Amid the lamentations, Gu Qinghan calmed down and said calmly: "Don't worry, since this fire started in the pawn shop, the Hou Mansion will naturally compensate you for all your losses."
When everyone heard this, they immediately showed joy.
"Each of you should go back and take stock first. How much loss there is. After you go back and confirm, the Hou Mansion will pay you a lot of money." Gu Qinghan's face was slightly tired, "This fire happened suddenly and affected everyone. I'm really sorry. live."
One person laughed and said: "If the third lady said this, it's easy to say. In fact, my loss is not too big. It only adds up to three or four thousand taels of silver at most." He looked back at the ruins and sighed: "A fire burned down the shop. It's not easy to do an inventory."
"Yes, what the Lu Dong family said makes sense, and the account books have all been burned clean. It's really hard for us to keep an inventory." Someone immediately echoed: "But everyone has their own accounts in their hearts, and they want to calculate everything clearly. It’s not easy, there’s just a rough number. We respect Jin Yihou, even if we suffer some losses, don’t worry about it.”
"You all have this heart, Jinyi Hou Mansion is deeply grateful." Everyone was sighing, but Yang Ning had already come over, calm and calm: "Sanniang also said that the Hou Mansion will fully bear your losses. Since it involves you, , I won’t let you suffer any more.”
Someone who knew Crown Prince Jinyi immediately said, "The Crown Prince has also spoken, so please just keep your heart in your stomach."
Yang Ning looked at the Lu Dong family and asked with a smile: "Lu Dong family, you said the loss of your shop was about three to four thousand taels of silver?"
"That's almost the number." Lu Dongjia said hurriedly: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, our shops have been adjacent to each other for many years. We will bear the burden to some extent if the Marquis Mansion suffers this time."
Yang Ning smiled and said: "You have to work hard, that's right. What does Dong Lu's family run?"
"Oh?" Lu Dongjia said: "It's a salt shop!"
Yang Ning was startled and thought, isn't salt a government-run business? As far as he knew, the government had a salt department with agencies all over the country, which was in charge of the transportation and sale of salt. It seemed that people could not sell salt privately. If they were found out, they would be held responsible.
Is it possible that Dong Lu's family is actually a government businessman who deals in salt
"It turns out to be a salt shop." Yang Ning half-smiled, "Dong Lu, does your shop usually store a lot of salt?" His eyes sharpened, and he asked Shopkeeper Xu next to him: "Shop Manager Xu, since this Mr. Lu is Neighbor, you should be very familiar with him."
Shopkeeper Xu looked pale and lost his mind. Hearing Yang Ning's inquiry, he hurriedly said, "I have known Dong Lu for six or seven years."
"Shopkeeper Xu, is Dong Lu's shop bigger than our pawn shop?"
Shopkeeper Xu didn't know what kind of medicine Yang Ning was selling in his gourd. He glanced at Gu Qinghan and saw that Gu Qinghan's face was cold and could only say: "Lu Dong's pawnshop is only half the size of our shop."
"How much money did our shop spend that year?"
Shopkeeper Xu looked at Gu Qinghan again. Gu Qinghan was very smart and already understood what Yang Ning meant. He said, "This shop is in a great location. I bought it for six hundred taels of silver."
Yang Ning turned to look at Lu Dong's house and asked with a smile: "How much money did Lu Dong's shop cost?"
The Lu Dong family is also a shrewd businessman. Yang Ning knew what Yang Ning was thinking when he asked a few questions. His eyes suddenly flashed and he did not answer.
"Even now, it's only worth four hundred taels of silver at most." Shopkeeper Xu also recovered, "This is already the highest price, Mr. Lu, I remember last year someone was planning to buy your store for three hundred taels of silver. You almost agreed."
Dong Lu said awkwardly: "Well... that shop is indeed only worth a few hundred taels of silver, but the salt in the shop...!"
"Of course the Lu Dong family will not put antique calligraphy and paintings in the salt shop, so they won't burn any valuables." Yang Ning's expression became serious: "Even if I don't know the price of salt, but you said that we lost three or four thousand taels of silver, except for The shop will still lose two to three thousand taels of silver. I wonder how much salt can be bought with two to three thousand taels of silver?"
The few people present are all businessmen who have been doing business for a long time. Seeing the embarrassment on the Lu Dong family's face, they are a little gloating. They secretly think that you are asking for prices all over the sky. This is a good time. The Jinyi Prince's few words can make you unable to raise your head. They all figured that although they would have to claim back the losses, they really couldn't raise the price too high.
Of course they know that although salt is an indispensable thing for people, it is not expensive. It is a commodity with small profits but quick turnover. Not to mention a few thousand taels, even five or six hundred taels of silver is enough to fill a salt shop, and No salt shop really has a warehouse full of salt. The total loss of Dong Lu's family will not exceed a thousand taels at most.
Yang Ning stopped and did not continue to pursue the Lu Dong family. He glanced at everyone and said: "I am deeply sorry for causing trouble to you all this time. No one wants this kind of thing to happen, but since it has happened, you should bear the responsibility." The Jinyihou Mansion will never shirk the responsibility in the slightest. Sanniang also said that you will not lose a penny for your losses. The principle of the Jinyihou Mansion is that all debts must be paid...!" At this point, his voice turned cold: "However, if someone wants to take advantage of the situation, I advise these people to give up this idea as soon as possible. Although the Jinyihou Mansion will not owe anyone else's debt, if others owe the Jinyihou Mansion, they will only It’s not a good thing to be afraid.”
