Free Web NovelChapter 243: Chapter 243: Like a Fishbone in the Throat
"Shut your mouth!" Hu Yuwan snapped, unable to listen any longer.
The man, still not understanding what he’d said wrong, glanced nervously at the maid beside Hu Yuwan.
However, the expression on the maid’s face wasn’t pleasant, either. ’Walls have ears, and this isn’t our own territory. Where did this reckless fool come from? He doesn’t even know how to speak! Does he think my lady is some kind of thug, leading people out to fight and kill?’
"So, you’re one of Qiu Tao’s men." ’Hu Yuwan mentally made a mark against Qiu Tao. Anyone who would send such an idiot to her residence to deliver a message must be an idiot himself—the kind who’s more of a hindrance than a help.’
Although the young assistant kneeling on the floor didn’t understand what this "Second Miss" meant, he wasn’t a complete fool. He could detect the scorn and displeasure in her voice. Terrified of causing trouble for his Shopkeeper, he kept his head bowed like a wooden statue, not daring to utter a word.
But then he remembered his Shopkeeper’s parting words: he absolutely had to persuade the Second Miss to intervene. Otherwise, the Shopkeeper would likely suffer for it.
So, the man couldn’t stop himself from kowtowing toward Hu Yuwan, his head hitting the floor with a series of THUDS. "The Shopkeeper... he... he went to find Boss Feng," he stammered. "He said... said Boss Feng is slandering our... our bookstore. The Shopkeeper is all by himself, so please, Miss, you have to... you have to help."
Hu Yuwan’s disgust only deepened upon hearing this.
’What kind of blockhead did Qiu Tao send over? Does this man even know how to speak?’
’And what exactly is Qiu Tao trying to imply?’
’If he goes off by himself and gets killed, he’ll have deserved it. Who told him to be so brainless? Going head-to-head with Feng Shuyu without any preparation?’
’Sending someone to deliver this message... is he trying to threaten me?’
’He’s really gotten bold. Has he forgotten who the master is, that he dares to threaten me?’
"Get out!" No matter how composed Hu Yuwan usually was, her patience had snapped. She gestured sharply, signaling her servants to drag the incompetent boy away.
As he was being dragged away, the young assistant still had no idea what he had done to provoke such a furious outburst from the Second Miss.
When only Hu Yuwan and her maid were left in the drawing room, she still felt a knot of anger lodged in her chest, tight and unyielding.
"My Lady, why lower yourself to his level?" Hu Yuwan’s maid gently advised. "It’s not worth getting so worked up and making yourself ill."
"Of course, I know that, but..." Hu Yuwan pressed her lips together, momentarily at a loss for how to describe what she was feeling.
"My Lady, if you want to teach Qiu Tao a lesson, you could simply pretend this never happened. If you ask me, Qiu Tao has truly overstepped his bounds and deserves to be taught a lesson. Isn’t it a good thing that someone else is about to do it for us?" the maid said.
"...But as much as I’d like to deal with Qiu Tao—a man I could crush with one hand—I despise that woman, Feng Shuyu, even more. Today is a perfect opportunity. All we have to do is lend Qiu Tao some of our men. Whatever he does with them has nothing to do with me. I’m merely sending a few household servants to help out at the bookstore. How they ’help,’ and what they do... well, that’s none of my concern."
The only problem was that because of the message Qiu Tao sent, making this decision now felt like she was being led by the nose by a mere subordinate.
For someone as proud and arrogant as she was, how could she possibly tolerate that?
It was an incredibly galling feeling.
Hu Yuwan’s maid understood her mistress’s dilemma. She didn’t dare make a sound, simply waiting for Hu Yuwan to make up her mind.
After a moment of contemplation, Hu Yuwan’s hatred for Feng Shuyu won out.
She remembered her surprise when she first learned that her brother was engaged to an official’s daughter.
’Her brother was merely the son of a merchant. How could he possibly marry an official’s daughter? What kind of official’s daughter would condescend to marry into their family?’
Before meeting Feng Shuyu, Hu Yuwan was reluctant to admit that she harbored a sense of inferiority.
Perhaps because of this, she felt a pang of envy the very first time she laid eyes on her sister-in-law.
The woman had an excellent background and beautiful features. As the daughter of a merchant, Hu Yuwan found it impossible to find the slightest fault with her speech or conduct.
But it was precisely because Feng Shuyu was so flawless that Hu Yuwan’s resentment deepened.
Before, the family had always doted on her and her sisters. And among the three of them, she had always been the most outstanding, the one the family valued most.
’It wasn’t impossible that, in the future, Feng Shuyu could become the most valued person in the family.’
From that moment on, Hu Yuwan knew she hated Feng Shuyu.
The more flawless the woman was, the more Hu Yuwan loathed her.
This loathing had become almost instinctual. Even after her brother and Feng Shuyu divorced, she couldn’t help but feel a surge of revulsion at the mere mention of her name.
Besides, when Feng Shuyu had left the Hu family, she had taken a significant portion of the Hu family’s assets with her as compensation for the Feng family.
Now, Feng Shuyu was mixed up with that woman from Ming’s Restaurant, which Hu Yuwan found utterly revolting.
’After all, wasn’t her current predicament all thanks to Ming Lingyi?’
"Fine," Hu Yuwan commanded after a moment. "Send Yang Yi and the others to Vermilion Bird Street. Tell them to follow Qiu Tao’s orders."
Yang Yi had met Qiu Tao before; she had brought him with her from the Hu family when she married. He was the most suitable person for this task.
Feng Shuyu was exhausted by the end of the morning. With so many people coming to the bookstore wanting to commission books, it was impossible not to be.
In addition to those commissioning books and buying the official gazette, many people came to ask if she would be reprinting and selling previous issues.
"No," Feng Shuyu answered directly. "They’re all sold out. Our bookstore has no plans to do a reprint. The previous issues of the official gazette are gone. We only printed a limited number."
This led many to believe that Feng Shuyu was a poor businesswoman. After all, a golden opportunity to make money was right in front of her, and she wasn’t even reaching for it.
Feng Shuyu just smiled faintly and used the excuse that the bookstore was short-staffed.
’Only she knew the truth. It had nothing to do with being short-staffed. It was all in preparation for the collected edition she planned to release later.’
’If everyone bought the back issues of the official gazette now, who would buy the collected edition she was about to release? Besides, out-of-print items always fetch a higher price.’
At the very least, her current strategy sent a clear message to the people of Shangjing City: anything from Liufang Bookstore, no matter how expensive, was a worthy investment. You’d never regret buying from them.
And as if some kind soul wanted to do Feng Shuyu a favor, right after she announced that she wouldn’t be restocking previous issues of the official gazette, someone actually started reselling their own copies outside.
The price, of course, was much higher than what Liufang Bookstore had charged.
The thing was, people were actually buying them.
Feng Shuyu was sitting in the shop when one of her assistants brought back the news. "Boss, aren’t you going to do something about what’s happening outside? That person is being outrageous!"
Feng Shuyu didn’t even look up. "Isn’t this a good thing?"
The assistant was completely bewildered. How could this possibly be a good thing?
Feng Shuyu couldn’t be bothered to explain it to her dense assistant.
’If items sold from our bookstore can be resold at a higher price, what does that prove?’
’It proves that what our bookstore sells is genuinely valuable! Otherwise, how could it be resold at a premium? And how could it still attract buyers?’
