Soon Xiao Fan waited for the second unlucky servant.

Risky, rush, press down...

The servant was filled with tears of humiliation and horror, sobbing and telling Xiao Fan everything he wanted to know.

The servant said a lot, but the preface was inconsistent. To sum up, there was only one sentence: Chen's mansion was in trouble today.

This is really troublesome.

A merchant family that is doing big business must not only focus on doing business. More importantly, it is to have good relationships with the local government, to move them with affection and lure them with profits. Only in this way can the business last long and the business prosper.

Of course, the Chen family is no exception.

The reason why the Chen family did such a big business in Jiangpu County was because they had a good relationship with the county magistrate and all the officials below. However, the biggest backer behind the Chen family was Zhang Shide, the county magistrate of Jiangpu County. This backer was not entirely made by the Chen family with money. Chen Siliu was very good at managing people. He didn't know what method he used to get in touch with Zhang County, and his relationship was very strong. In the matter of official positions, Zhang County magistrate unconditionally supported the Chen family. Because of this, the Chen family became a wealthy businessman in Jiangpu County.

But it is impossible to rely on a backer for a lifetime, and the county magistrate Zhang cannot be the county magistrate for a lifetime. When he gets older, he has no hope of being promoted. Moreover, Emperor Hongwu, who hates corrupt officials the most in history, becomes an official under the nose. He does not dare to be greedy for too much money, and the people are not brave enough to be brave. The best choice is to retire and return home. So the county magistrate Zhang retired.

A few days ago, Yingtian Prefecture had already approved the letter of retirement from County Magistrate Zhang. County Magistrate Zhang put a few carriages on his family and the big and small things in the house, and then returned to his hometown in Changzhou Prefecture without any worries, and went to rest assured to live a peaceful life.

The most loyal backer has stepped down, which is not a big trouble for the Chen family. After all, the Chen family has been in charge for many years, and leaving a backer will not have a big impact.

The trouble lies behind. Yingtianfu quickly sent a new county magistrate. The new county magistrate was named Cao. He had just arrived in Jiangpu County yesterday. It was said that Chen's family was unlucky. Chen Siliu's only son and Xiao Fan's nominal brother-in-law Chen Ning called friends to eat and drink at Jinyulou in Jiangpu County yesterday. He fought with another table of guests for the only remaining Accord. Then the two sides quarreled. Because the other party was wearing casual clothes, Chen Ning, who was angry, kicked someone hard without hesitation, and then Chen Ning got into trouble.

The person who was kicked was none other than Cao Yi, the newly appointed county magistrate of Jiangpu County.

Cao Yi felt very sad and angry, and ran over to take office. Before he could even sit down, he was kicked by a lowly merchant son. This made him, a dignified eighth-rank court official, faceless?

As a court official, Cao Yi could not fight with Chen Ning like a ruffian in public. The decency of the officials must be maintained. So after being kicked, Cao Yi didn't say anything and returned to the official post alone.

After the investigation results came out, it was confirmed that the person who kicked him was Chen Siliu's only son Chen Ning, and that the Chen family did not have a strong backer in the Jiangpu officialdom, Cao Yi sent someone to Chen's mansion to spread the word: Beating the imperial court's official is a serious crime, but I, Cao Yi, will not arrest your only son, and will not smash your door. I am not the Chen family's richest man in Jiangpu? The richest man is over, and I am going to close the door. I want your Chen family to lose everything.

After hearing this message, Chen Siliu was shocked and hurriedly called Chen Ning to ask in detail. Finally, he knew the whole story. Chen Siliu was panicked. After slapped Chen Ning a few big mouths, he quickly prepared several large silver and expensive gifts, and took Chen Ning to the door of Cao Yi's bedroom in the official office and knelt down and apologized.

After kneeling for more than an hour, Cao Yi's door was closed and he ignored the Chen family's father and son. He only let an old servant say something and quickly closed all the shops of the Chen family in Jiangpu County, otherwise the county magistrate Cao would immediately clean up one shop after another.

Only then did the Chen family realize that the situation was serious, and returned to the mansion in a daze and began to rack their brains to figure out countermeasures.

