James Jing chatted as he led Lily Su and Jerry Yuan to the porcelain display shelf in the backyard, showing off his wares with pride. "This porcelain craft of mine? Passed down through generations! But since we're newcomers in Kingston, we get bullied the most. Take the famous Mason family—they're not half as skilled as I am, but Mason rides on his ties with the Quinns and keeps suppressing us. Hmph! If it were a fair fight, their porcelain wouldn't stand a chance against ours!"
Lily Su picked up a piece of porcelain, examined it closely, and smiled. "Mr. Jing, you’re absolutely right. From what I see, your porcelain is way better than the Mason family's. Honestly, such talent stuck playing second fiddle in Kingston—what a waste!"
"You said it! The Mason family bullies us nonstop—it's suffocating. We scrape by all year, and most of the profits end up in the Quinns' pockets. Honestly, it's exhausting!" James Jing grumbled. Just then, his son Sam Jing dashed in, face bruised and covered in dirt, clearly fresh from a beating.
"Sam, what on earth happened to you?" James Jing was startled by his son's battered look.
Sam Jing was just fourteen, a bookish, gentle kid—clearly more comfortable with books than brawls.
Sam looked miserable. "Dad, I went to get the contract for you, but right after I grabbed it, a bunch of Mason thugs barged in. They said Mason just fired up a batch of porcelain and needed buyers—so they tried to steal our client! The client saw the Mason family and immediately wanted out, even tried to snatch the signed contract from me. I was furious and did my best to hold on, but they beat me up and tore it to shreds! Dad, I’m sorry—I couldn’t protect the contract, and they stole our client too!"
"Those Mason bullies, stealing our customers and roughing people up—do they think they're above the law? Sam, are you badly hurt? Where does it hurt—do we need to get you to a doctor?" James Jing’s heart ached seeing his son’s battered face.
But Sam, ever sensible, shook his head. "I'm fine, Dad, just a few scrapes—no need to waste money on a doctor. The real trouble is, we borrowed at sky-high interest to buy materials for that client. Now Mason's stolen them, we lose the payment and we're stuck with a mountain of porcelain we can't sell—and we still owe the loan. Better save the money."
James Jing was beside himself, pounding his chest in frustration. "Heavens, this is outrageous—they're not leaving us any way out! Why can the Mason family just snatch our business and beat us up? Why do we have to take their bullying? It's infuriating!"
Sam sighed, "Dad, we’ve got to figure out how to pay off our debts. We borrowed at high interest for the materials, and now we’re stuck with all this porcelain and no cash. The interest just keeps piling up—if we don’t sell soon, we’ll never pay off that loan! But where are we supposed to find buyers for such a huge batch? Most of the clients have already been snatched up by the Mason and Quinn families and their cronies. We’re left with scraps—how are we supposed to find a big buyer now? It’s hopeless… we might not make it through this…"
James Jing and his son clung to each other, sobbing in despair. Lily Su and Jerry Yuan exchanged a glance, then Jerry stepped forward and said to James Jing, "Mr. Jing, you’re being pushed to the brink by the Mason and Quinn families, and you still want to listen to them instead of doing business with us?"