Without any urging from Guan Xiaorou, Tang Dongdong herself was already extremely anxious.
She gently patted Guan Xiaorou to signal her not to worry, while her mind raced to think of countermeasures.
After a moment, she spoke. “At this point, the only option is to first withdraw the escort agency and the trading company from Guangyuan!”
“Is there really no other way?” Guan Xiaorou asked.
“Xie Xiguang endured silently for so long and then struck suddenly. He must have made thorough preparations. Even if we manage to get through this crisis, we will still be targeted,” Tang Dongdong said. “Right now Brother Feng is not in Jinchuan. We cannot confront the prefect head-on, or we will be the ones to suffer. It is better to pull our people out first and wait until Brother Feng returns.”
“Yes, the gentleman wrote a letter a few days ago saying we should prioritise stability,” Xiao Yu added. “I think what Factory Manager Tang said is the best solution for now.”
“Alright then, we will do as Dongdong says.”
Guan Xiaorou hesitated for a moment and then asked, “Can we have the trading company open a shop outside the city? That way, the people in the city who want to buy salt and the brothels that want to buy soap can simply go outside the walls.”
“Exactly! How did I not think of that?”
Tang Dongdong’s eyes lit up. “The trading company and the escort agency already have a good reputation. If the prefect does not allow us inside the city, then we will not go in. Opening a shop outside the city works just the same!”
Other merchants did not dare to open shops outside Guangyuan City because bandits were rampant in the Great Kang region. Doing business outside the walls made it very easy to be targeted by bandits.
There were no tall city walls to block them, so after robbing, the bandits could easily flee.
Losing money and goods was a small matter. In the worst cases, people could lose their lives.
However, the Jinchuan trading company had escort guards stationed with them, so there was no need to worry about this at all.
Moreover, the large bandit groups around Guangyuan had been mostly wiped out by Zhang Liang in the autumn. Any small groups that dared to target the Jinchuan trading company would simply be courting death.
After thinking it over carefully, Tang Dongdong felt the plan was truly reliable. She turned and said, “Xiao Yu, inform Zhong Ling’er and tell her to go outside the city to find a suitable location and move both the trading company and the escort agency there.”
“Understood!” Xiao Yu nodded, then asked, “Factory Manager Tang, what about Zhou Changlin’s side?”
The war between Tang Dongdong and the Zhou family had already lasted for some time.
Zhou Changlin had become the biggest cloth merchant in Guangyuan for good reason. He truly had some skill and had managed to hold on under Tang Dongdong’s fierce attacks until now.
But he had already reached the end of his strength. As long as Tang Dongdong kept pressing, Zhou Changlin would definitely not last another month.
By then, she would not even need to act. His creditors would finish him off.
Who could have expected this new trouble to appear at such a time.
If the trading company and escort agency withdrew from Guangyuan City, it would give Zhou Changlin a chance to catch his breath.
“Zhou Changlin… let us put him aside for now. At this critical moment, it is not suitable to stir up more trouble, or the prefect might seize the opportunity to use it against us.”
After much consideration, Tang Dongdong finally decided to temporarily let Zhou Changlin go.
“Alright, I will immediately arrange for someone to send the message to Ling’er.”
Xiao Yu nodded again at Guan Xiaorou, then turned and left.
“Xiaorou, Xiao’e is just a child. Do not hold it against her.”
While washing her hands, Tang Dongdong continued, “With the trading company withdrawing from Guangyuan, all the distribution work will need to be rearranged. I will not trouble you with cooking tonight. You can handle it yourself.”
After such a major incident, Guan Xiaorou had no mood left to cook.
Naturally, she also had no energy to bother with Xiao’e anymore.
Since she could not help Tang Dongdong, she already felt very guilty. How could she possibly drag Tang Dongdong down?
She quickly waved her hand and said, “Go and deal with your matters quickly, but please take care of yourself too. Since the master and Xiao Bei are both away, and I am useless, if you exhaust yourself as well, I really will not know what to do.”
