Zhao Shouzheng looked back and saw his nephew, Zhao Xian, the eldest grandson of the Zhao family, walking towards him with a listless look on his face.

"Uncle, my father asked you to come over to discuss something." The blow Zhao Xian suffered was obviously heavier than that suffered by Zhao Shouzheng, and even his speech became weak.

"Your father has always been the head of the family. There is no need to consult me." Zhao Shouzheng shook his head and said, "Let him make the final decision on everything."

"Father has his own reasons. You will understand when you go there, Uncle."

"Oh, okay." Zhao Shouzheng looked at Zhao Hao worriedly and whispered, "Son, find a sheltered place for a while. I will be back soon."

At this moment, all the rooms in the backyard were locked by the buyer, and Zhao Hao had nowhere to go. Moreover, he was worried about the second master Zhao who was not familiar with worldly affairs.

After all, we are all in this together.

He followed him, wanting to teach Zhao Shouzheng a lesson.

~~

The Zhao Mansion is a large courtyard with five depths. From front to back, there are the entrance hall, front hall, main hall, inner house and the backyard where servants live.

At this time, the guys who were taking over the property had already swept the inner house and the main hall, and were counting the various furnishings and antiques in the front hall of the Zhao Mansion.

The master of the mansion, Zhao Shouye, was also in the front hall, trying hard to stay alert and talk to two officials and a man dressed as a wealthy businessman.

The two officials were both wearing green official robes. One had a fifth-rank white pheasant patched on his chest, while the other had a xiezhi patched on his chest. Although their rank was lower than the former, they were formidable Fengxian officials.

But at this moment, Zhao Shouye's eyes fell on the wealthy businessman who was wearing a brocade robe lined with fox fur and a large hat with a fox fur lining.

"Brother Zhang Shi, isn't this interest rate too high?" Although Zhao Shouye was wearing a casual robe, he was also a sixth-rank official of the imperial court. At this moment, he was actually humble to a businessman. "Look, I didn't bargain with you for the items in the mansion. Can you be more flexible on the loan?"

"I'm sorry, Lord Zhao, we can't break the rules for your family." The rich businessman was seen sitting on the official hat chair with a bulging belly, groping the mahogany armrests, and said nonchalantly: "Besides, although you have a lot of things at home, how many of them are really worth money? We at Deheng Pawnshop reluctantly gave you 20,000 taels for the sake of Mr. Guo. How come it's like taking advantage of you?"

As he spoke, he put his hands on the armrests of the chair and pretended to stand up.

"Who in Nanjing will lend money to your family now? If you still have complaints, Lord Zhao, please seek help from someone else."

"How long will it take?" The fifth-rank official said impatiently, "Our department is still waiting for a reply!"

"Don't worry, Doctor Ji. I'm just talking. If Brother Zhang doesn't want to, forget it." Zhao Shouye was busy being careful with his father's former subordinate. He had been working alone these days and was exhausted. He no longer had the slightest bit of arrogance of a minister.

"Hurry up and finish it quickly." The censor who had been gloomy all the time also said: "This court will compare every five days, and you must report it tomorrow. No one will be able to cover it up by then!"

After the censor finished speaking, the official from the Ministry of Revenue gave Mr. Zhang a look.

Mr. Zhang put his middle finger on the table and pushed a promissory note that had been placed there in front of Zhao Shouye.

"Then Lord Zhao, please sign it quickly. With such a large sum of money, we at Deheng Pawnshop need time to prepare."

"Okay, I'll sign it. I'll sign it."

Zhao Shouye was so concerned that he was confused, and he only wanted to get the old man out as soon as possible and get his life back on track. Now that he was being controlled by three people in turn, he was finally completely confused.

Seeing him signing the loan agreement with red eyes, clenching the pen, and trembling slightly, the three of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Before the ink had dried, Mr. Zhang was about to put away the IOU, but was stopped by Zhao Shouye.

