Da Ming: Father, step aside, I'll be the prime minister!

Chapter 231 There's dirt on Xishan (One more chapter at 21 PM)
This inexplicable shout immediately drew the attention of those around.

Hu Mao felt ashamed and quickly stepped forward to stop him, lowering his voice to say, "Manager Tong, what nonsense are you talking about? Didn't you say yesterday that Zhang Shiyuan was a thief and a dog?"

"Have we been cursed today?"

After saying this, Hu Mao felt a chill run down his spine, and he looked left and right.

Especially when he looked at Yu Xiangdou on the stage, he felt that all of them were evil spirits.

Otherwise, why would Tong Pei suddenly go berserk?
Tong Pei, however, seemed very anxious. He pulled his companion aside and whispered something in his ear.

"Quick! Come back with me and buy back all the glass, as much as you can! Exchange all the silver for glass! If you don't have enough silver, borrow it from the bank!"

Hu Mao was almost in tears: "Manager Tong, what's wrong with you? Don't scare me!"

But Tong Pei ignored him, shoved his companion aside, and ran towards the auction house entrance.

As he ran, he left a message for Hu Mao.

"Don't say I didn't warn you! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

"Oh no! Zhang Shiyuan, you heartless bastard!"

Hu Mao knelt on the ground and wept bitterly.

This scene was witnessed by many, and most people sighed with regret, cursing Zhang Shiyuan for being a heartless man who had swindled the Longyou merchants to the point of mental instability, fearing they had developed brain disease.

Only a small number of people quietly followed Tong Pei's footsteps and hurriedly left the venue together.

In the VIP section, Zhang Rong frowned as he watched the farce unfold. He lowered his voice and spoke to Zhu Yingzhen, the Duke of Cheng, beside him.

"Is this the Tong Pei Tong Ziming? He is indeed extremely clever. In just a few exchanges, he has figured out Zhang Shiyuan's intentions."

"You could tell?" Zhu Yingzhen asked, somewhat puzzled. "Yu Xiangdou's acting is so poor, how could he possibly see through it? Shouldn't he be suspecting Zhang Shiyuan of faking it?"

"That's the thinking of ordinary people; they only think about the superficial aspects."

Zhang Rong stroked his beard and explained.

“But smart people don’t just look at the surface. Tong Ziming is a smart person. He understands very well that someone like Zhang Shiyuan would not make such a mistake.”
Send someone like Yu Xiangdou to put on a funeral performance for everyone.

Therefore, intelligent people like Tong Ziming can see that today's press conference is nothing more than a smokescreen by Zhang Shiyuan.

He continued leisurely, "With Xishan Workshop and the Imperial Palace behind the scenes, the price of this glassware is bound to rise even if it doesn't. Tong Pei has a sharp eye; no wonder he became the head of the Longyou merchants."

Zhu Yingzhen looked completely bewildered: "Why intentionally make people suspicious? Wouldn't it be more direct to just present the evidence and convince everyone?"

"Idiot!"

Zhang Rong shook his head, patted Zhu Yingzhen on the shoulder, and said with a sneer.

"How can simply telling them compare to letting them find it themselves?"

He looked at the stage with a hint of helplessness, noticing that Zhang Yunxiu hadn't even shown up, and sighed.

"Just you wait and see, things are bound to get out of hand in the capital in the next few days."

"That young Shi Yuan is almost demonically intelligent, with a keen eye for human nature. Remember to cultivate a good relationship with him from now on, and avoid any conflict."

Zhu Yingzhen frowned, still looking like he only had a vague understanding.

He didn't know what Zhang Yunxiu was thinking, and he was a little confused about what Zhang Rong was saying, but one thing was certain.

"Damn!"

Zhu Yingzhen said through gritted teeth.

"This scheme was devised by Shi Yuan for us. This Tong Ziming is just a merchant, yet he wants a piece of the pie? I'll go find someone and capture him!"

Zhang Rong couldn't help but laugh, his eyebrows shot up, and he slapped the other person on the head.

"Idiot!"

Thirty-nine Teahouses in the capital.

Since the Wanli Xinbao newspaper appeared, storytellers in teahouses have added a new segment: reading the latest newspaper to their guests.

After all, not all the peddlers and laborers who frequently come and go in the teahouse lobby can read.

Once inside the teahouse, after paying a few coins, you no longer need to buy your own newspaper; you can simply listen to the story.

Most importantly, the storytellers in the teahouse would also offer their own opinions and analyses of the newspaper articles, making it a very comprehensive service.

The story being told in the teahouse today is the "press conference" that Zhang Shiyuan held three days ago at the Xishan Theater, which was quite unique.

"Now, let's talk about Zhang Shiyuan, the youngest son of the Grand Secretary and the Deputy Commander of the Southern Garrison of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. He can be described as having the heart of a bodhisattva. First, he used methods to control the plague, saving millions of lives in the capital. Then, he used lotus root coal..."

In the capital, most of the storytellers in teahouses had received favors from Zhang Yunxiu. With the establishment of the "Deyun Society" in Xishan, there were more or less storytellers who had some connection with Zhang Yunxiu. Some of them were so distant that they could even call Zhang Yunxiu their grand-uncle.

Therefore, storytellers mostly tend to favor Zhang Yunxiu, and the opening monologue is to be expected.

The storyteller then went on to mention the boiler explosion at Liulichang in Xishan.

"For a time, the glass workshop was ablaze with flames. Magistrate Zhang had spent many years painstakingly developing this boiler to create that awe-inspiring glass statue, but unfortunately, it was envied by petty people."

