Mo Sang – CH 152

Chapter 152. Standing at the Bottom of the Pit

Amidst the city’s enthusiastic speculation, the six major rice merchants and thirty-eight millet merchants of Jianle City quietly changed their rules.

On the first day after the rule change, just as dawn was breaking, Li Sangrou stood at the Dongshui Gate Wharf, watching the grain ships slowly approach from the morning mist, one by one, mooring at the rice merchant wharf.

The news of the rice merchants’ rule change had spread throughout Jianle City’s rice shops and to the grain ships that had traveled from afar seven or eight days earlier. Some of these grain ships had already been moored far away, waiting for six or seven days.

The wharf was packed with people.

The heads of the thirty-eight millet merchants were filled with a mixture of excitement and unease. Without the six major rice merchants, they could directly accept rice from the suppliers, which was a good thing. But the fact that they could directly accept rice from the suppliers, that rice shops could accept it too, and that anyone could accept it was not a good thing. One side was good, the other bad. Was it really good or bad? That was what made them uneasy.

The rice shop owners in Jianle City, those with the means, were eager to try their luck. If the rule really changed so they could directly receive rice from the boats, they’d fill a whole boat today!

As for those without the means, firstly, they’d watch the spectacle; secondly, if the price difference was too large, they could get several boats filled together or borrow some money.

Mixed among the rice merchants and shopkeepers were many people from other grain merchants, their expressions varying as they watched the commotion. While the rice merchants offered lavish meals, they only had simple fare. Now, it seemed everyone was about to be treated the same.

The purchasing agents from the major restaurants in the capital gathered in small groups, chatting and laughing quietly.

They were always well-informed; they knew who had taken over the rice business. The rules of the rice business were definitely going to be completely changed, but whether the rice would be cheaper was another matter.

They were not gathered here to try and get a bargain; they were there to pick and choose, to buy the best rice.

The dock was packed with people, each with their own thoughts, excited yet anxious, waiting anxiously for the first market day after the rice trade reform, waiting for the Dongshui Gate Rice Shop to hang up its listings.

At the auspicious time, two old merchants came out carrying two large trays of listings, their faces serious. One merchant handed one listing to the other, hanging the listings one by one on the huge wooden planks.

The listings showed the quantities of rice, origins, and rough grades of the various grain ships that had just docked.

The dock was thronged with people from the small rice shops, rice store owners, and even some purchasing agents from large restaurants, all surging forward.

“The first month or two will probably be bumpy,” Lu Hepeng said, stepping back from beside the listings to stand next to Li Sangrou, standing on tiptoe as he watched the bustling scene.

“Yes, everything is difficult at the beginning. You and Meng Yanqing, take a good look at the second-level managers. Pick some people from among them. Replace the current heads and managers of the six major rice shops who are no longer suitable as soon as possible.

Starting today, hold a meeting every other day, calling in those second-level managers. Also, post a notice to gather opinions and suggestions. Everyone in the rice shops can speak up and offer suggestions. Those whose suggestions are adopted will be heavily rewarded.

The Jianle City Rice Shop needs to operate independently as soon as possible. We still have many things to do; we cannot keep getting bogged down here,” Li Sangrou instructed.

“Alright. Do not worry, Boss.” Lu Hepeng nodded repeatedly.

“I will go check on the other docks,” Li Sangrou instructed, and she, Da Chang, and Hei Ma mounted their horses to inspect the remaining five docks.

……………………

Inside Qingning Palace.

Gu Jin sat at the head of the table.

Minister Wu bowed and reported, “…The rice shop reform has gone very smoothly these past two days. Rice prices in the capital have remained stable with a slight decrease. Aside from those in the rice business, most people in the market are unaware of this major event.

By last night, nearly two thousand rice shops had submitted applications to the yamen to pay separate commercial taxes. Because I instructed them to complete the process on the same day, I was busy until midnight yesterday.

The Ministry of Revenue has roughly calculated that this alone will bring in over thirty thousand taels of silver a month.” Minister Wu smiled.

“Hmm, this is just in Jianle City.” Gu Jin also smiled.

Once all the rice shops along the Grand Canal were consolidated and reformed, this would be a substantial income.

“I heard that the academic competition between the Hanlin Academy and the Evening Post has been finalized? Have the representatives from both sides been chosen?” Gu Jin suddenly changed the subject.

“The Hanlin Academy has decided. Qiao Bo will be the head, and the other five are Shi Lei, Chen Shan, Fang Shiwei, Wei Jingrong, and Feng Chengbin. All are renowned for their extensive knowledge and prodigious memories, with Shi Lei especially known for his extensive reading.”

Prime Minister Du quickly bowed in reply.

