Xie Changshi and Manager Wen were right; the idea of ​​having all the workers leave was indeed Li Yanping's.

Li Yanping fainted upon learning that the casino had been shut down. Before he could even ask about the details, he woke up the next day at noon.

He didn't even have time to drink his medicine before he hurriedly summoned all the managers and asked them what was going on at the casino.

Qian Kang was furious: "Isn't it all because Huang Fu died at the worst possible time?"

Li Yanping?

He shot him a glare, but Qian Kang didn't even notice, and continued, "He had the casino people frame the apprentices at Li's Medical Clinic. If you're going to frame someone, at least be patient and let them fall into the trap. But he's something else. In just half a month, he's already trying to get those two apprentices to betray their original employer."

Qian Kang felt that Huang Fu was really going to drive him crazy. He had come up with such a good idea, but if Huang Fu had just taken his time, the Wen family clinic would have gone bankrupt in less than a year!

"Not only that, he didn't even bother to clean up his mess after committing suicide, which allowed Prefect Qi's men to follow the trail and arrest him at the casino."

Li Yanping narrowed his eyes slightly. Was this someone talking about him?

Qian Kang shook his head and sighed: "The person is dead, so there's not much I can say. After all, it's fine if the casino is shut down; we can just move to another place and continue operating. But the problem lies with the casino manager and the accountant—they've all gone to Xinliang to repair the official road, and the customers have been exiled to Xinliang to reclaim wasteland. Now everyone in Changzhou knows that if anyone dares to gamble again, they'll end up in Xinliang!"

"What did you say?" Li Yanping suddenly stood up, looking at the shopkeepers present. "Why didn't you say so sooner about something this important?"

The casino manager knew a lot of the business's secrets. He'd been arrested for so long, who knows how much he'd revealed!

Seeing this, Qian Kang understood Li Yanping's concerns and comforted him, "Don't worry, Manager Liu's son is still in Quanzhou. He knows what he should and shouldn't say. Besides, I asked the prefect about the situation, and he said that Manager Liu only revealed the hidden silver and didn't say anything else."

Hearing this, Li Yanping's expression softened slightly. After all, the casino's money was handed over every month, so even if Prefect Qi searched, he wouldn't find much.

But as long as a person is alive, everything is subject to change.

You should know that Zheng Dian, the criminal investigator in the prefectural government, is a ruthless character.

Li Yanping slowly turned the prayer beads, already having made up his mind. Just as he was about to speak, Qian Kang said, "Manager Li, I think that compared to Manager Liu, the accountant Dong Cheng has a bigger problem."

Li Yanping's eyelids twitched involuntarily: "What do you mean by that?"

Qian Kang was even angrier now. He stood up and paced back and forth in the room, his voice rising higher and higher: "Prefect Qi raided the gambling den, and indeed didn't find much, but he did find at least 50,000 taels of silver in Accountant Dong's courtyard. And most importantly, there was an account book in Accountant Dong's house."

What exactly was recorded inside was unknown even to the judge, so Qian Kang naturally couldn't find out any information.

Fifty thousand taels of silver! That's a lot of money!

How much money does he earn after a year of hard work selling grain?

A casino accountant dared to embezzle so much money!

Qian Kang was genuinely resentful, and his tone naturally carried a hint of bitterness: "The amount of silver confiscated from the courtyards of the casino owners' managers is a staggering 100,000 taels. Prefect Qi is a ruthless man; he said the Wen family had been tricked and gave half of the confiscated silver to the Wen family."

Isn't this tantamount to handing money over to the Wen family?

Qian Kang's eyes darted around: "Manager, do you think that behind the Wen family, it might actually be Prefect Qi?"

If that's the case, then Prefect Qi's unusual behavior can be explained.

Li Yanping ignored Qian Kang, that idiot. He slammed his fist on the table, his face darkening. "The Wen family, the Wen family again!"

Having been cooped up in Jiangnan for the past few months, he knew, of course, that His Highness the King of Chu did not take Prince Wen, a mere child, seriously.

Even he felt that the establishment of the escort agency was merely a scheme orchestrated by Wen Wang's advisors who were unwilling to accept their fate of exile, and that Wen Wang was just a puppet.

Li Yanping always believed that these advisors had some brains but not many. After all, truly capable people would have found a way out for themselves before the Prince Wen was exiled.

Even now, Li Yanping hasn't changed his mind.

The Wen family was able to rise to prominence largely due to the support of Prefect Qi, and another part was probably because King Wen brought some good fortune.

Business people are the most superstitious.

But if this matter is left unresolved, not only will he disagree, but the shopkeepers present will also disagree.

Qian Kang glanced at him discreetly and saw that Manager Li's face was ashen: "Manager Li, we can't just let this matter of the clinic go. We have money and manpower, we can find someone to open a new clinic. The prices of medicinal materials and other items are 10% lower than those of Wen's Clinic. I believe we can quickly regain the market."

In the past few months, because Li Yanping was away, and because the Wen family had established a relationship with King Wen, many more pharmacies came to the Wen family seeking cooperation.

Li Ji's medicinal herbs have been sluggish for several months, and the sales are still declining.

If this continues, it's hard to guarantee that Li Ji's medicinal herbs will completely lose the Mobei market.

From this small example, we can see the bigger picture. Wen Wang's land reclamation in Xinliang is in full swing, and he has even produced two new types of grain. For Qian Kang, this is absolutely devastating news.

He sent someone to inquire secretly and found out that Xin Liang had reclaimed over a thousand acres of land this year.

With so many refugees arriving in the fall, the amount of land reclaimed by Xinliang next year will surely be several times greater than this year.

As long as the Wen family clings tightly to King Wen, his grain store will definitely not have to worry about selling grain next year!

Thinking about all this, Qian Kang felt a tightness in his chest: "Manager Li, the Wen family started by seizing our escort agency, and now they've left our medicine shop half-dead. If this drags on any longer, the northern desert might just be taken over by the Wen family!"

"Alright!" Li Yanping knew exactly what Qian Kang was thinking. "The imperial court is about to issue salt permits, so the pharmacy business can wait for now. I called you here today to have you bring all your bills to check. We need to use all our cash to buy salt permits."

With casinos closed, there will definitely be less cash this year than before.

A hint of annoyance flashed across Li Yanping's face.

Just the next day, news came that the inn was to be transferred to the Wen family business. Li Yanping sneered, "Go and tell those people that if they want a raise, they should do as I say."

Don't you like to steal other people's things?

Let them taste what it's like to be blackmailed!

The servants quickly made contact with the former innkeeper, who was personally visiting the inn. Upon hearing that their monthly wages would be increased, everyone naturally cooperated.

The head chef, in particular, had been cooking at the inn for over a decade and was confident that the high-ranking officials and nobles of Changzhou were used to his cooking. He secretly planned to demand a three-fold increase in monthly wages once the Wen family backed down!