Chapter 57: The Fortunate Qin Wenyuan

Qin Wenyuan was indeed very surprised, but the thought that Wu Ning might have ulterior motives only flashed briefly through his mind. (Had the old man pondered a little longer, he might have uncovered the truth.) The reason it was only a fleeting suspicion was that, given the current situation, anyone daring to show goodwill toward the Qin family was already a rare and precious thing for Qin Wenyuan. It was precisely this goodwill from Wu Ning that made Qin Wenyuan unable to accept the prescription.

He carefully folded the secret formula, holding it with both hands as he returned it to Wu Ning.

“Young sir, your generosity is deeply appreciated, but this formula no longer holds any meaning for me. I must ask you to take it back.”

“Oh?” Wu Ning furrowed his brow, thinking this wasn't at all typical of Old Qin’s character.

“Why would you say that, sir? How could it be meaningless? Have you encountered some trouble?”

Qin Wenyuan gave a bitter smile. Indeed, he had come upon hard times, but it hardly seemed the place to discuss them with a mountain boy.

“There’s no need for you to worry yourself over my troubles.”

Wu Ning rolled his eyes. If it weren’t for the sake of my future wife, do you think I’d bother with your affairs?

He thought this, but naturally said nothing of the sort. Instead, he spoke gently, “It seems, sir, you truly are in difficulty. Why not let me hear you out? Given my family’s connections, perhaps I might be of some help.”

A dry chuckle escaped Qin Wenyuan. Rather than feeling grateful, he seemed only more dejected.

“To tell you the truth, the trouble the Qin family faces now is too great—even Commander Wu would be powerless. There’s no sense dragging you into it.”

The more the old man refused, the more Wu Ning’s curiosity grew. “But what harm could there be in telling me?”

“Very well,” Qin Wenyuan sighed deeply. Perhaps the burden of recent disasters had weighed on his heart for too long and needed to be shared with someone. More importantly, from the very first moment he met Wu Ning, he had never taken him for an ordinary youth.

“The Qin family has... gotten itself into grave trouble.”

———

This is a sorrowful tale.

Qin Wenyuan, completely letting his guard down, no longer stood on ceremony. He sat on the steps at the main entrance of the Qin family estate, and under the moonlight began recounting to Wu Ning the misfortunes that had befallen the Qins over the past two months.

As Wu Ning listened, he finally understood just how ill-fated the Qin family had been lately. Not only had their restaurant’s chef been poached, but their other businesses were also plagued by misfortune.

To put it simply, every autumn and winter should have been the Qins’ most profitable seasons, but this year, almost all their assets had been lost.

The reason the Qin family held such wealth in Fangzhou was, besides owning the largest restaurant, their rice shops and cloth stores were also lucrative ventures.

It all stemmed from Qin Wenyuan’s connection to the Prince of Luling’s household.

One must know, the entire Luling Prince’s manor, from officials and servants to guards and soldiers, numbered nearly a thousand souls!

All the rice and grain, all the cloth and linen required by the prince’s household were purchased from the Qin family’s rice and cloth shops. And with this year’s arrival of the capital’s envoys, the prince’s household took charge of arranging for all the accompanying attendants and guards, doubling the demand for supplies.

At summer’s end, Qin Wenyuan received notice from the manor, instructing him to stock up on rice and extra cloth for the coming autumn.

Naturally, Qin Wenyuan was delighted. As soon as autumn came, he bought up large quantities of rice and sourced fine cloth from Xiangyang.

Yet, at precisely this moment, the Qin family’s liquid funds ran dry. Wu Ning had extorted a large sum from him, and his beloved daughter spent money with no restraint. Moreover, the manor’s needs were several times greater than in years past, and so, despite being the richest man in Fangzhou, Qin Wenyuan found himself without enough cash on hand.

Left with no choice, Qin Wenyuan turned to the temples for a loan. Using their restaurant, three rice shops, and cloth store as collateral, he borrowed three thousand strings of cash from the Guanyin Temple in the eastern part of town, with a term of one month.

