Chapter 380: Sworn Brother

The banquet was exquisite. Yang Shixiang’s family hailed from the prosperous lands of Guangdong, and their taste in luxuries far surpassed that of the local gentry and magnates. With his finances now considerably more comfortable, his standard of living had risen accordingly. The banquet table didn’t have many dishes, but each was delicately prepared. The wine was Lanling wine, specially purchased from the mainland—a high-class liquor often enjoyed by the wealthy of the Ming Dynasty.

After having the serving apprentice warm the wine, Yang Shixiang dismissed him. Only he and Liu San remained in the study—he had some important matters to discuss with Liu San.

Since becoming sworn brothers with Liu San and partnering in the business, Yang Shixiang’s enterprise had grown larger and larger, raking in money daily. Because of this, he paid increasingly close attention to the internal developments of the transmigrator group. The Australians were not only his investors, major clients, and technical advisors, but also, in essence, his patrons. The rise or fall of the Australians would, to some extent, determine the future of Runshitang Pharmacy.

Liu San often came to Runshitang for matters related to the production and sale of Chinese patent medicines, but he rarely had the chance to sit down for a casual chat and gather information.

Yang Shixiang was eager to learn the details of the “maid revolution.” The matter wasn’t as airtight as the transmigrators imagined. In fact, within a few days, rumors had spread that the Australians were fighting amongst themselves over women. Some even claimed with certainty that the conflict arose because the leaders had each taken dozens of wives while the men below had none. Others said the Australians didn’t lack women, but were fighting over a single, devastatingly beautiful woman, a conflict born of jealousy.

Yang Shixiang was very surprised by this news because he had never thought the Australians would be short of women. Every ten days or so, a ship or two of refugees would arrive at Bopu Port, with no shortage of women among them. The Australians numbered no more than a thousand, so there should have been enough for each to have one.

His own sworn brother, Liu San, had a wife. He had even sent a special gift to Wuyunhua once and had been quite intimidated by the Australian woman’s robust build and imposing presence. He had a faint feeling that his sworn brother was somewhat afraid of his wife.

After three rounds of wine, Yang Shixiang finally brought up the matter tactfully.

Liu San was taken aback. The news had actually reached the county town. Truly, good news never leaves the house, while bad news travels a thousand miles. He nodded slightly.

“It is true.”

“What was the outcome?” Yang Shixiang asked hastily.

“A happy ending for all.” But as Liu San said this, he looked anything but happy, which confused Yang Shixiang.

“From the looks of it, brother, you don’t seem very happy.”

After a few cups of wine, Liu San couldn’t help but vent his frustrations about his girlfriend. It was a kind of complaint any man could understand.

“So, it’s about not being allowed to take a concubine.” Yang Shixiang looked at his somewhat dejected sworn brother, thinking this was hardly a problem. “What’s so difficult about that? Since you can’t bring her home, just set up another household for her outside.”

Liu San was stunned. He hadn’t expected such a suggestion. He hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.

“That won’t work. For now, we’re not allowed to own residences outside of Bairen City. Besides—”

Besides, if his wife found out about such an audacious act, she would immediately storm over and create a scandal all over town. The thought of it made him feel it was completely unfeasible.

Of course, there was no Women’s Federation or similar organization here to back Wuyunhua up. The women among the transmigrators were not only few but also not particularly united or harmonious. If a real fight broke out, probably no one besides Du Wen would come to Wuyunhua’s aid. Liu San realized that when it came to relationships between the sexes, he could actually do whatever he wanted.

But if he really did that, their years of affection would be utterly destroyed. Liu San couldn’t bear the thought.

“Forget it. I’ll just have to play the long game,” he said listlessly.

Yang Shixiang had already had an idea: if Liu San was truly interested, a relative of his from Zhangzhou had recently come across the sea to seek refuge with him. The family had several girls of marriageable age, and it wouldn’t be difficult to arrange for one to become Liu San’s concubine.

Since Liu San was unwilling, Yang Shixiang didn’t press the matter. He was more anxious to know: had the Australians suffered any fatal blows in this turmoil?

The rumors outside were rampant. Some said the Australians had fought among themselves, and Bairen City was littered with corpses. Others said the Australian leaders had set a Hongmen Banquet, tricked the troublemakers into attending, and at the signal of a dropped cup, opened fire with their muskets from both sides, killing several hundred people in an instant. Still others claimed that the main leaders had all been killed and a new group was now in power…

One rumor was particularly close to the truth: the high official of the East Gate Market had rebelled against the leaders, leading his men in an attempt to storm Bairen City. At the city gate, the two sides exchanged gunfire. The East Gate official’s side was outnumbered and wiped out. Some even vividly described the sound of gunfire in Bairen City lasting the whole night…

The natives were not familiar with Dugu Qiuhun, so they mistakenly attributed the act to Dongmen Chuiyu. Dongmen Chuiyu’s transfer and subsequent disappearance from the East Gate Market lent a credible color to this rumor.

