As Yun Lei and the two people following behind him were disappearing in the crowd, the young lady's eyes fell on the half-eaten dishes atop the corner table. The floor was empty so it could have only belonged to the people who had just left.
It was a first for the Flower Garden Pavilion. She had never seen someone leave without finishing their food. It didn't take long for her to notice a discrepancy.
The amount of food they had ordered was quite high. So high that she didn't think any commoner would be able to afford it. Yet, they were wearing shabby clothes and sitting on the ground floor. And they had walked out completely unimpeded by the guards which meant that their bills had clearly been paid.
"Who served that table?" The young lady asked. Her voice was akin to that of a waterfall, melodious and calming yet it had a majesty to it that left people in awe.
The waiter in question was swiftly made to kneel in front of her and was currently sweating bullets. Not knowing what you did wrong was quite a stressful scenario for any servant.
"Did the people on that table say anything about why they didn't finish their food before leaving?"
The kneeling waiter quickly shook his head from side to side.
"Did you notice anything strange about them?"
The waiter had already started shaking his head before his entire body shuddered.
"Tha' little basta— I mean, the young one was scary. Scary." The waiter spoke like the average crass thug you'd find in a back alley somewhere. This was why the emphasis on the word 'scary' made the young lady frown more than it normally would have.
"Find out what's wrong with that food." She commanded one of her guards. Being ordered to eat someone else's leftovers was undoubtedly humiliating but the guard didn't even let out a peep. He hurried over to the table and tasted every dish and took a sip of the wine.
"Reporting to the young lady, the food tasted horrible, the chicken soup was probably not prepared today and the wine has been watered down." The guard spoke his honest feelings.
"Did my Flower Garden Pavilion always serve food that could be described as horrible?"
"No, Young Lady."
Silence filled the room for a brief moment before she coldly spoke.
"Go cut off the heads of the ones responsible for letting such food get served to our customers. Send the guards to find the guests who just left and extend my personal apologies to them."
"As you command, Young Lady."
In the meantime, Yun Lei had already returned to Yun Meili's room. He was in quite a foul mood after that meal so he had wanted to go home and cleanse his pallet immediately.
Only after he had some good food and a cup of the Yun Family's wine did he feel his mood returning to normal.
He pulled out an empty sheet of paper and started writing down orders that would be passed to Senior Mo. Since his wife had left the old man in his care, naturally he would make good use of him.
Senior Mo had three main things to do. The first was to find out whom the Ren Family got their fabric from as well as hire better seamstresses to sew the clothes.
The second was to make a list of every single dish sold at Flower Garden Pavilion as well as hire some capable chefs.
The third was to establish an umbrella company all his business ventures would be operated under. Yun Lei had already even thought of the name.
Thunder Cloud.*
That would be the name of his company. Sounds pretty cool, if I say so myself. Yun Lei thought with a satisfied nod.
He finished the letter, rolled it up and gave it to one of the maids before stretching. He was going to be rather busy in the foreseeable future so he would just take the time and relax.
He checked the black book for new developments, which was quickly becoming a part of his daily routine but just like yesterday, and the day before, nothing had changed.
After reading through the entire library, Yun Lei had found several books authored by Emperor this and Emperor that. However, he didn't think such generic books would be the ones that the Emperor had wanted to specifically point out.
This led him to the conclusion that the black book was the one he had been searching for all along. Although, it couldn't be said that the book was 'written' by anyone, given that it was completely empty, save the first page.
Yun Lei picked up a random book from the shelf before laying down on the bed and lazily reading it.
It was one of the rare moments that Su Ning wasn't in the room but he wasn't too worried about that. It wasn't like anything would happen to her at the Yun manor. In fact, he was happy she wasn't just cooped up in the room all the time.
The quiet atmosphere was quickly making Yun Lei drowsy and the nice meal he had just had didn't help. The day had been quite tiring too. Before he even knew it, he had already fallen asleep.
The next day, he woke up quite early. Yun Meili was sleeping to his right and Su Ning to his left.
Truly, this is bliss. He silently smiled before slipping out of bed. The sun had already risen. Outside the courtyard, Senior Mo was standing along with Situ Yue.
Senior Mo worked with ruthless efficiency. The three tasks that had been left to him were finished in a single evening. Yun Lei couldn't help but be impressed.
"Senior Mo, I'll let my wife know that I am very impressed with your work."
The man only smiled in reply.
The first order of business was to go meet the fabric merchants. Then, he had to go look at the place his shop would be set up as well as meet the new employees who had just been hired.
After a quick breakfast, the group got on the move. Their group of three had become a group of four. One of the experts who had silently followed them the day before was sitting in the carriage with them.
Putting it in simple words, it was a show of force. The guy was rather intimidating so of course, Yun Lei had to put him to good use. After all, the negotiation table was a battlefield and psychological warfare was just as effective a tactic in a negotiation table as it was in an actual war.
