As He Nan expected, the Cai family did not take the initiative to cause trouble for him.
There are three reasons: first, Li Shitong intentionally or unintentionally let out the news that "He Nan came from the capital under orders"; second, He Nan has been playing music every night in the restaurant these days, and the guests at the banquet are all people who are not compatible with the Cai family. Or someone who is usually neutral; thirdly, the Cai family is also waiting and watching.
For He Nan... this is not a very good thing.
Because he would have to leave sooner or later. If the Cai family couldn't wait to take action against him, he would still have the means to counterattack. Even if he got into trouble with the old eunuch above them, why would he not have a backer behind him? But if the Cai family just consumes it day by day, until they leave before taking action, after all, water from far away cannot quench their thirst for nearness.
There were three days left before the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, and He Nan set the last table in the county town.
"Shopkeeper Wang, please come in!"
"Who's coming from outside!"
The waiter who was responsible for receiving the wind at the door came up to greet him.
The visitors were two well-known wealthy households in Fuyang County, Wang Ziming, the owner of Wanbao Pawnshop, and He Taiqing, the landlord. The former is about forty years old, with a slim and slender figure, and a rather distinctive appearance. He has a small head and narrow face, and his facial features are widely separated. He looks a bit like a grasshopper turned into a spirit; the latter looks much younger. , looks about thirty years old, has a big waist, a round face and a muscular face, which does not match his name.
The two people walked in almost front to back. When the people behind were introduced, the former also took a look. Wang Ziming was taciturn by nature and nodded slightly towards He Taiqing. He Taiqing was not very particular, so he pretended not to see him and sat down on the right side of the main seat and started chatting with Li Shitong. , as if he seemed to be superior to Wang Ziming.
But this is not a rare thing. Before the Cai family climbed up to the eunuch Cai Huan, the He family was considered the most powerful in the county. That is to say, Mr. He has lost all his hard work in the past few years, and He Taiqing is a rough man who doesn't know how to take care of the family property. As a result, it is getting worse day by day, and it is nothing compared with the Cai family. However, this skinny camel is bigger than a horse. He Taiqing has been looking at people with his nostrils since he was a child, and he can't change his habit.
Wang Ziming didn't say much, just sat in the guest seat and exchanged greetings with Li Shitong.
Everyone was chatting lukewarmly, and He Nan also got in and said hello to everyone.
"Congratulations, brother!" He Taiqing immediately stood up and greeted He Nan, which was completely different from his attitude toward Wang Ziming.
But Wang Ziming's attitude remained the same, just nodding, as if he didn't know anyone that well.
Of course, He Nan had already been in contact with these two people, and even visited them when he went to invite them, so it was not surprising that He Taiqing greeted them warmly. After all, He Nan was better at talking and would always be more likable than Wang Ziming, a guy who couldn't beat him with three sticks.
Although He Nan was the host today, it was only through Li Shitong's help that he could make friends with these people, so it was Li Shitong who was still in charge. Although He Taiqing and Wang Ziming didn't look at each other just now, they still wanted to give Li Shitong some face, so the atmosphere at the wine table also relaxed a bit.
After drinking for three rounds, He Nan took the initiative to speak: "Brothers, you must have heard these days that I had some unnecessary misunderstandings with the young master of the Cai family, so I would like to invite you two brothers to be among them. Make peace and make peace.”
Wang Ziming hesitated to speak, but was cut off by He Taiqing when he was about to open his mouth: "Brother He, don't blame me for not speaking well - do you think it is really necessary to make peace? It's not like their surname is Cai in this county. The whole family has the final say, so if you don’t get along with the person named Cai, your life will be difficult?”
He Taiqing's hostility towards the Cai family can be seen from this sentence alone. Although the relationship between the two families was not an acrimonious one, they never looked down upon each other in person.
"I'm a rough guy, and I can't figure out those big principles, but all these years of hard work are not in vain - my family has many tenants, and they have to pay my family money and grain as rent every year, and they have to take one bite at a time. The master screamed. In fact, sometimes I also wonder - can these people stop farming without me as a landlord?"
"Brother He...that's not right." Wang Ziming's hoarse voice came softly from the other side of the table: "You are the one who collects the rent, and you are the one who makes the sarcastic remarks, isn't it all the tenants who dare to love us? Talking about the matter, Brother He just has a little misunderstanding with the Cai family. Even if we brothers are not that familiar with the Cai family, we can still talk to each other and help make things happen. What do you mean by that? ?How about showing off?"
Each of these two people is ten or twenty years older than He Nan, but they still call each other like brothers.
He Taiqing had a bad temper, and Wang Ziming couldn't stand it when he was chattering eccentrically. As soon as he banged the table, he yelled: "Wang Ziming, don't fucking forget - how much business has the pawnbroker under Cai done with you?" , now you want to speak to them? Are you a coward?"
