Hearing these arrogant words, Li Ping's temper flared instantly. He rushed to Sun Dachuan, raised his hand, and slammed it heavily on the table, followed by a furious roar.

"This place doesn't look like a government office to me; it looks more like a bandit's den, a bunch of bandits."

"presumptuous……"

Sun Dachuan's face turned ashen with anger.

Ever since he took this position as registrar through his brother-in-law's connections, no one has dared to speak to him so loudly.

Now, these two outsiders are bossing him around. How can he tolerate this?

He was about to raise his hand to call for help when Leng Chuchen frowned and raised her hand to interrupt him.

"Lord Sun, please calm down. We came to Yong'an City to do business, not to make enemies. Now just tell me, how much silver is needed to lift the ban on Caishen Street by the government?"

Sun Dachuan glared at Li Ping with his eyes narrowed, then held up five fingers.

Five thousand taels.

Seeing that he was making such an outrageous demand, Li Ping became even more furious, clenching his fist and angrily questioning him.

Five thousand taels? Are you out of your mind?

Sun Dachuan, however, looked up at him without any concern.

“I’m not crazy. The people on Caishen Street haven’t paid protection money for three years. There are only about twenty households on that street. If you want the government to lift the ban on Caishen Street, you have to make up for the money they owe and pay the fines…”

He spoke with such conviction that Leng Chuchen initially thought he was making sense...

He squinted at him.

"Alright, I can pay this sum..."

"Young Master..."

Seeing that Leng Chuchen had actually agreed to such an rude request, Li Ping quickly stepped forward to stop him.

“Young master, we cannot pay this; it is clearly extortion.”

Leng Chuchen raised her hand to stop him and continued speaking to Sun Dachuan:

"But you have to give me a receipt explaining why you're collecting this money so I can go back and collect it from the merchants."

Seeing that he didn't try to bargain, Sun Dachuan's face instantly lit up with joy.

Such a large sum of money is enough for him to extort money from other places for half a year.

This guy from out of town certainly has a lot of money on him.

At that moment, he even regretted that he should have asked for more.

He quickly grabbed a pen and paper and began writing a note.

Li Ping was indignantly offering quiet words of advice.

"Young master, they're so greedy..."

"Shut up. "

He frowned at him and reprimanded him in a low voice:

"We're new here, so it's normal to give the government some money. Besides, with Lord Sun's help, we'll make it back sooner or later."

"But……"

"No buts, Lord Sun works so hard here all day, shouldn't he be allowed to earn some money?"

Sun Dachuan nodded as he wrote the document.

“Young Master Chu, you’re absolutely right. Just from the way you talk, I can tell you’re someone who’s in big business, and a very generous one at that. To be honest, our government office has hundreds of people, and the government’s meager salaries are hardly enough to feed the people and horses! We have no choice but to ask everyone to contribute some money to cover the government office’s expenses. As officials, we’re responsible for protecting the people and ensuring their safety. Isn’t it only right that the people contribute some money?”

Li Ping smirked and glared at him disdainfully.

He'd seen plenty of shameless people, but he'd never seen anyone as shameless as Sun Dachuan before.

They've clearly overstepped their bounds, yet they're still making up a bunch of excuses; it's truly shameful.

Leng Chuchen nodded in agreement, seemingly unconcerned.

"Lord Sun is right. We are newcomers here and will rely on your help in the future."

As Sun Dachuan affixed the official seal of the prefectural government to the completed document, he nodded and then pushed the document in front of him.

"Don't worry, from now on in Yong'an City, you'll be someone the government will take special care of. If you need anything, just come to me."

"Thank you, Lord Sun. By the way, you also need to give me a receipt for my shop's business license and identity registration information, otherwise I won't be able to tell my father!"

After pondering for a moment, Sun Dachuan nodded.

"According to our usual practice, we don't issue receipts, but since you seem like a very honest person, and I'd like to be friends with you in the future, I'll issue you this receipt. By the way, have you decided on a name for your shop yet?"

After pondering for a moment, Leng Chuchen spoke:

'Let's call it... Chenwan Heming Cloth Shop.'

The name made Sun Dachuan pause for a moment, then he nodded.

"What a wonderful name! What a wonderful name!"

As he spoke, he waved his large hand and quickly wrote out a receipt.

He filled in the information required for collecting Leng Chuchen's identity information, shop registration, and business license, and then stamped it with the official seal of the government office.

After examining the two receipts and the shop's business license to confirm there were no problems, Leng Chuchen gestured to Li Ping.

"Pay up, it'll be six thousand five hundred taels in total."

Li Ping clutched his pockets reluctantly, while Leng Chuchen gave another soft shout.

"Hurry up, we have a lot to do, and Lord Sun is very busy too."

Seeing this, Li Ping reluctantly took out a stack of silver notes, counted out 6,500 taels, and slapped them on the table in front of Sun Dachuan.

Sun Dachuan's eyes immediately lit up. He quickly put away the silver note, checked it to make sure there were no problems, and nodded happily.

"Young Master Chu, if you need anything in the future, just come to me. The document lifting the ban will be posted tonight, so you can go back and wait without worry!"

Leng Chuchen handed the two receipts to Li Ping, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and replied:

This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!