Chapter 123: The Winning Side’s Results Screen

At Erlang Shoal, in the home of Scholar Cheng.

The Cheng brothers sat by the fire pit, watching Cheng Chengcheng, who had just returned from town.

"Did you find out clearly?" the elder brother asked him.

"Is there even a need to ask?" Cheng Chengcheng replied, bitterly smiling as he ate his rice soaked in broth. "The whole town is in an uproar. Every street is chanting, 'Drink Erlang Liquor, clear your chest and stop the cough…'"

"Why are you reciting it too?" Scholar Cheng frowned.

"I can't help it, Father." Cheng Chengcheng tapped his own lips lightly, feeling dejected. "When my sister was handing out the liquor everywhere before, I thought it was just some small-scale antics. I never expected her to make such a scene!"

"For these past two months, the town has been filled with Erlang Liquor banners. Every man, woman, and child keeps saying, 'Good wine, good wine, good wine…'" the elder brother said in a low, heavy voice. "We should have anticipated their ambition long ago!"

"Yes," Cheng Chengcheng nodded helplessly. "But Master, even if we had anticipated it, it would be useless. They dragged Magistrate Ma into the fold and had my sister come forward to organize everything. Could I really have tripped them up?"

"You should have tried. Righteousness does not command wealth, and mercy does not feed an army. Don't you understand that in the business world, there are no fathers and sons?" the elder brother lectured.

"Is that so? Suddenly it’s not your daughter anymore, is it?" Scholar Cheng couldn't help but snap back at his elder brother.

"Is that the same thing? My daughter wasn't involved in the clan's business," the elder brother argued self-righteously. "It is different, do you understand?!"

He held resentment in his heart. The position of Chief Manager was supposed to be passed to his son, Cheng Chengzhi, but because of the incident with Cuicui, the clansmen had raised objections, fearing that his son would be too soft-hearted when dealing with the Su family.

If Scholar Cheng had stood up and spoken a few words at the time, it would have settled the matter, but this wretched younger brother had remained silent because Cheng Chengcheng also wanted to be the Chief Manager.

"How is it different? If it weren't for what your daughter did, would I have been unable to manage my own daughter?" Scholar Cheng also raised his voice, and the two old brothers faced off like fighting cocks.

Indeed, the knot in one's heart cannot be untied by a single drink…

"Father, Master, what time is it now? We can't afford to be bickering!" Cheng Chengcheng hurried to separate them and pulled them back to the main topic. "The biggest trouble now is—Erlang Liquor is only selling for fifty wen! If this continues, our family will definitely be affected!"

"Fifty wen is not cheap," the elder brother said, knowing the inside story. He snorted, "The cost of Erlang Liquor is less than twenty percent of ours. Even if they blended it with the Su family's aged wine, it would reach thirty percent at most. Counting the cut for Sweet Water Shop, they still make at least a dozen wen per catty!"

Erlang Liquor had a gross profit of eighteen wen per catty; his estimation was spot on. That is what it means to be old rivals who know each other's secrets.

"They aren't being too greedy, at least," Scholar Cheng nodded. As a scholar, he still hoped his daughter would conduct herself with a bit more grace.

"Father, why are you worrying about them?" Cheng Chengcheng said, speechless. "Our business is the one that will be affected! We only start shipping next month. If everyone buys Erlang Liquor now, what happens to our stock?"

"What is there to fear? We've beaten them once, we can beat them twice!" Scholar Cheng snorted. "We will face them head-on, with cymbals and drums!"

"..." His father didn't understand anything; asking him was a waste of breath. Cheng Chengcheng turned to his elder brother. "Master, we will definitely be affected."

"That goes without saying," the elder brother sighed. "Although our wine is better, both are sauce-aroma liquors, and the average person cannot tell the difference. If they are half the price, that is fatal…"

"Really?" Scholar Cheng still trusted his brother's judgment on this matter.

"Don't believe me? Just wait and see. I fear the year-end dividends won't be guaranteed," the elder brother said.

"Sigh…" This was exactly what Cheng Chengcheng feared. The Cheng family had paid dividends for ten consecutive years. If he, in his first year as Chief Manager, failed to pay dividends, would the clansmen not point fingers and curse him?

"And this year will be the best year," the elder brother continued his prophecy. "As Erlang Liquor becomes widely known, our situation will become even more difficult. If we don't lower our prices, it would be good just to hold onto half our market share."

"Then how are we supposed to live?" Hearing that sales would be cut in half, Cheng Chengcheng felt as if the sky were collapsing. How could the Su family be so wicked?

"Erlang Liquor is clearly from my sister's family; how did it become the Su family's magic weapon against us?" This was the point that depressed him the most.

"Who’s to say it isn't?" The elder brother couldn't bother with their squabble anymore and lowered his voice to advise his nephew. "The current strategy is that we must also bring out our own 'Erlang Liquor' to stabilize our position!"

"That is certainly true, but do you have the secret recipe?" Scholar Cheng asked.

"I don't, but your daughter does." The elder brother looked at his younger brother. "Call Lanlan back. A father and daughter feuding only lets outsiders reap the benefits."

"A married daughter is like spilled water." Scholar Cheng became angry at the mention of this and muttered sullenly, "If you want to call her, you go. I have no face to do so."

"Lanlan isn't my daughter; would my words carry any weight?" The elder brother was speechless. "If my words worked, I would have burned incense and worshipped Buddha, and carried the Goddess of Wealth back in a sedan chair long ago!"

"What Goddess of Wealth?" Scholar Cheng frowned.

