The conflict between Piao Yidao and Ning Jie was hardly a major affair, yet Piao Yidao targeted Ning Jie for two distinct reasons.
First, Goryeo Street was notoriously insular. This insularity stemmed largely from the fact that the street was populated entirely by ethnic Koreans. Though decades had passed, their sense of belonging to the broader community remained lukewarm at best. Moreover, many Han Chinese had wronged them in the past. This was by no means an attempt to stir up ethnic friction; the phenomenon was common enough in many places. It was much like outsiders traveling to the Inner Mongolia grasslands: while the local Mongols would warmly host them and share drinks, the Han visitors would frequently make off with a couple of the hosts' sheep upon leaving. The locals' deep-seated hostility toward Han Chinese was not without reason.
The second reason was far simpler: ethnic Koreans tended to be much more pragmatic than Han Chinese, and they knew how to turn a profit. Piao Yidao owned both clothing shops on Goryeo Street, and the opening of Ning Jie's boutique would inevitably cut into his profits. While the locals were fiercely insular, that did not mean they would refuse cheap clothes. They usually sourced their inventory from across the border, meaning their costs were genuinely higher than Ning Jie's. Although their clothing styles were decent, they simply could not compete with his lower prices.
Chapter 198