Chapter 272: The Opening

Translator: Lonelytree 

Li Huaisheng looked at the time. Following Lin Yuelan’s signal, Li Huaisheng stood on the steps in front of the shop.

Li Huaisheng stood in front of the crowd, cupped his fists, and said, “my fellow villagers and neighbors, today is the opening day of my new shop. Thank you for your support!”

Then, he walked down the steps and looked at the signboard that was covered by a red cloth. He said solemnly, “the new shop is officially open. Reveal the signboard!”

The people who officialized the reopening were Shi Dejiu, the mayor of Ning An Town, and Zhou Yiming, an old master who was highly respected in Ning An Academy.

As a teacher, the old master was not supposed to get involved in any business activities. Businessmen were ranked at the bottom of the social class in that era. Zhou Yiming was a scholar, and it was an insult to him to be involved in the business.

However, Li Huaisheng and Zhou Yiming had known each other since they were young. Back then, before Zhou Yiming was a scholar, his life was so difficult that he didn’t even have the money to pay for the road fees for the county examination. It was Li Huaisheng who gave him some money so that he wouldn’t miss his county examination. At that time, Zhou Yiming passed the elementary scholar examination.

After that, although Zhou Yiming stopped pursuing advancement in his study, he still remembered Li Huaisheng’s favor.

In addition, manager Li had given Master Zhou and his wife a set of clothes each, which they liked very much. Manager Li had also explained that Master Zhou wouldn’t be tied to their shop. He only needed to be there to lift the cloth over the signboard.

Zhou Yiming thought about it for a while. This matter didn’t affect him much, so he agreed.

The mayor of Ning An Town, Shi Dejiu, was the highest official in Ning An town. Shi Dejiu honestly didn’t care that much about the new opening. As the town mayor, Shi Dejiu had heard of Li Huaisheng and his shop. He knew that Li Huaisheng’s shop was suppressed by Xiangyun Pavilion and couldn’t operate much longer. Moreover, Li Huaisheng’s wife was sick, and he planned to sell his shop to treat her illness. Therefore, the mayor looked down on Li Huaisheng. On top of that, he was more familiar with Xiangyun Pavilion’s Zhang Wu. Therefore, he didn’t want to see Li Huaisheng when the latter came to greet him.

However, Li Huaisheng was a clever man. Li Huaisheng brought four sets of clothes. They were designed by Lin Yuelan.

Shi Dejiu had a son and a daughter.

Li Huaisheng vaguely knew that Shi Dejiu didn’t like him very much, so he directly went to Shi Dejiu’s wife. Then, he took out four sets of fashionable clothes and gave them to his wife.

His wife fell in love with the four sets of clothes at first sight and couldn’t bear to part with them.

Li Huaisheng took the opportunity to state his purpose, and Shi Dejiu’s wife agreed to this matter.

In Ning An town, the mayor seemed to have the most power, but he was also a henpecked husband.

Therefore, even though Shi Dejiu didn’t want to come at all, he had to submit to his wife. Plus, he did like the clothes Li Huaisheng gifted them. Therefore, he came to officiate the shop opening.

When the crowd saw Shi Dejiu and Zhou Yiming slowly walking out of the shop, they were shocked. This was because no one would have thought that they would be the ones to unveil the new plaque.

However, what caught their attention the most was the unique Tang suit they were wearing.

That’s right, the clothes they were wearing were modern Tang clothes.

However, their Tang suit was designed to look like a long robe.

Zhou Yiming was in a dark blue tang suit, while Shi Dejiu was in a dark red Tang suit.

“Look, the clothes they’re wearing are really nice!”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen such beautiful clothes on Master Zhou and Mayor Shi.”

“Their clothes are quite similar. I wonder where they buy them from.”

“Hmm. I wonder if they are expensive. If it’s not expensive, I’d like to buy a set and wear it. It’ll be nice to wear when visiting others. They look very nice.”