Hearing how wild the rumors outside were, Liu San frowned. What was the General Political Security Bureau doing? Weren’t such rumors seriously damaging the great, glorious, and correct image of the transmigrator group?

He had to spend a great deal of effort explaining to Yang Shixiang that these were all just rumors. As for the parade and such, it was nothing serious. The strength of the transmigrator group was not only undamaged but would grow even stronger after this incident.

To do this, he had to explain the election system and the basic political structure of the transmigrator group, lest his sworn brother be unable to understand.

After a long explanation, Yang Shixiang was finally put at ease. He wasn’t interested in political systems, but from Liu San’s words, he understood it was just a “battle of words” and not a large-scale fight that would damage their core strength. He breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile:

“Then I was worrying for nothing. It’s good that your core strength wasn’t harmed.”

Liu San then mentioned his plan to develop new medicines. He intended to next develop and produce two summer medications, “Ten Drops Water” and “Huoxiang Zhengqi Water,” and also attempt to create “Wind Oil Essence”—all urgently needed for the development of Yulin.

Yang Shixiang had complete faith in every new drug Liu San proposed for trial production. The Chinese patent medicine business was now so good that he was already considering moving the pharmaceutical workshop from the city to the “Private Enterprise Park” outside Bairen City. The workshop at Runshitang was already overwhelmed.

“That would be excellent, of course.” Liu San thought that this had been the plan all along. They had only kept the factory in Runshitang for convenience. Now that Yang Shixiang was proposing it himself, it couldn’t be better.

“Now that I have some money in hand, brother, I want to build a large workshop like you Australians have! To really do something great.” Yang Shixiang was deeply impressed by the Australian factories. After a few cups of wine, he became a little excited. His mood had been excellent recently: his cousin, Yang Shiyi, had undergone a major change in attitude. Not only did he write letters and send gifts frequently, but his tone was also much more polite—he was even very courteous to Liu Benshan, the old steward he had sent to manage the business in Foshan. Furthermore, he had repeatedly told him that he no longer needed to pay in cash for goods and that the credit limit could be increased. Yang Shixiang, who had been looked down upon by his relatives for years, finally felt a sense of vindication.

The impression that he could achieve great things by cooperating with the Australians was now deeply ingrained in his mind. Now that he heard the Australians’ strength was intact and they would be staying in Lin’gao for the foreseeable future, he could still achieve great things with his sworn brother.

“Your humble brother wishes to install your, uh, machines in the factory,” Yang Shixiang said. “Last time I went to the mill, I saw your water-powered mill. It was so fast and efficient. Everyone says you Australians are the most skilled with machinery. Do you perhaps have machines for making medicine too?”

“We do have machines,” Liu San nodded. He had long wanted to open a pharmaceutical factory that used machinery for auxiliary processing, rather than the current manual operations. Runshitang now employed over twenty pharmacists, plus a dozen or so casual laborers and apprentices. If they used machine-assisted production, they could reduce the workforce by two-thirds, and the saved labor could be used for expansion.

Old pharmacists who had long been in contact with medicinal materials were familiar with their properties and principles. It was a waste of such talent to have them do simple manual labor.

“I wonder what kind of machines are needed?” Yang Shixiang was very interested in machine production, but he had no idea what kind of machinery was needed to process medicinal materials.

“There are many machines, of all different types.” Liu San thought he would have to apply for them himself. The manufacturing of pharmaceutical equipment should get priority. However, Runshitang was a joint venture, so he wasn’t sure how the price would be determined. He could only lay the groundwork first:

“The price might not be cheap.”

“Expensive is not a problem, as long as it’s good to use—silver just sitting there won’t give birth to little silver coins!” With money in his hands, Yang Shixiang’s words carried a hint of a rich young master’s profligacy.

“Since you have this intention, big brother, I’ll get on it when I get back.” Liu San was very excited. This was a classic example, a model of cooperation between a native capitalist and the transmigrator group. The people on the Executive Committee would surely offer some favorable policies for future propaganda purposes, maybe even set him up as a “model case.”

If he became a positive model, then everything would be easy.

In reality, whether Runshitang could become a “model” had little to do with Liu San—his status as a shareholder was nominal; the real shareholder was the transmigrator group itself. But he still hoped that Runshitang would grow bigger and stronger, becoming a pharmaceutical giant in the new world.

Liu San’s sworn brotherhood with Yang Shixiang had begun merely for the purpose of strengthening cooperation. However, over the past half-year, discussing pharmacology, exchanging medical knowledge, and even going out together to purchase medicinal materials and manage the business, the two had built a deep friendship. Moreover, his sworn brother’s entire family treated him with great care, asking after his well-being like real family. This warmed Liu San’s heart, and he naturally cared about his sworn brother’s interests.

“Then I will have to trouble you, worthy brother,” Yang Shixiang said excitedly. “I’ll immediately instruct Steward Liu to find more workers from Foshan—”

Liu Benshan was now Runshitang’s steward in Foshan, overseeing all of Runshitang’s affairs in Guangdong.