The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Zhou Chu looked at the unconscious man lying on the ground.

He was still wearing night clothes.

"Ah Dong, Ah Fu, come over and carry the person inside."

Although it was already dark, the shop had been incredibly busy lately.

Shen Qing simply rented a courtyard for Zhou Chu next to the shop.

Zhou Chu simply returned the original courtyard.

As for the two waiters, Ah Dong and Ah Fu, they've been living at the shop lately.

The two men took turns keeping watch at night to prevent flooding.

Even if this person succeeds in setting the fire, the fire will not start.

The monthly allowance will increase by half.

How could the two of them refuse?

At that moment, Afu was on duty, and Adong was about to go to sleep. Upon hearing this, he immediately perked up.

The two men worked together to carry the man into the shop.

"Tie him up with a rope."

Afu and his companion followed Zhou Chu's orders to the letter.

Having worked in the shop for so many days, they were utterly amazed by their manager.

Whether they were daughters of noble families or officials, there was no one the shopkeeper couldn't handle.

Those young ladies from wealthy families didn't even dare to look up, for fear of displeasing the noblemen.

But their own boss doesn't take people seriously at all.

They could even see the daughter of an official pleading with her shopkeeper, just to get her clothes made faster.

Sometimes Ah Fu would think to himself, if this were a brothel where women could go, the manager would definitely be the top courtesan.

Of course, he only dared to think these words; he would never dare to say them aloud.

Although they were both much older than Zhou Chu, they didn't dare to utter a sound in front of him.

Soon, the man was tied to a chair by Afu and his companion.

Zhou Chu picked up the tea from the counter, took a sip, rinsed his mouth, and then sprayed the last mouthful onto the man's face.

The person did not react at all.

"He won't be beaten to death, will he?"

As Zhou Chu spoke, he placed his hand under the man's nose.

"Thank goodness, he's breathing."

As Zhou Chu spoke, he swung his sword and slapped the man across the face.

The man was dizzy from the beating, but he eventually woke up.

He shuddered and almost fell backward.

Fortunately, Afu managed to steady the chair in time.

"Who gave you permission to come and set fire?"

Zhou Chu looked at the man with great interest and asked.

"I don't understand what you are talking about."

This person made up his mind not to say anything.

He felt that Zhou Chu had no way to deal with him.

After all, there's no evidence.

Do you think I can't do anything about you?

Zhou Chu was playing with flavor.

Upon hearing this, the person ignored it and remained silent.

"You don't have to tell me, but I'll send you to the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture tomorrow."

"I forgot to tell you, I'm quite familiar with the daughter of Prefect Zhang of Shuntian Prefecture. She just had a dress made by me a few days ago."

As Zhou Chu spoke, he took out an order form.

The words "Zhang Ling'er" were clearly written on it.

"I'll just give Miss Zhang a heads-up. Do you think I'll still need evidence? I can even spend some money to have you die in jail."

Zhou Chu patted the man's face and said.

Upon hearing this, cold sweat instantly broke out on the man's face.

His eyes were filled with panic.

"Lock him up and send him directly to Shuntian Prefecture tomorrow."

As Zhou Chu spoke, he got up to leave, seemingly unwilling to give this person any more chances.

"Wait, I say."

The man said hurriedly.

He confessed anyway.

After all, it's not worth risking your life for a little money.

The person who sent him to set the fire was none other than the Feng family's shop, which wasn't far from the shop itself.

They were also in the fabric business.

The two shops are less than 100 meters apart.

Originally, the Feng family's shop was doing quite well.

Shen Qing's shop had already been squeezed out of business by their family.

But recently, Shen Qing's shop has been doing better and better.

Feng's shop was the most affected.

These days, business at the Feng family's shop is getting worse and worse.

These days, the place is practically deserted.

After figuring out why business was bad.

Their employers grew increasingly jealous.

Especially these days, I've seen Shen Qing's shop constantly receiving and shipping goods.

His eyes turned red.

When a person's eyes turn red, their heart turns black.

So he went to the countryside and found a distant relative from the same village.

They gave him ten taels of silver and told him to come here and set fire to the place.