But at this point, some tea drinkers immediately became unhappy. Whether intentionally or not, someone mentioned it in the crowd.

"Zhang Shiyuan just wants to sell his glass statues. I imagine the glass in Xishan is already piled up like mountains. After this, I'm sure many people will send him money." This remark caused a huge stir, and many people began to share the "truth" they had heard from some obscure corner.

"Hey! I heard that the merchants in Longyou, led by Manager Tong, are buying up glass on a huge scale! Manager Hu tried to dissuade them, but to no avail, and the two of them had a big argument! Tsk tsk tsk~"

"Back then, those Shanxi merchants lost so much money they all ended up hanging themselves. It was a truly tragic situation!"

Some of the bolder ones even lowered their voices and said, "What I heard is quite different, and it might be the truth. It's said that Zhang Shiyuan had an affair with the imperial harem, and His Majesty, in a fit of anger, set the boiler on fire."

Such outrageous words have actually sparked a discussion.

Watching the farce unfold below the stage, Duke Cheng, Zhu Yingzhen, and his younger brother, Zhu Yinghuai, sat in a private room on the second floor, listening half-heartedly.

Zhu Yinghuai asked listlessly, "Brother, when are we going back? I still have a play to rehearse in Xishan!"

Zhu Yingzhen replied irritably, "All you ever think about is your crosstalk. Is crosstalk more attractive than women?"

"I can live without women, but I can't live without crosstalk," Zhu Yinghuai said firmly.

"You!" Zhu Yingzhen was furious, but he was helpless against his younger brother. He could only say gently, "Follow me and study Zhang Shiyuan's schemes carefully. I can learn economics too, and I can make money too."

Zhu Yinghuai looked at him with disdain: "Brother, don't you have any self-awareness? You're good at wielding weapons, but how could you possibly understand the ways of commerce? You've only flipped through two pages of that copy of 'Discourses on Salt and Iron' at home!"

"Shut up!" Zhu Yingzhen waved his hand, then stuck his head out to look down. "Look, they're arguing again down there. These people still haven't figured things out. Hahaha."

Zhu Yinghuai looked at his elder brother with disdain, yet found the situation quite comical.

He immediately spread out a sheet of paper, dipped it in ink, and condensed what he had seen and heard in the teahouse into a few lines.

When he takes the stage one day, it will be another popular and well-received joke.

The lobby of the teahouse.

After the storyteller, Mr. Liu, finished speaking, his bias towards Zhang Yunxiu became blatantly obvious, immediately drawing dissatisfaction from the tea drinkers below.

Zhang Yunxiu's reputation in the capital is now polarized. Some believe he is a celestial being descended to save the Ming Dynasty from its dire straits, while others see him as a treacherous villain, even more despicable than Yan Song and his son.

At this moment, a scholar-looking man jumped out and pointed at Mr. Liu.

"Hey, Liu, did you take money from Zhang Shiyuan?"

The *Wanli Xinbao* only reports good news and hides bad news, showing considerable bias. It would be better to talk about the *Jingji Ribao* instead.

“Talk to the Gyeonggi Ilbo.”

Mr. Liu looked rather embarrassed: “These old customers all know that the Jingji Daily was created by a bunch of pedantic scholars. It’s so obscure and hard to understand. If I were to explain it, I’m afraid everyone would fall asleep.”

He was telling the truth. The Gyeonggi Ilbo was mainly aimed at the literati and scholars, and ordinary people might not necessarily understand it.

But the tea drinkers were not satisfied, and some argued against it.

“Mr. Liu, your statement is biased. Why do you only mention the Wanli Xinbao and not the Jingji Daily? Do you really think we are all fools? This kind of biased listening and believing is foolish.”

The more Mr. Liu refused to speak, the more indignant the crowd became.

"Why won't you speak? Is there something you can't say, something that would be detrimental to Zhang Shiyuan, so you're keeping quiet?"

"I don't care, we paid for it, so you have to read the Gyeonggi Daily!"

"You must listen to the Gyeonggi Daily!"

"You must listen to the Gyeonggi Daily!"

The teahouse immediately erupted into chaos, with some even threatening to go to other teahouses if Mr. Liu didn't speak.

Seeing that the tea drinkers were about to leave, Mr. Liu was anxious and could only sigh and say something.

"Never mind, never mind~"

After saying this, he did not take the copy of the "Gyeonggi Daily" that he had prepared in the drawer, but instead went downstairs to borrow a copy from a tea drinker.

Such behavior seems more natural, as it was a spur-of-the-moment decision.

He sat down on the stage again, his expression complex, and read briefly.

"Yesterday's headline was about a man at the Shuntian Prefecture government office who beat a drum to appeal for justice. He was suing the Xishan workshop for injuring his arm in an explosion, but they refused to pay him any compensation."

As he read on, Mr. Liu seemed less confident, and he explained very solemnly.

"Xishan Workshop treats its workers kindly and has no reason to be harsh or refuse to compensate them."

But the tea drinkers below were unwilling to believe it, and they all looked indignant.

"The Gyeonggi Ilbo is the only newspaper that tells the truth!"

"Zhang Shiyuan is utterly depraved!"

"Such a black-hearted person, in the past..."

However, someone immediately realized that something was wrong.

A worker in Xishan was injured in the arm by an explosion.
Doesn't that mean that an explosion did indeed occur in Xishan?

(End of this chapter)