novelden Chapter 140: An Incident at the Seafood Shop
Chapter 140: An Incident at the Seafood Shop
"Ma'am, something bad has happened in the shop."
Su Weixi was enjoying afternoon tea in the yard with Su Ma and his sister-in-law when he heard Butler Sun running in wailing.
After so many times, Su Weixi and Su Ma have long been accustomed to housekeeper Sun's sudden startles. Usually he is very reliable in doing things, but whenever he encounters an emergency, he will yell at home.
If it weren't for the fact that Steward Sun's family was loyal enough and had come with her from the border town, Su Ma would sometimes wonder whether she should find another steward to assist Steward Sun. She was afraid that he would lose his manners in front of guests one day, but Su Ma was just thinking about it. Steward Sun was still very steady in front of outsiders. Without such a lively steward, the family would be so boring.
"what happened?"
"Madam, something happened in the shop. Today..." Butler Sun gasped in the middle of his speech, perhaps because he ran too fast.
"Take your time first."
"Thank you, ma'am."
Seeing this, Su Ma asked the maid beside her to pour a cup of tea for Butler Sun.
After Butler Sun recovered, he explained what had happened in the seafood shop.
It turned out to be a seafood shop opened by the Su family in Qiongzhou City. In addition to selling various snacks processed in the workshop, they also sold some dried seafood they collected.
No one was interested in dried goods, as they could be found by any fisherman who went to the seaside, or by fishermen in the city who would sell them to passing merchants. However, some people were interested in the various seafood sauces, spicy dried fish, squid strips, etc. processed in the Su family shop.
However, the Su family had signed an agreement with the Shen family in advance. Except for the Su family selling their own products in the shop in Qiongzhou City, the rest could only be wholesaled to the Shen family, which would then transport them to various cities for sale.
Every time a traveling merchant came to ask, he refused. Because people always came to ask, there was even a wooden sign hanging in the shop and at the door of the workshop, which specifically explained the workshop's supply issues.
Some people who wanted to buy in large quantities from the Su family shop and then sell them were also discouraged because of the Su family shop's policy of limiting purchases per person.
It’s not that no one has tried to imitate the Su family’s cooking methods, but after buying them back and studying them, they found that they didn’t know what some of the seasonings used by the Su family were.
Su Weixi: Of course! There is no MSG in this era! I took it all out from space!
Based on the Su family's actions, most people gave up.
There are also some people who have not given up, which is why something like what happened in the shop happened this time.
Today, Butler Sun went to the shop to check the accounts, and someone came out carrying two stretchers, saying that the people died from eating food from the Su family's shop, and insisted that the food in the shop was not clean.
At that time, Butler Sun was observing the situation in the backyard and did not go out, but the shopkeeper went out to deal with it.
Butler Sun was also smart, and he knew at a glance that someone was causing trouble, especially the group of people who were causing trouble. The one crying and making trouble was dressed like a farmer, and the one who was helping him was a ruffian who often caused trouble in the city.
So he instructed his clerk to report to the county government, and when the bailiff came, he said he would take everyone back to the county government to deal with it. The group of people said they just wanted to deal with it privately, but the shopkeeper disagreed and wanted to go to the county government. The group of people ran away immediately.
Although anyone with a discerning eye could tell that someone was playing tricks, it still had an impact on the shop. The originally bustling shop suddenly became deserted, and no one wanted to come in to buy things.
So Butler Sun came back and reported the matter to Su Ma.
Su Ma and Su Weixi knew that someone was behind this. If the mastermind behind the scenes was not caught and made an example of, such things would happen again and again.
Su Ma quickly came up with a plan and whispered a few instructions to the housekeeper. After receiving the instructions, the housekeeper went out to do the work with a smile on his face.
"Stepmother, do you want me to go find my aunt and ask my uncle to investigate it?" Xu Wanying saw that her family was in trouble, and the only thing she could think of was to ask her uncle, the county magistrate, for help.
