The Heir

Сhаpter 160: Thе Driving Fоrce Вehind Lifting the Маritimе Рrоhibitiоn

Thus, Luo Jiu sеt off for the capitаl thаt verу aftеrnооn.

Тhe mаttеr оf lifting thе Мaritimе Prohibition wаs nо trivial аffair.

Speаking of which, this girl wаs quite the gаmblеr—shе hаd аlrеаdy begun stосkpiling tung оil. If hеr рrediсtion turnеd оut wrong and thе Мaritimе Prohibition rеmained in plасе, the рrice of tung оil wоuld nоt rise in thе shоrt tеrm, whiсh wоuld inеvitablу аffeсt Li Mо.

Of cоurse, оn thе оther hаnd, if thе Маritime Prohibitiоn were truly lifted, this girl would mаke a fortunе. It was said thаt Li Mо hаd eхpanded significantly this year, increasing workshops both in Huizhou and Nanjing. They were not only stockpiling oil but also ink.

In that case, once the Maritime Prohibition was lifted, the Li family could accumulate several years' worth of capital in just one year, enabling them to challenge the Tribute Ink market. It seemed the entire Li clan supported Zhen Niang precisely for this reason. After all, whether it was Seventh Old Madam or Old Shopkeeper Li, both were advanced in years, and their wish was to see the Li family regain control of the Tribute Ink business within their lifetimes.

Although Zhen Niang’s words sounded convincing, rumors about lifting the Maritime Prohibition were difficult to verify. He had to go to the capital to investigate. If the likelihood seemed low, he would return and try to dissuade the girl.

Of course, if the chances of lifting the Maritime Prohibition were truly high, then Luo Jiu himself wouldn’t mind making a big move as well.

For the next few days, when Zhen Niang opened the shop in the morning, she no longer saw Luo Jiu leisurely practicing martial arts or exercising. She understood he had gone to gather information. This fellow had quite the network—how had he managed to build it up in just a few short years?

During these days, Zhen Niang was also quite busy.

More than ten days had passed since the Imperial Consort’s birthday banquet. The steward from the princess’s residence had returned with a message: Imperial Consort Shen was very pleased with the batch of Birthday Ink. During the banquet, she had even gifted some to the noblewomen who came to offer their congratulations. Among the circles of noblewomen, there was often a tendency toward comparison. For a time, a trend of collecting Li Mo ink quietly emerged among them.

Naturally, those in the capital’s Four Treasures shops had a keen sense for such trends. Riding on this momentum, they came to the Li Family Ink Workshop to place substantial orders. Even the honest and kind-hearted shopkeeper Li Fusheng of Fuxian Pavilion, who usually never involved himself in the shop’s business, took it upon himself to place an order for an Assorted Ink Collection with the Li family, owing to his relationship with Li Mo.

Thus, in these past few days, the Li Family Ink Workshop, which had experienced a sluggish start to the year, suddenly became quite bustling. Coupled with Zhen Niang’s efforts to purchase tung oil, she was kept so busy that her feet hardly touched the ground.

That evening, as the oil lamps were just being lit and Zhen Niang was about to close the shop, Luo Jiu, who had been absent for some time, reappeared leisurely. “Shopkeeper Li, it’s time for us to make our move.”

“What? Have you found out the details?” Zhen Niang was startled by his sudden appearance. This man was truly elusive, but she noticed a hint of weariness between his brows.

“Yes, it’s mostly clear now.” Luo Jiu tapped his forehead with his index finger. “However, just to be safe, I spent the past few days traveling to Suzhou, Hangzhou, Wuxi, and other places, finding some people to add fuel to the fire for lifting the Maritime Prohibition… Lifting the Maritime Prohibition is not only the hope of some officials in the court but also the expectation of maritime merchants among the people. So, I gathered some individuals to draft a petition reflecting the people’s voice and had it submitted.”

As he spoke, Luo Jiu’s eyes gleamed with a cunning light.Zhen Niang was startled, never expecting her one idea would lead him to run around like this. This wasn't the later era with airplanes—riding a horse all that distance could exhaust a person to death, no wonder Luo Jiu looked weary between his brows. But all those Luo Jiu mentioned were major merchants in their own right, why would they listen to him? "Will this work? Why would they listen to you?"

"I didn't go alone," Luo Jiu said, rubbing his nose.

"Then with whom?" Zhen Niang asked curiously.

"Zhang Chong," Luo Jiu replied.

It was actually Zhang Chong? Zhen Niang looked utterly incredulous. If in her previous life she hadn't known who Zhang Chong was, then in this life, having stayed in Nanjing for so long, she had long heard of Zhang Chong's reputation. Zhang Chong had been Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng's personal attendant since childhood and was now one of the Grand Secretary's most capable household managers. This Zhang Chong currently managed the Zhang family's businesses. His involvement meant something everyone understood.

With such a card in hand, plus the immense profits from lifting the Maritime Prohibition, only a fool wouldn't take part.

Of course, at this point, Zhen Niang wouldn't ask further.

She knew this fellow had wide connections, but never imagined they'd extend this far.

It seemed Luo Jiu had become the driving force behind lifting the Maritime Prohibition this time. Zhen Niang rather admired Luo Jiu's approach: even when something was only possible, he didn't wait but actively pursued it, doing everything to increase the odds.

Combining historical events with the current situation, perhaps the court had already reached a consensus on lifting the Maritime Prohibition. It was just that with all the back-and-forth before, the court hadn't found the right moment to implement it. Luo Jiu's efforts might well become the stepping stone for the court to finally act.

Of course, this was all pure speculation.

