Chapter 372: Gossip
Chapter 372: Chapter 372: Gossip
"I don’t have much going on," Gu Kaiyuan said. "It’s just been a few days since I last saw you all. I wanted to see what you’ve been busy with lately. Let’s go grab some tea when you have time."
"That’s easy," Tian Zhuang said with a hearty laugh. "Once I’m done with this busy spell, let’s have a proper get-together."
After saying that, Tian Zhuang hurried off. Gu Kaiyuan didn’t linger either. He headed to the teahouse first, but missed the storyteller’s performance. After asking about the schedule, he went to inspect his shops. His own two storefronts were still undergoing renovations, though they should be finished soon.
He turned and made his way to Bai Suihe’s shop. Business was still as booming as ever. Fortunately, they had previously sent over clerks from their other shops to learn the ropes, so the staff was managing to keep up with the rush.
He took a lap around the interior, and the Shopkeeper immediately trailed beside him. "Master, do you have any instructions?"
"I’m just taking a look," Gu Kaiyuan replied. "You’ve all worked hard. Once this busy period is over, I’ll have the madam give you a bonus."
"Thank you, Master and Madam," the Shopkeeper said, full of gratitude. "You gave us this opportunity. It’s only right that we do our best."
Seeing how swamped they were, Gu Kaiyuan didn’t stay long. If he hovered, the Shopkeeper and the rest of the staff wouldn’t be able to work comfortably. After giving a few brief instructions, he took his leave.
"Boss Gu!" Seeing Gu Kaiyuan, the owner of the neighboring grocery store had been waiting outside early on. As soon as Gu Kaiyuan came out, the man hurried over with a fawning smile. "Your business is booming! Thanks to you, our shop is doing a lot better too."
The grocery store owner was genuinely grateful. Their business had always been lukewarm. Now, thanks to the fabric shop drawing in the crowds, people would occasionally drop by his store to pick up a few things on their way back. Little by little, his business was steadily improving. Perhaps in the entire county town, no one hoped Gu Kaiyuan’s shop would stay this busy more than this grocery store owner.
"We all work hard together, and the wealth rolls in for all of us," Gu Kaiyuan said, smiling as he cupped his hands in greeting. "We’ll be neighbors from now on, so please bear with us if we cause any inconvenience."
The grocery store owner beamed. "Of course, of course. We’ll all look out for one another."
A distant relative was of less help than a close neighbor; everyone wanted to maintain good relations with those next door. Furthermore, it was obvious that Gu Kaiyuan’s shop had great potential; naturally, he wanted to get on their good side.
The grocery store wasn’t large, but it stocked a surprisingly complete array of goods. With the proprietress personally manning the inside, the owner had plenty of free time to stand outside.
Seeing him so idle, Gu Kaiyuan simply stood outside the shop and started chatting with him. "I haven’t asked your name yet."
It really wasn’t Gu Kaiyuan’s fault for not knowing; he had been busy for so long and had only found a moment of leisure these past few days.
"My surname is Wu. Wu Wei." Afraid that Gu Kaiyuan might misunderstand, Wu Wei added, "The Wu written with the ’mouth’ and ’heaven’ characters, and Wei as in ’fearless’."
"Great name," Gu Kaiyuan praised. "Boss Wu, have you been doing business here for a long time? I see your shop is quite well-stocked."
"We were all exiled here, but that was decades ago. This little bit of property was accumulated little by little," Wu Wei explained. "Our whole family relies on this one shop. We can’t achieve great wealth, but at least we won’t go hungry."
Gu Kaiyuan glanced inside and noticed a back door in the shop. "Is that a residence in the back?"
"Yes, there’s a small courtyard inside. Why don’t we head in to chat?"
Gu Kaiyuan declined. "I won’t intrude today, but I’ll pay a formal visit another time when the chance arises. Still, you have a pretty good setup here. Nothing in this world compares to a peaceful home. Our Zhang County will only get better and better in the future."
"That’s true," Wu Wei said. "But your luck is much better than ours. You received a pardon right after arriving, and on top of that, you encountered a good official like Lord Xu. Your starting point is far better than ours was."
Speaking of this, Wu Wei’s tone carried a hint of sourness. They were both exiled, so why didn’t his family have such good luck? They had suffered for generations here before finally regaining their freedom, yet these newcomers had everything the moment they arrived.
"Our Lord Xu is indeed quite excellent," Gu Kaiyuan agreed, not taking offense. After all, his family had genuinely reaped the benefits. Although it was unjust for them to be exiled here, many people in this town had been similarly implicated and were just as innocent as they were.
"There’s no doubt about that." At the mention of Xu Zitian, Wu Wei immediately opened up. "You don’t know this, but the previous County Magistrates here either didn’t care about anything or mismanaged things entirely, making everyone suffer unspeakably.
"In the past, there weren’t this many shops here. The previous magistrate monopolized all of them, and sometimes the prices were set terrifyingly high. Back then, when we still lived in the village, we rarely came to the county town. We tried to go farther away and purchase our goods in the neighboring county instead.
"Later on, a few more magistrates were cycled through. Some were bad, some were mediocre, and everyone just had to adapt. Slowly but surely, we managed to endure. Now, the whole county isn’t afraid of natural disasters; we’re terrified of unreliable officials.
"Ever since Lord Xu arrived, he cleared out a few factions, and some of the old, unfair rules have been gradually improving. Furthermore, he’s very fair in his handling of affairs and never shows favoritism. That’s how this county town finally began to stabilize..."
Gu Kaiyuan already knew all this. How bad could a student taught by Grand Tutor Lu be?
After listening to the man ramble on for so long, they finally arrived at the main point.
"Our Lord Xu is great in every way, except for one thing," Wu Wei said. "He avoids women."
Having chatted for a while, Gu Kaiyuan proved to be an excellent listener. Chiming in occasionally, he stoked Wu Wei’s enthusiasm to the point where the man began to freely blurt out gossip that was normally better left unsaid.
"Seeing that Lord Xu’s inner courtyard was empty and that he had no female companions traveling with him, the wealthy merchants nearby all got ideas. They tried every possible way to offer him beautiful concubines, but he sternly rejected them all, thus avoiding their schemes.
"Lord Xu has been here for a while, and his term is almost up, yet no one has seen him show favor to any woman, nor have there been any rumors of such. Even all his servants are young male attendants. Soon, another rumor began to spread—that our Lord Xu doesn’t like women because he prefers the company of men..."
Gu Kaiyuan was speechless. Xu Zitian had a family back in the capital! His wife had even borne him three sons. It was only because the children were so young that he couldn’t bear to make them travel with him to his post.
"Is it possible that he is already married and has children?" Gu Kaiyuan couldn’t help but speak up in his defense.
"This is where you don’t understand," Wu Wei said, glancing back into his shop. Noticing that his wife was busy attending to customers, he lowered his voice. "Even if he is married with kids, he’s been here for almost three years. What man could abstain for that long?"
In any case, everyone thought there was something wrong with Lord Xu. It was only Gu Kaiyuan and his group, who hadn’t been here for long, who didn’t know about these rumors.
"It’s perfectly normal for a man to have wives and concubines," Wu Wei added. "If he truly didn’t have an underlying issue, who could endure abstaining for so long?"