When Luo Xingchen heard her question, he looked over at her and his phoenix eyes narrowed slightly. He smiled and said, "Miss Su is quite right!"
Su Tang nodded. "It seems that it's true that people who do big business are the most broad-minded!" She praised Luo Xingchen and then turned back to Yang Fude. "So, Shopkeeper Yang, do you have anything else to say?"
"You... don't go too far!" Yang Fude looked between Luo Xingchen and Su Tang and said angrily. "It's clear that because Young Master Luo wants to work with you, you're taking the opportunity to deliberately bring up this so-called 'breach of contract' just so that you can cheat me out of my money! I think you two are working together to scam me here."
When he saw Luo Xingchen unexpectedly willing to help Su Tang, Yang Fude couldn't sit still anymore and he began to shout.
But as soon as Yang Fude finished, Luo Xingchen's face darkened and he said coldly. "Yang Fude, say that again."
Instantly, Yang Ford felt regret. This young master from the Luo family was said to have a very strange temper. It was rumored that he never let any other people close to him and that he would immediately seek revenge for even the smallest grievances. In the past three years since he had started do business, it was hard to count just how many families he had caused to go broke in a fit of temper.
All of that ran through Yang Fude's mind in an instant, and he felt a cold sweat break out all over his body. He quickly tried to backpedal: "I was just confused for a moment just now. I didn't mean anything by it. Young Master Luo, please forgive me!"
"Hmph!" Luo Xingchen just snorted coldly in answer.
Su Tang had been watching from the side, and when she saw the two men were done she spoke again. "Has Shopkeeper Yang already forgotten that if it hadn't been for you introducing us, I wouldn't even know this Young Master Luo? Our contract clearly states that if the contract is breached, the contract will be terminated immediately and the party who committed the breach must pay ten taels of silver to the other party, right?"
By now, Su Tang had a narrow smile and a smug look in her eyes. Back then Yang Fude had been very afraid that she would sell her soap or its recipe to someone else, so he had especially drawn up this contract that demanded a very large amount of compensation for any breach.
At that time, he had just wanted to scare Su Tang with a big number so that she wouldn't think of breaking the contract. As for breaching the contract himself, he probably just thought that because Su Tang was a small peasant girl he wouldn't have to worry about it at all. Even if he did break the contract, what could a little peasant girl do about it? He probably never dreamed that things would turn out like this.
"I can't pay that. I don't have ten taels of silver to give you." Yang Fude refused immediately.
Su Tang looked over at Luo Xingchen, "Young Master Luo, how much did he charge you to transfer the contract?"
Ever since he had seen Su Tang's narrow smile, Luo Xingchen had known what the little girl was planning to do. So now, when he heard her question, Luo Xingchen smiled and played along, "It wasn't much, only thirty taels of silver. But it seems that I haven't read enough, and my knowledge is still too shallow because, as it turns out, there's no such thing as a 'contract transfer'. Yang Fude, I'll have to ask for my money back."
Luo Xingchen's suddenly pointed the fan in his hand at Yang Ford and demanded the other man to pay back the money.
Yang Fude's face turned black. "Young Master Luo, I..."
"It sounds like you don't want your shop anymore!" Luo Xingchen normally looked like a leisurely young man who didn't care about anything, but when he got serious that impression disappeared entirely. And Yang Fude knew that, for Luo Xingchen, it would only be a matter of saying a few words to make a small shop like his, that barely brought in a few tens of taels a silver a year, disappear completely.
Yang Fude also knew that, despite his looks, this young master Luo wasn't actually easy-going at all. His temper was so bad that even those wealthy merchants from large cities didn't dare to offend him. However, before Yang Fude took out the money, he tried to argue one last time, "Although I can't transfer the contract, you should know that if it wasn't for me then you might not have ever met Miss Tang, so..."
"Are you trying to get something out of me right now?" The young man's voice had dropped a few notches, and he chuckled darkly.
"Of course not. I only hope that Young Master Luo will pity my family and leave my store alone." Yang Fude's heart was full of bitterness, but in the end, he couldn't help but set his pride aside and beg.
After all, he earned his living from his shop, and it would take more than a year to earn back the thirty taels that had just flown out of his hands. Plus, now that Luo Xingchen had met Su Tang, the two would probably start cooperating and he would no longer be able to sell the soap, so his loss was not small.