A life of two souls traveling through time

Chapter 267 Water Flow Cloth Shop

"what happened?"

As soon as Mu Liang entered the study, he saw his sworn brother Li Yunye frowning, and he hurriedly stepped forward and asked with concern.

"In the past three months, the business of Yujiang City and Wangcheng has been getting slower and slower. It's understandable that Wangcheng was affected by the war between Lang and Xiyue in the north, but I checked the account books of Yujiang City from April to June last year, and the sales were so different in just one year. Although the shops in various places did fluctuate due to rumors from the outside world when my father just left, we have worked hard to stabilize the situation in the past six months. It really shouldn't be that bad for Yujiang City's business." Li Yunye spread the two account books in his hand in front of Mu Liang and sighed with a worried look on his face.

"Business in Wangcheng has been a bit sluggish since the war between Langguo and Xiyueguo. Although the land of Langguo has long been part of Xiyueguo, people in the north are still uneasy. There is nothing we can do about it. However, Yujiangcheng is located in the eastern region, which has always been stable. It is really puzzling that the sales volume has suddenly dropped so much. When my adoptive father was alive, he often praised Manager Yang of Yujiangcheng as a good businessman, but now the business has suddenly dropped without any explanation..." Mu Liang looked at the two account books in front of him and muttered worriedly, but before he finished, An Yun suddenly came in and said:

"My two lords, Shopkeeper Yuan and Shopkeeper Yang are here."

Li Yunye and Mu Liang looked at each other in surprise. Just as they were talking about Cao Cao, Cao Cao appeared. This shopkeeper Yang arrived just in time.

"Please come in." Mu Liang spoke to An Yun first.

An Yun nodded and ran to the front of the hall to invite the two shopkeepers to the study. Shopkeeper Yuan was naturally familiar with Li Yunye because he often went to the Li Mansion when he was in Qile City. Although Li Yunye was the boss, as a junior, he did not put on airs. So Shopkeeper Yuan greeted Li Yunye and Mu Liang as usual and then sat down on the chair in front of the window.

When Shopkeeper Yang saw Mu Liang standing next to Li Yunye, his face immediately turned ugly, and there was a bit of jealousy in his shrewd eyes.

"Manager Yang, have you just arrived in Qile City? The weather is hot and you must have had a hard journey." Mu Liang naturally saw the displeasure on Manager Yang's face, but he did not take it to heart. He just told An Yun to prepare some cool drinks and fruits while smiling at him.

"We just arrived. We have important matters to attend to, so we naturally don't care whether it's hot or not, or whether it's hard work or not. After all, we are not like Shopkeeper Mu who only needs to stay by the young master's side to make plans." Shopkeeper Yang also restrained his expression and returned to his usual shrewdness, but he deliberately put on a nodding and lowering gesture and smiled.

Although it was a joke, others could hear something strange in it. Mu Liang said nothing and smiled as he returned to Li Yunye's side. Shopkeeper Yuan, who was sitting under the window, sighed helplessly. He also knew that since the young master took over the famous Li family in Jiangnan, Shopkeeper Yang began to dislike Shopkeeper Mu and was extremely dissatisfied with the young master's trust in Shopkeeper Mu. But in Shopkeeper Yuan's opinion, Shopkeeper Yang was not doing his job. Although they were both shopkeepers from other families, Shopkeeper Mu was the adopted son of the Li family after all. He had lived in the Li Mansion for more than 20 years and had always been loyal to the Li family. What was wrong with the young master relying on his sworn brother?

"Manager Yang, you came at the right time. Why did the business in Yujiang City suddenly become slow? What happened?" Li Yunye was dissatisfied with Manager Yang's sarcastic attitude towards Mu Liang, so he frowned and pointed at the account book in front of him and asked seriously.

"Sir, I came here for this matter." Seeing that the young master was talking about serious matters, Shopkeeper Yang stopped smiling, put the piece of silk cloth in his hand on the table in front of Li Yunye, slowly spread it out, and then said, "Sir, please take a look."

"This cloth is not from the famous Jiangnan Li family." Li Yunye blurted out without thinking too much when he saw the silk cloth. He couldn't help but wonder why Shopkeeper Yang brought a piece of cloth from another family? Was he trying to show him the mysterious pattern on the cloth?

"Putting aside the exotic paintings on it, the pattern on the background is an imitation of the famous Li from Jiangnan." Mu Liang narrowed his eyes and suddenly sneered.

After hearing this, Li Yunye stared at the silk cloth on the table and examined it carefully. He found that the base color of the silk cloth was indeed similar to the imitation cloth from last time, but the imitation cloth in front of him had some mysterious patterns and colors added. It looked fresh at first glance, but after looking at it a few more times, it seemed messy and lost its beauty.

