91 Sudhana
"It's rare to have fun delivered to your door like this, don't scare me away."
Chen Fengnian nodded, had the gifts unloaded, and then took his leave.
After the person had walked away, Su Yubai walked up behind her with a sullen face and said unhappily, "He is my enemy, and you actually smiled at him."
"How could I not laugh at a benevolent child who brings me money for free?"
Su Yubai: "What? You actually like his lousy gift?"
At this moment, Shi Ye also turned around, kicked the gift on the ground, and said, "Want some? I'll give you something better."
Shen Suqin shook her head: "It's rare to have fun delivered to our doorstep, don't scare me away."
Shi Ye nodded.
Su Yubai persisted: "Tell me how you want to deal with him."
Shi Ye also said, "Tell me what grudge you have against him."
The three of them went inside while talking.
"One of the reasons why my Su family has been targeted by Prime Minister Pei is that Chen Fengnian used my family's wealth as a pledge of loyalty. Otherwise, if I had stayed far away in Jiaozhou, how would Prime Minister Pei have noticed me?" Su Yubai said after the three of them sat down.
Shen Suqin: "I guessed it. I knew the Pei family wouldn't have to wait so long to make a move against the Su family."
"That's why I said Jinyunfang isn't the main thing. What's important is that Prime Minister Pei knows about Jiaozhou and our Su family, this fat fish."
"Then why doesn't he take action against the Chen family?" Shi Ye asked.
Su Yubai snorted coldly: "It was bound to happen sooner or later, otherwise why would he have come all this way? By the way, is he here because he's eyeing the iron mine at Laomaoling?"
Shen Suqin nodded.
"What does his family want?"
“Buy, below market price, force a purchase,” Shen Suqin said.
Shi Ye tilted his head, somewhat puzzled, and asked, "How do these people's brains work?"
Shen Suqin smiled subtly: "Your Highness, how about earning some extra money?"
Shi Ye looked at her.
Shen Suqin turned to Su Yubai and asked, "Do you want revenge?"
Su Yubai smiled knowingly, "How do you want to play?"
"If we extort a meal from him, will His Highness not come?"
Shi Ye raised an eyebrow: "Come on."
"Alright, Xingyuan Restaurant will be hosting a banquet tomorrow night. Don't be absent, okay? Here's how it works..."
The following evening, Yan Lin was suddenly summoned by Shen Suqin to have dinner at Xingyuan Restaurant.
In a private room on the third floor, the charcoal fire of the reunion hot pot was burning brightly, and four people were sitting inside, one of whom was a stranger.
He pushed open the door and went in. The seats of honor were empty. He glanced at Shi Ye with a puzzled look, wondering why he didn't take a seat.
Shen Suqin greeted him with a smile and pushed him to the head seat, saying, "I invited you here today to introduce you to a good friend."
Yan Lin glanced at the only stranger present without changing his expression, and asked, following her question, "And who is this?"
Chen Fengnian stood up and said, "I am from the Chen family of Hewen County, Yuzhou. I have come here specifically to visit Master Yan."
"The Chen family?" Yan Lin glanced at him. "Never heard of them."
Chen Fengnian's smile froze.
"However, I think Chen..."
Shen Suqin added at the opportune moment: "Boss Chen."
“I see that Mr. Chen is a man of great talent and looks like he’s destined for great things,” Yan Lin said. “I don’t like beating around the bush, so Mr. Chen, please speak your mind.”
Chen Fengnian finally managed a smile: "Since you're so straightforward, Mr. Yan, I'll get straight to the point. Our Chen family wants to buy the iron ore you own."
"Oh?" Yan Lin glanced at Shen Suqin subtly. Seeing her nod slightly, he continued, "Buying a mine? Of course, that's fine. As for money, everything is negotiable once the money is in place."
Yes, yes, yes.
"How much money is your family prepared to spend on it?" Yan Lin asked.
Chen Fengnian held up one finger, “One thousand taels of silver per shi.”
