Yuwei hesitated for a moment, then said, “If Young Master wishes to rest, I remember there are a few vacant private rooms on the first floor. It is quiet and away from people, and you won’t hear any of the commotion, though it hasn’t been cleaned for a while.”
Lou Tingxue quickly replied, “It’s alright, I am really sleepy right now and desperately need a good sleep. Miss Yuwei, please take me there.”
Yuwei could never bear to see Lou Tingxue suffer, so she immediately led him away.
Looking at the red lanterns and festive decorations all over Fan Lou, Lou Tingxue asked, “Miss Yuwei, who is the merchant visiting this time?”
Yuwei replied offhandedly, “I heard Master say that the visitor this time is a salt merchant named Zhao Youcai. He controls much of Da Liang’s salt and uses the official trade routes. He has made an absolute fortune over the years.”
Hearing this, Lou Tingxue fell into a thoughtful silence.
Not long after the two of them left, a prominent merchant arrived at Fan Lou.
The man was around fifty years old, a wealthy salt merchant who had grown extremely stout. His round, corpulent body required two servants to support him just to walk steadily, his flab trembling with every movement.
His round face was heaped with fat, squeezing his eyes into thin slits, with heavy rolls beneath his chin. His neck was so thick it nearly burst his collar. His attire was overwhelmingly opulent—a gold-embroidered silk robe fastened with a solid gold belt, several gold bangles on his wrists, and rings gracing every finger.
If Lou Tingxue were here, he would surely exclaim: What a textbook nouveau riche!
Zhu Dongfeng had been waiting for a long time and stepped forward with a warm smile to greet him. “Boss Zhao, what a pleasure to meet you.”
Zhao Youcai smiled back, the fat on his face quivering. “Boss Zhu, your great name precedes you, and your business prospers. It’s usually impossible to catch even a glimpse of you. To finally meet you today is truly my good fortune.”
Zhu Dongfeng’s smile remained unchanged, though a sharp gleam flickered in his long, narrow eyes. He continued, “Three years ago, I invited Boss Zhao to Fan Lou for a meeting, but you declined, citing urgent business. Later, I invited you several more times, yet you still didn’t come. How could my business possibly be thriving as much as yours?”
At these words, Zhao Youcai couldn’t help showing his embarrassment, the fat on his face twitching slightly.
However, Zhu Dongfeng shifted the tone smoothly and smiled, “But those things are long forgotten. Now that Boss Zhao is here, I must host you properly. Biluochun tea brought back from Great Zhou has been prepared in the long pavilion. I wonder if Boss Zhao would care to indulge?”
Taking the graceful way out, Zhao Youcai readily agreed.
Before long, inside the long pavilion.
Zhu Dongfeng and Zhao Youcai drank Biluochun, chatting back and forth in what appeared to be perfect harmony. But before long, Zhao Youcai suddenly remembered an interesting piece of news.
“The side consort newly taken into the household of Prince Duanyu was kidnapped by thieves.”
Hearing this, the hand Zhu Dongfeng held his teacup with paused briefly.
Beside him, Lin Shi was pouring a full cup of Biluochun; with that momentary pause, a few drops of tea spilled over and dripped onto the stone table.
Thinking he was quite interested in the matter, Zhao Youcai added, “The Prince Duanyu’s manor dispatched many people to search for this abducted side consort, but still came up empty-handed. Boss Zhu was traveling to Great Zhou on the Tens of Thousands of Stones Ship at the time, which is why you were unaware of this.”
Zhu Dongfeng chuckled, casually placing his teacup down on the table.
Heavy snow fluttered outside the long pavilion. He stared at Zhao Youcai with hawk-like eyes and smiled, “Boss Zhao must be joking. I have been busy with business recently and had no idea when Prince Duanyu even got married, let alone that someone in this world would dare kidnap a royal prince’s side consort.”
Zhao Youcai smiled as well and continued, “Boss Zhu wouldn’t know, but Prince Duanyu is young and promising, protected by his birth mother, Noble Consort Gao. It’s just a pity that the Empress suppresses him from above. It isn’t surprising that such a turn of events occurred on his wedding day. It’s just that this side consort has been missing for so long, I’m afraid they are already…”
He left the remaining words unsaid. Everyone in the room was clever enough not to need the rest spoken aloud.
After lingering on small talk for a while, it was now time to talk business.
Shifting the conversation, Zhao Youcai said, “Boss Zhu, today the snow and wind are heavy. Listening to the snow and sipping tea together here is quite a pleasant affair. I won’t beat around the bush—if that batch of sea salt in Huainan is to be transported to Da Liang, I need to borrow your Tens of Thousands of Stones Ship. I wonder if you would grant me this favor?”
Zhu Dongfeng replied with a smile, “I must naturally give face to Boss Zhao. However, if I help you this once, I wonder what you can offer me in return?”
Zhao Youcai chuckled, having already prepared his response: “I’ve already thought it through. Once this batch of salt is completely sold, I will gift a portion of the proceeds to you, Boss Zhu. A ninety-ten split between us—how does that sound?”
Zhu Dongfeng countered, “I have plenty of wealth. What I want is a stake in your salt business. I wonder if Boss Zhao would share a piece of the pie with me?”
At those words, Zhao Youcai’s expression changed instantly.
He slapped the table and stood up in shock and anger. “Zhu Dongfeng! Do you realize what you are saying? The salt trade in my hands was bestowed directly by His Imperial Majesty! You want a piece of this pie—have you lost your mind?!”
Zhu Dongfeng remained composed. “Right now, the one risking his life isn’t me, but you, Boss Zhao. You are trying by every means possible to borrow my Tens of Thousands of Stones Ship, and the salt trade in your hands happens to be in Huainan. As far as I know, that isn’t an official trade route.”
