newbobooks Chapter 632 I want this brocade.
Chapter 632 I want this brocade.
A glimmer of light suddenly appeared in Granny Sun's cloudy eyes as she looked at Chu Ruohan excitedly: "Madam...you...you understand this?"
"I know a little bit," Chu Ruohan smiled.
His gaze then shifted to the shop assistant, but his smile turned cold. "Such exquisite craftsmanship is only worth five taels of silver in your Jinxiu Pavilion?"
The shop assistant was taken aback by her question, and feeling somewhat embarrassed, he forced a smile and said, "Our manager has his reasons for setting prices! Who are you to meddle here?"
"I'm the buyer." Chu Ruohan's voice wasn't loud, but it was firm and resolute. "I want this brocade. Mother, twenty taels, will you sell it?"
Grandma Sun's lips trembled; she couldn't believe her ears.
Twenty taels was enough for her and her sick grandson to eat for more than half a year.
The shopkeeper, Wang, with his mustache, had come over at some point. Upon hearing this, his face immediately darkened.
“Madam, everything should be done in a first-come, first-served manner,” he said with a forced smile. “Grandma Sun sold us this cloth first.”
"Is that so?" Chu Ruohan raised an eyebrow. "But what I just heard was that the mother-in-law was unwilling to sell, and you were forcing her to buy it."
Manager Wang's face turned completely cold. He looked at Chu Ruohan and Gu Junze, who had been silent behind her, and a hint of contempt flashed in his eyes.
“In Chengdu, no one dares to offend our Jinxiu Pavilion,” he said sinisterly. “I advise you two to mind your own business, lest you bring trouble upon yourselves.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Junze, who had been standing behind Chu Ruohan, took a step forward.
He said nothing, but simply raised his eyelids and glanced indifferently at Manager Wang.
That gaze was a murderous aura forged in the crucible of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Manager Wang's face twitched violently, and he felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head, causing his calves to tremble.
His earlier arrogance was instantly extinguished.
The man in front of him was dressed plainly, but his eyes were a hundred times more terrifying than those of the prefect of Chengdu.
“My wife wants to buy this piece of cloth,” Gu Junze finally spoke, his voice low and devoid of any emotion.
"Buy...buy! Please! Please!" Shopkeeper Wang broke out in a cold sweat, bowing repeatedly, unable to speak coherently.
Gu Junze didn't look at him again. He took out a silver ingot weighing twenty taels from his pocket and handed it to Granny Sun.
Grandma Sun stared blankly at the silver in front of her, then at Chu Ruohan's gentle smile and Gu Junze's cold yet reassuring face. Her eyes welled up with tears, which rolled down her cheeks.
With trembling hands, she took the silver and was about to kneel down in front of the two men.
Chu Ruohan reacted quickly and caught her.
"Mother-in-law, you mustn't."
"My benefactor, my great benefactor!" Granny Sun grasped her hand, sobbing uncontrollably.
Chu Ruohan took the exquisite cloud-patterned brocade from her hand and handed it to Gu Junze.
Then he said gently to Granny Sun, "Granny, we've just arrived in Chengdu and are unfamiliar with the place. Would you mind taking us to a quiet teahouse and telling us stories about this city?"
Grandma Sun was stunned for a moment, then nodded repeatedly, so excited that she was almost incoherent: "If Madam wants to hear it, this old woman naturally knows, and will tell you everything she knows."
Guided by Granny Sun, the three of them walked through two alleys and arrived at a teahouse by the river.
The teahouse is small, but it is clean and elegant. Several bamboo tables and chairs are placed by the window, and if you open the window, you can see the awning boats shuttling on the river.
Chu Ruohan chose a quiet corner and ordered not only the finest Maojian tea, but also a plate of local specialty pastries for Grandma Sun.
Grandma Sun sat awkwardly in the chair, her hands on her knees, looking somewhat at a loss.
This was the first time in her life that she had entered such a clean and respectable place.
“Mother-in-law, please don’t be so formal.” Chu Ruohan poured her a cup of tea and pushed it in front of her, saying gently, “Just treat me as your own junior and have a chat with me.”
Perhaps it was Chu Ruohan's gentle attitude, or perhaps it was the cup of hot tea that warmed her heart, but Grandma Sun's tense body slowly relaxed.
She held her teacup, gazing at the river outside the window, a hint of reminiscence appearing in her cloudy eyes.
“In our Sun family, three generations of ancestors were weavers. The ‘cloud pattern weaving’ technique that I have is a skill that was passed down from my great-grandmother’s generation.”
"Back then, the textile industry in Chengdu was not dominated by a single company. Each company had its own unique skills, and they competed with each other. Whoever had the best fabric and the most innovative weaving techniques could live a good life."
Grandma Sun sighed, her voice filled with desolation, "But now, it's not possible."
Gu Junze sat quietly to the side, tapping his fingers lightly on the table, his gaze calm, as if listening, or perhaps thinking about something else.
"That Manager Wang of Jinxiu Pavilion was originally just the manager of a small weaving workshop. Somehow he got in touch with the government and established some kind of weaving guild, becoming its president."
Grandma Sun's voice carried a hint of resentment, "From then on, the fabric trade in Chengdu became entirely controlled by his family."
"He lowered the purchase price for all weavers, and if anyone refused, he would use the guild's authority to prevent any merchant from buying their goods."
"Many artisans either have to accept it by holding their noses and be treated like long-term laborers, or they have to change careers and watch helplessly as their ancestral crafts are lost."
Chu Ruohan listened quietly, already understanding the situation.
This small city of Chengdu is a miniature imperial court, with deeply entrenched power structures, domineering bullies, and ordinary people struggling to survive in the cracks.