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Xie Wenyuan dared to let the people of the Xie clan go and take advantage of the money-lending business at the Fangyin Bank, which naturally meant he had absolute confidence.
Because he had done this kind of thing before!
In his previous life, Qian Botu had caused him to lose both legs and ruined his career. How could he not harbor hatred in his heart?
So, after he found out about the Qian family’s connections and learned that their biggest backer was just a fifth-rank official in the capital, he took action.
He directly found a few high-born young masters who were reckless and in need of money, and had them borrow several tens of thousands of taels of silver from that little official’s money-lending business, only to later play tricks and refuse to pay it back.
What could that little official do?
After all, lending money at interest was already against the law, and he couldn’t afford to make a big fuss or provoke the high-born nobles. In the end, he could only painfully accept his loss and vent his anger on Qian Botu, who was related to him.
As for causing trouble for Xie Wenyuan, that was impossible.
By that time, his cousin had already become a trusted minister of the emperor, and since his cousin valued his ability to get things done, he naturally chose to protect him.
After all, lending money at interest was a wicked thing.
Thus, with the experience from his previous life, Xie Wenyuan handled this matter with ease.
After listening to his analysis, although the clan elders of the Xie family felt that this method was a bit crooked, they couldn’t help but feel tempted.
The reason was simple: the benefits were enticing!
Each family could at least get 100 taels! What does that mean? It means a way out of poverty and into wealth!
Seeing the excited expressions of the clan elders, Xie Wenyuan smiled and reminded them, “Elders, although the benefits are great, to make this happen, everyone must work together. If someone can’t withstand the pressure of debt collection and causes trouble halfway, things will get messy.”
“So, you must keep the people in the clan in check, and also carefully select the other villages to cooperate with. Don’t choose those that are too wealthy; the poorer the village, the more willing they are to take risks…”
“We need to think this through. Wulang, you go back first, and we’ll send you a reply tomorrow.”
Several clan elders clutched their pounding hearts and waved their hands.
Xie Wenyuan nodded and returned home. As long as the stakes were clear, there was no need to over-persuade.
On the way, his father, Xie Fu, anxiously asked, “Son, what if the clan leader and the others don’t agree?”
He didn’t think there was anything wrong with his son taking a crooked path.
Who cares if it’s a black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches mice, it’s a good cat! Besides, those who lend money at interest are indeed not good people; they are also doing a good deed by helping the poor!
“If the clan is afraid, then we’ll do it ourselves. After all, the Qian family wants my family to be ruined, so I certainly won’t let them live either.”
Xie Wenyuan smiled warmly, but his words sent chills down one’s spine.
In short, whoever dared to make him die, he wouldn’t let anyone live!
As expected, after a heated discussion among the Xie clan elders, they ultimately couldn’t resist the temptation of huge profits and chose to participate in Xie Wenyuan’s scheme.
Then they began persuading other nearby villages to join in; the more people involved, the safer it would be.
At first, the elders of the other villages reacted strongly against the idea of lending money at interest.
They thought to themselves that the old folks from the Xie family in Tongshu Village must be crazy or have water in their heads to want the whole clan to borrow money at interest.
That’s right; the elders didn’t mention Xie Wenyuan’s name but took the blame upon themselves.
Because once this matter spread, it would tarnish Xie Wenyuan’s reputation. They couldn’t let the clan reap all the benefits while they bore all the risks, right? The Xie family was still counting on Xie Wenyuan to become an official and uplift the family!
So, when the elders of the Xie family spoke to the surrounding village leaders, they only said it was their own idea.
This led to much ridicule from the village leaders.
But when they heard that if it went well, each family would have at least a hundred taels of income, everyone’s expressions changed instantly.
“How do we do this, old Xie family? You tell us!”
Let’s take the risk; they were almost out of money anyway. If they could really get so much silver, they would dare to participate in a rebellion, so why fear borrowing money at interest?
Thus, the matter was happily decided.
The Xie clan elders put on a show and, along with the village leaders from other villages, came to Xie Wenyuan to ask for his help in planning this matter. Xie Wenyuan hesitated for a long time before pretending to agree out of ‘helplessness.’
There was no way; things that come too easily are often not cherished.
If these people didn’t feel like it was a tough request and didn’t appreciate the Xie family, it would be a disaster if they just walked away halfway!
In ancient times, clan power was very strong.
Once the clan leader and elders decided on something, even if the clansmen were unwilling, they had no room to resist and could only choose to obey.
Moreover, this matter was profitable. After the plan was laid out step by step, the villagers from several villages acted very actively and worked together exceptionally well.
