In the morning mist of Chang'an, the giant banners of the Taiji Chamber of Commerce rose simultaneously in the East Market and West Market. Huwa rode in a wooden cart pulled by a green ox, dragging a string of clattering abacus beads behind it, each bead carved with the name of a chamber merchant. "Shopkeeper Wang personally oiled the abacus this morning!" Huwa lifted the curtain to reveal Shopkeeper Wang inside, who was busy polishing an abacus. Infuriated, the old man threw an abacus at him: "You little rascal! This is meant for the mutual aid ledger!"
The headquarters of the chamber was set up in the backyard of Qingniu Medical Hall. A giant abacus screen hung on the wall, its beads made of colored glass and garlic skins. When the sunlight hit them, the entire wall was cast in shadows shaped like the characters for "mutual benefit." Pei Hongxiu's textile shop began customizing uniform "garlic-scented canvas bags" for the chamber merchants, while Su Wanyue tied anti-counterfeit strings shaped like abacuses onto her medicine packages—tucked inside the knots were the "anti-scam tips" drawn by Huwa.
The most ingenious stroke was Huwa's invention of the "chamber credit garlic." Every merchant who joined the alliance was issued a gold-plated garlic clove. If anyone sold counterfeit goods, the garlic would "change color"—which, of course, was just pigment Huwa had secretly mixed with garlic juice. Shopkeeper Wang displayed the credit garlic in the most prominent spot on his cou…
Chapter 552