Upon returning to his residence, Qian Defu immediately summoned his trusted confidants.
"Go, find out if the imperial court is planning anything big lately! Especially anything related to ice making!"
As Qian Defu gave instructions, he paced back and forth, a vague premonition in his heart. He felt that Gan Li was definitely not the kind of person who spoke without reason.
When he signed the agreement with Master Zhao, he was attracted by the scarcity and high profits of the ice in the summer.
But if the imperial court intervenes, the price of ice will definitely plummet. In that case, his business with Master Zhao will not be about making money, but about throwing money down the drain!
However, before the message from his confidant could be sent back, the county government had already posted a notice saying that the imperial court had recently issued a new decree to promote a brand-new method of ice making throughout the country!
Not only that, but each state and county was also instructed to organize a group of artisans to build ice-making workshops so that every household could afford to use ice.
Before long, the news spread throughout the streets and alleys, and Qian Defu naturally heard about it as well, immediately gritting his teeth in anger:
"You bastard surnamed Zhao, you actually dared to play dirty tricks on me!"
Qian Defu said through gritted teeth, never expecting that he would be tricked by Master Zhao.
He dared not imagine that if he had not listened to Gan Li and had instead followed the normal procedure to draw up a contract with Master Zhao, he would have lost everything, if not his last penny, but a large sum of money.
After a moment's thought, he instructed the steward to prepare a carriage and head to Cangxi Town immediately.
Qian Defu led a large group of men to the town and went straight to Wanshunlou.
...
Master Zhao was still immersed in his dream of getting rich, completely unaware that he was about to face a terrible disaster.
He summoned Steward Zhao early in the morning and enthusiastically gave him instructions:
"Go, recruit more people, and buy more saltpeter! We need to speed up the work and try to deliver all the ice that Boss Qian wants as soon as possible, so we can get the rest of the silver sooner!"
Buy saltpeter? Butler Zhao thought of the huge amount of saltpeter and felt it was unnecessary. However, seeing Master Zhao's excited appearance, he dared not disobey and could only bite the bullet and do it.
However, no sooner had Steward Zhao left than Qian Defu arrived with his men.
When Master Zhao saw Qian Defu, he assumed he was eager to see the progress of the ice-making process, so he greeted him with a smile and warmly welcomed him:
"Mr. Qian, why did you come in person? Is there something you need to tell me?"
Qian Defu gave a forced smile and cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "Master Zhao, I've come today to discuss the business deal between us."
"Business?" Master Zhao was taken aback. "What business?"
Qian Defu's smile gradually disappeared, and his tone became cold: "Naturally, it's the agreement we signed before about buying ice."
Mr. Zhao was even more puzzled: "Wasn't the agreement already signed? What else is Mr. Qian dissatisfied with?"
Qian Defu said with a forced smile, "Mr. Zhao, you really have a bad memory. We just signed the agreement a couple of days ago. Have you already forgotten?"
It's clearly stated in this agreement that if anything goes wrong that is detrimental to me, I have the right to terminate the contract.
The smile on Master Zhao's face froze instantly, and his heart skipped a beat as an ominous premonition surged into his mind.
"Mr. Qian, what do you mean by that? What do you mean by 'changes' or 'changes'? Isn't our business doing just fine?"
Qian Defu sneered and slammed a rubbing onto the table: "Take a look for yourself!"
Master Zhao picked up the document, puzzled, and began to read it carefully. However, with each word he read, his face grew more and more pale. By the time he finished reading the entire document, his face had turned ashen.
"This...how is this possible?!" Master Zhao stared in disbelief at the document in his hand, his lips trembling. "How could the imperial court know about this method? This is clearly..."
"Master Zhao, do you have anything to say now?"
Qian Defu looked coldly at Master Zhao and said in a cold voice:
"As we agreed before, I now want to terminate the agreement with you, Mr. Zhao. Please return the deposit I paid."
Return it?
Master Zhao complained bitterly, "I already used your deposit to hire someone to make ice... Not only the deposit, but I've also invested a lot of my own money. Mr. Qian, could you spare a few days—"
"No way!" Qian Desheng slammed his fist on the table and roared.
"If I hadn't been careful, I would be the one suffering heavy losses right now! You still want to give me leeway? Mr. Zhao, I'm telling you right now, this business deal is off."
You've already taken a deposit from me; now you'd better return it all to me!
Cold sweat poured down Mr. Zhao's forehead. He knew that this matter was unlikely to end well today.
He wanted to struggle a little more, but Qian Defu continued:
"I advise you to be sensible and obediently return the money to me. Otherwise, if I take this matter to the authorities and accuse you of fraud, it won't be as simple as just returning the money!"
Master Zhao panicked immediately. He knew that since Qian Defu dared to speak to this extent, he must have something to rely on. If he didn't agree, he would probably be in deep trouble!
He wasn't afraid in the past, but now that there had been no news from the county magistrate for so long, he didn't know what had happened, but he didn't dare to be as arrogant as before.
Under Qian Defu's relentless pressure, he had no choice but to compromise, watching helplessly as Qian Defu left with the deposit.
After Qian Defu left, Master Zhao, disregarding everything else, hurriedly summoned his servants:
"Quickly stop Steward Zhao and tell him not to hire anyone yet... Oh, and don't buy the saltpeter for now!"
Watching the servant turn and leave to handle the matter, Master Zhao slumped into a chair, utterly dejected.
He invested a huge amount of money in this ice-selling business! Almost all of his available silver went into buying saltpeter, and the rest was either used to rent warehouses to store the saltpeter or to hire workers to make ice...
I originally thought I could earn this money back sooner or later, but who would have thought that the imperial court would start promoting the method of making ice with saltpeter... Wait, how did the imperial court know about this method?
I bought this ice-making method from Ganli at a high price, so why does the imperial court suddenly want to promote the same method?
Could it be...?
Master Zhao suddenly stood up, gritting his teeth as he said, "It's Gan Li! It must be her! She's the one who leaked the secret recipe!"
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this matter was inseparable from Gan Li, so he didn't care about anything else and immediately led his men to Shi Wei Tian in a menacing manner.
Master Zhao led his men into Shiweitian Restaurant, his eyes scanning the interior before finally settling on Gan Li standing behind the counter. He pointed at her and began to hurl insults:
"You heartless, wicked woman, how dare you betray me!"
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