Chapter 978 Who’s Behind the Trouble-making!
“My Lady, the people of Butterfly Clothing Shop are looking for Madame Dong!” Qing Yue took two steps forward and reported to Shao Wanru in a low voice.
Shao Wanru thought for a moment and said, “Go and ask what it is!”
“Yes, I will go now!” Qing Yue nodded and answered.
Though Madame Dong remained silent, she looked pretty flustered. From time to time, she would look out of the window in panic. She came to the Prince Chen’s Mansion at this time, which showed that it was not a small matter.
She said nothing, but the anxiety was evident from her eyes.
Luo Xiaowan had just extricated herself from a predicament, so she couldn’t bear to see others suffer. She could not help but say, “Aunt Dong, don’t worry. With Princess Chen here, it doesn’t matter even if something happens!”
“I know. Thank you very much, Miss Luo!” Madame Dong forced a smile, in a state of preoccupation.
Shao Wanru didn’t say anything. She reached out and picked up the teacup on the table. After taking a sip, she slowly put it down, her eyes deep and indifferent. “Miss Zhang, Miss Luo, why don’t you pick some more?”
Seeing that she looked calm and unhurried, Luo Xiaowan was relieved. She pulled Zhang Qilan, and they went to the table to choose again.
Qing Yue came back soon. She walked into the room and bowed to Shao Wanru, saying, “Indeed, someone was making trouble. They complained about how bad the clothes in the shop were. They wrinkled after being washed. Worse still, the toggle-and-loop buttons came loose only when worn a few days, revealing the lining inside. Somehow, there were stains on the embroidery, which made those clothes appear filthy.”
“Infanta Yuan’an has gone too far!” Zhang Qilan, outraged, put down the cloth in her hands.
Everyone was as angry as her, feeling it was a sheer fabrication from Ruiping Great Elder Princess’ Mansion. How could there be any quality issues with their products? The Butterfly Clothing Shop had been known for its high-quality productions. How could such a thing ever happen? It must be Infanta Yuan’an who fabricated all of this.
Infanta Yuan’an was even bold enough to target Princess Chen. It was a piece of cake for her to pick on a merchant of no account.
......
But in truth, they wronged Infanta Yuan’an this time!
Shao Wanru looked into Madame Dong’s eyes calmly. Both of them knew that it was not Infanta Yuan’an but Prince Yue.
It would be best if he discarded the official means and used tricks from the folk instead!
Infanta Yuan’an happened to get involved in this, well, without herself being aware of it.
What a coincidence...
“It may not be Princess Yuan An!” Shao Wanru said implicitly.
“How could it not be her? She heard Madame Dong was in Prince Chen’s Mansion and deliberately made up such a thing! It’s way too much! I’ve seen her before, a nice and fair Young Madam among the noble ladies in the capital city. I would never have expected her to behave in such an underhand way!” Zhang Qilan snapped.
She and Infanta Yuan’an, two of the few widely-known noble Young Madams in the capital city, belonged to the same social sphere. In the past, they got along quite well, but now, she felt rather indignant at being deceived by Infanta Yuan’an. Never had Infanta Yuan’an been a lovely lady. Zhang Qilan accused her of bullying and back-stabbing, a villain with evil intentions!
“Let’s go and have a look!” After that, she turned around and walked out. Luo Xiaowan, somewhat at a loss, looked at Shao Wanru and then Zhang Qilan.
“Let’s go with her!” Shao Wanru smiled.
Then she stood up and walked out. Almost instantly, Luo Xiaowan followed up. Deep down, she was immensely grateful to Princess Chen, who freed her from a disastrous marriage.
Her mother had also analyzed it for her. This man surnamed Liu wanted to wear down her resistance. As a woman, she couldn’t afford the price of delay, but Liu could. Besides, the Empress might bestow marriage upon her. At that time, unable to go against it, she had to marry Liu. No one could save her from the dead end then.
Although her reputation had been damaged at the moment, at least she was still fine.
Because of this, Luo Xiaowan was filled with gratitude for Shao Wanru.
The three of them got on the carriage together and went to the Butterfly Clothing Shop with Madame Dong and a group of maids. Before they reached the door, they saw a large group of people around the door, quarreling fiercely.
Nanny Dong squeezed her way over first. Shao Wanru asked the servant to park the carriage by the roadside. After putting on curtain hats, they stepped out of the carriage and headed for the Butterfly Clothing Shop.
A middle-aged woman at the entrance scolded loudly with her hands clasping a shop boy’s clothes. On the ground scattered some brocades, stained embroidery, and toggle-and-loop buttons. Beside them were a few huge bags and a large piece of cloth. The cloth spread on the ground was crumpled, not a good thing at first glance.
“You shop must be run by brigands. I told you I brought these things to sell them out. So, I expected you to sell them to me at a set wholesale price. Yes, indeed, the price was fair, but all things I received were inferior goods. My husband is still lying on the bed. We run a small business, and now, who would buy such things from me? You are killing my whole family!”
