Upon hearing the news that Xue Fenglin was leaving, Shen Xuan felt a sense of emptiness. He had only transmigrated to the Great Jin Dynasty three days before finding Xue Fenglin, and they had been together ever since.
Their bond was closer than that of ordinary friends; they were companions.
'However, Lin Ye's family must be wealthy and influential. it's better for him to return home than to stay here with a poor Ger like me' Shen Xuan thought to himself.
Afterward, both fell silent, suddenly unsure what to say. They barely spoke during dinner either. The next day, when Shen Xuan went to set up his stall, he took Xue Fenglin with him, heading towards the vicinity of the Lezhou Prefectural Yamen (government office).
Next to the yamen was a postal station, where the cost of sending mail varied depending on the distance.
The postal station hired a scholar to help write letters, a long letter cost one taels of silver. Xue Fenglin could write himself, so that expense was saved.
He borrowed some money from Shen Xuan for postage and paper, then went inside. Shen Xuan, meanwhile, turned to go to Jinli Street to set up his stall, agreeing to pick him up at the postal station around noon.
***
He drove his mule cart towards Widow Ge's house at the entrance of Caohua Alley. However, even before reaching the entrance, he saw two yamen runners (local thugs) emerging from Widow Ge's house in the distance.
Shen Xuan frowned, sensing that the two yamen runners were up to no good. He quickly steered his cart into a nearby alley.
After the yamen runners stood for a while and then left, he returned to the back door of Widow Ge's house.
After a few knocks, Widow Ge, looking haggard, opened the door and was startled to see Shen Xuan. She quickly looked left and right, then led Shen Xuan to a nearby small alley and said,
"Shen Ger, that Vice Prefect Dai sent people to look for you again. Those yamen runners frequently extort protection money on the streets; they have many ways of collecting taxes. You'd better avoid them and not run into them."
"They asked you for money?" Shen Xuan asked.
"They demanded two guan of money from me, saying my water soiled the road in front of the door and I had to pay a road-cleaning fee,"
Widow Ge said indignantly. "They're bullying a lone widow with children, without a man in the house. They already came once yesterday."
Widow Ge only earned about two guan from Shen Xuan for renting water each month.
She and her children worked from dawn till dusk boiling water, and it was all taken by these people.
Shen Xuan hadn't expected these minor officials to be so tyrannical, coming to bully Widow Ge, who rented water to him, simply because they couldn't find him.
Their actions were clearly meant to prevent him from getting water. Although Widow Ge didn't blame Shen Xuan, he felt incredibly guilty.
He immediately took out two taels of silver and handed it to Widow Ge, saying, "These people are targeting me. This two taels of silver is my compensation to you."
This two taels of silver was even more than the two guan Widow Ge had handed over, making up for the inconvenience she suffered.
Widow Ge initially refused but accepted when Shen Xuan insisted. Then, with a troubled expression, she spoke to Shen Xuan again,
"There's something I didn't dare tell you earlier, but now that I've taken your silver, I must inform you."
She continued, "Those yamen runners came today and also wanted me to help them put medicine in the water to make the tea customers have diarrhea."
She added, "Although I refused today, if they come daily, I really can't stand it. Besides, if your tea causes problems for people, they can legitimately come and arrest you. Then, once you're in court, wouldn't you be completely at the mercy of Master Vice Prefect?"
Shen Xuan was shocked by such malicious tactics. He had sold tea to many people, including numerous high-ranking officials and nobles.
If they got sick from his tea, how could he possibly escape their wrath? For a moment, Shen Xuan felt grateful that he had given Widow Ge the silver, and out of guilt, she had told him.
"Thank you for the warning, Sister Ge," Shen Xuan said. "I won't be setting up my stall here anymore, so you won't have to worry about those yamen runners coming to your door again."
"Do be careful," Widow Ge said, watching Shen Xuan leave with some regret. Losing Shen Xuan's stable income was quite a pity for her.
***
Shen Xuan drove his mule cart slowly through the alley, carefully considering how he could continue his Honey Scholar Tea business.
As a commoner, he certainly couldn't fight against officials, but from Steward Liu's demeanor that day, Vice Prefect Dai wasn't completely without restraint.
After all, his official position wasn't high, and there were others above him!
For example, that day, when he leveraged Prefect Wu's influence, Steward Liu didn't dare do anything to him.
But Prefect Wu was a bit too distant for him; as a stall owner, he simply couldn't get in touch with him.
He could only borrow that influence for a short time, unless he could borrow someone else's influence! But in this entire Lezhou City, he knew no one. Who could he turn to for support?
Shen Xuan meticulously pondered the various powers in Jinli Street.
He thought, Since Daiyue Tower is Vice Prefect Dai's property, its biggest competitor must be Guiyun Tower, diagonally across the road. Guiyun Tower's yajis were thriving, with guests coming and going endlessly, so its business must be better than Daiyue Tower's.
With Vice Prefect Dai's narrow mind, how could he tolerate it? Unless Guiyun Tower has someone backing it, and that backing is even stronger than Vice Prefect Dai!
Shen Xuan's eyes lit up, and he immediately headed towards Guiyun Tower. He had been there once before when selling fish and knew Buyer Chen.
This time, the waiter at the entrance recognized him at a glance. "Isn't this the stall owner who's been selling Honey Scholar Tea near Caohua Alley recently?"
"Why are you here? You didn't set up your stall yesterday, but many people were looking for you. A lot of gentlemen who came for tea ended up making a wasted trip," the waiter told him.