"No, it's a piece of cake."
"Mom, what did you tell Butler Sun to do just now?" Su Weixi was very curious about how her mother would handle this matter.
Xu Wanying was also very curious. Although she had learned housekeeping from her mother at home, after she came to the Su family, her husband was in the military camp for a long time, and the two of them did not live in their own house. It was not reasonable to give the housekeeping power of the Su Mansion to an adopted son and daughter-in-law. Usually, she only managed the affairs of her own yard.
"You'll know in two days."
Su Ma did not tell the other two anything extra.
It wasn't until three days later that a big drama took place in the city.
The group of people who had come to Su's shop to cause trouble that day carried a stretcher to the door of Hu's shop in the city and started crying.
The farmers were still dressed the same as before, but the thugs who had supported that farmer that day had their arms in slings today.
What they were saying was that the shopkeeper of the Hu family asked them to cause trouble in the Su family shop, but did not pay them the promised wages afterwards. And the old man who died in that farmer's family did not die from eating food from the Su family shop, but from illness.
The shopkeeper of Hu's shop naturally did not admit what these people said, and said that he would report to the police if they continued to make trouble. He actually asked the county government officials to come and deal with the troublemakers.
But the yamen runners who usually collected money were not very talkative today, and acted as if they were doing business impartially. They took everyone to the yamen, and Magistrate Ma opened the court to try the case.
Because what happened in front of the Su family shop a few days ago attracted a lot of people to watch, and when they learned that today's incident was related to the Su family shop and that the county court held open trials, many people in the city who had nothing to do and liked to watch the fun went to the county court to watch.
The owner of the Hu family refused to admit that he bribed these people in public and asked them to produce evidence. He thought that these peasants and hooligans had no evidence.
The farmer did not have any evidence, but the gang of thugs did.
Having been hanging around in the streets for many years, they had their own tricks and evidence in their hands. On the day when Hu the shopkeeper came to find them, those hooligans took advantage of Hu's inattention and stole a purse from him.
The purse eventually became evidence, and Shopkeeper Hu had no choice but to admit it. But he did not reveal his employer, only saying that he was jealous of the Su family's good business, so he resorted to this desperate measure.
Because no one was killed in the end, the Su family did not suffer any real losses, and Magistrate Ma's sentence was not very severe.
Manager Hu instigated others to cause trouble with money, and was sentenced to 20 strokes of the cane, and had to pay for the farmer's family to bury the old man. Not only that, he also had to go to the Su family shop to apologize.
The farmer and a few thugs were also beaten with sticks, but not as many times as Shopkeeper Hu.
From then on, the previously damaged reputation of the Su family shop was cleared up, and the store returned to its former bustle.
The owner of the Hu family's shop also brought gifts to the Su family to apologize, but Su's mother didn't even meet him and didn't accept the gifts. She just let the housekeeper send the person away.
Su Family Garden.
"Mom, how did you get those gangsters and farmers to turn against you?" Su Weixi asked Su Ma curiously.
"That's easy. Beat them up first, then bribe them with money. With the reputation of our General's Mansion and our relationship with Magistrate Ma, they agreed immediately."
"I see. I never thought that someone would dare to cause trouble for our family. Who is the owner of the Hu family shop?"
"The housekeeper asked around, but couldn't find out anything. However, it was his family that imitated ours in processing seafood."
"After this, he will definitely hate our family. I don't know if he will cause trouble again in the future."
"I've asked your father to check the background of the Hu family. He will take care of it."
Hearing this, Su Weixi felt relieved. Even if Su's father couldn't find out, Shen Jingzhou and Xiao Yi would definitely solve it.
At this time, Su Weixizi sighed in her heart that it was not without reason that Su's father had always wanted to improve the status of the Su family. The Su family is in this position now, and there are still people who want to provoke them. If they are really just hunters, they will probably be bullied even more if they do some business.
Now that the Su family not only has status but also has helpers, they don’t have to worry so much.