Not that the terms he would put forward would be disadvantageous to the other party. It was more so to stop them from thinking they could walk all over him just because he was being generous.
Humans were greedy creatures, after all. If you gave them a finger, they'd want the entire arm.
There were mainly two families that were involved in the fabric trade. The Zhiwu Family and the Chong Family. The Zhiwu Family grew as well as imported cotton and manufactured fabric while the Chong Family farmed silkworms and produced silk.
The Zhiwu Family manor was in an absolute frenzy. Everyone from the servants to the higher-ups, all were busy.
The night before, a letter had arrived at their doorstep informing them that the son-in-law of the Yun Family would be paying them a visit. All the servants had remembered the heavy words the usually calm and soft-spoken Matriarch had said.
"Everything must be perfect, nothing can be lacking."
The severity of those words had informed the servants. If things weren't good, heads would roll.
A carriage soon arrived at the front gate, surrounded by guards in full uniform. One could immediately tell that they were from the Yun Family.
Four people got off from the carriage, at the lead was an extremely handsome young man, a jade tablet with the word 'Yun' hung on his belt.
Unlike the day before, Yun Lei was completely dressed up. He was wearing extremely luxurious clothes, his hair had been properly decorated and a sword was attached to his hip as well.
The Matriarch of the Zhiwu Family had personally come out to welcome them.
"Young Master Yun, welcome, welcome." The Matriarch said with a smile.
"I thank the Matriarch for the warm welcome." Yun Lei was equally polite and soft-spoken.
The group was led to a meeting room where negotiations began. It was mostly Senior Mo who did the talking, Yun Lei just sat there, watching.
The deal was simple. The Zhiwu Family would be paid more for their fabrics but they would sign an exclusive contract with the Thunder Cloud Company.
The Matriarch was confused why the contract said Thunder Cloud Company instead of Yun Family but she didn't question it much. After all, Yun Lei was sitting in front of her with a smile on his face.
The discussions were finished pretty quickly. Zhiwu Family wouldn't suffer any downsides from the deal. In fact, it was more beneficial to them. It was a shame that their relationship with the Ren Family would suffer but that was tolerable since they would be forming a friendship with the Yun Family.
Within half an hour of when they had first arrived, the group made their exit.
Finally, the servants breathed a sigh of relief. An entire night of effort had been for that half an hour and given that the Matriarch had sent off the guests with a wide smile on her face, they could tell that everything had gone well.
It was a pretty similar affair in the Chong manor. The Chong Family was smaller than the Zhiwu Family but since silk was rarer and cost more than other fabrics, they had just as much wealth.
The Matriarch of the Chong Family came out to welcome them and the negotiations were quickly completed. Before long, the guests left as a widely smiling Matriarch saw them off.
The carriage made its way towards the busy market. But instead of going towards the heart, it moved to an almost silent street in the outskirts.
There was a reason Yun Lei had chosen this street. If it was merely a single shop, it would be quite easy to get some land nearer to the centre street. However, Yun Lei's plans weren't limited to merely a single shop. It was close enough to the hustle and bustle, anyways.
A large sign with the words 'Thunder Cloud' hung on the building which would be Yun Lei's first commercial venture. He was quite satisfied with how it looked and even more satisfied with how fast Senior Mo had made it happen.
Inside, several seamstresses were anxiously awaiting their new employer. When they heard about the working conditions, they almost couldn't believe their ears. Of course, there were those sceptical ones who thought they were just being lied to but there were many who were hopeful.
When Yun Lei entered the shop, all of them immediately bowed. It wasn't because they knew he would be their boss in the future. It was because they could tell just from his aura that he was someone important.
Of course, Yun Lei's appearance was nothing short of breath-taking so the impact was quite heavy. Some of them even recognised him as the son-in-law of the Yun Family because they had gotten a good look at him during his wedding.
"I thank you all for coming here." Yun Lei spoke gently, giving him the appearance of an amicable scholar. "As you all know, Thunder Cloud is quite a new company. This is the first official shop under its banners.
"I believe you have all already been made aware of your responsibilities and remunerations. Work diligently and you will be made a permanent employee."
The pupils of the gathered seamstresses shook at the mention of permanent employment. That had been the least believable part of the contract they were offered.
Most seamstresses worked on commission and they got paid depending on the number of a product they could finish. Sometimes they got a lot of orders, sometimes they didn't. When they didn't, they couldn't even be sure whether they could afford their next meal. This was how it worked, even with the Ren Family.
But what did permanent employment mean? It meant that regardless of whether they got work or not, they would be paid a monthly salary. In a business that involved clothing, periods of slump where sales slowed down was natural. Even in those periods, permanent employment would prevent the seamstresses from starving.
Who would want to miss such an opportunity?
With a few simple words, Yun Lei had lit a fire under these women.