it’s not the material from your shop, who else can it belong to?” The middle-aged woman argued loudly. Feeling guilty about the matter of b.u.t.tons, she looked at Shao Wanru with vigilance. “Young Madam, which mansion are you come from? How could you know this kind of thing?”
Shao Wanru and the others were all wearing curtain hats, so the woman couldn’t see their face clearly. However, judging by their imposing manner and crowd of maids, she knew these ladies were either rich or n.o.ble.
In any case, she’d better not offend them.
In the capital city, influential officials were as many as the hairs on an ox. No one knew when they would run into someone that they couldn’t afford to offend.
The middle-aged woman, living in the capital city, was fully aware of who she couldn’t provoke. That was why she hadn’t yet said anything bad to Shao Wanru.
However, Shao Wanru didn’t even cast a glance at the middle-aged woman. She still looked at Madame Dong and asked, “You have said this material wasn’t from your shop. How did you know it?”
Madame Dong shook her head and said, “I’m very familiar with our materials. Even if the designs and colors look similar, they are not like this. None of them would crinkle after being washed in the water!”
“I’ve bought this design in your shop!”
“I also bought it, not a long time ago!” Two people couldn’t help but speak!
“Absolutely! Some people have also bought the same kind. How dare you say that you don’t have anything like that? They must have come together with that batch of goods. After you sold out the good ones, you cheated petty dealers like me into buying the rest inferior goods. It’s a pity that my husband is still lying on the bed, waiting to take medicine. If something really happens to this batch of goods from your shop, how can my family survive?”
The middle-aged woman wanted to howl again, but her wrist was violently pinched. The corners of her eyes twisted in pain. How could she cry out at this time?
She could only stamp her feet in frustrated rage.
“We have sold products with this color once, but it was not made of the same material batch, which was actually from some other place. The material was not originally from our shop!” Madame Dong felt calmer and more in control.
“Where did you get your material?” Shao Wanru asked.
“It’s... it’s from the Imperial Workshop. We purchased some goods from there. If you don’t believe it, you can check our account directly. These goods were definitely not such poorly-manufactured items! Please trust me. Or, you can take the goods your brought from us at that time and compare them with hers!”
“Is their material from the Imperial Workshop?”
The news silenced everyone all of a sudden!
The owner of the Imperial Workshop was surely the Emperor. But not all the items there were for the Emperor. Some things not chosen by the imperial palace would go into the business run by the Imperial Household Department. However, whether the batch from the Imperial Workshop went directly to the Emperor or the Imperial Household Department, its quality must be guaranteed. Otherwise, it would not just be a case of closing the shop, but a case of losing some people’s heads, once the disqualified batch related to them was discovered.
The accounts of the Imperial Workshop were very clear. It was unlikely that there would be something inferior. It was said that the Imperial Household Department was under strict management, so it was not easy for others to intervene. If anything went wrong with the affairs in the Imperial Workshop, some officials of the Imperial Household Department would get beheaded.
In this way, this kind of thing was more serious than a matter in the business world!
The onlookers did not dare to make any more judgments. If the matter was under investigation, everyone present would be part of it, and maybe none of them could get out of the way.
It was good to watch the fun, but it would be troublesome if they got themselves involved.
“Do you mean that there is something wrong with the material from the Imperial Workshop?” Shao Wanru turned to look at the middle-aged woman.
The woman immediately panicked. She just wanted to extort money from them, but never had she planned to sacrifice her life. Once this matter was linked with the Imperial Workshop, she would become the one who accused it of producing bad-quality items. As a businesswoman living in the capital city, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she would be put in jail.
“I... I meant that there was something wrong with the clothes of b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop. I... I never mentioned the Imperial Workshop...”
“But all the recent batches of material in our shop were from the Imperial Workshop. You can go check it out. Even if the officials come, I won’t change my words!” Madame Dong said, her heart secretly throbbing with fear. “Thank goodness, I followed the Princess’ suggestions and changed to purchase the material from the Imperial Workshop. Since then, nearly all material we use is from there.”
“You... but you might go to get some from other places!” The middle-aged woman stammered.
“Since it is related to the Imperial Workshop, we can invite officials from yamen over here to investigate. If there is anything dishonest, they will not let me go!” Madame Dong said with sincerity, not panicking at all. She came over and reached out to hold the middle-aged woman’s hand. “Come on, let’s go to the yamen together, telling them that the goods from the Imperial Workshop were inferior ones!”
Yujie quietly put down her hand and retreated to the back of Shao Wanru.
“I... I won’t go. It’s your fault, not theirs...” The middle-aged woman looked around in a fl.u.s.ter. After all, how could she be bold enough to sue the Imperial Workshop for selling seconds at best quality prices? She was going to cause herself big trouble!
“If my account book is faked, the yamen will definitely seal my shop. Take these things back as evidence to find out the truth!” Madame Dong was very persistent. She even reached out and picked up a b.u.t.ton from the ground. “Check the matter of these b.u.t.tons. Who deliberately broke the threads inside and framed our shop? After all, those remained st.i.tches are clearly well-made!”
If their conflict had nothing to do with the Imperial Workshop, the yamen would never establish a case for such a trivial matter. But ever since the Imperial Workshop was mentioned, it was no longer a case in the control of ordinary people.
The middle-aged woman, who just came to make a scene for some extra benefits, wouldn’t dare to go to the yamen. Thus, almost instantly, she pulled herself free from Madame Dong’s hands and said, “I... I run a small business, and I have elders and children to feed, so I won’t go to the yamen with you. If you... if you want to prove your innocence, you can go there to inquire about this matter!”
After saying that, she didn’t care about Madame Dong anymore. She pushed the crowd aside and walked out, leaving the cloth and b.u.t.tons behind.
It was obvious from her guilty look that what she said was false. Everyone could see that she didn’t dare to verify this matter. At last, she was too ignorant to admit her sinister purpose and even asked Madame Dong to verify the fabricated charge.
“She did come to stir up trouble on purpose. I don’t know which mansion is willing to spend so much effort to deal with a small shop!” Zhang Qilan curled her lips behind the curtained hat and said disdainfully!