“The Evening Post said they’d submit the list first thing tomorrow morning. All the major gambling houses are closed at dusk today, so I have no idea who’s on the list.

The competition is scheduled for the day after tomorrow, starting at dawn, at the Jinzou Academy. It’s spacious there, with a high platform, which is very convenient. It was decided by Chancellor Huang and Wang Zhang from the Evening Post.”

“Wang Zhang? The Shizi mentioned him twice in his letters. He made great contributions in the Battle of Hefei,” Gu Jin thought for a moment, then smiled. “That’s right, the Shizi put him in charge of the military mail. Boss Li is really making the best use of his talents.”

Gu Jin then looked at Prime Minister Pan. “Who did the Evening Post select?”

“I do not know either.” Prime Minister Pan spread his hands. “Little Seven wanted to earn some pocket money, tried everything, but could not get a single word out of them.”

“He should ask the Boss.” Gu Jin chuckled.

“I asked, and the boss told him to bet everything on Qiao Bo, saying that although the profit would be small, it was a sure thing. Little Seventh only had thirty taels of silver, and he bet it all on Qiao Bo,” Minister Pan said with a bow and a smile.

Gu Jin chuckled. “Let’s adjourn court early the day after tomorrow. I also want to watch the excitement, so let’s not disturb them yet.

If there are any more betting odds tomorrow, I will place a few bets myself to boost the morale of the Hanlin Academy.”

……………………

Before the Evening Post team’s exquisitely detailed list, sealed with a bright red envelope, was presented to Chancellor Huang, it had already been printed in the Evening Post, accompanied by a thick special edition.

The special edition featured introductions to the members of the Evening Post team. Their family backgrounds were briefly mentioned, but the most prominent features were the talented and insightful married daughters of each family who had single-handedly supported and saved their families.

There were six articles in total, all beautifully written and movingly expressed.

……………………

Led by Hanlin Qiao, the members of the Hanlin Academy team arrived at the Imperial Academy early in the morning, waiting in the office of Chancellor Huang for the Evening Post to deliver the names.

The exceptionally beautiful and unusual list was delivered by Manager Lin alone.

Manager Lin, with a dry laugh, presented the large red envelope to Chancellor Huang with both hands. Before Huang could even properly hold it, he quickly bowed and took his leave, saying, “The newspaper office is extremely busy; farewell!”

The Hanlin Academicians’ and Chancellor Huang’s attention was focused on the red envelope. Manager Lin left the room, grabbed the front of his long robe, and hurried out. He needed to get far away before they could open and examine it properly!

Chancellor Huang opened the envelope, flipped through the letter inside, and stared at the six unfamiliar names. “This…who recognizes this? This name?”

He did not dare say the rest aloud. These names all sounded like women’s names.

“This one shares the same name as the eldest grandson’s wife of Minister Zhou, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Fu family!” Hanlin Academician Shi, leading an errand at the Ministry of Rites, exclaimed upon seeing Fu Wan-niang’s name.

“Wife? You must be mistaken! It must be someone with the same name!” Hanlin Academician Qiao snatched the name sheet, staring at the three characters, “Fu Wan-niang,” in disbelief.

“This is my seventh cousin!” Wei Jingrong, also a Hanlin Academician, pointed to the name Wei Jingming in the middle, exclaiming with wide eyes.

“This is Pan Tanhua’s wife. These six, I am afraid they are all women.” Feng Chengbin, a Hanlin of the same age as Pan Tanhua, pointed to Qian Hui’s name, almost crying.

“This is the daughter of Vice Minister Shi of the Ministry of Revenue, right? She’s currently discussing marriage with my cousin,” Fang Shiwei, another Hanlin Academician, pointed to the three characters “Shi Jingyao.”

“This is the steward’s daughter. The steward and the Wu family are related by marriage. And this one seems to be the grand-niece of the second wife of the Wu family.”

“This Liu Rui, is she not the granddaughter of Fourth Old Master Liu? Fourth Master Liu often scolds the students: ‘You are not even as good as my granddaughter!’ I heard Fourth Old Master Liu mention her once; that sounds like her name.”

The seven people in the room looked at each other, bewildered.

“Where’s Manager Lin?” Chancellor Huang suddenly called out.

“He left long ago,” the servant at the door replied loudly.

“Go and call him over! And Wang Zhang! Call him over! What kind of mess is this?” Chancellor Huang slammed his hand on the table.

“Well,” Hanlin Academician Wei chuckled dryly, “my seventh cousin is indeed incredibly knowledgeable and has a phenomenal memory.

In our family, all the brothers and sisters studied together. Before she got married, when we cousins ​​talked about scholarship, she always had the upper hand.”

