Making you a son-in-law is not about making you conquer the world.

Big events happen every year, but there seem to be quite a few lately.

Within a few days, a series of major events occurred in Yingtian Prefecture, making it a turbulent time.

First, the salt merchants went bankrupt and sold off their shops and houses. Then, Duan Xiu, the owner of a brokerage firm, was so generous that he bought up all the shops and houses within three days.

These houses and shops are mostly in prime locations with high foot traffic. Even a small shop can sell for 20,000 taels of silver. Duan Xiuqiang forcibly took them, but in the end, he always paid half the price.

The 100,000 taels of working capital, plus the 100,000 taels borrowed from Jinbaohang, totaling 200,000 taels, were all spent within three days.

Duan Xiu remained completely unperturbed. These shops and houses could be sold for 400,000 taels of silver each time. His money-making skills were truly admirable.

Others also thought about taking advantage of the situation to make a fortune, but they didn't have the courage and ability. After all, these shops and houses couldn't be converted into cash immediately; they needed him to work on them little by little.

In these three days, in addition to Duan Xiu's great prowess, Mingyue Tower also began to exert its strength, suddenly opening four branches in various directions of Yingtian Prefecture.

Although these restaurants are not in the best locations, Mingyuelou is famous, and diners are willing to walk a little further to choose the more delicious food.

Three days later, something shocking happened: in the vast Yingtian Prefecture, apart from Mingyue Tower, all the restaurants were empty, and no one wanted to buy them even if they lost money.

As a result, most of the restaurants began to be sold off.

They were luckier than the salt merchants; at least they didn't lose all their savings, and after selling the restaurant, they could live comfortably for the rest of their lives.

Duan Xiu was somewhat flustered. After acquiring all the salt merchants' shops, he was already quite exhausted and really didn't want to deal with these restaurants.

However, he had no choice; if he wanted a monopoly, he had to be generous.

If we can't acquire all the restaurants, we can't raise prices on these shops. While we won't lose money, we certainly won't make a fortune either.

He gritted his teeth and went to Jinbaohang again, asking for 200,000 taels of silver as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Granted!" Ma Dayun waved his hand dismissively, as if the money wasn't his own.

Jin Baoxing was initially hesitant, but after hearing about Duan Xiu's deeds, he finally felt reassured.

Boss Duan is aiming to monopolize the shops in Yingtianfu. He can make hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in no time. How could he not be able to repay this small amount?

In the past three days, Duan Xiu spent 200,000 taels of silver to buy more than 20 restaurants of all sizes in Yingtian Prefecture.

Only those high-end, well-established restaurants are still struggling to stay afloat, occasionally welcoming a few regular customers to chat.

After all, Mingyuelou focuses on fine food, not luxury, and some dignitaries still prefer to dine at upscale restaurants.

After completing this round of acquisitions, Duan Xiu was exhausted. The property deeds and land deeds in her hands were getting thicker and thicker, but she was becoming more and more uncertain.

In order to recoup his costs as soon as possible, he plans to sell a batch of shops quickly, earning only a 50% profit, which is a fair price.

However, before these shops could be sold, another major event occurred in Yingtian Prefecture.

Zhou Family Clothing Shop has emerged as a dark horse, with its clothes not only being beautiful and elegant and soft in texture, but also surprisingly low in price.

The news quickly spread throughout Yingtian Prefecture, and customers who came from far and wide formed a long queue, unwilling to leave even when it got dark.

Zhou's clothing store had to delay its closing time. After dark, dozens of kerosene lamps were lit inside the store, making it as bright as day.

Apart from Zhou's clothing workshop, other clothing workshops were struggling, with no customers and even clearance sales had little effect.

Knowing they were powerless to resist the Zhou family, these business owners knew that the longer they dragged things out, the more money they would lose, so they had no choice but to sell their shops.

When the news reached Duan Xiu's ears, his large body slumped weakly into a chair.

He felt something was amiss, but he was blinded by greed and unable to think things through calmly.

The arrow is on the string and must be fired!

Keep borrowing money!

He immediately asked for another 200,000 taels of silver, and even Ma Dayun wasn't as readily obliged as before.

A full 500,000 taels of silver—can Duan Xiu really afford to repay it?

There was nothing he could do; this was something Lin Ping had instructed him to do beforehand, and he dared not disobey, so he continued to take the money.

He finally understood why Lin Ping didn't allow Jinbaohang to do business with other people. Duan Xiu alone almost emptied Jinbaohang's warehouse, and they really didn't have the spare capacity to lend money to others.

The remaining 100,000 taels of silver were for saving my life.

What if a customer comes to withdraw money someday?

If you can't produce the cash, losing customers is a minor issue compared to damaging your reputation.

Just like Yinmanzhuang in Jiangcheng Prefecture, everyone was crowding outside demanding money. What else could they do but close down?

As Duan Xiuxin spent this money, her heart was bleeding, and she felt increasingly insecure.

After completing the final acquisition, Duan Xiu breathed a slight sigh of relief, thinking that he should make some moves as soon as possible, because even he really couldn't afford to wait any longer.

“Selling shops? I’m afraid it’s not that simple.” Lin Ping seemed to have guessed what Duan Xiu was thinking, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

"Do you think these wealthy merchants in Yingtian Prefecture are fools? Would they buy shops at this critical juncture?"

Anyone who becomes a wealthy businessman proves to have some business acumen and knows when to invest and when not to.

With Mingyue Tower and Zhou Family Garment Shop rising to prominence, who would dare to expand into new businesses? Just keeping their original jobs was a blessing.

Who knows if a fantastic teahouse or a fantastic porcelain shop might suddenly appear tomorrow?

Investing involves risks; spend money wisely.

For a time, all the wealthy merchants in Yingtian Prefecture were in a wait-and-see state, wishing they could keep their money under their pillows and not dare to spend a single extra penny.

When Duan Xiuming started selling the shops with prices marked, he was immediately met with a cold shower.

It's not that they didn't buy it, it's that they didn't even ask. They don't care if you give it to them for free, they just don't want it.

He even visited some wealthy businessmen, but was repeatedly turned away and even refused entry.

The most common thing you hear in Yingtianfu is, "Boss, why don't you buy one? The price is negotiable."

roll!

All the voices were crisp and decisive; not a single wealthy businessman was willing to say a second word to Duan Xiu, for fear of being extorted.

For three consecutive days, Duan Xiu failed to sell a single shop. His once oily face had become much thinner, and even his eye circles had begun to sag.

He slumped in the armchair, his empty eyes looking as if his soul had been ripped out.

His initial enthusiasm had long since faded; now, he didn't care about making money, just getting his initial investment back was enough.

Upon receiving this news, the people at Jinbaohang panicked, fearing that this could become a dead debt. So they went to the brokerage firm one after another to collect the debt, and even threatened to take them to the yamen.

"It's over, it's all over." Duan Xiu finally realized the truth, slapping himself repeatedly and cursing, "Serves you right for being greedy, for offending people..."

Even if he didn't want to believe it, he knew there was a mastermind behind all this, and he had likely offended that person.