CHAPTER 400: CHAPTER 381: PLANNING FOR THE NEW SHOP (1)

Li Xing’an smiled, "Third Sister, you’re worrying unnecessarily, it’s nothing!"

Li Yuzhu was anxious and pressed on, "What do you mean it’s nothing? The County Magistrate can’t be speaking for Brother Chai, can he?"

Connections go around and around, everyone knows each other, but you’d owe the County Magistrate a favor.

Li Xing’an laughed again, "Not at all, it was a clerk from the sundry store who reported the danger. The reason was that in the middle of the night, a big rat ran out of the store, the shopkeeper grabbed a broom to chase the rat, and the rat scurried around, knocking over an oil lamp. The lamp tipped over onto a small couch, setting on fire a pile of clothes and bedding."

"..."

"In a panic, the shopkeeper kicked over a barrel of wine, and suddenly, the fire shot up high, burning off most of the shopkeeper’s hair. The young clerk was so scared he ran to call for help."

"..."

"With that shout, everyone knew the fire started at their place. People were ready to help, but the fire spread quickly, engulfing the roof and spreading to Brother Chai’s old store next door."

"..."

"Brother Chai’s old store was empty, so apart from losing the roof, everything else was fine. In the store where the fire started, the items were mostly not easily flammable pots and pans. It burnt some clothing and furniture of the shopkeeper’s family, with only a small number of bowls and jars cracking. The rest of the goods, being the copper and iron items, didn’t suffer much damage, how bad could they get?"

Li Yuzhu suddenly understood, "So that’s how it was... It’s good that no one was hurt. But, the shopkeeper of that store is going to get punished."

Li Xing’an snorted coldly, "No one to blame but himself, who told him to leave oil lamps and barrels of wine around carelessly? It’s cold, and there are more cotton clothes and quilts indoors, a single spark can be disastrous. Every night the night watchman roams the streets warning everyone to be careful of fire, didn’t they hear?"

Li Yuzhu nodded, "He should indeed be punished."

In this era, all the roofs of the houses were wooden beams, and once a fire starts, it could burn down an entire area.

That’s why the night watchmen knock on sticks and gongs at night, shouting "Be careful of fire."

Yet some people remain careless.

.

The news of Sister-in-law Chai’s old store burning down reached the Zhao family.

Mrs. Zhao regretted it so much she beat her legs.

If she had known this would happen, she would have had the Chai couple move out a bit later.

At least, with someone watching the store, the roof wouldn’t have burned away.

If it did burn, she could have made the Chai couple pay for it.

But she had them move out during the day, and the fire started at night, who could she ask to pay now?

The next-door store was also part of her family’s property!

Mrs. Zhao gritted her teeth and cursed, "Call Cui Shang! How is he managing things?" Unable to find anyone to punish, she could only take it out on the shopkeeper of the sundry store.

The poor management of the house led to a fire, requiring the government navy to control the situation. Although it only burned the Zhao family’s two stores and didn’t affect any nearby residences, the County Magistrate still fined the Zhao family’s main branch.

Fortunately, the good deeds done by Old Mrs. Zhao in the past spared them severe consequences. The County Magistrate imposed a small punishment: the sundry store’s shopkeeper was given twenty strokes and fined five hundred pieces of silver to settle the matter.

By the old rules, the shopkeeper would have been jailed for three months and fined a thousand pieces, while the owner Zhao family would have been fined three thousand pieces.

The County Magistrate showed no leniency, summoning the Zhao couple to the government office, and sternly said, "This County Magistrate showed mercy on account of Old Mrs. Zhao; if it happens again, the punishment will be severe!"

Old Master Zhao thanked him profusely, "Thank you, Lord County Magistrate, for your mercy."

Mrs. Zhao reiterated, "We will pay more attention next time."

After returning from the county government, the couple went to the back residence to see Old Mrs. Zhao together.

Old Mrs. Zhao’s courtyard door was tightly shut, and the gatekeeping woman said she refused to see anyone.

Old Master Zhao shrugged it off and turned to leave.

But Mrs. Zhao muttered resentfully, "While she’s still clear-minded, why doesn’t she help us more by speaking favorably to the County Magistrate?"

Five hundred pieces of silver is a lot of punishment!

.

Li Yuzhu visited the Zhao family to see Old Mrs. Zhao, supported her during recovery exercises, and then went to the new store.

Sister-in-law Chai approached right away, telling her about last night’s sudden fire at the old store, which burned down the roof.

"Third Sister Li, this incident is truly uncanny, just as we moved out, the place caught fire." She patted her chest in lingering fear, "If we had moved out later, we would have lost everything we earned in these years."

"And faced lawsuits and jail." Eldest Young Master Chai said with a sigh, "Is this the heavens helping us?"

Li Yuzhu laughed and said, "Because you’re good people, of course, the heavens would help."

