Joy of Life: I'm really not a saint

That was the time when he was granted marriage by Emperor Qing and was engaged to Lin Wan'er from Prime Minister Lin's mansion.

From then on, Jiangnan Neiku was destined to welcome its new owner.

"Don't you think it's too late?" Fan Xian's eyes flashed coldly and he said hatefully.

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Mingfu.

"I always have a feeling that it's too late for us to take action!"

The old lady of the Ming family looked at her son and said in a cold voice without mercy: "I know that all businessmen are greedy, but if it weren't for my arbitrary decision this time, I'm afraid you would still be reluctant to eliminate those pirates!"

The old lady was no longer as grim as she was a few days ago, and her words even revealed a hint of majesty!

This is what he gained from being in charge of the Ming family for many years.

Many years ago, it was this old woman who poisoned the old master's favorite concubine and expelled the seventh son of the third branch of the Ming family from the Ming family, resulting in only two direct descendants of the Ming family.

Ming Qingda later learned that the seventh brother had died at the hands of the old lady.

Otherwise, with Lao Qi's intelligence and skills, the Ming family's huge fortune would have fallen into his hands long ago.

"Mother, you worry too much. Even if you don't do it, I will do it after I learn that Fan Xian has returned to Suzhou again."

"That's nice to say!"

The old lady of the Ming family sneered. She knew her son's indecisive nature too well. "Even if you do it now, I'm afraid it will be difficult to clean yourself up!"

"I warned you more than two years ago to clean it up quickly, but what about you? For the sake of those profits, you dragged it on for two years!" The old lady said hatefully. This was her son, and she had no choice but to accept him no matter how incompetent he was.

But what made her most angry was that her son had grown up and had his own ideas.

She wasn't supposed to be that angry, but she had a vague feeling that this matter wouldn't end so easily.

You know, it is this sixth sense of hers that has allowed her to come this far and lead the Ming family to become stronger!

She trusted her feelings.

Ming Qingda sneered in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face. Instead, he admitted his fault very respectfully: "Mother, please calm down. It's all my fault."

To be too old to die is to be a thief!

What medicine did this old man take wrong? Didn’t you get any dividends from the money you earned in the past two years?

The one who gets the most is you!

Two years ago! Two years ago!

Do you think you are Li An of the Northern Qi Dynasty and can predict the future? I heard that even Li An would have to tell the future!

You, on the other hand, come to me to settle the score after the fact and put all the blame on yourself. That's really despicable!

Two years ago, there was indeed news that Fan Xian would take over the inner treasury and marry Lin Wan'er, but did you know at that time that he was the illegitimate son of Emperor Qing? Or did you know that he was a descendant of the Ye family? Or did you know that he would take over the Supervisory Council and control the power of the Black Cavalry in the future?

This old woman is so confused!

The old woman shouted angrily: "You only know how to admit your mistakes. When will you be able to do things right?"

"If I hadn't asked that soldier for help this time, have you ever thought about what would have happened to you given Fan Xian's vindictive character? What would have happened to our Ming family?"

"You are so obsessed with small profits that you forget everything else. I think you are not even as good as Lanshi!"

This sentence completely angered Ming Qingda. He smiled more sincerely and said in a loud and respectful voice: "I am an unfilial child. I trouble my mother to work hard!"

"Humph!"

Seeing that the matter was a foregone conclusion, the old woman was helpless but had to put it aside for the time being.

After knocking for a while, the old woman turned around and said, "Now that you are the head of the family and have made a lot of progress, I won't ask about other things. But I have thought about the loan you mentioned earlier for a long time and still feel that it is a bit inappropriate."

"Now that my Ming family is in trouble, we should use the familiar way if possible!"

"Tell me in detail where the China Merchants Bank came from."

Ming Qingda nodded first, and began to talk about the details of the Merchants Bank: "Son, I have found out everything. Although the owner behind this Merchants Bank is hidden, he also has connections with the outside world. Since there is a connection, it is not difficult to find out clearly. The person is the former commander of the Jinyiwei of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and now the pacification envoy of the Qing Kingdom, Shen Zhong!"

“He has the largest stake in it.”

The term "shares" was brought into this feudal dynasty by Ye Qingmei, so it can be considered her original creation.

Old Lady Ming's eyes lit up, and she finally showed a hint of interest: "I didn't expect that Shen Zhong had some wealth after leaving Northern Qi!"

