Casting Nets to Catch a Husband

Chapter 133: The Lu family’s hurdles

Qian Hong indeed looked quite worried for Lu Xun, enthusiastically suggesting, “How about this, Brother Lu, why don’t you find someone else to team up with?”

Lu Xun smiled bitterly, “It’s not easy to find someone last minute to partner with. I’m not familiar with many people here. Do you happen to know anyone around here who hasn’t teamed up yet?”

Qian Hong shook his head apologetically, “I don’t know many colleagues here either. I’m really sorry about this.”

His apology was genuinely sincere.

Lu Xun couldn’t bear to accept his apology. Qian Hong had no obligation to wait for him. He hurriedly said, “It’s fine. It’s because I didn’t receive the letter and arrived late. Let me think of another solution.”

Once the pleasantries were exchanged, and Qian Hong felt it was enough, his heart was actually anxious to leave. He glanced towards the staircase of the inn from time to time, not seeing the person he was waiting for. His gaze then shifted to Lu Chengzong and the others.

Inquiring about their identities, he also changed the subject casually.

Lu Xun gave a brief introduction, and Qian Hong didn’t show much interest. He didn’t know why his sister had a grudge with the Lu family, so hearing about the identities of the Liu siblings didn’t elicit any particular reaction. After a few polite words, he spotted a friend coming down from upstairs, visibly relaxed. He quickly bid farewell to Lu Xun, saying, “This is a friend I’m collaborating with on this trip. We happen to be going the same way, so we’ll travel together. The boat is already arranged, and we can’t delay. I must leave first.”

With this, there was no need to rely on Qian Hong to help find someone here to team up with.

As soon as Qian Hong’s friend arrived, Qian Hong went over to greet him. He simply nodded to Lu Xun from afar and left the inn with his friend.

In just a few words, Lu Chengzong and Lu Chengzhang were dumbfounded.

In fact, like Lu Xun, they had hoped that Qian Hong would still be waiting for them before they saw him in person. Now seeing Qian Hong leave like that, they were a bit bewildered.

“Dad, Uncle Qian just left like that?”

Lu Chengzhang still couldn’t believe it.

Before the division of the family, he had been helping out in their family’s cloth shop. He knew very well how their family had risen over the past two years and outperformed other cloth shops in the county. It was all thanks to different procurement channels that Qian Hong brought.

In his view, their relationship with the Qian family was excellent. How could this happen?

Lu Chengzhang couldn’t imagine that after two or three years of smooth sailing, one day Qian Hong would leave without them and without any warning beforehand. They were completely unprepared.

“What should we do now, Dad?”

What could they do? Lu Xun said, “Let’s first book some rooms to settle down. You wait here, and I’ll go talk to a few of the major cloth shops I used to procure from before, see if we can work something out.”

Though he said so, Lu Xun actually wasn’t very confident. He hadn’t interacted with the merchants in the cloth shops much. They dealt with too many businessmen on a regular basis, and someone like him who only started procuring from the cloth shops in the past two years, making only a few trips a year, might not be recognized by the people in the cloth shops.

~

Lu Xun hurriedly went out, while Lu Chengzong and Liu Yanqing went to book rooms. Today was Mid-Autumn Festival, and there weren’t too many merchants here. Rooms were available, so they asked for three rooms, and the inn’s attendant led them upstairs.

As they went upstairs, Liu Yu pulled Liu Yanqing aside and whispered a few words to him.

After listening, Liu Yanqing glanced at Liu Yu and didn’t say anything, just nodded in response.

The three rooms were adjacent: Lu Xun and Lu Chengzhang shared one, Liu Yu stayed in the middle room, and Lu Chengzong, being more familiar with Liu Yanqing, decided to share a room with him.

With the rooms settled, Lu Chengzong and Lu Chengzhang couldn’t calm their nerves on the second floor. They sat down in Lu Xun’s room, their heads bowed, discussing matters.

While the attendant led Liu Yanqing and Liu Yu to view the other two rooms, Liu Yanqing took the opportunity to pull the attendant aside and said in a low voice, “Brother, I want to ask you something.”

