In the thirteenth year of the Tianbao era: I became Yang Guozhong's eldest son.

Yang Xuan looked at the two new abacuses and suddenly asked:

"Does Manager Hu usually prepare these things for the government?"

Hu Rong had a broad, round smile.

"Not at all, it's just that Yanjing County is remote. If the yamen is short of writing materials or fine paper for a while, someone from the West Market will have to make up for it."

"It's not just about stationery, is it?"

Yang Xuan spoke in a flat tone.

"You must be very familiar with things like weighing the salt in the back office, reselling the salt, and keeping records at the brokerage."

Hu Rong's eyes flashed.

This flash was extremely fast.

But Yang Xuan and Cui Shenyi still saw it together.

He immediately laughed again.

"Your Excellency is joking. I am merely a merchant; how could I dare to meddle in official business?"

"It's best if you don't dare to touch it."

Yang Xuan nodded as usual.

"Then you should make a list too."

"The salt merchants in the West Market have handled which well goods in the past six months, which porters, caravans, and brokers they have dealt with, and for whom they have transferred funds. Please deliver this information tomorrow."

Hu Rong's smile instantly turned bitter.

The new county magistrate seemed completely unfazed by people offering their services.

Whoever hands it to him, he will reach up and touch it.

And the touch wasn't just a physical sensation.

He understood better than Tian Chengyi that today's order could not be written down truthfully.

But it was precisely because he couldn't write the truth that he realized this time he was in real trouble.

The ritual was then sealed under the eaves.

The abacus didn't enter the house.

The paper package hadn't been opened.

Those inside and outside the yamen watched this scene, and their feelings were completely different from yesterday.

Yesterday, they thought the new county magistrate was just good at observing, taking notes, and putting on a show.

I only discovered this today.

He's not just good at arranging things.

They are truly dedicated to getting things done.

Two more batches of invitations arrived in the afternoon.

One group was from the Nanhe Porters' Company, who brought fodder and mule medicine, saying they were willing to make a few urgent trips for the yamen.

Another group was a small gift collected from several general stores in the south of the city, saying that the new official was willing to contribute some timber for building repairs in the county.

None of them were important figures.

But the more fragmented the gifts, the more it shows that there are more than just one or two families involved in the network of interests in Yanjing County.

Everyone wanted to see if the new magistrate would actually try to take action against them.

Cui Shen wrote down all these gift lists, invitations, and speeches, and the list kept growing.

They all seemed to be forcing smiles.

They're all just talking about connections.

As Yang Xuan observed, he gradually memorized all these people.

Yanjing County is like a piece of meat that has been cut with a dull knife for too long.

It's not something anyone can swallow whole.

Instead, it's done layer by layer, thread by thread, with each person taking a little bit.

By evening, the front yard had finally quieted down a bit.

Pei Zhao returned from outside, his clothes dusty. He only said one sentence after entering:

"After the gift-givers left, they all went to three different places."

Which three?

"The Tian family residence, the back market of the West Market, and a small cloth shop in the south of the city."

Han Jitong was still looking down at the old papers Zhao Suanpan had brought when he heard "Chengnan Xiaobuxing" (a shop in the south of the city), and his fingers suddenly stopped.

Which fabric store?

Pei Zhao said, "The storefront isn't big, the sign is old, and it's called Liu's."

Cui Shen raised his head.

"Liu's shop?"

Han Jitong's expression slowly changed.

"If it really is Liu Ji in the south of the city, then the manager should be called Liu Shenxing."

"I've seen this person a few times. He's not particularly conspicuous. What he does most often is buy, sell, sign contracts, and pay for other people's expenses. He seems like a friendly businessman who's involved in everything."

"But I've seen his handwriting on some fake contracts."

Yang Xuan paused for a moment.

Which fake contracts?

Han Jitong thought for a moment, then said in a low voice:

"Next to Qing'ao Well, there is a sublease agreement for a small secondary well."

"Officially, it does not belong to the Tian family, nor to Hu Rong, nor to the well-households."

"The name that was displayed at the time was Liu Shenxing's."

As soon as he said that, Cui Shen almost immediately gathered all the papers he had at hand.

