Pampered Poisonous Royal Wife Chapter 217

~ I HAVE A SALT! ~ 

Wei Qi knew her brother-in-law very well and was at a loss for a moment. “Lord Qi, what is going on?”

“This person drank in the brothel and boasted brags in front of the girls in the brothel. That’s a place where all sorts of people gather. Once the news gets out, it will spread in the blink of an eye, and the matter will naturally uncover!” Qi Ming’s face was cold and forbidding. “I’ll secretly help you guys deal with this in the dark and find a way to make up for the loss. But you guys are directly destroying our position. Could it be that you want to drag Lord Li down with you?” 

Wei Qi stepped forward and kicked Zhou Lu. “Tell me honestly, did you spread the rumors?” 

Zhou Lu, who was drunk at this time, was still a little out of his senses. Seeing Wei Qi, he hurriedly rushed forward, crying as he begged for mercy, “Brother-in-law, I know I was wrong. I drank too much at once, and there was no door on my mouth. I didn’t expect the situation to be this serious. If you save me, I won’t drink anymore in the future.” 

Wei Qi shook him off. At this moment, he even had the urge to kill someone. “Son of a bitch! You bastard...” 

Wu Minzhi stepped forward and said, “Lord Qi, the matter has already come out. We still have to find a way to save it now.”  

“It’s easy for Chief Wu to say that. I’ve already sent the silver taels over, and Lord Li has started to take action as well, trying to find a way to make up for the deficit. Now that this matter suddenly broke out, if the higher-ups were to investigate it, it would be difficult for Lord Li to shirk the blame, and when the time comes, he’ll be unable to defend himself. How can he protect you?” 

“Take it easy, Lord Qi. The Master behind you will be able to turn things around with his hands and eyes. If you need any silver, you only need to say it. Even if the family is going bankrupt, we have to settle this matter.” 

Wu Minzhi opened his mouth, and the other salt merchants echoed, “Yes, please help us again, Lord Qi. We must keep things down.” 

“Please, Lord Qi...” 

Qi Ming waved his hand and sighed, “No need to be so courteous. Now that Lord Li is also included, you can say that I am standing in the same boat as all of you. If this boat were to capsize, we would all die and can’t survive, so we should all work together.” 

“Yes, Lord Qi is unmistakably right.” 

Qi Ming continued, “A while ago, there was news transmitted from t water transportation, claiming that someone was salvaging a sunken ship on the Xijiang River. We can do some work here.” 

“Doing some work here?” Everyone was puzzled. 

Qi Ming opened his mouth and said: “Since the salt merchants can secretly push the government to buy salt to make up for their losses under the pretense of buying official salt. I presume that you should have people in the government.” 

“This... It’s just that they can say a few words, but they can’t be considered our people. “ 

Qi Ming smiled and did not expose him, “The matter has already happened, and someone must come out to take responsibility.” 

Wu Minzhi’s heart skipped a beat. Looking at Qi Ming, who had been smiling all the time, he felt a chill run down his spine. This matter was a heinous crime, and the penalty was beheading. Whoever took the blame for this would lose their life. However, Qi Ming spoke in a relaxed manner, as if he was not taking human life seriously at all, “Lord Qi’s meaning is that we should push someone comes out to take the blame?” 

Qi Ming nodded his head, “Besides, it’s not enough only to take the blame. The amount of salt lost is enormous. When the Emperor hears about it, he will be furious, and he will think of ways to send people down to investigate. If there are any clues, you and I will not be able to escape either.” 

“Then what should we do?” 

“The first thing is to find someone to take the blame. That is to say, when the government officials saw the enormous amount of salt, they were greedy after seeing it. They deliberately hid the real salt ship and replaced it with sand and mud to make up the number before declaring that the salt ship had sunk. Then Lord Li, with a keen eye, discovered the danger and disgust of these people, directly detained and interrogated them, and chased back a large number of salt!” 

All the salt merchants couldn’t help but look at each other. After thinking for a while, their faces were full of worry. 

“Lord Qi, the method you suggested is feasible, but where can we find that much salt now?” Last time, they had taken out all the goods they had on hand. They didn’t expect to be robbed by others. There was no salt in their hands now, and it was too late to buy anything. 

Qi Ming frowned, “It is a life-and-death situation right now. Everyone, please do not hide anything! You are all famous salt merchants in Jiangnan. How can you not have goods on your hands?” 

“Lord Qi, our stocks have all been robbed by someone. There’s really no salt available right now.” 

“Chief Wu, is there nothing you can do?” 

Wu Minzhi shook his head, “A woman can’t cook without rice. There’s nothing I can do about it.” 

The salt merchant’s face turned pale, their hearts filled with despair. Could it be that they will not be able to escape this calamity? 

After pondering for a moment, Qi Ming comforted them and said, “Everyone, don’t worry. Let’s calm down and try to find the way. There are many merchants in Jiangnan, and now that it is time to check the salt tax, those smaller salt merchants must still have stock in hand. We have to find a way to buy some.” 

“The quantity is also far from enough?” 

“Let’s go buy it first and try our luck. It’ll be fine as long as we can gather as much as possible. It’s better than us getting tied up together and getting beheaded.” 

The salt merchants nodded. “That’s the only way.” 

Qi Ming sighed: “I will report this to Master, and let him think of a way to mobilize some of them. Now that we are united, everyone must keep their mouths shut and not leak any more information, or else you will know the consequences.” 

“Yes...” 

“Please rest assured, Lord Qi.” After the salt merchants left, they started to search for connections. Their purposes are to found out who among the salt merchants had hoarded the salt. But the result was not satisfactory. Those people don’t have many goods in their hands, but their taste was great, the price they offered was 40% higher than the market price. Even in this case, they can only hold their noses and recognize it. After buying salt at a high price, they still have to show gratitude to each other. 

Two days later, there was still no progress on the matter. All the salt merchants gathered at Wu Minzhi’s residence once again. “Chief Wu, I’m afraid we won’t be able to escape calamity this time.” 

“That’s right. We’ve raised the silver for two days, but the number isn’t even 10% yet. What should we do?” 

Just as he was deep in thought, a servant suddenly entered the room and reported, “Master, someone has delivered a letter to you from the entrance. It’s clearly saying that it handed over to you personally.” 

Wu Minzhi sent someone to bring it over. When he opened it, he saw the contents on the thread and stood up fiercely. There were only three words on the paper: I have salt! 

Upon seeing Wu Minzhi lose his composure, everyone hurriedly asked, “Chief Wu, is there some bad news?” They were utterly scared, afraid that the next moment, they would hear the news of the government’s order to capture them. 

“Everyone, please take a look.” Wu Minzhi handed the letter over. 

“This... It’s just three words, and there’s no name written on it. Who actually has salt in their hands?” 

“Is someone making fun of us on purpose?” 

“I actually hope that it’s true. No matter how much silver I spend, I can at least preserve my life.” 

Wu Minzhi raised his hand to signal for silence. “We are now waiting patiently. Since the other party has sent a letter over, they must want to deal with us. They will definitely find a way to send another letter.” 

“Yes, Chief Wu’s words are reasonable.”

↞ Previous│❀ Table of Content ❀ │ Next ↠