"I'm looking for Buyer Chen," Shen Xuan quickly said. The waiter's attitude was quite good this time; he immediately went inside to find him.
Buyer Chen happened to be in for the day. Hearing that the young man who sold tea at a stall had come, he came out and invited him in.
He had visited Shen Xuan's stall a few days ago to show support and bought a cup of tea. Seeing that Shen Xuan hadn't come yesterday, and now seeing him drive his mule cart directly to him today, Buyer Chen knew Shen Xuan must have encountered some trouble.
"Shen Ger, just speak frankly," Buyer Chen said after inviting Shen Xuan into a tea room in the back courtyard.
Seeing Buyer Chen's directness, Shen Xuan didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point, "Buyer Chen, I'd like to sell the tea base of this Honey Scholar Tea directly to your Guiyun Tower. Are you interested?"
That Vice Prefect Dai wanted to directly seize Shen Xuan's recipe, which was a good scheme from his perspective.
Shen Xuan was unwilling to sell the recipe, but that didn't mean he was unwilling to sell the prepared tea base syrup to Guiyun Tower.
Guiyun Tower was Daiyue Tower's biggest competitor. The more Vice Prefect Dai wanted to forcefully take the Honey Scholar Tea recipe from him, the less he would give it to him.
It would be better to cooperate with Guiyun Tower and leverage their influence to make Vice Prefect Dai powerless against him.
In fact, Guiyun Tower had long coveted Honey Scholar Tea as well. However, the recipe for this tea base was a unique secret, and they knew Shen Xuan wouldn't sell it.
So, they hadn't bothered him with useless efforts. Instead, they had bought the tea and had their chefs in the restaurant try to replicate it.
However, Guiyun Tower's attempts, though producing some citrus-flavored teas, always fell far short of Shen Xuan's Honey Scholar Tea.
Now that Shen Xuan had come to them, offering to provide the Honey Scholar Tea base to Guiyun Tower, Buyer Chen was naturally very pleased.
"Wait here, I'll call the head manager," Buyer Chen told Shen Xuan. Guiyun Tower had branches in many places across the Great Jin Dynasty, and the head manager was the person in charge of this particular branch in Lezhou City.
Normally, all major and minor decisions were made by the head manager. Such an important matter concerning Shen Xuan naturally required the head manager to discuss it in detail.
***
A moment later, a middle-aged man with a goatee walked in. It was Shopkeeper Mei, the head manager of Guiyun Tower's Lezhou branch.
His face was kind, and he smiled amiably at Shen Xuan. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, he asked,
"I heard Buyer Chen say you want to sell the Honey Scholar Tea base to us? May I know why?"
Shen Xuan understood that the other party was testing his bottom line, so he thought for a moment and said,
"To be honest, if I hadn't encountered trouble, I certainly wouldn't be willing to sell this tea base to anyone."
He continued, "It's just that the owner of Daiyue Tower across the street took a liking to my recipe and wants to forcefully seize it. I'd rather stop doing business than just endure this humiliation."
He added, "I dislike Daiyue Tower, which is why I want to sell the tea base to Guiyun Tower, the competitor."
Shen Xuan couldn't hide the fact that Vice Prefect Dai was targeting him, so he simply laid everything bare to Shopkeeper Mei.
But at the same time, he subtly revealed his bottom line. He would rather not do business than hand over the recipe.
This dispelled Shopkeeper Mei's idea of taking advantage of the situation to acquire the recipe. Shopkeeper Mei indeed thought for a moment after hearing this, then said,
"I've heard about your situation from Buyer Chen. For a Ger to start a business alone and even think of leveraging my Guiyun Tower's influence, you're quite capable."
He then asked, "How do you plan to sell the Honey Scholar Tea base?"
Shen Xuan immediately knew that the deal was basically done, and it was just a matter of price. He quickly went to his stall cart, took out a freshly made jar of tea base, placed it on the table, and said to Shopkeeper Mei,
"One jar of this tea base allows me to sell 200 cups a day, which lasts for about a month. Even with rest days, I can earn at least forty taels of silver a month."
He continued, "But now, I'm selling it to your Guiyun Tower wholesale, and I won't be responsible for the subsequent brewing and selling. I want to sell each jar, regardless of flavor, for ten taels of silver."
Selling to Guiyun Tower was wholesale, so a lower price than retail was reasonable. Shopkeeper Mei had no objection to this amount and nodded.
However, he added, "Since you're providing the tea base to my Guiyun Tower, it naturally cannot be at the rate of 200 cups a day."
He explained, "My Guiyun Tower alone sells at least a thousand cups of tea daily. Even if only half of that is your Honey Scholar Tea, one jar of tea base per month isn't enough. You must provide us with three jars of each flavor every month."
Shen Xuan no longer had to set up his stall, and making the tea base at home would actually be much easier.
Nine jars of tea base syrup per month was manageable, so he immediately nodded in agreement. Shopkeeper Mei then took out a piece of paper and wrote a contract, listing all the terms of the agreement with Shen Xuan.
He began to read it aloud to Shen Xuan, instructing him to stamp his handprint.
Shen Xuan quickly said, "No need to read it; I can read it myself."
He then took the contract and read it carefully. Shopkeeper Mei was surprised and thought even more highly of Shen Xuan.
He hadn't expected a young man who ran a stall to also be literate, which explained how he could invent such a tea as Honey Scholar Tea.
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