Mr. Li was furious. He returned to Shen Qing and loudly demanded, "Why can't we take any more goods?"
Shen Qing smiled: "Because the three of you are no longer members of the Raw Silk Merchants Association! And our association has a rule that only members of the association can take raw silk from the Nanxun warehouse!"
Mr. Liu retorted, "Who said we're not members of the Chamber of Commerce? Your opinion doesn't count!"
Shen Qing tapped the withdrawal agreement in his hand with his chin: "Please take a look at the last clause of the withdrawal agreement."
The three immediately spread out the withdrawal agreement.
Upon seeing this, they all turned pale.
Mr. Liu slammed the withdrawal agreement on the ground and roared, "You've tricked us!"
Shen Qing sneered: "You signed your names yourself. I didn't say a word when you signed. Other merchants can testify for me."
Everyone nodded: "It was indeed you who signed it. Before you signed, Boss Shen reminded you to read the contents carefully."
Mr. Li was so angry that he threw the withdrawal agreement down!
The three of them exchanged a glance.
Mr. Wu smiled and looked at Shen Qing: "If we withdraw our shares, we won't be able to get the raw silk from Nanxun, so we won't withdraw."
As he spoke, he was about to give the silver notes in his hand to Shen Qing again.
Shen Qing didn't take it, crossed her arms and walked to the side: "You don't need to take Nanxun's raw silk anymore."
Boss Li's eyes widened: "Why?"
Shen Qing turned his back, a mocking smile playing on his lips, and said slowly, "Because the Weaving Bureau will take back your share."
Boss Liu: "On what grounds?"
“All the merchants used the finest raw silk from Nanxun to make silk for the imperial court, but the three of you used second-grade raw silk. The Imperial Household Department discovered this and, upon investigation, it was a capital offense punishable by beheading. The Imperial Textile Bureau took back your quotas to save your lives.”
Both of them choked and couldn't speak.
Mr. Wu stepped forward with a smile and discussed with Shen Qing again: "Mr. Shen, we really didn't think that much about it just now and made the wrong decision in a moment of impulse. How about we just let go of the matter of withdrawing the shares?"
Shen Qing sneered: "You've already thoroughly investigated my family's finances, how could you not have thought of that?"
After saying that, he turned to He Fei, who was guarding the door, and said, "He Fei, please ask these three bosses to leave!"
He Fei immediately came in and asked the three people to leave.
Boss Li was shouting and making a scene, refusing to leave. He sat on the ground and threw a tantrum. Qi Zhenheng heard the commotion and rushed over. After understanding the cause and effect of the matter, he immediately gave a stern order: "You three, if you don't leave the Weaving Bureau, I will lock you all in the dungeon!"
The three of them finally calmed down and slunk away from the accounting office.
After the farce subsided, Shen Qing was exhausted, both physically and mentally.
He sat back down in the main seat, looking weakly at the remaining five merchants: "Please rest assured, the Gao family's debt is only a matter of two years ago, and I settled it a year ago. If they were still in debt, I wouldn't have been able to take out one million taels to invest in the Chamber of Commerce all at once."
Upon hearing this, everyone agreed that it made sense and expressed their opinions:
"President Shen, please rest assured. We have witnessed your abilities these past few days, and we will definitely continue to follow Lord Qi and follow you!"
"Yes! President Shen, please rest assured! We will always be loyal to Lord Qi and you!"
"I pledge my allegiance to Lord Qi! I pledge my allegiance to Chairman Shen!"
Qi Zhenheng smiled and gestured for everyone to keep a low profile.
Smiling, he said to everyone, "Since those three bosses have withdrawn their shares from the Chamber of Commerce, their shares will be equally distributed among the six of you. Each of you will receive an extra thousand bolts of silk per year!"
A thousand bolts of silk, with a profit of two hundred taels per bolt, would amount to two hundred thousand taels! Moreover, there's no need to worry about a lack of sales or delayed payments for this imperial grain.
It's truly a secure job!
Everyone was so happy they rubbed their hands together. They had nothing to repay Qi Zhenheng and Shen Qing with, so they could only promise Shen Qing:
"President Shen, please rest assured. None of us are very educated. We are focused on making silk. As the president of the Chamber of Commerce, you can do whatever business you want in the name of the Chamber without going through us."
"Yes, just do it! Don't worry about us! We'll follow you!"
Shen Qing smiled and bowed to everyone: "Please rest assured, everyone, I will definitely not let you down! I hope that by this time next year, everyone will have received more than one million taels of silver!"
Everyone was overjoyed to hear this!
If being a mute or blind person could earn a million taels of silver a year, they would be willing to do it!
The merchants left the chamber of commerce satisfied.
Only Shen Qing and Qi Zhenheng remained in the accounting office.
Qi Zhenheng looked at Shen Qing with concern: "Those three people withdrew their shares, so now we've lost 1.5 million taels of silver all at once?"
Shen Qing sighed wearily, staring into the void: "Yes, 1.5 million taels have been lost all at once."
"Then... will it affect the settlement with the silk farmers?"
Shen Qing nodded: "Possibly. The silk farmers have delivered a total of 10,000 bales of raw silk to the warehouse in the past two months, and one million taels have already been settled. Now the Chamber of Commerce only has 1.5 million taels of silver left in its treasury, which can only last for two or three months. I need to replenish the 1.5 million taels as soon as possible."
At this point, her headache worsened.
The one million taels previously invested in the Chamber of Commerce was only obtained by selling the villa in Shanghai to the French.
Currently, the Gao family is expanding their silk weaving factory and silk weaving school, hiring dozens of female workers, and their factory in Shanghai also needs funding.
In fact, Shen Qing didn't have any extra funds on hand.
The thought of raising 1.5 million taels of silver in two months was truly exhausting for her.
As Chunju said, raising 100,000 taels to pay off debts had already taken a heavy toll, but raising 1.5 million taels now is only slightly easier than climbing to heaven.
If this 1.5 million taels isn't paid up quickly, the silk farmers won't receive their money, and the raw silk won't be delivered to the Nanxun warehouse. It's estimated that the foreigners will soon swindle it away again.
Silk farmers are honest and simple farmers who only know how to produce and sell silk and make money. They don't understand what it means to have control over raw silk or what national dignity is.
The rhetoric of national righteousness might move Qi Zhenheng, but it wouldn't move the silk farmers and these silk merchants.
The vast majority of silk farmers needed to sell silk to survive, and merchants needed to make silk from raw silk to earn money from the imperial court.
One needs to survive, the other needs to profit.
These are all practical matters.
Maintaining this relationship is based on a lot of money.
If the money runs out, the relationship could collapse at any moment.
Qi Zhenheng half-squatted down, looking at Shen Qing with concern: "Raising 1.5 million taels is not an easy task. Don't take any risks."
He was implying to her that she shouldn't borrow money from Zhao Yuanwai's relatives anymore, lest she get herself into trouble.
Shen Qing understood, and smiled weakly: "Don't worry, I won't borrow money from loan sharks again."
"How will you raise such a large sum of money?"
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