Among Zhao Suanpan's miscellaneous expense slips was a note for Liu Qi, who was supposed to receive money for cleaning the ditch.

Among the gift lists sent in the afternoon, the fodder delivered by Nanhe Porters also indicated that it was first placed under the "Liu Ji" account.

What's even stranger is that the stack of Sichuan paper that Hu Rong brought also had a stamp that had been cut in half on the bottom piece of old wrapping paper.

柳。

Cui Shen flipped through the pages faster and faster, his heart pounding more and more violently.

"wrong."

"It's not as simple as just a small auxiliary well."

He also pulled out the old distribution book that Han Jitong had brought out earlier, and looked for it on the last page by the light.

Sure enough, I saw three words on a very inconspicuous marginal note.

"Be cautious in your actions."

The characters are written very small.

It looks like it was added on at the last minute.

If it weren't for the fact that today's daily orders, notes, porter's prepayments, and Zhao's old paper all bumped into this surname, no one would have noticed it first.

When Han Jitong saw those three words, a cold sweat broke out on his back.

"I initially thought he was just handling one or two contracts for someone else."

"Now it seems that's not the case."

Cui Shen put the papers together and lowered his voice.

"The Tian family bumped into the city gate."

"Hu Rong touches the backcourt."

"The porters and general stores all had sporadic dealings with Liu's."

"If these threads weren't loose, then Liu Shenxing wouldn't be a small shopkeeper."

"He's a brand."

"A sign hung at the front to cover the hands of the companies behind it."

Yang Xuan paused for a moment, then suddenly asked:

"Under whose name are the last few accounts and records of Qing'ao Well from the past three months now registered?"

Han Jitong didn't dare to think too much about it and immediately went to look at the supplementary page of the South Field register that Cao Wenbing had reluctantly brought over that afternoon.

The paper was wrinkled, and the edges were damp.

He turned the pages one by one, and when he reached the section for names of those who had been transferred to a new location, his hand suddenly froze.

Cui Shen also saw it.

That column was written very neatly.

It's not the Tian family.

It's not Hu Rong.

It wasn't from any particular household.

It is written as:

Liu Shenxing.

The hall was quiet for a moment.

Even Afu subconsciously held his breath.

He didn't understand the true significance of those three words.

But he could see through Cui Shen and Han Jitong's faces.

Each one is heavier than the last.

This shows that the situation is more serious than they originally thought.

The largest well bears no name of a powerful figure.

They did not use the name of the salt trade.

They didn't even display the wellhead's name.

It was registered under the name of the owner of a small cloth shop in the south of the city.

Pei Zhao didn't understand accounting.

But he knows how to play this game.

"His true face is not revealed."

"First, put up an inconspicuous shell on the outside."

Yang Xuan hummed in agreement.

"The Tian family came to the city gate first, hoping to close the gap they had opened this morning."

"Hu Rong came to deliver the abacus and paper because he wanted to see how far I had gone in my auditing."

"The porters and general stores passing on gifts are telling me that someone is watching every alleyway on the ground."

"But they ended up going to Liu's shop."

"This shows that Liu Shenxing wasn't just running errands for one of them."

"He's a hand that can be used by several companies."

Cui Shen slowly exhaled.

"In other words, the real entity that owes money to Qing'ao Well is not the powerful figures themselves."

"They are the white gloves kept by powerful figures."

"And this white glove is in an even better position than He Liu's."

"He Liu is just a laborer on that small path outside the yamen."

"Liu Shenxing is a middleman who can connect the Tian family, Hu Rong, porters, miscellaneous shops, and even the cashiers at the city gate."

Han Jitong finally voiced the chill in his heart.

No wonder.

"No wonder everyone has a say about Qing'ao Well over the years, but when you ask them, no one can admit to everything."

"So it wasn't that they couldn't tell the difference."

"From the very beginning, they placed their hopes on someone like Liu Shenxing."

"The well is still the same well."

"The meat is still being divided among the same people."

"But on the surface, if you really want to investigate, the first person you'll run into is just a moderately successful but shrewd shopkeeper named Liu."