"After today's banquet, let's go to Jubao Casino together?"
"My hand has not been going well lately, let alone what happened today..."
"Brother Li helped me with the cargo deal in Qingzhou last time. I am grateful for your high righteousness..."
"We belong to the same group, and we should be there to help each other..."
Amidst the lights, there were noisy and lively sounds, and people's voices gathered on the Luyi Tower. It was still some time before tonight's banquet. Crowds of people were coming and going. When the carriage came, someone related to the weaving shop came down from the top.
On the second floor, Ning Yi and everyone in the Su family have been here for a while. While being arranged to sit down, he was also dealing with the merchants who came to say hello one by one. Those who were optimistic about the Su family, those who were not optimistic about the Su family, and those who had a cooperative relationship.
, those who have no cooperative relationship will not ignore the Su family.
However, compared to Ning Yi, Su Zhongkan, and Su Yunfang, the masters of the Su family, Shopkeeper Liao and others may have received the most attention tonight. It is no wonder that they are like this. In tonight's situation, others originally guessed that either Su
Tan'er will come forward, otherwise I'm afraid Su Yu, the old lady of the Su family, will come over. If these two people come, they will naturally be the decision-makers of the Su family regarding the imperial business tonight. Who knew that neither the grandfather nor the grandson showed up, so
Some of the practical people who really cared about Huangshang focused their attention on Shopkeeper Liao and others who were now at the helm of the Su family's main house on a practical level.
As for Su Zhongkan and Su Yunfang, these two people will definitely not be able to interfere with matters related to the imperial merchants. But if the Su family's imperial merchants fail tonight, then the status of these two people will be completely different, so after all, there are still many people speculating on these matters.
, plus they used to be regarded as tycoons in Jiangning's weaving industry, and of course they received a lot of attention at this time. Ning Yi, who is on the side, although he now has the decision-making power of the Su family's big house,
It's just a symbol, symbolizing that the position of the head of the Su family has not been emptied out by Shopkeeper Liao and others. However, if we really want to decide something, it is naturally impossible.
Therefore, the people who would greet and chat with Shopkeeper Liao and others at this time were mostly powerful figures from various households, those who were concerned about the imperial merchants, or shopkeepers who operated for other cloth merchants. They would come over to chat for a while.
, sometimes some manufacturing bureau officials who had been contacted before would come over with a smile and hint that there would be no problem tonight.
As for Su Zhongkan and Su Yunfang, they are probably some business bosses, people with similar status to them, such as the heads of some medium-sized cloth merchants, and even the head of the current cloth merchants, Wu Chenghou, the head of the Wu family, arrived.
When visiting, the first thing to do is to say hello to them and talk about some things about the cloth line.
As for Ning Yi, he kept chatting with various people. After everyone confirmed that Su Tan'er would not be present, their attitude towards Ning Yi was also very enthusiastic. Of course, the topics they talked about were all over the world and had nothing to do with the cloth incident.
Anyway, he is standing in the center of the stage tonight after all. Those whose family strength is worse than that of the Su family are often not so stupid that they do not give Ning Yi any face. If the family situation is similar, some people will learn not to do it.
Noting this, the Xue family and the Su family arrived early, and the differences between the two sides were relatively clear. Xue Sheng only briefly greeted Su Zhongkan and ignored Ning Yi. Xue Yan came over and said a lot with a smile.
Mentioning that he met Li Pin a few days ago, he must be invited to Li Pin's farewell banquet when he comes to Beijing after the city gates reopen.
Xue Yan and Li Pin were not familiar with each other, and they only had some contact with each other through things like the Yancui Building last time. But after Ning Yi started to manage the big house, Xue Yan invited Ning Yi to dinner twice, and the atmosphere was quite good each time.
Yes, as long as Xue Yan wants to make a gesture, he can still achieve it. At this time, he also regarded Li Pin as an acquaintance. After a while, the Wu family came, and Wu Chenghou and his two sons came over to talk to Ning Yi respectively.
After talking for a while, Wu Qilong joked a little about Ning Yi being late this morning: "I heard Shopkeeper Luo mention this matter today. Although it seems that Li Heng has always been indifferent, he is still a little nervous when it comes to today's matter.
Which, haha..."
As the leader of the cloth line, the Wu family has always had a good relationship with various families. The relationship between the Xue family and the Su family was tense, and they often mediated to ease it. During this period, the two brothers Wu Qilong and Wu Qihao were
I have met Ning Yi quite a lot, and at least in terms of attitude, it’s okay to say they are acquaintances. Ning Yi shook his head and smiled, feeling a little helpless: “I originally wanted to persist in doing these things until the last day, but who knew I got up late this morning?
...Well, you all know this...it won't spread again..."
"Haha." Wu Qilong lowered his voice and suppressed his laughter, "I'm afraid everyone knows it already..."
"Tsk..." Ning Yi was stunned, then rolled his eyes, and then Wu Qihao burst out laughing.
"Brother Ning's affairs are not afraid of others finding out. Now everyone in Jiangning knows that Brother Ning is confused about small things but not ambiguous about big things. Tonight's imperial businessman... Well, to be honest, we are rivals, so I won't wish you anything, haha...
..." Wu Qilong smiled openly, "However, although Brother Ning is powerful, our Wu family also has a trump card. Regardless of success or failure, you and I will have to be convinced."
The two brothers were open-minded, and everyone around them was very fond of them after hearing this. The three exchanged a few words, and the two brothers turned sharply. Ning Yi looked at their backs with a smile, and then began to deal with other "acquaintances".
When the time was about to come, everyone took their seats one after another. The space on the second floor of Luyi Building was spacious, and merchants who were eligible to come this time basically had exclusive seats. Everyone in the Su family was at a big round table.