"This person is fickle and will definitely not be loyal to anyone. Such a person only cares about himself." Old Lady Ming's words were an approval of her son's judgment.

When Fan Xian was sent as an envoy to Northern Qi, the biggest obstacle he encountered was Shen Zhong. Believing that the two would definitely not cooperate with each other, the Ming family finally felt relieved.

"That's exactly what my son was thinking. Now that my Ming family is bidding on more than a dozen projects, the money will surely be spent like water. My son is also thinking of leaving a way out of Taiping Bank. If there is any special situation, he can also find Zhaoshang Bank to deal with it!"

"That's true, but Taiping Bank is still the first choice." Old Lady Ming added: "If they can't lend so much, then consider Merchants Bank!"

"Son, save it!"

Chapter 256 The Ming family’s estrangement begins.

Because of the intimidation of the old lady of the Ming family, the Ming family used strong means to ensure the unity of the clan on the surface. After all, after many years of operation, at least to the outside, it was relatively unified.

But Fan Xian doesn't think so.

If the balance of power is not maintained, the larger the community of interests, the easier it is for it to fall apart from within.

"No matter if it's the Ming family's business or not, as long as it's related to the Ming family, has cooperation with them, or pays tribute to them, harass and disrupt all of these businesses!"

"The Ming family has stretched their hands too far. Now that they are about to be destroyed, why are they still holding on to so many things?"

"How many of our people have arrived in Jiangnan now?"

Wang Qinian chuckled and answered respectfully, "The Supervisory Council has sent more than 200 people, all of whom have arrived at the designated locations, and the number of peripheral members is countless."

"very good!"

Fan Xian nodded and calculated the time.

Now that all preparations are complete, it's time to start.

Just in time to deal with the prince and the eldest princess before summer!

"Although the businesses of the other branches and collateral branches of the Ming family are considered independent, they still have internal cooperation and are still dependent on the big tree of the Ming family. If the Ming family falls, they will naturally be like the skin that will die and the hair that will fall. But if they run into big problems first, the profits of the Ming family's business will at least be reduced by half!"

It's not just about profit, it's more about channels.

The main people in charge of these businesses are the five men from the other families.

About a month after Fan Xian gave the order, the entire Suzhou, and even several surrounding areas, fell into a strange atmosphere.

As shops everywhere were inspected, audited, and harassed by people from the Supervisory Office for various reasons.

These five men can hardly bear it anymore.

They met in private and complained bitterly.

This was a clash between Fan Xian and the main family of the Ming family, and they were caught in the crossfire. But they still had to rely on the main family of the Ming family, and even if it was difficult, they had to use all their power and funds to protect the eldest branch.

But someone had different ideas!

"We only need to wait for profit distribution every year. It is not our turn to make decisions on family affairs, nor should we! In the past two years, we have not received much money, and we have to be implicated by them. The business is about to fail, and we still have to take out money to protect the eldest house from disaster? What's the logic of this?"

"Old Four is right!"

"It was clearly the eldest son's family who had people mess up the three warehouses, which angered the imperial envoy. Why should we be the ones to pay for their sins?"

"Then according to your advice, what should we do?"

"Here!" The eldest son of the Ming family waved his hand and gave a seemingly feasible suggestion: "First, contact the connections and channels in your hands, especially those officials who have been supported for so many years. If your shop is harassed again, ask them to come forward to quell the matter. Observe for a month, if it still doesn't work, then we have to..."

At this point, the third brother hesitated a little.

But seeing the miserable faces of his brothers, he made up his mind and said in a deep voice: "Then we have no choice but to curry favor with the imperial envoy, whether it means giving money or shares, or even selling out the eldest son's family! We have to keep our jobs!"

If the eldest branch of the family can get through the difficult times, they will not benefit much either, and the most likely outcome is that the status quo will be maintained.

But the money they had spent previously would not come back.

It would be better to go after the eldest son's financial resources and share the profits with the imperial envoy!

"Is this possible?"

"Isn't this just asking people to poke our spines?"

"I think Fourth Brother is afraid of revenge from the eldest son's family, right?"

The few of them gradually started arguing, but surprisingly, no one rejected the third brother's suggestion.

"I guess we brothers are also moved, otherwise we would have refuted me a long time ago!"