Several bosses looked at each other, but in fact they were all thinking that Prince Jinyi was a fool with no brains, but at the moment, it seemed that was not the case at all.
"Well said!" There was a burst of laughter from behind Yang Ning, and a sinister voice said: "Every debt must be repaid. This is the family tradition of Jinyihou. It is really gratifying for the prince to inherit the family tradition."
Yang Ning turned around and saw several people striding towards him. One of them stood tall, wearing a long sword on his waist. The scabbard was wrapped with gold wire, and the sword tassel was hung with beautiful jade. He looked like a handsome young man, but he was no more than two years old. Fifteen or sixteen years old.
This man was a stranger, Yang Ning had never seen him before, but judging from his clothes, he was obviously a son of an official, and he didn't know where he came from.
The man came forward, looked at Yang Ning, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, I haven't seen you for a long time. I heard that you were kidnapped last time. I was very worried about you. Later I heard that you returned safely. I am happy to congratulate you." He glanced at Gu Qinghan, with light in his eyes. He took a step forward, approached Gu Qinghan, cupped his hands and said, "This must be the third lady of Jinyihou Mansion, right?"
Gu Qinghan had obviously never seen this person before, and frowned: "Who are you?"
"My dear, Dou Lianzhong, my father Dou Kui!" The man squinted and smiled, but his eyes were looking up and down on Gu Qinghan, unable to take his eyes away.
"Oh, it turns out he is Mr. Dou's son." Gu Qinghan said lightly: "It's midnight, I wonder why Mr. Dou came here?"
Yang Ning was also looking Dou Lianzhong up and down at this time, thinking that this man had an aura of turmoil all over his body. Just by looking at his eyes gliding up and down Gu Qinghan's curvy body, he knew that this guy was not a good guy. .
"This fire is really not small." Dou Lianzhong glanced at the ruins and sighed: "Third Madam, where did this fire start? Could it have started from your pawn shop? "
Gu Qinghan's pretty face turned cold and asked: "How does Mr. Dou know that the fire started in the pawn shop?"
Dou Lianzhong hurriedly smiled and said: "Third Madam, please don't get me wrong. I don't have the ability to predict the future. It's just that the Crown Prince was talking about compensation just now. I think the other families are affected by you." He glanced at the crowd and said, "Third Madam, you can't predict the future." Is there anything I can do to help?"
Gu Qinghan said calmly: "I don't bother others to take care of the affairs of the Marquis Mansion. Mr. Dou's kindness can only be understood with heart."
"Third Madam, please don't be polite." Dou Lianzhong took a step closer to Gu Qinghan, "The prince and I are close friends, and his affairs are my affairs. If you need help, just ask, and don't be polite. "Smiling at Gu Qinghan, "We are all family members. If we are too indifferent, we will get alienated."
Yang Ning knew that this guy must have some entanglements with the Jinyi Crown Prince. Seeing him approaching Gu Qinghan step by step, he suddenly reached out and grabbed Dou Lianzhong's wrist. Dou Lianzhong was caught off guard. Before he could react, Yang Ning pulled Dou Lianzhong hard. He drove to the side and put some distance between him and Gu Qinghan.
Dou Lianzhong's face turned angry, but Yang Ning grabbed his wrist and said with a smile: "So it's you, in the middle of the night, are you really here to help?"
Seeing the smile on Yang Ning's face, Dou Lianzhong couldn't help but want to shake Yang Ning's hand away, but found that Yang Ning's hand was like an iron hoop surrounding his wrist, and it was not weak, and it hurt a little when he pinched it. He frowned and said, "Let go first."
"Why, you turned against me and refused to acknowledge me?" Yang Ning said with a smile, "You just said that you and I are close friends, why are you not even allowed to shake hands?"
Dou Lianzhong lowered his face and said, "Brothers must also settle accounts openly. I'm here to do business. Please let go of your hand." After pulling hard, Yang Ning let him break free this time and asked, "What are you talking about? What means?"
Dou Lianzhong glanced at Yang Ning with a hint of disgust, turned to look at Gu Qinghan, and said with a smile: "Third Madam, I passed by the nearby street earlier and heard that there was a fire here, so I rushed over anxiously, fearing that your pawn shop would be destroyed. Burning. I'm really afraid that something will happen. Look at your pawn shop...!" He sighed and shook his head.
"Mr. Dou, I still have a lot of things to do here. If you really have something to do, just tell me." Gu Qinghan's pretty face was cold, "If there is nothing else, you'd better leave first."
Dou Lianzhong reached into his sleeves, took out a wad of paper, shook it in his hand, and then said proudly: "Third Madam, take a look first, are these the pawn tickets from your pawn shop?" He took out the wad of paper. The paper was handed over, and Gu Qinghan reached out to take it, flipped it over and glanced at it a few times, frowning even more, and raised his head and asked Dou Lianzhong: "This is indeed our pawn ticket, why is it in your hands?"
"The third lady is joking." Dou Lianzhong said with a smile: "If you pawn something, you will get a pawn ticket. Since there is something in your pawn shop, of course I have a pawn ticket in my hand!"