The inn attendant, quite friendly, smiled and replied, “Go ahead.”

Liu Yanqing asked quietly, “The gentleman who was talking with us in the lobby earlier, how many days did he stay at your inn?”

The attendant hesitated for a moment, considering the privacy of the guest.

Liu Yanqing took out several coins from his pocket and handed them over. The attendant’s hesitation disappeared instantly, and he said, “Since you know him, there’s no harm in saying. That gentleman stayed here for three days.”

Three days.

Liu Yanqing exchanged a glance with Liu Yu.

He continued, “Was he alone when he arrived?”

The attendant shook his head and whispered, “No, there were two of them. The person who just left with him came together.”

With that said, seeing that Liu Yanqing had no more questions, the attendant politely offered to assist them with anything they needed and then left.

As soon as the attendant left, Liu Yanqing furrowed his brow and said, “What’s going on? Wasn’t Mr. Qian supposed to have arrived at the end of July?”

Liu Yu sighed, “There are some things I’m still not sure about. I’ll ask Uncle Lu later. Big brother, let’s go over there and ask what specific difficulties we might face without Mr. Qian’s help.”

Seeing that she didn’t elaborate, Liu Yanqing didn’t press further. With money in hand and their belongings left in the room, the siblings went together to the adjacent room where the Lu brothers were staying. After closing the door, Liu Yu removed her hat.

Discussing the potential troubles without Mr. Qian’s assistance made both Lu Chengzong and Lu Chengzhang’s brows were furrowed enough to kill a fly.

Lu Chengzhang said, “It’s very troublesome. Getting goods from the major cloth shops in the city allows us to earn nearly twenty percent profit. But to enjoy this price, we also need to order large quantities. For each design and color, we need to order at least ten pieces. Previously, even with five pieces, we sometimes had a backlog, but most of it could be sold the following year. So it was manageable. But with ten pieces, it’s impossible to manage. Not to mention the issue of doubling our initial investment, if the old designs don’t sell out, we’ll lose customers, and our own turnover will be affected.”

Liu Yu pondered and said, “That’s the situation of the two shops before. Second brother Lu, now that you have also opened a shop, and with my embroidery shop included, we have four shops here. Can’t we handle ten pieces?”

Liu Yu had a clear idea in her mind. Having multiple styles would naturally be better than hoarding a single style in large quantities. However, with the current situation right in front of them, they could only face it head-on. For her part, two pieces per color shouldn’t be a problem, but three pieces would be challenging. Her embroidery shop had been open for a short time, and she wasn’t entirely sure, feeling somewhat uneasy.

Lu Chengzong shook his head. “It’s difficult. In the town, the shops sell various types of fabrics, and while slightly more expensive silks and satins are also sold, they don’t sell as well as fabrics. In previous years, we would send five pieces of cloth, two to Changfeng Town and three to the county, while various silks would mostly only be sent to town, with one piece left in the county. This is also why this warehouse in the county can clear out so much material.”

In other words, even if Lu Chengzhang opened another store, the two shops in the town combined could only handle two bolts of mid-to-high-end fabric. The store in the county could take four bolts, but there would still be some accumulation each year, meaning the actual consumption would be around three bolts.

Originally, Lu Chengzhang opened a branch in Xifeng Town, making it relatively easier for the Lu family to handle a volume of five bolts of fabric. But now, with the unexpected turn of events in the Qian family, the five bolts have turned into ten. Just one instance of poor cash flow could crush Lufeng within a year or two.

So, the Lu family’s current option is to withdraw from purchasing directly from the fabric house and return to their previous practice of sourcing from the fabric shop.

However, once accustomed to earning a profit of forty to fifty percent, who would be content with just thirty percent?

Lu Chengzhang glanced at Liu Yu and, thinking about the thriving business at Ruyi Embroidery House, his mind began to stir. But remembering his previous reluctance to let Liu Yu join their supply chain, he felt embarrassed.

Lu Chengzhong, on the other hand, had no such reservations and directly asked, “How do you plan to source your goods this time?”

