Lin Chaoyu had stayed up all night in the large study room yesterday and caught a cold upon waking this morning. He was sent back to the Lin family by Zhu Huaishu’s orders.
After returning to the Lin residence, he poured out all his grievances from the Academy to Lin Fu with great indignation.
Upon hearing this, Lin Fu flew into a rage and slammed his palm on the red sandalwood table before him.
“That Lu Ting has some nerve! Taking money without delivering! And standing by watching you suffer such humiliation at the Academy!”
Lin Chaoyu squeezed two tears from the narrow slits of his eyes, his words dripping with misery.
“I entered Huai Shu Academy with the sole intention of studying hard, planning to go to the capital for imperial examinations upon completing my studies to bring honor to our Lin family. Who would have thought I’d face such injustice on my very first day.
Not only was I publicly insulted by that Jiang Yunnan, but the Su brothers also cornered me, threatening to beat me up…” At this point, his two tears evolved into streaming tears.
“Poor me, I stayed at the Academy for just one day and became so angry I caught a cold. I’ve been wronged! Father, you must stand up for me!”
He performed this act of “the guilty party filing the first accusation” with such mastery that the sole audience member, Lin Fu, believed every word.
“The Jiang family is being utterly unreasonable! After all, our families were once engaged. Even though the marriage didn’t materialize, the Jiangs should still consider both families’ reputations. By any measure, they shouldn’t bully us like this!
And that Su family – who do they think they are, daring to do such things!”
“Father, the Jiang family is clearly opposing our Lin family. Had they considered our families’ relationship even slightly, they wouldn’t have competed with me for that study room.”
Lin Fu clenched his fists, the anger in his eyes intensifying.
“Guards! Strictly inspect all merchant caravans entering and leaving Suzhou Prefecture today. Whenever you encounter Jiang family caravans, regardless of what they’re transporting or how big their business is, stop them and search them thoroughly! Meticulously!
Even if there are no problems, find some problems!”
Thus, merchant caravans entering and leaving Suzhou city that day underwent an unprecedented strict inspection by the Prefect.
Many attempting to transport illegal salt or conduct black market business were arrested.
The Jiang family was disturbed by this matter all day long.
The Jiang family’s caravan originally had no issues whatsoever, with all goods being completely legitimate and beyond reproach.
Nevertheless, Lin Fu’s men stopped all of the Jiang family’s caravans.
Even when no faults could be found, they still detained them without release.
Caravans outside the city were barred from entering, while those inside were prevented from leaving.
Some caravans responsible for delivering fresh vegetables grew increasingly anxious with no solution, forced to seek help from Master Jiang.
Jiang Baofu was stunned upon learning of this situation and remained silent for a long time, unable to propose a resolution.
It was Madam Jiang who reacted quickly and soon devised a plan.
“Here’s what we’ll do: have all caravans transporting vegetables and fruits outside the city turn back and deliver them to our Jiang family restaurants and pastry shops nearby.
Have the shops use the fruits for pastries and send the vegetables to restaurants as ingredients. No matter what, we cannot waste these products that farmers worked so hard to grow.”The steward quickly calculated the costs after hearing this and said, “Madam, I’m afraid this isn’t advisable. Fruits can be preserved for some time when made into pastries, but vegetables cooked into meals must be consumed on the same day.
The amount of vegetables we transport to the restaurants daily is already sufficient for one day’s use. Sending additional portions would likely result in waste.”
Madam Jiang frowned slightly and began reviewing the list of goods dispatched from the city that day.
“We also shipped a batch of sugar out of the city today,” she remarked after a moment’s consideration. “Then let’s utilize that sugar as well—make sugar figurines and candied hawthorns to distribute to all our restaurants.
Inform them that Master Jiang is in high spirits today: any family dining with children will receive complimentary sugar figurines and candied hawthorns.”
The steward brightened at this suggestion: “An excellent plan! This will attract more family groups to dine, naturally increasing food consumption. Then we won’t need to worry about our surplus vegetables going unused.”
Remembering other shipments, he then asked: “But what should we do with the jewelry and gemstones outside the city?”
Suppressing her anger, Madam Jiang replied in a low voice: “Have them returned along the same route. We’ll transport them back when that scoundrel Lin Fu stops his foolishness.”
This would inevitably incur significant losses for the Jiang family.
Yet with the Lin family currently controlling city gate access—determined to block Jiang merchant caravans from passing through—they had no alternative but to accept this arrangement.
Jiang Baofu grasped his wife’s hand, comforting her gently: “Don’t distress yourself, my dear. I shall visit the Lin residence immediately and demand an explanation from Lin Fu!”
Madam Jiang suddenly stopped him.
“Absolutely not. Appearing at their doorstep now would seem like we’re delivering an ultimatum. The Jiang family would become subject to public criticism.”
“Then what should we do? The Lin family has gone too far this time, creating such tremendous trouble for us. We can’t just wait idly.”
“Indeed we cannot remain passive. But this matter is peculiar—the Lin family wouldn’t target us without reason. We must investigate this thoroughly first.”
The Prefect’s stringent inspection of merchant caravans had stirred up controversy throughout the city.
News of this eventually reached Huai Shu Academy.
Jiang Yunnan had just left the library and was preparing to have lunch at the dining hall with Youen and Su Yan.
Along the way, they overheard numerous discussions about Lin Fu’s strict inspection of merchant caravans that day.
The main subjects of these conversations were invariably Lin Fu and Jiang Baofu.
Having listened throughout his walk, Jiang Yunnan had pieced together the entire incident.
Yet he appeared completely unconcerned, maintaining an air of detached indifference.
Youen asked him: “Aren’t you worried this might harm your family’s business?”
Jiang Yunnan shrugged, seeming genuinely unbothered.
“The Jiang family has traded in Suzhou for generations. This minor incident won’t shake our foundation.”
Unsurprised by his composure, Youen continued analyzing: “The Lin family’s sudden targeting of your caravans likely connects to Lin Chaoyu.”
Jiang Yunnan nodded. “I heard Lin Chaoyu returned home this morning claiming he caught a chill. This mischief probably stems from him.”
Youen couldn’t suppress a laugh: “Catching a chill in midsummer? Who would have thought such a burly man could be so frail.”
Jiang Yunnan joined in the teasing: “That’s not burly—it’s just fat.”
Far away in the Lin residence, Lin Chaoyu sneezed three times in a row. Even the butler attending to his medicine couldn’t help but sigh, “It seems the young master is truly seriously ill this time. I’m afraid he’ll need proper rest for several days.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Fu’s brow furrowed even deeper. Grabbing the hand of the physician who had just examined his pulse, he said with a face full of concern:
“Doctor, you must pay extra attention. As long as my son can recover quickly, no amount of silver matters.”