Chapter 44: Liang’s Cloth Shop
Over the next few days, Yang Zhengshan didn’t have a moment to himself. The wine feast was over, but there were still many things to attend to within the clan. He needed to oversee road repairs, establish a clan school, and purchase clan assets. These matters required Yang Zhengshan’s involvement, especially since the 800 taels of silver were technically his responsibility.
After several days of busyness, Old Lady Wang came to visit him.
Inside Yang’s main hall, Old Lady Wang smiled and said, “Old Master Yang, the young lady from Liang’s Cloth Shop is a good girl! I’ve already inquired about her.”
Since they started renting fields, Yang Zhengshan had become known as “Old Master” among the villagers. Initially, only the tenant farmers called him that, but now, many people in the surrounding villages did so as well.
“Liang’s Cloth Shop?” Yang Zhengshan asked, surprised.
His cousin, Yang Minghao, quickly stepped forward to explain, “Father, third brother has taken a liking to the young lady from Liang’s Cloth Shop!”
Yang Minghao gazed at Yang Zhengshan with wide eyes.
Yang Zhengshan glanced at him. No wonder this young man had been preoccupied lately – it was because of this matter!
“Tell me more!” Yang Zhengshan said.
Old Lady Wang smiled and began introducing the young lady from Liang’s Cloth Shop. The young lady was indeed the daughter of the shop owner, 14 years old, with a gentle appearance and a helpful nature. According to Old Lady Wang, she was kind, wise, and friendly. “I’m not exaggerating, I’ve visited Liang’s Cloth Shop several times and even bought some fabric there.”
Old Lady Wang knew her reputation for being trustworthy, so she took pains to prove her words.
Yang Zhengshan didn’t doubt Old Lady Wang’s words, perhaps with some exaggeration, but he believed she wouldn’t dare deceive him.
Fourteen years old!
He was going to let a 14-year-old girl marry into the family, and it didn’t feel right.
“Is Liang’s Cloth Shop not from Anning County?”
Old Lady Wang seemed a bit nervous as she replied, “I’ve inquired about it, and Liang’s Cloth Shop is actually an asset of the Liang family from Jing’an Prefecture. The Liang family is a wealthy merchant family.”
Wealthy merchant? That sounded impressive.
However, in reality, merchants didn’t hold a high social status.
Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants – those were the four occupations, with merchants ranked the lowest.
If anyone else had come to propose such a marriage, Yang Zhengshan would have ridiculed them. An ordinary farmer couldn’t marry into a wealthy merchant family.
But now, Yang Zhengshan’s family was no longer ordinary farmers. Old Lady Wang knew he was aiming to become an official, and she was aware of the recent dinner with Luo Jin and Lu Zhang, the shopkeeper.
So, she was worried that Yang Zhengshan might look down on the merchant family. Her concerns were unnecessary, as Yang Zhengshan wouldn’t belittle merchants. He thought that others might look down on his family, the Yangs.
Although merchants had a low status, once they accumulated a certain amount of wealth, they could exert significant influence.
And the Liang family, being a wealthy merchant family, must have had someone backing them up, or they wouldn’t have been able to protect their wealth.
“Who is she in the Liang family?” Yang Zhengshan asked.
“According to my information, she’s the daughter of the third branch of the Liang family! The shop owner is the third uncle of the Liang family,” Old Lady Wang replied.
Yang Zhengshan thought for a moment. This seemed a bit off.
The Liang family was a wealthy merchant family from Jing’an Prefecture, so their children shouldn’t be coming to Anning County to become shop owners. And they shouldn’t let an unmarried young woman be exposed to the public like that.
Why would Liang San, the third uncle, bring his family to Anning County?
Could it be that the Liang family had branched out?
If that were the case, the Liang family’s third branch must have received a limited portion of the family’s assets, which would explain Liang San’s presence in Anning County.
Yang Zhengshan wasn’t interested in the Liang family’s assets; he just wanted to find a suitable marriage partner for his family without any trouble.
Like the Wang and Li families, who were honest and down-to-earth farmers.
And with wealthy merchant families like the Liang family, there were many complex relationships involved.