“Xiaorou, do not talk about yourself like that. Who says you are useless?”
Tang Dongdong reached out and gently hugged Guan Xiaorou’s shoulders. “Brother Feng said that everyone has their own moment to shine. Sometimes they simply have not yet found the right opportunity to show it. Besides, the soap and perfume you make are so popular that countless noblewomen in the capital are fighting to buy them. From now on, you are not allowed to say such things about yourself…”
In the past, Guan Xiaorou had been too insecure. If someone scolded her a few times, she might not have reacted much and would just cry it off.
But now, after being praised by Tang Dongdong like this, she immediately felt shy. Her face turned red as she pushed Tang Dongdong out of the courtyard. “I know my own limits very well. Now hurry up and go deal with your work.”
Tang Dongdong was amused by Guan Xiaorou’s reaction.
The tension in her heart eased quite a bit.
She reached out and playfully squeezed her once, then said with a smile, “Oh, now you are shy!”
“How did you learn to be so shameless like Xiao Bei?”
Guan Xiaorou, who had just suffered from the “salty pig hand”, stamped her foot in anger.
Tang Dongdong laughed, waved her hand, and turned to leave.
That same afternoon, Zhong Ling’er, who was in Guangyuan, received the joint order from Tang Dongdong and Guan Xiaorou and began preparing for the relocation.
Different positions meant different concerns.
As the person in charge of Guangyuan, Zhong Ling’er was most familiar with everything in and around the city.
When she saw Tang Dongdong’s instruction to find a place outside the city and move both the trading company and the escort agency there, Zhong Ling’er immediately thought of a residence outside the West City Gate.
The residence belonged to a landlord’s family. It was very close to the West City Gate, the grounds were large enough, and it perfectly suited the needs of both the escort agency and the trading company.
The old landlord had passed away from illness in the autumn. His only son was now a minor official in the Central Plains and did not wish to return. He had even brought his mother and the household servants to the Central Plains with him.
Now only an old steward and an old gatekeeper remained to watch over the residence.
The landlord’s son planned to settle permanently in the Central Plains, so he instructed the old steward to sell the property.
However, because the asking price was too high and the old steward did not dare lower it on his own, no one had bought it yet.
Some time ago, when Tang Dongdong needed to stockpile large quantities of cloth, Zhong Ling’er had searched everywhere for warehouses and had taken a liking to this residence at that time.
But since the price was indeed much higher than the market rate, she had not acted and planned to wait for Tang Xiaobei’s return to ask for instructions before deciding.
Now that Tang Dongdong had ordered the move, Zhong Ling’er decided not to wait any longer. She immediately took people out of the city.
Before leaving, the landlord’s son had only set a price and then handed the house deed to the old steward, giving him full authority to handle the sale.
Zhong Ling’er had no objection to the price, so the old steward naturally did not make things difficult. The very next morning, he accompanied Zhong Ling’er to the prefectural city and transferred the residence to the Jinchuan trading company.
Then, on the same day, the trading company and the escort agency began the move.
Guangyuan City was one of the important stations for the Zhen Yuan Escort Agency, so quite a number of escorts were gathered there.
The trading company also had no shortage of carts, so the relocation went very quickly. In just two days, everything was moved to the old landlord’s residence outside the city.
During those two days, Zhong Ling’er not only sent people to inform every brothel of the new shop address, but also had people spread the word throughout the city, telling the common people that from now on they could buy salt outside the West City Gate.
Many citizens, afraid that the Jinchuan trading company would stop operating and they would no longer be able to buy such good-quality and cheap salt, rushed to the West City Gate to stock up.
When the brothels noticed this situation, they also hurried to buy up soap.
Far from being affected, the Jinchuan trading company business actually experienced a sudden wave of panic buying.
This news also reached the ears of Prefect Xie Xiguang almost immediately.
