Chapter 23 - Hammer and anvil.

Several weeks later, in Clay Nest.

Xin was chatting with a wealthy female customer who visited their shop quite often. It was obvious that she enjoyed his company and advice, constantly complimenting his eloquence and looks, buying everything he recommended and laughing at every little joke he made. Still, she was a married woman, and as much Xin appreciated the attention (and her bosom), in his eyes, it was unacceptable to pursue things further.

"Oh, I am telling you, I always feel so invigorated after your treatment, Xin!" She playfully leaned on the counter. "My appetite has been so much better since I started taking these supplements!"

"Are you sure the reason is physiological? Maybe your life circumstances have been a factor as well? Let's isolate the causes before making conclusions."

"What a smart boy you are! Maybe my circumstances have changed, indeed. Frankly, I have no idea, but if it works it works, right?" She leaned closer to the counter, and Xin had to start reading a random ledger to avoid looking at her cleavage.

The door opened, and the chimes jingled again.

A man walked in, clad in expensive robes, and wearing shining, thick leather boots. He was closely followed by his companion, a big hound dog, wearing a textile dog coat itself, adorned with the symbolic ornaments of the city guard.

The woman that was chatting Xin up turned to the man, than to his dog, approached them and asked:

"Greetings, guardsman! May I pet the dog, please?"

"This is not allowed, mam. Sorry, I need to speak with the owner of this building."

Xin got tense.

"Is this a private or an official matter?" Xin inquired.

"A bit of both."

The woman looked at Xin nervously. 

"I... better get going. Thank you for your advice, boy. I left a tip for you."

"Blessings to you, mam. Please come again."

She nodded and quickly disappeared.

The man approached Xin and put his elbows on the counter, leaning in. He had tired eyes and a weak chin, but there was an aura of cold self-confidence around him.

"Inspector Xiu Ge, at your service. Here is my token."

"How may I help you?"

"As far as I am concerned, master Feng Chonglin owns this business."

"He is mixing a complex potion for a high-profile buyer, I don't think I can interrupt him right now. You can trust me, I'll get your words to him." Xin wanted to inhibit the officer as much as possible, just in case.

"It's not up to debate, sadly. You've been chosen for an unplanned revision. We do this with new businesses, for obvious reasons. It's a formality, unless you have anything to hide?" Xin could feel the inquisitive gaze of the officer drill his eyes, trying to intimidate him, but this emboldened him instead.

"I need to ask a guild representative for advice, they are two minutes of jogging away. May I ask you to wait outside?"

"Boy, don't get on my nerves. Bring me Feng Chonglin. Now."

"I suspect that you have no legal right to enforce an inspection like this, so..." He was interrupted.

"Xin. Go upstairs. Greetings, inspector." Feng Chonglin came down from the second floor. "I'll mix that extract again later, it's not a problem."

Xin walked upstairs, staring back at the inspector and his master. He noticed a subtle nod of approval in Feng Chonglin's gaze. The old man looked awfully calm.

"What's happening down there?" One of the workers asked. The air was pretty damp, and filled with an unpleasant smell of many different reagents mixing together.

"An unplanned inspection." Xin informed them.

"More like a planned extortion. I fucking hate these crooks. Heard the Xuanwu clan are working in tandem with the city guard to take the promising businesses away."

"That's not a good thing to do for the rulers of the city. Not a good long-term strategy." Xin shared his opinion.

"Well, they can't even control their inner dealings, with all these bastards and courtesans, external masters and distant relatives. The head sleeps, the arm steals. Things were better when we had more capital troops stationed here." The older man said.

The nervous woman added: "From where I stand, the capital troops were almost as bad, but it's still good when they balance each other out, you know?"

This discussion was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming upstairs. Feng Chonglin led the inspector onto the second floor. 

The inspector went around the room, unceremoniously opening the ingredient pouches and letting his dog sniff the furniture and the workers, who seemed awfully tense, despite not having done anything illegal. Xin sighed. This man has nothing on us, unless he wants to forge evidence. Unless? He looked at the distillation cube, which Lei looted in the robbery. No, uncle Ti never filed a complaint, shouldn't be an issue.

"I need to see the ledger, please. I am almost done."

