Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 363: Xue Baochai? Abandoned?

After Pei Jifang's speech, there was a huge discussion in the venue, but it fell silent after a while.

It was because everyone noticed that the woman behind the desk on the other side of the stage was fiddling with an abacus and marking on an account book with a red pen.

The shopkeepers of the Xue family were all worried because of the unfavorable situation. They did not understand what the cross on Xue Baochai's account meant, so they carefully reminded Xue Baochai: "Madam, it's our turn now."

The Shaoxing lawyer who was presiding over the event also noticed the abnormality on the right side of the table.

Lingji Teahouse was not in a hurry to refute, as if it was gathering strength for something.

The master couldn't help but look up at the judging panel and the expressions of the three adults to determine whether this action was legal.

Seeing this, Cui Ying asked Lin Ruhai and Yue Ling beside him: "My Lord, Lord Lin, the base price of six coins of silver is already close to losing money. We can only make some profit on transportation, otherwise the business will be unsustainable."

"But for the Salt House, the salt price is so low, and the impact of private salt is no longer as severe as before, which is also a good thing. It seems that the tea house has no room for rebuttal."

“The results are obvious.”

Lin Ruhai coughed a few times, still maintaining his sick persona, and said softly: "What Governor Cui said is true. No one can compete with the price of six cents."

Cui Ying felt relieved, and then went over to Lin Ruhai to ask Yue Ling's opinion, "My Lord, what do you think?"

Yue Ling picked up the freshly prepared tea on the table, took a sip and said, "No hurry, this is a grand event, the seats are full, why rush to end it? Let's see what the teahouse has to say."

The atmosphere on the field stagnated.

The scholar from Peijifang looked like he had it all figured out. He calmly sat behind his desk and watched the other party's excitement.

The people in the audience sighed inwardly, and also wanted to see how the teahouse would fight back.

However, if they were on the stage now, they would probably just say "abstain".

Xue Baochai was not affected by the atmosphere from beginning to end, and just focused on the things at hand.

Two cups of tea later, Xue Baochai stopped tapping the abacus, dipped the pen in ink, drew the last cross on the account, and put the pen on the pen holder.

As she slowly stood up, the whole audience was shocked.

No one knew what she had just sketched, nor did they know what she was calculating with the abacus.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Xue Baochai did not just stand up, but walked around the table and came to the center of the room.

All the spectators in the pavilion held their breath, as if they saw an inexplicable power in the woman on the stage, which made people involuntarily nervous.

Xue Baochai's eyes were as sharp as lightning. She scanned the field and finally landed on the scholar on the right. She said in a clear voice, "Just now, the six salt fields that Pei Jifang acquired were Jinou Field on the Huaihe River, Yushapu on Sheyang Lake, Yuntao Bay in Tongzhou on the north bank of the Yangtze River, Langganzhu, Hanjingpu in Huai'an Prefecture, and Hemingtan in Dongtai. Is that right or not?"

The scholar was startled when he heard this, and turned to the master and asked, "She should talk about her family's advantages, how can she ask me?"

The master was also unsure, but seeing that there was no objection from the judges, he nodded and said, "That's fine."

The scholar gritted his teeth and flipped through the contracts he had just read, looking at them one by one, and said calmly, "So what?"

Xue Baochai nodded slightly and said, "Since you can admit it, that's good."

As she spoke, Xue Baochai shook out a book from her sleeve, held it up and indicated to everyone, "This book records the brine concentrations of the six major salt fields."

"I just calculated based on the total amount of salt produced by the six major salt fields in previous years. The average brine concentration is no more than 25%. Even the brine concentrations in Yushapu, Sheyang Lake and Hanjingpu, Huai'an Prefecture, are less than 20%."

"With the loss of salt boiling in blast furnaces today, and a brine concentration of less than 30%, to produce enough salt, 60% more firewood is needed. Based on the average price of 6 cents per dan of firewood, one load of salt requires at least five dan of firewood. If 60% more is needed, the total cost will increase by another 20%."

"Keep the loss to a minimum, add the extra transportation fee, and report to the Salt Department. The lowest cost is 6.4 cents. My tea shop can offer a base price of 6.6 cents, and only make 2 cents per draw."

