“Do you remember who bought it?”
Jin Hao looked to a few of the fellows.
One of the fellows said back, “Should, should remember.”
The soap was expensive and those who came to buy it were rich people, most of them ladies or misses, who would not come just to buy a bar of soap, but also the shop’s rouge and powder, and most of them were regular customers.
“Boss Jin, put up a notice that all soaps bought in the shop today, yesterday, the day before, and the day before the big day can be brought in and exchanged for a free box of specified rouge or powder.”
Jin Hao and a few of the staff all drew a cold breath, the rouge was fine, there were more than ten or twenty taels, but the cheapest powder was fifty taels a box.
There were hundreds of boxes of soap sold in the past few days, and if they were all replaced with powder, the shop would lose a lot of money.
“Song, Miss Song ……”
Jin Hao wanted to say that recycling yesterday’s and today’s would be fine, but was interrupted by Song Wangyue, “Do as I say, and if anyone wants to ask, just say that I thought the soap didn’t taste good this time, so that’s why I’m recycling it. ”
“And a few of you ……”
Song Wangyue looked to several fellows, making sure to see if the customers who bought yesterday and today returned the soap.
Several people answered.
Jin Hao took Song Wangyue and Song Yin to the backyard, spread out paper, picked up a pen and paper and wrote notices, taking one out first after writing and posting it on the door.
Some customers had already come over to buy something, but when they saw that the door was closed, they wondered about it, and when they saw that the man had come out and posted a notice, they rushed over to read it.
The shopkeepers from other shops who had been watching from their own doorsteps also came over.
A large number of people gathered in front of the shop.
When they read the notice, they all looked at each other in disbelief, a piece of soap for a box of rouge or powder.
While they were talking, another man came out with the notice and dashed to the street entrance to put it up.
In just a quarter of an hour, the notice’s content spread.
Everywhere you went, you could hear people talking about it.
Half an hour later, someone came to the door with soap. The soap had already been used and the visitor was still a little embarrassed, but it was a bargain not to be taken.
Jin Hao took the soap over and let her pick out a box of water powder.
The lady who came was very happy to see that it could be exchanged, and instructed the little maid on the side, “Go to the Li residence and tell them that their lady should also come over quickly to exchange it.”
The ten taels of silver soap was exchanged for fifty taels of silver powder, which was a great advantage.
Soon the wife of the Li family came, as did the wife of the Zhang family and the wife of the Liu family ……
The woman of Xu Yan also came.
The first thing that happened was that Jin Hao noticed something was wrong and went straight to the Ding Guo Gong House to find Song Wan Yue. Mrs. Xu Yan did not know that something had happened at the shop, but it was only when Sister Wu heard the servant who had gone back to buy vegetables that she found out.
“Yue’er, what’s going on?”
Song Wangyue told her succinctly.
After hearing this, Lady Xu Yan broke out in a cold sweat, if Jin Hao hadn’t noticed something different and gone to tell Yue’er in time, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
“Who framed us like that?”
Song Wan Yue smiled coldly, “It’s just a few families, don’t worry auntie, I’ll take care of it.”
Lady Xu Yan knew her capabilities, but she couldn’t let Yue carry everything, “I’ll have someone stand guard at the palace gate, wait for your uncle to come out and have him come over.”
“No, now people know that we recalled the soap because it smells bad, if uncle comes over, people should get suspicious.”
Mrs. Xu Yan slapped her forehead, she was in a hurry.
Naturally, Huang Yu had heard about it and sensing that something was wrong, she handed the baby to her mother-in-law and hurried over herself.
She was sweating profusely as she walked, and Jin Hao went up to help her, but he did not say anything to reproach her.
“What’s going on?”
Huang Yu asked eagerly.
Since Jin Hao had become the head of the shop, everything in the shop had been handed over to him, and not only Jin Hao, but also Huang Yu had treated the shop as if it was his own.
“Don’t worry yet, Miss Song is at the back, I’ll help you to see her.”
It was the first time Song Wangyue had seen Huang Yu since she had stopped working in the pastry shop, and she smiled, “You look well, it seems Jin Hao has treated you well.”
Huang Yu blushed, “You’re teasing me again.”
Jin Hao let go of her hand, “I’ll go to the front, take your time.”
After saying that, he left as if he was running away.
Although he and Huang Yu were a loving couple, he couldn’t help but blush when he was teased by Miss Song like this.
Huang Yu bowed to Madam Xu Yan and asked, “Is something wrong with the shop?”
Song Wangyue didn’t hide anything from her, and after hearing this, Huang Yu covered her chest; if Miss Song hadn’t found it in time, she would have caused a big disaster.
“Don’t blame yourself either, that person was targeting us, without this one there will be another, Jin Hao also noticed it early, we have nothing to lose.”
How could there be no damage?
A bar of soap is ten taels of silver, a box of water powder is fifty taels, the difference is forty taels, a hundred pieces is four thousand taels, these few days add up to a loss of over ten thousand taels for the proprietor.
Huang Yu almost bit his lip to bleed.
How could she not imagine why that person would do this?
“Do you remember what the man looked like?”
Topaz nodded.
Song Yin walked over to the desk, spread out the paper, picked up a pen and dipped it into the ink, “Describe it in more detail.”
Huang Yu hated to describe even the strands of the man’s hair.
When Song Yin finished his drawing and showed Huang Yu, it looked exactly like the real person.
Mrs Xu Yan also came over to look at it, but she hadn’t been in the capital for years, and she hadn’t been out much since she returned, so she didn’t know many people, let alone a young man.
Song Wangyue cupped her chin and examined it carefully.
Although she had never seen Wu Sheng, she had seen Wu Jin, and the person in the portrait bore a passing resemblance to Wu Jin, plus there were doubts in her mind, so she instantly identified who it was.
“Miss Song, I ……”
Song Wangyue patted Huang Yu’s shoulder, “I said that this matter has nothing to do with you, you should stop blaming yourself, it’s not good for the child in your belly.”
Until the afternoon before closing time, a total of two hundred and twenty-six pieces of soap were collected.
The guys from the day before and the day before that hadn’t remembered, and the ones sold yesterday and this morning had ninety pieces recovered, leaving six pieces left to be recovered.
Jin Hao was very anxious.
Song Wangyue gestured for him to calm down and asked a few of the fellows, “Can you remember who didn’t come to exchange them?”
A few of the fellows looked at each other, and one of them asked, “Can I, can we look at the account book?”
The shop kept a ledger of how many things were sold each day, and the larger ones would also record who had bought them.
Song Wangyue gave them the ledger.
After a few people read it and discussed it for a while, the same fellow from earlier said, “Madam Jiang and Madam Liu didn’t come.”
Song Wangyue looked at Jin Hao, “Go and enquire immediately, which family are Mrs Jiang and Mrs Liu from?”
This Jin Hao happened to know, “Madam Jiang is the wife of the Minister’s family, and Madam Liu is the wife of Commander Xue of the Featherwood Army.”
Hearing the mate’s words, Lady Xu Yan drew a cold breath, “Yue, Yue’er, the Jiang family is the in-laws of the Minister of Household Affairs’ family, and the Liu, Liu family is the in-laws of the Wu family.”