Two hundred and thirty wen—cheap indeed… Yang Tieniang felt the Linen-core Silk-face handkerchief in her hands, its texture distinctly superior, and found herself momentarily at a loss for words.
Though the price was hardly inexpensive by her standards, from the perspective of the young shop assistant selling the goods, there was not a word of falsehood in his claim. Setting aside the quality of the fine linen within, the outer layer of top-grade boiled silk did not come cheap, and the silver pendant sewn into the corner—even if not solid—was worth a fair bit just for the craftsmanship of its design alone.
Whether the young assistant's claim that "every lady chef in the capital has one" was true or not, the handkerchief in her hand was undeniably a fine item.
"I'll take two. Give me a discount—four hundred wen."
She cut sixty wen off in a single stroke. The young assistant's mouth fell slightly open and his eyes widened. Seeing that Yang Tieniang showed not the slightest sign of joking, he let out a dry laugh or two.
"Old mother, you do jest," the young assistant said, smoothing out the pale blue handkerchief and holding it up before her eyes, gesturing for her to examine the details. "Just look at this fabric, this stitching, this craftsmanship, and this silver pendant. Even when haggling, you wouldn't chop off a whole thigh bone in one stroke! With goods this fine, who wouldn't want them?"
As he spoke, the young assistant stretched out his arm and displayed the handkerchief all around, doing his best to let everyone nearby see the finely made item in his hands. Unfortunately, he had failed to think things through.
The capital was prosperous, and its food industry was far more thriving than that of Wenzhou City, which was somewhat remote in location and struggling in economic development. To put it in perspective: if the capital could produce two famous lady chefs from a single alley, then in their Wenzhou City, there were only two famous lady chefs in the entire city. Lady He was one of them.
Such an exquisite handkerchief was not something ordinary households would readily purchase. Even fine linen or boiled ramie handkerchiefs—the kind that sold for eighty wen apiece—were considered too expensive by most families. Coarse linen handkerchiefs at five to ten wen each were already good enough for daily use, and there were even those cobbled together from clothes too tattered to wear, cheap beyond measure!
"Your handkerchief is far too dear—I'm no fool to be fleeced!"
An old woman immediately offered her verdict, waving her hand as she pushed her way out of the crowd, demonstrating with her very body her stance on the high price.
"This is enough to buy three dou of rice! If it sold for a hundred wen apiece… hmph, I'm not a chef, and I've no use for such a fancy thing. Not buying, not buying!"
On the left, a young woman carrying a vegetable basket glanced at the handkerchief, then turned away to pick out silk flowers at ten wen for three—ten wen for three was hardly a bargain, but at least the teacup-sized blossoms could be worn in one's hair to look pretty.
The young assistant's hand froze mid-air.
This was his first time traveling with the merchant ship. Though he had worked as a shop assistant at the Rong family's establishment since childhood, the Rong family's business in the capital catered to wealthy households. Take this handkerchief, for instance—he had sold the same item in the capital, and at a price seventy wen higher than now, a full three hundred wen apiece.
Back then, even lady chefs who weren't particularly famous would buy them without haggling a single wen off, simply pocketing their purchase. And never once had anyone called the Rong family's goods expensive.
Clever as the young assistant was, facing his first encounter with aggressive haggling while everyone openly declared his wares overpriced, even the sharpest mind was bound to stall for a moment.
The young shop assistant knew exactly what the base price of the goods was. He discreetly glanced at Yang Tieniang's expression, then looked at Fusheng, who was staring intently at the other handkerchiefs on the table. Recalling the pricing requirements from the shopkeeper's instructions, he settled on a number.
"Two for four hundred thirty wen, that's the lowest price."
As he spoke, the young shop assistant placed the handkerchiefs back on the long table, signaling that there was no room for bargaining. But Yang Tieniang read his demeanor and knew there was still room to negotiate.
"Three hundred ninety wen." Yang Tieniang said calmly, pressing the price even lower.
The young shop assistant straightened up even more. He had never seen this kind of bargaining—instead of adding to the price, she was lowering it further. Even Fusheng turned her head to look at Yang Tieniang—was her mother-in-law really not afraid of getting beaten for cutting the price like this?
But Yang Tieniang's expression remained as composed as ever, inexplicably radiating the air of a chivalrous hero.
"No, no, these handkerchiefs—two of them—the absolute lowest I can go is four hundred five wen! Old mother, who bargains like this?" This batch of handkerchiefs had been brought from the capital to sell, and the merchant ship was about to set sail for the return trip without having sold them all. The young shop assistant wanted to make the sale to count toward his performance, but there was a minimum price set by his superiors!
"Fine!" Yang Tieniang immediately sealed the deal. "Four hundred five wen for two then! I'll take one in light blue. Fusheng, which color do you like? Pick one yourself!"
She had roughly calculated the base price. When she first quoted four hundred wen, she hadn't actually expected to get that price—she needed to use some tricks to pry out their bottom line, so she went about it in reverse.
Sure enough, in just one round, this inexperienced young shop assistant had revealed his hand.
Fusheng had been completely uninvolved in the process. When Yang Tieniang asked her to pick one, she only snapped out of her daze, slightly startled.
Being asked to pick one meant that one of the two handkerchiefs being bought was for her.
She was only just beginning to learn cooking—what use did she have for such fine handkerchiefs? But this was her mother-in-law's kindness, and refusing would make her seem ungrateful.
"I'll take this goose-yellow one. Thank you, Mother." Fusheng smiled, her eyes curving like crescent moons.
Yang Tieniang decisively counted out the money and pressed it into the young shop assistant's hand. Without saying much, she urged him on with a look. The young shop assistant looked at the money in his hand. Though he inwardly sighed at having underestimated his opponent, the smile on his face didn't diminish in the slightest, and his hands moved even more swiftly.
