Chapter 889 - 195: Repaying Kindness with Power_2
Pei Qin agreed and had Old Chang from the Silly Melon Seeds Shop hurry the workers to make a batch of Drunkard’s Peanuts to compensate them.
Once the business was taken care of, Pei Qian began to lead people with the contract to seek compensation from the vegetable farmers—they had signed a contract, to deliver the goods on time, and upon delivery, payment was to be made. The contract was beneficial for both parties, but also binding. The farmers could not sell their cabbages to anyone else, and Pei Qian could not refuse to accept their cabbages. Therefore, this year’s breach of contract called for compensation.
Many cried and begged, unwilling to compensate. They claimed they were illiterate, tricked into thinking it was Sun Quanliang’s son, since they all knew Sun Quanliang, the long-term steward at the Pei Qian family workshop. Moreover, they argued that since the spicy cabbage recipe was made public, its price would surely drop in the future, and they, as farmers, would not make much money from it!
"You all have learned the spicy cabbage recipe as well, so you can make and sell it yourselves in the future and still earn money! But the matter of compensation stated in the contract must be fulfilled!" Pei Qian had no sympathy. Every year, it was Sun Quanliang and Zhang Dacheng who came to collect the cabbage. Even if the person who came instead resembled them, there would’ve been doubts and mistrust. But they sold their cabbage carelessly for a higher price, so now they had to compensate her! Those Drunkard’s Peanuts were given away for free, costing her quite a bit of silver!
After a commotion, quite a few of the vegetable farmers compensated according to the contract, and those who made trouble, afraid of seeing officials and getting beaten, reluctantly forked over the compensation.
Pei Qian then used the silver to fill the gaps in the nut shop’s finances.
Fang Hui and Feng Shouxing also made a fuss with Boss Wu. Until now, they still hadn’t received that other three hundred taels of silver!
The business of the noodle shop had declined drastically and was quickly running into deficit. All because of the trouble caused by those wretched girls of Pei Qin’s! Now they couldn’t even make spicy cabbage, so they had to get those three hundred taels of silver!