If the Liang family had indeed branched out, Liang San’s presence in Anning County wouldn’t be an issue.
Yang Zhengshan looked at Yang Minghao.
“How many times have you seen that young lady?”
“Twice!” Yang Minghao’s face turned red as he replied.
“Have you talked to her?”
“No!”
Yang Zhengshan’s lips twitched slightly. It seemed Yang Minghao was smitten with her.
Yang Zhengshan thought he should go see the young lady himself. If she was indeed as he thought, he wouldn’t mind marrying her into the family.
With that thought, Yang Zhengshan let Old Lady Wang go, indicating that if the match was suitable, he would ask her to be the matchmaker, and naturally, he would reward her with a handsome sum of money. Yang Zhengshan handed her two silver coins as a token of his appreciation for her efforts.
Old Lady Wang’s smile grew even wider as she took the coins and left.
The next morning, Yang Zhengshan rode his horse, Red Cloud, to the county town.
Red Cloud was a Hu horse from outside the Pass, a fine breed renowned for its endurance and strength, although its speed and explosiveness were somewhat lacking. For Yang Zhengshan, Red Cloud brought many conveniences.
Originally, it would take half a day to travel from Yang’s village to the county town by cow cart, but now, riding Red Cloud, he could cover the distance in just two hours.
Moreover, this was still with Yang Zhengshan’s limited horse-riding skills; if he mastered horse riding, he could probably cut the travel time to just over an hour.
Riding his horse, Yang Zhengshan felt pleased with himself.
Now, he was among those who had a horse. This fine horse was almost as good as the one he had previously wanted.
As he rode into the county town, even the gatekeepers would give him a glance.
After arriving in the town, Yang Zhengshan found an inn and stabled Red Cloud.
The inn also functioned as a stable, where customers could leave their horses or carriages, and for a fee, they would even provide fodder. Yang Zhengshan didn’t mind the extra expense and ordered a hearty meal for Red Cloud, complete with beans.
After arranging for Red Cloud’s care, Yang Zhengshan casually strolled toward Liang’s Cloth Shop.
In fact, he had visited Liang’s Cloth Shop before, when he bought cotton fabric and cotton yarn there last winter.
However, he didn’t expect Yang Minghao to take a liking to the shop owner’s daughter, so he had purchased the goods and left without chatting with the shop owner.
This time, the shop was relatively quiet, with few customers.
Inside Liang’s Cloth Shop, a middle-aged man in his thirties was busy counting money, and there was no other sound.
Yang Zhengshan coughed lightly to announce his presence.
The man looked up, “What can I help you with, sir?”
“I’d like to buy some cotton fabric. Do you have any?” Yang Zhengshan asked, trying to be as friendly as possible.
It was possible that he would become related to this Liang San in the future, so he should leave a good impression.
“Cotton fabric!” Liang San exclaimed, “We have many types of cotton fabric. Which one would you like, sir?”
Yang Zhengshan followed Liang San’s hand gesture and began examining the fabrics.
He really did need to buy some fabric. It was already spring, and he wanted to make some new clothes for the family.
Moreover, he was planning to bring some people to the Heavy Mountain Fortress soon, and he wanted to make some clothes for them as well.
The villagers in Yang’s village weren’t as wealthy as his family, and their clothes were often patched together. Even during the New Year celebrations, they wouldn’t bother to buy new clothes.
These people would be following him into battle, and he naturally wanted to take care of their daily needs, alleviating their worries.
Yang Zhengshan chose three types of fabric and said, “I’ll take three batches of this, five batches of that, and three batches of the other. Do you have them?”
He had a lot of fabric at home, but it was all high-quality fabric, not suitable for the soldiers.
Liang San seemed surprised by Yang Zhengshan’s large order and exclaimed, “Please wait a moment, sir. I’ll prepare the fabric for you.”
Eleven batches of fabric were no small business.Usually, customers would buy only a few meters of fabric, enough to make one or two outfits.
While Liang San was preparing the fabric, Yang Zhengshan smiled and walked into the inner chambers, where he could get a glimpse of the young lady.
His purpose was to take a look around and get a glimpse of the young lady.
(End of chapter)
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