Yan Lin narrowed his eyes and slowly said, "Is Mr. Chen perhaps drunk?"
Iron ore in Daliang is a scarce resource and is controlled by the imperial court. For private transactions like theirs, there's no room for negotiation without a minimum investment of eight or ten thousand.
"Hey, how can I be drunk before I've even had a sip?" Boss Chen said. "Master Yan doesn't smelt iron himself, so he doesn't know the situation. Extracting iron from rocks is a business where you only make one in ten. With just this one stone of iron ore, I'm lucky if I can even break even."
"Since Boss Chen isn't making money, what's the point of coming all this way here? Is he some kind of benefactor?"
Boss Chen rubbed his hands and chuckled, "It's mainly because the higher-ups are pushing hard, I can't do anything about it. So, what do you think, Boss Yan? Is this price acceptable?"
Yan Lin crossed his arms and remained silent, clearly dissatisfied with the price.
Before Yan Lin arrived, Shen Suqin and the others showered Boss Chen with praise, putting him on a pedestal, to the point that he now disregards Yan Lin.
Seeing his face darken, she was also unhappy and said coldly, "At this price, Boss Yan has to sell whether he wants to or not."
Yan Lin's aura suddenly hardened, startling Chen Fengnian.
“Oh, harmony brings wealth, harmony brings wealth,” Shen Suqin stepped in to smooth things over. “If the price isn’t right, we can discuss it slowly. That’s what business is all about, right, Mr. Chen?”
Chen Fengnian took her glass of wine and said unhappily, "I think Boss Yan is not a very good businessman."
Shen Suqin laughed: "Yes, yes, come on, Xiao Shiye, have a drink with our boss Chen."
Su Yubai pressed down on Shi Ye's shoulder and said coldly, "He is not worthy."
Chen Fengnian had been flattered all night, but suddenly being treated coldly made him lose his temper and angrily said, "I'm going to drink the wine he offered me, so what?"
As he spoke, he reached out to pry Shi Ye off.
Shi Ye looked at Chen Fengnian as if he were a bedbug.
Chen Fengnian was furious.
He was not valued in the Chen family to begin with. He also had an older brother who was steady and shrewd and was highly respected when he was out in the world.
His health gradually declined at the beginning of this year, which is why he had the opportunity to step forward.
But his business partners always ask him, "Where's your older brother?" or they always say behind his back that he's not as shrewd as his older brother.
Over time, he developed a strong aversion to being looked down upon by others.
Right now, a lowly errand runner dares to look at him like that.
Chen Fengnian couldn't take it anymore. He picked up the wine pot and slammed it down in front of Shi Ye, saying, "Drink! I'll give you ten thousand gold coins after you finish."
Su Yubai chimed in, "Oh, ten thousand gold coins? What does Boss Chen take Xiao Shiye for? Someone who comes out to sell smiles and drink with customers?"
Shen Suqin also said, "Boss Chen, this is going to look bad."
Chen Fengnian looked around and sneered, "Want to make money? You're not willing to go all out. If you want money, why are you acting all high and mighty? Do you expect the Chen family to kneel down and give you money?"
After saying that, he looked down at Shi Ye and said, "You little errand boy dare to look down on people like that? Who do you think you are! I want you to drink, so you'd better drink obediently, or you'll regret it."
Shi Ye slowly raised his eyes to look at him: "Who told you I'm just a gofer? Su Yubai?" He didn't forget to stab Su Yubai in the back.
"Listen up! I am Shi Ye, the only son of Emperor Jingkang of the Great Liang Dynasty and the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace. How many heads do you have that you dare to make me drink with you?"
The wine glass in Chen Fengnian's hand clattered to the ground, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"Someone come here," Shi Ye said with an air of superiority.
The door to the private room was pushed open with a bang, and a large group of guards rushed in.
"Drag Boss Chen away and lock him up."
The guards grabbed the man.
Mr. Chen struggled: "Your Highness, Your Highness, I was blind and didn't recognize your greatness. Please have mercy and let me go."