"I don't know why Pei Ji Fang can offer a reserve price of six cents. Is there really someone in the world who is willing to do a business that loses money?"

"You are all not stupid people because you can enter today. Could it be that Pei Ji Fang has other tricks mixed in? Using official power to sell private property?"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the guests in the room were shocked.

Everything Xue Baochai said made sense, and she asked several shopkeepers to show everyone her calculations.

The marks on it clearly prove that the lowest price of salt cannot be lower than 6.4 cents, which is still within the controllable range of losses.

If we encounter natural disasters or man-made disasters, we will have no ability to resist them.

You know, the reported losses in water transport are between 15% and 30%.

The white paper with red comments was circulated in front of everyone and even passed to the hands of the three judges.

The expressions of the three people were exactly the same, none of them were affected at all, except Cui Ying, who was holding down his hands and couldn't help but sweat.

The scholar, who had originally looked calm, suddenly turned purple, and stood up in anger, slamming the table and saying, "You, you are slandering me!"

Everything Xue Baochai said pointed to the fact that Pei Jifang was selling private salt. Perhaps they mixed private salt of unknown origin with official salt in order to reduce costs.

What's worse, inferior products can be passed off as good ones, which will lead to even more irreversible consequences.

If Pei Jifang does not stand up to prove his innocence at this time, let alone compete for the position of general merchant, he may even end up in jail.

But Xue Baochai looked over coldly, frowned and said: "It is not your place to speak at this moment!"

Xue Baochai was almost certain that there was something fishy going on in this Jinhu fireworks workshop, so naturally she did not speak in a good tone.

The scholar did not give up and sought the advice of his master: "She, she is talking nonsense and slandering others' innocence. How can she shut me up again?"

Cold sweat was pouring down the master's forehead.

Every word Xue Baochai said was true and hit the nail on the head. She revealed the dark side of Pei Jifang in front of everyone. Who would dare to speak on Pei Jifang's side? Once it was proven that he was wrong, wouldn't he be regarded as an accomplice?

What's more, the three big shots were still sitting on the stage and did not come out to point out that Xue Baochai was not the one. How could he, a working legal advisor, take over someone else's business?

Even if we want to protect you, we are powerless to do so.

"Be quiet for a moment. This is not the time for you to talk."

Xue Baochai's face remained calm, and she did not show any joy because of the victory in the first stage. Instead, she took advantage of the victory and said, "This is one reason. Second, Pei Jifang once said that it has the advantage of water transport. There are many large ships traveling to Jiangnan to transport stones, finished fireworks, and salt."

"But according to the information I received, the draft level of the same type of ship with a full warehouse of salt is three inches shallower than that of the ship going to Peijifang in Jinhu Town."

"Could it be that there is something else going on with Pei Ji Fang's boat?"

Just now, Xue Baochai dropped a bomb when she calculated the cost, shocking everyone. Once this statement came out, it was like a tidal wave, sweeping everyone away, leaving everyone at a loss.

Xue Baochai looked back at Yue Ling and nodded slightly.

Deep down, Xue Baochai was also grateful to Yue Ling for leaving the information he had gathered while going out for her to use in this situation as a trump card to deal with Pei Jifang.

"According to the Lianghuai Salt Law, smuggling can take up to 3,000 miles!"

Xue Baochai spoke coldly, and every word she said was piercing the scholar's heart, as if piercing through his chest, leaving him at a loss for how to respond.

But even if he wanted to fight back, he had no chance to speak at this moment.

Seeing that public opinion was about to explode, Governor Cui stood up and said, "Well, this lady has sharp words, and I admire her. In this rebuttal, Lingji Teahouse is already invincible."

"Next, we will verify the qualifications of both parties and check the salt permits for the two adults to make the final judgment."

The Confucian scholar, who was originally at a loss, immediately calmed down and even smiled when he heard Cui Ying talking about the salt permit.

Xue Baochai's performance on stage just now was indeed amazing enough, but it was ultimately a doubt and no fait accompli was established. As long as he went back and dealt with all the difficult matters, no one would blame him.

