Salt Inspector Zhang Jiantang had not yet arrived to take office in Ningbo. But three days ago, some troublemakers pretended to be his concubine and showed off in many parts of the city. They even boldly asked salt shop owners for bribes in public, taking several hundred taels of silver.
But this case was not reported by Zheng Tong.
Of course, Zheng Tong wanted to catch that female scammer and kill her. But he could not use the government to do it. The case involved an imperial official. Once the Ningbo magistrate received a report, he had to report it to the Zhejiang Surveillance Office and also inform the Salt Transport Office of both Zhe provinces. Then this simple fraud case would become a big joint investigation. If that happened, the bribery and bad salt sold by Zheng Tong’s shops would also be exposed. It would not be worth it.
Xu Miaoxue knew this very well. She was sure that even if Zheng Tong knew he was cheated, he would not dare report it or make it public. At most, he would secretly look for her. That was why she dared to target the Zheng family’s salt shops.
But no plan is perfect. The case was made public by a merchant named Zhao Jin.
Xu Miaoxue did not expect Zhao Jin to hear the news so quickly.
Someone told Zhao Jin that the Salt Inspector was not married and had no concubine, and that the expensive invitation he bought was fake. That person also kindly told him that many salt shop owners had also been cheated. In anger, Zhao Jin reported everything to the government. Pretending to be a family member of an imperial official was a serious crime, so the authorities immediately summoned the salt shop owners for questioning. When faced with beatings, those soft and pampered shop owners all confessed that such a female scammer had come before.
Arrest notices were posted all over the city, but there were no clues at all.
At this time, the main culprit, Xu Miaoxue, and her group were in their secret hideout discussing what to do next. Suddenly, gongs sounded outside, and the shouts of officers spread through the streets:
“Arrest the female scammer! Reward: one hundred taels!”
The stone room became completely silent.
These ordinary country people were now the most wanted criminals, each worth one hundred taels.
Ali could not help touching her neck to make sure her head was still there.
Since entering the room, Xu Miaoxue had not spoken. Finally, Scholar could not hold it anymore. “Boss, say something.”
“Whatever I say, will you all do it?” Xu Miaoxue suddenly asked, looking very serious.
“Of course!” Scissors answered firmly.
“Boss, you are the smartest. We will listen to you,” Scholar agreed.
Ali hesitated. She knew this plan must be crazy, or the boss would not ask like this. But she still nodded. At this point, they had no other road to take.
“The money we took from the salt shop owners was meant to help the poor. We planned to slowly donate it to the people who got sick from bad salt, so it would not attract attention. But now, we must do the opposite,” Xu Miaoxue said calmly. She did not look like a trapped animal, but like a leopard ready to attack. “We will send all the money to the clinics in every district and announce to everyone: anyone in Ningbo who feels sick after eating salt sold by the Zheng family can go to the clinics for free. All medical costs will be paid by ‘Bei Luosha.’”
Scissors shouted, “Boss, are you crazy? This will put us on fire!”
“Yes,” Xu Miaoxue said firmly, her bright eyes sharp like a knife. “We want this fire to burn stronger and spread to the Zheng family. The bigger their trouble is, the safer we are.”
The Salt Inspector came to investigate salt, not to catch small scammers. She wanted him to see the real big fish: the dark secrets of Ningbo’s salt business. When the government followed the Zheng family and found the bigger problem, who would still care about a small person like “Bei Luosha”?
To be honest, Xu Miaoxue was not well educated and not a court strategist. She should not have such plans. This idea actually came from old opera stories. When she was young, she heard storytellers say: “Xiang Yu surrounded Liu Bang many times, so what did Liu Bang do? He sent Peng Yue to burn Xiang Yu’s food. When Xiang Yu rushed to chase Peng Yue, Liu Bang ran away.”
From those noisy stories, Xu Miaoxue learned a simple rule of war: Xiang Yu was strong and brave, no one dared fight him directly. Liu Bang lost many battles, but in the end Xiang Yu died and Liu Bang became emperor. This showed that victory is not only about who has more soldiers. Often, the key is outside the battlefield.
War is about tricks.
Whenever she faced danger, she got ideas from such stories.
Now she was surrounded “Liu Bang,” and the Zheng family was her “Peng Yue.” When the Salt Inspector, the big fish, took the bait, she, the small shrimp, should already be gone into the East Sea.
The plan was good… but Xu Miaoxue felt she might have forgotten something.
*
After that, Xu Miaoxue stayed quietly in the Cheng household and watched the fight from a safe place.
The Cheng family ran a small salt yard, and their business was closely tied to the Zheng family. By staying there, she could hear many things about the Zheng family.