Wang Ziming's Wanbao Pawnshop can be said to be one of the most prosperous in the county. This man has a shrewd business mind. He does not engage in profit-making and exploitative business, but instead engages in small profits but quick turnover. First, he earns repeat customers, and second, he earns debts of gratitude. Coupled with his good eyesight, he has transformed from a poor man into a rich man. The owner of the pawn shop can be called a model of a salty fish turning around.
But since the Cai family relied on Cai Huan, they also extended their hands into the pawn industry, which was nothing more than "huge profits." The Cai family's pawnshop specializes in the "Nine Outs and Thirteen Returns" loan sharks - what is Nine Outs and Thirteen Returns? Suppose an item is worth ten taels of silver. In March of that period, the pawnbroker not only gets only nine taels from the pawnshop, but also bears the interest of one tael of silver per month. After three months, he will have to pay back ten taels of principal with interest. It takes three taels to redeem the items.
And if you don't come to redeem the item after it expires, the item will be returned to the pawnshop, and the interest will still have to be paid, and additional interest will be charged for every overdue month. The pawnshop of Cai's family even charged 30% of the money. .
For ten taels of silver, the interest will be 10% per month for the first three months, and 30% interest per month after maturity. The settlement will still be based on the capital and interest rolled out in the previous month added together - after one year it will become It's more than one hundred and thirty-seven taels.
More than just huge profits? It's just like drinking blood!
Some people may be curious - with such a heavy interest rate, wouldn't it be better if everyone didn't go to him?
The key point is that since the Cai family has done this, they must not be afraid that no one will come - on the one hand, they hire people to cause trouble and harassment to their peers, and other pawnshops are either forced to close or have to pay the same price as them; on the other hand, they hire people to intimidate and induce them to pawn. You must go to Cai's pawnshop, don't you agree? If you don't accept it, you will fight with fists and kicks.
And the most disgusting thing is that although they are able to hand over the money on time, the Cai family insists on hindering it and has to delay the deadline. As long as it is one day late, it will be charged an extra month of interest. They would just excuse the pawn shop to close down when they wanted to pay someone back, and they would even hire thugs to deliberately beat them up a few days before the due date, so that they couldn't go out on the day they were due to pay back the money.
And there's no way to find evidence for this matter - he wasn't robbing, stealing, or killing. At best, he just got into an argument and then struck a little too hard, but it didn't lead to death or disability. If the government really wants to make a judgment, it will just pay some money and treat it as medical expenses, which is not enough to pay the extra interest for one month. As for overdue? That's because you were injured and couldn't go out. What does this have to do with our pawn shop?
In short, the market was turned into a mess by the Cai family, and Wang Ziming also suffered a lot from it.
In He Taiqing's eyes, Wang Ziming and Cai had a blood feud - cutting off a person's wealth was equivalent to killing his parents!
Seeing that He Taiqing kept yelling, Wang Ziming couldn't help but frowned: "This has nothing to do with being naughty or not. The matter between me and the Cai family is between us businessmen, and it has nothing to do with Brother He."
"What do you mean - I want to drag Brother He into the water?" He Taiqing's eyes were about to burst into flames, "Damn, you businessmen are really full of evil and villainy!"
"He Taiqing, don't push yourself too far!" Wang Ziming had a reserved personality, but He Taiqing had already pointed his finger at him and scolded him, so how could he not retaliate? "You have such a pig brain. No wonder your family has defeated you to the point where you have very little left. Why do you still want to bring down the Cai family? Why don't you just urinate and show yourself!"
"Fuck you, you're afraid of people named Cai, but I'm not! Let that old guy Cai Meng come to me and try! You see, I won't twist his head off!" He Taiqing became more and more excited as he spoke. He said with gestures, saliva flying: "Brother He, just listen to me, as long as your brother He is here, that old guy Cai Meng doesn't dare to touch you!"
Hearing this, He Nan finally jumped out to smooth things over: "Actually, what the two brothers said is reasonable, but - actually, I don't want to have anything to do with the Cai family. Let's forget it if we don't meet. Let's talk about it when we meet!"
Unexpectedly, it was Wang Ziming's turn to get angry: "Brother He, so you are on He Taiqing's side?"
He Nan took a sip of tea and looked at Wang Ziming with squinted eyes: "I'm not taking any side. I just think it's unnecessary to make peace with the Cai family."
"Okay." Wang Ziming's face suddenly darkened, "Since Brother He has already made up his mind, it seems that my presence here is unnecessary. Mr. Li, please forgive Wang and leave first."
After that, Wang Ziming walked away, leaving only three people with different expressions in the room.
One of them smiled a little, but I won't say who it was.
Shortly after Wang Ziming left, two people also walked out of the private room next door.
The next day after He Nan returned to his hometown in the county, the two men also visited Wang Ziming at Wanbao Pawn Shop. That night, Wang Ziming went to Cai Mansion.