Qin Wenyuan hadn’t thought much of it; once the goods were delivered to the manor, he could turn things around immediately. Even if the temple’s interest was high, it seemed a small price for such a large transaction.

But what he never expected was that, just as he had stockpiled rice and cloth, the Prince of Luling’s household went back on their word. They canceled the deal with Qin Wenyuan and gave the order to another merchant.

In an instant, Qin Wenyuan was trapped. A vast stock of rice and cloth sat unsold, and the deadline for repayment to Guanyin Temple loomed. If things went poorly, everything he had built over half a lifetime would be gone.

———

After hearing this, Wu Ning realized three things:

First, it wasn’t just the matter of the chef that had caused Old Qin grief—the five hundred strings of cash he’d taken had also contributed to his woes.

Second, Qin Miaoniang was truly a spendthrift—he’d have to think carefully about whether he could afford to keep her.

Third, Qin Wenyuan had most likely fallen into someone’s trap.

In modern terms, this was a crude business scam.

“Sir, you were far too careless. With such a large order from the Prince of Luling, why didn’t you have a contract signed in advance?”

Qin Wenyuan chuckled bitterly. “Young man, you must be joking. Who would dare demand a purchase contract from the prince’s household?”

“And besides, in previous years, the manor always kept its word. No one expected them to back out at the last moment.”

Wu Ning nodded; he could understand that. After all, this was the prince’s household—one didn’t need Li Xian himself to intervene; even a steward outranked someone like Qin Wenyuan.

“So, it seems likely you were set up by the Prince of Luling’s manor in collusion with Guanyin Temple.”

“‘Seems likely’?” Qin Wenyuan sighed mournfully. “There’s no doubt about it. And Guanyin Temple was only a front—the three-thousand-string loan simply passed through their hands.”

“I only recently discovered that Guanyin Temple had already transferred the loan note to Manager Wang of the Cui Xin Brothel.”

He looked at Wu Ning. “Do you know Manager Wang’s other identity?”

Wu Ning frowned. “What is it?”

“He is the nephew of Wang Hongyi, the chief steward of the Prince of Luling’s household.”

Wu Ning was struck speechless. So, that explained everything. In that case, the trap was not so crude after all.

Put simply, Wang Hongyi had both the power and the authority to place orders. If he wanted to ruin Qin Wenyuan, all it took was a single word.

Even if Qin Wenyuan realized there was risk, he would have walked into the trap regardless—because it was the prince’s household, and he dared not refuse.

As for why Qin Wenyuan went to Guanyin Temple for the loan, and why the temple had so obligingly transferred the note to Manager Wang—this was hardly surprising. It was both Qin Wenyuan’s and the temple’s only choice.

There was no other pawnshop in all of Fangzhou that could lend three thousand strings of cash—only the temples had such resources.

Contrary to popular belief, even in ancient times, loans were not only sought from landlords or pawnshops. Since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, temples had been the largest moneylenders in China.

In this era, not only did ordinary people devote all their offerings to Buddha, even rulers funneled tax revenues into temples.

What did the monks do with all that money? They could commission golden Buddhas every day and still not spend it all. They couldn’t eat meat or indulge in worldly pleasures, so they lent the money out.

The more they lent, the more they earned. Thus, temples were the prototype of ancient Chinese finance, and the wealthiest people were the monks.

But, as the saying goes, the Buddha is in heaven, and the monks live in the mortal world. Even monks could not escape the clutches of worldly power. If they wished to remain wealthy, they had to obey those in authority. In the face of a behemoth like the Prince of Luling’s household, even the monks would bow their heads.

“So, you really have no way out this time, sir?”

It was a dead end—no one could save him.

Unless...

Unless the Wu Ning sitting before Qin Wenyuan... was a professional.

Wu Ning glanced at Qin Wenyuan, a strange smile appearing in the darkness.

He thought to himself, “Old father-in-law, luck is truly on your side. To think you’d encounter someone like me—a master at falsifying accounts...”