Chapter 88: Drawing fire from the bottom of the cauldron
When the head of the Ren family heard that Huo Xi wanted to see him, he hurriedly put down what he was doing and went to the teahouse to keep the appointment.
Ren Yi did not dare to underestimate the man behind Guangfeng Water.
How old was she four years ago?
When everyone in the capital heard that his family's ship to the East had capsized, they all thought that his family was going to collapse. The trees fell and the hozens scattered. Former business partners also ran out of money. The Ren family was once in a position to sell off their property and business to pay off debts.
But this Huo Xi didn't want his property. Instead, he lent him one hundred thousand taels of silver to help him tide over the difficulties, and then provided him with all kinds of support.
The Ren family was able to come back from the dead and maintain its position as the leader of the silk and satin shop in the capital. Miss Huo was indispensable. She was the benefactor of Ren Yi and even the entire Ren family.
"Miss Huo."
Seeing him arriving, Huo Xi stood up and said, "Master Ren, thank you very much for coming." She blessed him.
"Miss Huo, you're so polite. It's my honor for Miss Huo to use me, Ren Yi. Ren will not forget Miss Huo's kindness."
"It's just a trivial matter, it doesn't matter. I invited you here today because I want you to do a small favor."
"Miss Huo, just speak, and my family will take care of things for Miss Huo."
"Thank you very much."
The Ren family is the leader of silk and satin shops in the capital. They made their fortune by growing mulberry and raising silkworms. They also opened many weaving and dyeing workshops, and opened dozens of silk and satin shops in the capital and cities along the canal. Their business also expanded through the Maritime Silk Road.
It gets bigger and bigger.
Now more than half of the silk and satin shops in the capital want to get their goods from him.
Huo Xi didn't want him to do anything else. He just wanted him to stop supplying goods to the Wu family and the shops under the Wu family's name.
Everyone knows things in the business world. It may seem like a big business, but in fact, many of them are assets that are not easy to sell, and there is not much cash.
When there are many assets, there are also many liabilities, and what comes in comes out. If a healthy business chain is maintained, business operations can be maintained. With a virtuous cycle, business can continue.
But as long as one link is broken, such as upstream suppliers stopping supply and downstream sales being blocked, it will be fatal.
There is no goods to sell and the house is empty, but the daily cost still has to be paid. The goods cannot be sold and are backlogged in the warehouse, the payment cannot be withdrawn, and good goods become inferior goods.
The final result is that they are all insolvent, to the point where they close their warehouses and sell their properties to pay off their debts.
Ren Yi breathed a sigh of relief, "Ever since Wu Youcai's accident happened to the Wu family, everyone has been waiting and watching. If other families had encountered such a thing, someone would have come to collect debts, but the Wu family is backed by the Duke's Palace, and there is a niece who is going to be sent to the East Palace.
I don’t dare to offend easily.”
The Ren family also wanted to stop selling their goods, but the other party was a government official and they were businessmen, so they didn't dare to offend, for fear of being penalized by the other party.
But the Ren family was afraid that the Wu family would collapse and they would not be able to get their money back.
"Don't worry, Miss Huo. I immediately ordered my family to stop the Wu family's goods. I heard that the Wu family plans to sell some properties these days to spend money to save him."
I don’t know if it’s really reached this point.
It stands to reason that the brother-in-law of a British father-in-law would be released after being locked up for a few days. Isn’t it true that these days, officials protect each other?
Huo Xi smiled and said, "If his family wants to sell their property, if there is anything he likes, the head of the family can buy it."
Uh...has it really come to this? Ren Yi was a little surprised.
Does Miss Huo have any inside information? "There is someone in his family. The relationship is very strong." I'm afraid it won't be easy to fall.
"Who dares to take advantage of the emperor's taboo?" Huo Xi said calmly.
"Oh?" Ren Yi's eyes flashed.
It seemed that Miss Huo really knew something about the inside story. She didn't ask any more questions and just said: "Okay, then Ren understands. Miss Huo, just don't worry."
Miss Huo didn't ask him for anything else. Instead, she reminded him not to continue supplying goods to the Wu family. If the Wu family went bankrupt, he wouldn't be able to get his money back.
