Chai Shijing asked, "What do you want to do?" He then reminded, "September's salt revenue is on its way to Beijing!"
Kang Yueran chuckled, "You send salt profits every month, Ajing, your family is really rich!"
The cost of shipping salt was extremely high in ancient times. I wonder what the emperor was thinking when he sent salt so frequently. "Do you think your father did this on purpose?"
"No, Your Majesty is not good at business. And... and most of the wealthy families look down on merchants."
Kang Yueran snorted, "The wealthy are so hypocritical. On the one hand, they call merchants lowly, and on the other hand, they let their servants open more shops to make money."
"Don't be angry, everything will be fine later!"
Kang Yueran wasn't really angry, "Ah Jing, which shop in Duke Lu's family is the most profitable?"
"It's Baiyi Silk Shop. They have all kinds of silk from the south, as well as kesi and various embroidery. They supply most of the wealthy families in the capital."
"The New Year is coming soon, and the wealthy families in Beijing should also prepare their New Year clothes."
Chai Shijing smiled and said, "My clothes for the New Year have been prepared and delivered."
Kang Yueran slapped his forehead and said, "Okay, I'm poor."
"Why are you hitting yourself?" Chai Shijing rubbed Kang Yueran's forehead. "But you're right. Since October, Baiyi Silk Shop has been very busy."
Kang Yueran continued to ask, "Which silk shop is the second most popular in the capital? What is its relationship with Duke Lu?"
Chai Shijing shook his head and said, "Yueran, I'm not good at business either!" He never cared about the affairs of the silk shop.
"Okay, I won't embarrass you. I'll check it out myself tomorrow."
"What exactly do you want to do?"
Kang Yueran smiled mysteriously, "Just wait and see the show!"
Xiao Wuzi went out to inquire for a whole day and came back in the evening.
Kang Yueran was a little puzzled. With Xiao Wuzi's level, he should be back in an hour at most.
Xiao Wuzi drank a glass of water and said, "Miss, the second-ranked silk and satin shop in the capital is called Juxiang Silk and Satin Shop. The owner is Zhang Yuan, who is from the south. I have made inquiries and was planning to come back.
Unexpectedly, he ran into the man who gave Mama Tian the purse. He looked like a small steward from his clothes. But when he entered the Juxiang Silk Shop, Zhang Yuan, dressed in brocade clothes, was actually very polite to him.
To be able to open such a large shop in the capital, he must have someone to rely on. As the boss, Zhang Yuan really didn't need to be too polite to a small manager. "And then?"
Xiao Wuzi chuckled, "I saw it clearly. When the man was not easy, Zhang Yuan's eyes were full of hatred. After the man left the shop, I followed him and followed him all the way to Duke Lu's mansion.
I went to the cart shop to inquire again, and the clerk told me that Juxiang Silk Shop never used the cart shop to transport goods, saying that they had their own clerks in the shop.
They also said that a merchant once used their cart company to deliver goods to Zhang Yuan. When the goods arrived in the capital, Zhang Yuan didn't want them anymore. The two of them even went to the government office over this, and in the end, Zhang Yuan had to pay compensation to settle the matter. "Miss, I think Zhang Yuan has been coerced by the Duke of Lu's mansion."
Using a truck company to transport goods was much cheaper than transporting them on your own; Zhang Yuan couldn't have failed to make the calculation. "Your analysis makes sense! Did you find out where the warehouses of both companies are?"
Xiao Wuzi nodded and said, "They are both behind their own shops." He took a pen and paper from the table and drew the locations of the two shops.
At three o'clock in the morning, Kang Yueran looked at the map drawn by Xiao Wuzi again, changed into black clothes, and went out.
She arrived at the Baiyi Silk Shop's warehouse and transferred all the goods into the space. She bought a batch of the cheapest scraps of cloth from the mall and returned them to the warehouse. Then she took out a bucket of gasoline and poured it on the shelves and the cloth. Finally, she struck a match...
Kang Yueran destroyed all three large warehouses.
She dodged into the yard, feeling the fire was almost over. She put the voice changer to her throat and yelled, "Oh no! There's a fire! Go call the police!"
The two guys on duty heard her voice and ran over. The thick smoke coming out from the crack of the warehouse door made them cough uncontrollably.
The guy didn't bother to ask who shouted and hurried to put out the fire.
As soon as the door of the warehouse was opened, the billowing smoke scared people away like a tiger out of a cage.
The two guys were dumbfounded. What should they do?
One of the guys suddenly remembered what Kang Yueran had just shouted, "Call the police! Yes, call the police! I'll go call the police!"
The man ran out not far when he ran into the patrol army guarding the capital. The patrol army sent someone to notify the fire-fighting team to come and put out the fire.
After struggling for most of the night, the fire was finally put out at dawn.
The fire was out, but everything in the three warehouses was reduced to ashes.
The shopkeeper, Shen Yi, collapsed in front of the warehouse with a deathly pale face. It seemed that God was going to kill him.
The second shopkeeper, Su Xing, was almost suicidal. "Shopkeeper, report this to Jingzhao Prefecture for investigation. The clerk said the fire started in a very strange way."
"What the hell, it's already burned like this, those two guys can say anything."
Suddenly, they were both stunned. As shopkeepers, they definitely couldn't escape, so they could only try to shift the blame onto others to save their own lives!
Su Xing gave a wink and went to a private room in the front shop with Shen Yi to discuss.
Shen Yi asked tentatively: "I heard that there was a thief outside the capital. Could he have done it?"
"I've heard of thieves stealing things, but I've never heard of thieves burning things. No, no! The only person in the capital who has the reason and the courage to burn our warehouse is Prince Ping."
Shen Yi nodded fiercely, "That's right, it was Prince Ping who deliberately did something bad!"
Su Xing narrowed his eyes, a sinister plan springing to mind. "I'll call the servants in and give them some instructions. Later, you go to Jingzhao Prefecture and report to the authorities."
As soon as the gates of Jingzhao Mansion opened, Shen Yi was seen kneeling at the gate, shouting, "Shen Yi, the owner of Baiyi Silk Shop, sued Prince Ping and burned the silk shop's inventory totaling 600,000 taels last night."
The bailiff quickly reported it to the prefect Chen Ziyuan, who called Shen Yi in for questioning.
At the same time, Su Xing went to Duke Lu's mansion to apologize!
Xie Zhi, the chief steward of Duke Lu's mansion, kicked Su Xing when he saw him. "What's going on? Why did the silk shop catch fire?"
"Sir, it's all my and Manager Shen's fault. We were negligent in taking precautions, which gave the thieves the opportunity to take advantage.
"Steward, we can investigate the cause of the fire later. The most important thing now is to quickly send someone to Jingzhao Prefecture to call back Manager Shen."
Baiyi Silk Shop's annual revenue was enormous. To avoid trouble, Duke Lu issued a strict order not to disclose it to outsiders.
Xie Zhi roared, "Why did that idiot report it to the police? Who told him to go?"
"He insisted on going. I tried to persuade him not to report the matter to the police, but he said he was the boss and I had no right to control him.
He also said that his mother was the Duke's wet nurse and that he and the Duke had a special bond. He would use this to shut me up whenever I didn't agree with him.
"He's just a piece of scum, and he's worthy enough to ask for favors from the Duke." Xie pointed at the servant, "Go and call that rotten guy back to me!"
He pointed at Su Xing again and said, "Go on, how did the fire start?"
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