Seeing this, the shopkeeper of the Xue family could not help but remind Xue Baochai who had returned to her position again, "Just now, Madam overwhelmed the other party with her momentum. She could have announced the result in public, but now she wants to review the financial accounts we handed in when we entered the house. Is there something fishy going on?"

Xue Baochai said calmly: "Don't worry, I know what's going on."

As he spoke, he picked up a piece of letter on the table and put it into his sleeve.

After half an incense stick of time, two clerks came on stage holding the final verification results.

What was even more conspicuous was that there was a salt permit placed prominently at the very top, and everyone in the venue could see it, but no one knew what it meant.

Two clerks came to Cui Ying and whispered something to him. Cui Ying's eyes suddenly widened with shock on his face.

"Is there such a thing? I know about it."

Prefect Cui, who was in charge of the meeting, bowed to Lin Ruhai and Yue Ling respectively and said, "Lord Lin is not feeling well, so there is no need for you to condescend to me. I will take charge of the next matter, okay?"

Lin Ruhai and Yue Ling said in unison: "Prefect Cui, please do as you please."

Cui Ying trudged to the center of the field, took a salt voucher from the list on the plate, pointed and said, "After investigation, it was found that the salt vouchers of Lingji Tea House were mixed with old salt vouchers, which were not issued this year."

"According to the Lianghuai Salt Law Records, anyone who mixes up the old and new salt permits will be punished with 100 strokes of the cane and exiled 3,000 miles."

The situation suddenly took a turn for the worse. Although Pei Jifang's background was not clear, no one expected that the teahouse that had been so righteous just now was not of clean background either and was using the old salt permits.

And he was caught on the spot. Doesn't that mean his crime is more serious and his reputation is even worse?
There was a lot of discussion in the audience, which was exactly what Cui Ying wanted. He took a deep breath, turned to Xue Baochai, and asked, "Do you have anything else to say?"

The scholar watched the excitement in the scene with a smile on his face, feeling extremely grateful in his heart.

The shopkeepers behind her were all so frightened that their faces changed, but Xue Baochai, who had already seen through everything, was excited in her heart.

Because she knew that this was about to reach the climax of her life, and her value would soon be revealed to Yue Ling.

Standing up, Xue Baochai folded her hands in front of her, and first bowed to Yue Ling and Lin Ruhai who were sitting quietly, and then turned to the local prefect and said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "Prefect Cui, why don't you show me the ticket."

Cui Ying showed displeasure and said, "Do you still suspect that I have replaced your salt permit?"

Xue Baochai shook her head and said, "That's not the case."

Cui Ying frowned, but because this was not the government office and Yue Ling and Lin Ruhai were behind him, he couldn't get angry, so he winked at the clerk beside him and asked him to pass it to Xue Baochai.

After receiving the salt permit, Xue Baochai looked through it, and finally her eyes fell on the seal of the Yangzhou prefect. She said, "Excuse me, Lord Cui, was it in June of the first year of Longyou that you took office in Yangzhou?"

This question-and-answer format is so similar to the confrontation just now.

The only difference was that their status changed from two merchants opposing each other to one official and one merchant. Among the four classes of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, merchants were the most humble. Even though there were many wealthy merchants in Yangzhou, who almost created the prosperity of the entire city, they did not have much power. Their status was also raised through continuous donations and the training of their children to serve as officials in the court.

How dare a businessman ask a local governor questions in an interrogative tone?

The prefect was a fourth-rank official and there was no need for him to argue with the merchants.

"Yes, so what? I arrived in Yangzhou in May to take over, and officially took office in June."

For some reason, Cui Ying suddenly felt uneasy.

I feel like I'm being led by this small businessman in this situation.

He could have chosen not to respond, but he was put on the stage, under the watchful eyes of the public, and it was difficult for him to retreat.

Xue Baochai nodded lightly and said, "Please look, Prefect, this salt permit is dated June of the first year of Longyou."

"I have already said that I arrived in Yangzhou in May."

"But a new official does not have an official seal within three months of taking office. Why is the salt permit for June of the first year of Longyou stamped with your official seal instead of the official seal of the previous Yangzhou prefect?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the hall fell silent.