Anyone with even a hint of mischief was quickly dealt with.
No joke, with hundreds of taels at stake, who would dare to sabotage it? Anyone who did would become everyone’s mortal enemy!
To ensure that the villagers could borrow money smoothly, Xie Wenyuan even wrote a lot of scripts and dialogues for everyone to avoid alerting the money-lending business.
Thus, this wool-pulling operation went even more smoothly.
……
The Qian family had two successful branches; the eldest was the fifth-rank official who lent money at interest, and the second was Qian Botu’s father, who took the business route.
One side had power, and the other had money, supporting each other well.
In his previous life, Qian Botu dared to scheme against Xie Wenyuan, a scholar with a title, because he was bold enough to rely on this fifth-rank official as his uncle.
At the prosperous Qian Bank, Madam Qian came to check the accounts as usual.
Seeing that there seemed to be several times more customers in the shop than usual, she couldn’t help but call the shopkeeper to ask.
The shopkeeper, beaming with joy, eagerly took credit.
“Madam, the crowd is naturally because business is good! The previous manager was too lackadaisical; the business in the shop only followed the old rules and didn’t know how to attract customers.”
“Thanks to my efforts, in just these few days, the amount of money we’ve lent out at interest has already exceeded the total from the previous month! When we start collecting money next month, the bank’s profits will at least double!”
He was truly impressive and incredibly lucky.
Recently, the number of people in need of money had suddenly increased, making their bank’s business thrive.
“Really?”
Madam Qian was very pleased to hear this and didn’t think much of it.
She had kicked out the previous manager and replaced him with the current one simply because the former was too incompetent, and the bank’s income hadn’t met her expectations.
Now that the new manager was doing well, it only proved that her judgment was good.
Unfortunately, this new manager was just a fool!
He had only caught the master’s eye because of connections. In his previous life, he had taken over the bank for several years, and his ability to get things done hadn’t improved at all, which was why Xie Wenyuan had easily taken advantage of him.
Now that he had just taken office, in order to quickly achieve results and gain the master’s favor, he was naturally even less careful in his work.
Madam Qian was just an ordinary woman from the inner courtyard. Although she understood how to manage a shop and look at accounts, she didn’t have much talent and didn’t know the hardships of the world.
When the new manager boasted, she didn’t notice and only thought about making money happily next month.
Hearing that the principal for lending money was almost exhausted, driven by greed to earn more money, she immediately decided to go back and take out money to increase the investment.
“Why would we turn down business that comes to our door? You manage the bank well, and if you run out of silver, just tell me.”
Madam Qian was blinded by profit.
After returning, she not only took out all the cash from her home but also went to borrow a large sum of silver from the second Madam Qian, who was Qian Botu’s biological mother, and invested it all into the money-lending business.
She never considered that the common people might dare to borrow money and not pay it back, after all, they were officials!
Then,
With one investment after another, in less than half a month, they had lent out a total of 200,000 taels.
They had also drained the savings of both branches of the Qian family.
At this point, the bank manager finally realized something was wrong and started to panic.
But it was already too late.
By the time they realized something was off, over in the village, the Xie family had already blocked the roads leading into the village with stones.
The debt collectors from the bank were dumbfounded when they saw the blocked road and were furious.
“Xie family from Tongshu Village, Zhang family from Liushu Village, Zhou family from Xiahe Village… you stubborn villagers come out! It’s only right to pay back debts; if you dare to default, be careful we call the constables to arrest you!”
As a result, those who owed money were even more arrogant than the debt collectors.
The villagers stood with their hands on their hips, angrily cursing.
“Get lost, you black-hearted scoundrels! Don’t you dare step into our village!”
“If you have the guts, go call the constables! Do you really think we, the mud-legged folks, are easy to bully? Lending money at interest is against the law; if you dare to call the constables, we’ll go to the palace and beat the drums to seek justice.”
“If this blows up, let’s see whether we end up in jail or your master gets dismissed and investigated!”
They had pulled the wool with their own abilities, so why should they pay it back?
Scholar Xie had said that as long as they guarded the village and didn’t let the debt collectors in to cause trouble, and didn’t agree to pay back the money, the rest would be handled by him.
Everyone stood their ground, “Screw paying back the money; we won’t pay it back, we just won’t!”
The debt collectors: …
Damn it, they had really run into tough opponents this time!
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Lost Nexus[Translator]
Hi, I’m Lost Nexus or call me Nex! I translate web novels into English so more people can enjoy these amazing stories.