Chapter 20: Tea (5)

Once again, Muchen would have to put off his tea sales for another day. That left him with some free time in his schedule.

He could have just arrived early to the Thousand Treasure Hall. Master Huang would certainly be happy enough to take the extra silver. Muchen didn't think that an extra hour or two digging through dusty tomes was a good way to dissipate the stifled feeling in his chest, though.

Instead, he made a stop at the Orchid Blossom Emporium. As expected of the premier source for makeup and personal care in the capital, the storefront was lavishly decorated. Muchen gave the gilt inlay on the signboard only a passing glance as he made his way inside. He was on a mission to scout out his competition.

A quick glance around the surprisingly spacious interior confirmed what he had expected. One woman had covered herself completely with a veil and was being attended to by a whole gaggle of personal attendants as well as a store clerk. Several other aristocratic ladies were browsing the shelves together with their personal maids. Muchen was the only customer who was by himself. And also, of course, the only man.

"Greetings," a store clerk said, showing admirable professionalism, "are you looking to buy a gift?"

Muchen nodded. "Something pleasant to smell, but only lightly scented."

The Qianzhan Empire had long since grasped the basics of making soap. If he had to choose what feature of the world of his rebirth he was most grateful for, it would be a close contest between the fact that he had a shot at superpowers and the fact that the Qianzhan Continent was blessed with reasonable sanitary standards.

That wasn't to say that the Qianzhan Empire had access to the whole array of products that Muchen remembered browsing past back on Earth when he'd visit the store to purchase scented candles to serve as holiday gifts. He couldn't help but note the lack as the attendant took him on a tour of the shop's offerings.

The most popular perfume choices were variations on a heavy, musky scent, made by processing various animal parts. There were a few plant based soaps that would be fairly gentle on the skin, and even fancy soaps that had been formed around flower petals and the like, but nothing that had been properly infused with a floral aroma. No essential oils on display.

Other than soap and perfume, the other prominent personal care product was a sort of shower gel made with a base of ground soy bean powder combined with various dried flower petals and the like. That would compete with a few of the product formulas in Muchen's head, but that still left several options where he would enjoy, if not a monopoly, at least a first mover status. That was assuming his products would sell, but Muchen felt better having surveyed the competition. Obviously people in the Qianzhan Continent did like to smell nice, and their needs were only barely being met by the current market.

The makeup situation was also pretty dire. Muchen wasn't an expert in the field, but even he could tell that the products on offer at the Orchid Blossom Emporium paled in comparison to a decently stocked modern cosmetics cabinet. Sadly, he had no idea how any of the modern products had been formulated.

It was a pity, but he wasn't too bothered by it. For one thing, he still had half an eye on designing products that appealed to cultivators. At every step along the cultivation process little things like a person's complexion and skin quality were improved along with everything else about the physical body. Makeup was, accordingly, largely a mortal concern.

That also meant there would be less demand for anything like a modern deoderant to cancel out unpleasant smells as you moved up in cultivation realms, but the appeal of adding pleasant scents would still be there. Although for all Muchen knew cultivators used mind-bending substances brewed up from spiritual elixirs to supply a personal aroma, at least there was a chance that a quality mortal perfume could establish a niche appeal among cultivators.

He purchased a scented sachet at the somewhat outrageous price of 100 wen in order to thank the sales attendant for her patience before making his way back to Huichen and his cart. He might have been blocked from doing any business today, but at least the future looked bright.

His welcome at the Thousand Treasures Hall was becoming something of a matter of routine. He was welcomed inside and found his own way to Master Huang's office. He was able to muster up the concentration to plow through two hours worth of research, which was enough time to finish off the first of Master Huang's reference tomes and find one more candidate, this one a flying sword with a turtle shell hilt that protected its wielder from the wind.

Muchen wasn't excited about the prospect of taking on somebody who could wield a flying sword, but that was a concern for the future. As he made his way home, he felt like he had put in an honest day's work.

He was only slightly dismayed to find that his cultivation progress put the lie to that self-assessment. Not only did he not feel the comforting boost that came along with carrying out his dao, it even felt like the spiritual energy was moving more sluggishly than it had the day before.