Everyone stared at the stage in amazement, and everyone had even more shocked suspicions in their hearts.

Could it be that the quota for this conference has already been decided and it's just a formality?
However, a Cheng Yaojin suddenly appeared out of nowhere and defeated the collusion between officials and businessmen.

It seems like the drama in the storytelling.

Looking towards the stage again, everyone was no longer paying attention to Governor Cui's interesting expression, but was also looking at the other two adults on the stage to see how they would express their opinions in the end.

The scholar could no longer laugh. He stared at the table with horror, sweat breaking out on his forehead.

At the right time, Yue Ling stood up and said, "Everyone please return to your seats first. The three of us will make the final judgment."

Xue Baochai bowed in person, then turned around and returned to her desk.

Just as he turned around, a piece of letter accidentally fell out from his sleeve.

The thick letter was wrapped in kraft paper, and there was the logo of Jinhu Peijifang on the front. However, the destination was not marked on the package, which was obviously concealed intentionally.

When Cui Ying saw this, his pupils shrank slightly.

Xue Baochai calmly picked up the package from the ground, glanced back at Cui Ying, and returned to her original position.

Cui Ying was horrified. When he walked to the side of Lin Ruhai and Yue Ling, he had to force himself to stop his arms from shaking.

"Impossible, how could she have a letter from Jinhu? This is impossible!"

Cui Ying was thinking secretly, it was obvious that the woman's last action was intentional, to give him a warning in exchange for the position of chief salt merchant.

For Cui Ying now, there are only two options. One is to accept the humiliation and agree to let the teahouse be the general merchant. Then, seek confirmation in private and exchange the package for benefits. Then, he can abandon the previous layout and give up Pei Jifang.

Or he could continue to support Pei Jifang's rise to power, and after the meeting, quickly kill this group of tea merchants to prevent any evidence that might be unfavorable to him from falling into the hands of Yue Ling and Lin Ruhai.

Comparing the two, the latter was really too risky. At this moment in Yangzhou, the prefect did not have the final say and could not decide life and death arbitrarily.

Furthermore, even if we support Pei Jifang, under the current situation, with the two votes of Yue Ling and Lin Ruhai, we may not succeed.

To choose the lesser of two evils, he had no choice but to accept the threat from the tea merchants.

Cui Ying frowned, he had never suffered such a humiliation from a businessman before, not only did he not gain any advantage in the verbal battle, but the businessman also caught him in a weak spot just before he left, which made him very unhappy.

"Let's just get through this difficult day, there are still many days to come!"

After secretly making up his mind, Cui Ying began to pay attention to the two people around him.

Lin Ruhai had just recovered from a serious illness and still looked tired. He did not have much communication with Yue Ling.

Yue Ling had a serious expression on his face, but his eyes were blank, and no one knew what he was thinking about.

Suddenly, Yue Ling turned around and asked Cui Ying, "Prefect Cui, have you made up your mind?"

Cui Ying smiled awkwardly and said, "I have already considered the best candidate. I don't know if it's Lord Hou or Lord Lin."

Both of them nodded, "We already have a candidate."

"Okay then." Cui Ying signaled to the master again and prepared to read out the final result.

The three of them wrote one party's name on the table together, folded it, and handed it to the lawyer together.

The master took it carefully, returned to the center, coughed lightly, and called out, "Everyone, the much-anticipated general merchant bidding will soon reveal the outcome."

"I have obtained the candidates of three adults. Whoever gets the most votes will be the winner."

"First of all, congratulations to Governor Cui for selecting Lingji Tea House."

Xue Baochai nodded slightly to signal to the people in the audience.

Everyone sighed and said, "It seems that the title of General Merchant has been decided. Lingji Tea House deserves it."

"I wonder what kind of backers are behind this teahouse that suddenly appeared. They can even check the records of the canal transportation."

"You really hit the nail on the head. But having said that, it is not easy to bring down Pei Ji Fang."

"That makes sense, that makes sense..."

While everyone was discussing, the lawyer unfolded the second note, his eyes widened instantly, and he said, "Imperial Censor Lin, Peijifang."

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole room was in an uproar.