"We haven’t done any good deeds," Sister-in-law Chai said shyly, quickly adding, "Ah, is this the heavens reminding us to do good deeds?"

Eldest Young Master Chai nodded, "Possibly!"

No sooner said than done, Sister-in-law Chai immediately called over a young clerk, "Quickly go buy five hundred buns and place them at the gate of Feiyun Temple for charity."

"I understand, ma’am." The young clerk ran off swiftly.

Feiyun Temple was the Daoist Temple Old Mrs. Zhao visited that night, with only three Daoists: an old Daoist, a young Daoist, and a middle-aged abbot.

Often helping the poor in the county town, gaining some reputation.

There are also people who enjoy charitable deeds, often buying food and placing it at the temple gate, allowing the young Daoists to distribute it, gaining virtue.

.

Sister-in-law Chai’s new shop welcomed customers this morning, and they were old patrons.

Yesterday, during the move, the couple worried that old patrons wouldn’t find the new location. Li Yuzhu offered an idea: hang signs at both ends of the alley and post notices on the shop’s side walls, indicating the new shop’s location and drawing a route map with arrows.

Besides, the old and new shops are only separated by one street, a distance of half a mile. Li Yuzhu believed this distance would hardly be an issue, and old patrons would come.

Early this morning, the old shop caught fire, and many ran to see the commotion, simultaneously noticing the move.

Thus, word spread, and the old patrons came following the address.

The first old customer was an elderly lady.

She sighed, saying, "It’s fortunate you moved quickly, otherwise it would’ve been troublesome. The shopkeeper next to you is careless; he doesn’t fear fire for his goods, but your shop’s items do."

Sister-in-law Chai also exclaimed, "Who wouldn’t say so?"

The old lady only bought two white candles and a bundle of incense.

Nonetheless, Sister-in-law Chai was happy, showing that old patrons cared about her business.

With her business settling into its routine, she visited Li Yuzhu and her siblings’ shop.

The siblings were still discussing what business to start in the new shop.

Eldest Young Master Chai was giving them ideas.

Several ideas were vetoed by Li Yuzhu.

This shop was in the county town. Her sisters came to open the shop here; unless accompanied by their brothers, their parents wouldn’t agree. It’s far from home, and if the brothers were to stay here long-term, what about home?

There were elderly and children to consider.

While they were discussing, Li Lixing arrived with two children in a carriage.

"It’s not my fault; they wanted to come, saying they wanted to see the new home." Li Lixing said, pointing at the two little boys running with their short legs.

Li Jing and Chai Tianlang got off the carriage hand in hand, running over excitedly.

"Dad, Mom, are Jingjing and I neighbors now?" Chai Tianlang ran, his cheeks flushed.

Eldest Young Master Chai went over, picking them up one on each side, smiling, "Do you like being neighbors?"

"Of course we do!" the two brothers answered together.

Neither liked being held by Eldest Young Master Chai, shaking their legs, slipping down to go into the shop.

Eldest Young Master Chai had no choice but to set them down, holding their hands, "Let’s go, I’ll show you the new home."

The layout of both shops was the same.

Eldest Young Master Chai’s shop was piled with goods; Li Yuzhu’s shop was empty.

Eldest Young Master Chai took them to tour Li Yuzhu’s shop.

The two brothers eagerly ran up and down, back and forth, playing chase in the empty house.

Li Jing excitedly shouted, "Ah—speaking here sounds different than elsewhere!"

He noticed the echo as he spoke.

Chai Tianlang followed him, yelling "Ah ah ah—" loudly.

Eldest Young Master Chai laughed, "Because the house is empty, it makes the sound louder; it’s called an echo."

The brothers didn’t understand what an echo was, but since their voices sounded different, they freely shouted and played.

Downstairs, Li Lixing found that Li Yuzhu and Li Xing’an didn’t mind him bringing the two children and started talking about other matters.

"Xiao Chengzi is really impressive, helping us sell the remaining eighty booklets entirely; he also gave the money," Li Lixing said with a smile.

Speaking of the booklets, Li Yuzhu thought of an idea.

"I have an idea, Third Brother," she smiled at Li Xing’an, saying, "Why don’t we open this shop as a book society? The shop belongs to us, no need to pay rent, and as long as we sell books, we earn. We’ll print books and deliver them here, asking Xiao Chengzi to look after the shop, what do you think?"

The shop occupied a sizable area, roughly eighty square meters.

Behind was a yard of the same size, besides a small two-story wooden house for living.

The shop was also two stories, upstairs and downstairs of equal size.

When the shop gains popularity, it can accommodate other businesses.

For example, putting her medicine pills here to sell, she could open a clinic on the second floor, though that would be later on.

Li Xing’an laughed, "This idea is quite good. We don’t need to supervise it daily."

Sister-in-law Chai laughed, "True, as we won’t be paying rent, any profit is ours. Regardless of the business, let’s start it up first."