Zhou Huanjun fell, Wu Meiniang was taken away, and Old Man Wu was so anxious that he fell ill in bed. Wu Chun dragged his not yet good body to preside over the overall situation.

Without the backing of Zhou Huanjun, the Wu family no longer has the original scenery, and the business of each shop has plummeted, especially in Tongchun Building.

Most of the past guests of Tongchun Building were squires in the same town who came to support the Wu family because of the official authority of Zhou Huanjun and Huang Weihai. Now that Zhou and Huang have fallen, these people can't wait to stay away from the Wu family, for fear that they will get close to the Wu family and be affected by the Wu family.

Without these regular customers, Tongchun Lou did not have an advantage in terms of dishes, taste and price, and suddenly fell from the full house of guests and friends to empty.

Wu Chun looked at the miserable entry and angrily slammed the teacup on the table.

Tongchun Lou can't make ends meet, and the guys in charge of the shopkeeper are idle every day, sitting at the door eating tea and chatting. And Baiwei Building, which used to be cold business, began to prosper. There are constant guests every day, and there are people who can't wait for the disappointed people to return.

Wei Huai'an and Su Mulou sat upstairs in the private room, tasting a few newly developed dishes by Chef Huang, while looking at Tongchun Lou, which had no guests at the table opposite, chatting.

"I've heard that several arch bridges on Square Street and Quanshui Street are in disrepair and are in danger of collapsing. During Huang Weihai's reign, the people proposed several times, and Huang Weihai used the excuse that the yamen was poor and could not afford to pay this fee, and asked the people to pay their own money. Those squires colluded with the bureaucrats and gave out a handful of silver, but when it was really to be used, none of them were willing to give out the money, and in the end the matter was over. ”

Wu Meiniang was ruthless to Su Muling several times, and this account could not be settled because Wu Meiniang was arrested. Su Muling has nothing to do these days, and began to figure out how to let the Wu family repay the "debt" owed by Wu Meiniang.

Wei Huai'an glanced at her meaningfully, and echoed in understanding: "I have been to see these bridges, and the bearings have been deformed and displaced. These bridges are in the downtown area, and people come and go every day, and I am afraid that something will really happen after a long time. ”

"Although the Wu family's business is not as good as before, they have been rampant here for so many years after all. It is time to do something good for the people to atone for their sins. Su Muling smiled evilly.

Wei Huai'an raised his wine glass and smiled at her: "Don't worry, the Wu family will do it." ”

The next day, the newly appointed county magistrate Tong received a letter and 10,000 taels of silver notes on his bookcase.

The letter is written by Master Wu, and it says that although the Wu family is not a native, it has been blessed by Tiangu Wai Town for so many years to live and work here. The Wu family had nothing to repay, so they gave 10,000 taels of silver tickets to repair the damaged bridge, and if it was not enough, they would add more.

Although Lord Tong is a new appointee, other families don't know, but how can the Wu family not know the reason.

The eldest lady of the Wu family, the former prefect's wife, was brought back to the capital to become an official slave because she was implicated by her husband, and she didn't know whether she was alive or dead. This Wu Chun donated his money so generously to do things for the people, Lord Tong couldn't figure it out.

But when the money arrived, Lord Tong was still overjoyed, he was only in office for a month, and he was able to do something practical for the people, and he wanted to be promoted in the future, this is his political achievement.

As soon as Lord Tong was happy, he ordered someone to make a plaque and personally bring someone to Wu's house.

The Wu family was flattered when they saw Lord Tong from Zhixian County coming in person, and welcomed people in to serve tea, so they dared to ask what was going on.

Master Tong got up and said politely to Master Wu: "Master Wu donated 10,000 taels of silver to repair the bridge for the people of Tiangu Town. Come! ”

Lord Tong greeted him, and the two officials came in with a plaque. Lord Tong personally uncovered the red cloth on the plaque, revealing the big characters inside: Huai Jin holds Yu.

Master Wu and Wu Chun were confused about the arrival of Lord Tong, and when they heard that the Wu family had donated silver for the benefit of the people, they were even more confused by the big eyes and the small eyes.

Seeing that Lord Tong took out the plaque, Master Wu cautiously stepped forward and asked, "Is there a mistake in your lordship?" Our Wu family...... Didn't donate money to repair the bridge? ”

Master Tong was still immersed in emotion, and when he heard Master Wu say this, he thought that he wanted to do good deeds without publicity, and admired him even more.

"Master Wu's intentions, this official understands. But the Wu family donated money to repair the bridge and couldn't hide it, the official not only wanted the people of the town to know that the Wu family had contributed to the town, but also decided to engrave the name of the Wu family on every bridge, so that everyone who crossed the bridge could be grateful to the Wu family......"

Lord Tong is making a generous statement here, and Wu Chun can't stand it.

"My lord, you wait, my lord must be mistaken, it's not that we do good deeds without leaving a name, our Wu family has indeed not donated silver to adults."

No? And what is the silver...... Master Tong took out the letter sent with the silver ticket and handed it to Master Wu: "This is from your Wu family." ”

Master Wu took the letter and read it again, his eyes were shocked.

Wu Chun saw it, took the letter and read it, the content of the letter was the same as what Master Tong said, mainly this word......

"Daddy, you wrote that?" Wu Chun leaned into Master Wu's ear and whispered.