Zhou Chu still had Afu and the others send the man to Yingtian Prefecture.

However, the charge was only for attempted arson.

It won't be closed for long.

As for the man surnamed Feng, Zhou Chu never intended to bring him down through the government.

After all, the fire didn't start.

The government is also difficult to manage.

Moreover, compared to that method, Zhou Chu preferred to use business means to bankrupt the man surnamed Feng.

The owner of Feng's shop was named Feng Youde.

His personality is the exact opposite of his name.

He's full of bad intentions and extremely immoral.

The next morning, Zhou Chu arrived at Feng's shop in a grand manner.

"Oh! Isn't this Manager Zhou? What brings you here?"

Feng Youde probably knew why Zhou Chu had come.

Shen's shop did not catch fire last night.

His distant relative had also disappeared without a trace.

Most likely, something has happened.

However, Feng Youde was not in a hurry.

For such attempted arson, the government will at most impose a small fine as a warning.

Therefore, when Feng Youde saw Zhou Chu, he was full of confidence.

His tone even carried a hint of sarcasm.

"It's nothing, it's just that our business is so good that we don't have enough fabric. I noticed that Mr. Feng doesn't have much business here either, so I was wondering if you could exchange some of your fabric with us."

Zhou Chu didn't mention a word about what happened last night.

But when he opened his mouth, he almost made Feng Youde die of anger.

As Zhou Chu spoke, he pretended to casually glance at the styles of cloth in the Feng family's shop.

"Hey Zhou, don't get too cocky. You can't be too arrogant, or you'll run into ghosts when you walk at night."

At this point, Feng Youde simply stopped pretending and sneered.

"What are you saying, Mr. Feng? You can't even sell this cloth. If you give it to us, we can exchange it for cash."

Zhou Chu joked.

"Who says I can't sell them? Just you wait and see."

Feng Youde said angrily.

By this time, Zhou Chu had memorized almost all the patterns of the cloth in Feng's shop. Too lazy to argue with Feng Youde, he turned and left.

Most of the types of fabrics that Feng's shop mainly sells can also be found in Shen Qing's shop.

If there were two or three items that weren't available, Zhou Chu simply asked Shen Qing to purchase them.

These fabrics were then sold at extremely low prices.

It's much cheaper than Feng's shop.

That's right, Zhou Chu is going to start a price war.

Shen Qing's shop is now many times larger than Feng's shop.

Even if these fabrics don't make money, they can still bring a lot of business to the shop.

Most importantly, it can attract all the casual customers from Feng's shop.

After all, the two companies live too close to each other.

That wasn't all. Zhou Chu also had Shen Qing go to the bookstore and pay to have a woodblock printed on it.

They printed two or three thousand flyers directly.

Of course, they used the worst quality paper.

Otherwise, the cost would be too high.

The flyers contained nothing more than limited-time discounts on a dozen or so types of fabrics from Shen's shop.

These dozen or so kinds of fabrics were all bought from Feng's shop.

Subsequently, thanks to the efforts of Afu and Adong, the flyers were quickly distributed.

The coverage area doesn't need to be large; it just needs to include the area of ​​Fengjia Shop.

As a result, the already sparse business of Feng's shop was completely wiped out by Zhou Chu's actions, leaving no casual customers at all.

Occasionally, a few people would go in, compare prices, and head straight for Zhou Chu.

Feng Youde gritted his teeth, but there was nothing he could do.

The sheer size of Shen Qing's shop speaks for itself.

These fabrics don't make money, but they're good enough to generate buzz.

But if Feng Youde does that, he will only lose everything.

The price you pay for goods varies depending on the size of the business.

Shen Qing gets his goods from the cloth shop at a price that is at least one coin lower per foot than Feng Youde's.

However, this was only the first step. Zhou Chu also bribed the shopkeeper of Feng Youde's shop.

They obtained a list of their shop's regular customers and their addresses.

With this information, things will be much easier.

Zhou Chu tailored his approach to each individual, effectively poaching all of Feng Youde's original regular clients.

As a result, Feng Youde completely lost his business.