Perhaps he was still carrying along some of the frustration of dealing with that obnoxious clerk at the government hall. He knew that he needed to put that aside in order to reach the optimum mental state for cultivation, but he was only human. He had not yet reached a point where his emotions could be flicked on or off like a light switch.

Muchen did his best not to dwell on the problem and to continue conducting his meditation properly. Even if he wasn't operating at peak efficiency, he was at least making some progress. Cultivation was a matter of accumulating the results of effort over time. No matter how frustrating.

ooOoo

The next day, he approached the government office with some trepidation. He had loaded up his samovar once more. He figured he might as well be prepared for the best case scenario, and after such a frustrating cultivation session he wasn't going to miss any chance to follow his dao.

Unfortunately, his fears proved more accurate than his hopes. When he approached the clerk, instead of simply providing him with his permit, the clerk gave him an apologetic smile.

"My supervisor has taken a personal interest in your permit application," the clerk said. "Satisfying his requirements will take more time than usual."

"That is to say," Muchen said, "what I've paid to expedite the process is insufficient?"

The clerk spread his hands helplessly. "Men plan and the heavens laugh."

Muchen took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and counted to three. Once he was confident that he wouldn't do anything Xinyi would approve of, he opened his eyes and gave the clerk a searching look.

"Are you certain this is how you want to handle things?"

"I'm afraid it's not up to me," the clerk replied.

It was all Muchen could do not to laugh out loud. He'd gone shopping for used cars before. If this clerk and his manager disagreed about anything, it was only their estimate of how much silver they could milk out of Muchen before he gave up and stomped off in a huff.

"Convincing your manager to move quickly, I imagine, would be more expensive?" Muchen asked.

The clerk offered him a professional smile. "He is, after all, a more important official than my humble self."

Muchen nodded. "I'll be back."

He turned and left the building. At this point, there was no longer any point in further negotiation.

For one thing, the whole point of this process was to follow his dao as a businessman. If the cost of receiving a permit exceeded any possible profit from selling tea, was he really still running a business? He wasn't pursuing the dao of a hobbyist. His gut was telling him that while some amount of loss was acceptable when starting a new business, starting an endeavor with no hope of profit wasn't particularly congruent with his dao.

More importantly, he was tired of getting the runaround. He didn't mind letting a certain amount of silver go in order to grease the wheels of government, but he wasn't going to accept being played for a fool.

That left the question of what he was going to do about it. It was a question that he stewed over all through the afternoon as he hunted fruitlessly through Master Huang's tomes for a new turtle-themed spiritual tool.

The only practical option that he could see was to ask Uncle Haoyu for a favor. As a prominent merchant who did a lot of business within the capital, he naturally had contacts at all levels of the local government. Getting a permit through would be as easy as turning over his hand.

Muchen hated the idea of having to ask for that favor. He wanted to prove that he could handle matters on his own, that he was capable of running his own business. If he failed and had to take a job working for the Wang family, that was one thing, but he didn't want to go through the motions of being his own man while secretly relying on the Wang family to get his business off the ground.

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His bad mood cast a pall over his attempt to cultivate. He took longer to get into the meditative state than he ever had before, and even once he settled his breathing and started taking in the energy of the world around him, it felt like trying to sip cement through a straw. Like the trouble he was having getting his business off the ground was a physical weight on his chest.

It was almost a relief when the sound of running footsteps interrupted his efforts. Muchen opened his eyes just as Liling burst into his courtyard. She had abandoned her fancy dress for a combination of tunic and pants that wouldn't have looked out of place on a shop foreman. It was an outfit that matched rather harmoniously with his memories of Liling as a child.

"Muchen, you-" she began, then paused, eyes widening, as she took in his meditative posture. "Were you cultivating?"

Muchen sighed. There was nothing wrong with cultivating per se; after all, the highest spots in society were occupied by members of the great cultivating sects. Many ordinary people, though, thought that associating with loose cultivators brought more trouble than it was worth. Uncle Haoyu was unusually vocal about it, but there were plenty of people out there who would agree with him.