“It’s not about having a phenomenal memory! A group of women, us against a group of women, what kind of situation is that? Even if we win, it’s an unfair victory!” Hanlin Academician Qiao slammed his fist on the table in anger.

“We might not win.” Hanlin Academician Wei glanced at Wei Jingming’s name and offered a weak reminder.

“That would be even more embarrassing.” Hanlin Academician Fang, with his easygoing nature, thought for a moment and traced a circle with his folding fan. “We, competing in scholarship with a group of women, if we win, we will lose face; if we lose, it’s not just about losing face. This matter…”

Hanlin Academician Fang did not finish his sentence but laughed instead. The embarrassment was indescribable, but the whole thing was truly hilarious. Who came up with this idea? It was incredibly malicious!

“They are doing this on purpose! This is not a competition of scholarship; they are deliberately trying to ruin the reputation of our Hanlin Academy! It’s pointless either way, so we are not competing anymore!” Hanlin Academician Qiao slammed his hand on the table again.

“Old Qiao,” Hanlin Academician Shi nudged Hanlin Academician Qiao, “do you think the one who argued with you seven or eight times was also a woman?”

Everyone was stunned for a moment. Hanlin Academician Fang was the first to react, bursting into laughter: “Definitely! Old Qiao, you are really pathetic!

Those seven or eight rounds, and you were at a disadvantage every single time! This is outrageous!”

“This is outrageous!” Hanlin Academician Qiao’s face flushed red. He grabbed the letter with the name on it and the large red envelope, slamming it in front of Chancellor Huang. “I am not competing anymore; this is impossible! Give it back to them!”

“Sigh, look at you! I told you from the beginning, you could not accept that challenge! You insisted! You even wrote some kind of manifesto, going around asking people to sign it.

Look, look! It’s all your fault!” Chancellor Huang slapped the large red envelope repeatedly, his anger rising.

He really did not listen to his elders, and now he was suffering the consequences!

“I am backing down! I am not competing anymore; this is humiliating!” Hanlin Academician Qiao shook his head.

“Master,” the servant outside called out with a hint of sarcasm, “early this morning, the gambling dens outside opened betting on the Hanlin Academy surrendering without a fight, ten coins for one share, odds of one hundred to one.”

“What?” Chancellor Huang could hardly believe his ears.

“How can this be called surrendering without a fight?” Hanlin Academician Qiao was so angry that he did not even know where to begin.

Hanlin Academician Fang burst out laughing, and Hanlin Academician Wei followed suit.

“This matter needs careful discussion. Should we bite the bullet and compete with a group of women in erudition, or simply surrender without a fight?” Hanlin Academician Wei coughed a few times, looking at everyone, and said, “It’s not that I am trying to boost their morale, but if we really compete, we might not necessarily win. Anyway, if I were to face my seventh cousin, I would definitely be outmatched in terms of erudition and memory; it’s always been that way.”

“Fourth Master Liu often says that his granddaughter has a photographic memory,” Hanlin Academician Fang chimed in.

“Pan Tanhua’s wife can certainly guide him; we talked about that under the grape trellis,” Hanlin Academician Shi sighed.

“Forget it, let’s not compete. Surrendering without a fight is definitely more dignified than surrendering after a fight.” Hanlin Academician Feng always spoke pragmatically.

Everyone looked at each other, then turned to look at Hanlin Academician Qiao.

“Alas!” Hanlin Academician Qiao sighed deeply, slapping his face. “I really am! Fine, fine, surrender without a fight, then so be it!”

“Master, Prime Minister Du has sent someone,” a servant announced from outside.

“Quickly, invite him in!” Chancellor Huang hurriedly called.

A handsome servant entered, greeted him, and smiled. “My master instructed me to come and tell Prime Minister Huang and the other Hanlin Academicians: His Majesty and the other ministers have all bet on our Hanlin Academy to win. My master said that you Hanlin Academicians must not be careless.”

After reporting, the servant took two steps back with his hands at his sides and turned to leave.

The room fell silent again, everyone exchanging bewildered glances.

The Emperor!

They had no choice but to fight.

“Gentlemen, cheer up! Scholar Wei, do not further embolden the others.” Chancellor Huang straightened his back and raised his voice. “This is a contest of scholarship. Since it’s a contest of scholarship, there should not be any distinction between men and women. Can scholarship be different because of gender?

No, scholarship is scholarship, regardless of gender!

Stop thinking about men and women. Just treat them as men; is that not enough?

Scholar Qiao once said, ‘In this whole world, when it comes to extensive knowledge and a prodigious memory, is there anyone more learned than our Hanlin Academy?’

Definitely not!

Scholar Qiao and Scholar Shi read every book imaginable; these two walking encyclopedias are not called that for nothing!