Previously, the Lu family hadn’t asked Liu Yu for details because they could easily handle five bolts themselves. No matter how much Liu Yu took, they only needed to add to the total. Even if each type was just one bolt, it was fine. The fabric house only set a minimum limit, but it didn’t matter how much above that they went; taking eleven bolts at once was acceptable.

Liu Yu pondered and said, “To be honest, our funds are a bit tight this time. I only brought three hundred taels, planning to reserve a few dozen taels for embroidery thread and spend the rest on fabric. To have more variety, I was planning to take one bolt of each type initially. But given the current situation, taking two bolts of each type isn’t a problem.”

As for three bolts, Liu Yu wasn’t sure if it was achievable and didn’t want to boast prematurely.

Lu Chengzhong’s eyes lit up. “If you can take two bolts of each, that gives us seven bolts, leaving a gap of three.”

A gap of three bolts was a significant improvement from the daunting ten bolts initially, making Lu Chengzhang see Liu Yu as a savior for the first time.

He felt both joy and worry. Though three bolts were less compared to five, it still represented the entire seasonal sales volume of their store in the county. In other words, the extra three bolts were equivalent to the total stock for one season in their three-storey fabric shop in the county.

It was still a headache.

Lu Chengzhang murmured, “If only we had another store in the county right now.”

But where could they get another store in the county? Lu Chengzhong sighed, “We’ll have to wait for Father to return and see if the fabric house will be willing to make concessions.”

In the next year or two, only Lu Chengxiao seemed capable of opening another big fabric shop, but opening a new shop was a future matter. Distant water can’t quench present thirst; for now, they needed to ensure the autumn fabric supply.

Liu Yu sighed inwardly. They didn’t have a store in the county, but there was an embroidery shop in the town, though it required very little silk fabric.

Wei Shi and Liu Yu had always been close to Cui Erniang. When the embroidery house opened, although Cui Erniang couldn’t come in person, she sent a gift through Madam Chen. Given the close relationship between the two families, Liu Yu and Wei Shi naturally wouldn’t forget Cui Erniang when it came to obtaining cheaper fabric. But since they were already relying on the Lu family’s supply chain, it wouldn’t be appropriate to let Cui Erniang get fabric after the Lu family had purchased it, as this would effectively mean the Lu family fronting the money, which was not suitable.

Therefore, when Lu Xun informed her of the date to collect the fabric in Hongdu, Liu Yu sent a message to Cui Erniang via a boatwoman who traveled between Changfeng Town and the county, inquiring about the autumn fabric supply. She wanted to see if Cui Erniang had the need and intention. If she did, Liu Yu would discuss it with Lu Xun or simply help Cui Erniang bring it back herself.

But Cui Erniang’s reply was that she had a lot of backlogged autumn fabric, and it wasn’t suitable to take too little and join the Lu family’s supply chain. She planned to get fabric from the Lu family on the next trip, at a price slightly better than what the fabric shop offered. All her future fabric needs would be sourced from the Lu family, even saving trips to Yuanzhou.

However, Cui Erniang suggested that since Liu Yu wasn’t yet married into the Lu family, it was best not to mention this for now. She wouldn’t need much fabric this trip, so it could wait until Liu Yu and Lu Chengxiao got married, making them relatives. At that time, she would personally visit Madam Chen with a gift and ask for help, sparing Liu Yu from having to speak on her behalf.

As for autumn garments, Cui Erniang planned to have Liu Yu consign some more to her for sale, continuing their previous cooperation.

So, the Lu family’s current predicament couldn’t be solved by Cui Erniang either.

However, Liu Yu had an idea. When Lu Xun returned, she could discuss Cui Erniang’s intention to source fabric from the Lu family directly with him. Lu Xun would likely be willing to help.

Since the fabric was sourced from the same place, if there were any size issues with the clothes consigned to Cui Erniang, she could easily take them back and make adjustments. As for whether Cui Erniang would imitate Liu Yu’s designs, Liu Yu didn’t mind, as it was Cui Erniang.

Anyone willing to help you in times of trouble deserves your utmost gratitude.

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