Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 105 Boss
The document was placed in front of Cheng Qi; as long as he signed it, he could take away six thousand strings of cash.

It wasn't just six thousand strings of cash, but also the money from selling the lotus root charcoal recipe.

Cheng Qi stared blankly for a moment.

Master Zheng's heart sank. He looked at Master Zhao beside him, then pursed his lips, a worried expression on his face. He felt that Master Cheng in front of him couldn't refuse the Xie family.

A prime minister's monthly salary is only three hundred strings of cash, and a county magistrate's is even less, only a dozen strings. A very nice house in the capital can be bought for five thousand strings of cash.

Earning this much by selling a hundred acres of land is something you could never achieve even after accumulating good fortune for several lifetimes.

If it were him, he might agree too.

In that case, Madam Xie's business would definitely fall through. This was something they hadn't anticipated, and they hadn't discussed how to deal with it beforehand.

Master Xu, being straightforward, spoke without much thought: "The eldest mistress and we agreed on this yesterday..."

Before he could finish speaking, he felt a weight on his shoulder as Xie Chongjun's hand pressed down on him.

Xie Chongjun smiled and said, "The three of you don't need to worry. What Xie Yuyan promised you, my Xie family can also do."

Master Xu frowned even more deeply and snorted coldly, "I can't do this kind of business."

Third Master Zhao was afraid that his elder brother would suffer a loss. There were some things they couldn't control, but they could try to help Madam Xie. She had eaten the food from Sanhe Village yesterday, and now she couldn't bear to stay silent.

“Even if you want to sell the land, you can’t sell the method for making lotus root charcoal. Madam Xie only revealed this to you because she wanted to do business with you. If you resell it…”

Cheng Qi's expression also began to waver.

"Do you have any documents?" Xie Chongjun asked.

Cheng Qi shook her head subconsciously.

“Since there are no written documents, it’s no use even if you take it to the yamen,” Xie Chongjun said. “She didn’t tell you that there was an accident at the coal mine in Sanhe Village. Your backing out is because she concealed the truth.”

Cheng Qi nodded subconsciously, but he quickly wavered: "How about we go to the Yang family first?"

Xie Yuyan is eloquent and persuasive; how could he possibly let these people go to the Yang family?

"Why go through all this trouble?" Xie Chongjun said. "The Yang family will be sending money soon. Why don't you just ask the Yang clan members and you'll know everything?"

"Take a look at these sales contracts first, see if what's written on them is correct."

Xie Chongjun pushed the document forward, and Cheng Qi subconsciously swallowed.

The three brothers realized that Master Cheng had been fooled.

The three of them stood up at the same time.

Master Xu said, "This is none of our business, so we won't keep you company."

“If you gentlemen are to discuss business with the Xie family, we will certainly not treat you unfairly,” Xie Chongjun said, taking out three silver ingots from his pocket and placing them on the table. “Especially for such a big deal, how can we make a decision so lightly?”

As Xie Chongjun was speaking, someone entered the rice shop, followed by a voice saying, "I'm getting old, so I can't walk as slowly as I used to. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Master Xie."

Yang Zongdao was helped through the door.

Seeing the scene inside, Yang Zongdao made a rough guess: "These must be the gentlemen who want to do business with lotus root charcoal?"

Xie Chongjun nodded, secretly relieved. With Master Yang present, these four were more easily persuaded.

Yang Zongdao took out a document from his pocket and handed it to everyone: "Gentlemen, don't be fooled by the Xie family. Something big has happened to the Xie family's mine. Not only will the mine be confiscated, but the Xie family will also be imprisoned."

Master Xu asked in a deep voice, "Really?"

“Is that even possible?” Yang Zongdao sighed. “They’re all clansmen. If they didn’t have concrete information, no one would come knocking on our door. We’re all from the same clan. If the business is really profitable, why would we make things difficult for her?”

"I thought Xie's water shop was doing well before, but who knew she would do this after receiving the money... Sigh, she hired so many workers early on, earning several thousand coins a day."

“Our people all want her to return the money. She has almost run out of money left, and many people are waiting for her. She can’t even handle all of this. How can she give you any money?”

"The Yang family has reached a decision and plans to sell lotus root charcoal together with the Xie family. The clan has also taken over the business of the water shop. If you gentlemen are still interested in making lotus root charcoal, please sit down and discuss it with us in detail!"

Master Zheng looked at the documents handed over by Yang Zongdao. Each document was a voucher for the money that the Yang clan members had received back from Madam Xie, and their fingerprints were clearly affixed to them.

This is probably not fake.

