Chapter 336 - 330_1
"Erhu, how come you’re back so early today? Weren’t you supposed to go to the Li Residence to discuss business?" Lin Yue glanced at the time, which was still early. She reckoned that going to the Li Residence for business shouldn’t have allowed for such a quick return, and besides, Zhao Erhu seemed to be in a troubled mood.
"The Li Residence has already terminated their contract with our family. After delivering goods for this month, they won’t be requiring our family’s supplies anymore." The news came suddenly; Zhao Erhu had just received the notice from the Li Residence when he went to deliver goods today.
"How could they terminate the contract so abruptly? Did they find another supplier?" Lin Yue was surprised to hear that the Li Residence no longer needed their supplies. However, it wasn’t something to force, especially since the Li Residence wasn’t the only one they were supplying.
"If they don’t want it, then fine. It’s nothing serious. After all, we’re too busy to manage as it is, and the Li Residence’s order wasn’t that large. We still need to focus on delivering goods for Brother Jiang."
Zhao Erhu nodded, "That’s the only way it can be."
However, what he didn’t expect was that the Li Residence’s termination was just the beginning. Gradually, several other households that used to get supplies from them also notified Zhao Erhu that they wouldn’t need deliveries next month. In the end, only the Su Residence and the Government Office were left as their clients, making the situation rather serious.
Zhao Erhu couldn’t understand why, given that they were supplying good quality goods. Why would they want to terminate the contracts, especially since his wife had developed the food ingredients that others didn’t have? That was why these households had sought them out for supplies initially. Zhao Erhu had become quite anxious these days, running around to gather information, wanting to know the exact reasons why all these households had successively stopped their orders.
With these developments, Lin Yue already had some speculations. Seeing Zhao Erhu anxious and upset, she had advised him several times. Zhao Erhu didn’t want his wife to worry, so he didn’t appear as anxious as he was at the start. However, he still went to the city every morning to seek news and only returned in the evening.
Because they had expanded production, Zhao Erhu had built several more rooms next to their yard and set up a workshop. With Zhao Erhu going to the city to seek news, the affairs at home were left in the hands of Zhao Dahuo and Wu Qiang.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, Zhao Erhu and Lin Yue hadn’t shared the news with everyone. Nevertheless, the news of the Li Residence and several other households terminating contracts with Zhao Erhu’s family still spread throughout the village. It wasn’t clear where the news originated from, or whether it was deliberately done by someone with ill intentions to ruin their family. Different versions of the story filled the village, causing unrest in the workshop and diminishing the workers’ devotion, as they feared Dongjia might lose business and be unable to pay their wages, turning their hard work into unpaid labor.
Seeing that Zhao Erhu had been busy enough these days, Lin Yue didn’t want to add to his worries. She kept the news from him and went to oversee the workshop daily. However, today she was having her menstruation and felt unwell, so she didn’t go and instead lay in bed to rest. This abdominal pain was an old problem that followed her here and wouldn’t go away.