"Wait a minute, for such a big matter, I have to ask my brother to sign as well."

"Okay..." The three of them exchanged glances, knowing that he was preparing for the possibility that his brothers would refuse to acknowledge the debt in the future, leaving him to shoulder the huge debt himself.

'But now he is no longer confused.' The three of them smiled but said nothing.

.

After a while, Zhao Shouzheng and his son followed Zhao Xian into the front hall.

"Brother, come quickly and sign." After the brother greeted the two officials, Zhao Shouye called him over to sign.

"Okay, big brother." Zhao Shouzheng took the pen and signed directly next to his brother's signature.

Zhao Hao was originally concerned about his status and didn't want to attract too much attention. But now he couldn't help it, so he quietly pulled Zhao Shouzheng's sleeve and whispered a reminder:

"Let's see what it is first!"

"Oh." Zhao Shouzheng slapped his forehead, then he put down his pen and looked at the document. He couldn't help but gasp and said, "I borrowed 50,000 taels, and I paid 90% and got 13% back! How can I afford to pay back such a high interest?"

Zhao Hao heard this and secretly shouted: "Is it a matter of interest? You can't borrow this 50,000 taels, okay? ! "

But the uncle sighed and said, "I can't care about so much. Saving father is the most important thing. Please sign the pledge quickly. After you sign, father will be safe and he can be reinstated."

"Really?" Zhao Shouzheng's brows immediately lit up with joy, and he looked at the two officials as if seeking confirmation.

The two officials nodded but said nothing.

"That's great, at least father is okay!" Zhao Shouzheng was as happy as a child and was about to start writing.

But I saw Zhao Hao still shaking his head.

Zhao Shouzheng was very worried about his son. Seeing this, he stopped again and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong, son?"

In the view of the two officials, his procrastination obviously meant that he did not want to co-sign the IOU and wanted to find an excuse to get away with it.

Fearing that things might change, Doctor Ji spoke before Zhao Hao:

"Brother Zhao, you have always been indifferent to worldly affairs, so you may not know how serious your father's trouble is!"

"How serious is it?" Zhao Shouzheng's gaze was indeed drawn back to him.

"Let's be honest. Your father has offended Prime Minister Gao!" Doctor Ji said word by word.

"Prime Minister Gao, which Prime Minister Gao? Could it be Gao Gong or Gao Xinzheng?" Zhao Shouzheng asked in horror.

"Who else could it be, Prime Minister Gao?" Doctor Ji bowed towards the north and said solemnly, "Isn't it the current imperial tutor, the crown prince's guardian, and the cabinet's second assistant Gao Xinzheng!"

"He is the one who is in charge of the Beijing inspection this time!" The censor at the side also echoed.

"It's all over..." Zhao Shouzheng's legs softened and he sat down on the ground.

Fortunately, Zhao Hao was quick to catch him and prevented Zhao Shouzheng from falling flat on his butt.

"Your father has offended Gao Xinzheng, and he must have suffered a lot. Moreover, this time they found such a big mess!" Seeing that he was really frightened, Doctor Ji struck while the iron was hot and said, "Fortunately, our department, considering the friendship between colleagues, mediated on your behalf, and won a glimmer of hope for your father's survival."

Doctor Ji glanced coldly at the Zhao family and said grimly, "If the hole cannot be filled, even the gods will be unable to save you. By then, not only your father, but your whole family will suffer!"

"Brother, just sign it, don't delay any longer." Zhao Shouye also urged. "If you delay any longer, Gao will kill my father!"

Zhao Shouzheng was originally a useless scholar. Under such circumstances, what ideas did he have?

He finally put pen to paper and prepared to sign his name.

Zhao Hao suddenly pushed his right elbow, and the brush drew a long ink mark on the IOU.

P.S. It's not easy to run naked, I'm begging for your recommendation votes! Please post chapter and paragraph reviews, thank you very much!