Deng Jinghe also heard Qian Manguan's sigh. His eyes flickered but he did not respond.
The woman who poisoned the brothel has already run away and has not been found yet. But even if Deng Qian was caught in a trap due to carelessness, Qian Manguan knew him. He was an extremely cautious person. If there was no one helping or instructing the brothel woman behind the scenes, it would be impossible for Deng Qian to fall into the trap. Otherwise, it would be impossible for this person who had so many romantic debts to live peacefully until now. Moreover, after doing all this, this woman immediately ran away and has not been found until now.
On the surface, the Deng family's business seemed to be fine, but Qian Manguan knew that Deng Qian was quite autocratic in business. He had the final say in the entire Deng family. Although his eldest son was being trained as his successor, the major business of the Deng family was still firmly in Deng Qian's hands. He felt that he was in his prime and was a bit conceited, so he told others not to interfere.
Now that this person has fallen, it is like the backbone is suddenly gone. Over time, the overall impact on the Deng family will be no less than that on the Qian family.
"I told Uncle Qian all this because I trust him," Deng Jinghe sighed. "I don't need to say more about the pros and cons of this matter that no one else knows yet."
Hearing this, Qian Manguan's anger had long since subsided. He looked worried, sighed, and said, "Both our families have suffered this disaster, what can we do? How could I know that Fu Zhiyu would not show off his abilities, and suddenly he caused so many problems? Tell me, if our two families go to find him together, will he let us go?"
Deng Jinghe did not answer. He thought for a moment and asked another question: "Who came up with the original idea?"
"Hey," Qian Manguan was a little embarrassed when he mentioned this now, "No one brought this up beforehand... It's just that we hit it off right away."
The power in the hands of King Jiangnan is like a gold mountain, but he does nothing, which makes people jealous.
Of course, the Yuan family is not to be mentioned among the four wealthy merchants, as they would definitely not go along with them. However, if the remaining three families united, they would be an all-powerful force in Jiangnan. At that time, they thought that with such great pressure, they were not afraid that Fu Zhiyu would not give in.
"The Lin family refused to join no matter how much we talked about it. The talks broke down. Sigh, you know your Uncle Lin, he's very old-fashioned," Qian Manguan said. "In the end, only our two families were left. Look, we didn't do anything, did we? We were just testing the waters first, and we didn't kill him. Besides, nothing happened in the end, so why would he want to kill us all like this?"
Qian Manguan was a little angry when he said this, but Deng Jinghe lowered his head and smiled, saying, "You shouldn't have thought like this in the first place. Now that you've been counterattacked, you're blaming others too much. Uncle Qian, this doesn't make sense."
"Ah!" Qian Manguan got even angrier when he heard this, "Which side are you on?"
Deng Jinghe waved his hand, signaling him to calm down, and said, "I'm just telling the truth. Didn't Uncle Qian just come out from King Zhao? But he didn't get anything. First, he is still angry, and second, maybe we really didn't do it right."
After listening to this, Qian Manguan thought about it and felt that it made some sense. He then asked, "What solution do you have, nephew?"
Qian Manguan actually seldom communicated with Deng Jinghe. He had long known that this man was not favored in the Deng family's backyard. But now that something had happened, this man seemed to be the calmest one. He did not seem panicked at all. He looked so calm, as if Deng Qian's misfortune this time was just what he wanted.
"I can't do anything about it. Look, my own family is still in a mess," Deng Jinghe smiled and added, "I remember that Uncle Qian has some connections with the Yuan family, right?"
Fu Zhiyu didn't understand what had happened and he wouldn't give in, so the Qian family turned to the Yuan family for help.
Although the four families were competing with each other, they still maintained superficial peace. Yuan Jiangwen was also very embarrassed by this commotion, but that was Fu Zhiyu's business, so he naturally couldn't ask to forgive him on his behalf.
But it was not a good idea to keep refusing to meet Qian Manguan, so in the end Yuan Lu went to meet Qian Manguan on behalf of his father.
If you really think about it, the four families have helped and favored each other. Yuan Jiangwen has been avoiding them, which actually makes his attitude very clear. He is on Fu Zhiyu's side and will definitely not help at this critical juncture.
Yuan Lu came out and chatted with Qian Manguan, but he was actually a little absent-minded.
Qian Manguan saw it, but there was nothing he could do.
Time passed day by day. Chen Guoyuan was thousands of miles away. God knew what kind of accidents would happen. He didn't care how much money he had to pay in compensation. He just wanted to save his son, so he racked his brains to get close to Yuan Lu.
"My dear nephew, look, his Deng family offended you some time ago, but my Qian family didn't, right? We have always been friends. When you were a child, I held you in my arms, and your brother Mingchong even bought you candy. You can't just stand by and watch us die, right?"
Yuan Lu didn't remember whether Qian Mingchong had ever bought him candy, but he knew the reason why his cousin didn't want to see this person. The entire Yuan family knew about the incense burner on the day of the sacrifice.
