Shipin Dalizheng

Du Zhong was in charge of running these shops. He was also troubled by the low customer flow. He scratched his head and paced around the doorway. Finally, he saw a chubby boy passing by the shop on the back of a nanny. He immediately stopped him and said, "Young master, we're giving out free candy in our shop. Come and line up here. If you can recite the nursery rhyme on this sign, you'll get a little tiger candy."

The little fat boy liked sweets and immediately shouted to the nanny, "Nanny, I want some candy, I want some candy, buy me some quickly."

Unexpectedly, the old nanny coaxed him, "Young Master, you have lost your teeth, and Madam won't let you eat candy."

The little fat boy refused to obey, and the nanny couldn't carry him anymore, so she had to put him down. The little fat boy went to the counter designated by Du Zhong and said, "Give me the little tiger candy."

Du Ji reminded him, "Young Master, you have to recite the nursery rhyme to get candy. There are not many spots left today. There are only... nine left."

The little fat boy lost his temper. "I said we'd give you free candy, but why do you have to carry something? If I could carry something, my dad wouldn't spank me. I don't care. Give it to me now, or my dad will put you in jail."

Du Zhong let out a chuckle and couldn't help but roll up his sleeves. "Excuse me, who is your father?"

The little fat boy was furious, "My father is the Minister of Personnel."

Du Zhong held back, silently lowered his sleeves, and forced a stiff smile. "Since it's Young Master Wen, then it's no problem. Here, this is our store's special twelve zodiac tiger candy. Take it, young master."

The little fat boy looked at the twelve zodiac animals displayed on the counter. Every one of them was very beautiful and he wanted it very much. He pointed to a row of them and said, "Give me one of each."

Du Zhong curled his lips and said, "Young Master Wen, you can only give one to each person."

This was still given in violation of regulations.

The little fat man lost his temper again, "You just said you could give me nine more today. Since you're giving them away anyway, why can't you give them all to me? If someone comes later, you can just say there are no more."

It made so much sense that Du Zhong couldn't refute it.

He said humbly, "That's only nine."

The little fat boy rolled his eyes and said, "Then give me three for tomorrow, isn't that enough?"

Seeing that more and more people were gathering at the door, Du Zhong was afraid that others would mistakenly think that he was bullying a child, and he was even more afraid that the servants in the Minister of Personnel's Mansion would misunderstand him, so he had to put on a smile and admit defeat, and gave the little fat boy twelve candies.

He thought the master and servant were satisfied and ready to leave, but he saw the nanny glaring at him as if he was the murderer who knocked out her young master's teeth.

That would have been fine, but the nanny opened her mouth and spat in his face, "Who are you looking down on? Is my family short of a few copper coins? Who wants your free stuff? I'll give you whatever it costs."

Du Zhong also got angry. At worst, he was still the Duke of Du's mansion, no worse than the Minister of Personnel.

"Sister-in-law, this candy is usually sold at ten coins each in our store, so twelve pieces will cost a total of one hundred and two coins."

The nanny took out a dime from her bosom and threw it to Du Zhong, "No need to change. If my young master has a toothache, Madam will definitely go to the Duke's Mansion to talk about it."

The master and servant left, and Du Zhong cried out that he was unlucky. He still had two coins in his hand, so he didn't lose anything, but it seemed that things were not perfect.

An uncontrollable burst of laughter reached his ears from behind the crowd. Du Zhong looked over and saw Rong Tang. He was pleasantly surprised. "Prince Rong, I have wanted to ask you for advice for a long time. Come in and tell me. Tea is served, sir."

Rong Tang evaded the question, "I can't do that right now. I have to go to the Xie residence for a banquet. We'll talk more about it when I come back."

As he was speaking, a large carriage came over and a young man in blue jumped out. "Uncle Du Zhong, are the drinks ready? I'll take them over."

Upon hearing this, Du Zhong quickly asked the waiter to load the prepared drinks onto the carriage, and then introduced the two people, "Master, this is Rong Shizi, Rong Shizi, this is our Duke's eldest grandson, Du Shaokang."