The third brother sneered and said, "You all know what will happen if you go against the imperial envoy! The eldest son's family is now helpless. If they had a way, they would have dealt with Fan Xian long ago!"

"I know that Fan Xian is guarded by the Overwatch Council, and he himself is a ninth-rank expert. To put it bluntly, the Jianghu people in our Jiangnan area, whether they are doing business with their heads on their waists or assassins who send people to the underworld to report, can't do anything to Fan Xian!"

"Even if we can kill Fan Xian, what does it matter? Will His Majesty in Kyoto spare us? Or is Chen Pingping's sword not powerful enough?"

"What if we do it perfectly?" said one person with a sinister look on his face and a sneer.

"I think you have a mess in your head!"

The third brother obviously disagreed with this aversion and sneered: "Doing things in a way that gives people a satisfactory and convincing answer and result is what those big shots should consider! It is their fig leaf that will not tear each other apart!"

"Let's not talk about whether we can kill Fan Xian or not. Even if we can, those bigwigs in Kyoto will not consider anything else and will destroy the Ming family first! No matter if they are the eldest son or not!"

"He is truly a frog in a well who deceives himself!"

As the third brother scolded, the man who spoke earlier did not refute abnormally, but fell into deep thought.

Seeing that his brothers were persuaded by him, the third brother struck while the iron was hot and continued, "If Fan Xian was still alive, he would be more important to His Majesty than ten or a hundred Ming families. The fact that Fan Xian has been allowed to die is proof of this. But if Fan Xian is dead, he is certainly not as important as a Ming family, even if it is in ruins. But I'm afraid that the few of us will be cannon fodder used to appease His Majesty's anger!"

The other brothers were shocked and said in disbelief, "So, we are going to die anyway?"

"That's why I said that Fan Xian and I can only be friends, not enemies!"

"Even if I have to be a dog, I will survive!"

The brothers' eyes lit up when they heard this, and they said, "That's right, let's do as Third Brother said before!"

"That's absolutely true, as if the eldest son's wife is not the eldest princess's dog!"

"That being said, we still have to be on guard against the old lady. You know, Old Seven was..."

"The old lady is old after all!" The third brother sneered. Seeing that his brothers all agreed with his suggestion, he couldn't help but feel a little relieved.

If he were left to face the revenge of the eldest son's family alone, how could he cope with it?

"The eldest branch of the family is already in a difficult situation. I predict that Fan Xian's future actions will only become more violent! Even with the old lady's methods, she will not have time to take revenge on us!"

The last sentence completely dispelled the doubts of several people, and smiles appeared on their faces.

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"What? What are you doing?"

The owner of a shop hurriedly walked out from behind the counter, with his hands outstretched, and blocked the way of several officials from the Supervisory Council who were smashing things, shouting, "Open your dog eyes and see whose shop this is!"

Before he could say that this was the property of the Fifth Master of the Ming Family, several officials from the Supervisory Council in front of him looked at each other and smiled. One of them hit the shopkeeper's temple with a knife at an extremely fast speed, and he instantly collapsed to the ground.

What a baby-like sleep!

Chapter 257: Quick words.

The fifth master of the Ming family was born to the old master's concubine. He was a invisible person in the family, so he was sent out when the family was divided. Even his annual dividend was the least among his brothers.

He has no ambitions, and his greatest pleasure is playing with birds and strolling around every day.

People in the market knew that he was the Fifth Master of the Ming Family, so they naturally gave him some face. Sometimes in some transactions, even if the other party suffered a loss, they would try their best to cooperate and accommodate the Fifth Master of the Ming Family. This allowed the shopkeepers under him to take advantage of his power and run rampant in the business world.

The fifth master of the Ming family is self-aware. He knows that he is not a business genius.

In addition to following the instructions of the eldest son on some major matters, the brothers would often discuss and act together.

When he got the news and rushed to the shop, he saw several staff members from the Supervisory Council had finished their work and were walking out of the shop.

"The inspection failed, and there are many problems in the account books. The business is ordered to suspend business for one month. The fine and opening time will be notified after the Chamber of Commerce has checked and calculated the accounts!"

A deacon of the trading company said loudly, and at the same time raised a signature document in his right hand, showing it to everyone in the room, indicating that he was acting in accordance with the law!

Several people from the Supervisory Council stood guard around the deacon, trying to prevent anyone from causing trouble and tearing up the signature documents.