"Fine, please follow me down below, inspector." Feng Chonglin still looked rather calm. Not relaxed, exactly, but more akin to an alchemist boiling a potion for a hundredth time, knowing exactly what happens next, but still concentrated.

Five minutes later, the inspector and his dog left. Feng Chonglin called Xin up to talk, and that was when Lei entered the shop, too. He closed the door behind himself.

"I saw him leave from afar. The guys told me that they saw an inspector enter our shop, I came as fast as I could. Is everything alright?" Lei looked agitated.

"Xuanwu clan made their move, it seems. Earlier than I anticipated. It went fine, unless they plant evidence or set up a faulty case, we should be safe for now."

"And what does it mean for us?" Xin was curious.

"Means that we are approaching the endgame. At least in the current format."

Xin felt his heart drop.

"Just like that? It's only an inspection, no?"

"Look, we've made some amazing profits for such a short time period. Best we can do is delay the sale for as long as possible, but eventually we'll have to sell. In a few days, we'll probably get an offer from the Xuanwu clan. Our sect might also try to buy us out. There are already talks of assigning me to teach alchemy to help the sect businesses."

"And what does it mean for me? For us, I mean." Xin also pointed at Lei.

"Worst case scenario, we get assigned somewhere else with no compensation. But if this shop loses me and you, Xin, the profits drop massively. This can be prevented by me and Lei threatening to pull the rug. I threaten to stop my shipments, Lei tells the guild contacts to boycott this business, and this building becomes an unprofitable slum house with some rent to pay."

"Right, that's exactly what I'll do if they fuck with us. But seriously, this shop is nothing without us. They want more than the shop itself." Lei rubbed his chin, suspicious.

Xin commented, too:

"I agree. The profit margins are only good because of your suppliers, granpa Chonglin." That's what he called him in private the past few weeks, and the old man didn't seem to mind. "Without guild logistics, and especially if the guild boycotts the business, I am not sure they could even cover rent, especially if we pull back the central market stall. The supply chain collapses, and so does the distribution. We hold all the cards."

"Correct. That's why they need to somehow find out our suppliers and overtake our logistics. They could forge a contrabanda case, arresting the business unless I provide more details. The Xuanwu clan can also pressure us into a sale by arresting the shipments entering the city gates. By the time our complaint makes it to a council review, we'll lose all our clients." Lei had seen this happen too many times.

"We are currently cooperating with the guild, that would be unwise to attack us like that. Do you think they'll come with an offer, then? And what kind of help could the sect provide?" Xin asked.

"The sect wants me as an alchemist, so that I can teach and produce what they need, it's more profitable for them than the meager tax share I'm paying. I think they'll only defend us if we agree to come directly under their wing. The sect's presence in this city is limited, and they'll only protect us if their games are sizable enough."

"And how would that work?" Xin was annoyed, isn't the sect afraid of losing face, being openly extorted by their own allies from Xuanwu clan?

"Me and Lei sell our stakes, underpriced, of course. They force you and me to teach our replacements and assign us elsewhere several months later after. They'll pay us decent salaries, by sect standards, but that's the end of it."

"It sounds like being bought out by the Xuanwu clan is a better option. Does it..."

"Fuck, no, man!" Lei interrupted. "They'll squeeze you dry, you keep working for them after you sold your business, and it's hard to get off their hook. They are in charge of this city, once they claim you as "theirs", no one can protect you." Lei painted a grim picture, but Xin trusted him on this. He spent his whole life here, after all.

"Hammer and anvil, truly. So, what is the best course of action, granpa Chonglin?"

"I've taught you a lot. Think for a bit and tell me your view of this situation. You've got a youngster's mind, it will be faster this way, I'll just point out the holes in your arguments, if there are any."

A stream of thoughts emerged, and numerous different scenarios danced in Xin's head. It would be impossible to think them all through rationally, so Xin let his intuition guide him. Several more flashes. Thinking without words. Weird, barely comprehensible connections, impossible to express. And then, he arrived at a conclusion. Still, he had to stress-test his newly formed opinion,as such a freeform way of thinking was very prone to biases. 

"As of now, the guild is our only reliable ally. Our biggest trump card is granpa Chonglin's suppliers, we must protect this intel at all costs. As for the sect, they have no ground to enforce a sale right now. Still, they could apply more pressure on us to make running the business harder, or even cooperate with the Xuanwu clan in an attempt to pressure us into a joint deal.