Du Shaokang looks to be sixteen or seventeen years old, and he does not have the arrogance of other noble children. If nothing unexpected happens, he will be the heir to the Duke's Mansion in a few years.

The two men sized each other up. Perhaps because of the business interests between the two families, Du Shaokang had also heard his uncle and Du Zhong mention this Rong Shizi. He did not have the prejudice against Rong Tang that other people in Shangjing had. He greeted him calmly, "Rong Shizi, I've heard a lot about you."

Although Rong Tang appeared in the aristocratic circle of Shangjing very late, less than two months ago, his name has been as well-known as the combined number of noble children from all prefectures. He is definitely a top-tier figure, with mixed reviews and polarized reputation.

"Mr. Du is also very much like an old Duke."

Du Shaokang kept a low profile, and Rong Tang had his men investigating matters of varying magnitude within the various mansions, so he rarely heard of him. He was the nephew of the former Princess An, Madam Du, and although he was close to Madam Du, he didn't intend to say much until he understood their attitude towards her.

During the conversation, he learned that they were all going to Xie's house. After the servants loaded the car, Du Shaokang simply invited Rong Tang to go with them.

Not far from the Du family shop is the shop attached to the Jian'an Earl's Mansion. At this moment, there are four iron locks on the door. The four door plaques rented by the Liang family are also engraved with the words "Sugar and Wine Shop".

Rong Tang glanced at him from the side for a few times and continued walking.

Du Shaokang didn't know how to comfort him. Prince Rong was so unlucky. His father had squandered all the wealth of the Bo Mansion, and it was Prince Rui's mother's family who cheated him, leaving him with nowhere to complain.

However, there was finally a topic that could ease Rong Tang's anger. He looked around to see if anyone was listening and whispered, "His Majesty is investigating the Liang family. There's an imperial edict posted outside the Meridian Gate, recruiting private mathematicians to audit the Ministry of Revenue. If they find anything fishy about Minister Liang, he'll be in big trouble. Maybe that'll even help you vent your anger."

Rong Tang had a forced smile. Of course he had heard about this matter. Since the imperial edict was posted yesterday morning, no one dared to expose it. It was not that there were no capable people among the people, but everyone was waiting to see how seriously His Majesty would take the Ministry of Revenue's bad debts, and whether a commoner with no official position could get away with it after getting involved in this muddy water.

Rong An, who was walking behind, paused for a moment. Check the accounts?

Du Shaokang was a little surprised by his actions, "This person is from your house..."

He was wearing a long cotton gown and was not a servant.

"He's from the same clan. He works as an accountant in my house and studies for the imperial examinations."

Du Shaokang's eyes lit up. "Are you an accountant? Are you considering taking the imperial edict? My grandfather told me that no one took the edict yesterday, and the emperor was furious. He ordered officials of the third rank and above to nominate a mathematician or a long-time accountant to audit the accounts. Brother Rong, have you ever worked as an accountant before?"

Without waiting for Rong Tang to speak, Rong An said, "I have five years of experience in accounting."

Du Shaokang was delighted. "Sure! Why don't you let my grandfather recommend you? Don't worry, there are many people who have been recommended this time. Everyone is fulfilling the task assigned by His Majesty. If you find out, there will be a reward. If you don't find out, it's okay. There will be no risk later."

Rong An looked at Rong Tang, who remained noncommittal. How could there be no risk? Perhaps others didn't, but Rong An certainly did, because his last name was Rong, and he was his confidant. It would be fine if he killed Minister Liang with a single blow, but if he was given a chance to breathe, he would surely exact revenge.

If there were no risks, why would Duke Du's mansion still lack an accountant? This shows that Duke Du wasn't sure if he could bring down Minister Liang, so he left himself a way out.

Although I recommended someone, that was a task assigned by His Majesty and I had no choice. If I wanted to deal with you, I would have sent someone from my own palace.

"Let's talk about it later. I'll think about it after the banquet."

Du Shaokang looked at this boy who was two or three years younger than him and spoke in a tone that was even more mature than him. He felt like he was facing a mistake of the same level as his grandfather.

As a human being, he is still hiding under his grandfather's wings, while others have already supported their own family.