Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 188 Can't Hold On

Wang Yan looked at He Tan.

It was indeed inappropriate to let He Tan leave on the third day of the Lunar New Year, but...

Wang Yan said, "They wouldn't dare to make a move if you were in Daming Prefecture." With He Tan in charge, the Xie family would always be somewhat wary.

"Now that the overall situation is settled, it is reasonable for you to leave Daming Prefecture at this time."

He Tan nodded solemnly.

"This time, we need to be fully prepared, not just to arrest the Xie family."

He Tan thought about Prefect Liu and his associates. Even if they couldn't find evidence to directly impeach the Liu family this time, they couldn't let them remain uninvolved.

"Be careful in Daming Prefecture," He Tan said.

After leaving Daming Prefecture, a cold wind blew on He Tan's face. He Tan then reined in his horse and looked back. It seemed that he had unknowingly done as Wang Yan had said.

He wasn't even allowed to spend his final year of junior high in the city.

……

The following days.

The Xie family's clay stove became the most talked-about topic in Daming Prefecture.

Every day, there were people guarding the entrance to Xie's shop, and anyone who came was immediately surrounded. The next day, Master Xie went to appease them again, but to no avail. He didn't enter the shop until midnight, dejected.

The Xie clan could no longer feel the joy of the festival, and many elders came to ask Old Master Xie for advice.

"Now there are people outside our door."

"Several children wanted to go to the market early in the morning, but they were scared and came back."

“Yesterday when I went out, someone threw stones at me.”

This is something I've never encountered before.

Xie Chongjiang was even more worried about the pottery kiln: "Logically speaking, the pottery kiln should start operation tomorrow. Now that it's in this state, does that mean... it can no longer continue firing?"

It's definitely not safe to burn it anymore. The resulting clay furnaces are unusable, and continuing to burn it will only result in greater losses.

Thinking of this, Old Master Xie slammed his hand on the table: "What's wrong with those pottery craftsmen? The clay kilns they fired are unusable, so they should be fined."

Thinking about how he had to pay them extra money when they were rushing to finish the work, Old Master Xie felt very distressed.

Although it has only been a little over ten days, the money spent on the pottery kiln and the hired workers has already amounted to several thousand strings of cash, more than Xie Chongjun lost back then.

If they were to pay off the money for the clay stove, the Xie family would really not have enough cash on hand to make ends meet.

Xie Chongjiang pursed his lips: "I think we can't just wait like this. Why don't we do what the Yang family did and give the clay furnace back to whoever wants to return it?"

Old Master Xie's eyes widened: "Have you calculated how much money that will cost?"

"My son knows too much, but..." Xie Chongjiang hesitated.

"What are you stammering about?" Old Master Xie scolded.

Xie Chongjiang took a deep breath before saying, "Our family's porcelain business has also been affected. Originally, we had a batch of porcelain to sell in Daming Prefecture after the fifteenth, but those two merchants changed their minds and refused to take it."

Xie Chongjiang handled this deal, so he naturally knew it best.

Xie Chonghai frowned: "Did you tell them that our problem is with the clay stove, not the porcelain?"

“I told them,” Xie Chongjiang said, “but those people wouldn’t listen. They just thought our family’s porcelain kiln might not last long.”

"After so many years in business, do you think our Xie family would be ruined by such a small matter? They're so polite all the time, but now that things have come to this, they're just kicking us when we're down," said Old Master Xie. "Remember them. Once we get through this, we'll never sell porcelain to them again."

One or two deals wouldn't bother Xie Chonghai; what he feared was that the reputation of the Xie family's porcelain kiln would be tarnished, and their porcelain wouldn't be able to reach the market.

Xie Chonghai regretted it for the umpteenth time. He shouldn't have touched those clay furnaces. Even if it offended the Liu family, they should have delayed doing it. At least they shouldn't have sold so many clay furnaces. "Second Master," the steward hurried in and whispered, "the Jiang family from Xingzhou has arrived."

