Dad, open the door. I'll bring your mistress back for you.

"Uncle, is there anything wrong with cousin Yun Yan recently?"

Yun Zian raised his eyebrows and looked at Shen Chuning in confusion: "Why do you ask this suddenly?"

Shen Chuning said with a worried look on her face: "Uncle, do you still remember Shen Jingwan from the third branch of the Shen family?"

Yun Zian frowned as he recalled, "Hmm... Is that the one who was kicked out of the Yun Family Restaurant earlier?"

Shen Chuning nodded and said in a heavy tone, "That's it. The maid beside her said that she recently received a sum of money, which should have been sent from the south. I'm afraid it was from cousin Yun Yan. Shen Jingwan has no bottom line in her actions. I'm afraid that if she doesn't deal with it in time, she will bring trouble to the Yun family."

Hearing this, Yun Zian was shocked, and Yun Yan's abnormal behavior last month suddenly emerged in his mind.

He said to Shen Chuning with a serious expression, "Yun Yan wanted to withdraw money from the Yun family's general account last month."

Upon hearing this, Shen Chuning immediately became nervous and asked anxiously, "Cousin Yun Yan took the money away?"

Yun Zian shook his head and sighed, "That's not the case. I've already taken a large portion of the money on the books to buy food. If he takes the amount he wants, the remaining money will only be enough to keep the various industries running smoothly."

Shen Chuning breathed a sigh of relief, but still asked anxiously, "What happened next?"

"Later, the chief steward came to ask me whether I would allow him to withdraw the money. I asked him what he wanted so much money for, but he hesitated and couldn't answer, only saying that it was useful. So I didn't let the chief steward give him the money." After saying that, Yun Zian sighed helplessly.

"If the silver in Shen Jingwan's hand was really provided by Yun Yan, then it should be some of his own private savings. Don't worry, if something really happens, the Yun family will not be involved." Yun Zian explained to Shen Chuning in detail.

Shen Chuning felt a little relieved after hearing this, but she was still a little worried. "That's great. But the situation is still a little uncertain. I'll have someone investigate it carefully when I get back. Please also pay more attention to Cousin Yun Yan's situation."

……

Mr. Yun’s birthday banquet will last for ten days. People will come to pay their respects on the first three days and the last six days, and the middle day will be the main day.

Mo Huaiqian, the head of the Mo family who has a close friendship with Master Yun, put aside his own business early and came to Jinling City to attend this banquet.

On the morning of the second day after the birthday banquet, the chief steward of the Mo family sent someone to report that illegal salt had been leaked from the Tonghai Salt Field of the Mo family and had been investigated and dealt with by officials under the salt administration. Even the cooks had fled in large numbers.

Mo Huaiqian was extremely anxious when he heard this, and suddenly felt that half of his body was unable to move.

Mr. Mo went to Japan to learn salt-making technology and cannot return in the short term. Now that Mo Huaiqian has become like this, the Mo family has fallen into an unprecedented predicament.

Master Yun looked at his eldest son's anxious expression and sighed softly in his heart: "Zi'an, you should go to the Tonghai Salt Field."

Yun Zi'an was horrified upon hearing this and quickly shook his head, saying, "Dad, your birthday party is a big deal. There are so many guests at home, and the second son hasn't come back yet. Now I'm the only adult male at home. How can a son leave at this time? How about sending Yun Yan to take a look first? I'll rush over once things at home are done."

Master Yun frowned and said in a deep voice, "Things happen in a hurry. Now something has happened at the Mo family salt farm. If we don't deal with it in time, I'm afraid there will be even greater trouble."

Yun Zian was still hesitating.

Master Yun patted Yun Zian on the shoulder and said earnestly, "You can ask Qinghe to entertain the officials, and let Jiantang and Yunyan from the second family entertain the remaining guests together. It won't be considered neglectful."

Yun Zian knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "I, the unfilial son, thank you, father."

Just as Yun Zian was about to get up, Shen Chuning beside him suddenly asked, "Uncle, can I go?"

Yun Zian was stunned for a moment, remembering that his sister once said that his niece had some luck. He also remembered that Shen Chuning had a keen insight into the trend of grain prices. Perhaps it would be useful to bring her along for this matter.

So he nodded and agreed, "I'll go on horseback first, and you can ask your fifth brother to take you here in a carriage."

……

It took Shen Chuning and Shen Chengwu almost two days to reach the Tonghai Salt Field.

I saw a long river channel dug on the seashore, diverting the sea water inland.

Along both sides of the river, there are brine ponds that are two meters square.

Some of these brine ponds have just been filled with seawater, giving them a deep blue color; others have been half-dried by the sun, with the grayish-white brine absorbed by the wood ash at the bottom of the pond, as if covered by a layer of gauze.

Next to the brine pond, dozens of large iron pots were set up. At this moment, only five or six of them had blazing fires burning underneath, and the brine in the pots was being stirred constantly with flat iron shovels.

"Uncle, what's going on now?" Shen Chuning asked Yun Zian who was standing beside her.

Yun Zian sighed, "I've already taken care of the salt officials, so the matter of smuggling salt has been resolved. However, most of the cooks have been away, and if the brine isn't fried into fine salt and dried in time, the brine in these brine ponds will be unusable."

He shook his head, looking helplessly at the burning iron pots. "I've already transferred people from the Yun family. They should be here this afternoon. But this is only a temporary solution. If the cooks are unwilling to come back, we won't be able to maintain the normal operation of the salt field in the long term."

Shen Chuning asked, "How could the trafficking of illegal salt occur? Shouldn't it be strictly regulated?" She was deeply puzzled by this and felt that the salt field should have strict supervision measures.

Steward Mo, standing nearby, smiled wryly and replied, "Our master saw how hard these cooks worked. Some of them worked in the salt fields, yet couldn't even afford salt at home. So he tacitly allowed them to take small amounts of brine and cook it in small pots at home for their own use. Who knew they were secretly selling the salt they made?"

Shen Chuning frowned, listening to his words with some confusion.

She felt that if the cooks could not afford salt because of low wages, the problem could be solved by increasing their wages. Why should they take the brine home?

When she raised this question, Butler Mo explained, "Our Mo Family Salt Works already pay the highest wages among all the salt works in the area. We've even been harassed by other salt works because of our high wages. The man who smuggled salt was arrested right after he started selling it. Master Yun also sent people to search the homes of other salt workers yesterday, and no large amounts of salt were found."

"As soon as we started selling illegal salt, the salt administration officials came to arrest us. I suspect someone is deliberately setting up a trap to frame the Mo family. Have you asked the salt administration officials?" Shen Chengwu analyzed.

"The Mo family has never been involved in the salt business before, so all relationships need to be managed from scratch. The salt envoys in this area are very stubborn and arrogant. I heard that there is a young lady in the family who is the favorite concubine of the eldest prince. I wonder if we can establish some connections through the capital." said Butler Mo.

"The relatives of the eldest prince's favorite concubine are extremely arrogant. The young lady of the Mo family is still the empress of the palace. Why should she be afraid of him?"