Report to the authorities

By this time, everyone was certain that the furniture Cui Xian had purchased was indeed counterfeit. Yet, for the moment, no one knew how to distinguish the real from the fake.

A guest by the surname of Li immediately summoned someone to bring paper and ink, and without hesitation, wrote out the words “Linde” in over a dozen different styles. Placing his brush down, he gestured toward the characters and said, “Everyone, please look…”

At his words, all the guests turned their attention to the sheet placed on the table. They quickly noticed that although Li had written the two characters “Linde” more than a dozen times, none of the versions seemed particularly well executed. By rights, this should not have happened. Even if Mr. Li’s calligraphy was poor, it was unlikely that his handwriting would vary so drastically. After all, everyone’s script is formed through years of practice, and it is impossible to produce such divergences in writing the same characters.

All eyes shifted back to Mr. Li, waiting for his explanation. Without wasting words, he pointed to one of the “De” characters and said, “Look here—the horizontal stroke at the top of the heart radical is noticeably shorter in this one.”

Following his direction, the guests saw this was indeed the case. Mr. Li continued, “This particular script is the one used on the chairs in my own home.”

At that, another guest by the surname Zheng pointed to another “Lin” character, slightly different, and said, “The chairs in my home use this style.”

The two men’s statements left everyone else puzzled. Cui Xian was the first to speak: “Since the script on your respective chairs is not identical, how can you be certain that the pieces I bought are counterfeit?”

Mr. Zheng sighed with admiration and replied, “That is precisely the subtlety of Linde furniture.”

Mr. Li picked up the thread: “Exactly. As the saying goes, ‘No man is perfect; too much good fortune will overflow.’ Yet these two characters of ‘Linde’ possess both qualities at once.”

His expression grew solemn as he continued, “Gentlemen, we are all but mortals; too much blessing may not be a good thing!”

At this, everyone nodded in involuntary agreement.

Mr. Zheng added, “That is why the characters ‘Linde’ are intentionally rendered with slight imperfections on every piece of furniture.”

All present were moved by this explanation. Someone remarked, “Who would have thought so much thought was put into a single piece of furniture? I wonder which wise soul devised such a method.”

The others all nodded in agreement. Only now did they truly grasp the value of the Linde brand.

At this moment, Cui Xian, as the host, suddenly snorted coldly. Clenching his teeth, he declared, “Damn that unscrupulous merchant, daring to deceive the Cui family of Qinghe. Today, I will make him pay the price.”

With that, he cupped his hands toward Li and Zheng, saying, “Brothers, would you accompany me to the authorities? I intend to confront that shopkeeper in court today.”

The other guests immediately responded, “So it should be; we will go with you.”

Thus, they ended the banquet abruptly, and set off for the Prefecture of Jingzhao with righteous indignation. Being scions of powerful families, such a group descending upon the magistrate’s office—who would dare slight them?

The magistrate, Li Zhe, upon receiving the complaint, promptly dispatched men to summon the merchant who had sold the furniture to Cui Xian. Unexpectedly, the merchant turned out to be merely a reseller. His shop carried several different brands, and he had only been able to sell the Linde brand because someone had approached him first. In other words, the merchant was a victim himself. Without hesitation, he reported his own supplier right there in the hall.

This move left Li Zhe and Cui Xian’s party thoroughly confounded. No one had imagined that what seemed a simple case of counterfeiting would become so convoluted.

With no other choice, Li Zhe took the accused merchant to find his supplier. Yet another twist awaited them: this supplier was merely a middleman, who had himself acquired the goods from someone else.

As Li Zhe prepared to take the middleman to the next link in the chain, the whole case had already become the talk of the Eastern Market of Chang’an.

The manager overseeing the workshop for Li Tai, upon hearing that an investigation was underway into counterfeit Linde furniture, immediately realized the gravity of the matter. He hurried to hide all the imitation pieces and replaced the markings on new furniture with their own brand. Knowing he was only a puppet and could not shoulder the blame alone, he reported everything to Dou Xin.

Dou Xin was alarmed to hear someone had gone to the authorities, and quickly ordered his salesmen into hiding. After all, the complainant was from the Cui family of Qinghe, and the authorities would pursue the matter relentlessly. If they did not find a way to delay, the investigation would soon reach their doorstep.

Once he had made his arrangements, Dou Xin decided to inform Li Tai and urge him to find a way to settle the matter as quickly as possible.

Li Tai’s first reaction on learning that the counterfeit scheme had been exposed was to suspect his own men of wrongdoing. Puzzled, he asked Dou Xin, “Could it be that someone in our workshop has been cutting corners?”

Dou Xin replied, “Your Highness may rest assured. I have always managed the workshop according to the standards of the Directorate of Works. No one would dare act otherwise.”

Li Tai, reassured by this, fell silent in thought. Within the Directorate, every craftsman had his own number, and each item produced bore a mark to trace any errors to their source. If Dou Xin managed things in this way, there should be no concerns about quality.

Yet if that was the case, how had the counterfeiting been uncovered?

Li Tai pondered for a long time but found no answer. At last, he said to Dou Xin, “Go in person to the prefectural office and tell Li Zhe to put the matter on hold for now. He once received a set of furniture from me—I doubt he would refuse.”

Dou Xin nodded in agreement, but then added, “Your Highness, since this concerns the reputation of the Cui family, they will not let the matter drop. What do you propose next?”

Li Tai frowned, sinking into deep thought. After a moment, he gritted his teeth and said, “Have someone go to his residence tonight and refund the payment for the furniture.”

Dou Xin nodded and prepared to take his leave, but Li Tai called him back, saying, “Also, buy a genuine set of Linde furniture and deliver it to him. Tell him not to speak of this to anyone.”

Li Tai was willing to go to such lengths in order to silence Cui Xian and minimize the scandal’s impact. Even now, he refused to stop producing imitations of Linde furniture, for the brand had already been established, and identical designs commanded much higher prices.

In his view, this incident was surely a fluke; otherwise, so many days would not have passed with only one family discovering his deception.