Shi Ye leaned closer and gave a fake smile: "Okay."
Boss Chen kowtowed repeatedly.
“Isn’t your Chen family rich? Write back and tell your family to bring the money to ransom you. Once the money is in place, I will let you go back,” Shi Ye continued. “Keep dragging this out.”
"Your Highness, Your Highness..."
After the sound faded into the distance, Yan Lin said calmly, "Has anyone told me what the Chen family did to offend the three of you?"
Now he realized that these three were ganging up to extort money from others, and not just a small amount.
Su Yubai raised a glass to him from afar and said, "It's a good thing you didn't mess up, otherwise I would have gone to your room in the middle of the night to stew your glutinous rice balls."
Yan Lin ignored him and turned to Shen Suqin: "You speak."
Shen Suqin then told him about the Chen family's scheme against the Su family, and that the Chen family, with Pei Xiang's backing, wanted to seize the Laomaoling iron mine.
“The Pei family’s influence can be seen everywhere,” Yan Lin said.
Shi Ye: "There's no other way. There's nothing left to squeeze out of Hejian. If the Pei family wants to maintain its former prestige, they have to go around making money."
"How much does Your Highness intend to ask for this time?"
"I don't want much, just two-thirds of the Chen family's assets."
Shen Suqin counted the heads: "There are four people here. The three of you will each take two shares, and I will take three shares."
"Why should I?" Su Yubai asked.
"Just because I support an army."
Su Yubai returned.
And so, Chen Fengnian went and never returned. When the Chen family came to inquire, they learned that he had offended His Highness the Crown Prince.
With no other option, Chen Lu Nian, the eldest son of the Chen family, dragged his ailing body and braved the wind and snow to deliver the money northwards with a caravan of silver.
It's not that they couldn't bear to part with one of their sons.
Rather, they were well aware that the Chen family had offended His Highness the Crown Prince, and if they didn't want their entire family to be wiped out, they had to pay money to avoid disaster.
So Shen Suqin's initial plan was to rob him outright, since Su Yubai had suffered a loss at his hands.
After making this free money, Shen Suqin was able to focus on preparing for the New Year.
As the year draws to a close, the managers of Xingyuan restaurants in various parts of Daliang have once again traveled north to settle accounts. Compared to when they came last year, Ningyuan is now in a much better position.
The streets were wide and clean, the houses were neat and orderly, and there were more and more businesses selling things on the streets. The whole city of Ningyuan was full of vitality.
They knew that with a landlord in the area, how could the local area remain poor forever?
This year's accounting was conducted in Yan Lin's courtyard. Shen Suqin was too lazy to think, so Yan Lin took over.
Yan Lin didn't have her photographic memory, so he had to flip through the ledgers while listening. As a result, he finished the ledger in just a few days last year, but this year it has taken him more than half a month to finish.
Shen Suqin laughed at him, saying, "You're getting old and your memory is failing."
Yan Lin: "Lazy people have no right to say such things."
"How's it going? Compared to last year, this year's profits should be much better, right?"
Because of the signature "Reunion Pot," no matter how other restaurants try to imitate it, none can match the authentic taste of Xingyuan.
Many regular customers say that they love to have a family reunion hot pot at Xingyuan when the whole family gathers together, because it's delicious, lively, and brings good luck.
"The profits are indeed good. In addition to leafy greens, we've added a lot of off-season fruits this year, and the variety of vegetables is also greater than last year."
This is all thanks to the expansion of the greenhouses. The newly added managers have brought in many experienced farmers, and Yongluo has become a large-scale vegetable and fruit planting base, dozens of times larger than Ningyuan.
Yan Lin continued, "Chenji Zhenhuofang's business is also doing well, but the soap workshop's business has declined a bit. I suspect they're producing counterfeit products. I'll send someone to investigate after the New Year."
This portion of the profits was reported by Su Yubai. He came to deliver the year-end bonus and casually handed the account book to Yan Lin.
Yan Lin was too lazy to read it and told him to give a verbal report.
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