Having his secret exposed, Zhao Youcai’s face turned deathly pale.
Zhu Dongfeng smoothly pivoted again, adding, “Rest assured, Boss Zhao, I have no intention of threatening you. I simply want a share of the salt trade so that the two of us can engage in more business together in the future. Nothing more.”
Zhao Youcai glared at him coldly. “You certainly have nerve, daring to lay a finger on the salt trade!”
Zhu Dongfeng merely smiled. “If I didn’t have nerve, how could I have gone from having not a single penny to becoming the wealthiest merchant under heaven?”
As soon as the words fell, Zhao Youcai remained silent for a long moment before saying coldly, “As for the salt trade, I still need to think it over. Before that, I must first borrow your Tens of Thousands of Stones Ship.”
The corner of Zhu Dongfeng’s mouth had been curved in a smile for over an hour without wavering.
He was always like this, often making others believe they had humored him, only to have their jaws drop upon hearing his response.
“Heavy snow has fallen across various parts of Da Liang recently, and even the coastal regions of Huainan are affected. Severe blizzards are blocking roads, and glaciers stretch for thousands of miles. The path to collect the goods will likely be treacherous. Boss Zhao had better wait a bit longer,” Zhu Dongfeng said with a smile.
“Everyone knows how formidable your Tens of Thousands of Stones Ship is! What’s a mere glacier? How could it be impassable? You simply don’t want to help me!” Zhao Youcai snorted coldly.
“I just said, wait a bit longer,” Zhu Dongfeng smiled as he looked at him, but the chill in his eyes was unmistakable.
After a brief standoff, it was surprisingly Zhao Youcai who conceded defeat.
Zhao Youcai said in annoyance, “It is getting late, so I shall take my leave.”
He stood up angrily to depart. A gust of wind and snow carrying extreme cold rushed straight at his face, chilling him enough to cool off whatever anger had clouded his head.
Yet after taking only a few steps, Zhu Dongfeng’s voice echoed from inside: “Boss Zhao, wait a moment.”
Thinking he had changed his mind, Zhao Youcai turned back triumphantly.
At that exact moment, snow from the eaves suddenly tumbled down, landing right on his head. The wet snow instantly turned him into a drenched rat, looking utterly ridiculous and laughable.
Zhao Youcai was instantly enraged!
This man was clearly making a fool out of him on purpose!
With the smile still lingering at the corners of his mouth, Zhu Dongfeng saw how miserable he looked and couldn’t help shaking his head, appearing deeply distressed as he said, “The snowy road is hard to travel; Boss Zhao had better bring an umbrella.”
He took an umbrella from Wen Xiao and personally held it over Zhao Youcai, prompting the man to push it away repeatedly in terror, terrified he was up to another wicked scheme.
“It’s no trouble. Boss Zhao, I will see you out,” Zhu Dongfeng said with a smile.
Seeing that he couldn’t refuse, Zhao Youcai cowered to the side as if sitting on pins and needles.
Unsurprisingly, though Zhu Dongfeng held the umbrella, most of Zhao Youcai’s body ended up soaked through by the melted snow along the way, whereas not even a corner of Zhu Dongfeng’s clothes got wet.
When they reached the back courtyard, a sudden loud thud of a heavy object hitting the ground came from inside a room. Startled, Zhao Youcai jumped and asked, “What happened? Did the house collapse?”
Zhu Dongfeng’s expression abruptly shifted.
He hurriedly handed the umbrella to Lin Shi behind him. “Quickly see Boss Zhao off. I have urgent business to attend to.”
With those words, Zhu Dongfeng turned and left immediately.
Zhao Youcai stopped himself from speaking further, his eyes fixed on the house not far away.
The tall figures of Lin Shi and Wen Xiao instantly stepped forward to block his view. Only then did Zhao Youcai realize that the two attendants who usually stood quietly beside Zhu Dongfeng serving tea were actually built so tall and imposing—looking just like barbarians from Xiongnu territory!
One held the umbrella while the other led the way, their expressions cold as they said, “Boss Zhao, we will escort you out.”
Zhu Dongfeng rushed back to the room in the rear yard.
He saw that the lock on the door was still perfectly intact, showing no signs of having been picked.
Yuwei also rushed over, saying, “Young Master Lou should still be resting inside!”
Zhu Dongfeng suddenly recalled the window shutter on the other side and rushed over with long strides.
Sure enough, the window that had originally been nailed shut had been carefully pried open from the inside. The dense collection of nails on the window frame had been pulled out by that person at some unknown point.
It must have been hard for him to play along and pretend to be docile for so many days, all for the sake of escaping today while he was busy negotiating business with Zhao Youcai. Unfortunately, he had accidentally exposed his intentions.
If he had lowered the window shutter carefully, perhaps he wouldn’t have been discovered so quickly.
Was he too weak to hold the heavy window frame?
Zhu Dongfeng stroked his chin with his finger, pondering the thought amidst the swirling snow.
On this freezing winter night, the wind lashed small bits of snow against the face like fine needles pricking the flesh.
Yet Lou Tingxue did not dare to stop for a single step.
He clutched the ice-cold dry rations in his arms, his thin clothing soaked heavy by the wind and snow, and his bare little feet turned red from the biting frost.
Lou Tingxue knew that Zhu Dongfeng had a major business deal to negotiate and certainly wouldn’t have the spare time to keep an eye on him. That was why he specifically chose this moment to escape—he only regretted failing to catch the window shutter earlier.
With such a loud noise, Zhu Dongfeng had probably already heard it!
Since that was the case, he had to escape even faster! He absolutely could not let that sanctimonious bastard catch him again!