CHAPTER 207: CHAPTER 207: MANAGER ZENG KNEELS AND APOLOGIZES

"Brother, rest assured, that is just a country girl who hasn’t seen the world. A few kind words and some nice gifts will easily win her over," said Zou Yuwan.

Zou Yuzhen reminded her, "Don’t underestimate those families. How did the Lu Family suffer such a severe setback? Wasn’t it because of those families? Be careful, handle this well, and Third Brother will take you to the capital to attend Old Madam Qi’s birthday banquet."

Zou Yuzhen, knowing Zou Yuwan’s intentions, hinted to her, "Two of Master Qi’s nephews from the capital will also return."

Zou Yuwan’s eyes lit up upon hearing this, suppressing the excitement in her heart, and said to Zou Yuzhen, "Third Brother, rest assured, I will certainly handle this matter well."

If Master Qi’s nephew could take a liking to her, she could marry into a family in the Capital.

Even if unable to marry one of the two noble young masters from the Qi Family, attending Old Madam Qi’s birthday banquet would still benefit her greatly.

The Qi Family is considered a noble family in Prefecture, and many official’s wives would attend Old Madam Qi’s birthday banquet. If she could catch the eye of those ladies, even if she could not marry into the Capital, she could marry into the Prefecture and not be stuck in this broken county city of Tianfu County for life.

After discussing this matter, the siblings each returned to their rooms to rest.

The next day, before dawn, two mule carts drove into Da Feng Village and stopped in front of Lu Mansion.

The persons in the carts were none other than Manager Zeng from Fugui Building, who had been ordered by Third Young Master to specifically bring two carts full of generous gifts.

After arriving at Lu’s, he did not dare to knock on the door but waited until Zou Yuzhen siblings and Master Qi came out with servants, then he hurriedly greeted them, "Manager Zeng pays his respects to Third Young Master and Fifth Miss, wishing peace to Third Young Master and Fifth Miss."

Zou Yuzhen’s expression turned cold, and he scolded Zeng Da, "It was your mistake initially. When you arrive at Gu’s Workshop, you better apologize properly, otherwise, you can forget about being the Shopkeeper of Fugui Building."

Zeng Da quickly replied, "Third Young Master, rest assured, I will definitely apologize sincerely to the Gu, Lu, and Luo families."

Master Qi, standing aside, just glanced at Zeng Da and did not ask any questions. Zou Yuzhen, being clever, had already informed him before arriving at Da Feng Village that Fugui Building wanted to buy the tofu recipe from Gu Family at a low price but failed, resulting in a dispute between the two sides.

Zou Yuzhen dared to tell Master Qi these things; first, he knew Master Qi disliked people of lower status than Qi Mansion lying to him; second, it was common for house slaves in Great Chu to use their master’s name to oppress commoners, so there was no need to hide such matters. On the contrary, him leading servants to apologize in person was rare and could help him earn some good reputation.

Zou Yuzhen’s entourage then marched grandly towards the end of the village, and shortly after, they arrived at Gu’s Workshop.

Gu’s Workshop was bustling with activity.

Old Guo and others had already begun work, now scooping out the soaked soybeans, ready to grind them.

Mrs. He Yang and the other women also arrived, lining up in the hall to receive medicinal herbs from Gu Jinli, preparing to grind spices.

Gu Dashan and Gu Dafu were busy weighing tofu for He Dacang, Liang Zhuzi, and their group who had come to pick it up.

Outside the Gu’s Workshop, there was still a crowd of people, all of whom had come to buy tofu and seasoning spices.

Village Chief He was leading the He Family People, along with He Sanlai, to block those people.

Third Grandpa shouted to them, "Fellow villagers, Gu’s Workshop has just opened, and the tofu we produced is limited. We need to supply our own village first before we can sell it to other villages."

Those who came to seek tofu also knew that it was hard to get. When they heard they couldn’t get it, they asked, "What about the seasoning spices? We heard that you can now produce several dozen kilograms a day. Surely, you can spare some for us?"

He Sanlai raised his voice and said, "Spare some? Spare what? On the day our workshop opened, Lord County Captain came with his sworn brothers and placed an order for a batch of seasoning spices with our workshop. Our people are busy with that big order and don’t have any spare seasoning to give you."

He Sanlai was quite adept at borrowing authority and invoked the name of County Captain Jiang, "Our workshop is under the protection of County Captain Jiang. You better scram and stop shouting here. If you provoke us too much, the County Captain will send soldiers to arrest you!"

Third Grandpa quickly scolded He Sanlai, "Stop talking nonsense, the County Captain would never use his power to oppress farmers."

Then he addressed the people seeking tofu and spices, "Fellow villagers, rest assured, as long as you haven’t committed any offences, the County Captain will not arrest you. However, our workshop really has taken on a big order, and for the next two months, we will be busy with it. Those who want seasoning spices will have to wait a while."

Hearing this, the villagers could only leave in dismay.

They were merely farmers, how could they dare to compete with the County Captain’s sworn brothers over goods?

Upon hearing this, Master Qi slightly furrowed his brow, but quickly relaxed it.

After that group left, Zou Yuzhen and his group approached Third Grandpa, "Old man, I am the third son of County Magistrate Zou and the grandson of the Lu Family from outside. I just returned from the Prefecture a few days ago, and I was deeply grieved to learn about the wrongs Zeng Da had committed. Today, I have specifically brought Zeng Da here to offer an apology to several families."

After finishing, without waiting for Third Grandpa to respond, he called Zeng Da directly, "Get on your knees and apologize to Elder Gu right now!"

With a thud, Zeng Da fell to his knees and kowtowed three times to Third Grandpa, "I am Zeng Da, I lost my senses due to greed a while ago, coveting your family’s tofu recipe and resorted to unscrupulous methods, causing a lot of trouble for your family. I beg you, Old Mo, don’t be angry, please forgive me this time."

Zou Yuzhen made his identity and intentions clear upon arrival; Zeng Da even knelt and apologized immediately, leaving Third Grandpa utterly baffled and unable to react.

When Gu Jinli heard the noise and came running out from the main house, seeing Zeng Da kneeling, he sneered, "Isn’t this Manager Zeng from Fugui Building? What brings you to kneel at the door of our workshop? Are you here to steal our tofu recipe again? How come you didn’t bring Lu San and the Lu Family’s hired thugs this time?"

"Right, you see yourself as belonging to the official’s family, stealing a recipe from ordinary folks should be easy for you, no need for thugs, a mere word would suffice. Which farmer would dare to refuse? And if they do, they would end up in the county prison."

"I heard that Manager Zeng even took on a beautiful concubine earlier this year, and life has been tasty and fragrant for you. Let me congratulate Manager Zeng here."

With a rapid-fire speech, Gu Jinli caught Zeng Da and Zou Yuzhen off guard.

Zou Yuzhen glanced at Master Qi, saw his frown, and a look of dissatisfaction surfaced. He immediately kicked Zeng Da, angrily saying, "You dog slave, how dare you take a concubine, and from a noble family too! According to the Great Chu Criminal Law, slaves cannot marry or take concubines from the noble families. You are, you are..."

Trying to appear too angry to speak, Zou Yuzhen truly hadn’t expected that a country girl would be so outspoken and knowledgeable, even aware of Zeng Da’s affair earlier in the year.

It was not unusual for a servant like Zeng Da to take a concubine, but it was generally kept secretive and not publicized. It appeared that Gu’s family had investigated Zeng Da; otherwise, they couldn’t have known such a private matter.