He was happy to see the Deng and Qian families in trouble, but after Yuan Lu sent Qian Manguan away, he went back to find Fu Zhiyu to hear his opinion, but there was no happy look on his face.
"I didn't do this," Fu Zhiyu said, "and I can't control it. In the short term, it seems to have helped me vent my anger, but when I think about it carefully, it's not that simple."
Yuan Lu knew it, and asked him carefully, "Cousin, do you have any guesses in your mind?"
"Yes," Fu Zhiyu was silent for a while, and then added, "If the Qian family comes to find you, just drag him and wait and see."
The Qian family didn't get any benefit from Yuan Lu. After a few days, something happened to the Deng family, which had been quiet.
"Yesterday, a shopkeeper from the Deng family in Yongzhou ran away with the money," Yuan Lu gossiped with Fu Zhiyu while eating melon seeds. "Maybe he received the news that Deng Qian was unconscious. The funny thing is that the Deng family's business is so big that they have several sets of accounts in the shop. Deng Qian is not here, and the people left by the Deng family can't even tell how much money the shopkeeper took away."
Deng Qian's accident could be concealed for a while, but not forever. This man used to hang out outside all day long, but now he hasn't appeared for so many days. If you say he has been hiding from the limelight, he has been hiding for too long. If you think about it a little, you can figure out that something is wrong.
The shopkeeper who ran away was like opening a valve. Deng Qian didn't come out after such a big thing happened, and only Deng Jinghe came out to clean up the mess. Anyone who is interested would not fail to notice what happened.
Fu Zhiyu had dealt with the governor of Luanzhou before, and then the Deng and Qian families came forward to persuade them but failed. Now both the Deng and Qian families are in trouble again, and it is impossible not to contact Fu Zhiyu.
Who is this King of Jiangnan
Fu Zhiyu knew about all the speculations outside, but he was still flipping through the files of Luanzhou. The more he read, the more frightened he felt, and he tried to gain a deeper understanding of the Jiangnan area centered on Luanzhou.
Although the Jiangnan area is known as a wealthy place, outsiders only see the surface of wealthy merchants spending money lavishly. In fact, only a small group of people at the top are rich, while people at the bottom still live in poverty.
Take the Qian family as an example. Their silks, not to mention the top-quality ones, were just the regular cloth that the shop used to tailor for the wives and daughters of landlords and other wealthy families. Each piece of cloth sold for ten taels of silver. However, the lowest-level embroiderers, who worked day and night under the oil lamps to weave this kind of cloth for them, could only earn fifty cents. All the rest of the money was earned by the wealthy merchants.
In fact, a family that can earn money with their own skills is already considered good. If the woman in the family is diligent, she can weave a piece of cloth in five days. Fifty cents can be saved to allow a family of three to have food to eat for ten days. However, there are still many people in the south of the Yangtze River who are still working in the fields, paying rent from the landlords and relying on God's will. If there is a bad year and a disaster occurs, it is not uncommon for people to starve to death.
Generally speaking, Jiangnan is indeed much better than other places. After all, the land here is fertile and it is also a famous land of fish and rice. But it is a fact that the gap between the rich and the poor is serious. What is hidden beneath the prosperous surface is indeed shocking.
Fu Zhiyu didn't know what to say. He didn't intend to drag out the matter between the Deng and Qian families. In fact, seeing the state of the two families now, most of the anger in his heart had disappeared. He was not a petty person, and his anger was replaced by another feeling.
Is it right for me to just let go
He began to feel confused. Sometimes, holding the file in his hand, he couldn't help but stare at the desk for a long time.
After Fu Yanran became emperor, he actually did a very good job. Although many people in the court knew that he was actually a puppet emperor of the Xie family, the Xie family did not become foolish or abuse their power because of this.
Fu Yanran, Xie Lin and the newly appointed Shen Yang are three extremely clear-headed people, and they all have ambitions. Moreover, Shen Yang is a person who has been reborn, so he knows what to do.
Taking advantage of this great change, Jilin's officialdom was also renovated, and those burdensome people who were nepotism, bullying the locals, and living off their past achievements were replaced. Taxes were also reduced one after another. Fu Zhiyu saw that the situation was getting better and better. For the past three years, he always felt that he was out of touch, and felt at ease that all this had nothing to do with him.
But now that the wealthy merchants have moved against him, he has finally woken up.
Yes, now the Deng and Qian families have suffered a disaster for no apparent reason. If I give in now, the barbarians and the State of Chen will let go. After all, they did these most likely at the instigation of that person.
After this incident, I'm afraid no one in Jiangnan will dare to touch him. Fu Zhiyu can also live his carefree life without caring about anything after establishing his authority, just as he had planned before. With this precedent, no one will dare to disturb him again for at least a few years.
But... after seeing all this, can we really not care about anything
Fu Zhiyu originally just wanted to find out more about it himself first. After all, he was the one who ousted the original prefect. Then, after understanding the situation in Luanzhou and Jiangnan, he would find a trustworthy person to be the prefect and keep an eye on him from time to time. It would also be his responsibility to prevent any future troubles.
But now that he was looking at these things, he couldn't help but think more and more.