Without a Backer, It Was Hard to Get by Here-That Was Reality! (Please Subscribe and Vote with Monthly Tickets)
The Jiang Family owned many shops. Jiang Rong's work consisted of routine account inspections, inventory checks, and advance purchases of seasonal goods.
Then, naturally, there were all sorts of banquets to attend-gatherings of merchant families where they discussed cooperation and discovered business opportunities.
Every city had a chamber of commerce, established to protect local merchants' interests against competition from outsiders.
Put plainly, local merchants huddled together for warmth. Merchants elsewhere had their own chambers too, and everyone competed with one another.
The Jiang Family was a native merchant family of Shanghe City, so naturally, it belonged to the chamber.
In the past, the powerful Jiang Family had occupied a central position in the chamber. Jiang Rong's father had once served as its chairman.
Since her father's accidental death, the Jiang Family's standing in the chamber had steadily declined.
It had already been pushed to the fringes.
In fact, the Jiang Family's decline was partly due to many members of the chamber beginning to suppress it.
Previously, given her father's prestige and the Jiang Family's power, with connections in both the Imperial Palace and the sects, cooperation had been secure. Naturally, people had been willing to do business with them.
Everything had always gone smoothly.
Their businesses had continued to expand as well.
But now, the Jiang Family had no backers left. Why should these merchant families cooperate with it?
Quite a few people even coveted the vast businesses the Jiang Family controlled.
Naturally, they began creating all manner of trouble behind the scenes, gradually devouring the Jiang Family.
Only by trampling the Jiang Family down could the other families profit.
That was how merchants thought. There was only so much meat, and everyone wanted a bite. Only by driving the Jiang Family away could the others eat.
The so-called chamber