"Lanlan, of course!" The elder brother said, frustrated by his brother's stubbornness. "You have one daughter who is more capable than all your sons combined, yet you have broken her heart!"

"Sigh, don't talk about it…" Mentioning this made Scholar Cheng even more depressed, and increasingly so. "If you keep talking, I'll fall into my old habits again."

"Fine, fine, I won't say anything. You figure it out yourself." The elder brother stood up helplessly. "In any case, the distillery is managed by your son now. I'll just wait and see how long you are prepared to hold out for the sake of that old face of yours."

Having said this, he walked away, sighing at every step.

"Father, Uncle makes sense. Besides, Sister isn't a heartless person. Last time you were sick, didn't she come back to visit?" Cheng Chengcheng saw his uncle out and tried to persuade his father again, only to find Scholar Cheng already lying on the bed, his back turned to him.

"She was checking to see if I was dead yet," Scholar Cheng muttered. "My daughter is just like me, holding a grudge. If you offend her, there is no good ending. If you don't believe me, go try it; you'll see once you get a face full of dust."

"If Father apologizes to Sister, I don't believe she would still hold a grudge?" This was what Cheng Chengcheng really wanted to say, and he finally managed to get it out.

"That is complete defiance of the natural order! Me, apologize to her? Dream on!" Scholar Cheng suddenly raised his voice, then closed his eyes and ignored him.

~~

At the Hongyun Restaurant, however, it was a different scene.

The proprietress had booked the entire restaurant for the day and still had the evening left. She was someone who knew how to calculate; naturally, she wouldn't let it go to waste and used it to hold a celebration banquet.

Except for the staff of the Sweet Water Shop, everyone eating was from the Su clan. Because it was the Su family who had been busy all day, even the young girls serving the wine and greeting guests were from the clan—they had truly gone all out.

The evening banquet was not as refined as the one at noon, but was filled with big plates and bowls, plenty of meat and fish, allowing the weary clansmen to feast to their hearts' content.

This suited them perfectly, and they ate happily, praising the proprietress non-stop for being beautiful, kind-hearted, and capable!

Those at the main table were also beaming. Su Daji ate while calculating the day's earnings, his mouth curling upward uncontrollably.

The math was simple: forty thousand catties of wine sold at an ex-factory price of forty wen per catty, totaling sixteen hundred taels!

This amount exceeded the Su family's total revenue for the past three years! As for the gross profit, the Su family hadn't seen a profit in years…

Although all the buyers had only paid a deposit, with the majority to be settled at the end of the year according to custom, he believed that with the capabilities of the proprietress and Su Youcai, collecting the debt would not be a problem!

And the Su family simply had to sit back and wait for the money.

He had never experienced such a comfortable and simple business transaction in his life; he hadn't expected to finally experience it in his old age. Thinking of this, Su Daji looked at the proprietress with immense gratitude.

"At first, I thought that having the Sweet Water Shop act as an agent was redundant. Now I know that the proprietress was genuinely acting in the best interest of the Su family."

"Does the Chief Manager no longer feel that those ten wen were spent in vain?" the proprietress asked with a smile.

"Not in vain, not in vain, it was worth it! This is what you deserve to earn!" Su Daji said as he raised his glass and stood up, calling out to the clansmen, "Come, let us all raise a glass to the proprietress! Thank her for helping the Su family come back from the brink of death!"

"A toast to the proprietress!" The Su clansmen all raised their glasses and cheered.

The proprietress also stood up happily, drinking the toast from the group first, then refilling her glass to toast them in return.

"The success of today's ordering fair depends entirely on your selfless contributions. Not just today, but over the past few months, you haven't taken any wages, and some of you even loaned the grain from your homes to the distillery! Without your sacrifices, there would be no success today!"

"..." A kind word warms one for three winters; the clansmen were moved to tears by the proprietress and quickly drank another glass with her.

But there was more that moved them even further. They heard the proprietress boldly announce, "I have decided to take the four hundred taels of deposit received today and use it all as payment to the Su family distillery! So the Chief Manager can pay you all your wages!"

"Good! Good! Good! Thank you, proprietress!" Upon hearing this, all the clansmen stood up and cheered.

"Proprietress, we love you!" The young girls screamed with excitement, their voices almost lifting the roof.

Now, every member of the Su family truly considered her one of their own.

"Chief Manager, is this acceptable?" the proprietress asked with a smile.

"Of course, it is," Su Daji said, full of gratitude. "Once we make money, we should pay wages first. I was just too embarrassed to bring it up to you, but I didn't expect you to suggest it first."

"Great! Great!" The clansmen cheered again.

"Then let us all raise our glasses to celebrate that the bitter days are finally over!" The proprietress raised her third glass, and everyone else followed suit.

The light, the tears, and the glow of the wine intertwined, playing a melody called happiness…

~~

Su Youcai was also moved to tears. He knew better than anyone the effort and sacrifice the proprietress had made, which were greater than anyone else's. Carried by the emotion, he couldn't help but compose an impromptu poem:

"Bitter days are over, we raise our cups together,
Lanterns sway in red, illuminating the hall.
A wise heart endured a thousand hardships,
A beautiful shadow still holds a trace of fragrance.
Tears and fine wine rise and fall together,
Affection flies high with joyful words.
Do not say the road ahead is full of wind and rain,
The spring breeze will surely warm the painted hall."

The clansmen applauded upon hearing it, sighing that the 'Little Dongpo of Erlang Shoal' had lost none of his former style.

The proprietress was moved to tears upon hearing it, feeling that everything was worth it…