The Xie family's porcelain kiln uses some of its porcelain clay from the Jiang family, who are very generous and usually settle accounts with them only once every six months.

Last winter, Xie Chongjun spent several thousand strings of cash to buy a coal mine. Xie Chonghai then discussed with the Jiang family that they would settle the payment for the porcelain clay in February of this year, and the Jiang family readily agreed.

Now that they've suddenly come knocking... Xie Chonghai looked at Old Master Xie: "I'm afraid the Jiang family has come to ask for money."

The Jiang family came to ask for money, saying that they had set their sights on another porcelain mine and wanted to spend a lot of money to acquire it, but they didn't have enough money on hand.

The Jiang family steward repeatedly apologized to Xie Chonghai: "We had promised... It's all our fault. The master said that we would give the Xie family some profit for this year's clay."

Despite saying this, his attitude was very firm. Xie Chonghai had no choice but to tell him to prepare the money the next day.

After seeing the Jiang family off, Xie Chonghai hoped that their visit was just a coincidence and that the news from Daming Prefecture hadn't reached Xingzhou. However, he soon realized he was wrong.

Two more families came to the door, each wanting to pay money.

In just one morning, seven or eight families had already come to our door.

The amount of money was too much, but the Xie family dared not refuse to pay.

"If even one family fails to pay, more people will hear the news and rush over."

If they don't pay, it confirms that the Xie family is in serious trouble.

Besides clay, glaze, and pigments, the Xie family would also buy some minerals, which alarmed all the other families. Xie Chonghai dared not imagine what would happen.

The Xie family experienced firsthand what it means to be pushed around when things are going badly.

They had no choice but to raise money from their clansmen overnight, just to get through this ordeal.

Only two days have passed, and no one could have imagined that the news would spread so quickly.

“It’s all because of those tabloids,” Xie Chongjiang said. “Those scholars wrote about our family’s clay stove in the newspapers, and those merchants from other prefectures must have come to us after reading the tabloids.”

Xie Chonghai felt as if he were on fire. No matter how he dodged, as long as the fire beneath him didn't go down, he would feel pain wherever it burned.

He made up his mind to get rid of Xie Yuyan as soon as possible.

When Xie Chonghai suddenly appeared at the Xie family's eldest branch that night, it truly startled Zhao. Since there were no male heirs left in the eldest branch, Xie Chonghai's sudden appearance was certainly against custom.

But at this critical juncture, there's no time to worry about anything else.

Xie Chonghai stood in the study with his hands behind his back. After Zhao entered, he did not bow, but asked in a gloomy voice, "Are you ready?"

Zhao clenched her handkerchief tightly: "Everything has been agreed upon, we're just waiting for the right opportunity."

Xie Chonghai said, "That's about it."

Yesterday, Xie Qi found several people and confirmed that they had been bribed by Xie Yuyan to incite the crowd. Xie Qi told him the news, and he didn't interfere, leaving everything to Xie Qi.

“Shaoge’er has other evidence that proves Xie Yuyan’s private dealings with the pottery kiln craftsmen. The fact that our family’s clay kiln produced substandard results was due to Xie Yuyan’s instructions to the craftsmen to do it on purpose.”

Zhao was surprised that Xie Qi had found out about these things so quickly.

"Is it true?" Zhao asked.

“It has to be true,” Xie Chonghai turned his head. “We can’t wait any longer.”

He originally intended to wait for the conflict between Xie Zishao and Xie Yuyan to escalate, so that once the matter came to light, the government would naturally suspect Xie Yuyan.

But now people are coming to the door demanding money... Perhaps the Xie family won't be able to hold on any longer tomorrow.

Therefore, we can't wait any longer; we have to act now.

“Shao-ge’er is going out tomorrow,” Xie Chonghai said. “Let’s do it around that time!”

Xie Qi wanted to host a banquet for some people and ask them to help him come up with ideas. His drinking buddies were nothing more than sons of merchants who only knew how to spend money and had no real skills.
Xie Chonghai could foresee that Xie Qi would be very drunk, which would be the best time to strike.