Even Xue Baochai's eyes widened slightly, not expecting the result.

Her performance just now was already very outstanding. She even deliberately revealed a flaw at the end, oppressing Governor Cui and putting a certain amount of pressure on him in order to earn this most unstable vote.

I didn't expect that Lin Ruhai would vote for someone else.

But on second thought, two votes could determine the outcome, and in the end Yue Ling would definitely not vote for Pei Jifang.

Otherwise, wouldn’t all the work be in vain?

After thinking all this through, Xue Baochai felt relieved, thinking that the outcome was settled.

"I think Censor Lin is just trying to save face..."

When he heard his name, hope shone in the scholar's eyes again, and he couldn't help but look towards the jury seat.

Cui Ying was also slightly surprised, but he didn't say anything. He sat upright and maintained a serious expression, "Perhaps, Lord Lin cares more about the cost of these six cents..."

The master swallowed his saliva. He didn't expect that the originally one-sided situation would magically create suspense again.

When he unfolded the last piece of paper, his hands couldn't help but tremble. When he revealed the word "Pei", even his voice trembled. He rubbed his eyes to make sure they were not blurry.

"Lord Yue, Peijifang..."

"What, how could this be?"

The whole room exclaimed in amazement, and the Confucian scholars stood up excitedly and laughed non-stop.

Xue Baochai looked at Yue Ling in confusion, feeling aggrieved.

It was obvious that she had done an outstanding job. She traveled all over the place without any complaints and only rushed back to the city to attend the rally the day before February 10. She was in control of the situation with ease and performed just right. Even the prefect was led by her. Wasn't all this enough to impress Yue Ling?
Compared with the failure in the competition for the general merchant, Xue Baochai cares more about Yue Ling’s true thoughts at this moment.

The shopkeeper behind him couldn't help but ask, "Madam, what's going on?"

Xue Baochai felt aggrieved and just shook her head, "I don't know."

At this moment, Xue Baochai inexplicably felt like an abandoned child.

Cui Ying was stunned for a long while before he came to his senses. He immediately stood up, walked to the center of the field, and announced: "Since the two adults have chosen Peijifang, the result is valid. The new chief salt merchant is Jinhu Peijifang. Tomorrow, he can enter the Salt Inspectorate, sign the contract, and assume the responsibility of the chief merchant."

The scholar also came to the stage amid the astonished gazes of the crowd, bowed deeply to Cui Ying, and secretly teased in his heart: "It turns out that Governor Cui has already dealt with Lord Lin and Lord Yue. No wonder he can be so calm when the other party is showing his strength."

"It seems that the tea house will be charged with slander and forgery of salt permits later."

The scholar really enjoyed the incredulous looks from the crowd.

From the marquis to the petty official, they were all his people. Who could compete with him at this auction? The woman opposite was really overestimating herself.

You are just a lady, unaware of the dangers of the world, and yet you judge heroes by right and wrong.

"Don't worry, everyone. From now on, on behalf of Peijifang, I will do everything I said before to perfection."

Cui Ying nodded with satisfaction, then frowned and winked at the scholar.

The master struck the gong again, "The Yangzhou General Merchants Competition has come to an end. Dear spectators, if you are not satisfied, you can go up to the second or third floor to have fun. See you later."

The meeting slowly ended. Cui Ying came to Yue Ling and Lin Ruhai, took the initiative to help the sick Lin Ruhai to stand up, and said with a smile: "Today's matter has been settled, and the Bao family case will also be convicted next."

"Within a month of the New Year, we were able to resolve this major case, which really lightened our burden."

Yue Ling nodded and smiled, "Master Cui has made an invaluable contribution."

Lin Ruhai also agreed, "This conference is entirely due to the efforts of Lord Cui, so he should be the first to make a contribution."

"You two adults are too polite. I will see you off."

The three of them exchanged greetings for a while before leaving Qionghua Pavilion.

Outside the pavilion, at the corner of the corridor, in an inconspicuous place, the woman who had just been so powerful on the stage, with red eyes, bit her lips lightly and walked forward and whispered: "My Lord, I can't figure it out, can you wait for me?"

(End of this chapter)