"I had a fortuitous encounter," Muchen said. He unwound himself from his cross-legged meditative posture and stood.

"Are you going to join a sect?" Liling asked, eyes alight with excitement.

Muchen shook his head. "I'm still a merchant first and foremost. That won't change just because I can defend myself for one or two moves if I really have to."

Further conversation was cut off as a maid entered the courtyard. Her dress and posture were a cut above the other serving girls Muchen had seen on the Wang family estate. She walked into the courtyard at a measured pace, only her slightly uneven breath betraying how hard she had to work to keep up with Liling.

"Don't worry about Juhua," Liling said, waving her hand dismissively. "My parents insist that she follow me around, but she keeps my secrets."

Muchen believed her. For all of Liling's faults, she had a keen eye for judging people. Even so, he wasn't ready to share all of his secrets, even to a childhood friend. Not to mention that many of the secrets he'd come to learn recently weren't even his to share.

"There's not much to tell, really. I can load the cart faster than before and can fend off the local wildlife better, but that's about it," Muchen said, disregarding Liling's moue of disappointment. "Besides, that's not what you had on your mind when you ran in here."

"Right," Liling said, snapping her fingers. "I wanted to tell you, I have no intention of marrying you."

Muchen nodded. "Of course."

Liling pouted. "That's it? I thought you'd be more disappointed, after you made a special trip to the Orchid Blossom Emporium and everything."

"That was market research," Muchen said. "I think of you like a little sister."

"Well, good," Liling said.

Muchen cleared his throat before the awkward silence could drag on for too long. "When did you become such a proper young lady at mealtime?"

"My parents insisted," Liling said.

Muchen raised an eyebrow. "Your father has indulged you for as long as I can remember."

"He has his limits," Liling said, before frowning. "Father wouldn't let me take on any actual management responsibility until I met mother's standards for deportment."

Muchen nodded. For a spirited and independent minded young woman to be forced into following proper etiquette must have been quite the challenge. At least Liling was getting something in exchange. If she'd been born into a different family she could easily have been forced into a marriage by the time she reached her current age.

"Management?" he asked.

Liling nodded. "Father let me handle the affairs of one of our silk processing workshops. I had increased productivity by over ten percent before this mess with the Long family."

"Do you know what happened to them?" Muchen asked.

"Cultivator nonsense," Liling said, before giving Muchen a searching look. "You aren't getting mixed up in that kind of thing, are you?"

"I certainly hope not," Muchen said. So far, Xinyi's presence had mostly exposed him to theoretical danger. He intended to keep that streak going for as long as possible.

"You aren't joining a sect, you don't intend to woo me and take over the Wang family business," Liling said, "so what are you planning to do, exactly?"

"Make money," Muchen said. He grinned at her, receiving a flat look in return. Well, he couldn't expect her to be impressed before she had seen his plans in action. "Was there anything else?"

Liling counted on her fingers as she worked through a checklist in her mind. "Well, I did want to let you down gently in case you fell in love with my beautiful appearance."

"Don't worry," Muchen said, "I know you too well to fall for that."

She ignored him as she moved on to the next finger. "We also need to show some closeness to keep my mother happy."

"Will that solve the real problem?" Muchen asked. If her parents were set on finding a decent marriage prospect for their daughter, they'd start ramping up the pressure sooner or later.

"I have my own plans," Liling said.

Muchen took a moment to think things over. He didn't share Liling's confidence in her ability to outscheme her parents. On the other hand, if she failed, it wouldn't really be his problem as long as he didn't cross the line into outright lying to Uncle Haoyu. The only real cost would be spending time together with Liling.

It wouldn't be that much of a hardship. Liling was pleasant enough company. She at least seemed to have grown out of ambushing him with balls of mud. Besides, it wasn't like he would have to work too hard to find time in his schedule, considering the troubles he was having.

Actually, now that he thought about it, perhaps they could kill two birds with one stone. "Your father mentioned that you might show me around the capital. There's one particular spot I'd like to visit together."

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