"I've just taken a close look, and the base color is the same as the one we sold out of last time. It's just that they've learned their lesson this time, and added these strange paintings on the imitation cloth, making it difficult to detect." At this time, Shopkeeper Yuan also walked up to Mu Liang and said.

"Shopkeeper Yang, where did this cloth come from?" Li Yunye continued to ask Shopkeeper Yang in front of him.

"Sir, this cloth is now very popular in Yujiang City." Shopkeeper Yang sighed and shook his head helplessly.

"How can such a cloth with no aesthetic appeal be sold so well in Yujiang City?" Li Yunye widened his eyes in disbelief. The aesthetic taste of the people in Yujiang City is really peculiar.

"The quality of this cloth is indeed not as good as our famous Jiangnan Li, but the exotic paintings on it are novel. In addition, they used some inflammatory sales methods, which attracted the people of Yujiang City to pursue it." Shopkeeper Yang continued to reply.

After all, Jiang Siyao had been fooled by some businesses' marketing methods in modern times, so she immediately understood what Shopkeeper Yang said. It seems that whether here or in modern times, most people follow blindly.

"Where does this cloth come from?" Mu Liang also asked.

"Shuiliu Cloth Shop was newly opened at the beginning of the year. It was quiet at first, but it has suddenly become very popular in the past three months." At this point, Shopkeeper Yang lowered his head and sighed helplessly: "Our shop has also started to slow down in the past three months."

"I've never heard of this Shuiliu Cloth Shop in Jiangnan. Maybe it's from outside?" Shopkeeper Yuan also asked in confusion.

"I also found out recently that the owner of that cloth shop is not from Jingsong, but from Wucang. However, he is very mysterious and only showed up on the opening day of the cloth shop." Shopkeeper Yang nodded.

"Liunan Kingdom's western neighbor, Wucang Kingdom? No wonder the patterns on the cloth are all exotic." These words made the other three people look surprised. Li Yunye frowned first, but he always felt that something was wrong but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Mu Liang and Shopkeeper Yuan looked at each other and remained silent. Seeing that the two of them did not speak, Shopkeeper Yang just lowered his head and responded to the young man in front of him.

When the room fell into silence, An Yun came in with cold drinks and fruits, but noticing the serious atmosphere in the study, he put the things down and retreated silently.

"Why aren't you talking?" Li Yunye looked at Brother Mu Liang and Manager Yuan who were lost in thought and asked anxiously.

"How did this boss from Wu Cang imitate the cloth of our famous Jiangnan brand Li?" Seeing the young master urging him, Shopkeeper Yuan asked again with confusion.

"Didn't someone from Majia Village sneak into my Li family's dyeing room to steal the craft?" Li Yunye glanced at Mu Liang beside him and continued to say nonchalantly, "Since they stole the craft, they might have sold it to that Wu Cang countryman. Or, the person behind Majia Village is this Wu Cang country boss."

"What you said makes sense, sir." Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Yang rarely agreed with Li Yunye's words.

Mu Liang remained silent. It was unlikely that the craftsmanship he guessed was resold, but it was possible that the person behind Majia Village was the boss of Wucang Country. But why did he want to massacre the village? What was his relationship with the assassin organization Jiuhe? Now he opened a cloth shop and openly sold the imitation cloth of Jiangnan Mingli. Was he going to compete with Jiangnan Mingli? But with Jiuhe behind him, Jiangnan Mingli had to be careful...

"Brother Muliang, what are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking that Shuiliu Cloth Shop is going to compete with the famous Li from Jiangnan. How should we respond?" Seeing his sworn brother pulling his sleeve, Mu Liang came to his senses and smiled calmly.

Mu Liang also kept the matter of Jiuhe a secret from Li Yunye, as he didn't want his brother to have any more worries.

"It's just business competition, then I'll use my Jiangnan famous Li's real materials to teach a lesson to those who can only steal other people's things and then process them." Li Yunye was dismissive of the so-called Shuiliu Cloth Shop. A blacksmith must have strong tools. No matter how good the marketing is, it will ultimately be just a flash in the pan if the product is not good.

Seeing the confidence on his brother's face, Mu Liang said nothing but smiled dotingly. Then he looked at Shopkeeper Yang and said, "I'll have to trouble Shopkeeper Yang to pay more attention to the Shuiliu Cloth Shop. It is now well-known in Yujiang City and must have attracted more people's attention. Try to find out more information about the owner of the cloth shop."

Although Shopkeeper Yang was dissatisfied with Mu Liangxin, since it was a famous Li from Jiangnan and in front of the young master, he naturally could not refuse, so he just nodded indifferently.

"Master, are we going back to Yujiang City directly?"

After the carriage drove out of Qile City, the coachman asked the people in the carriage.

"No, let's take a detour to Medicine City." Shopkeeper Yang in the carriage opened the curtains, looked at the lake in the distance and said softly, a cunning light revealed in his originally shrewd eyes.