Su Yao had completely figured out what he was thinking. For a moment, he didn't know how to proceed. He gritted his teeth and pondered for a while. In the end, his businessman's nature prevailed. He took a deep breath and said coldly, "I don't know what Miss Su is talking about. Whatever Miss Su says is what it is."
Even if Su Yao knew that he had colluded with Jin Sanxiao and stole the 6,000 pieces of Yanxia yarn that were supposed to be tribute, so what? Jin Sanxiao had already fallen, and the blame was put on the previous King Zhuang and the Qin family.
He is just a businessman. Even if he has committed a serious crime, as long as he can control himself, how can those people not protect him
"Manager Tang may be thinking that as long as you hold on, the people behind you will protect you, right?" Su Yao spoke again, his tone a little colder: "However, Manager Tang, think about it, if the people behind you knew that you were supposed to get 30% of the 170,000 taels of silver, but in fact, the total account you got was 240,000 taels? 240,000 taels... minus 170,000 taels, you took 70,000 taels alone. 70,000 taels, even for any duke or marquis, is it a lot of money?"
Shopkeeper Tang was shaking uncontrollably, as if he had the hiccups. He was about to pick up the cup to drink some tea, but when he had his hand halfway up, he dropped the cup to the ground with a thud, splashing water and debris all over the floor.
No one paid any attention to it, and immediately the maidservant next to Su Yao came up quietly and cleaned up everything.
In this situation, Su Yao was not moved at all.
After asking Ah Zhong who the owner of the acquired shop was, Su Yao suddenly thought of Tang Youlong who had been in and out of Cheng Dingan's door in his previous life.
Tang Youlong is Cheng Ding'an's right-hand man. All the channels for Duke Dingguo's Mansion to make money are in Tang Youlong's hands. Cheng Ding'an trusts him very much and entrusts many secret matters to him.
But if you trust someone again, you still have to be on guard because of Cheng Dingan's suspicion.
This is how he employs people. He uses them but also is on guard against them.
Therefore, Su Yao knew Tang Youlong's background and background very clearly.
But in her previous life, Su Yao only knew that Cheng Ding'an was King Zhuang's lackey, and she had no access to deeper matters.
So she knew Tang Youlong, and also knew some of Tang Youlong's secrets, but she didn't know anything more than that.
If Tang Youlong had not been brought out by the attack on the Shen family, she almost thought that with Cheng Dingan's misfortune in this life, a person like Tang Youlong would not have appeared.
But now it seems that is not the case.
Perhaps Tang Youlong is not just as dependent on Cheng Dingan as she knew in her previous life.
It is very likely that Cheng Dingan and Tang Youlong are hindering each other, and there is someone above them.
The web surrounding the Su family, the He family, and Xiao Heng fell silently from all directions. She felt that whenever she could tear a hole in the web, it would always be repaired in time, leaving them struggling in the web without being able to see the hand that grabbed the web.
She originally thought that the opportunity would come later - it would appear in the people in Shuntian Prefecture who threatened the Shen family's manager, or in Qi Yunxi's past that Mrs. He had accidentally mentioned before.
But now it seems that the opening here may be opened faster.
Tang Youlong was completely confused. He could still keep those secrets that Su Yao had told him before. After all, he was just helping others with those things. He was only using his hands in name, just transferring money from one hand to the other.
But now Su Yao has firmly grasped his lifeline.
If his superiors knew that he had pocketed all this money!
He couldn't even think about it.
All the bones in his body had to be softened. Tang Youlong knelt on the ground with a plop. He took two steps on his knees and prostrated himself in front of Su Yao, begging him to raise his hand: "Miss Su, you are so generous..."
"It's not just these, right? Shopkeeper Tang, don't worry." Su Yao smiled, "Among the dozens of ships that left Quanzhou Maritime Customs, Shopkeeper Tang must have made a lot of money, right? Have all these been entered into the public account? Can they withstand inspection?"
She smiled and said, "Manager Tang, you have such a big business, why don't you let people know? Those big men from the Huizhou and Shanxi merchants, which one of them didn't overstep the rules, going in and out of the official residences and high-ranking families, and donating their official positions? But you are so low-key, and when people list the famous rich people in the capital, you are not one of them. I feel sorry for you. You have made so much money and are so capable, why don't you let people know? You know, if you don't return to your hometown when you are rich, it's like wearing brocade clothes at night. Can I spread the word for you?"
Tang Youlong was convinced. Su Yao's words completely broke the last bone in his heart. After this publicity, even if he insisted on not telling anyone and handled it properly, and crushed the Shen family to ashes, he would still be dead. The people behind the scenes would definitely crush him to ashes!
He lay on the ground, not even having the courage to negotiate: "Miss Su! I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything! I'll tell you everything!"
Su Yao smiled with satisfaction and raised his eyebrows at Ruan Xiaojiu beside him: "Xiaojiu, how can you let Manager Tang kneel down? Didn't we agree to discuss business? Quick, help him up, this is not the way to discuss business!"
Ruan Xiaojiu responded with a crisp "yes" and swiftly picked up Tang Youlong, who had already limply limbs.
Su Yao saw that he was seated, and then he said calmly: "Please, Manager Tang, don't waste each other's time. After all, even if you have a way to pass this level, the more than 30 wronged souls under the ice of the Yangzhou Canal are still watching you."
At that time, Qin Chen was in a hurry to transport those deadly things, so he secretly asked Tang Youlong to urge the canal workers to speed up the excavation of the river surface, resulting in the death of more than 30 workers.
This matter had clearly been suppressed by Qin Chen back then, but now it was brought up again by Su Yao. Tang Youlong had never experienced so much stimulation in his life, and he was numb all of a sudden. He nodded woodenly, wiped his face, lowered his head and said, "To answer the question, young lady, I am also helping Lord Lei this time..."
Lord Lei.
Su Yao's mind raced, and he searched for a name: "Thunder Cloud?"
The Third Rank Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Lei Yun.
What a high-ranking official.
Seeing that she even knew this, Tang Youlong was not surprised at all, and nodded dejectedly: "That's right, Lord Lei meant that I must use whatever means to drain Mr. Shen's property..."
Otherwise, considering Mr. Shen's status, it would not be worth it for him to set up the plan personally.
Su Yao thought for a moment and raised his chin towards Tang Youlong: "Go on, Lei Yun, do you have any other instructions?"
"No more." Tang Youlong said honestly, "I just want to squeeze Mr. Shen out of every penny he has and get him out of the capital. That's why I..."