The middle-aged woman shouted out, not letting go of the shop-boy. “Where is your black-hearted boss? Ask her to come out. What did she tell me that day? All products from her shop have high quality, better than those from other shops, even at a favorable price. But, see? Look at this pile of rubbish!”
The more she hollered, the angrier she became. She withdrew her hands and violently pushed the shop-boy, who hit the doorframe heavily and bent over in pain.
As the middle-aged woman stepped forward, another shop-boy stood out and stopped her. “Lady, take your time!”
“Take my time... how can I slow down? My husband is waiting for me to buy his life-saving medicine after selling some goods. You have no conscience at all! You treat the poor and the rich differently. Seeing that I was poor, you deliberately gave me some moldy cloth. If my husband can’t get the medicine because of this matter, I will die in front of your evil-hearted shop.” She grew increasingly enraged and even poured out a whole ocean of abuse loudly.
The crowd began to talk about it animatedly, looking at the Butterfly Clothing Shop with some sort of unfriendly eyes. If what the middle-aged woman said was true, the Butterfly Clothing Shop brand would fall. Whether it could make up for the mess or not, it would be difficult for the shop to remedy such a big mistake.
In business, the worst danger is serving different customers accordingly. It would be devastating if others knew they sold out inferior products.
Reputation matters a lot. Only with a good reputation could a shop develop. Different from other things, the business world takes reputation seriously.
“Lady, but we’ve never met before. Are you sure you got this batch of cloth from me?” Madame Dong came in from behind the crowd, looked the middle-aged woman up and down, and asked.
The middle-aged woman avoided her eyes but immediately growled, “Madame Dong! It’s you who agreed with the deal. How dare you say that you don’t even know me? You’re not going to admit it now, right? But aren’t all these things from your shop? Look at these toggle-and-loop buttons and the embroidery. No other shops sell the same patterns.”
The middle-aged woman squatted down and spilled out the scattered embroidery and buttons on the ground.
Some onlookers caught a few toggle-and-loop buttons and embroidery, closely examining them.
“They’re from the Butterfly Clothing Shop!”
“These items are indeed from the Butterfly Clothing Shop. The pattern of toggle-and-loop buttons is new. No other places sell the same kind. It’s the same with the embroidery, which is released lately!”
“That’s right. I’ve checked it before. It’s still shockingly expensive!”
There were many discussions, and the majority chose to believe the middle-aged woman. They stared at Madame Dong with increasingly unfriendly eyes.
Facing such an unfavorable situation, Madame Dong knew that the woman held some hideous intentions. The toggle-and-and-loop buttons and embroidery were all new designs of the Butterfly Clothing Shop. To increase competitiveness, the Butterfly Clothing Shop would introduce some new fine works for their customers. This was the reason why it became more and more famous and popular in the past three years.
There was always something new in the Butterfly Clothing Shop.
But now, the unique and successful business model was used as a weapon against them!
Madame Dong did not know the middle-aged woman, but it was obvious that the woman knew her. Well, it was actually not difficult to do that. As long as she spent some time staying outside the Butterfly Clothing Shop, the woman could see her.
“You have said that the buttons were ours. How can you prove it?” She squatted to pick up a button from the ground after calming herself down and asked.
“Do you want me to tell you whether it belongs to you or not? All the people around you know it. Nice try, but you can never deny it!” The middle-aged woman shouted loudly. She reached out to pick up the item on the ground and threw it up hard at Madame Dong.
Madame Dong was caught off guard and fell to the ground.
“You’ll have to pay for that, you know!”
With this, the woman picked up the things on the ground and threw them at her like mad. Madame Dong couldn’t stand it and hurriedly covered her head.
“Hey, can you speak nicely? It’s wrong for you to smash her like this. When the local yamen runners come over later, they’ll bring all of you away!” Shao Wanru came forward with Yujie. Seeing the scene in front of her, she winked at Yujie, who then stepped forward and grabbed the middle-aged woman’s hand.
The middle-aged woman, not convinced, struggled hard to get rid of her grip. However, since Yujie clenched her hands, she could not squirm free. With a furious glare, she thundered, “Who are you? How dare you meddle in other people’s business!”
How could she care about Yujie, who dressed as a servant girl? A little servant girl dared to meddle in this matter. Who did she think she was?
“I didn’t want to meddle in your business at first, but seeing that you are deliberately making trouble, I can’t stand it anymore!” Shao Wanru said while slowly walking out of the crowd.
She walked to the messy embroidery and picked up a piece. Looking at the yellow stains on it, she said, “Didn’t you see such stains when the shop delivered them to you? You made an ugly scene after you checked and received them. Tell me, how can you prove that you did not make these stains?”
Indeed, the yellow stains on the side of the embroidery were noticeable, but it could have been done by the shop owner or the middle-aged woman!
Hearing what she said, the onlookers nodded repeatedly. Her words were reasonable. When getting them from the shop, she failed to see the flaws, but after she moved the goods back home, she claimed to get shoddy products. It simply sounded wrong!
In fact, either of them could be the wrong side!