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“Her businesses do make good money, but the prices are inflated. The items sold don’t match the price, and other shops with similar prices offer much better quality,” Su Yu explained. Gu Xiruo’s shops were profitable, but they weren’t as good as they seemed.
Wang Jinhe touched her chin, seemingly dozing off; they had indeed delivered the pillow themselves.
“Have there been any incidents of selling subpar goods as premium in her shops?” Wang Jinhe inquired.
“Yes,” Su Yu nodded with a suppressed smile. It seemed he knew what Xiao He wanted to do.
“Oh? Tell me more specifically,” Wang Jinhe suddenly became interested, urging Su Yu to speak quickly.
Su Yu shared everything he knew with Wang Jinhe. It turned out that, to make more money, Gu Xiruo had consistently used substandard silk to pass off as premium goods. The flawed items were turned into clothing, and the buyers had no clue.
This was Gu Xiruo’s cleverness—once turned into finished clothing, the flawed items felt almost the same as good ones, and laymen wouldn’t notice.
Initially, Gu Xiruo didn’t dare to use only flawed goods for all her finished clothing. However, after realizing that no one discovered this secret, she gradually switched all the fabric for her finished clothing to substandard ones. The prices for her clothing ranged from hundreds to thousands of taels.
Wang Jinhe listened with great interest, “Isn’t Gu Xiruo worried that an expert might discover this one day?”
“No one has noticed in two or three years, so her confidence has naturally grown,” Su Yu shrugged, expressing his helplessness.
Wang Jinhe stared at Su Yu, and her gaze made him feel slightly uneasy. “What do you want?”
“Indeed, you understand me. Since Gu Xiruo is so confident, let’s give her a big surprise, shall we?” Wang Jinhe looked at Su Yu with anticipation.
“Just tell me what you want to do, and I’ll have someone arrange it,” Su Yu said, curious about what Wang Jinhe would ultimately do.
“Find an expert to visit her shop, someone particularly famous and well-known by many people,” Wang Jinhe suggested, considering and then worrying that Su Yu might not have such a person.
“Do you have someone like that?” she asked.
Su Yu laughed heartily, “You really found the right person. I have someone like that—famous and an expert. Once she goes, many people will follow.”
“That’s even better. The more, the merrier,” Wang Jinhe said with keen interest.
Gu Xiruo is currently in a coma due to a serious illness, right? Wang Jinhe wondered if she could continue to stay in a coma after her shop encountered problems.
“Is there anything else you want to do?” Su Yu inquired.
“We don’t need to do anything more. Let it play out,” Wang Jinhe shook her head, not planning to escalate further. She knew that going too far could be counterproductive.
“Isn’t this letting her off too easily?” Su Yu looked disapprovingly at Wang Jinhe, thinking she was being too soft.
Su Yu laughed, “Su Yu, we don’t need to do anything after that. We want people to think it’s an accident, not something deliberate.”
Su Yu squinted at Wang Jinhe. This girl unexpectedly resorted to such methods, quite interesting.
“It seems like what you’re saying makes sense. I’ll write a letter to Wanfeng and have them invite Zhen Niang over for a visit,” Su Yu said, eager to know the outcome. Unfortunately, they weren’t on the scene and couldn’t witness it firsthand.
“Zhen Niang?”
“As the top embroiderer in Xuan Country, she has handled fabrics of the finest Snow Cloud Brocade, not to mention silk. How’s her status? Is it significant enough?” Su Yu asked with a playful glint in his eyes.
Wang Jinhe nodded repeatedly. The status of the top embroiderer in Xuan Country was indeed significant.
“Others don’t know about her relationship with you, right?” Wang Jinhe asked, concerned.
“They don’t.”
Wang Jinhe was immediately satisfied and waved her hand, saying, “Then quickly contact Wan Feng and them. I don’t want Gu Xiruo to keep plotting against me.”
“Alright, I’ll write the letter now.”
After Su Yu’s letter was delivered, Wan Feng, upon reading its contents, couldn’t help but feel that their young master had become quite indirect in his actions. It seemed like a waste of time. Only after reading the entire letter did they realize that it was actually a request from their Madam.
Naturally, they had to fulfill the Madam’s request and make arrangements accordingly.
As Wan Feng was heading out, he ran into Wan Gu returning. “Why do you look so angry? What happened?” Wan Feng asked.
“It’s nothing. It’s just that my nephew, my disciple, has encountered some problems. He’s been slandered by Gu Xiruo,” Wan Gu said angrily. Gu Xiruo didn’t hesitate to target even their people from the Divine Physician Valley.
“Do you need our help?” Wan Feng quickly asked when he heard that it was Wan Gu’s nephew who had been mistreated.
“I want my nephew to come to my side. He grew up in the Divine Physician Valley and knows nothing about the dangers outside. Now, he’s being falsely accused with no way to defend himself, only feeling stifled,” Wan Gu said helplessly.
He wanted his nephew to come over, but he was worried that the Young Master would be displeased if he found out.
“The more people from the Divine Physician Valley, the happier the Young Master will be. Just bring him over. Afterward, I’ll write a letter to the Young Master and explain the situation. Your nephew is our person; if he’s bullied, we naturally have to protect him,” Wan Feng coldly huffed and spoke.
Gu Xiruo really didn’t know her place, daring to provoke anyone.
“Does the Young Master have any instructions?” Wan Gu curiously asked.
“The Young Master wants Zhen Niang to go to Gu Xiruo’s shop.”
Wan Gu looked at Wanfeng in surprise, “Why did the Young Master suddenly decide to trouble Gu Xiruo?”
Sending Zhen Niang to Gu Xiruo’s shop was equivalent to exposing the substandard practices in Gu Xiruo’s shop. This directly stirred up a hornet’s nest, which was quite interesting.
“It’s not the Young Master causing trouble for Gu Xiruo. It’s that the Young Madam doesn’t want Gu Xiruo to be idle and wants her to have more to do,” Wan Feng explained.
Wan Gu was very curious about the Young Madam, “In that case, you should quickly handle the matter well.”
“Yes, I’ll go busy myself now. If there’s anything with your nephew, just let us know directly. We’ll definitely help you,” Wan Feng said.
“Alright.”
Wan Feng went to inform Zhen Niang about the situation. Upon hearing it, Zhen Niang immediately agreed, “I’ve long found Gu Xiruo’s shop displeasing.”
Selling high-quality items at a high price was understandable, given the scarcity of genuinely good products. However, Gu Xiruo had nothing but defective goods in her hands, pretending they were top-notch and selling them as such. This was simply a disgrace to their reputation.
Zhen Niang hadn’t intervened before to avoid causing trouble for Su Yu. But now that they had asked for her involvement, she wouldn’t let Gu Xiruo off the hook, especially since this person also intended to bully their Young Madam.
“I’ll take care of this matter. I’ll go now,” Zhen Niang said, taking money and leaving with her servant.
To avoid making her actions appear too deliberate, Zhen Niang even bought some genuinely good items from other shops. When she emerged from the third fabric shop, all the noble ladies who admired Zhen Niang’s embroidery had already heard about it.