Thus, it's crucial that these two powers don't meet, and that we don't ask the sect for help, at least for the time being. We shouldn't inform the sect about the inspector, as it's a crucial clue. Instead, we should prepare the lawyers and order some supplies in advance, in case our shipments are blocked. Then, once the city guard start taking actions,we negotiate with the Xuanwu clan and try to stall the process as long as possible, maximising our profits in the meantime. 

As this happens, Lei should carefully flirt with potential buyers, but we should play up our situation, otherwise we lose face and our value collapses. I'd seek out someone who is interested in scaling up, and who would need our logistics and expertise. From the buyer's perspective, it should be cheaper or faster to buy our business out, compared to building their own. That's how I see things."

"Correct, kid. We should get back to work for now, eh?" Feng Chonglin sighed.

No. One more thing.

"Not so fast. It's a good moment to talk about my stake." Xin suddenly proclaimed.

"No fucking way. What's with this timing, you fucker?" Lei was irritated before, but now he was furious.

"Your stake, huh? You got too excited with your damn monologue, kid. I recommend you drop this idea."

Xin was unmoved.

"I am overworked. You've taught me everything you knew about the totem, but I have no time to practice now, what use is there in this knowledge? I can gain more value than twenty minutes of talking to you by actually training and studying. The guild doubles my salary, which I appreciate, but I am also forced to do several jobs for a meager compensation. I am teaching my potential replacements every day, which makes me uneasy. I interact with the clients, which drains the soul out of me, and I make sales too often, which I hate. I am forced to read a lot in my free time,mostly on niche medicinal topics that are useless to my cultivation. 

I am pouring my heart and soul out here, and I built this business just as you two did. I want my stake, so that I get a cut when the business is sold. And I want a share of dividends, on top of my salary, in case it's not sold."

"Were you lying in ambush these past two months, waiting for this exact moment?" Lei rolled his eyes, and his wooden finger scratched the counter as he waited for Feng Chonglin to take the initiative.

"Kid, may I remind you, I am still your master in the sect, and you do what I tell you."

"There are degrees of trying, you can tell me to do what you want, but you might get a lazy Xin, not a diligent Xin. Or a stupid Xin. Which one do you like more? I've got my options. I can go under the wing of a different master and do teaching in the mortals' village, it pays less, but it's an easier option. I already have an offer on my hands." Xin respected Feng Chonglin, but he had a loving, caring father, and Feng Chonglin's tough love had a very limited manipulative effect on him.

Lei was now furious:

"Fucks sake, I thought we had a deal! An agreement! We were a good team, and you pull this shit amid our crisis? You know exactly what you are doing, with this timing and all!" Lei wanted to spit lava at Xin, but spat saliva on the floor instead.

"You people had a better starting position than me, having your trump cards. Now, my trump card is my usefulness and an ability to leave. If I leave, the supply chain will suffer, crashing the value of this business. Look, I am not asking for much, I know that you invested more time than I did. I don't want an equal stake, I just want a fair share." Xin faked a concession to make himself look reasonable.

"And if we don't give you a stake, huh? Whatcha gonna do?" 

"He'll do nothing that directly harms us. Xin is a man of honour. Let's take a pause and calm down, the tension from the inspection is making us too eager to bicker. Xin, what are you asking for? We need to see how far we are from each other's estimates." Feng Chonglin was seemingly diplomatic, but his eyes said "You chump, are you courting death?!"

"I want twenty percent. No less. You both donate your share equally, unless you decide otherwise."

"You fucking backstabber, you are trying to bite off more than you can chew! What kind of snake are you?" Lei was still fuming.

Feng Chonglin patted his shoulder.

"Lei, go take a walk and cool down. We've got many issues, and we need you to be in control. Calm down, grab a drink, and I beg you, don't start any rumours. Keep your mouth shut. Go, go." He opened the door and pushed Lei out. He angrily slammed the door and stormed away, but Feng Chonglin didn't seem bothered. 

"You, kid. Go upstairs, my concoction is ruined, prepare it anew, I'll man the shop until the base is ready."

Xin nodded. What a day.