Chapter 1463: Chapter 1439: Lost the Bet
Manbao was completely unaware of this; she was recently mixing well in the social circles of the capital’s noblewomen, and even Zhou Lijun was having a great time.
It was spring, the season when all the flowers began to bloom, but among them, the most renowned in the capital was still the peony.
Manbao, carrying an armful of peonies into the palace, had made a name for herself in the capital. Within a couple of days, first, the lady of the Liu family had Liu Huan go to Zhou Man’s house to select a variegated peony, and then the lady of the Li family sent someone to pick a yaohuang.
Actually, compared to buying individual flower branches, they were more interested in buying potted flowers.
However, due to past experiences, Manbao didn’t dare to sell them, preferring to sell only flower branches.
As a result, Zhou Lijun temporarily handed over the restaurant’s cash collection duties to Zhou Lichong and returned to manage Manbao’s flower business.
No one knew where her aunt found the flower fields, but somehow she and Bai Shan always managed to buy good flowers from outside.
She was responsible for leading the servants from each household who came to choose flower branches.
For those families particularly eager to buy potted flowers, she would say, "Peonies of such renowned varieties cost at least a hundred taels for a pot outside. They can only be enjoyed once a year, and how many flowers can you actually pin on your hair from one pot of peonies?"
She continued, "It’s better to buy the flower branches. The expensive ones cost five taels, and the cheap ones only two taels. How much could it cost for the young ladies to change flowers every day? Moreover, buying them home means you have to care for them, and you may not even grow them back to their original color."
Having seen the fate of some hybrid chrysanthemum her aunt brought back, she felt reluctant to sell them. Business requires maintaining a good reputation; if a pot of flowers only survives for a year, how does that look?
And for the households who implied that the flower branches were overpriced, she would say, "My aunt tends to these flowers with great care. Each pot is a rare variety; some species you’ve probably never seen before. A single distinguished flower worn to the banquets will definitely attract great attention; how could a few taels be considered expensive?"
She added, "You should know that if these were potted flowers, you might not even buy them for hundreds or thousands of taels."
Those who came to choose flowers on behalf of their masters understood their master’s preferences well. After all, they were purchasing flowers from the Zhou Family to outshine others gloriously.
Therefore, even if they verbally complained about the price, they would still buy.
However, their remarks reminded Zhou Lijun. She told Manbao, "Auntie, we cannot always accommodate everyone’s requests. We cannot sell too many flowers; otherwise, if the streets are filled with these rare varieties, we won’t be able to set a high price later, and we need to continue this business next year."
If selling ten flowers and selling one flower brought the same profit, she would, of course, prefer to sell just one.
So, when people came by asking for flowers, Zhou Lijun would not sell to everyone. She would turn them away twice, saying either they didn’t have it today, or the color they wanted was not yet in bloom, and they’d have to wait a couple of days...
There wasn’t any excuse she couldn’t come up with.
Manbao thought this approach would offend people, and they wouldn’t be willing to come back to buy from her again. However, the opposite turned out to be true.
Even more people came asking for her flowers, even Mr. Zhuang looked at Zhou Lijun in amazement and told a few of his disciples, "I never expected our courtyard could produce a female Tao Zhu."
Zhou Lijun, who hadn’t read much, was busy writing a record of the flower sales in detail. Hearing this, she looked up curiously and asked, "Who is Tao Zhu?"
Bai Erlang, standing nearby, interjected, "Don’t you know Tao Zhu? Tao Zhugong, otherwise known as Fan Li, a famous figure from the Chu Kingdom during the Spring and Autumn period. It’s said he was very impressive, becoming a magnate three times and dispersing his wealth three times."
Bai Erlang paused here, looked doubtfully at Zhou Lijun, and then turned to Mr. Zhuang, "Sir, aren’t you praising her too much?"
Manbao, seeing him belittle her niece, wasn’t happy. She gave him a push and said, "That’s not for you to say, that should come from Lijun."
Meanwhile, Bai Shan placed a document in front of her and said, "This is my article, and the scholars in the academy have already reviewed it."
Manbao looked down and was startled, "How come they all gave it a ’Excellent’?"
Bai Shan boasted, "I told you, my article would definitely pass. Look at the stamps at the end."
Manbao flipped to the end and saw rows of ’Excellent’ grades and stamps, speechless for a long time.
Bai Shan had finished writing this article twenty days ago, and the reason he was showing it to Manbao now was to make her accept her loss wholeheartedly, so she wouldn’t find an excuse to back out of the bet.
After completing the article, he first presented it to Mr. Zhuang.
Mr. Zhuang, after reading it, was quite satisfied and gave him a grade of ’Excellent.’
Bai Shan asked Mr. Zhuang to write the ’Excellent’ grade at the end of the article.
At the time, Mr. Zhuang glanced at him, likely aware of the bet between him and Manbao, so he complied. Perhaps to enhance credibility, he even stamped it with his seal.
Seeing this, Bai Shan felt as if a new world had opened to him. When he brought it to the academy for the scholars to see, he also had them write down an assessment and stamp it.
The originally reluctant scholars, upon hearing that this was a proof of a bet, were quite willing to stamp it with their private seals.
Not only that, but the scholar even helped Bai Shan enthusiastically find several other scholars to read and assess it together.
The article was eventually passed from the National University to the Highest Institute, then to the academy of the Four Gates, and reportedly even reached the schools of law and mathematics, finally falling into the hands of Libationer Kong.
Libationer Kong read it carefully for two days and also wrote ’Excellent’ on it, accompanied by a stamp.
By this point, Manbao could find no justification to argue against it, given the whole line of red stamps at the end.
So, she had no time to deal with Bai Erlang, and, feeling indignant, asked, "Why?"
She took the article to consult Mr. Zhuang, "Sir, did none of you consider the consequences of neglecting agriculture?"
Mr. Zhuang smiled, "Neglecting agriculture is not so easy, and besides, this is an article. We are only judging this one article; he convinced us, so we gave him an ’Excellent.’ If you are not convinced, you could write an article to argue against it."
Bai Shan, standing beside her, turned and asked, "Are you going to write an article to argue against me?"
Manbao: ... When would she find the time?
Still, she was not convinced, so she nodded vigorously, "Argue!"
"Then go ahead and write," Bai Shan replied, "But the bet was whether my article could pass, not only did the teachers pass it, but they gave me an ’Excellent.’ Even if you write an article to refute mine, that’s a separate matter. You have to accept the bet and concede."
Zhou Lixue asked Bai Erlang out of curiosity, "What was the bet between Auntie and him?"
Bai Erlang shook his head, "I don’t know, not interested."
Bai Shan was already smiling as he asked Manbao, "The day after tomorrow I have a day off, should we go then?"
He added, "In a while, the peach blossoms in the mountains will be in full bloom."
Manbao nodded, "Alright, the day after tomorrow then."
Even though she was unhappy about it, she considered herself someone who could accept a bet and concede gracefully.