Stop thinking about men and women, hurry back. There are still two days left. Prepare well; there’s still time! Go!”

Huang waved his hand.

……………………

On the day of the competition, Li Sangrou, with Hei Ma, arrived at the Imperial Academy early.

Da Chang had no interest in this kind of literary competition. Hearing it would involve two groups of people sitting and discussing scholarship for two or three hours, Da Chang immediately declared that he had accounts to settle—a mountain of accounts!

Xiao Lu and the others quickly followed Da Chang, saying that the rice shops were not entirely peaceful yet, and they needed to keep a close eye on things; they did not have time!

Only Hei Ma, from a distinguished family and exuding scholarly air, could not miss such a grand literary event. He absolutely had to attend!

That morning, Hei Ma hesitated for a long time but still did not wear his half-length robe. He was now considered both scholarly and martial, though arguably more skilled in martial arts; he even held a military post, so wearing a long robe would not be appropriate.

Pan Dingbang had chosen the viewing area at the Imperial Academy. He and Eleventh Master Tian had arrived early.

Li Sangrou stood beside the chairs, first looking at the stage, then surveying her surroundings.

Wang Zhang handled every detail of this academic debate.

The platform was already set up: covered with a thick, bright red felt rug, with a long, low table in the center and six large, soft cushions on each side.

It had a distinctly scholarly feel.

On each side of the platform were a dozen or so chairs, the support teams for both sides, men on the left and women on the right.

Li Sangrou looked back at where she was standing.

The location was good, but given Pan Dingbang’s standards for choosing locations, this spot was far from ideal.

“Why are you here so early? Did you not say that this year is different from last year, that you’d be sitting in the Ministry of Works whether you had something to do or not?” Li Sangrou asked casually, looking around.

“Today is different. My father told me to come earlier.” Pan Dingbang leaned closer to Li Sangrou, lowered his voice, and said mysteriously, “I heard that the morning court session ended particularly early because of this matter. My father said he wanted to come and see for himself.”

“Look, look, my Third Brother and the others are here! My Third Sister-in-law is going to join in, and my Third Brother, hehe, he’s really early! All dressed up! Tsk!” Pan Dingbang turned and saw his Third Brother, chuckling.

“That spot is good.” Li Sangrou looked around and pointed to a large tree facing the high platform.

“Great minds think alike! That was the spot I liked first, but it’s guarded, and we cannot get close.” Pan Dingbang glanced at the spot Li Sangrou was pointing at and said casually.

Li Sangrou drew out an “Oh.”

Today, in this place, the only one who could compete with her and Pan Dingbang for a spot was the Emperor.

Li Sangrou stared at the empty space, filled with regret. She should have set up a betting pool: would the Prime Ministers come to watch the excitement? How many would come? And would the Emperor come…?

Now, it’s too late.

“Sister!” Princess Ninghe, dressed in men’s clothing, dragged Gu Fei, who was also dressed in men’s clothing and looked awkward, over, almost running.

“You’ve come at the perfect time. Ting-Xi just bought some fermented vegetable soup. Come, come, one cup each.” Pan Dingbang brought two cups of fermented vegetable soup, first offering one to Princess Ninghe and one to Gu Fei, then handing one to Li Sangrou.

Eleventh Master Tian and Hei Ma each took a cup, passing it to each other.

“My older brother is coming too. He said he will be here in a bit.” Princess Ninghe took the fermented vegetable soup, took a sip, and smiled.

“You can drink this?” Gu Fei looked at the fermented vegetable soup in his hand with disdain.

“If you do not want to drink it, then do not.” Princess Ninghe reached out and snatched the fermented vegetable soup from Gu Fei’s hand, handing it to Hei Ma.

“I was just asking a question.” Gu Fei glared at Princess Ninghe.

“Is that how you ask a question? Why are you glaring at me? Want to fight again?” Princess Ninghe glared at Gu Fei.

“You two fought? Who won?” Li Sangrou immediately craned her neck.

“Ah! You fought? Who won?” Pan Dingbang exclaimed in surprise, his face beaming with excitement.

Eleventh Master Tian choked on a mouthful of soup, ignoring his cough, and craned his neck. “Who won?”

Hei Ma also craned his neck.

“I heard your wife often pulls your ears. When was the last time?” Gu Fei glared at Pan Dingbang and asked rudely, then turned to Eleventh Master Tian. “And you! Did your wife pull your ears yesterday?”

Pan Dingbang and Eleventh Master Tian, caught off guard by Gu Fei’s question, turned their heads away simultaneously.

Li Sangrou looked at the two of them, laughed, took the cup of soup from Hei Ma’s hand, and shoved it into Gu Fei’s hand. “It’s delicious; drink it.”