“I’m not sure. I saw Manager Zhang at noon yesterday, and then I didn’t see him again.”
Xu Hanzhong angrily said, “Immediately send people to find him and bring him back! Who were the people he usually associated with? And the other managers? Bring them here for questioning!”
Xu Gui immediately went to do so and soon returned with several managers from the workshop. One manager had run away with Zhang, but after questioning the others for a long time, Xu Hanzhong learned nothing.
Xu Gui asked, “Young Master, now that the raw silk is gone, the workshop is about to stop working. What should we do?
Xu Hanzhong had heard Xu Gui speaking but didn’t respond. Without enough raw silk to weave silk fabrics, the workshop was on the verge of stopping production. In the next few days, they still needed to deliver large quantities of silk fabrics to various shops, but the storehouse’s remaining supplies could not support this for more than a few days.
He frowned and said, “Xu Gui, you will now be the workshop’s chief manager. First, send people to collect silkworm cocoons or raw silk.”
Xu Gui agreed but, just about to turn and leave, remembered something and said, “But now is not a good time. Silkworm cocoons are hard to collect.”
Xu Hanzhong also knew that the spring silkworms had already emerged from their cocoons, and the summer silkworms had not yet formed cocoons. It would take at least half a month before silk farmers would sell cocoons. He sighed, “If there are no cocoons, buy raw silk directly. Even if the price is high, the workshop cannot stop working.”
Xu Hanxiao curved one side of his mouth and said: “Isn’t there still good silk fabric in my big brother’s shop? When it comes to money, Hanxiao isn’t necessarily asking for cash. Big brother can use the shops in the south of the city as collateral.”
Zhang, the manager, would not dare to exchange all raw silk for aged silk, fearing that Xu Hanyong would discover it.
It would be better to send more good quality materials to his managed shops.
Xu Hanyong was enraged by the smile on his face: “Hanxiao, are you taking advantage of the situation?”