The lowly of a merchant is here. If you get along well with the officials of the court, then everything is easy to say and everyone will make a fortune together. But if the merchant offends the officials, then something big will be wrong. The so-called "county magistrate who destroys the family and the governor who destroys the family" is even just a small county magistrate, and it is a matter of one word to ask a lowly merchant to be wiped out, unless you have a harder backer behind you.

After County Magistrate Zhang retired, the Chen family had no stronger backer at all.

The servant trembled and told everything he knew, then looked at Xiao Fan with tears in his eyes, hoping that this crazy son-in-law could let him go.

Xiao Fan waved generously, and the servants staggered away in tears as if they were granted a general amnesty.

Xiao Fan shook his head and sighed. He had been walking on the street all day. He never expected that in this short day, the Chen family would have caused such a big trouble. If Chen Siliu could not come up with a solution to the crisis, the destruction of the Chen family would probably have been in the past few days.

At the same time, Xiao Fan also felt a little touched. It turned out that in this era, money is not omnipotent, but power is omnipotent. The light words of the superiors can easily make a wealthy man go bankrupt. Power... is indeed a good thing!

The Chen family is in crisis and is not good news for Xiao Fan. Whether he likes the Chen family or not, after all, before sufficient preparations, Xiao Fan cannot leave the Chen family. If the Chen family collapses, Xiao Fan will not be able to do so. At present, the Chen family is a loss to Xiao Fan.

So the Chen family cannot collapse! At least before Xiao Fan left the Chen family and started his own business, it cannot collapse!

Thinking of this, Xiao Fan couldn't help but smile bitterly. Things in the world are always so helpless. He doesn't like the Chen family from the bottom of his heart, but at this moment he doesn't want the Chen family to fall down. This is really a logical but tangled paradox.

I wonder if I can get the Chen family out of trouble?

If I came forward to resolve the Chen family's crisis this time, I believe that in the eyes of the Chen family, I would be a little bit more respectful to me, and my life in the Chen family might be better than before.

And helping the Chen family this time is a reward for the Chen family who raised him for four years, and he will be able to be confident when he leaves in the future.

Xiao Fan made a secret decision.

************************************************

Front hall of Chen Mansion.

The light in the hall was dim, and two red candles flashed in the slight breeze. On the mahogany chair, Chen Siliu looked gray. He seemed to have been aging for decades in one day. He sat quietly on the chair without saying a word. His fat body trembled slightly, like a fat duck shivering in the storm, with a pitiful and ridiculous expression.

The cold wind in winter poured into the front hall. On the short-footed tea table, the Jingde glaze tea cup with blue lace trembled slightly. Chen Siliu looked out the front hall with unconscious eyes, picked up the tea cup unconsciously, and took a sip of the tea with a walking corpse-like movement.

The sweet and fragrant rainy dragon in the past is very bitter today, just like his current mentality.

"Master, the housekeeper is back!" A servant said in the front hall.

Chen Siliu looked excited: "Hurry! Call him in!"

Butler Chen walked in with heavy steps and looked panicked. Before Chen Siliu could ask, butler Chen trembled and said, "Master, things are not good. The villain, as you told him, added 2,000 taels of silver to the gift list, and went to deliver it again. However, the county magistrate Cao didn't even look at it. He tore the gift list in front of the villain and threw it on the ground, and then asked the villain to get out. He also said... and said..."

Chen Siliu asked pale, "He...what else did he say?"

"He said... he asked all the shops in our Chen family to prepare the accounts of income and expenditure over the years. He suspected that our Chen family had leaked and reported the commercial tax for many years. Tomorrow he would take the chief clerk of the county government, Mr. Xie, Captain Liu and a servant to check the accounts of our Chen family. If you find that the Chen family had leaked the commercial tax, you will be handed over to Lord Li, Dian Shi, who was handed over to the county government, and all the industries under the name of the Chen family... are confiscated!"

"Click!" The teacup in Chen Siliu's hand fell to the ground, making a crisp cracking sound.

Chen Siliu's face turned pale, and he sat back on the Grand Master's chair heavily, murmured: "The Chen family... is over!"
Chapter completed!