When the burly man in black saw that Song Yuanbao looked flustered, he pressed on relentlessly, and his henchmen joined in the commotion.
"Go and invite Lord Xiong from the Ministry of Commerce."
Xue Deyi instructed his men to invite people from the Ministry of Commerce.
Before Song Yuanbao could come up with a solution, Xue Deyi spoke first.
"Sir, my small business has just opened. You know, this delay is really affecting my business."
Song Yuanbao earnestly recounted his story to Xue Deyi.
Xue Deyi nodded slightly, "I have my own ideas."
After a while, Xiong Shangyan from the Ministry of Commerce arrived with his men.
He wore a silver brocade robe, an official hat, and a jade belt, and looked gentle and refined.
Upon seeing Xue Deyi, he cupped his hands in greeting: "Brother Xue."
"Brother Xiong, thank you for your trouble."
"I heard they're here to verify documents, right? Where are the documents?"
"Here."
Song Yuanbao presented the document with both hands.
Lord Xiong examined it closely, then held it up to the sunlight to examine it, and touched the official seal on it: "This document was indeed issued by my Ministry of Commerce, there is no problem."
The burly man in black had a rather unpleasant expression and remained silent.
"Sir, this money exchange has broken the rules. How can it distribute money to the people for free? Isn't this breaking the rules of the trade? Isn't this disrupting the monetary system?"
The burly man in black softened his tone. Seeing that the document was genuine, he couldn't say anything more and had to find another excuse.
Song Yuanbao's eyelids twitched. This big man in black looked like a weasel-faced, stupid pig. Someone must have taught him to say those words.
Who could be behind this?
"Oh, is that so?"
Su Buqing walked out of the money exchange.
"Oh, sir, I am Su Buqing, the manager of this small village. Perhaps this hero has misunderstood. We did not bring any money; we brought rice and grain."
"Well, the imperial court is currently providing disaster relief, and we are simply responding to the instructions from above and doing what we can to benefit the people," Su Buqing said respectfully to Xue Deyi as he stepped forward.
"This burly man must have misheard."
"You're talking nonsense!"
The burly man in black roared.
"Um?"
Xue snorted unhappily.
Upon seeing Xue Deyi's cold gaze, the burly man in black immediately suppressed his arrogance. "Where is there any rice? This shopkeeper is clearly making things up!"
"Sir, please look, the rice is right here on the counter. Why is this hero ignoring it?"
"Impossible! I heard it all. They said they'd give you ten copper coins if you opened a household. If you don't believe me, show me your account book!"
"Good sir, these ledgers contain the silver deposited by our guests, so it's not convenient for me to show them to you."
“Strong man, perhaps the onlookers have misrepresented the message. The rice that costs five copper coins and the rice that costs ten copper coins have been misrepresented to you as five copper coins and ten copper coins.”
Su Buqing looked at the burly man in black and said with a troubled expression.
"Then let the officials from the Ministry of Commerce investigate!"
“I say, sir, you are seriously affecting our bank’s business. You’ve seen the documents and the grain. If you continue to be so aggressive and make things difficult for us, it’s hard not to suspect that you have ulterior motives. Could it be that you’re acting under someone’s orders to sabotage our business?”
Upon hearing this, large beads of sweat appeared on the forehead of the burly man in black.
"My lord, today was supposed to be a joyous occasion for my family, but this brute has ruined it all. I beg you to do justice for my family!"
As he spoke, he was about to kneel down, and the men behind him followed suit.
"Hey, get up quickly."
Xue Deyi reached out and stopped Su Buqing from kneeling.
He glanced sideways at the burly man with a full head of sweat: "Bullshit, come with me! Men, seize these men!"
"He has been detained in the yamen for five days on the grounds of disturbing the peace of the capital and inciting a disturbance, so that he may reflect on his mistakes!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than Xue Deyi's men swiftly bound the troublemakers who were trying to escape and took them back to the government office.
"Oh, sir, please spare us! We won't do it again!"
Several men escorted the burly men toward the yamen (government office).
Su Buqing and Song Yuanbao exchanged a glance and continued to greet the guests.
Xue Deyi led the small squad of infantrymen armed with long spears away.
The shop assistants bowed respectfully to the two gentlemen and called out loudly, "Please take care, sirs!"
Xiao Zhou, being very observant, followed behind Xue Deyi and Xiong Shangyan's entourage and stuffed two boxes of pastries into their hands.
"Officials, you've worked hard. Officials, you've worked hard."
The money shop's employees finally breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the burly men being taken away and the government officials leaving.
The waiters continued to serve the guests, while Su Buqing and the others went into the inner room.
"Oh dear, that scared me to death."
Song Yuanbao's legs went weak, and he leaned against Chu Dunshi's plump and round body.
"Sixth Brother, you seemed pretty calm just now?"
Chu Dunshi joked.
"Oh dear, can I not put on an act?"
Chu Dunshi helped Song Yuanbao sit down.
"Luckily you reacted quickly and went out the back door in time to call the officials from the capital's garrison. Otherwise, what would have happened if this money shop had been smashed up?"
"Sigh, I didn't want the government officials to get involved. Now, during holidays and festivals, I'll definitely have to spend money to bribe officials and curry favor."
"The way they're attracting people to open today is certainly a bit too extravagant."
Su Buqing shook his head slightly, somewhat regretting, "I was hoping to attract more people, but I didn't expect that someone would have a handle against me."
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