331 Visiting
Zhao Zhan looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to them first before carrying on.
Fang Tianliu saw this and blocked their line of sight.
The letter was opened and it revealed the age card inside.
Zhao Zhan’s breathing stopped. He couldn’t help but pull out all the age tags, his eyes fixed on them.
It was his lover’s invitation.
“Zhao Zhan…”
Before Fang Tianliu could turn his head, Zhao Zhan kept the card in his pocket and pulled out the letter. His expression returned to normal. “This letter was written by Lin Chenzhi. He contacted a rich businessman in Jiangnan and asked to marry a girl from that family.”
The matter of the age card concerned a woman’s reputation.
Even though Fang Tianliu was now his life-and-death friend, this matter concerned his lover, so Zhao Zhan would not tell him about it.
“It shows that Lin Chenzhi is afraid.” Fang Tianliu was pleased with himself. “At this time, he’s giving up the short term goals and is looking to ask for the daughter of a rich merchant long term. Isn’t he just trying to get the money for her dowry?”
“It seems like Lin Chenzhi won’t be able to hold on for long.”
They held an event in the middle of the street. On the first day, there was a limit to the number of tofu they could receive for free. On the second day, they sold the tofu at a low price of one coin per piece. On the third day, the price of tofu became two coins per piece.
From the fourth day onwards, tofu, which cost three coins now, was sold in the middle of the street for half a month.
In addition, the Zhang family’s restaurant in Bei City also launched a variety of tofu-related dishes, including fish with pickled vegetables, yellow bean sprouts, and other bean products.
They suppressed the business of the Lin family restaurant in all aspects.
Zhao Zhan had done his research. Lin Chenzhi was disdainful of other businesses that were not as profitable as this one and had put almost all of his attention on it.
The restaurant collapsed right after.
He didn’t even need to do anything, and the Bei City’s County Magistrate would never let the Lin family off.
In less than a month, the Lin family, which had just risen to fame, had become the laughingstock of the Bei City’s citizens.
Lin Chenzhi’s hair was disheveled, and he looked at Madam Yan with a frenzied expression. “Mother! Did the Yue family of Yang City reply yet?”
“You only recently sent the letter, so how could you have received a reply so quickly?”
Madam Yan sat opposite Lin Chenzhi. “My dear son, how did the restaurant collapse so easily? I’ve seen the account books. According to the current amount of silver in the restaurant, we should have been able to last a few months longer.”
“Sir!”
An attendant reported from outside.
Lin Chenzhi pretended not to hear Madam Yan’s question and stood up immediately.
“Come in!”
“Sir, remember when you wanted to sell your shoplots? Someone is willing to finally take over.”
Due to the feud between the Lin family and the Bei City County Magistrate, no one dared to take over Lin Chenzhi’s shop.
Lin Chenzhi was overjoyed when he finally found a potential buyer.
“Who is it?”
“He’s just outside the door.”
“Hurry up and invite him in!”
Lin Chenzhi circled the room twice before looking at Madam Yan. “Mother, help me tidy up my hair quickly. You can’t just let others see me as a joke.”
“Of course.”
Madam Yan tied his hair up for him while the guests made their way in.
Zhao Zhan and Fang Tianliu followed the attendant into the room.
They had specially shaved their beards today.
The two of them stood in front of the door with their backs to the light.
Lin Chenzhi narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth.
“Zhao Zhan! It’s you! You’re the one behind all this, aren’t you? I knew it, I knew it,” he mumbled to himself angrily. “Just because I drooled over your wife and collided with your carriage at the mountain gaze, you decided to take revenge or something?! On the surface, you lied to me that you wanted to cooperate with me, but I didn’t expect you to stab me in the back here!”
He was extremely angry. After a series of roars, he felt dizzy and fell back into the chair.
Madam Yan rushed over to help him. “My dear son, what’s wrong? Who are you? Well, whoever you are, get out! The Lin family doesn’t welcome you here!”
Zhao Zhan took a chair and sat down casually. “Madam Yan, if I leave, you won’t be able to find a buyer for the Lin family’s shop in Bei City.”
“Are you sure you want to leave this as it is and make them leave?” Madam Yan’s heart ached as she looked at Lin Chenzhi’s red face and made the decision herself. “The Lin family has more than enough money! You better leave!”
“Mother! Don’t listen to her.”
Lin Chenzhi looked at Zhao Zhan as if he was going to beat him up. “How much are you offering to buy my shop?”
It was rare for Madam Yan to shout at her son. “How much silver do you want? I will give it to you! The money in my private vault can be enough for you to open another restaurant.”
“Madam Yan, are you talking about this?” Zhao Zhan threw out a stack of papers. “Please take a closer look.”
Lin Chenzhi pounced forward to snatch the paper from Fang Tianliu, but Fang Tianliu simply held him back.
Pawning tickets, IOU.
Madam Yan recognized many things on it. Her hands trembled uncontrollably as she turned to look at Lin Chenzhi. She was so shocked that she couldn’t speak.
“This… You must have forged this.”
“The personal seal is on it. You should know better than anyone whether we forged it. The dowry that you obtained by killing a person has long been squandered away by your son.” Zhao Zhan’s eyes were hostile. “When you have the time, you can go to the private warehouse and check how many things your son has stolen behind your back.”
Madam Yan thumped her chest.
It wasn’t that she didn’t notice it, but she never thought that her educated, well-mannered, and capable son would do such a thing behind her back.
Lin Chenzhi’s eyes were red. “N-no, how did you know about the dowry?”
“Your wife doesn’t look like Yue Jiaojiao at all! Does she? Did she not die?! She asked you to take revenge for her, didn’t she?
“I was just saying, you’re just a bumpkin, how did you plan all this? All you know is the Yue family’s secret that Yue Jiaojiao told you, right?”
Fang Tianliu had already left the room and closed the door.
Zhao Zhan stood up and walked over to Lin Chenzhi.
“You’re wrong about one thing. My wife and I have never sought revenge from you.
“Competition is inevitable in business. It’s your fault for not handling your business properly, so you lost.
“My wife is kind and still has traces of affection for you. She just wants to know why you wanted to kill her.
“If you can answer my question, I can buy your shop. This way, you can also take the money and move to a new place to live.
“Madam Yan, please think about all of this carefully. If you don’t have this sum of money, your son will have to eat rice husks and wild vegetables in the future.”
Madam Yan’s eyes were still watery.
She turned to look at Lin Chenzhi and fell limply to the ground.
“I’ll talk… I’m willing to tell you everything. I only beg for your kindness to give the Lin family a way out.”