Chapter 12 Chapter 12
Chapter 12
The story of the Qian family's seventh lady going to the Cui family to collect a debt fermented overnight, and by the next day it had spread everywhere and became the hottest topic in taverns and teahouses.
"The Cui family has made an engagement with the prefect."
"Mrs. Qian Qi was unwilling to accept her fate and went to the Cui family's engagement banquet, crying and making a scene..."
"Mrs. Qian Qi gave up on herself and found a pretty boy husband who was a warrior."
"The Qian family's salt wells have long ceased to produce salt, and now the Qian family has become a hollow shell."
"The Qian family has been pushed to the brink of despair, unable to even afford food."
"The Qian family is unlucky. Their salt permits are about to expire, and at this critical moment, the imperial court sends officials to investigate the four families. The Qian family is in trouble now..."
Overnight, the Qian family's status in Yangzhou fell to the last of the four richest businessmen.
The creditors got wind of the news and swarmed in.
Mrs. Qian had been busy these past two days planning with the third and fourth wives how to kick the new son-in-law out of the house. Early in the morning, she heard the rumors outside and learned that Qian Tong had embarrassed himself when he went to the Cui family yesterday.
This damn girl, didn’t she say she wasn’t interested in the prefectural governor’s marriage? Why did she come to make trouble again?
He rushed to Qian Tong's yard, but found that there was not even a place to stand. All the people there were there to ask for money. After finally pushing through the crowd, he saw that the yard was full of lacquered wooden boxes, which were full of cash and banknotes.
How much is this...
Mrs. Qian took a deep breath and saw Qian Tong giving out money, and her eyes suddenly became sparkling.
What is she doing? !
Mrs. Qian didn't bother to ask her why she went to Cui's house yesterday. She walked up to Qian Tong and said with a stern face, "Come here!"
Qian Tong was busy checking the accounts in his hand and had no time to pay attention to her. "What do you want, mother? Wait until I'm done."
After work...
Is there any money left?
Seeing that she ignored him, Mrs. Qian leaned over and asked in a low voice, "Who allowed you to touch the money in the treasury?"
Upon hearing this, Qian Tong had to look up at his mistress, the Qian family mistress who knew nothing about the family business. Did they have any silver in their treasury? But he still said calmly: "These are the old accounts I collected yesterday."
Mrs. Qian was stunned. Those bad debts? Her father had been running around for so long that he hadn't collected a single cent, and yet she was coming back?
No matter how she got it back, seeing her send it away so easily, Mrs. Qian's heart ached, "Why are you paying me back now..."
Qian Tong didn't even raise his head and asked the young man who was keeping accounts beside him, "Next..."
When Madam Qian saw the handsome man sitting next to her, she was furious. "Do you know what people are saying? They say you've fallen into depravity and found a good-for-nothing gigolo."
Song Yun took the pen he was using to record accounts and a drop of thick ink fell abruptly.
Qian Tong: ...
What is Mrs. Qian trying to do?
Noticing the young master's tense jaws, which were about to break the pen, Qian Tong felt a sudden pain in his head. After much effort to calm him down, he raised his head and retorted to Madam Qian with a stern face: "How is he useless? Isn't he keeping accounts?"
Whoever made the mistake should admit it. Qian Tong stared at her and said, "Mother, apologize."
Mrs. Qian was startled, as if she had heard a huge joke. "Who should I apologize to? I think you are confused..." She realized that there was a group of people watching behind her, and turned around and scolded: "What are you looking at? I just owe you a little money. Who doesn't owe money in business? Who would come to collect debts so early in the morning? Will my Qian family stop doing business in the future? Or do you just don't want to have anything to do with my Qian family..."
"Boss Liu, isn't that right?" Mrs. Qian suddenly grabbed one of them and demanded, "My Qian family bought quite a bit of rice from you, didn't they? Last year, you came to us saying we had too much grain in the warehouse, and didn't my Qian family clear it all out for you without a second thought..."
The man bowed his head and apologized, "Madam, you are right. I will always remember the kindness of the Qian family. If I were not so short of money..."
Mrs. Qian was simple-minded and quick-tempered. When she got angry, she didn't give anyone face. She sneered, "Boss Liu, can't make ends meet? Your shop is almost out of town..."
Qian Tong looked at her at this moment as if she were a fireball, nodding wherever she went, and turned around and winked at Fu Yin.
Fu Yin immediately stepped forward and held Madam Qian's arm. "Madam, the sun is too strong here. I will take you to rest for a while."
"What are you doing? Let me go..."
"Money and copper!"
"Okay, I can't cure you, I'll go find your grandmother..."
After such a commotion, people who come to collect debts feel a little embarrassed.
Qian Tong didn't mind and took the initiative to explain: "It is my Qian family that owes the money. You don't have to feel sorry. Even if my Qian family sold the house and begged for food, we would not owe any of you a penny..."
——
Half a day later, the rumors outside became more and more intense.
"The Qian family's creditors have been knocking on their doorsteps, and they're about to sell their house..."
"Mrs. Qian is dissatisfied with Miss Qi's lack of ambition, so she takes her anger out on the new son-in-law."
The Cui family suddenly gained the upper hand.
"The Cui family spent tens of thousands of taels on an engagement banquet..."
"It seems the Cui family has added two new teahouses recently..."
"No wonder the prefecture chose to marry into the Cui family..."
There was an endless stream of women coming to Mrs. Cui to make friends with her.
After five years of squabbling, the Cui and Qian families finally settled their differences, and Mrs. Cui was secretly pleased. Sixth Lady Cui was even more flamboyant, shopping from one end of the street to the other, fearing that no one would miss her.
Just when everyone was gloating over the downfall of the Qian family, on the third day, the Qian family suddenly set up four large porridge stalls at the four city gates in the east, south, west and north to provide porridge to the people who came to Yangzhou to make a living.
There were also soup kitchens in the city, more than a dozen of them, large and small, to provide relief to the refugees.
At first, some people doubted that the Qian family was just trying to save face and restore their reputation. Later, everyone gradually discovered that the rice used in the Qian family's porridge stall was all new rice from this year, without any adulteration.
In less than half a day, the Qian family's porridge stall was crowded with refugees.
"Didn't the Qian family go bankrupt? Where did they get the money to buy rice..."
"These merchants are cunning and deceitful. They never tell the truth."
"Have some conscience? You're eating other people's food and still swearing. Aren't you afraid of pus coming out of your mouth?"
"No matter what his purpose is, the porridge in the bowl is real, and it has actually gone into our stomachs. He saved our lives, so we should be grateful..."
Slowly the wind changed direction.
More and more people are speaking up for the Qian family.
The rumor quickly reached Mrs. Cui's ears, and she quickly called the accountant and ordered, "Pay out some money. The Cui family should have as much as the porridge stalls built by the Qian family."
The accountant's face turned pale and he sighed, "Madam, there is no money in the treasury."
"What's the meaning?"
The accountant reported, "Sixth Lady's engagement. The silver bills we gave to the prefecture alone amounted to 100,000 taels, not counting the gifts we gave out. The engagement banquet cost nearly 10,000 taels. The remaining 200,000 taels were all taken away by Seventh Lady Qian yesterday."
Mrs. Cui was dizzy and asked, "How much did you say?"
The accountant held up two trembling fingers and said sadly, "Two hundred thousand taels! Yesterday, Madam gave it all to Miss Qian Qi just because she said so."
Ever since the Qian family's eldest wife married into the Cui family, the Cui family's tavern and teahouse haven't paid a cent for the salt they use. For the past five years, they've only paid in IOUs. It's not like the Qian family hasn't asked for it before. The Qian family's head even went to the eldest son a few days ago, but the eldest son has the salt on hand and hasn't liquidated it yet, so he can't pay and can't make the decision.
Mrs. Cui was able to make the decision. In order to save face, she gave all the cash in the accounting office to Qian Qinnan in one go yesterday.
After hearing this, Mrs. Cui's face turned pale and she was unable to breathe for a long time.
Now that it has been given out, it is impossible to take it back. Mrs. Cui knew what the overall situation was. She slowly calmed down and said, "Go to the teahouse and move some money. The porridge stall is the most important thing right now."
The accountant shook his head again, "The eldest son just took a large sum of money from several major teahouses. For the past month, all the drinks in the teahouses have been on the bill."
Even if they can move, what good will it do to move a few hundred taels? Once more than ten porridge stalls are built, they may not last more than two days. By then, the Cui family will be in a difficult situation and their business will only become more difficult.
——
On the third day of the Qian family's porridge distribution, the topic in the teahouse almost entirely became: Did the Cui family distribute porridge today?
"No, I didn't even see a shadow."
"The Qian family is so poor, but they still built more than a dozen porridge stalls. Isn't the Cui family very rich? They spent 10,000 taels on an engagement banquet. The Cui family's sixth wife almost bought up half the street a few days ago. Why don't the Cui family come out to give out porridge?"
"That depends on whether they are willing to spend money on the people."
"If you can only swallow it, you won't have to worry about dying of it."
In the private room next door, Qian Tong pushed a newly purchased wooden box to the man across from him and coaxed him, "I heard from Fu Yin that you bought a peach wood comb last time? The humidity in Jiangnan is high, and wooden combs easily accumulate mold. Using them too much will make you sick. I made you a jade comb. Take a look. Do you like it?"
She leaned over, her jet-black hair sliding from her waist to one side, and Song Yunzhi saw the aqua blue headband on her hair.
My younger sister also likes this kind of silk ribbons very much. She once stomped her feet and cried because I didn’t know how to choose for her. The two are only two years apart in age, and one is naive and ignorant of the world.
The other one's mind is full of calculations.
She knew that the Cui family was smuggling, and while sending people to track them and collect evidence, she pushed the Cui family to a higher precipice...
Once the Cui family's tea smuggling case breaks out, it will definitely divert the court's attention, making it unable to free up its hands to deal with her Qian family, and perhaps even make a contribution.
The Cui family will be the first of the four families to fall.
She chose to take action at this time, which meant she must have already obtained evidence of the Cui family's smuggling. It was unknown how far she had investigated. Song Yunzhi asked her tentatively, "Is my brother okay?"
"Very good." Qian Tong didn't want to mention anyone other than him, so he said perfunctorily, "You don't have to worry about him."
She lied without blushing or feeling any guilt. If he didn't know the truth, he would have been deceived by her again.
Song Yunzhi no longer looked at her cunning face.
Qian Tong was disheartened to find that ever since Mrs. Qian called her a pretty boy that day, her husband had become cold-faced again.
Qian Tong couldn't let his previous efforts go to waste, so he decided to face the problem head-on: "I apologize to you for what my mother said the other day. She's just that kind of person, with a sharp tongue but a soft heart. You'll understand after getting to know her for a long time that she's not a bad person."
"Don't bother with her."
“A harmonious family brings wealth...”
Who is with her family? Song Yunzhi couldn't stand it any longer, "I didn't..."
As soon as he opened his mouth, he realized that something was wrong and shut up.
When he looked up, he saw the young lady opposite him winking at him, her lips curved into a crescent as she praised him, "I know Yun Zhen has a broad mind."
"In that case, I will avenge you even more today." Before Song Yunzhi could avoid the seductive look in her eyes, he saw her sideways glance at a grand restaurant across the street. He said, "Do you remember the person who beat you that day? Let's find him and beat him back."
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