The rest of the merchants were all assigned a round table to sit at. Some merchants did not have many visitors, but they would not arrange to share tables, because this banquet actually had to decide on the ownership of the imperial merchants.
Each household must have its own place.
The Su family, the Xue family, and the Wu family were located at three ends of the venue respectively. At this time, the venue was slightly calm, and some people were still arriving one after another. Officials from the Weaving Bureau came over to say hello and give some instructions.
In fact, the bidding of Huangshang is not based on the general fair bidding method. This is mainly because of the particularity of Huangshang in previous years. The issue of year-old cloth has made everyone avoid it. If an open bidding is held, the result will be
If no one comes, it will obviously be very shameless. After decades of changes, the tasks of the imperial merchants were actually determined in the form of "dedication". It's like if you have something good to offer to the royal family, the royal family will
I will give you some privileges according to the situation, but of course, I won't do this on the surface.
The cloth that is actually sent to the palace will be more profitable. If the royal family wants it, it actually doesn't matter the time, and it doesn't matter the time when it is presented. But at this time every year, the Weaving Bureau has to arrange and allocate the shares of the old cloth. If there are several
The merchants who regularly handle the royal merchants complain too much, and they often allocate some of them, such as the Su family, the Wu family, and the Xue family: There are a batch of tasks here, and you have to help share one point. No one dares not to give face, not to give face.
From now on, I will definitely wear small shoes. Of course, the Weaving Bureau will not go too far, there will always be some sense of propriety.
So the pattern recalled by the Weaving Bureau in the past few decades is mostly like this: each household has some good cloth, and they take turns showing it off for everyone to comment on. By the way, it is also counted as one's own achievements and presented to the royal family. Secretly, although each household has already decided on
Every household has its share of annual cloth burden, but on the surface it is still very beautiful, like a performance exchange and a good cloth appreciation meeting. This year it is still the same on the surface, but it is actually very different on the inside.
Everyone is actually aware of this.
Others whispered, paying attention to the situation of Su, Xue, and Wu families. Shopkeeper Liao and others were also inquiring about the direction of the wind from other people's opinions. When he sat down, he whispered to Ning Yi and said with a smile: "Look at today.
There should be no problem with the atmosphere of the Imperial Business Group. The efforts made over the past month have not been in vain. Most people are optimistic about our Su family..."
He paused and then sighed: "After all, it was the Second Young Lady's foresight, and she had already started working on it a few years ago. Although I was vaguely aware of it in the past, I was not aware of the development of this matter. When something happened to the eldest master, he was still
I really thought that the Su family was going to be in trouble... But in the end, small tricks can't compare to real accumulation. With that fabric in hand, it can be considered a real confidence. What happened in this month can be regarded as a so-called conspiracy.
.”
Ning Yi pursed his lips slightly and looked around: "Is it really okay?"
"It's not a big problem." Shopkeeper Liao also looked around: "The Lu family recently had a new cloth, which is very good, but unfortunately it doesn't suit the royal family's requirements. It's called smoked tea silk. I've already seen it. The Xue family
In the past, there was a signature purple raccoon cloth, which has always been favored by large households and has a relatively high price, but there should be no new products recently. The Wu family is the first in weaving and has strong strength, but their most outstanding one is the weaver, with the Luo Shen needle
In their family, the cloth weavers are always better than others, but in the golden light of my Su family, even if the weavers are better, it may not mean much..."
When they were working for the Su family's royal business, Shopkeeper Liao and others had done a lot of homework. They were talking eloquently, and then frowned slightly: "However, the real mastermind behind the assassination of the uncle has not yet been found. If this person is really the head of the Xue family,
So, I'm afraid they will have trouble..."
Shopkeeper Liao glanced towards the Xue family, then shook his head and smiled, comforting Ning Yi: "The possibility is not high, and... the personnel have been exhausted. Now that the matter has developed to this point, just watch it with peace of mind..."
Ning Yi nodded and stopped talking, then turned around and motioned to Chan'er to put the brocade box she was carrying on the table in front of her. After a while, an official came over and spoke to Shopkeeper Liao, who laughed.
, tilted his head towards Ning Yi: "Master Dong and the others are already here. Our Su family is the most powerful this time. Master Dong wants this banquet to be a good one, so he arranged for my Su family to be the grand finale."
“The finale was good?”
"In previous years, the best cloths were the finale, and some of them are still being supplied to the royal family..."
As he spoke, Shopkeeper Liao was actually slightly nervous. He told Ning Yi about this with a smile, and then spread the news to several shopkeepers around him.
"The finale..." Ning Yi murmured, sat there and thought for a while, shook his head slightly and smiled: "Tonight's affairs are settled..." Because his tone sounded like a question, the man next to him
Shopkeeper Liao smiled: "We don't know yet, uncle, it's hard to say."
At the same moment, someone in the venue also looked over here, playing with a sapphire finger in his hand, and whispered from his lips: "Tonight's affairs...have been decided?" The voice was too low, as if
He murmured, as if he was asking softly about the ring on his hand, with a calm and leisurely smile at the corner of his mouth.
The formal banquet will take a while, because it is always necessary to wait until enough things are boasted before it is suitable for eating, drinking and carnival. What almost no one expected is that what really belongs to tonight will happen almost half an hour later.
, has completely happened, the turning point is so sudden and exaggerated, the reactions to each other are so public and intense, the darkness hidden behind is so deep and there are various twists and turns mixed in, when they are later revealed
The layers were uncovered, so that in the following months and even years, this incident became a deep mark that was repeatedly mentioned in Jiangning's weaving industry and even the business community...
Ning Yi will write the third poem, I think no one can guess which one it is^_^ro