Master Wu shook his head: "How could I do such a thing." ”

Wu Chun was surprised: "But this word ......"

Master Wu looked at it carefully, and a bead of sweat appeared on his head.

He got up and waved in front of Lord Tong again: "My lord, our Wu family has indeed not donated silver, I don't know who is joking with adults, don't be serious." ”

Don't take it seriously? Master Tong took out the silver ticket from his arms and slapped it on the table.

"And this silver ticket is also a joke?"

Master Wu and Wu Chunleng. Got a silver ticket? What kind of person is this, doing such a great deed to keep his name in the Wu family. Thinking about how their family has offended people over the years, I can't think of anyone who would do such a thing for his Wu family.

But since it is a good thing, Lord Tong is also happy, and Master Wu is happy to bear this good name, I saw that his eyebrows turned, and his face was full of smiles:

"My lord, you also know that our family has just suffered something, and you really don't want to make too much publicity, since this matter is so important to adults, then ...... According to what the adults thought, the old man Xie left a good name for the Wu family. ”

Lord Tong's face became sunny again, and he said a few polite words to the Wu family's father and son, and then left happily.

Lord Tong's visit made the Wu family father and son completely confused.

After sending Master Tong back to the room, Master Wu woke up: "Chun'er, quickly, close the door." ”

Wu Chun instantly understood what Master Wu meant, asked his subordinates to retreat, closed the door by himself, and followed Master Wu to the inner study.

I saw Master Wu trembling with both hands and taking out a key from his body, opening a door in the bookshelf, and taking out a mahogany box from inside. took out a key from his body to open the box, and the moment the box was opened, Master Wu stood on the side, as if he had been frozen.

Wu Chun felt that something was not right, so he hurriedly stepped forward to check, only to see that the box was empty.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Master Wu was asked by Wu Chun like this, and sat on the ground as if he had been evacuated.

"It's over, it's over, my silver...... My silver is gone......"

Master Wu stared at him and fainted.

The 10,000 taels of silver that Master Wu put in the box were stolen, and Wu Chun wanted to report the case. Master Wu, who had already woken up, grabbed him.

Mr. Tong has a silver ticket in his hand and a letter written by him "himself", and there is no trace of prying on the box.

"Forget it, let's think of our Wu family accumulating virtue and doing good deeds for the people."

"That's 10,000 taels, Dad?" Wu Chun was unwilling.

"Chun'er, someone wants to go against our Wu family, let's make people calculate." Master Wu clutched his chest and tried to pant hard.

"Who is so bold?" Wu Chun was furious.

"Hey, over the years, we have relied on your brother-in-law's power to bully our peers. Now our Wu family is not as good as before, and there is always the courage to take advantage of the danger of others to bite us. ”

"Could it be the surname Wei from Baiweilou?"

Wu Chun suddenly remembered that Zhou Huanjun had warned him that the surname Wei was not an ordinary person, and no one paid attention to him at that time, but now thinking about Zhou Huanjun's words, Wei Huaian was very suspicious.

"Whoever it is, let's put up with it for now." Old Man Wu closed his eyes.

Wu Chun also knew that this was strange, but it could only be like this. It is unlikely that the silver will come back, and if you lose your good reputation of donating silver to build a bridge, it will not only offend the newly appointed county magistrate, but also make a bamboo basket to draw water.

The Wu family's "good deed" shocked the people of Tiangu Town. The Wu family originally thought that the Wu family's move would win the people's minds and would be beneficial to their family's business. But the people didn't say that the Wu family was good, and they hated them behind their backs for not knowing how much money they had earned by virtue of their power, and now they easily took out 10,000 taels, which shows that the Wu family's property is unfathomable.

Wu Chun hated it, but no matter how much he hated, there was no way, the silver was gone, and the reputation was not earned. After this toss, the Wu family's working capital has also become a problem.

In the past few years, with the help of Zhou Huanjun's momentum, the Wu family has expanded a lot of business, bought a lot of fertile land, and has the momentum of competing for the richest businessman in ancient times.

With more business comes more natural expenses. On weekdays, the income of only one family in the same spring building can support the turnover of all shops. But now Tongchun Lou has no business, he can't make ends meet, and the 10,000 taels of working capital is gone, and the Wu family father and son are beginning to fall into a crisis.

But it didn't end there. A few days later, Cai Wang, who was in charge of the Wu family's Zhuangzi, came to see Wu Chun and said that a businessman had come to collect grain, and the price was 10% more than that of other families.

Wu Chun, who was worried about the silver, suddenly stretched his eyebrows, and asked someone to prepare a carriage to go to Zhuangzi to meet the buyer in person.

When he arrived at Zhuangzi, Wu Chun rested for a while, and the steward invited someone to come. Wu Chun looked at the other party carefully, gave up his seat, and then spoke:

"Sir, where did you come from?"

"Contemptible Zhang Qing, Hebei people. I heard that Wu Gongzi's family has thousands of acres of fertile land, and the yield is very good, so I came to buy it. ”

Wu Chun saw that he was dark-skinned and stout, like a businessman running outside, and the slightest vigilance in his heart couldn't help but be removed.

"What Mr. said is that the people in our Wu family's fertile fields are very recognized, and people rush to buy them every year. I wonder how much Mr. Zhang can want? ”

"All."

All? Wu Chun was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped.