Chapter 46 Chapter 46 [VIP]
Chapter 46
So what if the Lu family is so arrogant?
Now that she had her own cloth voucher, Qian Tong felt for the first time the convenience and pleasure that power brought. Unsure how to thank the Prince Song, she simply praised him endlessly. "The fact that I've met the Prince must be a testament to the Qian family's genealogy. If Madam Qian knew she had a son-in-law who was a Prince, she'd probably faint on the spot..." As she spoke, she began to speak Madam Qian's voice, "You idiot girl, you're so audacious!"
Her expression was so lifelike and her handwriting was 70% similar that Song Yunzhi couldn't help but curl his lips.
Qian Tong saw that divine smile again, and became demented again.
With their engagement imminent, their relationship was changing. Song Yunzhi wasn't above the usual flirtatious feelings between engaged couples. She enjoyed watching, and he didn't stop her. But she seemed to have forgotten something else, so he reminded her, "Give me the medicine."
Qian Tong was stunned, and suddenly woke up from his dream. He slapped his head and said, "Look at my memory. I should have explained it to the prince earlier."
She revealed the truth: "The golden cicada isn't poisonous at all. I was the one who deceived the prince. The reason he was poisoned that night and was captured by me was because he absorbed the drug from my wick. And the pill I gave him earlier was just an ordinary tonic."
As she spoke, she observed the changes in his expression. She felt more and more guilty, and finally pursed her lips and said, "I'm sorry."
Song Yunzhi couldn't help but frown after hearing the truth. No wonder even the doctor from Kyoto couldn't detect the toxins in his body.
He instinctively glared at her. She looked at him cautiously, afraid that he would get angry, and even retracted her neck a lot.
Even though he was angry after being teased, the two of them were in different positions now. He could not bring up the previous conflict to cause unnecessary hatred.
Song Yunzhi endured it for a moment, and finally said, "Since I've given you a clear path, you're not allowed to use these methods again in the future."
Qian Tong felt relieved and promised repeatedly, "Okay, with the prince by my side, I will never do bad things again."
However, she did not do anything bad, but someone came to provoke her.
Five days later, the batch of cloth she bought was successfully put into the restaurant and salt pile. The summer heat arrived, and the workers put on new clothes and soon discovered the benefits of the new material.
Word of mouth spread quickly, and the white hemp, which was once suppressed by cloth shops, became popular in Yangzhou at an unstoppable speed after changing its color.
It was too late for the Lu family to regret.
When the people in the cloth shop wanted to buy from merchants outside the city, they were told that the Qian family had already bought up all the cloth they had on hand. This meant that the most popular fabrics in Yangzhou City were all in the hands of Qian Tong.
The popularity of this material not only made the Qian family rich, but also boosted the development of tailoring shops and dyeing workshops in Yangzhou.
Because the material was not rough, many people from well-off families also took a fancy to its lightness and wanted to keep it cool and convenient. In addition, they saw that everyone in the Qian family was wearing it. The ordinary material was dyed in the dyeing workshop and then cut into different patterns. It was fashionable and novel, which changed everyone's inherent impression of linen. Everyone was tempted and started to stock up to buy it.
The Lu family’s silk was completely unsaleable.
If this continued, all this year's cloth would be rotting in the warehouse. Second Master Lu wasn't as patient as Lu Daozhong. He couldn't wait until she was shipped to sea to arrest her. He had to act immediately, but he couldn't break the agreement between the four major merchants. Each family had some leverage over the other, so the four families had long ago stipulated that merchants' feuds could not be reported to the authorities unless it was absolutely necessary.
Mr. Lu was direct and brutal, and secretly sent people to assassinate him.
With the martial arts master Song Shizi around, Qian Tong didn't have to worry about his safety at all. As soon as the other party approached, Song Shizi noticed him. He was fighting with the assassins in the dark alley outside. Qian Tong lifted the curtain and held up the lantern to illuminate him, nervously reminding him, "Watch your back, there's another one coming from the left, be careful, sir..."
After Song Yunzhi had dealt with everyone, she got out of the car, stepped on the person lying on the ground who was still breathing, and forced him to tell her his origins.
Hearing the name of the Lu family, Qian Tong was not surprised at all. He complained to the people beside him: "The prince won't let me do it, but I can't bear it anymore and want to kill me. What should I do?"
Song Yunzhi saw through her thoughts and said, "The authorities will investigate this matter. You must not harbor any desire for revenge."
The upright and incorruptible Prince Song was so upright that his integrity was outrageous. Qian Tong tactfully advised, "Business warfare is like a battlefield. A proper preemptive strike isn't necessarily a bad thing. Let's capture Second Master Lu and torture him to extract a confession. We're not afraid that he won't confess..."
However, Song Yunzhi insisted not to let her intervene, and warned her, "What did I tell you? You cannot abuse your power. Without evidence, no one can abuse lynching."
become,
Qian Tong gave up because she was not allowed to intervene. After all, she was not the one fighting. If an assassin came, she would be protected by him, Prince Song, and she would be unharmed.
After three consecutive attacks, Prince Song found out the mastermind behind the attack. When the mastermind went to arrest him,
Wang Zhao summoned the people from the Lu family one by one, but no matter how he threatened them, he could not find out their whereabouts.
After the two formed an alliance, Wang Zhao secretly came to find Song Yunzhi again, and Song Yunzhi no longer avoided Qian Tong. The two talked outside, and Qian Tong heard everything while sitting in the carriage.
After Song Yunzhi got in the car, Qian Tong couldn't help but say, "Second Master Lu is not a simple man."
Song
Qian Tong nodded, "Yes, but the prince won't agree."
Song Yunzhi knew that she was smart and had many clever ideas, so he asked her with a try-it attitude, "Tell me about it."
Qian Tong confidently offered a plan, "This Second Young Master Lu loves children. He's had one child after another over the past few years, especially the youngest, the Eighth Young Master, who he treats like a treasure. The Crown Prince could capture the Eighth Young Master of the Lu family and feign threats. He's not afraid that Second Young Master Lu won't show up."
As soon as she finished speaking, Song Yunzhi fixed her with two fixed gazes, and then he sternly scolded her, "You are so stubborn! Did you remember what I said to you?"
This is probably the generation gap between officials and businessmen.
Qian Tong felt uncomfortable after being yelled at, thinking that he was just a dog biting Lu Dongbin. He said perfunctorily, "Sir, just pretend I didn't say anything."
Song Yunzhi couldn't pretend he didn't hear her. Seeing her turn her head away, her neck almost twisted, he knew it would be difficult to change her merchant nature in a short period of time, so he tried to guide her from the side: "What if you make a mistake?"
Qian Tong said: "Then make sure you don't fail."
"There is no such thing as a foolproof guarantee in this world," he asked. "If that child dies by the sword, how can you and I rest in peace?"
What's the point of thinking about the consequences of something that can't happen? Qian Tong couldn't help but grumble, "I told you I wouldn't fail, but you insisted on thinking the worst. I have nothing to say."
If you anticipate bad consequences before doing anything, who would be willing to take the risk?
Fortune and wealth are sought through risk. This is true for business, and isn’t it the same for handling cases?
Because of her muttering, the expression of the prince beside her suddenly tensed up. She could feel that he was about to smoke with anger. She recognized her position in time and said submissively, "Your Highness is right. I shouldn't have such thoughts. We should play it safe and search slowly. There is no rush. Could it be that Second Young Master Lu has grown a pair of wings and flown away? He will definitely not escape the clutches of Your Highness."
No one knew what method the Song prince had used, but after two days, he actually achieved some results. Although he still didn't find the Second Young Master, he did find the Second Young Mistress who had escaped with him.
The man was imprisoned, secretly raised assassins, and openly committed assassinations. The two crimes were combined and he should be sentenced to death according to the law.
——
The assassination attempt failed, and seeing that his family's lives were in danger, Mr. Lu could no longer bear it, so he went to the government in person to report the Qian family for smuggling, completely breaking off relations with the Qian family.
Wang Zhao took the case.
Master Lu beat the drum to report that the Qian family was lawless, selling cloth without a license, making huge profits behind the back of the government, and disrupting the order of the Yangzhou market.
Qian Tong was taken to the hall for the second time. After listening to Master Lu detailing her numerous crimes, she calmly said to Wang Zhao, "Is the Qian family actually involved in smuggling? Please investigate."
Due to the need for confidentiality, Wang Zhao blocked everyone and left Mr. Lu alone. Needless to say, he showed him the certificate of the Qian family's cloth business and said, "The Qian family does not smuggle."
Mr. Lu stared at the receipt for a long time, unable to utter a word, speechless.
How did the Qian family get the certificate?
First it was the salt permit, then the teahouse, and now the cloth sales certificate. The Qian family seemed to have it particularly easy along the way. He suddenly thought of his brother, who had been trying to get in touch with the court over the years. He didn't know whether he succeeded or not, but the Qian family should have succeeded.
But who did the Qian family get involved with?
Back then, the Lu family paid an unknown amount of silver for this certificate, and submitted it through layers of government, but the Ministry of Revenue was the final decision.
I don’t know who the Qian family contacted this time, but they actually got the certificate from the Ministry of Revenue in a short time.
Qian Tong leaned against a pillar, watching Second Master Lu walk out of the prefectural government office in a daze. He endured it again and again, but could no longer hold back. "Sir, Second Master Lu is a very thoughtful person. For safety's sake, I suggest silencing him."
Song Yunzhi was extremely troubled by her constant calls for war and killing. "The document I gave you was stamped by the Dali Temple. If he wants to investigate, he will only find Wang Zhao."
Wang Zhao was an official sent by the imperial court to rectify Yangzhou. He had the power to confiscate or grant certain privileges to merchants.
He said, "The Qian family provided porridge to refugees, saved the dying and the wounded, and took over the teahouse to support the disabled. They are a model business. There is nothing wrong with the Dali official issuing the Qian family a cloth certificate. Don't do anything reckless."
It was the first time Qian Tong had heard so much praise for the Qian family from him. He was a little surprised, but mostly happy. In a moment of complacency, he couldn't control his mouth again, "Your Highness is right. My Qian family is doing legitimate business. We were able to get salt permits, teahouses, and cloth permits because of our own strength. We are definitely not relatives, so we are not afraid of investigation."
Song Yunzhi: "......"
Song Yunzhi stared at her coldly. She had a serious expression on her face, pursed her lips, and blinked at him. The knowing mockery in her eyes was self-evident.
Song Yunzhi was even more confused. He didn't bother to pay attention to her and walked out first.
As soon as they left, Qian Tong summoned Fu Yin and whispered, "Keep a close eye on Master Lu. If he goes to see Madam Park, kill him immediately."
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