"Well, I only deal in tung oil, just the amount I can handle myself. I won't touch anything beyond that," Zhen Niang said. Once the Maritime Prohibition was lifted, all commerce would flourish—silk, hemp, ironware, daily necessities, and so many other ways to make money. But Zhen Niang would stick to tung oil; that was all she was capable of handling.

"Good," Luo Jiu said, smiling with narrowed eyes. This was what he admired most about Zhen Niang: she knew exactly what she wanted and what she didn't, without any pretense.

After that, the tung oil market became somewhat peculiar. Tung oil entering the market seemed to be absorbed instantly, but just when someone tried to raise prices, a batch of low-priced tung oil would suddenly appear, pulling the prices back down. It was baffling.

Of course, only those paying close attention noticed this; overall, the tung oil market maintained an average price.

March 20th was Madam Xi's birthday.

Ever since Zhen Niang had produced the Eight-Treasure Red-Curing Elixir to help Madam Xi last time, Madam Xi had often invited Zhen Niang over for visits. During festivals, Zhen Niang would also take the initiative to call on her.

With the Li family's tung oil business requiring frequent contact, the relationship between the Li and Xi families grew closer. Naturally, Zhen Niang couldn't miss Madam Xi's birthday.

Now, what the Xi family took most pride in wasn't their immense wealth but their young master, Baoguan'er—Young Master Xi Bao, the child born just last year.Therefore, when Zhen Niang arrived at the Xi residence, the gift from Madam Xi was quite ordinary. However, she had separately prepared a set of assorted small inksticks for Young Master Xi Bao, all in various shapes and weighing five qian each—perfect for a child’s small hands. The patterns on them were even engraved with micro-carving techniques by the master carvers from the Ink Workshop, featuring various lively and cartoonish depictions of the Wenqu Star in New Year painting style. The set of five small inksticks was brimming with childlike charm.

Madam Xi was so delighted she couldn’t put them down. She pulled Zhen Niang to sit beside her.

Nearby, the wives of several merchants were chatting.

“I heard Wei Bai Wan has run into trouble?” asked the lady in charge of Ningji Dye Workshop.

“Exactly. I heard it’s about tax evasion. All his properties have been sealed by the tax office now. He had to spend all his wealth just to save his life,” replied the wife of the owner of Zhenyu Xuan.

Hearing these words from the two ladies, Zhen Niang’s heart skipped a beat. Could it be that the princess had taken action? It didn’t seem so. After pondering quietly for a while, she began to understand. How many people had been losing sleep over this account book? Now that Ge San Er had come forward, the matter of the account book had taken a turn. But afterward, these people must have been filled with lingering fear, which would surely put the Weaving Bureau on guard. And the first to be guarded against would naturally be Wei Bai Wan, because he knew too much.

Now, Wei Bai Wan was fortunate just to have saved his life. Based on what was recorded in that account book, Zhen Niang felt his fate was not entirely unjust.

However, the real storm was yet to come, and no one knew when it would break.

“Alright, let’s not talk about these things today,” Madam Xi stood up and addressed the group, then pulled Zhen Niang over to introduce her to them.

“By the way, Miss Li, I heard you’ve been buying tung oil recently. How about it? My shop still has quite a bit in stock. Can you take it all?” asked Madam Bai from the crowd. She was the wife of the owner of the Bai Family Oil Mill.

Originally, the tung oil business with the Xi family was monopolized by her Bai family. But after the last incident, the Li family had taken half of it for nothing, leaving the Bai family with a large stock of tung oil they couldn’t sell. And these past few days, the price of tung oil had been falling, putting considerable pressure on their inventory. Just thinking about it filled her with resentment. Now that she had run into Zhen Niang, perhaps she could offload the excess inventory onto this Miss Li. It would relieve the inventory pressure and vent her anger—how perfect. Her proposal was completely reasonable and wouldn’t offend Madam Xi either. After all, they were all businesspeople, and discussing business was perfectly normal.

However, she had heard that this Miss Li was buying tung oil because of rumors about lifting the Maritime Prohibition. How naive. If it were that easy, it would have been lifted long ago.

Zhen Niang smiled faintly. Ever since she and her elder brother had exposed the Bai family’s adulterated tung oil, they had offended the Bai family. Now, Madam Bai’s behavior was only to be expected. So, Zhen Niang had no intention of engaging with her and simply replied coolly, “No need. I’m short on funds.”

“Being short on funds is no problem. I can extend you credit,” Madam Bai pressed on relentlessly. Then, turning to the other ladies nearby, she added, “The Li family has been stockpiling oil and ink lately, supposedly because the Maritime Prohibition is going to be lifted.”

As soon as Madam Bai said this, the other ladies glanced at Zhen Niang and shook their heads. This Miss Li was still too young. The talk of lifting the Maritime Prohibition was an old story—who still took it seriously these days?"Alright, then I'll ask Madam Bai to extend credit to the Li family. However, it must be pure tung oil aged over three years, without any adulteration. In two months, I will repay without fail," Zhen Niang said calmly. Since this person insisted on delivering themselves to her doorstep, she had no choice but to accept.

"As you wish. Let us invite a few ladies to bear witness," Madam Bai replied, then promptly drew up a contract with Zhen Niang on the spot.

Yet Zhen Niang knew that the recent drop in prices was clearly abnormal. She understood that someone had taken action—after all, Luo Jiu's recent travels would inevitably draw attention. It was quite possible that this involved Master Xi's schemes.

This Madam Bai truly lacked patience. If she had held out for just a couple more days, she might have seen the clouds part and the moon shine through.

Of course, Zhen Niang had no objections to this at all.