These words enraged everyone once again.

They were already angry enough, but with Yu Li's mediation, they calmed down and were even willing to accept that Master Qu would only fulfill half of his promise, not let him close down, and only pay compensation.

But now he's saying he won't pay compensation?

Isn't this just being ungrateful?

Enough is enough! There's no need to endure it any longer!

"You surnamed Qu, you're getting too big for your britches, aren't you?"

"He's not just shameless, he's suicidal!"

"Let me tell you, if you dare not pay compensation, believe me, we'll beat you to death today, you old bastard!"

"..."

As the crowd cursed Master Qu, they pressed closer, looking eager to fight. If it weren't for the soldiers stopping them, Yu Li believed they would have rushed up and beaten Master Qu to death.

However, Yu Li was not as angry as the others.

Even when he heard Master Qu say that he couldn't pay compensation, a smug smile of satisfaction appeared on his face, as if his "evil scheme had succeeded."

"Please calm down, everyone! Now that I've taken charge of this matter, I will certainly uphold justice for you!"

"..."

Hearing Yu Li's words, everyone calmed down a bit.

Yu Li then asked, "Master Qu, since you have acknowledged your previous promise, why are you now renege on your debt and refuse to pay compensation?"

At this moment, Master Qu had completely let go of his worries, and his face showed a calm and composed demeanor.

"Governor Yu, I would like to pay reparations, but I simply have no money to pay!"

Master Qu shrugged and smiled.

Seeing his relaxed expression, everyone became even angrier. If it weren't for Yu Li's efforts to suppress him, Master Qu would have died a terrible death.

"What do you mean? Master Qu, don't tell me that your huge Qu family cloth shop is short of money?"

"Hehe, whether there's money or not, Governor Yu can check."

"..."

Yu Li was taken aback for a moment, then waved his hand to beckon a subordinate over, whispered a few words in his ear, and the subordinate went to the counter, took out the ledger and began to look through it.

Upon seeing this, both Yu Li and Master Qu smiled.

Yu Li's smile was very subtle, and the corners of his mouth would only lift slightly before returning to normal. If you weren't staring at him, you would never notice that he had smiled.

Master Qu's laughter was somewhat unrestrained. He was laughing at himself for being too careful back then. Although the Qu family's cloth shop was actually owned by the heir of the Yu King, he had been secretly lining his own pockets little by little over the years, and it was impossible to see it on the books.

If it weren't for this, those two or three thousand taels of silver would still be hanging in the account, and this time we'd probably have to lose them all!

Now, there's no money in the accounts, and no one checks his personal money. Even if he has to pay compensation, at most he'll lose the Qu Family Cloth Shop—although it's the culmination of more than ten years of his hard work and the reliance he wanted to use to bring down the Zhou Family Cloth Shop and slap Zhou Gui in the face, he has now completely lost his reputation among the people of Ruzhou. Even if he keeps the Qu Family Cloth Shop, it won't be of any use, so it's better if it's gone!

...

That subordinate was probably an administrative staff member under Yu Li, and was quite familiar with accounting matters. He flipped through the ledgers very quickly, and finished reviewing them in no time.

He walked back to Yu Li's side and said, "Governor, the Qu Family Cloth Shop currently has less than a thousand taels of silver in its accounts!"

Yu Li nodded and said, "Since we still have some money, let's do what we promised before!"

Subsequently, Yu Li had someone take the receipts and quickly compensate everyone for the money they spent on sanitary napkins from Qu Family Cloth Shop, according to the ratio of ten times the price for counterfeit goods. The remaining few hundred taels of silver were completely insufficient to cover everyone's expenses for traditional Chinese medicine.

"Master Qu, you've been in business for so many years, you must have a lot of money in your personal pocket, right? The promise was made by you, and the problems that have arisen for the people are caused by the sanitary napkins you sold. It's only right that you use your personal money to make compensation at this time!"

After hearing Yu Li's words, Master Qu waved his hands repeatedly.

"Governor Yu, with the cloth shop business in such a state, where would I find any personal funds?"

The sight of Master Qu's cheerful demeanor evoked a sense of schadenfreude in everyone's eyes: "I really want to beat him up!"

Yu Li frowned slightly and said, "Master Qu, it is only right to pay back debts, and you must also compensate for the problems caused by your Qu Family Cloth Shop! If you cannot come up with the money privately, then I will have no choice but to confiscate your Qu Family Cloth Shop!"

"Heh heh, then let's confiscate it!"

After finishing speaking, Master Qu showed no further hesitation and strode out, as if the Qu family cloth shop had nothing to do with him and he had no feelings for it whatsoever.

"Master, you can't leave!"

Before he could even step out, someone grabbed him.

Looking back, he saw that the person who had pulled him was a shop assistant from the Qu Family Cloth Shop, and he said coldly, "Why are you pulling me?"

"Master, we haven't been paid our monthly wages yet! You can't just leave like this!"

"Yes, Master Qu!"

At this moment, a group of shop assistants suddenly emerged from behind the counter of Qu Family Cloth Shop, and the area outside the shop was also crowded with people. These were not shop assistants of Qu Family Cloth Shop, but people that the shop owner had temporarily hired at a high price to rush the production of sanitary napkins.

Some of them were owed one or two months' wages, while others were owed only a few days' wages. How could they let Master Qu leave?

Master Qu sneered, "I just confiscated the Qu Family Cloth Shop. Strictly speaking, it's the Qu Family Cloth Shop that owes you monthly wages, not me, Master Qu. So if you want your monthly wages, just ask Governor Yu!"

After saying this, Master Qu was secretly pleased with himself, still rejoicing that he had been farsighted enough to get rid of the Qu Family Cloth Shop in time. Otherwise, not only would he have to use his own private money to pay the compensation, but he would also have to pay the monthly wages of these shop assistants. Meanwhile, the Qu Family Cloth Shop would have been worthless in the end, and he would have suffered a great loss!

From this perspective, he chose to do the right thing at the most opportune time, leaving the mess to Yu Li!

The shop assistants were stunned and looked at Yu Li. The first thing they saw was the soldiers with knives next to Yu Li. Ordinary people are most afraid of officials, so they dared not look again.

It was originally the Qu family's cloth shop that owed them money, and they only recognized the owner of the Qu family's cloth shop. How dare they ask Yu Li for it?

So he grabbed Master Qu, who was about to run away, and said, "This month's money is owed to us by Master Qu. We only recognize you!"

"Yes, we only recognize you, hurry up and give us our monthly salary!"

"Yes, pay the monthly fee quickly!"

In an instant, shop assistants poured out from behind the counter, showing how many shop assistants Qujia Cloth Shop had recruited to work overtime to rush the production of sanitary napkins!

Master Qu was naturally not going to let this go unpunished; he would rather die than pay his monthly wages again: "I told you, it's the Qu Family Cloth Shop that owes you your monthly wages, not me, Master Qu! Go ask whoever owns the Qu Family Cloth Shop now for your wages, why are you coming to me?"

"..."

————