He also had to thank Miss Huo for the reminder.
Soon, no one was supplying goods to the shops under the Wu family's name. And the Wu family's largest and most profitable shop, Wu's Shop, was immediately deserted.
How can small traders and hawkers dare to come to their homes if they still have customers?
Aren't you afraid that what he sells is stolen goods? If you spend money to buy it back and the government takes it back, wouldn't you lose your wife and lose your army?
Besides, there is more than just the Wu family in Beijing.
The shop had no business, and there was still a large amount of inventory in the warehouse. Wu's father and Wu's mother didn't know much about business, so they wanted to get the inventory out of the warehouse so that they could recover some money.
Langguang Pavilion teamed up with Longxing Hao and purchased all the inventory in the warehouse of Wu Family Fan Co., Ltd. at cabbage prices.
Even if it’s not cheap, who would dare to get involved with the Wu family except Langguang Pavilion?
It's better to sell it for a cabbage price than to rot in the warehouse.
After selling the goods and the shop, Wu Youcai's parents kept wailing at the Duke's Mansion every day while stuffing money everywhere.
But except for Wu's help, no one from the Duke's office came forward to see them.
The Wu family also knew that they could not put all their hopes in the Duke's Mansion, so they took a large amount of money and started to make connections.
The Prince's Mansion was mostly full.
But a lot of money was spent, and Wu Youcai was still in jail. It was difficult for Wu's father and Wu's mother to see their son in prison. Several of Wu Youcai's concubines at home took away the money and ran away.
Neither Father Wu nor Mother Wu cared about it.
Now, none of the Wu family's shops can operate normally.
Even the shop in Wu's hands was deserted.
The most profitable Jinxiu Silk and Satin Store had no one supplying goods to the store. Few people came to buy the remaining goods in the store even though they were discounted. There was no stock in the warehouse, and everyone from the shopkeeper to the clerk looked at the empty shop in a daze.
Mrs. Wu wanted to sell it for money, but then she realized that the deed was not in her hand.
It was Li Xinrou's dowry shop. The wife only allowed her to run it, but she didn't give her the deed.
Wu didn't care anymore, stopped the loss in time, dismissed all the shopkeepers and accounting clerks, sold the goods at a cheap price, and then closed the business directly.
Huo Xi looked at the locked shop with mixed emotions.
This was her mother's shop. When she was a child, she often came to the shop with her mother to choose materials to make clothes. She watched the shop assistants selling goods with great interest, while her mother read the account books in the backyard.
Everything is so beautiful.
But now the shop is closed.
Although it is a pity, it is better than Wu's marriage to Zhang Biyao. Once she enters the prince's palace, she may not be able to get it back. It doesn't matter if she goes out of business like this, she can still get it back for Nian'er in the future.
Mrs. Wu took over some property and gave her mother's family one bank check after another.
The Wu family sent banknotes out again and again, and the shops and houses were sold out, but they still could not see Wu Youcai in prison.
No one can tell what the verdict will be.
After that, Wu's father and Wu's mother, who were like ants on a hot pot, listened in a daze to someone from the Prince's Mansion. The superiors had said that if the family property could be used to pay off the crime, Wu Youcai's crime might be absolved.
When Wu's father and Wu's mother heard about it, they immediately sold the last village and shop, and even sent all the treasures collected in the warehouse over the years to the pawn shop.
A few years ago, before their daughter became the Duke's wife, they didn't even have a house in the capital. In just a few years, hadn't they purchased such a large property?
As long as there are people around, in the future, relying on my daughter and niece, won’t there still be people sending money and goods to my home?
Money and jewelry store Zhuangzi, why don’t these things still come back to his home?
For sale! I just want to rescue Youcai.
The Wu family's property was completely sold, leaving only the house where their family lives today.
By the time Wu found out, her parents had quickly sold off all the family property at a low price. She had no chance to stop them.
Huo Xi, on the other hand, looked at several boxes of things in the room, including jade ornaments, coral ornaments, ivory rhinoceros horns, jewelry, calligraphy and paintings, and various precious materials...
Hey, the Wu family has made a lot of money over the years.