The next day, Fu Man'er arranged for people to take the northern merchants out of the city, and Cao Zixuan and Lu Sheng personally came to see them off.

Only after the carriage was out of sight did Fu Man'er turn her gaze away. Next, it was time to relay the news to the Chu family.

"Man'er, I'm going back to the village. Are you coming back?" Lu Sheng has been away for a while this time, and he'll be leaving again in a few days. She wants to go back and keep Grandpa Hu company.

"You should go back first. Grandpa Hu is thinking about you every day."

"Grandma said to come over for dinner tonight, everyone hasn't seen you in a long time."

Lu Sheng nodded in agreement, "Okay, I'll head back now. See you tonight."

“Well, Mr. Lu, I haven’t seen Grandpa Hu in a long time either. I’ll go back with you to visit him,” Cao Zixuan said quickly.

As soon as Lu Sheng saw him, his mind was filled with images of him drunk yesterday. "No need."

With that, he turned and left. Cao Zixuan quickly said goodbye to Fu Man'er and hurriedly followed.

Fu Man'er could still faintly hear him saying, "Lu Sheng, what's wrong with you? I didn't offend you this morning, did I?"

"Why are you giving me such a hard look? What did I do wrong? Tell me, and I'll change."

Cao Zixuan's voice gradually faded away, and Fu Man'er also stepped onto the carriage.

"Miss, what should we do next?" Shuangxi looked at Fuman'er with great interest. Her young lady was truly skilled and daring, able to come up with such an idea.

Fu Man'er twirled the bracelet on her wrist. "How's Master Chu been keeping an eye on things these past few days?"

"I'm too busy dealing with these upsetting things to think about these northern businessmen."

Fu Man'er stopped. "Did your parents give him trouble?" He clearly remembered his father saying that things shouldn't be rushed.

The Chu family has a deep foundation and will not fall so easily. Moreover, those minor skirmishes are just reciprocal exchanges; the real trouble has not yet begun.

Shuangxi shook her head. "It's not the master and mistress who are in trouble; it's just that the Chu family is unlucky."

After hearing Shuangxi's words, Fu Man'er realized that the Chu family was really unlucky. A warehouse had caught fire recently, and the dyes in another dye shop had a problem.

What's even more ridiculous is that yesterday, when Master Chu went out, he was hit on the shoulder by a stick that fell from the sky. I heard that his shoulder is swollen very badly and he has called many doctors.

Fu Man'er was stunned by this series of misfortunes. Could the Chu family really think that the Xu family was behind it?

Chu Jiazhen thought so too. "This is outrageous! This is outrageous! The Xu family has gone too far! I'm going to the Xu family to demand an explanation!"

Master Chu was shirtless, with a thick layer of medicine applied to his shirt. As he spoke, a lot of the medicine fell off.

The doctor next to him seemed used to it and used a wooden board dipped in some medicine to patch it up.

"Master, the matter has been thoroughly investigated and has nothing to do with the Xu family," the butler said.

"How can it not be related? Who else but the Xu family would resort to such despicable means?" Master Chu raised his eyebrows and glared. It had only been a few days since things calmed down, and the Xu family had started again.

“Master, the fire in the east warehouse happened when you went in to check the cloth that day. You forgot the burning candlestick inside, and that’s how it accidentally caught fire.”

"And the dye houses in the suburbs, you said you wanted to replace the dyes with a new batch, but who would have thought that the dyes wouldn't work well."

"As for your shoulder, everyone on the street that day asked around. No one from the Xu family showed up, and no one saw who threw it."

"I just can't figure out why."

Before the steward could finish speaking, Master Chu's face had already turned a deep shade of liver with rage. "You treacherous bastard!"

He grabbed the teacup and threw it, but he didn't have the strength. The teacup fell halfway and rolled to the butler's feet.

Seeing that Master Chu was furious, the steward immediately knelt down.

"Are you saying that all of this was caused by me, sir?"

"No, sir."

"Since it wasn't me, then it must be the work of the Xu family."

"Yes, sir." (No)

"The Xu family." Old Master Chu had a sinister smile on his lips. "Go and invite Madam over. I have something to ask her."

He couldn't wait to bring down the Xu family.

"Yes." The steward waved his hand, and a maid ran out. He continued, "Master, judging by the days, it should be time for those people from the north to come and buy cloth. What do you think..."

"Don't worry about it, the Xu family's affairs are more important." For Master Chu, hatred towards the Xu family had surpassed business considerations.

“I have to spend a lot of money to entertain those people every time they come. I’ll ignore them this time, since they’ll all end up getting their goods from me anyway.”

When the northern merchants were mentioned, Master Chu no longer took them seriously. In his view, the deal was a done deal and there was no need to worry.

"But I've heard that other cloth merchants are already in contact with those businessmen, and I'm afraid..."

"Afraid that someone will steal my Chu family's business?" Master Chu blurted out before he could finish.

"In Lan Town, who else dares to steal my Chu family's cloth business? They must have a death wish."

Master Chu was very confident; these northern merchants had been buying cloth from him for a long time and had already established a certain level of trust.

Besides, looking at the entire Lan Town, who else has such strong financial resources that they can produce several warehouses' worth of cloth at once?

Moreover, the fabrics this year are much better than in previous years, so the merchants should be secretly delighted.

"By the way, tell all the managers not to release the cloth too quickly during this period. Keep it and sell it to those merchants in the north."

His warehouses were waiting for those northern merchants to come and take away the cloth; otherwise, if he were to sell it himself, he didn't know how long it would take.

The steward was still a little worried, but when he saw Master Chu's confident look, he swallowed his words.

Forget it, I won't invite more criticism. I've already received enough criticism today; I'll save the rest for tomorrow.

Fu Man'er quickly arranged the next steps, summarizing it in a single sentence.

We must drive the price down on the Chu family as far as possible!

After everything was arranged, she prepared to go home. Sister Lu Sheng had finally come back, and she wanted to spend time with her.

"Huh? How come you look so different in such a short time?" Fu Man'er looked at the person in front of her, and then at the car behind her.

The carriage is fine; it's the family's horse-drawn carriage, nothing has changed. It's just the people who have changed.

The coachman's lips twitched slightly. "Replying to Miss, it's not that you've changed your appearance, it's that you've been replaced."

"Uncle Zhao is going to the private school to get books for the Fifth Young Master, so let me take you back first."

So that's how it is. Fu Man'er didn't take it too seriously.

"You're the coachman who came in a few days ago, right?" Shuangxi glanced at him. "Take it easy when you're driving."

Seeing that this person was young, Shuangxi was afraid that he would be reckless and not as steady as Uncle Zhao, so she gave him a word of advice first.

"Don't worry, Miss, I'll take my time."

Fu Man'er had never met this person before, but hearing that Shuangxi knew him was enough. The family would occasionally bring in new people, and she really couldn't remember many of them.

After the two got into the carriage, the driver cracked his whip and started driving, but the carriage didn't arrive home until dark.