For many years, the Cheng family had carefully kept a good relationship with the Zheng family, their big boss. Cheng Kaishou had studied in the Zheng family’s private school since childhood and was classmates with their young masters. The Zheng family’s eldest daughter, Zheng Yishu, had once had an engagement broken off and was still unmarried. She got along well with Cheng Kaishou, so Madam Jia strongly wanted to match them and even agreed that Cheng Kaishou could marry into the Zheng family.
But later, Cheng Kaishou passed the provincial exam and became a juren. After that, marrying into another family did not fit his status anymore. Normally, he would still be a good match for Zheng Yishu, but people said that after losing so many years, she was no longer interested in marriage, and Cheng Kaishou was also not eager. So nothing ever came of it. Only Madam Jia still hoped for it.
These days, Xu Miaoxue heard many stories of chaos in the Zheng family. The good deeds of Bei Luosha spread through the streets. The people were angry, and the Zheng family had to pay money to calm them, catch some shop workers as scapegoats, and quickly remove the bad salt from their stores and replace it with good salt. At the same time, they tried to smooth things over with the officials, hoping the case would not be reported upward. They also promised that they would catch the criminal within seven days, but they had no clues at all.
For the Zheng family, what they cared about most was the coming Ruyi Harbor Shark Pearl Banquet. With their reputation damaged, the whole family might not be able to raise their heads at the banquet.
The Zheng family had risen through salt and shipping and were rich newcomers. They still did not have the right to host the main tide banquet at Ruyi Harbor. Every year, they were the most active guests. Zheng Tong wanted to enter the real upper class of Ningbo and stand equal with old noble families. If he lost his reputation because of this strange fraud case, he would have nowhere to complain.
But hearing all this made Xu Miaoxue feel very happy. Although her plan to cheat Zheng Tong out of an invitation failed, being able to take revenge on a greedy merchant was still a big gain.
Now, Xu Miaoxue could finally focus on her own goal.
Her original plan was to trick Zheng Tong into getting her an invitation. That path was now blocked, so she had to start over.
Only important people in Ningbo could get invitations. Almost all were well-known families. The government would send officers to check the invitations, which was really to protect the nobles and stop outsiders from entering.
Even the servants of those noble families were carefully chosen. This was not a place where ordinary people could sneak in with small tricks. Because it was rare, one invitation was very valuable in eastern Zhejiang, and everyone wanted one.
For a woman with no background like Xu Miaoxue, getting an invitation was almost impossible.
Even her partners did not understand why she must go to Ruyi Harbor.
Yes, she must go.
Xu Miaoxue was very firm about this, because there was something—one thing—that she could only confirm at the tide banquet.
The “Sea Treasure Auction” was an important part of the banquet and had been done since the first banquet. Every family attending had to donate one item for auction. The host family ran the auction. Half of the money would be used to build schools and charity granaries, and half would go to coastal defense funds. They called it “taken from the sea and returned to the people.”
Everyone knew this so-called charity was just a cover for the upper class. This had nothing to do with Xu Miaoxue before, until she accidentally saw the official list of donated treasures for the banquet. One item caught her eye.
It was a hollow incense ball shaped like bamboo, with a snow-and-bamboo pattern, made with bone and wood inlay. From the official drawing, it was only about the size of a fist. It had red sandalwood inside and thin cow bone pieces on the outside, joined into bamboo-leaf patterns. It could open into two halves with a hidden silver spring. Inside was a silver net to hold incense. It was less than three inches long and could be tied to a sash or used as a clothing ornament.
This item was made by the famous Second Master Zheng, Zheng Yingzhang.
He was Zheng Tong’s second son and used to be a well-known rich playboy. One day, he became obsessed with craftsmanship, gave up his rich lifestyle, and went to Tiantai Mountain to learn from a hidden master. After three years, he became amazingly skilled at bone-and-wood inlay.
When Lady Wu of Ningbo entered the palace, the sandalwood folding screen she brought was made by him. After that, Second Master Zheng became famous. He also made a strange rule: he would only make one piece each year. On the day the piece was shown, boats from many cities would fill the river, all to compete for that rare treasure loved by noble families. Because of this, the Zheng family also rose in status and finally entered high society and gained the right to attend the tide banquet.
A few years ago, Zheng Yingzhang married the Fourth Miss of the Pei family, which only happened because the Pei family had declined. Otherwise, such an old noble family would never have married into the Zheng family. This time, to support his scholar brother-in-law, Second Master Zheng broke his rule and offered another fine piece besides his yearly work. It caused quite a stir among the people, but soon passed as gossip.
But Xu Miaoxue paid attention.
She wanted to see how fine Zheng Yingzhang’s work really was. She had a question that could only be answered by seeing it herself.
But invitations to Ruyi Harbor were always extremely hard to get.