The candlelight in the east courtyard flickered. Xianjin didn't like the dark environment, and oil lamps and candles were expenses she was very willing to spend. In such a bright environment, Madam Qu's face was still dim and unclear, and all her expressions were dark and depressed.
"Do you want to sign a letter of severance with the Chen family?" Old Madam Qu raised her eyelids, revealing her yellow eyelids.
Xian Jin crossed his arms, "I thought I had made myself clear."
Madam Qu's eyelids drooped again, and when she looked up again, she had an incredible sneer on her face, "Do you think you can survive in Xuancheng just because you have some business talent? What can you do if you leave the Chen family?"
Before Xianjin could say anything more, Madam Qu seemed to have figured it out. She suddenly relaxed and leaned back, "If you must go, you can."
"Guys can't leave."
Madam Qu's thin face looked cold and mean under the oil lamp in the dark night. "The Steward Zhong, Zhou Ergou, and the Zheng brothers you mentioned... are all employees of the Chen family. Wang Sansuo, Madam Zhang, and Steward Dong and his son are even more servants of the Chen family... Even if their deeds were signed with you, if I really go to the government office to make a fuss, you may not be able to take them all away."
Xianjin raised his eyebrows, "Have you seen the current situation clearly?"
"I put forward the conditions not to discuss with you, but to inform you."
Xianjin was amused. "Your reliance is nothing but the Prime Minister Cao. How did you get in touch with him? Money? House? Or beauty? Old Madam, you haven't been out for a long time. Please let me remind you that the girl of the Bai family gave birth to a son for the Prime Minister Cao. Now her brother is still thrown into the charity cemetery. People who died suddenly are not allowed to enter the ancestral temple..."
Who gave Madam Qu the courage to believe that her alliance with Prime Minister Cao was unbreakable?
Xianjin kept his arms crossed over his chest, and said in a very light and steady voice, "Do you need me to remind you of one more thing - I was the one who built the bridge between the Chen family and the government."
Whether it is Magistrate Xiong or Wang Xuezheng, there is no doubt who they will help.
Behind her stood the Qiao family.
She disdains to use the Qiao family's name to show off herself, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have it.
Madam Qu's eyes flickered, and she was stunned for a long while. She remembered what Cao Fucheng had said to her, "If He Xianjin is not dealt with, the Chen family will sooner or later become hers. Her shame is Qiao Fangzhi's shame. Your Erlang is now a student of Wang Xuezheng, and has nothing to do with Qiao Fangzhi. Besides, Qiao Fangzhi has been living in seclusion for many years, so what if he offended him? A headmaster without students, even if he has great ability, can only write a few sour articles!"
Cao Fucheng said temptingly, "If under He Xianjin's leadership, Xuan paper becomes tribute paper, then the credit must go to Prefect Xiong and the Qiao family. But if the Chen family follows my path, where does the credit for the tribute paper lie? Does it go to Yingtian Prefecture?"
"Now Yingtian Prefecture is in short supply and Xuan paper has become a tribute. If I become the prefect, your Erlang will come to be my disciple. Having a third-rank official as a stepping stone for him to join the sect is not as convenient as Qiao Fangzhi or Prefect Xiong."
She doesn't understand.
She was just a businessman, and she could not even imagine that such a high-ranking official would be patient enough to teach her how to do things.
How could she find out about the complicated official relationships between the Qiao family, Prefect Xiong, Yingtian Prefecture, and Prime Minister Cao?
Seeing Xianjin strategizing calmly, Old Lady Qu felt that she was losing ground step by step. She wanted everything at the beginning, but gradually lost everything, cities and territory...
Old Madam Qu clenched her fists, pondered for a while, and finally left in anger!
The next morning, a wax-sealed letter was handed to Xianjin.
On the tenth day, at the Wuxu Hall, water was flowing into the hall. Twenty people were sitting in rows in the hall. Heng Lian sat at the head with a calm demeanor, the walnut in his hand was plated until it was shiny. He saw that the people in the hall looked flustered, and they were talking in groups of three or four with their heads down. There was a constant sound of rustling in the hall.
Henglian raised his chin, and the steward responded by striking the gong.
"Everyone..." Heng Lian looked around with a friendly and warm smile on his face, "Everyone! Be quiet! Listen to me!"
Everyone quieted down.
Heng Lian nodded with satisfaction. "In the past three or four months, our Xuancheng Paper Industry has been through many twists and turns. The Chen family only cared about killing and not burying people. They have embezzled everyone's hard-earned money and their employees for quite some time. Everyone must be prepared. These losses cannot be recovered."
"Since we have established the Xuancheng Paper Industry Chamber of Commerce, we must do a good job. This tribute paper incident should be regarded as a lesson for us: even a young man with no hair on his lips cannot be trusted, so how can a young girl in the inner house have any knowledge? Even if the Qiao family is close to them, we cannot let them do whatever they want just for the sake of outsiders."
Henglian spoke with deep sorrow, showing an attitude of concern for the country and the people.
The boss of Qiangji Paper, who was sitting at the bottom, frowned and turned away: Damn it! You pick up the bowl to eat, and put it down to curse. When Manager He was in power, you were the first to give in!
Heng Lian sighed and said in a long voice, "Today is the last day to submit tribute paper. Regardless of whether there is a result or not, we must submit an answer to Beizhili."
"In my opinion, Bazhang Xuan is definitely good paper." Heng Lian was tumbling the walnuts in his hand vigorously. "Since Fujian Yukou paper is magnificent and noble, then we should be even richer than it! We should use better materials!"
“They use gold leaf, we use gold thread!”
"We lost the battle but not the battle. Let the court see that we in Xuancheng have done our best!"
Heng Lian clapped his hands, and the steward beside him responded by presenting a roll of golden stuff.
Heng Lian sighed, "The Chen family kept silent, and we at Heng Ji really couldn't bear to ask everyone to invest more materials and money, so we just joined forces with eight or nine paper shops to reopen the papermaking pool—"
The steward slowly spread out the papers.
This paper is really dazzling...
Some paper shop owners are about to be blinded by the prickles!
Is this paper!?
This is a gold flake!
Heng Lian added, "We asked the gold shop to melt the gold into very fine threads and mix them with paper pulp. Forty or fifty craftsmen worked tirelessly to make the paper, pump water, brush the walls, and dry it."
Heng Lian said regretfully, "The time is too short. If we had more time, we could make it more luxurious. Fujian uses jade to decorate the four corners, and we can also add rubies and sapphires in between! We can even make silver, gold, dragons and phoenixes..."
"You've done a great job!" The paper shop owner clapped his hands. "There are very few bosses like you who are willing to work hard and have good taste!"
This licking dog will end up with nothing!
Brother Qiang, the boss of Qiangji, rolled his eyes and looked at the magnificent Bazhangxuan paper with an indescribable look.
For the first time, he knew that a piece of paper could be described as magnificent.
This is like a hidden weapon.
Gold threads hidden in paper?
Assassins don't need to bring weapons when they assassinate the emperor.
The gold thread was pulled out from the paper and rushed straight into the old emperor's fragile throat!
Simple and efficient! It is an essential daily necessity for assassination, theft, and rebellion!
What a fucking weird idea!
Brother Qiang felt like his giganticophobia was about to kick in: He was too scared of that big stupid thing!
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