"Whatever you say, you have to get the pledge first." Lu Zhengfu said in a panic, "Do you have this thing somewhere?"
Seeing that the Lu family looked down upon him, the people in Hunan wanted to give him a blow. They followed these words and said, "I have received the invitation. Today I am going to build a high wall and open a business in Jiangdu. If the business is good, Naturally, it will be opened everywhere in the future.”
After hearing this, Lu Zhengfu felt extremely angry. He gritted his teeth, suddenly his eyes went straight, he fell back on the chair and breathed away.
The servants rushed to help him and patted him a few times, but he still didn't wake up and cried loudly: "Everyone, get here! Carry the master into the house quickly!"
Then a group of people came down and carried Mr. Lu to the nearby study. After pinching him for a while, he slowly opened his eyes. Lu Zhengfu hugged the slaves and cried for a while, and then he was healed.
Xiangren walked up and asked in a low voice: "Master, are you... okay?"
Lu Zhengfu gasped and waved his hand: "Nothing, nothing... It's just a heartache that happened occasionally and has nothing to do with the shopkeeper. But I'm really unwell, so I won't accompany you. Please come back."
Guo Xiangren didn't expect to be involved in this matter, so he nodded helplessly and left the study.
"This bastard!" A servant stared at Xiangren fiercely.
"This kid is even more hateful than his brother! He opened a business in Jiangdu today and will come to Yizheng tomorrow. Our Lu family is bound to be in danger!" Zhengfu banged the desk and said angrily.
"Don't be angry anymore," the slaves advised one after another, "just think of a solution quietly."
Lu Zhengfu immediately said: "It is better to write a letter to Jiangdu and ask the magistrate to restrain the family, so that we can have a chance to survive."
"I have always been treated favorably by the magistrate. If this letter angers him, my family may be in trouble." The servant added.
Lu Zhengfu lowered his brows, waved his hand and said, "Our pawn shop is going to be in trouble anyway, so why not give him a try? Stop talking and get pen and paper quickly!"
The housekeeper who passed the house waited for two days and still didn't know the news about his master, so he became a little anxious. The stewards said that it would be better to go to Chen Tongpao again. He thought this was the reason and went to Chen Tongpao's home alone.
"What," Tongpao Chen asked, "Can't wait any longer?"
"Yes, the sooner the better, the better. It doesn't matter, I will go with you." The steward replied.
When Chen Tongpao saw that he had come to look for him, he could not refuse again, so he sighed: "To be honest, the prefect has great opinions on me. This appointment requires official approval, otherwise the governor's office... Not allowed in."
"Can you bypass the prefect and go directly to the invitation?"
Chen Tongpao's whole face twitched slightly.
"After all, our dye house is here to celebrate the New Year for Governor Kuang." The housekeeper added after seeing his expression.
Tongpao Chen still had a worried look on his face.
The steward thought: "Chen Tongzhi meant this because he did not want to go to the governor directly for fear of getting too involved with the Liu Party." Thinking of this, he turned around and said with a smile: "Mr. Chen, this official doesn't understand the rules. What do you think should be done?"
Chen Tongpao then spoke: "If the government office doesn't approve it, you can ask the county government to approve it. As the saying goes, 'the first level of officialdom kills people.' Once I am removed from my position, I will not dare to refuse even a single word from the county magistrate of Jiangdu."
The housekeeper shouted repeatedly: "Okay! Okay! This is a great idea! I will go to the county government office with you right now!"
The county government office in Jiangdu is very close to the government office, with only a wall in between. The magistrate stood in the yard and saw two people in plain clothes opposite the government office leading their horses through the lobby of the government office. He thought they were ordinary people and did not pay attention.
As soon as he turned his head, he suddenly saw the government servant coming in a hurry. He knelt down and reported, "Chen Tongzhi is here with his servants."
"Invite me quickly." The magistrate said, but he was murmuring in his heart. He had just heard that the magistrate had a falling out with Mr. Chen that day. If he received Mr. Chen today, he didn't know if the magistrate would turn his anger on him.
With this in mind, the magistrate hurriedly went to greet Tongpao Chen and bowed: "You have stayed in the government office for a long time. It is rare for you to come to this place in person."
"I have something important to do, and I hope you can do me a little favor." Tongpao Chen pulled the housekeeper over. "This is the magistrate. Please kneel down and bow down."
The housekeeper knelt down on the ground and kowtowed: "Master County, I am a servant of the great shopkeeper of the dye house who came from Hunan. I will open a pawn shop soon. I would like you to write a letter of approval for my master and go and apply for the pawn."
As he spoke, he took out a piece of paper from his arms, flattened it, and handed it into the hands of the magistrate: "This is a submission written by a villain, just waiting for your approval."
The magistrate glanced at Chen Tongpao's expression and said, "Okay, okay... let's go to the study to talk."
As soon as Chen Tongpao stepped into the study, the county magistrate bent down, bowed several times, and said, "It's better to do this in the government office. The governor looks down on my county government's approval..."
Chen Tongpao curled his lips: "Well, according to the rules, no matter the prefecture or county, this kind of matter can be handled. What does it have to do with looking down on it? You approved his submission."
The magistrate seemed to be hesitant, so his colleague looked down and said, "Don't you obey my order?"
He had no choice but to write a sentence with a pen, stamped it, and handed it to the housekeeper. The housekeeper was very excited with the approval document in his hand.
After all, the magistrate was afraid of the power of the magistrate. After sending the two people away, he rushed to the government office and reported the matter to the magistrate.
The magistrate looked up to the sky and sighed, and said feebly: "That guy betrayed me, and I can't do anything to save him..."
"Sir, Lu Zhengfu sent a letter from Yizheng." A scribe came to the court with a letter in his hand.
The prefect hesitated for a moment, then read the letter after reading it: "Lu Zhengfu, a grassroots man in Yizheng, pays homage to the prefect: He has been in business for a long time and has opened a pawnshop for more than 20 years. He has worked hard and deeply for the benefit of the people. He has no intention of conspiring to cause harm, so he has been doing business both internally and externally. It’s called. If you don’t fit in with your family, your fortune will be ruined, but you can only get a little bit of energy. Recently, I heard that Guo Jia is also involved in this business, with obvious ambitions, and seems to have the ambition to annex the world. Just imagine, Guo Jia is already at its peak, if it continues By annexing other families, the power will be so vast that it cannot be controlled by Jiangdu. If only one family is left alone, it will make huge profits and deprive the people of Yangzhou. The suffering of Yangzhou will be deep... I hope that the Duke will observe it again and again. Observe deeply!”
After reading the letter, he was so angry that he crumpled it into a ball and threw it on the ground.
The magistrate was about to lower his head to pick it up, but the magistrate shouted: "Stop picking it up!"
"What Lu Zhengfu said makes sense..." the magistrate said in a low voice.
"Don't I know this?" the prefect said, looking ahead with a pair of angry eyes.
"You," he pointed at the scribe, "get on your horse and chase Tongpao Chen immediately. Come back to me quickly!"
"How should I tell him?" The clerk was shocked when he saw the magistrate's behavior.
"Just say that I have something important to discuss with you. It's an urgent matter. Go quickly!" The magistrate flicked his sleeves, and the clerk left the yamen in a panic and jumped on his horse.