It was at this moment that Granny Zhang, dragging Yuniang along, finally managed to squeeze her way inside.
She had been following behind Fusheng and the others but had been a step too slow, and by the time she reached the Rong family merchant ship, she couldn't squeeze through. If it hadn't been for Yang Tieniang's figure standing out like a crane among chickens in the crowd, she wouldn't have been able to find her way over so quickly!
She only caught a glimpse of Yang Tieniang paying the money and receiving something from the young shop assistant, but couldn't quite see what it was. However, when she saw Yang Tieniang carefully placing the item into her back basket, she immediately concluded that it was something Yang Tieniang intended as a bribe for Lady He.
"A family of over ten people crammed into a small courtyard, and they still have money to buy things to bribe people—pah! Who knows where that money came from!"
Granny Zhang cursed viciously under her breath. Seeing Yang Tieniang leave with Fusheng, she finally squeezed her way to the front and asked the young shop assistant who had just served Yang Tieniang: "What did that tall, strapping woman just buy?"
There was no form of address, and her tone was not very pleasant either—had she not reached out and grabbed the young shop assistant's arm, no one would have known who she was speaking to.
Though the young shop assistant had been grabbed, hearing Granny Zhang's particularly grating tone put him in a sour mood—he was already annoyed at having the manager's bottom price easily coaxed out of him, and this tone only added fuel to the fire. Had it not been for the Rong family shop's code of conduct for employees spinning through his head, he would have shot this old woman with the greasy hair and greasy sleeves a dirty look.
Struggling to pull his arm back, the young shop assistant squeezed out a smile and pointed at the handkerchiefs laid out on the long table before him. "These are the latest style handkerchiefs from Bianjing—two hundred and thirty wen apiece."
"What!?" Granny Zhang sucked in a sharp breath of cold air and instinctively reached toward the handkerchiefs on the long table. "Are these made of gold? How can they be so expensive!"
The moment he caught sight of Granny Zhang's greasy hair bun and stained cuffs, the young shop assistant had been on guard against exactly this move. Now that he saw her actually reaching out to touch them, he quickly waved her off.
"Old mother, don't go touching things carelessly! If you want that one, I'll fetch it for you!"
Granny Zhang withdrew her hand in chagrin, feeling she had lost face and unable to save her dignity. "Things put out for sale and you won't even let people touch them—fine, I don't want them anymore!"
With that, she dragged Yuniang out of the crowd just as she had dragged her in.
There was hardly anyone around who knew who Granny Zhang was, but she still felt she had lost face. After squeezing her way out and putting some distance between herself and the Rong family merchant ship, she habitually curled her lip, rolled her eyes, and began muttering under her breath:
"Buying a two hundred and thirty wen handkerchief just like that—she really thinks she's something, that Yang Tieniang! With a dozen mouths to feed in her household, and she still spends so freely on such nonsense, all to curry favor with that He woman, so my Yuniang can't learn anything! Hmph! Isn't it just a handkerchief? Yuniang, when is that cook, that He woman, coming back from Fuqu Village?"
Granny Zhang gave Yuniang a shove. Yuniang stumbled a step before steadying herself, and when she looked up at Granny Zhang, there was a glimmer of hope in her eyes—could it be that her mother-in-law wanted to compete with Granny Yang and send a grand gift to her teacher Lady He on her behalf, so that Lady He would look after her as attentively as she looked after Fusheng?
"Qingnu said she'll probably be back the day after tomorrow."
Yuniang had already begun calculating in her mind what sort of gift she could prepare to make Lady He start teaching her how to cook, rather than wasting her good hours endlessly chopping vegetables.
But Granny Zhang grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up close, speaking with the utmost seriousness:
"Early the day after tomorrow, you wait at the door. When Zhu Sanniang comes out, you stick close to her and walk alongside her. Isn't it just an expensive handkerchief? When the chance presents itself, there are plenty of ways—tear it, step on it, stain it with oil! Make her lose face properly in front of that blind cook, that He woman!"
Yuniang was stunned. She had thought… but instead…
Her mother-in-law's plan did sound satisfying, but for reasons unknown, Fusheng no longer paid her any attention these days. Never mind rummaging through Fusheng's bag to sabotage something—even walking hand in hand to Lady He's house to learn cooking was something that had last happened nearly a month ago.
She couldn't even get a single scrap of Fusheng's clothing now!
But she dared not say this openly to Granny Zhang. She knew full well that if she did, what awaited her was Granny Zhang's finger jabbing straight into her forehead.
"Yes, Grandmother." Yuniang forced a smile as she replied, though her heart was uncertain.
Seeing her obedience, Granny Zhang loosened her grip on Yuniang's wrist, which had been aching from the tight hold.
Looking down at Yuniang, Granny Zhang's mind began to churn with other thoughts, and she started giving orders:
"When you go back to continue learning cooking the day after tomorrow, if that woman surnamed He still won't teach you anything proper and only has you chopping vegetables, then you be a bit sly about it. No need to sincerely serve and respect that He woman anymore. Just bring back plenty of good meat and fine dishes tucked close on your person. Our Yuniang is neither stupid nor ugly—she's pretty and clever. There's no need for you to be apprenticed to that He woman at all!"
Yuniang only nodded, doubts stirring in her heart, though she dared not voice them. The more obedient she appeared, the more satisfied Granny Zhang became.
As they passed a stall selling embroidered handkerchiefs, Granny Zhang's eyes darted around, and a scheme flew into her mind:
"That Yang Tieniang, that fierce tigress—spending so much money on a sweat cloth. I can't let her have any peace. Heh heh!"