Something really did happen to Madam Xie. Third Master Zheng looked at his two elder brothers, wanting to say something. They had been asked to help, and they couldn't just stand by and watch Madam Xie be bullied.

Master Xu suddenly smiled: "This old man is right..."

As he said this, his hand suddenly reached out to Cheng Qi, who was caught off guard and caught red-handed.

“Let’s go,” Master Xu said, “let’s go and discuss it first.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Xie Chongjun slammed his hand on the table. Immediately, several men dressed as waiters entered the room, their eyes fixed menacingly on Master Xu.

Cheng Qi's face turned ugly. Taking advantage of Master Xu's inattention, she shook off his hand and hid behind Xie Chongjun.

"you……"

With so many people coming in at once, even if Master Xu knew some martial arts, he definitely wouldn't be able to take Cheng Qi away.

Seeing that things were not going well, Third Master Zheng hurriedly said, "The Xie family bought his land, so they will definitely leave the three of us aside. We have come all the way to Daming Prefecture, we can't just go back like this."

Third Master Zhao also stared at Cheng Qi: "Money earned through dishonesty is hard to come by..."

Cheng Qi's face turned black and red in turns. He looked at Xie Chongjun, then glanced at Master Xu and the others. After a long while, he made up his mind: "Seven thousand strings of cash, one hundred acres of land, plus the method for making lotus root charcoal, I will sell it all to you."

"Once I get the money, my whole family will immediately move out of Daming Prefecture. The extra money I asked you for... is for hiring martial arts instructors. If you don't agree, then... then forget it. I'll just wait..."

Yang Zongdao was trying to find a way to persuade them. It had been 6,100 strings of cash before, but now it had become 7,000 strings. The Xie family were wealthy merchants and didn't care about such a large sum, but he couldn't. For the extra 1,000 strings, they would have to pay at least 100 strings, which was too much...

“Alright,” Xie Chongjun said, not giving Yang Zongdao a chance to speak, “seven thousand strings of cash.”

Yang Zongdao stood there, mouth agape, a sharp pain shooting through his chest.

Xie Chongjun instructed the steward: "Go and invite the county clerk over. We will process the documents immediately."

Cheng Qi stammered, "My land deeds are all at home, I'm afraid..."

Xie Chongjun said, "I'll have someone bring the money and go with you to your home. There are clerks from the yamen there, so you don't need to be afraid." In the past, he might have used some tricks, but now he was wary of He Tan, so he could only make sure the documents were clear and transparent. When He Tan asked about it, he would be helpless.

After saying this, Xie Chongjun looked at Yang Zong and said, "You have given us an extra five hundred strings of cash. We all need to use this lotus root charcoal method, so it would be most appropriate for each of us to give half to the other."

"If you don't have enough money, go back and get it immediately to avoid any delay."

Five hundred strings of cash nearly made Yang Zongdao faint. But he couldn't afford to fall out with the Xie family over this, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and send his son back to raise the money. That would be all of his family's savings.

……

Master Xu and his companions traveled all the way to the north of the city and witnessed Cheng Qi signing documents with the Xie and Yang families.

The moment Cheng Qi pressed his fingerprint, the three of them realized it was truly over.

Everything is already set in stone.

The coal mine has changed hands.

The three men were still unwilling to give up, and now they could only pray that nothing bad would happen to Sanhe Village.

Xie Chongjun got the land and didn't care about Xu Siye and the other two. Once Xie Yuyan was arrested, the three of them would have no choice but to beg him. At that time, how the deal would be done would be up to him.
Yang Zongdao wiped his eyes with a handkerchief, carefully put the documents for the fifteen mu of land close to his body. With these things, he could go back and ask for water.

Cheng Qi carefully counted the piled-up copper coins and silver ingots.

Seven thousand strings of cash, not a single coin less.

Cheng Qi breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the steward beside him: "Go and tell the boss that I have taken care of everything she asked me to do."

Upon hearing the word "owner," Xie Chongjun frowned and looked at Cheng Qi: "Isn't this land yours?"

Cheng Qi straightened his back and smiled, saying, "How could I be so lucky? This land was bought by the landlord using my name. The land deed is usually in the landlord's hands, but he only gave it to me yesterday so I could sell it."

"I was worried that I wouldn't do a good job, but now I can finally deliver."

Xie Chongjun suddenly felt a pang of panic and immediately asked, "Who is your boss?"

Cheng Qi's smile deepened, a hint of satisfaction in his eyes: "I have two employers, one of whom..."

At this point, his eyes suddenly lit up: "Here we are!"

(End of this chapter)